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Liminal/New Liminal Tarot - Chariot


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7 – Chariot

 

A young charioteer, with a crab on his breastplate, uses beams emanating from his forehead to rein in his dragons. A body of water lies before him.

 

The verses from Hinduism’s Katha Upanishad give me a lens with which to view this card:

 

Know the true self as a rider in a chariot, and the body as the chariot.

Know the intellect as the charioteer, and the mind as the reins.

The senses are the horses, and the objects of sense what they range over.

Those who lack understanding and discernment have an undisciplined mind.

Their senses run hither and thither like wild horses.

 

The mind, in this analogy, is the seat of our impulses, emotions, and feelings (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral). The intellect is our ability to develop logical thinking and reasoning which leads to discernment (seeing reality clearly without the haze of likes and dislikes). Rather than an attempt to control thinking, it gives us a chance to redirect our thoughts instead of getting stuck in discursive thinking which leads us in useless circles. The lessons of the Priestess on mindfulness and meditation are keys to training the mind. The crab, faced with a body of water, reminds us that scurrying sideways rather than bulldozing ahead (following our emotional impulses) is often a better move. Speed matters little if we’re headed in the wrong direction.

 

“Man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild.”

―James Allen

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