sitemap

VERSION 2.0 IN PROGRESS

Temporary, for editorial feedback only - please do not bookmark or download

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+
X - Wheel of Fortune
+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+

A traditional nativity scene. A woman lies in bed nursing her baby while the bearded father heats food over an open fire. A cow and donkey watch from a thatched byre. A wooden wheel on the wall is flanked by the four Evangelists - an angel, an eagle, a winged cow and lion.

My Interpretation: What you lose on the swing you'll gain on the roundabout. Life will always send us challenges and trials to overcome - you cannot have good without bad, or light without darkness. Do not dwell on misfortune, but look instead to future joys. The opportunity will arise for a fresh start, or the beginning of a new path or venture. (Reversed: Bitterness at misfortunes, clouding one's ability to see the good fortunes also dealt by Fate)

Edit notes to self: This is very different to my v1.0 card as people quite rightly complained that was too obscure. I have kept with my orginal feeling for this card, though - to me, it's a card of the everyday challenges and opportunities we face, and of the possibility for renewal and change. I have used a traditional Nativity scene, although a very down to earth version thereof. This composition of this card is nothing like the Rider-Waite card, but it has a wheel and the Four Evangelists (angel, eagle, winged bull and lion) so will hopefully be recognisable to RWD readers. Still to do - pretty happy with it.

Sources:

Base Pic: Konrad von Soest, German painter (active between 1394 and 1422 in Westphalie); Nativity 1403 Mixed media on wood, 73 x 56 cm Parish church, Bad Wildungen.

Wheel: Giovanni Bellini, Italian painter, Venetian school (b. cca. 1426, Venezia, d. 1516, Venezia); Four Allegories: Perseverance c. 1490 Oil on wood, 32 x 22 cm Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.

Winged Lion, Bull and Eagle: Jacobello Alberegno, Italian painter, Venetian school (died before1397 in Venice); Vision of St. John the Evangelist 1360-90 Tempera on panel, 95 x 61 cm Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.

Black Angel: Master of the Votive Picture of Sankt Lambrecht, Austrian painter (active around 1430 in Austria) The Holy Trinity 1430 Linden, 25 x 21.5 cm Museum mittelalterlicher österreichischer Kunst, Vienna.

Parchment Text Panel: Unknown Illuminators, England; The Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library MS 24), written and illuminated around 1200. Aberdeen University, Scotland.

Gilt Border: Conrad Witz, Swiss painter (b. cca 1400, Rottweil, d. cca. 1445, Basel); King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba 1435 Panel, 84 x 79 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin.