black tarot · major arcana X
Wheel of Fortune in the Black Tarot
Life on 'whatever happens', responsibility outsourced to fate.
Portrait of the shadow
The Black Wheel spins exactly like the bright one — the difference is the passenger. This one tied himself to the rim and declared the steering wheel a myth. At the top he shouts 'I knew I deserved it', at the bottom 'I knew it was rigged'; neither shout contains the verb 'to do'. Fate has become his universal lawyer: it takes the blame, it will also hand out the reward. The card's shadow is fatalism's sweet irresponsibility: if everything is decided, nothing needs deciding. The price of the sweetness is a life in the passive voice. The way out is unheroic: find, in the next 'we'll see how it goes', the one percent that is yours — and turn it by hand. The wheel won't stop, but something strange comes to light: the rim has pedals.
The trap
'It wasn't meant to be' closes every conversation about effort. Bets on luck what needs work, and on work what needs courage.
The shadow in love and at work
In love: Waits for the right person to 'just appear'; never walks toward.
At work: Career as a lottery: buys tickets, builds no craft.
The way out
Take one 'unlucky' event and write out what in it depended on you.