Tarot Exegesis • Part 2: The Empress to The Chariot

Welcome to Creative Codex, I am your host MJDorian. This is the second offering in my exegesis of the Major Arcana series. These episodes are supplemental material to the main Tarot series, and it’s my hope this is useful and insightful for both novices and Tarot experts.

On this episode we will continue our analysis with the next 5 cards of the Major Arcana: The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, and The Chariot. For research resources we are using three books: Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Way of Tarot, which focuses on the symbolism of the 1709 Marseilles deck. Rachel Pollack’s 78 Degrees of Wisdom, which focuses on the symbolism of the 1909 Waite-Smith deck. And Sallie Nichols’ Tarot and the Archetypal Journey which approaches the Tarot through a Jungian lens.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

CARD III: THE EMPRESS

The Empress is the opposite female counterpart to The High Priestess. Where the High Priestess was concerned with knowledge, The Empress is concerned with experience. Where the High Priestess was reserved in her solitude, The Empress is sensually engaged with the natural world.

In the book, Tarot and the Archetypal Journey, the author, Sallie Nichols, writes a passage that delineates between The High Priestess, which we covered in the last Exegesis episode and The Empress. Make note that she refers to The High Priestess by her original name: The Popess. This is the name given to card 2 of the Major Arcana in the earliest decks such as the Visconti-Sforza of the 1400’s and the Tarot de Marseilles of the 1700’s.

Nichols states:

“The Popess is High Priestess and Virgin; the Empress is Madonna and Royal Queen. The Popess serves the spirit; the Empress fulfills the spirit. With the Popess, the spirit (the Holy Ghost) descends into matter to be made flesh; with the Empress, the spirit is born into outer reality as the Son of Man and ultimately rises heavenward again as the Spiritual Son, the Redeemer.

The Popess is patience and passive waiting; the Empress is action and completion. The Popess is ruled by love; the Empress rules by love. The Popess guards something old; the Empress reveals something new.”

In building our understanding of The Empress, we can say she is rooted in the body, senses, and emotions. In the common Waite-Smith depiction of her, she is comfortably seated on pillows in a fertile wilderness. Grains grow at her feet, a river flows beside her, trees stretch toward the yellow sky behind her and her laurel crown is decorated with twelve stars—representing the Zodiac.

Some people see her as a personification of mother nature and others associate her with the Greek goddess of agriculture: Demeter, hence the grains growing at her feet. Demeter is the mother of Persephone—who notably ate six seeds of the pomegranate while in the underworld, causing her to remain with Hades for six months of every year. Notice the flowing dress of The Empress is adorned with…pomegranates. Also traditionally a symbol of abundance.

She holds a scepter aloft, a symbol for the wands of the Minor Arcana—or desires. Next to her red pillows we see a heart shaped stone, or shield, with the symbol of Venus in its center.

Here are some keywords often associated with Major Arcana No. 3, The Empress card, in readings:

Nature, passion, sensuality, fertility, abundance, beauty, motherhood.

Let’s read the interpretation provided by Rachel Pollack in 78 Degrees of Wisdom, she writes:

“She is motherhood, love, gentleness. At the same time she signifies sexuality, emotion and the female as mistress. Both motherhood and sex derive from feelings that are non-intellectual and basic to life. Passions rather than ideas.

The High Priestess represented the mental side of the female archetype; her deep intuitive understanding. The Empress is pure emotion.”

“…Until we learn to experience the outer world completely we cannot hope to transcend it. Therefore the first step to enlightenment is sensuality. Only through passion, can we sense, from deep inside rather than through intellectual argument, the spirit that fills all existence.”

Again, the Empress combines trumps 1 and 2 in a new reality. A river flows from the trees behind her to disappear beneath her seat. This river is the force of life, running like a great current beneath all the separate forms of reality, and experienced most full when we give ourselves to unrestrained passion.”

In The Way of Tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky writes this interpretation:

“The Empress will inspire thoughts of creativity, the female part of the individual, or even a woman full of fire and energy, animated by a boiling enthusiasm. She is prepared to go beyond boundaries, to “burst out,” no matter how old she is. She is the soul of adolescence with its joyous fanaticism, its inability to recognize the consequences of its actions, its faith in action for the sake of action. This card is also, when drawn in a reading for an elderly person, the rebirth of an energy thought long vanished. The Empress recalls the dreams of youth and urges us to fantasize from them, a thirst for the absolute that may well have been forgotten.”

