The Wheel of Fortune

Lets see what we have here. 3 animals and an angel reading books. The Sphinx, holding a sword.  A snake slithering down the left side of the wheel, and Anubis riding the wheel back up on the right.  We have storm clouds brewing, but not yet bursting. We have change.   If you read counter-clockwise, the letters read (from 12 o'clock) TORA.  There is a YOD at one o'clock.  What's a YOD, you ask? It's a little tear-drop, symbolizing grace, or compassion .  There is a symbol for change at three o'clock on the inner circle.  Dunno what the other stuff means. 

The Sphinx holding a sword.  The sphinx is a riddle: the unknowable, the paradox. The sword is everything you thought you knew being cut loose.  Sayanora, baby!

The critters reading books: "It is written...."  In the Akashic Records?  A fat lot of good that does you or me!  They are sitting on that information.  WHY: did the economy tank; did that guy who professed intense attraction to me stop emailing; did they turn my rent-controlled apartment into an overpriced condo? I couldn't tell you.  'Tis a mystery.  But, comeon, you hated that job; you had a feeling the dude was internet-wooing other women anyhow; and you were sick of being run into by texting NYU students, so you took a job in Syracuse where you can afford to buy a house.

The stormclouds:  electricity is in the air - you can smell those negative ions. The deluge is coming any minute!

The snake: transformation.  What bit The Little Prince, and his soul went somewhere else.  What sweet talked Eve out of her sweet little garden.  What encircles the staff in the symbol for healing. What tempted Christ in the desert. The daily challenges that seem so important are really transient. The snake leaves little replicas of himself on the wet morning grass. Change happens. Everybody must get stoned, and sometimes it's for one's own good!

Anubis was the son of Isis and Osiris.  He was the demigod who weighed your heart when you died (this is in Egypt) to see if it did not weigh more than a feather.  THEN you could get into heaven.  Otherwise....not so pretty. In any case, what we have here is some serious transmogrification.  Anubis is the pagan patron saint of embalmers everywhere. Their job is to bring the dead back to life - for the funeral anyhow. 

Basically - as my Irish grandmother used to say - "Never a sunny day came, when a rainy day wasn't just behind." She also said  "Come Merry, come Sorry!" Don't get so high on your horse, lest you be cast down. But on the plus side: "It's always darkest before the dawn" and "Every cloud has a silver lining."  (Just don't count on Irish proverbs for the good news.)

In summary.... change is the nature of all things. Just ask Buddha.  His name means 'awaken' or 'bud'.  Essentially, if you subscribe to past, present, and future - to drama -  vs. Here and Now, well, you are going to lose.  Of course humankind must buy into practical matters - otherwise we would never get out of bed.  Is it really just an illusion that I dread Monday mornings?  I can't always convince myself!  But... I feel better when I can treat this life like the game that it is - a merry-go-round. When I can place myself at the still point in the center of that rolling wheel.  Round and round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows.  It's a rush!

Check out this Roseanne Cash video: The Wheel!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVy8kSUl520