Tarot Card Comparisons: The Thoth Tarot-Key 7- The Chariot & The Wild Wood Tarot-Key 7-The Archer

-Emerson

The Chariot and The Archer represents the Universal Principles of change/movement combination of stillness-activity: of movement and repose.

Every individual is touched by  multi-dimensional change in their areas of Earth, Air, Water and Fire, as symbolized by the four pillars, the four wheels, and the four elemental animals on the Thoth Key 7. These four elemental aspects of ourselves combine to create who we are, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The spinning disc in the hands of the charioteer, symbolizes the wheel of fortune (The blue water womb of birth/nurture Mother and the red-fire womb of Sex/ Death/reincarnation-Blood Mother) that we have free-choice and can choose fortunate, positive, and abundant changes for ourselves. 

The ten crystals on the golden armor represent the ten powerful positive choices of the Ten Sephiroth on the Qabalist's Tree of Life. The crown, which is "the crowning achievement", wisdom, understanding, mercy, severity, beauty, splendor, victory, foundation and kingdom. These ten states of conscious energy are multidimensional movements and repose that are known as "Our Greater Self". The Qabalistic Tree of Life, is a "inner map" for the consciousness to follow. Giving one understanding and direction in the Unconscious collective.

The Thoth Tarot- The Chariot-key 7: is representative of the Qabalistic Path on the Tree of Life, between Binah, (understanding) the 3rd Sephiroth on the Tree of Life and Geburah (severity) the 5th Sephiroth on the Tree of Life. It represents the vehicle that encompasses the Soul on its journey into manifestation; a manifestation shown by the four Sphinx- or Kerubs, with different animal faces, each  element having four sub-elements (cubed).

The Chariot itself is Kether, the Throne of the Soul, that protects the Soul through its journey through dimensions of universal manifestation. The Chariot itself is thus unmoving and stable while the Red Wheels of Geburah power it through the Universal manifestation. Presented here, the Soul is a golden-solar-warrior, who is protected from the Abyss by the Limitless Light of Kether, a form of energy that the Soul rests on and has taken on the "form" of Geburah.

The Chariot is ruled by the sign of Cancer, a Water sign (the crab on his helmet) and it is the Water of the High Priestess that is the Fence or Enclosure- the meaning of the Hebrew word Cheth. This Enclosure of energy protects the Soul in its journey from the Higher to the Lower planes of manifestation. The Soul is the Self of our selves, it is our emanation of the Supreme Spirit Identity from Kether; the Soul is our Real Person. The Soul being the "Solar Warrior" as shown by the Golden Starred Armor, is lead by the Moon/Goddess. As our own planetary Sun seems to follow the Moon across the sky.

In astrology, the image of a crab is used to  symbolize the sign of Cancer, as well as a sigil that looks to be a 6 over a 9. Woven into the canopy on the Thoth Chariot Card, is the  word "ABRACADABRA", which Robert Wang thinks is an apparent pun on "ABRAHADABRA", a word that Crowley called,"one of the most important key numbers of the Liber Al...the word of the Aeon....the cypher of the Great Work which when using Qabalistic Gemtria (Qabalistic-numerology), (Book 777 of Crowley) adds up to 418 which equals 4+1+8=13; the Key 13 Death card,thereby, placing the Chariot  also as an enclouser of the Soul after body death.

The wheels of Geburah (an energy intelligence of Binah the Great Mother) drive the Chariot, and therefore, the Charioteer, into Form. Knowing that Binah is the Mother of Form, and is the Feminine Magnetic (womb) force of the Universe, we can see that the Chariot is the combination ( the Marriage of Kether-Chokmah- Binah that is the Supernal Triangle of the Above) of Electromagnetic force and the Spirit form that is Soul. So with this in mind we may conclude that the Flowing Forceful nature of The Fiery Creative Father and the Receptive nature of the Watery-Magnetic Mother of all Form, protects our Soul from dispersion back into the Limitless light (Dark Father) which is Darkness, a non-identity to us.One may not know this, but each of us has a Soul, a Real Persona, before we arrive in the physical world of Malkuth/Kingdom.

She/Binah, is the Vessel, Womb, Grail (that is in the hands of the Golden Knight on the Chariot) both blood red and water blue, that moves our now stable soul-self through the Universe, allowing us a conquest on all planes of energy! That would make us the inheriting Child of The Divine Creative!

The Thoth card symbolizes the vision of Ezekiel, wherein the prophet described  the appearance of "four living creatures" and that each had four faces, A man, a lion, an ox, and that of an eagle which are the symbols for the elemental forces of the manifested universe.

