07-The Chariot – Upright Rider Waite Deck

Your Chosen Card – The Chariot Upright Rider Waite Deck

When upright, the Chariot urges you to master the situation in the midst of changing circumstances. You must take the reins of the chariot on which you travel through life. Inside the protective shell of your personality, you have the necessary resources to accomplish your goals. Success will depend on your ability to use reason to strike a balance between your ambitions and your appetites, which may be pulling you in different directions. It is important to set clear boundaries and to respect your own limits. Now is a time to think clearly, take control, and assume direction of your life. Often the Chariot appears when you are planning a trip or are about to embark on a significant journey, be it literal or metaphorical.

Keywords Upright: Strength of purpose, taking the reins, establishing clear boundaries, maintaining protective walls, travel, prudence, determination, controlling opposing forces, triumph over obstacles in your path, having a clear direction, setting out on a quest, staying focused on your goal, relying on inner resources, mastery, a journey, a car or other vehicle, respecting your own limits, a hard shell, the straight and narrow path.

Key VII: The Chariot
Myths/Archetypes: Hecate. Auriga virtutem. Cancer, the sign of the crab. Plato’s chariot as an analogy for the three-part human soul (reason, will, appetite). The NASCAR driver.
Dates of Cancer: 21 June–22 July (tropical); 16 July–17 August (sidereal)
Astrology: Cancer, the Crab (a Water sign ruled by the Moon). In the Waite-Smith tarot, a flowing river separates the canopied chariot from the walled city behind.
Numerology: 7 (Chariot) = 1 + 6 (The Tower)

Rider Waite: Succor, providence; also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble; (R) riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, defeat.

When The Chariot is upright you can pretty much take it that life is going well but that’s when life takes us by surprise.  If The Chariot is unclear it may help to choose a card from the Major Arcana to provide more insight into what it is The Chariot is trying to tell you.  If you had a particular issue in  mind, or want to seek clarification on something else, you can also choose again to get more guidance.

This chosen card is part of your upright card reading for The Chariot using cards from the Rider Waite Tarot Deck. You will find many more tarot pages that will be of great help if you need tarot card meanings. Use the search at the bottom of the page. We have some amazing tarot books for you to browse. Please see below.


Here are some snippets from a few of my favorite books

Portable Magic
Book Details
Portable Magic: Decks of smaller tarot cards produce a more manageable ritual layout, and are to be preferred in Tarot magic. In my own work, I use the miniature Rider Waite deck because it can be laid out on a very limited surface area such as a desktop or end table. The size of the tarot cards has no effect on the potency of the magic.

Tarot Books

Complete Book of Tarot: In the dialogue Phaedrus, Plato, the most famous student of Socrates, called his teacher the wisest, most just, and best of all men he had ever known. According to Robert Place, the Renaissance artists who designed the Chariot card were inspired by Plato’s metaphor of the human soul as a rational charioteer trying to control the unruly horses of appetite and will. In this metaphor, Plato represented Socrates’s idea that being truly human implies ‘the capacity to transcend instinct and desire and to make conscious, ethical choices.’ 14

Angel Encyclopedia: In Occult Philosophy, Agrippa maintains that magic has nothing to do with the devil or sorcery, but it depends upon natural psychic gifts such as second sight. He believes in the ultimate power of will and imagination to effect magic, and understands the power the mind has over the body: a jilted lover can truly die of grief. Man achieves his highest potential by learning the harmonies of nature. The astral body is the ‘chariot of the soul’ and can leave the physical body like a light escaping from a lantern. The greatest and highest wonder-working name is Jesus.

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Angel Encyclopedia: In Occult Philosophy, Agrippa maintains that magic has nothing to do with the devil or sorcery, but it depends upon natural psychic gifts such as second sight. He believes in the ultimate power of will and imagination to effect magic, and understands the power the mind has over the body: a jilted lover can truly die of grief. Man achieves his highest potential by learning the harmonies of nature. The astral body is the ‘chariot of the soul’ and can leave the physical body like a light escaping from a lantern. The greatest and highest wonder-working name is Jesus.