The human has never been the same when it invented (perceived) the wheel. It seems a new type of human was born, yet there are examples everywhere in nature of circles.
A short history:
Based on diagrams on ancient clay tablets, the earliest known use of the wheel was a potter’s wheel that was used at Ur in Mesopotamia (part of modern day Iraq) as early as 3500 BC.
The first use of the wheel for transportation was probably on Mesopotamian chariots in 3200 BC.
It is interesting to note that wheels may have had industrial or manufacturing applications before they were used on vehicles.
The wheel is probably the most important mechanical invention of all time.
Nearly every machine built since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution involves a single, basic principle embodied in one of mankind’s truly significant inventions. It’s hard to imagine any mechanized system that would be possible without the wheel or the idea of a symmetrical component moving in a circular motion on an axis.
From tiny watch gears to automobiles, jet engines and computer disk drives, the principle is the same.
The wheel itself is a symbol of evolution.
And the Zodiac is another “wheel”.
It could also be a Wheel of Life, for Zo is greek for Life and Diac for Wheel.
“The wheel of fortune” (which is card nr.10 in some tarots packs) must be a derivation as it sees evolution to be haphazard at the low level of life, according to how the wind blows today.
And with it must come the fortune telling side of astrology.
The turning of the physical wheel made man to want to MAKE fortune, which finds its apogee in the industrial revolution.
But the human has the choice what it is they tune in for (Fortune = Tune For). And in order to escape the turning of the wheel one needs to be in the center or stillness of oneself.
A thought: Is the part of fortune (or Pars Fortuna) in the New Astrology, the point at which a person can access the center in oneself ?
The Gundestrup Cauldron found in Denmark dating 1st century ad.
This silver vessel shows many curious things in Celtic depiction. Above the turning of the wheel by a Mercurian figure, changing the cogwheels of men’s mentality (?)
Maybe this gives a clue to tuning in to the Greater Wheel:
If at one stage the Zodiac was something outside of the human and thus perceiving it as a turning wheel, the next stage in evolution could be that we move to the center or stillness in oneself.
And what else could be perceived from this perspective?
Perhaps not a wheel any longer ?