What many of us should now understand is that the Very Severity of Binah, the Great Mother Defends us from dissolution into "Nothingness" as we are her most important self-expressions as "Masters of Form"; we are both Master and Masterpiece and as far as She is concerned we are her "Most Beautiful Children"  and have been given her Property---The Worlds of Manifestation, as Trusted Keepers!

We are Souls, a collective of personalities developed over timed manifestation, who create and operate Self-Image in the Name of Abracadabra/Magic (As seen woven into the canopy above the Golden Knight-Soul)-The Vibratory word of the Aeon, The Great Work. The Holy Grail, is the cup which we "look" into directly (Imagination) giving form to our thoughts......which become the Self-Awareness of I AM ME. By observation, we create our-selves!

Now I know all this can be confusing, there are so many ways used to describe these cards because they are very old images of invisible forces that are fascinating but almost incomprehensible to our reasoning brain. That is why we must cautiously practice raising the Serpent/Spiral  Force within to awaken the Divinity that resides in our brain. The Kundalini is the "original Word of God" / The Logos, and must flow over and through our brain as the Waters of the High Priestess, before we manifest the comprehension of the Greater Self.  Don't fret the brain heat, Understanding will come to the diligent, for no matter the seeming obfuscation of meanings attributed to them, the Tarot Keys represent truly universal archetypes, Forces and Forms that remain immutable despite the limitations of the worded attempts to describe them. You, each and everyone, are comprised of all of the 78 images in the Tarot Deck. The Tarot is YOU, not the man-made you who is a reaction to your ruler- defined environment but the Powerful You that is the action that changes environment. You came To Expand and Liberate the survival mind from its animal existence into the Higher Existence of the Immortal Soul.

In the Brain sits the Chariot-resting, while Powered by the Great Mothers Work and sitting quietly on the thrown of Kether, totally protected by the Magnetic Field of the Grail, awaiting the time when the Brain can hear ABRACADABRA (Abrahadabra)--the cypher of the Great Work. With the "Ears to Hear", that are developed by "Knowing thyself"; The Real Person, we can then manifest the Soul as the personality who operates a Power tool--in Mothers Great Garden, rather than a animal looking for its soul; something it will never find, since the finite are definitions from the infinite and are unable to define the infinite in their time- limited thoughts. The Chariot card represents the Solar Warrior Soul who defines being---but is not defined by being.

As I have stated: the Hebrew letter, Cheth or Chet, translates into an English word that means enclosure, or fence. 

In the THIRTY TWO PATHS OF WISDOM, Dr. Paul Foster Case stated:  The Eighteenth Path is called the House of Influence (by greatness of whose abundance the influx of good things upon created beings is increased) and from the midst of the investigation the arcana and hidden senses are drawn forth, which dwell in its shade and which cling to it, form the cause of all causes.

 In his BOOK OF TOKENS, Dr. Paul Foster Cases stated this about the Chariot: 

  I am the hedge of protection

                                  And I am thy defense,

The Darkness that Mr. Case refers to is that of the Limitless Light of Kether, the very pinnacle of the Supreme Spiritual Self. Pictured in the Chariot, the experience of the Spiritual Self, is known in Alchemy as  the "Exhalation", where the Alchemist becomes the Philosopher's Stone. Here, one can realize the Golden Light, that encompasses and protects the conscious mind from dissolution, as it moves through the Vast Abyss of the Universal Collective Unconscious, a dark place of limitless light for visible light is not yet formed. The Universal Collective Unconsciousness catalogs the experiences of the One Mind, as many selves of Self and the usual mundane death experience of those who haven't recognized the Soul as their Persona, the personality is "lost" to the Soul and is absorbed by the Whole, often not to return. Hence, the Soul or Real Person, must then rebuild from its experience another Self Fractal, a personality, and begin again. However, when the self-conscious is encompased in the Solar Light of the Soul, it is protected, and reincarnates.

The Thoth Deck Chariot, shows the influences of  both the Hindu Tattvas

and the biblical text of Ezekiel with its "living creatures" being represented as 4 Sphinxes pulling the Chariot. These Four Kerubim (angelic beings) represent not only the four Tarot Elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth, but also each has four sub-elements, as do the Tattvas, and are represented as the four faces of the creatures.It helps if one understands that "everything" is Mind. One Universal Collective Unconscious, that all seemingly separate parts, are not separate be connected, just as the Tree of Life is connected by these arcane inner paths of our Psyche.