If The Empress spoke:

“All your desires are respectable. Allow yourself to be permeated by desire; everything in

your body is in harmony. The smallest cell is a world. Life is a constant miracle.”

Regarding what The Empress often signifies in a reading, Rachel Pollack writes:

“In readings the Empress represents a time of passion, a period when we approach life through feelings and pleasure rather than thought. The passion is sexual or motherly; either way it is deeply experienced, and in the right context can give great satisfaction. In the wrong context, when analysis is needed, the Empress can mean a stubborn emotional approach, a refusal to consider the facts. She can indicate another problem as well: self-indulgent pleasure when restraint is needed. Usually, however, she indicates satisfaction and even understanding gained through the emotions.”

CARD IIII: THE EMPEROR

The Emperor is a card most often associated with the father archetype. It symbolizes the laws of society and the powers that enforce them. It is also the proverbial king at the top of any hierarchy, whether social, economic, or societal. Where The Empress’ domain was nature, The Emperor’s domain is the material world of human endeavors. Cards III and IV form a complimentary pair—where one is strong, the other is weak, and vice versa.

In the more personal sense, when we are being egotistical, we become The Emperor. Each individual is a king of his / her domain. And once we have embraced living the story of such a powerful archetype, it requires a cataclysm to knock us back down to earth—something represented in The Tower card.

Here are some keywords often associated with Major Arcana No. 4, The Emperor, in readings:

The king, father, rationality, laws, stability, order, material reality, authority, the top of any hierarchy.

There are some notable differences in the representation of The Emperor in the Marseilles and Waite-Smith decks. In the Marseilles, The Emperor does not face us, we see him in side profile, with a beard and long white hair, as he holds a scepter topped with the globe and cross, a medieval symbol for the Earth itself. He sits comfortably with his legs crossed, thereby forming the number 4, which matches the number of his card, and his foot touches the edge of a shield on the floor, which features an eagle.

In contrast, the Waite-Smith representation shows The Emperor facing us directly, looking stern and tense, with a long white beard and white hair. He dons a red robe, under which we see battle armor—even his legs are covered in hardened steel. He gives the impression of something solid—rigid—even his throne is only made of stone. In his right hand he holds a scepter shaped like an Egyptian ankh—a symbol of life. In his left hand, a golden globe. Carved into four corners of his throne are ram’s heads—a symbol for Aries, the first sign of the Zodiac.

Personally, I prefer the Marseilles deck’s representation of The Emperor over the Waite-Smith representation. I find The Emperor of the Marseilles deck to be less confrontational, he is confident in his domain, and does not need to assert himself. This Emperor contains the most redeeming qualities of the archetype—including the wealth of associations with the number 4—as implied by the position of his legs, which we will explore shortly.

The Waite-Smith Emperor, on the other hand, feels cold and demanding. Perhaps for most people, these associations wouldn’t discourage engagement with the card, but for anyone who has an authority complex or father issues—like me—I find this Waite-Smith card discourages engagement. Which counteracts the ultimate purpose of these cards—for the individual to engage and explore these figures as influences in their own psychological makeup.

And so, although I love every other aspect of the Waite-Smith deck, this one card I prefer visualizing as the Marseilles deck’s representation. I find it contains the redeeming qualities of The Emperor which encourages integration.

And likewise, you may find similar preferences in your own explorations of the cards and comparing various decks. What is worth noticing in these cases is why such preferences emerge. Like in my case, I don’t feel invited to engage with The Emperor in the Waite-Smith card because he seems stern and combative—this impression then reveals something about my own relationship with my father when I was growing up.

Some food for thought.

Now, let’s turn our attention back to the significance of the number four—which is the numeral of this card and which The Emperor in the Marseilles deck is forming with his crossed legs. On this subject, the author Sallie Nichols, writes this in Tarot and the Archetypal Journey:

“On both the heavenly and the earthly planes, the number four plays a decisive role as an ordering factor. Here is a partial list of some of the many “fours” that order our thoughts:

The four directions of the compass

The four corners of the earth

The four winds of heaven

The four rivers of Eden

The four qualities of the ancients (warm, dry, moist, cold)

The four humours (sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic)

The four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)

The four prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea)

The four angels (Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, Phannel)

The four beasts of the Apocalypse

The four elements (earth, air, fire, water)

The four seasons

The four phases of the moon

The four Hebrew letters of the Lord’s sacred name (Yod, He, Vau, He)

The four basic operations of arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)

The four cardinal virtues (justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude)”

Further into the text, Sallie Nichols does a wonderful job of explaining the dichotomy between The Empress and The Emperor and how it plays out in our inner life. She writes:

“The obvious truth is, of course, that Emperor and Empress are, as their names indicate, a wedded pair. One cannot function creatively without the other. The scepter of each displays the orb of Nature surmounted by the cross of Spirit, symbolizing the harmonious union of their energies and their two kingdoms. Each displays the golden eagle, indicating that the powers of each are equally God-given, the rights of each equally divine.

