Sauron - Physical form in The War of the Ring or not?

[blantyr]

"I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades."--Frodo

I interpreted "wheel of fire" as being the ring, not the eye. I always thought the 'eye', the ability to see far away, was drawn from the palantir of Minas Ithil. I won't spend the effort trying to correct alternate interpretations, there are too many of them.