The Chariot as Soul card

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 25 May 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

DeLani	25 May 2003
After reading the thread on VII Awareness, it came to me that I have finally figured out how the Chariot is my Soul & Personality card. Of course, I figured it by my birthdate as per Mary Greer, but I never felt really connected to the card. It just didn't seem approprate to me. Now suddenly, a flash of insight. I have constantly struggled with an internal conflict: on the one hand, I want a stable, comfortable home life surrounded by my books and my computer to write on. On the other, I want to travel so bad I can't stand it! But I don't have the time or the money to go anywhere. I feel pulled, torn, ripped between these two seemingly opposite desires. Oh! Yeah! Like the Charioteer, and the two opposing beasts! So I must find a way to make the two compatible and work together! Duh! So how does one reconcile the two beasts? What does the Charioteer mean to you?

bec	25 May 2003
How to get the beasts to run straight so to speak. Think with your mind and feel with your heart. As "simple" as that....... For you this means: wanting security and stability in house AND wanting to travel and exploring - has to be set up in black and white. You feel the need for a home You feel the urge for travel You already have a home, so that need is fulfilled Make a plan/scedule for how to get time and money for travel. Let the mind do the thinking. You say:>on the one hand, I want a stable, comfortable home life surrounded by my books and my computer to write on. On the other, I want to travel so bad I can't stand it! BUT I don't have the time or the money to go anywhere. I feel pulled, torn, ripped between these two seemingly opposite desires.< There is no solution here, you take away the posibility to act upon your desire of travel. By rephrasing this sentence to a simple: I want a stable, comfortable home life AND fulfill my need for travel. I want to travel so badly AND I will find a way to do so. The new phrase gives you strenght and posibility to ACTION - let the mind do the thinking and let the heart dream Hopes this helps you on your way :)

DeLani	25 May 2003
That is so beautiful! Thank you for the advice! So you're a Chariot too...how do you feel it relates to you? Any other Charioteers out there?

Hedera	25 May 2003
Yup, I'm a 'double chariot' as well..... ;) Always did have trouble relating the card to myself, but that may have something to do with the preference tarot artists seem to have for putting men with facial hair on this card. DeLani, I recognized so much of myself in your post! And Bec, your advice made perfect sense! I guess the card feels more as a challenge for my life than as a description.

bec	26 May 2003
How the chariot fits in my life ? Well I am 31 now and still learning to tame the beasts :) My problem in life is that the heart is aloud way to much interfeering in rational thinking. Such a mess when that happens. I believe the lesson in a charioteer's life is how to make priorities and act upon them, a life lesson that can be so much fun learning. And with the chariot in p/s, the tower follows in the shadow - which for me anyway means - that I have found my self so many times, believing, "oh yea this time I got it right baby!" only to see the fog lift and the tower falling. What I also see when that happens, as ofcourse it is annoying always having to walk around gathering bricks for a new tower, is that it made me stronger and even more determined to both "conquer and defeat" my destiny of beasts running wild inside me.

NeXoRiouS	26 May 2003
I am Triple 7. I do have two paths to choose from so it's like traumatic for me. Always have determination which the chariot possesses. Guess it will help.

DeLani	26 May 2003
Wow, Bec, what you said about the tower is spooky...I did the "Strange spread that digs deep" about how to reconcile my need to travel, and what needed to be manifested was the tower! Yikes! I don't like the tower! Confusing because on the one hand, the chariot tells you to use your will power, to manifest/build what you want. But the tower tells you to release your will, that what you've built must fall. huh???

bec	26 May 2003
with that kind of interpret of the tower I understand very well why it spooks you :) The chariot not only tell you to use your will power and determination - it tells you to set priorities and act upon them. The tower is only falling - if what you so strongly believed in and built was a mere illusion, a reflection on your wannabes. There is nothing wrong or bad about having a tumbling tower in your life :P as long as you recognize it for what it is really. What does it mean? that travel for you is impossible ?? It costs loads of money......... so It takes time...........................so It takes for you to leave house .................aha with a saving, a calendar and a house sitter - tadahh you are on your way. But notice the contradiction in the leaving/travel part. There you see the tower. What are you doing here? (just setting examples) Do you dream of travel because it is safe as it will never happen anyway? Are you even sure of where to go on this travel ? Would a minor travel do ? Is it merely a dream of escaptism? Do you like to live in a prison? Do you like to live in a prison ? This is what tower is asking you, trying to teach you how to make priorities, KNOW what thy dreams are made of. Whenever we do something half-way, the tower is likely to fall, as we did not have solid ground under it, we did not know what fabric the fantasies were woven in. The tower is not bad as I see it, not at all - tower shows us how important it is for the charioteer to set priorties and take action upon his believes.

Moongold	26 May 2003
Hi Delani, bec, Hedera, NeXorius....another Double Chariot here... Listen folks..........we're lucky to have the Chariot so that we can make a quick get-away when the Tower comes tumbling down :D :D Chariot is ruled by the Moon through Cancer so there is quite a lot to this image. It can represent true will and courage. Its presence, especially in double strength, possibly indicates that your life's purpose is to manage change. In the Tree of Life, Chariot is on the path of challenge and understanding. Everything about this image is relevant to change. The black and the white horse in tradional RWS Tarots -- which way do you go? It is a deep card....

NeXoRiouS	26 May 2003
Full of determination, never feeling afraid and always being daring but always to find out what I have believed in was just a mere reflection of the truth. Though knowing I am diverted from the truth, my relentless spirit still supports in by reconstructing this fallacy into reality which oftenly shows up in vain. This is me. Maybe the effect of the chariot and tower could just affect my vision thus creating mirages. Fortunately, it isn't much of a problem as it only slightly irritates me.

