Greater Arcana Study Group—The Chariot

Abrac

An erect and princely figure carrying a drawn sword and corresponding, broadly speaking, to the traditional description which I have given in the first part. On the shoulders of the victorious hero are supposed to be the Urim and Thummim. He has led captivity captive; he is conquest on all planes—in the mind, in science, in progress, in certain trials of initiation. He has thus replied to the Sphinx, and it is on this account that I have accepted the variation of Eliphas Lévi; two sphinxes thus draw his chariot. He is above all things triumph in the mind.

It is to be understood for this reason (a) that the question of the sphinx is concerned with a Mystery of Nature and not of the world of Grace, to which the charioteer could offer no answer; (b) that the planes of his conquest are manifest or external and not within himself; (c) that the liberation which he effects may leave himself in the bondage of the logical understanding; (d) that the tests of initiation through which he has passed in triumph are to be understood physically or rationally and (e) that if he came to the pillars of that Temple between which the High Priestess is seated, he could not open the scroll called Tora, nor if she questioned him could he answer. He is not hereditary royalty and he is not priesthood.

Abrac

Levi’s Chariot

Levi call it the Cubic Chariot and the Chariot of Hermes. Waite has made it a cubic chariot indeed; the Charioteer is rising from a solid block of stone. This could be one reason he left out the cubic throne for the Emperor.

From Waite's description, the Charioteer sounds like a practitioner of the Hermetic sciences, a lot more like a magus than The Magician.

Most likely Waite says on his shoulder are supposed to be Urim and Thummim because that’s what Levi calls them.

The designs on his belt look like signs of the zodiac and planets. The designs on his skirt probably come from the Appendix of this document. It shows talismans created from the geomantic figures. I created an illustration showing the figures that match the designs on the skirt. Taken together, the belt and skirt could symbolize the Charioteer's mastery of heaven and earth.

Skirt Designs

Yelell

Abrac said:
The designs on his belt look like signs of the zodiac and planets. The designs on his skirt probably come from the Appendix of this document. It shows talismans created from the geomantic figures. I created an illustration showing the figures that match the designs on the skirt.

Skirt Designs

I've trying to identify all of the symbols on the blanket on the 9 of swords and noticed each version (pam A, B, C, D) is a little different there.
(The links to the scans of the Pamela A, B, C, D decks:http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=152736)
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The chariot has some differences too between the A/D and the B/C.
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Abrac

True, good catch.

Abrac

In Masonry, the symbolism of the Rough Ashlar and Perfect Ashlar are used to describe the course man and refined man respectively. The stone is merely a symbol; the real work of refinement is to the man himself. This may have been what Waite was trying to illustrate by this strange symbol. The man has been refined and polished to a state of perfection, much like the stone with which he's fused; but like the stone, his refinement is on an external level only.

ASHLAR: This is defined by Bailey as "Freestone as it comes out of the quarry." In speculative Freemasonry we adopt the ashlar, in two different states, as symbols in the Apprentice's Degree. The Rough Ashlar, or stone in its rude and unpolished condition, is emblematic of man in his natural state—ignorant, uncultivated, and vicious. But when education has exerted its wholesome influence in expanding his intellect, restraining his passions, and purifying his life, he then is represented by the Perfect Ashlar, which, under the skillful hands of the workmen, has been smoothed, and squared, and fitted for its place in the building.—Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

Yelell

Abrac said:
Most likely Waite says on his shoulder are supposed to be Urim and Thummim because that’s what Levi calls them.

Why do you think they're there? It's funny about the faces on the shoulders, since "He is not hereditary royalty and he is not priesthood," and a search of Urim and Thummim references the breastplate of the High Priest.

They are on some of the TdM decks too, not only on the chariot, and looking through some of the old threads I haven't yet been able to find a consensus as to what they are.

Looking for a historical example where there might have actually been faces on shoulder plates, I did see this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauldron

"A pauldron (sometimes spelled pouldron or powldron) is a component of plate armor, which evolved from spaulders in the 15th century. A pauldron typically consists of a single large dome-shaped piece to cover the shoulder (the "cop") with multiple lames attached to it to defend the arm and upper shoulder"

The example picture on that page has a face on it.

Abrac

In Transcendental Magic Eliphas Levi says:

. . .the Urim and Thummim were the above and beneath, the East and West, the yes and no, and these signs corresponded to the two Pillars of the Temple, Jakin and Boaz.

and

. . . on his shoulders the Urim and Thummim of the sovereign sacrificer, represented by the two crescents of the moon in Gedulah (Chesed) and Geburah;

So I think in Levi’s mind they represented the moon in its waxing (right shoulder of the Charioteer; Chesed; side of mercy)—and waning (left shoulder; Geburah; side of severity). Levi refers to “the yes and no” so perhaps a waxing moon indicates a yes, or favorable outcome, and a waning one indicates no, or unfavorable.

I don’t know if the crescents ever had any significance originally beyond decoration; they might have. I think Levi just thought, hey those look like they could make good Urim and Thummim. No one knows what the Urim and Thummim originally looked like.

The Charioteer's not a priest, but Waite says he's "conquest on all planes" including "certain trials of initiation." So he's had some formal training, part of which probably includes divination.

Teheuti

Re: Moons on shoulders

Yelell said:
Why do you think they're there? It's funny about the faces on the shoulders, since "He is not hereditary royalty and he is not priesthood," and a search of Urim and Thummim references the breastplate of the High Priest.

According to Oswald Wirth, the Charioteer wears moon crescents on his shoulders to indicate that his emotional moods are under his command, and giving “to the right arm power over what grows and to the left arm over what wanes.”

The moons on the shoulders could intuition and the emotions that rule Cancer. They show the waxing and waning moon, the ebb and flow of emotive tides, the theatrical faces of comedy (joy) and tragedy (sorrow), and the dual face of the Roman god Janus that sees into both past and future.

Abrac

"But the great work of Human Reconstruction may be begun by any person vitally interested therein, even in his own house, and in his own family. It is indeed there that it should and must begin. The domestic hearth is the true Mystic Lodge of the New Life, and the Masonic and Rosicrucian analogies which abound therein may be elaborated with more profit than any vindication of Solomon’s Temple spiritualized. There should we look to find the perfect Ashlar in the Master of the Household, and the great process of the hewing of the Rough Ashlar in the shaping of the Youth of the Household."—Azoth, or, The Star in the East, p. 117.

Waite's Chariot certainly illustrates this. He describes the Charioteer as a "princely figure" and in the above quote describes a "Youth." The Charioteer is in the process of evolving into a higher being but isn't yet a Master.

Greater Arcana Study Group—The Chariot

Abrac

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Yelell

Attachments

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Yelell

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Teheuti

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