Wheel of Fortune in 7 decks
The same card as 7 decks draw it, five and a half centuries apart. What stays the same is the card’s core; what changes is where a reading can find something new. The meanings are written for the Rider–Waite–Smith picture; the descriptions here are of each deck’s own.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A great wheel inscribed with letters and alchemical symbols hangs in a cloudy sky, a sphinx with a sword seated on top, a serpent descending on the left and a jackal-headed figure rising on the right. In the four corners, a winged man, eagle, lion and bull sit on clouds reading books. Nothing in the picture is standing still except the readers.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A crowned, winged creature holding a sword sits on a red platform atop a yellow wheel. Two animal-like figures cling to the rim: one in a skirt with a tail goes down head first on the left, another in red climbs on the right. The wheel turns on blue posts set in yellow beams over ruled ground. Numbered X, titled LA ROUE DE FORTUNE.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A great wheel inscribed with letters and alchemical symbols hangs in a cloudy sky, a sphinx with a sword seated on top, a serpent descending on the left and a jackal-headed figure rising on the right. In the four corners, a winged man, eagle, lion and bull sit on clouds reading books. Nothing in the picture is standing still except the readers.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A crowned, winged creature holding a sword sits on a red platform atop a yellow wheel. Two animal-like figures cling to the rim: one in a skirt with a tail goes down head first on the left, another in red climbs on the right. The wheel turns on blue posts set in yellow beams over ruled ground. Numbered X, titled LA ROUE DE FORTUNE.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
Numbered X, a large wheel stands tilted on a wooden trestle. A crowned figure sits on top gripping a sword, an animal head with long ears clings to the left, and a man's head, upside down, hangs at the lower right. Grass grows at the base.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
A blindfolded woman in a blue gown with gold sleeves stands inside a large gold wheel. A young figure seated on a platform tops the wheel, with faint lettering beside him, partly legible. A youth in green climbs the left side, another in red falls head first on the right, and an old white-bearded man crawls on hands and knees beneath.
In the Visconti-Sforza deck the number cards show only their suit symbols, and the trumps are unnamed and unnumbered.
Sola Busca
c. 1491
A man in a broad red hat, pale cuirass, pleated blue skirt and purple hose walks with a long staff, one hand raised. A small winged shape lies on the ground at his feet. The name VENTVRIO is written in two lines at the lower left, VENTV and RIO, and the numeral X is at the right.
Sola Busca trumps are named figures matched to the standard trumps by number only.
Oswald Wirth
Oswald Wirth, 1889
An eight-spoked wheel turns on a post rising from a red boat, a red and a green snake twined around it. A winged sphinx with a sword sits on top. A blue dog-headed figure with a caduceus climbs the right side; a green figure with a horned head and a trident plunges down the left. Below are the number 10, LA ROUE DE FORTUNE and the Hebrew letter yod.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
A great glowing orange ring hangs over a garden pond at night, divided into quarters around a central circle; each quarter holds an animal in light: a fox, a bird, a dragon-like creature and a turtle. A hooded figure in red kneels at the water's edge, one hand raised. Two glowing koi swim below, lanterns and a torii line the shore, and a moon hangs above.