The Chariot
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The Marseilles card
The Waite-Smith card
A Transcendental Card
From The Bhagavad-Gita, “Throughout the Hindu and the Buddhist literatures, the chariot stands for the psychophysical vehicle. The steeds are the senses, the reins their controls, but the charioteer, the guide is the spirit or real self, atman. Krishna, the charioteer, is the Spirit in us.” Here the chariot is not a physical vehicle. It is a non-physical locus of consciousness the Fool constructs mentally and emotionally. It is eventually exteriorized, crystallized and made permanent by effort and practice. Keep in mind that this process cannot be understood logically; it can only be experienced first-hand, so no amount of discussion can satisfactorily describe it. The only help in this regard comes from what is learned and experienced from the already-established contact with the inner Hierophant and the “B” influences the Fool receives.
In Hebrew the word merkabah means chariot. Another ancient term, often misunderstood, is golem, which harks back to our discussion of severed heads. It represents a new body that becomes a vessel for the Fool’s consciousness. Enlivened by the marriage and communion with The Virgin Priestess, the “chariot” or merkabah begins to form in the subtle planes. This process is guided by the mind, but it is not just a mental exercise; a new body of life is actually created.
As an interesting aside, the fact that this card, indeed all the Tarot trumps, are described so well in the Upanishads and the Gita (fifth century bce or earlier) show that the original meanings and processes depicted on these cards are far older than the Italian and French Middle Ages.