The Chariot

Traditionally, The Chariot is victory, will, progress, self-control, a journey undertaken with purpose. In Rider-Waite-Smith teaching an armoured figure in a stone vehicle, black and white sphinxes, a city behind, a starry canopy, a wand or sceptre, the river at the edge. Waite's Chariot is triumph that still has to be steered.

The traditional note is: you can do this. Drive. Win. Hold the opposites together and move. Keep that. Then look. A chariot can be mastery. It can be a parade. The sphinxes and the hands will tell you which.

Look at the sphinxes. Black and white, sitting, not obviously yoked by visible reins on many printings. How is he driving? Look at the city behind. He has left it. Why show the walls if the victory is already won?

Armour, skirt of armour, a crown, stars on the canopy, alchemical signs on the chariot face. His wand is held, not a whip. Is he about to move, or posing as movement? The river is beside. Water, after all that stone.

Two sphinxes of opposite colour are opposing forces that must be aimed. Investigate whether they are cooperating, sulking, or about to pull apart.

The city is the life he is leaving or defending. The starry canopy is a sky he has made into a roof. Ask whether this is a journey or a box on wheels.

Gold, blue, the black and white of the sphinxes, city grey. If the gold feels like success, keep it. If the armour feels heavy in this question, keep that.

Seven as test, seeking, a will that has to prove itself. Light: directed progress. Shadow: winning as a personality, or a vehicle you cannot step down from.

Seven as test, seeking, a will that has to prove itself. Light: directed progress. Shadow: winning as a personality, or a vehicle you cannot step down from.

A common correspondence is Cancer. Armour over a soft inside, home behind, the crab's shell. That is one reason for the canopy and the city walls. Use it if this Chariot actually feels like protection on the move. If it is simply ambition, you may not need the sign.

Forward, contained, tense. Held opposites. Can feel like momentum. Can feel like a statue of momentum.

Will that can steer. Opposites aimed. A journey with a spine.

A parade of winning. Armour that will not come off. Two directions pretending to be one.

Seven. A test of will after The Lovers' choice. Strength is next, and she will put her hands on a lion instead of a vehicle. Number seven here is the proving. The Chariot is The Magician's will after it has chosen, after it has been blessed or refused by tradition, now on the road.

Where are the reins, and who is actually holding them?

What are the black sphinx and the white sphinx in this question?

Why leave the city, and what of the city is still in the cart?

Is this movement, or a statue of movement?

As outcome: a win or a journey. As advice: take the inner reins. As a problem: too much vehicle. After The Lovers, the choice is tested on the road. Before Strength, will is still outer. Next to The Tower, the vehicle may be the thing that cracks.

In the Practice Room, look only at The Chariot's sphinxes for thirty seconds. Write the two opposing forces in a current drive of yours. Then look at the driver's hands. Write whether you are holding those forces, posing with them, or being pulled.