Wheel

A wheel represents universal dominion; the cycle of life; rebirth and renewal; nobility; mutability; change in the manifest world; time; fate; karma.

A wheel, as a pars pro toto, may also be a symbol for a vehicle, thus representing travel, journey.

Common meanings as a symbol:

Cycles and Eternal Return The wheel represents cyclical time—seasons, life-death-rebirth, and recurring patterns. What goes around comes around, suggesting both natural rhythms and karmic consequences.

Fate and Fortune The Wheel of Fortune symbolizes life's unpredictability—those at the top inevitably descend, while those at the bottom may rise. It represents destiny's turns and the instability of worldly success.

Motion and Progress Wheels enable movement and journey, symbolizing progress, momentum, and humanity's drive forward. A turning wheel suggests active engagement with life rather than stasis.

The Sun and Cosmic Order Ancient wheel symbols often represented the sun's movement across the sky. The wheel embodies cosmic order, celestial cycles, and divine patterns governing existence.

Dharma and Spiritual Law In Buddhism, the Dharma Wheel (dharmachakra) represents the Buddha's teachings and the path to enlightenment. Its spokes symbolize the Eightfold Path, while its circular form suggests the completeness of truth.

Suffering and Liberation The wheel of samsara represents the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that traps beings in suffering. Breaking free from the wheel symbolizes spiritual liberation or enlightenment.

Unity and Wholeness The wheel's circular form with spokes radiating from a central hub represents unity within diversity—many paths leading to one center, or the integration of parts into a harmonious whole.

Time and Impermanence The ever-turning wheel symbolizes time's relentless passage and change's inevitability. Nothing remains fixed on a spinning wheel.

Human Innovation As one of humanity's greatest inventions, the wheel symbolizes ingenuity, technological advancement, and the human capacity to reshape the world.

The wheel ultimately symbolizes movement itself—whether of fortune, time, spirit, or civilization—and the paradox that circular motion is both change and constancy.