The Chariot - Do I Have a Discerning Balance?

I can't remember the last time I drew The Chariot. This is a card of balance, power, energy and discernment.

 Lately I have been doing a lot of praying for others, and for myself. I think many times the best prayers are for others, and prayers of thanksgiving. I know too I need to say prayers for myself. Mostly that my will be aligned with the God of my understanding. But sometimes I have to ask for help when I am up against it, and I have done all that I can do, and so I pray.

 The Chariot reminds me that when we are being pulled and pushed in different directions, we have to decide what we can and cannot do. Maintaining our focus on keeping our balance is perhaps all we can do even though we may feel and know that anything can happen. This is the way life is, and many of us try to simply keep our heads above water, or the struggles and hardships we have endured can give us strength to rise above, becoming better people, and we can help others in return, for what has been so freely given to us.

 I know that more often than not I can't often control what happens, but I can control how I respond to it. These days gratitude and having a sense of humour, is I think my default in life, and it really does help to keep things in perspective whatever else happens or is going on around me, and that doesn't have to dictate my behaviour and I can use discernment.

The Chariot - Harmony After The Shit Storm Was A Brewin

On Sunday past we've had a monster shit snow storm here in Nova Scotia, and were without power for about 28 hours, which meant no internet either. Though, I did do my daily draws, and wrote about them in my journal, I haven't been able to post anything, trying to get myself in gear with a big snow hangover.

This morning my good neighbour, God bless his big heart, came down totally unexpectedly with his big honkin' green and yellow chariot with a big front loader bucket, and plowed me out from under mounds and mounds of white stuff. I couldn't see out of my studio windows with the eight foot drifts piled up against the house. It was a doozy of a blizzard with gusting 100 kms winds lasting over 24 hours and into the next day. Lots of folks still haven't any power and some of the roads are still closed in the county, and in the Maritime provinces.

When you go without power in a Winter blizzard, for a length of time, you need to find a way to pace yourself, as the time seems to drag and you get impatient. Not unlike the driver of the Chariot, there is a struggle between the push and pull of opposing forces.On one hand you're stressed and upset, simultaneously you trying to keep calm.

Having a focus when we are faced with a difficult challenge is important, otherwise you'd go a little doolally, and I've had my moments, believe me, but living in the country most folks are prepared to fight the elements, much like Ares, the god of war, but here neighbours do help one another, which I am so grateful for.

Ares has two buddies, Fear (Deimos) and Terror (Phobos). With friends like these, who needs enemies right? Like Ares, some find the strength to challenge the enemies in the storms in life, and this can be a good thing, as long as it doesn't get destructive, because of extreme aggression.

Aphrodite and Ares had a love affair, and each god represents the two emotional spectrums of love and strife. From their relationship a child was born-Harmonia, whose name implies a balance between these two spectrums.

Just as I was about to finish today's post, the internet went down, again, for about two hours.  If I had use of my phone I would have given my internet provider a blast. The Chariot's good message is about gaining control of aggressive instincts, and to move from the immaturity of adolescence into adult maturity, and to know that the best approach to take when dealing with conflict and struggle is with harmony. These challenges can make for a stronger personality, regardless if I am feeling like my underwear is in a knot.

I'll remember and reflect on this post, next time I am facing another shit storm!
In the mean time, Chariot has special meaning to me this morning! It's so wonderful to be able to see out my studio windows, with a clear driveway! I am feeling most harmonious, and even grown up!

Yeii Spirit

The Chariot - Decisions

Interpreting this card on a intuitive level, The Chariot is about decision, trying to get from one place to another, moving forward safely, and surely. It is about weighing the pros and cons, harnessing the oppositional forces between knowing what I should do, what I want to do and about discernment.

 I am no different than any one in that, I fight with myself, can be my own worse enemy, self-sabotaging  my intentions and plans. The old adage of 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions' comes immediately to mind."

I have been re-reading and trying hard to not simply grasps the concepts, but the many truths in The Heroines Journey, Women's Quest For Wholeness, by Maureen Murdoch. I want to actualize these truths in my life, so as to lessen the fights I have with myself in order to become whole, mind, body and spirit.

Like The Fool this is the journey of life, and I am at a new chapter. I know this deep in my soul. If I do not  begin this journey it is to deny all that is youthful, creative, and that which is greater than myself.

The Fool - Egg Tempera on Porcelain Tile, 2015 - Catherine Meyers

Maintaining Focus - The Chariot

The Chariot symbolizing war or battle, is for many of us, what life often seems to be about. Fear, and terror can be our battle field. We spend time fighting situations, others, or even ourselves. Life shouldn't be about fighting, in a destructive sense, but be about advocating for ideals such as justice, freedom, and peace.

I have learned that I can advocate, for myself and for others, but if I really want to make a difference I also need to get organized to be effective warrior, in order to walk the talk.

Aggressive retaliation or reaction, results in a no win predicament. Passivity is not an answer either. A position of assertion is what I aim for in all aspects, and circumstances in life. I understand this is easier said than done, given our fight or flight instinct, and depending on the situation.

The message for me of the seventh Major Arcana card, is about having knowledge, truth, understanding, and discernment which act as our the sword and shield, the amour of wisdom, necessary before we decide to move forward toward the light. This is the better way to ensure a likely win, win outcome. We need an informed enthusiasm, to make the right decision. Other wise we have out of control, runaway horses.

Strength, self-assurance, and having an iron willed determination, must be creatively balanced, and harnessed with the spear of love, tempered with a healthy fear, a spiritual vision, and a clarity of mind, which will create order out of chaos. 


