The Gothic Tarot by Vargo - VII The Chariot

seneris

I just started reading all the posts of this study group. It's very interesting, and I certainly feel this will be a great help in understanding the gothic tarot better.

I think I have something to add to this card.
The number three is present here. The horses have a red gem on their forehead. Because of their glowing eyes, that also are red, the gem could almost seem like a 'third eye'. Three eyes.
 

September Pixie

Hmm I never thought to make a 3rd eye connection with this card.. possibly telling you to open yourself up more to your intuition.. pay closer attention to animal/wild/nature spirit.. seek inner guidence from yourself.
 

caridwen

There are two coach journeys at the beginning of Bram Stokers' Dracula. The first is where Jonathan is taken to Dracula's coach, the second is when Jonathan is taken to the castle of the count.

This card appears to be a mixture of the two as the horses look demonic with their red eyes but the driver doesn't look like the count. He doesn't look imposing enough for that. The Tarot of the Vampires shows a very similar coach, with the hand of Dracula hanging out the window so we know very well who the passenger is, here it is not so certain.

Although the driver does look like one of the undead to me, I'm going to settle for the first journey Jonathan takes for several reasons. The first is because this is a boundary crossing, Jonathan is moving totally away from everything he knows. He has spent the night surrounded by superstitious Europeans in an inn, before he leaves, his landlady places a cross around his neck for protection. he passes from the rational, the 'civilised' to the dark ages, a world ruled by superstition and fear.

My personal take on the Vargo Gothic is that the trees are representative of irrational fear and this carriage is surrounded by them. The fog is illusion, it hides what's real and Jonathan is travelling further and further into unreality. Into the darkest recesses of the subconscious, the unexplored, the 'forest' of the mind. Before he takes this fateful journey the landlady of the Inn tells him, "It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" Thus the scene is set for his journey.

Jonathan talks of being an English Church goer and how he regards such superstition as idolatrous nonsense. He accepts the crucifix nonetheless and the driver sets off with 'feverish haste'. As they near their destination, the Borgo Pass, the driver and passengers become more and more terrified. It's worth quoting this journey in full:

"When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement amongst the passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as though urging him to further speed. He lashed the horses unmercifully with his long whip, and with wild cries of encouragement urged them on to further exertions. Then through the darkness I could see a sort of patch of grey light ahead of us, as though there were a cleft in the hills. The excitement of the passengers grew greater. The crazy coach rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a stormy sea. I had to hold on. The road grew more level, and we appeared to fly along. Then the mountains seemed to come nearer to us on each side and to frown down upon us. We were entering on the Borgo Pass. One by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial. These were certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that same strange mixture of fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at Bistritz-- the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye. Then, as we flew along, the driver leaned forward, and on each side the passengers, craning over the edge of the coach, peered eagerly into the darkness. It was evident that something very exciting was either happening or expected, but though I asked each passenger, no one would give me the slightest explanation. This state of excitement kept on for some little time. And at last we saw before us the Pass opening out on the eastern side. There were dark, rolling clouds overhead, and in the air the heavy, oppressive sense of thunder. It seemed as though the mountain range had separated two atmospheres, and that now we had got into the thunderous one. I was now myself looking out for the conveyance which was to take me to the Count. Each moment I expected to see the glare of lamps through the blackness, but all was dark. The only light was the flickering rays of our own lamps, in which the steam from our hard-driven horses rose in a white cloud." (Dracula, Chp One)

Jonathan gets into Dracula's' carriage, which is driven by the count. The horses are terrified at the wolves that seem to be following the carriage and the count soothes them. Here we come to the more traditional meaning of the Chariot, of opposing forces brought under control by sheer force of will. A weaker man, indeed a mortal, would probably have had no chance at controlling those horses but the count uses all his strength the bring them under control, he then gets down and soothes them like an animal whisperer. Later they are surrounded by wolves which again terrifies the horses yet the count is able to command them to leave and the horses are once again under his control.

This is Jonathan's journey into 'the heart of darkness'. One that will mark him forever, it nearly brings about his death. He leaves all he knows and journeys into a strange land governed by ancient folklore, superstition and fear.