Trump VII & Platonic Vehicle of the Soul

[nigromancer700]

In the light of trump VII 'The Chariot' in the TdM Franco-Milanese ordering...I was thinking about the possibile thematic connection
between card VII 'The Chariot' and the Platonic concept of the
vehicle or chariot of the soul drawn by two horses described by
Plato in the 'Phaedrus' : ' "Of the nature of the soul, though her
true form be ever a theme of large and more than mortal discourse,
let me speak briefly, and in a figure. And let the figure be
composite-a pair of winged horses and a charioteer."

Thereafter Plato's metaphor is developed and refined as the concept
of the subtle vehicle (Greek -Ochema : 'Chariot, vehicle')
or 'astral body' by' by a line of Platonist thinkers such as
Olympiodorus, Damascius,Proclus - the concept passed into the
Byzantine Renaissance amongst philosophers such as Michael Psellus
and Nicephorus Gregoras and is resumed in the 'luminosi corporis
amictus' described by Macrobius and the mention of this idea as
the 'leves currus' or 'light vehicle/chariot' in Boethius (Consol.
Philos. III.9).

E.R.Dodds in his edition of Proclus' 'Elements of
Theology' states that the idea of the Platonic Chariot/Ochema -

'remains a familiar idea throughout the Middle Ages'

and remarks: 'How deeply it impressed the imagination of Dante may
be seen from Purgatorio XXV. 88 ff.'In this Canto of Purgatorio
Virgil calls upon Statius, who delivers a lengthy discourse on the
relationship of the soul to the body, touching on the generation of
the body, on the soul breathed into the embryo by the Creator, and
finally on the nature and formation of the diaphanous body.

One might speculate that if this 'The Chariot' might well
be the medieval depiction of Plato's 'chariot of the soul' as
the 'diaphanous body', 'subtle vehicle' or 'astral body' of man the
microcosm (the 'parvus mundus' or 'little world' of the Steele
Sermon) coming at the end of the first 7 trumps which depict
the 'World of Man', then the chariot of the Church described by
Dante in Purgatorio Canto 29, the 'settentrion' or 'wain of heaven'
represents on a higher level the Church as the 'Mystical Body' of
Christ.

(Incidentally in discussion long past on another list a certain
party dismissed the notion of this medieval Platonic idea
influencing the iconography of the trump as a modern occult idea
from Eliphas Levi - this is an entirely erroneous assertion without
any factual basis. Levi nowhere mentions Plato's 'Ochema' in
connection with this card or in any other connection but instead
advances his usual Cabalistic speculations.)

The possible identification of this card as the Ochema of
medieval Platonic philosophy such as the 'leves currus' of Boethius
remains and as the Chariot is the trump 7 of Tdm ordering here we should recall Cornelius Agrippa's words in 'De Occulta Philosophia' about the Pythagorean idea of the Heptad, the number 7 as the 'vehiculum of human life' and that some Minchiate decks have a device of 'Vivo,Vivo' written upon 'The Chariot' - the distinct possibility that this card indeed represents an emblem of the `aethereum animae vehiculum' as conceived in the late Middle Ages remains viable.

best
Nigel

 

[memries]

Your post is most interesting. While I am not qualified in any way to comment I will be very interested in following any replies you may receive.

 

[mythos]

Interesting and timely. I have just finished reading Robert M Place's book Tarot History, Symbolism and Divination. He not only discusses the Chariot with regard to the Chariot in the Phaedrus, but also uses Plato's 3 'soul' levels from the Republic as a theoretical framework in which to place the 3 X 7 levels of the Majors. It is a very seductive argument, especially given the Neoplatonism prevalent in the period of Tarot's development in the mid to late 1400's Northern Italy.

mythos

 

[kwaw]

Plato's republic is also of interest in relation the early painted decks in which the world card is an idealised city; for the humanists circles of both the Visconti-Sforza and d'Este courts identified Plato's idealised city with the New Jerusalem and the Augustinian 'city of god' [for example by Decembrio, secretary of the Duke of Milan], and used such in propaganda of their own city states. The choice of the scene of Judgement would also fit in with a platonic or neo-platonic discourse of the 15th and 16th century. Virtually all commentaries and interpretations of Plato in the 15th century 'defended' the relevance of Plato to a Christian audience by refering to his references to judgement after death. The symbolism of the 'penis' in the hand of the Noblet magician [perhaps also phallic allusions elsewhere in some decks perhaps, the animal attacking the genitals of the fool, the phallic crosspiece of the popesse, the genitals on the staff/wind of the devil] could also perhaps relate to neo-platonic themes of dismemberment.

The following thread also has discussion on the number seven and the chariot as vehicle of life; plus some discussion on the fool and magician in relation to Ficino, Eros and Plato's symposium:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=45870

Kwaw

 

[jmd]

To my mind their is little doubt that one of the implied reference of the Chariot is of the three parts of the Soul as described by Plato.

Even the manner in which one of the horses is often depicted on various Marseille decks as being dark or more malformed suggests a connection. Of course, as with any symbolic representation, I also would not want to claim a limit of the depiction as solely depicting Plato's charioteer.

A thread from 2002 (Cf my post 6) also makes mention of this: VII The Chariot - check also my card description for the first Aeclectic Community Project in 2001: Chariot.

 

[Myrrha]

Thank you for posting this, Nigel.

Maybe this is why the horses drawing the chariot in the Visconti-Sforza chariot have wings.

--Myrrha