Alex	26 May 2003
I can't get my butt anywhere for too long and for that reason I barely ever feel like I drive the car. Just.... steer the wheels and cross my fingers it won't crash. I kinda feel sorry for the ones who come accross in my way though. I can't hold onto anything ... the visa is about to expire ... the work permit fails to come in time...then the only school that accepts me is in another country... and there I go. Within a few years, the same thing over again. Since I were born, I have moved so many times that I lost the count. And some of it was absolutely not my fault. My parents were out-of-control chariotters themselves. Whay don't I go home, settle down, live like a human being? No idea. The very thought gives me the shivers, fobia almost. May be I should see a therapist. Alex.

galadrial	27 May 2003
Hi, I'm a double Chariot also. I've found the following description helpful; it is from Angeles Arrien's "Tarot Handbook" and is a description of the Chariot as a Life-Time spiritual symbol: "Chariot people need variety and are successful in executing multiple tasks at the same time. If this is your life-time spiritual card, change and variety are necessary components in your life. For you, it is not a question of what it is that you want to do, but how many things you can do simultaneously. You can stay in one situation, personally and professiounally, if it provides the variety and challange that you need and want. You are constantly balancing your needs for quietude and activity, and implementing changes in your life that are both nurturing and fortunate (my note: she bases this on the fact that the Charioteer in the Thoth deck is holding a Wheel of Fortune in his hands). There are five times out of the year where it is essential that you experience movement, change , and activity in your life which are represented by Cancer, the crab and the four animals in front of the chariot (my note: she is referring to the Thoth deck). Those months of the year are: 1) Aquarius (January 21-February 21), which is the most restless time of year for you; therefore it is a good month to initiate new projecsts or do something entirely different. This is represented by the human head and human feet in front of the chariot. 2) Taurus, the bull (April 21- May 21) is your most active and productive month. It is a time to implement and produce in tangible ways that which is important to you. 3) Cancer, the Crab (June 21- July 21) is an important time to actively nurture, comfort, and support yourself. It is an essential time to support your needs for quietude, nurturement, and reconnection with family and extended family. 4) Leo, the lion, (July 21- August 21) is the time to be open to new creative opportunities, to explore avenues of your creativity that have been dormant, and to dynamically express your creativity without reservation. 5) Scorpio, the bird (October 21- Novermber 21) is the best time of year to make emotional decesions or to act upon what has heart and meaning for you. The Scorpio month allows you to make emotional decisions that are importnat to you which ignite and motivate the need for new experiences in Aquarius, find you busy and productive in Taurus, actively nurtured in the month of Cancer, and open to new opportunities and creative expression in the month of Leo. With the Chariot as your life-time spiritual symbol, you enjoy family and home for the stability that it provides; you love to travel, and do multiple things at the same time. You are a natural generator, motivator, and stimulator. You have an equal love for quietude and activity. If things become too boring in relationships of in work, you will generate change to break the monotony. For you, movement and quietude in combination are essential. Too much quietude is intolerable and dull. Activity that produces unseen results is anxiety-producing. Change is importnant as long as it produces some kind of tangible result." Here is another neat description of the Chariot (written for Cancers, but I think it would apply to non-Cancers who have the Chariot as their soul or personality card), and a pic of the Thoth Chariot as well: www.novareinna.com/constellation/cancertarot.html

firemaiden	28 May 2003
Quote: Originally posted by DeLani So how does one reconcile the two beasts? What does the Charioteer mean to you? The Chariot as Soul Card makes sense, because the Chariot IS the allegory of the Soul. As per Plato -- balancing Passion and Reason! See Plato´s Allegory of the Chariot

DeLani	29 May 2003
Galadrial - That passage was so incredibly accurate. My need to have both quietude and changes drives everyone around me crazy - like I can't make up my mind. But I can - I just need each in their proper time! The rest of the passage was so right on too. Alex - wow - I totally relate. I have been such a 'gypsy' all my life too. I think it was the anxiety of so many moves as a kid that I'm so uptight and want to create a stable, permanent home. Which doesn't seem to be able to happen. I often toy around with the idea of living in an RV and traveling around, but the thought of no real home makes me sick. Plus, where would I keep my precious books? And what about my cats? Couldn't do it. I have traveled before. I went to Mexico twice, staying about a month each time, and saw the entire Gulf coast down to the ruins of Palenque, plus Oaxaca, Cholula, and Zipolite (Pacific Coast, just north of Puerto Escondido). I loved it so much! I loved the adventure, learning about different cultures, and seeing the cool ruins. I have always dreamed of being a writer for National Geographic. Truly, the only thing keeping me/us from traveling like that again is the money. But since I have had so much misfortune in my life, I am thinking that I'm not doing something right, that I'm missing some important lesson, and that until I "get it," I won't be able to have the life I want (quietude and change, travel and comfortable home, etc.) Of course, there is the distinct possiblity that the reason we don't have money and I can't get the life I want is that we are members of the oppressed class of workers in the capitalist system. Even so, I have to find a way out of that too!

Alex	29 May 2003
is through". C.G.Jung Quote: Originally posted by DeLani Of course, there is the distinct possiblity that the reason we don't have money and I can't get the life I want is that we are members of the oppressed class of workers in the capitalist system. Even so, I have to find a way out of that too!

oceanpoetry	30 May 2003
I am also the "Chariot" ... I was surprised by this at first, but realize it actually does fit me. I tend to take on new projects with lots of enthusiasm and enjoy having a lot of "pans in the fire" at one time. I also feel that conflict between wanting to settle down while at the same time, travel and see new places. I am also a Cancer sun-sign which also fits for the "Chariot"...I think it is important for Chariots to find balance in their life.

The The Chariot as Soul card thread was originally posted on 25 May 2003 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.