The Chariot is the card of advance: a controlled drive that knows where it is going.
A drive sets out: the card invites you to set a heading and to bring together the forces that each pull their own way.
A frank drive, a will that sets out, and the ability to hold together forces that each pull their own way.
The drive can scatter: without a clear heading, the team divides and the chariot loses its strength.
By Thomas Guilhot · updated
The Chariot is often read as the card of drive: a project getting started, a desire to act taking shape, a heading you choose to hold.
Many readers see in it the image of mastery obtained without reins, through the sole direction given to different forces. In a spread, it can invite you to decide on a destination, then to bring your resources, wishes, and constraints into line so that they pull the same way. The chariot is covered and solid: the card evokes the protection of a well-built framework as much as speed. The tendency is rather favorable, with no guarantee: everything depends on the steering, and the card is a reminder that you only hold a team by looking ahead. The useful question is simple: where do you want to go, and what in you pulls elsewhere?
A shared drive, a project for two getting started; check that you are pulling in the same direction.
In a relationship, the Chariot can evoke a shared drive, a project for two getting started, or a wish to move forward together. It also invites you to check that you are pulling in the same direction as the person who matters to you.
A project getting started, a mission carried out with method; set a clear heading before speeding up and divide up the roles.
On the professional side, it is read as a project getting started, a mission carried out with method, a team that has to be coordinated. It can push you to set a clear heading before speeding up, and to divide up what each person drives.
A determined way of acting: a clear goal, means devoted to it, a direction that stays readable.
On the resources side, the Chariot describes a determined way of acting: giving yourself a goal, devoting means to it, and sticking with it. The card puts no figure on anything; above all it asks you to keep a readable heading.
Determination and the wish to move forward, with sometimes the tension of holding opposing drives together.
Choose a precise destination, line up your means with it, then move forward in stages rather than committing everything at once.
Reversed, the Chariot shows a drive without direction: excess speed and scattering replace the heading.
Rather favorable
The Chariot leans rather to the favorable side, provided a heading is held and the drive does not scatter.
Questions to ask yourself
A sentence to keep: “I choose a course and I align my forces to hold it.”
A crowned figure, standing in a canopied chariot carried by four pillars, scepter in hand, shoulder pads with faces; two horses pull in two diverging directions.
In the Marseille deck, the chariot looks like a small covered stage: a canopy on four pillars, a body bearing the letters V.T., a crowned figure holding a scepter whose shoulder pads show faces. The two horses do not look the same way, and that detail gives the card its tension. In Waite’s deck, the driver wears armor and a starry crown, holds a wand under a canopy scattered with stars, and the chariot is drawn by two sphinxes, one black and one white, without reins; a winged disc decorates the body and a city can be made out behind. In both versions, the question is the same: who leads, and how do you make two forces move forward together?
The same card in the two reference decks: Conver’s drawing, dated 1760, and Pamela Colman Smith’s scene, 1909.
| Aspect | Tarot de Marseille | Rider-Waite |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Le Chariot | The Chariot |
| Number | VII | VII |
| Image | Numbered VII, the card shows a crowned figure in a canopied chariot, drawn by two diverging horses, with V.T. on the body. | In Waite’s deck, the Chariot also carries the number 7; the chariot, without reins, is drawn by a black sphinx and a white sphinx, with a city behind. |
| Reversal | Often not read | Commonly read (reversed cards) |
Tarot de Marseille: Nicolas Conver, dated 1760, restored by the Tarot World Project, CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. Rider-Waite: drawings by Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Images resized and compressed by Versana; Marseille Minor Arcana diagrams and card back drawn by Versana.
Two situations, two readings: in a current relationship, then in a period without one, and reversed.
The position changes the reading: 7 common positions, each upright then reversed.
Six cards calculated by the combination rules: two that reinforce it, two that nuance it, two in friction. None is “bad.”
The Chariot is the seventh card of the Major Arcana: after the choice of the Lovers, the drive that arises from a decision made.
Numbered VII, the card follows the Lovers and precedes Justice in the Marseille deck, Strength in Waite’s, which swap places between VIII and XI. The Chariot is the first card of frank movement: after the framework of the Hierophant and the choice of the Lovers, something sets out. The number 7 stays 7 after reduction. The Marseille deck and Waite’s number it the same way, and each version keeps the image of a team of two forces, horses on one side, sphinxes on the other.
The Chariot is also the tarot birth card for dates that add up to 7; its reduced number, 7, links it to numerology.
The Destiny Matrix reads a date with the 22 arcana: The Chariot is energy 7 there, and each position gives it its own meaning.
Numbers and names read on Conver’s cards and in Waite’s text; correspondences reported according to the Golden Dawn tradition, never as facts.
The Chariot stands for drive, steering, and a heading held. Many readers see in it a will that sets out and brings together different forces. It invites you to choose a direction, without promising anything about the outcome.
Reversed, the Chariot is often read as a drive without direction: the two animals pull each their own way, hence a scattering. The reading invites you to take the reins again by first clarifying the heading to hold.
The Chariot teams up with cards of choice, for the drive that follows a decision, with cards of balance, to temper speed, or with cards of structure, to support a project. The question asked refines the reading. No verdict: see above.
For someone who expects a verdict, the Chariot leans rather to the favorable: a drive is possible. It remains conditional on a heading held, so the reading invites you to clarify the direction before launching.
