Fortune’s Wheelhouse

Episode 69: Six of Pentacles/Disks

Now that we've arrived at the auspicious 6 of Pentacles of Disks, Success is within reach!  Here the Moon, exalted in the sign of Taurus, shines her kindest light. The steady earthen bull plows the fertile fields; all herds thrive, all crops bear fruit.  Outer and inner mysteries reconcile, the earth and heaven smile at each other, and a generous spirit prevails. In our discussion we consider: the point of harmony between worry and failure, the dynamic stability of the Bull, Aldebaran the royal watcher of the East, Mithras the lord of contracts, the Pleiades and Hyades, fertilization and potency, the Horae and the ripe moment,  Beltane, fires lit by friction, the May bush and the May pole, the Hierophant and the High Priestess, igni natura renovatur integra, Archangel Raphael the healer, Archdemon Belphegon and dangerous innovations, the greater ritual of the hexagram, the mystic rose and holy rood, giving and restraining hands of Chesed and Geburah, the pomegranate as apple of Eden, and the alchemical wedding. To learn more about the suit of Pentacles or Disks, the world of Assiah, the sacrificial gods of Tiphereth, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Episode 68: Five of Pentacles/Disks

Cue the blues: it's the 5 of Pentacles or Disks - otherwise known as the Lord of Worry, or the Lord of Material Trouble. It is the very disaster we thought we could forestall by stockpiling gold in the Four of Pentacles!  Mercury (The Magician or Magus) presides over the second decan of Taurus (The Hierophant), the quicksilver psychopomp contending with the steadfast pontifex.  Who will prevail, the Picker of Locks or the Keeper of the Keys?!  In this celestial heist, bankruptcy is all but certain, and there's plenty of worry to go all around. And yet there is more to this card than meets the eye. In our conversation, we discuss Taurus as bridge between the spiritual and the mundane, and the bull's quest to find success between worry and the failure.  We discuss sacred bovines, agriculture, having, holding, and belonging, economic inequality, the mills of God grinding slowly, tattvas, Earth Day, the star known as El-Nath, nails as the Vav of the Hierophant, averse pentagrams, padlocks, the problem-solving intelligence, patriarchs, Isaac's sacrifice, the separation of waters, the angel Kamael, the demon Asmodeus, mendicants, the church as that which binds and excludes, the etymology of "worry", broken records, elephants, keys, and the idea of the 5 as freedom from cycle of matter. To learn more about the suit of Pentacles or Disks, the world of Assiah, the war gods of Geburah, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Episode 67: Four of Pentacles/Disks

Prison or protection?  This week, we face the 4 of Pentacles or Disks, the Lord of Power (is that redundant?!) or Material Power.  Here are tropes of kingship - the Sun as ruler of the decan, Capricorn as the zodiac's CEO, even Jupiter as the force governing all 4's.  The power derives from the throne, and it is rooted, strongly fortified, solid gold, and immovable.  In the fortress of the Old New Year, the embers of increasing light reflect treasures, amassed and hoarded.  Does wealth buy freedom, or its opposite? In our conversation we discuss: the summit of materialism, bank vaults, the lighting of the fire, the Burning of the Clavie, King Midas, the animal nature,  the Sun and the Devil major arcana, freedom vs captivity, absolute power that corrupts absolutely, Lucifer and his relationship with Knowledge,  the power of carnality, Jupiter as Demiurge, obedience and tyranny, billionaires in bunkers, Chesed as limitless good, the coat closet of the abyss, the angel Zadkiel and the demon Astaroth, the Emerald Tablet, Operation of the Sun, turds laid beneath the throne, the mural crown, the heavenly Jerusalem, mandalas, thangkas, kalachakras, sun stones, the invincible Green Man, hexagram #2, and 'Soli Invicto'. To learn more about the suit of Pentacles or Disks, the world of Assiah, the sky gods of Chesed, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Episode 66: Three of Pentacles/Disks

