AUTHOR’S NOTE: I was just reading an interesting observation that the Chariot symbolizes the “escape” of the bemused Lover from the moral dilemma confronting him in the sixth arcanum. He was standing at a crossroads between two women who sought his favor, hemmed in on both sides (with Eros hovering above) and needing to find a way to extricate himself and move on. Far from showing a “soulmate connection” or “twin-flame” scenario, the Renaissance version of the Lover is more about the consternation involved in facing a “no-win” situation; Camelia Elias dubbed it “a nasty card” in her first Tarot de Marseille book, so it’s not much wonder the poor guy wants to cut-and-run.

The Chariot signals that the young man has chosen an escape route and has left the scene. There are a couple of ways to determine his fate. When the card is upright in a reading, he may stand tall like the “good son” and take the right-hand fork to virtue, but when it is reversed (or otherwise “ill-dignified”) he could succumb to chaos and “walk on down the hall” like the “evil son” in Jim Morrison’s Oedipal mini-opera, “The End.” The cards following the Chariot will show how his decision will play out in practical terms, and at times his options bring to mind the child King Solomon proposed to cut in half with his sword.

In a purely archetypal sense, it is open to speculation whether he will take the “high road” and accept his “just desserts” (Justice, the next card in the traditional sequence of trumps), stepping nimbly over the barrier posed by the threatening sword in his face, or blow by all of the intervening milestones and take the “low road” straight to the Devil, the numerological counterpart of the Lover (1+5=6). The Chariot is generally viewed as a fortunate card, but there is always its darker dimension to consider if it “goes off the rails.” In the TdM version of this card the two horses pulling the cart are poised to go in opposite directions, so they always have the option of rudely dumping the charioteer in the mud and running over him.

Esoterically, it is interpreted by A.E. Waite as “triumph on the material plane,” and more prosaically by modern writers as “rapid movement.” In my own practice I split the difference and define it as “movement toward a goal,” without weighing in on whether that goal is admirable or questionable. Much like the Wheel of Fortune, there is a certain “nobility” to it, but I wouldn’t take that notion too far since some authorities characterize the charioteer as an “adolescent” king or prince who has more enthusiasm than common sense. I’ve never been happy with the astrological correspondence of Cancer for this card because the typical Cancerian would rather stay home and have tea than go for a joyride in a chariot. I’ve gone as far as swapping Cancer and Jupiter between the Chariot and the Wheel of Fortune as preferable in both cases since the charioteer reminds me more of Steppenwolf’s “Jupiter’s Child” than the Beatles “Mr. Moonlight,” while the “yin-and-yang” of Cancer’s glyph seems more emblematic of the unpredictable changes wrought by the Wheel.

When it appears in a relationship reading, the implication is that the two parties are moving forward, either toward a shared objective or growing apart as one outpaces the other. Although the vehicle is standing still in the image, progress is indicated by its wheels (red in some decks) and by the steeds at the forefront (antithetically, when it is ill-favored I’m inclined to think that “the wheels came off” and the matter is going nowhere). In the best cases, that headway signifies salutary advancement, but such fortuity shouldn’t be assumed without contemplating where its path appears to be headed. If the following cards are favorable for success, all well and good, but if they aren’t there could be a few “stones in the passway,” as bluesman Robert Johnson put it, and a speeding Chariot isn’t great at swerving without overturning. (There was a threat my father used to level at us when we were being obnoxious kids back in the 1950s that seems to fit here: “You’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’!”)

When I encounter this card in a spread, I advise the querent to “hang on for the ride,” which could be exhilarating but also perhaps a bit bumpy. Contrary to appearances, the situation isn’t – or soon won’t be – static; momentum is building and a course must be charted around any obvious “boulders.” In one numerological approach to the tarot, the next iteration of Seven is the Star (as 17), so the suggestion is that the seeker must locate a “star to steer by” in setting the trajectory; otherwise it will be chosen by serendipity (or maybe by the Lover’s mother or girlfriend) since idleness is not “in the cards.” I previously examined the connections between the Lovers, the Chariot, the Devil and the Star in the following essay:

https://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com/2018/07/05/down-to-the-crossroads/