With the advent of the Emperor a new cycle is initiated involving new aspirations and new and more sophisticated connections between the mundane realm and the heavens above. Under the influence of the Emperor man will reach up, not only symbolically but actually, to the sun, the moon, and the stars. Inevitably, if we are to implement our soaring spirit, we cannot always keep one foot in the Empress’s garden. There are times, in both our cultural and our personal lives, when one or the other of these great ruling powers must have a stronger influence on our lives than its opposite number. Actually, like all opposites, the two operate best in a sort of alternating current. There are times when it is even necessary to hold one of these in abeyance in order to experience the benefits of the other.

The Emperor rules primarily by Logos and thinking; the Empress is chiefly concerned with Eros and feeling. For the Emperor, objective fact is honest truth; for the Empress, inner fact is primarily important. In her realm, to reveal an objective fact that might hurt a relationship would be dishonest, whereas in the Emperor’s world, to conceal such a fact would be reprehensible. Obviously, in a given situation, both cannot rule at once. But if we give each one in turn a chance to speak, we may find a solution which will be true to the fact of outer reality without doing violence to the equally important fact of inner feeling.”

Nichols then provides a wonderful insight on how the aspects of The Empress and Emperor even affect creative work. She writes:

“In all kinds of creative work, it is particularly useful to arrange an audience with both these powerful figures – but never, of course, at the same time. For example, during what we might call the Empress’s phase of creativity, when images and ideas are bubbling up from our depths in an abundant and spontaneous way, it is usually best to ask the Emperor to wait in the wings while we uncritically capture the bounty of all that presents itself.

Later on, we will invite our Logos to sit in as editor, helping us to winnow and choose, to arrange and order our ideas. But if he steps in too soon, he may wither up the fresh new sprouts of our imagination which need, like all tender young things, first of all a mother to nourish and sustain them.

An excellent way to observe in graphic detail how our inner Emperor and Empress work together is to compare successive drafts of, say, a poem by Keats. There one sees how the rich imagination of the poet’s feminine, feeling side was later pruned, refined, and shaped by his critical Logos to create the finished product. One is struck not only by the perfection of what remains but equally by the sheer beauty of much that has been sacrificed. For this delicate job of discrimination, the artist’s Emperor needs to be sensitive, insightful, and courageous.”

Now, for the sake of Tarot reading, let’s return to Rachel Pollack and her book, 78 Degrees of Wisdom, she writes:

“More personally the Emperor can signify a time of stability and order in a person’s life, hopefully opening up creative energy. He also can indicate a specific person who holds great power, either objective or emotional, over the subject. This is very often the father, but it can also be a husband or lover, especially for those people who treat their lovers as substitute fathers to whom they surrender control of their lives. I have seen readings so dominated by the Emperor that all of life’s possibilities become stunted and unfulfilled.

As a card of personal qualities, the Emperor can indicate the ability to defend one’s territory, to create firm boundaries and vigorously maintain them. He symbolizes a rationalist approach to issues, one that values analysis and measurement over emotion and intuition.”

And finally, some additional thoughts from Alejandro Jodorowsky, who writes:

“…For a young man, it could also pose the question of masculinity: how has it been passed down by the father, what are the means of fulfilling oneself as a man in reality?

Questions concerning money and economic security are also connected to this card. They refer to the possibility of becoming the master (or mistress) of one’s material life, of taking in hand the means through which one can guarantee one’s security.”

CARD V: THE HIEROPHANT

At its heart, The Hierophant represents the archetype of the spiritual teacher—a wise guide who instructs the individual on their journey back toward the divine. This is a universal figure, found in every culture and tradition—from Zen Buddhism to Native American culture, in the former it would be a monk who has mastered his / her mind and body and instructs students from a temple, in the latter, it would be a shaman who was raised from an early age to fulfill such a role in the tribe.