This week, the engines are running, the pistons are pumping, skyscrapers rise on the horizon.  The 3 of Pentacles or Disks is the Lord of work! and the Devil himself ensures there are no idle hands at play here. Combined with the driving force of Mars and the power of the calendrical New Year, all manner of resolutions are taking form. Here is the glory of the built world and the promise of industry writ large. Through the power of collaboration, ambition turns into 3D, concrete reality. In our conversation we discuss: the Devil and the Tower, the exaltation of Mars in Saturn-ruled Capricorn, blueprints, Masons, the myth of Enki and his apelike humans, Gilgamesh, Innanna, and Enkidu, seeking the unattainable, pyramids as symbols of aspiration, the Pillar of Form, the 9 reaping the fruits of the 3, the gunas (Sattva, Tamas, and Rajas), sulfur/salt/mercury, lawful/chaotic/neutral, silence, avarice, Binah consciousness,  the armies of Mordor at the gates of Barad Dûr, the Giver of Permits, and Faustian bargains. To learn more about the suit of Pentacles or Disks, the world of Assiah, the mother gods of Binah, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Episode 65: Two of Pentacles/Disks

This week on Fortune's Wheelhouse, we address the inevitable: the Lord of Change!  With the 2 of Pentacles or Disks, we engage with the physical world, and the reality of trying to make our bodies, our works, our things bend to our will.  First decan of the Saturn-ruled, Capricorn line-up, the 2 of Disks answers to Jupiter.  The Greater Malefic and the Greater Benefic duke it out in this card, and their struggle moves mountains. In our conversation we discuss many mysteries of the material: Capricorn the goatfish, the season of Yule, the increase and decrease of the light,  Janus Pater, Jupiter in fall, Deneb Algedi, the Wheel of Fortune, the Devil and his casino of luck and skill, piston engines, the Sumerian god-king Ea, Odin and Baldur, the hoopoe bird and the flexible reed, the green line of Chaos enclosing the universe, the crowned ouroboros,  Priapic herm hats, yin and yang, the gaze of the Other, the hourglass as a symbol of time, gifts, messages, travel across distance, contraction and expansion, dextro laevorotatory forces, the chirality of light, first and last hexagrams of I Ching, and a certain bear going over a certain mountain. To learn more about the suit of Pentacles or Disks, the world of Assiah, the father gods of Chokmah, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Episode 64: Ace of Pentacles/Disks

Silent, magical, and profound, the last Ace materializes on our earthly plane.  Is it a pentacle? a disk? a coin?  Even its name is a mystery!  In this final suit, we finally encounter the world we know best: our round globe, the four directions, our five senses, our physical bodies and all creation.  Whatever you call them - pentacles or disks, still or spinning - they stand encased and crystallized, set a little apart from the forces that produced them. Oblivious as they are to their origin, they are literally the whole point of the matter. In our episode we discuss: the talismanic nature of pentacles and the spinning motion of disks, and their relationship to the World or Universe card, ever searching for union with the divine: the 5 of the human pentagram becoming the 6 of the divine hexagram. We discuss sleeping beauties, the sign of silence, the season of Aries-Taurus-Gemini, the active and passive forms of Horus, Heh final in the Tetragrammaton, the active and passive forms of Horus, the power to keep silent, the Song of Solomon, the Great Beast and the Scarlet Woman, Osiris, Sobek, the anima mundi, the maker's mark, the cosmic On button, seeds, fruits, clocks, gates, paths, gardens, mountains.  In short: everything and nothing! To learn more about the suit of Swords, the world of Assiah, the creator gods of Kether, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Episode 63: Page or Princess of Swords

We end the suit of Swords with a rush of wind and a whirling blade belonging to the Page or Princess of Swords.  The earthy part of air, she freely inscribes her will on the astral plane - the "fixation of the volatile".  With the power of the Gorgon's head, she concretizes choices, turning options into hard fact.  She will tell you: what she doesn't know isn't worth knowing.  Lotus of the palace of air, she floats and dances easterly - and woe unto anyone who tries to deprive her of her freedom! In our conversation we touch on: navigation, the New World vs the Old World, heads separate and attached, the Bornless Rite, the Star card, the goddess Minerva, Perseus and Andromeda, Medusa and her sisters, the star Algol, the monkey mind, the Great and Terrible Oz, the smoking yet fireless altar, Lilith, Ogier the Dane of the short sword Cortain, vengefulness and sorcery, psychic healing and coincidence,  I  Ching hexagram 180("Gun," or Remedying), the geomantic figure Fortuna Minor, the secret service, spying, the swordswoman of the Ruach, linguists, programmers, and task managers. To learn more about the suit of Swords, the world of Yetzirah, the earthly magnificence of Rider Waite Smith Pages or Thoth Princesses, the sephira Malkuth, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Episode 62: Knight or Prince of Swords

This week we face a steady wind: the Prince or Knight of Swords.  The airy part of air, he rushes through his encounters with an unflagging force.  He fights for his ideals, but also just for fighting's sake.  Associated with the first two decans of Aquarius (the 5 and 6 of Swords) and the last of Capricorn (the 4 of Pentacles or Disks), our Prince is a revolutionary - a master at navigating his way from defeat, and impatient with the powers that be.  "I know!" he cries.  Been there, done that! In our conversation, we talk about Saturn's airy rulership of Aquarius, the structures of society and the rules of time.  We consider Saturn as the Creator and Destroyer, the sword and sickle, the dying god archetype, Galahad's pure heart, the monkey mind, futility of thinking about thinking, the secret crown, invoking and banishing pentagrams,  the winged mini-Princes pulling the chariot, the , Green Man, hexagram 57 (xùn) proceeding humbly, snakes, the Fool, and the Star, the geomantic figure Tristitia (and its opposition to Laetitia), and the one hand ungloved for dexterity, the other gloved for protection -  having it both ways. To learn more about the suit of Swords, the world of Yetzirah, the airy willpower of Rider Waite Smith Knights or Thoth Princes, the sephira Tiphereth, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Episode 61: Queen of Swords

And here she is in all her INFJ glory: the Queen of Swords. Whether you call her the Ice Queen, the Wolf Queen, the Dancing Queen, she is as formidable as she is graceful.   The watery part of air, she pierces through illusion and perceives patterns invisible to most.  Associated with the final decan of Virgo and the first two decans of Libra, she borrows the Hermit's solitude and the measured symmetry of Justice.  Peace and Sorrow, the 2 and 3 of Swords, are her familiars.In our conversation we discuss the balance of night and day and  the Thrones of Air, the equinox, the festival of Mabon, the Green Man, wordsmiths, seamstresses, and warrior maidens, Black Maria, Kaplan, Pallas Athena, Pique Dame, the Devil's nutting day, cumulostratus clouds, the winged heads of children and the severed heads of bearded men heads, butterflies, hexagram 28 (da guo, Great Exceeding), obsolete constellations, widows and divorcees, the Viking queen Hjørdis, BS detection, the , Ox and the Ox goad, the renunciation of community, accuracy in superficial things, and the love of music and words. To learn more about the suit of Swords, the world of Yetzirah, the watery mysteries of the Queens, the sephira Binah, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.

Episode 60: King or Knight of Swords

I fought the Law, and the Law won! Here comes that intimidating brainiac, the King or Knight of Swords.  His is an incisive, restless mind, quick to take up pursuit and flexible to a fault - yet once he makes up his mind, no mercy will temper his decision. Representing the first two decans of Gemini (and the last one of Taurus) in court and everywhere else, he sees a world in black and white, one whose rules must conform to his will. We discuss his relationship to the 7 of Pentacles and 8 and 9 of Swords, twins and tragedies, stubbornness vs. mutability, decision and choice, the trickster nature of Mercury, the "chimaera buzzing in  a vacuum," his missing decan, "Ruin", specific fire in primal air, world of Yetzirah, swallows, helicopters, inspiration without reflection, King David and Goliath's sword, Robert E. Lee, the geomantic figure Albus, I Ching hexagram 32 ("héng") ,  persevering/enduring, butterflies as metamorphosis, and grading.  (For a broad overview of the courts be sure to check out Episode 32, the King/Knight of Wands episode.)  To learn more about the suit of Swords, the world of Yetzirah, the fiery powers of Thoth Knights/Rider Waite Smith Kings, the sephira Chokmah, the color schemes of the cards, and so much else, be sure to visit us at www.patreon.com/fortuneswheelhouse. You can also shop for Fortune's Wheelhouse T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, stickers, and more! at our RedBubble shop.