Geburah, is often symbolized with a Pentagram, or five pointed star, that has the Four Elements crowned by the Spirit (Space in the 5th Tattva). Thus, making 5 the number of Geburah on the Tree of Life.  Geburah is a Red Force, and is symbolized on the Thoth card as Red Wheels, meaning that the force of Geburah (Severity) is the  motive force of the Chariot.

 

Geburah is complimented by Chesed (Mercy) on the Tree of Life, and this compliment is seen in the constant usage of the number 4, Chesed's number. We have Four Sphinx, and four columns  (Four Universal Elements) holding up the starry canopy or heavens  of Binah (The Great Mother- Empress Card key 3). Theses four elemental columns are called the " four columns of the Tree of Life in a Solid Sphere", adding a little more of the arcane to this card.  I suggest the curious student gets the book, THE QABALISTIC TAROT  by Robert Wang, as it is a fine text for understanding the Arcana of the Qabalistic Tarot.

Crowley understood that something martial is going on in the Psyche of the Seeker themselves. Much like the Bhagavad Gita, or the Babylonian Epic of Creation,  where the pursuit of enlivenment is symbolized by warring factions.

This martical realization seems also to be illustrated on the Wild Wood Tarot-Key 7-The Archer. Here, the Geburah herself is seen as the Archer holding a broad long bow of Meare Heath design.

Fletched by right wing goose feathers, and with a arrow head of flint, the arrow in a drawn bow is a symbol of the Archer in a moment of repose, a moment of relaxed intent, focused and concentrating only on the target.

The great hunting dogs, are a symbol of her great inner power, waiting to be released.

Here, the Psyche, is shown as an ancient archer, with a quiver full of ideas, and desires, with the skill to focuse her intent with a steady drawing of will and a smooth relaxed release, sending our spirit to flight on its goal. This is indeed the secret of the magi's power. Be severe in your focus, settled into a relaxed intent, with a smooth release of passion's flight toward the goal. We are Stars, each a Solar Warrior of Intent, to make Live, what is organic matterial in a relm called Earth/Malkuth. Each of us an archer of desire and ideas.

On this highest Path of Severity, the Thoth Tarot Soul Warrior Child of Geburah has reached a pinnacle, as shown by the Tens stars on his golden chest that represent Assiah or Matter. Seated in meditation, with the Holy Grail in his hands: the Cup (Womb) that we look directly into in self reflection. 

The  movement of the Chariot or in the Archer's arrow,conceals a mystery (arcana) of great significance. The Chariot is reminiscent of the Greek Chariot of the Sun, Helios, as the four horses of the Sun pulled the Chariot of the Sun across the sky. This is significant as a representation, since the Chariot moves between the Light, centered in Tiphareth (Beauty) and the Supreme  Darkness of the Limitless Light (light is not yet a form in Binah) of the All Mother-Binah. As does our nebulous auric light, that encompases our human form.

Interestingly, there is even a more complex meaning suggested here, as the Sun is guided by the Moon, of which the Darkside is used to symbolize Binah! And in Egyptian mythology, Greek Mythology and the Qabalistic Tree of Life, the sun is subordinate to the moon, just as the phallus is subordinate to the Womb.  Also, as stated, the Chariot is of the  sign of Cancer, that is ruled by the Moon (and in which Jupiter is exalted), the Charioteer follows this philosophy of subordination to the Great Mother nicely. The cardinal Path of the Moon, leads from Tiphareth (Beauty-Solar Logos) to  Kether (Crown) is the Path of the High Priestess.  Water  ( Pure Consciousness) takes precedence here and is represented by the Moon. It is a great error to believe that the consciousness and the Unconsciousness are separate, for it is the quiet repose of the Unconscious, that fools the active consciousness into believing they are separate. However, they are no more separate than the arrow and the bow, or the chariot and charioteer, for there is no need of one without the other. The Chariot or Archer Card help us remember that our form is Psyche and body, as we are Psychosomatic creators, our force is e-motion, our understanding is intent.

This, key 7,  is a Higher Path card, and requires much sckrying, meditation, and arcane study, so this author recommends that you devote more time to this card than a brief blog. At least, get the books I have recommended in this blog and read them liberally! What is also noted here, is that the Male-Female relationship, is represented backwards here in our reflected world. The Male -"Will to Force" of the Universe is Subservient to the Female-"Will to Form" in order for electric Force to become electro-magnetic Form; Idea is subservient to Understanding, for Life to progress.

There is much to consider here, if one wishes to "Know thyself!"

Thank you for your interest, comments and supportive donations. May you and yours live long and prosper. Email me, (listed on my web site) for more information about study books, Tarot Classes or personal readings. My Skype # 1-253-470-4795 for Video classes.