The Wheel of Fortune, the Wheel of Ezekiel and the wheel from Nostradamus all address the same basic issue. The wheel shows that thoughts precede physical manifestation. The wheel speaks to cycles, rotations, karma, what goes around comes around and the fact that the thoughts of today, produce the reality of tomorrow. The wheel is also the symbol complete manifestation.
The original Wheel of Fortune has four symbols in each corner: man, an eagle, a bull and a lion. The center of the wheel, according to Eliphas Levi, “represents the First Unity whence all motion originates.” It is the point of all potential. The eight spokes of the wheel, the number eight, represents man which radiates from the center, indicating the source of what we are. The four symbols in the corners represent the name of God. And the implication that man emanates and is an extension of the God power. In Hermetic lore, the serpent actually represents light and its form is reminiscent of DNA and vibration. The Tarot image original has these symbols supported by clouds, indicating the spiritual support of all that there is. As a whole, the wheel speaks of the many cycles; seasons, night and day, life and death and what follows comes from what precedes, a time to sow and a time to reap.
The Wheel of Nostradamus is different. I have said in previous articles that Nostradamus was initiated into the Tarot Mysteries. He would have known the proper symbolism for the Wheel of Fortune. Where does he differ and why? The first point to be made is that the Nostradamus wheel is not supported by the clouds, spirit, as is the case in the Tarot. The images in the background are of cities, earth and man made structures. Here he shows that man still has a sense of superiority and is focused on the material plane and all of its issues and concerns. Within the wheel, Nostradamus portrays a time setting. It has nothing to do with the 9/11 and the destruction of the Twin Towers. It speaks of a time in which there are modern cities, spacecraft and jets. The message is for our current era. These images are within the confines of the wheel indicating that this time period is still trapped in the cycles of life and death and therefore subject to what those concepts imply. The message also deals with the fact that what lies within the wheel, is subject to the forces and events that surround the wheel.
In place of the eagle in the top right, he has a rooster. The rooster, or cock, has a long history, symbolically speaking. In most cultures, the rooster was a solar symbol indicating the triumph of light over darkness, illumination. To the Celts the rooster was a symbol of the underworld. During the middle ages the rooster became a Christian symbol for the readiness of the return of Christ and the last judgment of humanity and the hopeful overcoming of evil. What is interesting is that the rooster replaces the eagle. The eagle is the symbol of the soaring spirit, our higher nature, higher truths, and a movement beyond the yoke of the material to a closer connection with the Creator. What Nostradamus implies is that at this point in our history, we are not yet at the point of soaring as the eagle, but rather we are still caught up in the good versus evil, Christ will come and save us mind set.
In Christianity the peacock is both a symbol of immortality and human vanity. Nostradamus has one foot of the peacock on the hour glass. We are being told that the time of human vanity and the time of waiting for some kind of salvation will come to and end in this era. This does not mean there will be a “second coming” as promised by religious institutions. It means that the idea of such a belief is coming to an end. It is only human vanity to think that some god has singled man out for special treatment.
“Quetzalcoatl, called Kukulcan and Gugumatz among the Mayans, was not merely an historical figure to the Ancient Mexicans but he was a figure that united spirit and matter. The quetzal bird represented the spiritual urge to take flight and transcend the bounds of corporeal existence and the serpent represented being grounded in physical reality to the rhythms and cycles of nature.” (NEXUS 2006). Nostradamus knew the meaning of the plumed serpent. He also knew that the serpent symbolized wisdom and higher vibrations. He further knew that the story of Quetzalcoatl fortold the destruction of the Mayan civilization and an eventual return of truth and light. The man with the plumed headgear is Quetzalcoatl. Note the cross on the pant leg. Was it not the Christian zeal that destroyed the Central American civilization? So here we have two references to a return of something. Of importance is that the feathered man holds the serpent. Is he putting the serpent on the wheel, or taking it off? In the true Tarot the serpent is descending on the left side of the wheel; widom descending into matter. In the Nostradamus image, the serpent is ascending. The serpent’s head is looking west; symbol of the end of day, sunset, the end of what has gone before.
The next different symbol is the phoenix. The phoenix is the symbol or rebith and transformation. It goes through the cycles that are representative of this Tarot key. Fortunately, the phoenix is rising. Again, the allusion to change and transformation in our time. Note also that it rises from the ball and looks with disdain at the crown.
The bottom figure is a prince or king or leader who wears the royal purple. The prince has lost his crown. He is attempting to clean the blue ball, the earth. This represents the current efforts of ineffective leaders to sweep the planet of its ills. The lost crown indicates that the efforts are to no avail. Does this sound familiar? From one end of the globe to the other; from one major issue to another, world leaders have been unable and unwilling to address major societal, environmental and political concerns.
Some of the meanings of the Lion are obvious: strength, cunning, pride, voracity, power, primal instinct and rulership. The Lion is also the symbol of Christ consciousness, the sun, and also greed. The Lion has a crook around an image of the Pope. An image that reveals the inner nature of the Church’s thirst for power with a head and crown but a body of a dog, ready to scavenge off the fears of the unsuspecting. The Christ symbol, the light of Leo, the sun, is attempting to control the symbol of religious authority. So who is the man that is pulling on the tail of the Lion? The clue is on his back. There we see an “X,” the original cross that precedes that of Christianity, a cross of suffering and pain. To either side of the cross are two pillars. For those familiar with the esoteric and masonary, you will understand that it is the intitated who are trying to return the lion to its proper place on the image. In Roman numerals, the “X” equals the number 10, which is the Tarot number for the Wheel of Fortune. But it is something more. The “X” is symbolic of 2012 when the earth and our solar system “crosses” the galactic plane, the end, or beginning, of a new cycle for the planet and all that dwells thereon. It is said that “all that is hidden will be revealed.” The current surge in spiritual thought, orchestrated by mystical organizations, is leading the way to a great tranformation. The New Age, Now Age, The Secret, Waking God, and other events and books represent an explosion of re-kindled ideas of the true and divine inner nature of man. Notice that the figure is not attempting to stop the Lion in its efforts to subdue dogma. It merely seeks to return the Lion to its proper place in the circle and cycle of time. Notice that the color of the serpent and the pants of the mystic are green, the colors of love and healing.
And now we come to the arm extending from the top right. Many say that it is the hand of God. This is not correct. The arm extends from the position in the Tarot reserved for man. This is not the physical man, but rather the spiritual man, the higher self, super consciousness. The arm emerges from a cloud, a symbol of spirit. The cuff is of royal color and holds a crook that extends to the center of the wheel. The connection of the arm to the center reveals man’s connection to the divine. But what is the arm attempting to do? Higher human consciousness is attempting to break, alter, or change the current cycle. A cycle filled with ruinous dogma, fear, greed and confusion.
What is Nostradamus telling us? He speaks to our current time in history. He tells us that the world is in chaos. Our leaders are ineffectual, religion has lost its purpose and that a great transformation is nearing. He indicates that the transfomation is not the result of a mythical “second coming,” but rather must stem from the higher thoughts of man; a man that reconnects mentally with the center of all that is in order to break our cycle of destruction and ignorance. The time is getting getteing close. And, as the Hopi have said, “it is we who we have been waitng for.”
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