A.E. Waite was a key figure in the development of the tarot in line with the Hermetic magical-religious system also being developed at the time by The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, more commonly called the Golden Dawn. Golden Dawn was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was covered more fully earlier in one of our Fun Facts annotations.
In the Rider–Waite Tarot deck, the Wheel of Fortune card depicts a giant wheel, with three figures on its outer edges. On the outer circle is a snake, the Egyptian god Typhon (the god of evil), descending on the left side. The snake also represents the life force plunging into the material world. On the right side rises Anubis, the Egyptian God of the dead who welcomes souls to the underworld. And on top of the wheel sits the Sphinx, representing knowledge and strength.
Four Hebrew letters – YHVH (Yod Heh Vau Heh), the unpronounceable name of God – are inscribed on the wheel’s face. They alternate with the letters ROTA (Latin for ‘wheel’). The middle wheel has the alchemical symbols for mercury, sulphur, water and salt – the building blocks of life and the four elements – and represents formative power.
In the corners of the Wheel of Fortune card are four winged creatures, each associated with the four fixed signs of the Zodiac: the angel is Aquarius, the eagle is Scorpio, the lion is Leo, and the bull is Taurus. The wings on the lion and bull bring them into balance with the winged angel and eagle above. Each holds the Torah, representing wisdom.
The Wheel of Fortune itself has been present since the tarot's inception in the 15th century, based on the medieval concept of Rota Fortunae, the wheel of the goddess Fortuna is a symbol of Fate or Destiny.
That the snake, the symbol for evil, is show both alone and thoroughly wound through the Wheel of Fortune suggests ominously that evil has in some way taken control of Fate or Destiny itself.
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I must give props to your dedication and devotion, especially hearing that you go out of your way tracking down old interviews and sources to back up your work. I can't imagine it's very cheap either to find some of this old content. Glad you found the interivew you needed for Simonson's original plans. I remember you mentioned to me once how she was definitely aware of the plan for Bobby and seeded in certain aspects (like Loki and Asgard) so very curious to see the full write-up on that when it's ready.
Thanks! Initially, researching it was purely to satisfy my own interest and then later to share it with others, but doing that was always done piecemeal. It really did become a 'work' when I started this thread and I ended up doing even deeper dives into some of the material which added to my own knowledge as well. I guess you could call it a labor of love.
Louise Simonson's role is so key not just because of her contributions to the Dragon Mythos that she added during her run on X-Factor, where she was very limited in what she could do with it by editorial, but by the detailed plan she left behind which survived her tenure at Marvel and became a resources for later writers. If not for her the Dragon Mythos may very well have ended with the 1984 Iceman miniseries.
Lol I had no idea Madonna was into the occult. Must have been a phase with her.
Actually, she converted.
www.patheos.com/blogs/religionmatters/2023/05/what-is-kabbalah-and-why-did-madonna-convert-to-it/
The new stuff is more a blindspot for me because I rarely keep up with the current comics anymore. And everytime I do come back, I'm reminded of why I left in the first place. The Storm/Magneto stuff from Ewing I've heard wonderful things about, for both characters, so I probably should read it especially now knowing it's all connected to Oblivion as well. Had no idea Ashake was brought back. And as someone who doesn't read Venom, it's a good thing you mentioned that Ewing has used this concept of falling through Limbo before.
I hate Krakoa. I hate what has been done with the depiction of several characters, the X-Men as a whole and the themes the franchise itself was founded on and stood on for decades. Even though I believe the timeline has been rewritten and what we are getting is no more valid than the 'Age of Apocalypse' was, I still don't enjoy reading most of it. I'd largely dropped Marvel and actually quit reading the current X-Books entirely, only coming back because of the recent Jean Grey mini-series.
Ewing is doing a great job knitting together disparate things, revealing things and overall expanding the lore and mythology. Al Ewing is easily my favorite Marvel writer at the moment.
Oh I see, I didn't realize the Iceman statue was a custom. That makes sense because I had never seen any official merchandise of Iceman with a dragon theme. It sounds like Lucas Coelho might be a subscriber to this mythos. It's truly a stunning piece of work and I'd love to see that dragon imagery pop up in the comics when Bobby is using his powers. It seems like such a natural fit after actually seeing it.
I expect Coelho was heavily influenced by the 'Frozen' arc from Astonishing X-Men, given the presence of Thor's hammer. It's the first time Iceman had manifested as the Dragon. We'd seen aspects hinted at with changes to his appearance in the Wolverine and the X-Men period but in 'Frozen' we got the divine-form on one of the covers, an infernal-form throughout and briefly a hint of the Dragon-form when he actually devoured Thor. That arc did a lot to kindle and rekindle interest in the Dragon Mythos.