In the earliest Tarot decks, The Hierophant was called The Pope, just as the High Priestess was called the Popess—you can see both Pope and Popess in the Visconti-Sforza deck of 1450. As the centuries rolled on the artwork of the Tarot evolved. This evolution was spurred on by the theoretical writings of occultists such as Antoine Court de Gebelin. Gebelin was a French esotericist in the 1700’s, who is the first known author to claim that Tarot is a far more ancient wisdom tradition—linking it all the way back to Egypt.

Gebelin wrote these theories in his book, Le monde primitif—The Primeval World, published in 1781. And it is from his work that we see the first reframing of The Pope card as The High Priest / Hierophant and The Popess card as The High Priestess. In addition, it is through a contemporary of Gebelin’s, one Comte de Mellet—also in the 1700’s, that we find the first theory associating the 22 cards of the Major Arcana with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s the writings of both of these French esotericists which would later inspire the members of the Golden Dawn to create more spiritually oriented Tarot decks such as the Waite-Smith and The Book of Thoth deck by Aleister Crowly and Lady Frieda Harris.

With all that in mind. What can we learn from The Hierophant card?

Let’s first notice the standard composition of the card: in both the Marseilles and Waite-Smith versions, the Hierophant card depicts a Pope-figure in the center, wearing an ornate robe and hat, raising his right hand in a symbol of Benediction, holding a staff with three tiered crosses in his left. He appears old and wise. Behind him are two pillars and in front of him are two monks who receive his teachings. The Latin term for Pope, pontiff—which we still hear used today—means bridge. This spiritual teacher is a bridge between the spiritual and the material planes.

Here are some keywords associated with Major Arcana 5, The Pope / The Hierophant card:

Education, wisdom, spiritual lessons, religion, a bridge between spiritual and material planes, communication.

In the book, 78 Degrees of Wisdom, Rachel Pollack states:

“One further aspect of the card’s symbolism deserves special attention. The position of the three people (that is, a large figure presiding over two smaller ones on either side) introduces a motif that repeats itself, like the two pillars of the High Priestess, throughout the Major Arcana, and is resolved in the cards: Judgement and The World.

The very next two cards after trump 5 repeat the motif, with the angel over The Lovers, and the charioteer of The Chariot over the black and white sphinxes. We can see this trio as an emblem of the idea of a triad, such as the Christian trinity, or the triune picture of the mind: the id / ego / super-ego of Freud, or the unconscious / conscious / super-conscious of the three lines of the Major Arcana.

To understand the meaning of the image we must return to the High Priestess. She sits between two pillars symbolizing the dualities of life. She herself signifies one side, the Magician the other. The Hierophant initiates two acolytes into his church. We see, therefore, that the Hierophant and The Lovers and The Chariot all represent attempts to mediate between the opposing poles of life and find some way, not to resolve them, but simply to hold them in balance.

A religious doctrine, with its moral codes and explanations for life’s most basic questions, does just that. If we surrender ourselves to a Church the contradictions of life all become answered; but not resolved.”

How is Hierophant interpreted in readings?

In the book, The Way of Tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky writes this:

“The Pope could represent a master, a teacher, or a guide, but also an idealized paternal figure (the acolytes would then symbolize his children), a married man, a saint. He also symbolizes an act of communication, a union, a marriage, and all the means used for communication.

As a bridge or pontiff, The Pope evokes a guided communication that knows where it is heading. After the accumulation of The High Priestess preparing for birth, the aimless bursting forth of The Empress, and the stability of The Emperor, The Pope brings an ideal. While remaining part of the material world, he points the way to an ideal dimension with certainty.”

And in 78 Degrees of Wisdom, Rachel Pollack states:

“In readings the card signifies Churches, doctrines, and education in general. Psychologically it can indicate orthodoxy, conformity to society’s ideas and codes of behavior, as well as, more subtly, a surrender of responsibility.

The Emperor symbolized the rules themselves and their official enforcers; the Hierophant indicates our own inner sense of obedience.”

CARD VI: THE LOVERS (Waite-Smith) / THE LOVER (Marseilles)

The Lovers is the first card of the Major Arcana which introduces the subject of sexuality and the energy between the sexes. The influence of these forces in our personal lives cannot be overstated—after all, sexuality is rooted in our base animal impulses. The Tarot truly is a tableau depicting the experience of being human.

