Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. Today’s post is about the Chariot card in Tarot. The Chariot is the seventh card of the Major Arcana. The traditional image on the Chariot card is very self-explanatory, with a figure behind a Chariot racing towards victory at the finish line. The energy of the Chariot is best summed up as that of boundless forward momentum.
In some Faery and Celtic-based decks, which are always my favorites, they use interesting alternate takes on this card, while still keeping to the nature of forward momentum inherent in the card’s energy. The Arthurian Tarot calls the card Prydwen after the ship that Arthur and his Knights sailed to the Underworld in search of the Grail of Pen Annwn. I find this to be a very interesting choice for Chariot Energy, as it is one of the forward momentum and desired victory found in Knightly Quests! The Llewellyn Tarot features Manawydan on the Chariot card, and he is a Welsh deity often aligned with being the Welsh counterpart to the Irish Sea God of Manannan Mac Lir. He is known to have that magickal alignment with water, even having a self-propelled boat named ‘Wave Rider’, which actually aligns his inclusion on the card quite nicely with Prydwen being on the card in The Arthurian Tarot. The Wildwood Tarot calls the Chariot card ‘The Archer’ which relates to the forward momentum through the arrows let loose in the woodland by the Archer with victory ensured as the arrows find their target. The Tarot of the Hidden Realm calls the card Faery Stallion, using the nature of the power of horses to show the forward momentum of the card. Finally, I want to mention The Sacred Circle Tarot whichfeatures the historical Celtic Queen Boudicca of the Iceni Tribe, who went up against Rome in battle, making for my favorite version of the Chariot card!
When this card appears in a reading, especially in the future position, it most often denotes a time of many events happening one after another, securing successes time and again. I find that this card’s energy can become overwhelming for some people because of just how much power is being put forth. It is often a card that denotes a go, go, go mentality with ceaseless energy! In fact, many Tarot readers associated last year of 2023 with the Chariot card overall, due to the numerology of 2+0+2+3 adding up to 7. I found that 2023 was certainly a year of boundless energy and lots of opportunity for success, making it a very powerful year for me, so I have to agree that it felt very much like the energy of this card!
I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of the Chariot card. What is your favorite aspect of the Chariot? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the Chariot card image from The Sacred Circle Tarot. I found the image on http://www.annafranklin.co.uk/page67.html.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Reading
- The Only Tarot Book You’ll Ever Need by Skye Alexander
- The Arthurian Tarot by John & Caitlin Matthews
- The Llewellyn Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson
- The Wildwood Tarot by Mark Ryan & John Matthews
- The Tarot of the Hidden Realm by Julia Jeffries & Barbara Moore
- The Sacred Circle Tarot by Anna Franklin & illustrated by Paul Mason