Thoth Tarot · Major Arcana
The Chariot
advance · victory · protection · disciplined will · the Grail
A reflective starting point
What is The Chariot asking you to look at?
Meaning changes with the position, the surrounding cards and your question. Take what follows as a language, not a verdict.
Upright
Advance with decision: you have the strength to steer the situation. Protect what is sacred to you as you move.
At first sight
Victory, advancement, mastery of the forces in play. It points to journeys, conquests and successes won through determination.
Within you
The ability to hold conflicting drives together and steer them toward a goal: the ego that puts on armour to protect a sensitive core.
On the path
Path 18 from Binah to Geburah, the letter Cheth (the enclosure, 8) and Cancer, the Water sign of the Moon in which Jupiter is exalted: the Mother sends her force toward Severity. The charioteer guards the Grail, the mystery of the Mother's blood.
The shadow
Ill-dignified, it becomes aggression, a headlong rush, armour that isolates, an empty victory.
Reversed
In the Thoth tradition a reversed card is read through its dignity with the neighbouring cards; this is its shadow side.
A confused direction, inner forces at war, excessive defence or a stalemate; review the goal before you push.
In love, work and spirit
Love. Protection and active commitment; or emotions locked behind armour that prevent intimacy.
Work. Progress, travel, competitions won through discipline and control.
Spirit. The Grail knight: guarding the inner cup while you cross the world.
Correspondences
Cheth ח · path 18 (Binah – Geburah) · Water · Cancer
Crowley's note
In the Thoth deck the charioteer holds no reins: he sits motionless, enclosed in amber armour, bearing the Holy Grail, while four elemental sphinxes draw the chariot on their own.
From the journal
Thoth Tarot