TAROT - THE CHARIOT

 

Hello All!

I have surprised myself that I am now starting to move forward with the JOURNEY OF LIFE Tarot Series. I had a bit of a slow burn start and knew I could only do this series as /when I could.  I have recently managed to write up two more cards and now another one. I am hoping to get through them for all those who have been so patient and asking when they might be complete. Theres a bit of a way to go before that...but meanwhile I intend to press on and this card comes next.

The Chariot - 7th Card in Major Arcana.   Major Arcana cards are very strong serious cards to come up in readings because when receiving them it is quite obvious that there is something specific relating to that card that could bring forward major changes in some way. They are cards to take note of. Pip cards are the rest of the pack and they are the 'little detail', Major Arcana will give you the big gun information, the revelation which the little pips might be able to explain further. Sometimes however cards of each can be shuffled up.  Lets not digress too much and lets talk about this AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL card ...The Chariot.  I am very generous with my feelings when describing how it comes across to me personally and why ?  Because this card can change so much!

Again there are a lot of elements on this card that would take quite some time to explain. The detail is quite fascinating. When I saw the Chariot card for the first time I could see Egypt. I could sense Alexander the Great in his Chariot racing in the wind with his horses manes tumbling helplessly in the force of breeze, probably with a skewer sticking out of his wheel to damage other chariots in his way. He is out to win and risking everything even a wheel falling off, but that wont stop him!

Imagination with Tarot is natural with cards like these.   This is a 7 card.  The Highest Chakra number - the Spiritual element  - the GOAL.   Yes its possible it can signify that number as a month ie July or have some other numerical significance, but it is not necessarily a 'given'. This man on this Chariot is actually on the move but did you know that this card is linked to CANCER and what is linked to Cancer?  - the HOME and Water.  The Rune for 'Home' is OTHILA. Those that work with Rune divination would know this. I expect your thinking 'huh'?   how can a Chariot be linked to home if this guy is in a Chariot.? Hes not at home, hes out somewhere, hes travelling. Ha! and I would say to you..........what do Snails do?  do they leave their 'homes' and travel off without them? No they dont. They ARE their home right?  some travellers travel IN their home they do not necessarily travel AWAY from home. They are one and the same thing.   Water? that relates to the emotional aspects of the card/situation.This person is COMFORTABLE.

It was thought that the Egyptians 'crossed the night sky in their 'boats (vehicles) across the 'Duad' ' and this card represents them.   Those that wished for the afterlife planned for their journey. They took EVERYTHING of value with them. Many artefacts were buried with them, important things, the IMPORTANT THINGS that meant something to them in life - things from their home to comfort/protect them and stay with them on the journey and in the afterlife. Some of the things buried with them were rather sad such as their dogs which might have been mummified.   Lets not go too deep into that, but the Egyptians come across so strong in this card. Look at the Sphinx heads. We look at this card and call them horses but of course the mane of a horse and the head dress of the Sphinx are intermingled into a combined symbolic representation here. 

In short we could say, ah, this is a car, man goes on a trip. NOT really as simple as that! As we say that, we do acknowledge that a VEHICLE is in this card and can be used/represent a vehicle in any issue. That is a fair surmise. Look again at the card - one white horse, one black horse (we will call them horses for the sake of it - we often call cars 'workhorses' dont we because we use our transportation for many reasons. Could be a van for business loads or huge campervan for family outings etc .  This card will tell you a 'vehicle' of some kind.   Those horses are important though. One is Black and one is White!  What would that say?  Ever heard the saying 'Nothing is black or white'?  exactly! and a closer look shows you that this vehicle has a canopy. A canopy could be the Trunk of the car, it is a hood of some kind, the bonnet, it could be a truck that is open at the back with a coverlet/tarpauline on it, or it could represent a good strong vehicle that has a good roof on it. This card is like ARMOUR.  It is not infallible though!  Far too many gaps to fall out of.   

