The Chariot tarot card from the Simply Tarot deck

The Chariot Tarot Card Meaning

The Driver
✦
Determination • Control • Momentum

A difficult situation pulls you in different directions; your morality could even be in question. Make your decision and mean it. Take control of your emotions and channel them constructively. Commit to your decision fully and find the strength to deal with all the consequences of your choice, good or bad.

The Subject is being pulled in different directions and they are struggling to know what action to take. Things are happening quickly and it feels as if there really isn’t much time for the Subject to get a grip on what’s happening. Rather than desperately trying to play catch up with events, the Subject needs to take control, grab the reins and direct events firmly. If the Charioteer does not take action now, he’ll almost certainly end up in a collision!

The Subject needs to decide what action to take and channel their energies in to making things right again. The Subject is ill advised to act in an underhand or deceitful manner - no matter how complicated and confused boundaries have become. As always, they should act from a point of love and respect for everyone concerned to be sure that they did the right thing and made the right choice.
⌵
❦

Love & Relationships

Emotional momentum is strong, but speed can easily outrun intimacy. One person may be so focused on reaching the next destination that they forget relationships require presence as much as progress. Control protects the heart until it begins isolating it.
◈

Material Life

Progress demands discipline, especially when external pressure threatens to scatter focus in every direction at once. Someone is learning how to keep moving despite uncertainty, exhaustion or competing responsibilities pulling against them. Momentum becomes survival once stopping no longer feels possible.
✎

Notes from the Artist

The Charioteer is driving the chariot down a narrow lane and he wants to reach his desired destination.

The horses are opposite colours, they appear to want to head in different direction. The Charioteer feels that he is in control and is steering the horses well. However, the horses are strong and picking up speed, if one succeeds in pulling The Chariot in the wrong direction the Charioteer will have lost control of his own journey and missed his true destination.

In a reading, this card would represent the need to adopt a strong stance to drive something forward, to keep strong and steady hands on the reins and manage opposition and potential problems, no matter what the difficulties. The Charioteer has to commit to the path he wants to go down.

From the archive

The Original Artwork, Reimagined

Before The Chariot became part of the Simply Tarot collection you see today, it was drawn and painted by hand for the original 2011 Tarot House Deck. The style has evolved, but the meaning and character of the card remain at its heart.

Original hand-painted The Chariot tarot card by Patricia House from the 2011 Tarot House Deck
2011 Original 2011 artwork The Chariot Hand-painted by Patricia House
A Chariot is being driven along a lane. The white horse has a black mane, the black horse's is white, the two horses strain to go in opposite directions too.
Today The Chariot reimagined The current Simply Tarot artwork

The original first edition

Buy the Original 2011 Deck

The card shown above is part of the original 78-card Tarot House Deck. Every image was drawn and painted by Patricia House before the deck was professionally printed by Cartamundi in the UK. A limited number from the original print run are still available.

  • 78-card first-edition deck
  • Two tarot-spread cards
  • Short meanings leaflet
  • Brocade drawstring bag

£25.99

Shop Now Read how the deck was created

Continue Your Tarot Journey

Explore another reading, discover a spread, or deepen your understanding of tarot.