The harmonious blending of love and strife strengthens and develops our whole personality.

A very Happy New Year to all. My prayer is, that all will be enabled to balance the negative, and positive forces in life, to maintain our focus, to control of our lives, to achieve success in the now, and in the future.

The Chariot - Fear & Love

 This Major Arcana card, The Chariot is linked to the Moon, and to the astrological sign of Cancer.
 There are strong emotions here, but simultaneously it symbolizes balance between negative and positive, ying and yang, to achieve success in order to control the direction of one's life. It's been said that true love castes out fear.

Today I read a review of a late artist I love and deeply admire. The critic stated the particular artist reflected a constipated terror in his paintings. I thought this was a very negative and offensive thing to say, however I think it is a accurate description of the way fear can make you feel, leaving us emotionally drained, weak, powerless, and out of control,

 We must understand the nature of good and evil. Maintaining focus, attending to details, which can be difficult for many of us living in a hurried, and overindulgent world, particularly in the West. We can get caught up in our own problems, wants and needs, becoming myopic in our perception.

 We can't allow ourselves to be controlled by fear, but need to allow love to direct our lives.

The Chariot - War, Battle, Conflict, Struggle

The card of the day for me, is The Chariot.  This card is symbolic of war, battle, conflict and struggle, which may seem initially to be a negative thing, but if we allow ourselves, this struggle and conflict can give us strength of character, and great personal transformation, depending on our attitude. I have found this to be very much  the case personally. I have witnessed this inner strength, and courage in others, who have been, and are warriors.
Although it is necessary to face these conflicts and contradictions within ourselves, and cannot be avoided,  I have never found this to be easy, but it is all part of growing up, even becoming and adult!.
Resentment and aggression  are luxuries I can  no longer afford. I stopped carrying around a little gunny sack full of grudges toward others. I have learned to forgive others and myself.

The Chariot is the seventh card among  the 22  Major Arcana. The astrological sign Cancer and the Moon are linked with this card of conflicting animal urges and the inner instincts that can threaten to run away with us, if we do not learn to live in balance and harmony. This does not mean that we should repress our feelings, otherwise we loose our personal power, and ability to not just survive in spite of ourselves, but to thrive because of our selves, in finding our way, traveling along on the road of life.
Harnessing and balancing human nature, being pulled in opposing directions; will and action, the two horses, one black, one white symbolize this struggle that takes place within the human psyche, as we make daily decisions in our lives.


Ares, the God of War, is seen in bronze helmet and bronze armor over a blood-red tunic as he drives his war chariot. He wears a shield at his hip, and at his side is a large spear. He holds the reins of two horses, one black and one white, as they pull in opposite directions before him. The landscape is reddish and desert-like as a storm approaches.

War Symbolism (Chariot, Armor, Shield, Spear, etc)

• chariot is a symbol of war or battle
• chariot is the image of the mastery and mobility of gods and heroes
• armor identifies a warrior
• spear is a symbol of war and struggle, aggression or hostility
• spear represents that which may cut, pierce or injure
• spear represents phallic power and potency in both men and women
• an environment of hostility, aggression and oppression
• an internal struggle
• retaliation for previous thoughts, words or actions
• the need to consciously deal with problems that are struggling at the unconscious level
• the need to fight for what’s right
• the process of disintegration and reintegration
• abolishing disorder and creating order out of chaos
• the spiritual battle between good and evil within man’s own nature

Black and White Horses

• Deimos (fear) and Phobos (terror) accompanied Ares on the battlefield
• the potential for both good and evil contained in the aggressive instinct
• white horse represents pure intellect while the black horse represents chaos
• black symbolizes lack of consciousness, descent into darkness, evil, corruption, ignorance while white represents innocence, purity, truth, perfection, redemption, illumination
• conflicting animal urges within man that are full of vitality yet unwilling to work together
• Metaphors/Proverbs:
  • “to know black from white” is to understand the difference between right and wrong
  • “to see everything as black and white” is to have limited vision, to see things only as true/false or right/wrong
  • “a horse of a different color” means additional information that causes a situation to be reconsidered or different
  • “don’t put the cart before the horse” means it’s important to do things in the right or natural order, and is also used to correct people who confuse cause and effect
  • “zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse” means that uninformed enthusiasm will only lead to disaster

Desert Landscape

• the lack of feeling and relatedness in which the aggressive impulses thrive
• that which is not fertile, is bleak or is abandoned
• that which lacks insight or spirit; hopelessness and pessimism

Ares

• god of war, he reveled in fighting and was in love with the heat and glory of battle so that he could unleash all his strength to challenge his foe
• because he was associated with bloodshed and conflict, he was disliked by Zeus and Athena because of his brute-strength and lack of refinement
• Aphrodite fell in love with him though, and together they had a daughter Harmonia, whose quality was the harmonious blending of love and strife
• the image of aggressive instincts guided and directed by the will of consciousness
• as fatherless god (he was born from Hera without male seed), he’s the image of the natural aggressive and competitive instincts of the body because he lacks the archetypal spiritual father who might provide him with vision and meaning
• this iron will and great courage are a necessary complement though to spiritual vision, which isn’t enough to survive in a competitive and difficult world
• the second of life’s greatest lessons – the creative harnessing of the violent, turbulent urges of the instinctual nature
• arriving at maturity – learning how to take the consequences of one’s actions as an adult and facing the anger and conflict one has invoked both internally and externally
• the need to deal with the warring opposites and war-like urges within
• lesson of how learning to contain and direct the aggressive drive fosters the development of the whole personality