The Greater Trumps: (09) The Chariot
It careens towards you, lethal and unstoppable. Yet, the Chariot and its charioteer are your allies. Perhaps. A warrior in jet and gold looks sternly at you. He holds the reins of two fantastic beasts, one as dark as night and the other as pale as ice. Sometimes, they are sphinxes; sometimes, horses - or pegasi. Sometimes the warrior is female, and lions draw her chariot.
What does it all mean? The Chariot, as with the other images, has at least two meanings. Seen from without, it signifies Precession - the inexorable progress of change. It is the same process which causes the Pole Star to change over the millennia, the same process that causes the rotation of seasons. Seen from within, it signifies Syzygy - the yoking together of opposites. This harnessing of opposing forces - light and dark, male and female - can lead to fruitful and harmonious action. Or not.
The overall theme of the Chariot, then, is Progress or Movement. It may mean victory over inertia, or change for the sake of change. But still it moves, as Galileo was heard to whisper.
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I love the word syzygy. It has won me endless games of Hangman; by the time people get through all the five usual vowels they're normally almost hanged. But the time for the Hanged Man is not now. Instead, I leave you with a thought on the trustworthiness of progress:
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help;
and rely on horses,
and trust in chariots,
because they are many;
and in horsemen,
because they are very strong;
but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,
neither seek the LORD!
Indeed, a blind trust in progress and movement, without asking what all that harnessed dynamism is for, is a great way to careen (or career) towards a rather final demolition of the soul.
What does it all mean? The Chariot, as with the other images, has at least two meanings. Seen from without, it signifies Precession - the inexorable progress of change. It is the same process which causes the Pole Star to change over the millennia, the same process that causes the rotation of seasons. Seen from within, it signifies Syzygy - the yoking together of opposites. This harnessing of opposing forces - light and dark, male and female - can lead to fruitful and harmonious action. Or not.
The overall theme of the Chariot, then, is Progress or Movement. It may mean victory over inertia, or change for the sake of change. But still it moves, as Galileo was heard to whisper.
=====
I love the word syzygy. It has won me endless games of Hangman; by the time people get through all the five usual vowels they're normally almost hanged. But the time for the Hanged Man is not now. Instead, I leave you with a thought on the trustworthiness of progress:
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help;
and rely on horses,
and trust in chariots,
because they are many;
and in horsemen,
because they are very strong;
but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,
neither seek the LORD!
Indeed, a blind trust in progress and movement, without asking what all that harnessed dynamism is for, is a great way to careen (or career) towards a rather final demolition of the soul.
Labels: Greater Trumps, Symbolism
etched with acid at 1:52:00 am
2 Comments:
25 points in one scrabble move,good if you don't have vowels. And of course, 90+500+600+500+7+500. Did I get it right? :)
*grin* 90 + 800 + 900 + 800 + 7 + 800 ; remember that the sequence is A to J = 1 to 10, J to S = 10 to 100, S to W = 100 to 500, X Y Z = 700 to 900. 600 is missing because the full ancient Greek alphabet has a letter we don't have an equivalent for.
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