If we recall the three row arrangement of the Major Arcana, it is very appropriate that The Lovers card appears in the first row of personal growth: representing our ego and matters of the material plane. But sexuality is also a constant paradox of human experience. As much as it activates these powerful animal impulses it is also intrinsically linked with the most life fulfilling emotional experience we can have: love.

Side note: the following insights are my own, and not what I’ve read in any of the Tarot books.

There is a quality to love which elevates two people above material concerns. A couple in the first throes of love can lack all the basic necessities of life but as long as they have each other—they are happy. And we implicitly recognize this quality of love to elevate when we use common terms like soul mate—reminding us that some connections between people run so deep that they exist outside of material reality.

And to make matters even more mystifying, the experience of being in love, especially in the highly charged early period, seems to cause synchronicities to occur around the lovers. Perhaps you’ve noticed this in your own life? There seems to be something about the deep emotional entanglement, the activation of this archetype connecting two individuals, and the energy of sexuality which elicits a response from the universe.

Now, I am fully aware that this sounds preposterous. And that we are entering potentially woo-woo territory here. I can almost hear some people’s minds closing at my last statement—that deep emotional entanglement which is charged by sexuality elicits a response from the universe in the form of synchronicities.

But I respect your skepticism. And so I urge you to simply observe reality. Start keeping a running list in your journal or a standard Notes app on your phone—I have a note entry I keep which is labeled as Correspondences. And the next time you start to feel an emotional entanglement with someone which is charged by sexuality…pay attention.

Go about your day, of course, but take note of coincidences relating to your paramour, and jot them down. Maybe she likes butterflies, and suddenly you are seeing butterflies everywhere. Or maybe he mentioned his favorite book in your last conversation, and out of the blue, your best friend hands you the same book and says “You’ve gotta read this.”

The wild thing is, if you share some of these meaningful coincidences with your Lover, they will enthusiastically tell you several others that happened to them too. I don’t know why this happens, but it does. We can chock it up to either a quirk of our psychology or a feature of our consciousness infused reality.

And so, it is with great insight that the Waite-Smith version of The Lovers card shows an angelic force bringing together a naked woman and man. It is accurately representing everything that we’re talking about: from the importance of sexuality in our personal development, to the elevating power of love, to the synchronicities caused by a deep emotional entanglement with someone which is charged by sexuality.

Crazy stuff.

Here are some keywords associated with Major Arcana No.6, The Lovers card:

Relationships, love, sexuality, Eros, choice, heart, lover, the emotional domain.

In readings, Rachel Pollack writes this for interpreting the card:

“The divinatory meanings for the Waite-Smith image are straightforward. They refer to the importance of love in a person’s life and to a specific lover; very often to marriage or a long relationship. The card implies that the particular relationship has been or will prove to be very valuable to the person, leading him or her to a new understanding of life.

If some specific problem is being considered in the reading then the Lovers indicates help in some way, either practically through the lover’s assistance, or through emotional support. But this is not always true. The Lovers, in the position of the past, especially in relation to cards indicating a refusal to look at the present situation, can indicate a crippling nostalgia for a past love.”

In The Way of Tarot, Jodorowsky channels the voice of the Marseille Lover card stating:

“I am not kindness; I am not ambition for well-being or triumph. I am unconditional love. I will teach you how to live in wonder, recognition, and joy.”

CARD VII: THE CHARIOT

At first glance, the seventh card of the Major Arcana appears unrelatable. It shows a young man in ornate armor within a chariot which is being pulled by either horses or sphinxes. We don’t ride around in chariots anymore, let alone ones pulled by mythical beasts. So what is going on here?

The symbolism of The Chariot card traces its roots back to ancient Roman traditions, when generals and emperors returning from victory on the battlefield would parade through the streets of Rome. This association naturally gives The Chariot card a positive meaning in readings. These traditional Roman processions were called ‘trionfo’ or Roman Triumphs, and it’s theorized that the painted depictions of these processions inspired the earliest Tarot cards. It’s a compelling argument. We find some confirmation of it in the first known sermon written against the Tarot, from the 1400’s, which refers to the Major Arcana cards in Latin as the Triumphorum—the triumphs.

In the Waite-Smith version of this card we see a prince or a young king inside of a chariot whose base is a cubic stone—a symbol of material reality. He holds a wand in his right hand—a symbol of desires, passions, and creative force. Above him is a blue canopy decorated with stars, it hangs from the four pillars of his chariot, and at the top of his crown is a six pointed star—a symbol of the union of opposites, as in the traditional Star of David, a symbol that carries an esoteric significance as it unites the alchemical signs of fire and water.

