I’ve had a tarot card stalking me lately. The Chariot has come up several times in recent weeks.
The Chariot is a major arcana card, which means it deals with big life lessons rather than day-to-day matters. The basic meaning of the card centers around determination and willpower.
The picture above is from the Light Seer’s Tarot. I like this deck’s version because we can clearly see that the driver is controlling the horses without any reins. In fact, they’re not even attached to the caravan. He is using the power of his thoughts to steer.
One horse is white and the other black. We have to make decisions about the best path forward. We often feel pulled in different directions. It’s like the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. They can be logic and emotions. Needs and wants. Or the short term versus the long term. The dilemma is how to coax both “horses” toward the same goal.
There’s so much going on in this card that I love. The horses look wild and powerful. The driver isn’t sitting comfortably; he’s squatting on the roof looking at where he’s headed. There’s magic surrounding everything.
What’s the lesson here? For me, it’s deciding where I’m going next in life. I’ve been coasting spiritually. I’m spending too much time doing what’s right for the group (family in all its permutations) and not enough doing what’s best for me. I’m frequently frazzled and not doing the things that recharge me, like exercising, meditating, and just being by myself. How can I take inspired action to find balance? I love spending time with everyone. I don’t enjoy feeling burnt out.
The Chariot is advising me to decide what I want my life to look like and then control my inner and outer worlds. That, of course, is easier said than done, which is why this card is one of the major arcana, the big life lessons. But if I don’t control my life, others will. Those horses will run off in opposite directions, my “chariot” will either flip over or crash into something and nothing good will come of it.
We are the ones who choose who we want to be. And once we do, we should run toward that goal with conviction and consistent motion.