There is also a red cross symbol.  This could represent an AMBULANCE. A warning vehicle like perhaps a petrol tanker or something with hazardous liquids in it for example. We could go on with many many explainations of this card. At least, I know I can.  

Meanwhile, we have this Chariot. A man is standing in there and he is behind the horses and the driver.   We have to adapt this card into the Journey of Life and that is very easy to do. We just left the Lovers card and Im sure you may have read all about that. We were at the stage of life where we were pretty much sure of ourselves (do go back and read to save re-writing). Now when we hit the Chariot, we are AWARE of Dangers.  The man in this card is SHOWING you the red cross here. He knows about Danger, he might have experienced it . Danger really should represent RISK. I would rather use that word for now.  This man gets into this vehicle and like everyone knows you take a RISK. How do you know what will happen on the road that day?  everything in life is a gamble.  But this man? he is BOLD. Not only is he BOLD he is CONFIDENT. Very very CONFIDENT. We get to this stage in life and we are pretty much aware of all the risks. We know of them, we might have experienced them but we THINK we can take the RISK because we believe we can HANDLE them. 

The man in the Chariot is definitely handling /steering the horses/sphinx. It is the stage of life where we pretty much feel in control. We are 'driving' towards a goal/place, ambition etc and we are pretty sure we are going to win/get there/achieve.   We are not going to overthink this thing , we are just going straight to our destination.  We are mentally prepared, we worked things out, we know what we are doing - all systems go.     We are NOT going to think about NOT arriving/problems/setbacks because we have it sewn up mentally. 

Of course the reverse of this card is going to tell us not to be so BIG HEADED! NOT TO BE SO SURE. But, we are not talking about that. We are talking about the POSITIVES of a situation and even though we are aware of the negatives in our head somewhere (the red cross/dangers/risks) we are ok with that.    So this is a very strong card emotionally, mentally. We wont let anything or anyone get in our way. After all, who stands in front of a moving car?? we know we can just head straight to goal/destination. We plan to do that.    It should be easy right?  YES? no!  It is wise to remember that cars need experience, they need petrol, they need someone who can handle difficulties on the path of the journey. If we see a red light, we stop. If we see the green light we go. We cannot tell what is exactly ON this journey We must be prepared to HANDLE what is on the journey. 

In life,we are the same. We get to the point of this card. We know that problems do exist and we through experience learn how to handle those, what to do, how to get over those hiccups, problems, hold ups.   We have a determination about us. We  have a goal we want to conquer and will readily accept all that is on the way to get that. This card is VERY STRONG as well as very bold. If the driver knows how the car handles they UNITE the experience of man and the machine . If that is not united there is going to be accident !   Same with situations. If a situation or time of life needs others to make it work as this is about MAKING THINGS WORK, uniting FORCES then we are going to succeed in our journey/quest.  

Here then we are BOLD, take RISKS, are more AWARE, accept problems COULD arise, we are CONFIDENT, we are VICTORIOUS, we are ASSURED regardless of how this journey turns out. 

Our horses or sphinx show us one horse going straight and the other slightly off kilter...this would interpret to me the ability to 'allow for leeway' be prepared for 'situations' to not always be smooth and that is also why we have suspension in vehicles to take the bumps of life but the card still rolls!

This card is full of verve and momentum, get up and go - yes lets do it - to hell with the consequences we know how to handle them. A very determined card. Like the Egyptians prepared for their afterlife journey they were mummified with articles which would protect them. The canopy of this vehicle is suggesting the same thing. That we feel safe and protected at  all times regardless of any negative possibilities.  Steady as you go chaps!

Dont forget this is a short representation of this card because there is still so much more to say but keeping it BRIEF we are covering the aspect of life for the purpose of our philosophical journey.

I hope you will join me for the next part of JOURNEY OF LIFE Tarot Series where we will be looking at the STRENGTH card.

Empathy.

CHECK THE OTHER CARDS SO FAR!

TAROT - THE JOURNEY OF LIFE - EXPLORATORY