The Chariot is numbered as the 7th card of the Major Arcana. We can notice that 7 is traditionally seen as a number of completion. In Genesis, God created the Earth in six days and he rested on the seventh. We have 7 days of the week. There are 7 classical planets, which in alchemy pair with 7 metals, and also 7 alchemical processes for transformation. In the Waite-Smith version of The Chariot, if we look closely, we can see planetary and alchemical symbols on the belt and skirt of armor worn by this prince.

At the base of the chariot we see two sphinxes—mythical creatures of ancient Egypt. They are black and white—again, symbols of duality that recall the black and white pillars of Jachin and Boaz in card no. 2, The High Priestess.

Here are some keywords associated with Major Arcana 7, The Chariot:

Victory, action, travel, warrior, triumph, and a journey.

What does The Chariot mean when it appears in a reading?

In the book, 78 Degrees of Wisdom, Rachel Pollack writes:

“The divinatory meanings of The Chariot derive from its powerful will. In a reading the card signifies that the person is successfully controlling some situation through the force of his or her personality. The card implies that a situation contains some contradictions and that these have not been brought together but simply held under control. This is not to stress too highly the negative undertones of the card. When it is the right way up the Chariot basically means success; the personality in charge of the world around it. If it appears as the outcome in a reading dealing with problems then it indicates victory.”

Alejandro Jodorowsky confirms this interpretation, in the book The Way of Tarot he writes:

“In all cases this is a card that is moving forward toward success.”

The Chariot is the seventh card in the Major Arcana series, and it serves as an appropriate end to the first row of seven cards—when we view them in the three row arrangement. When using the Tarot as a tool for self development The Chariot can be seen as the first victory of personal growth and evolution which takes place in the conscious mind of the individual. This occurs once you have come to terms with the many influences that push and pull you on the material plane.

The first row of seven cards tells us these influences are composed of three factors: the laws of nature, the social structures & expectations of our society, and our own animal impulses. We have to come to terms with these before more significant growth and evolution of consciousness can continue.

Of these three factors: the laws of nature are represented by The Magician and The Empress. Social structures and expectations of society are represented by The Emperor and The Hierophant. And the animal impulses are embodied in The Lovers card.

But among these where does The High Priestess fit?

She represents contemplation and the balance required to effectively engage with and learn from reality. It’s appropriate then that The Chariot, although a symbol of victory, also shows the prince placed in between the black and white sphinx, echoing the characteristics of The High Priestess card—with its black and white pillars—calling for contemplation before embarking on the road ahead.

All of these figures represent you in your multifaceted nature—all of your various aspects and character traits. Regardless of the fact that some of them are female, some male, and some show multiple figures. Each one of these cards is a part of you.

It is your job, in your process of personal growth to locate these figures and what they represent in your inner world. This is the Great Work of The Tarot. And no one can do it for you. You must reflect on the cards and take that journey yourself, just as the lone figure in The Chariot.

The next two rows in this three row layout, totaling 14 cards, will be concerned with the psychological depths, the unconscious, and spiritual development.

There is also a structural element of the first row that further drives the point home that we’ve  reached a significant point. The Chariot is the third successive card to feature three figures in a triangular formation—The Hierophant, The Lovers, and The Chariot; respectively cards V, VI, and VII.

This repeating triangle composition highlights the all pervading nature of dualities on the material plane—that each individual finds themselves in.

It is a built in feature of our physical reality—light and dark, masculine and feminine, sun and moon, strength and weakness, life and death, etc. But the work with the Tarot that will lead us into engagement with the unconscious and our spiritual development will require us to find the Middle Path between these polarities. To be the Middle Pillar, as the High Priestess is on Card No.II. This doesn’t mean we won’t be pushed and pulled from time to time towards one or another pole—from joy to grief, from pleasure to pain, or even from one political polarity to another.

This push-and-pull effect very much generates the energies of human life. But what the Tarot wants us to understand in these first seven cards is that we need to have this essential skill of The High Priestess to move forward. We need to be able to separate our engagement from daily life from time to time and reflect on this world of illusion. To see it for what it is and be able to make our wisest decisions from such a vantage point. To replace impulsivity with thoughtfulness.

This is a difficult lesson and it takes practice. But it is the most essential skill in moving forward toward greater personal growth and evolution. These are the lessons to learn in the first seven cards if we want to enter into The Chariot and continue our journey onward.

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