Major Arcana · 7
The Chariot Tarot Card Meaning
What the card shows
Two sphinxes, black and white, pulling in opposite directions.
Upright meaning
Held together by will alone. Upright, the Chariot is momentum earned by keeping two opposing forces (rest and drive, caution and ambition) pointed the same way.
If it's your card today
A day where discipline matters more than inspiration. Keep the two sphinxes aligned.
Commentary and alternative readings by context
Love and relationships
In love, The Chariot suggests pushing a relationship forward through determination, or balancing two different needs within it rather than letting one dominate.
Work and decisions
For career, it points to achieving a goal through sheer willpower and focus — progress that comes from discipline, not luck.
As a person
The Chariot describes a determined person who can hold competing impulses to one chosen direction. They make progress through focus; checking in with others keeps resolve from becoming control.
Reversed meaning
Forward motion without direction, or the opposing forces winning — stalled, scattered, pulling apart.
Where Tarot schools disagree
The main interpretation follows Rider–Waite–Smith. The Marseille and Thoth comparisons are attributed to named authors and works.
The Chariot Tarot Card: Tarot de Marseille Interpretation
Tarot de Marseille — Le Chariot (Paul Marteau, 1949)
In Paul Marteau's named system in Le Tarot de Marseille (1949), Le Chariot represents a difficult advance through the material world by mastering powers and passions. This is a specific twentieth-century interpretation, not an ancient meaning shared by every Marseille reader.
The Chariot Tarot Card: Crowley’s Interpretation in The Book of Thoth (1944)
Thoth — The Chariot, Atu VII (Aleister Crowley, 1944)
Crowley's exact corresponding card in The Book of Thoth (1944) is The Chariot, Atu VII. Crowley kept the Hebrew letter Cheth and the sign Cancer from the standard table. His treatment leans into the alchemical Holy Grail symbolism of the card's charioteer, reading it as a vehicle of the Great Work rather than a literal battlefield victory — more inward and ceremonial than either Marseille's conquest imagery or RWS's willpower-and-self-control reading.
Why the interpretations differ
Rider–Waite–Smith, Paul Marteau’s Marseille method and Crowley’s Thoth use different symbolic grammars. They may point to the same broad theme, but they reach it through different images, arcana order, correspondences and authorial systems. The differences above are therefore differences of method, not competing claims about one fixed universal meaning.
Sources and method
A. E. Waite — The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · Paul Marteau — Le Tarot de Marseille (BnF, 1949) · Marteau — attributed English translation · Aleister Crowley — The Book of Thoth (1944)
Automated factual and language passes completed 23 September 2026; no human native-language review is claimed.
Water
Cancer
Frequently asked
What does the Tarot card “The Chariot” mean upright?
Held together by will alone. Upright, the Chariot is momentum earned by keeping two opposing forces (rest and drive, caution and ambition) pointed the same way.
What does the Tarot card “The Chariot” mean reversed?
Forward motion without direction, or the opposing forces winning — stalled, scattered, pulling apart.
What does the Tarot card “The Chariot” mean in love?
In love, The Chariot suggests pushing a relationship forward through determination, or balancing two different needs within it rather than letting one dominate.
What does the Tarot card “The Chariot” mean for career?
For career, it points to achieving a goal through sheer willpower and focus — progress that comes from discipline, not luck.
What kind of person does the Tarot card “The Chariot” describe?
As a person, this card describes the same pattern in character: Held together by will alone. Upright, the Chariot is momentum earned by keeping two opposing forces (rest and drive, caution and ambition) pointed the same way. Under pressure, its shadow may look like this: Forward motion without direction, or the opposing forces winning — stalled, scattered, pulling apart.
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