|
The Chariot:
Medea is driving our
Chariot. And already you know this isn’t
going well, don’t you? Because even if
mythology isn’t your thing, anyone driving a chariot pulled by a couple of dragons
is someone to be taken seriously. And if
you are savvy about all things legendary, just the name Medea was
probably enough to stop you in your tracks.
In fact, you probably aren’t even here anymore, are you? You quit reading with the first sentence and
are off mixing yourself a hefty drink right about now. And, since the people in the know are off at the bar, a brief recap is
probably in order.
Medea was a powerful sorceress and a devotee of Hecate, the goddess of magic. She was also a princess, the daughter of the
king of Colchis, who just happened to be in possession of the Golden Fleece. It
was an ancient artifact believed to have magical properties, so while it mostly just hung on a
tree limb all day, the king had it well guarded to be on the safe side.
One day, a guy named Jason showed up at court
and declared that he needed the fleece because the usurper of his
kingdom had agreed to abdicate in his favor if he brought it
back. Not too surprisingly, this line didn’t impress
Medea’s father, who told Jason to get bent. But Medea had fallen head over
heels for the manly adventurer and agreed to help him if he would marry her. Being a guy on the make, Jason quickly agreed and
Medea used her magic to get him the fleece.
As soon as they had it, they fled, along with Medea's younger brother
Absyrtis. Of course, Medea’s father
started after them, but he pulled up short when his sailors noticed something
odd in the water. A closer inspection proved
it to be the dismembered body of Absyrtis floating gently on the waves. Medea had cut him up and scattered the parts
behind her ship as a diversion. It worked; her father broke off the chase to
collect the remains of his son, and Medea and Jason got away.
The Chariot card is all about conflict and struggle
and hard won victory. On
the one hand,
it promises the querent the power, motivation and drive to get the job
done, no
matter how impossible the odds may seem. On the other hand, it warns of
a ruthless desire to succeed at any cost, including using dirty tricks.
And,
like with Medea, it doesn’t promise that the end will justify the
means. |
The Chariot reversed:
Medea,
ancient Greece's most infamous witch, is driving our chariot. She's not
wasting any time, because there's a mob behind her who wants her blood.
This is not exactly a new experience for Medea.
She
started down this path by deceiving her father and murdering
her brother in order to get her boyfriend, Jason, an ancient magical
item known as the golden fleece. He needed it to get his
kingdom back from a usurper, Pelias, who had promised to relinquish the
throne in exchange for it. Pelias had assumed the task he'd set Jason
to be impossible, and wasn't too worried--until Jason and his witchly
gal pal showed up at court with the fleece in hand.
Pelias predictably
refused to hand over the throne, so Medea, equally
predictably, arranged his untimely death. This resulted in her and
Jason having to flee to Corinth where things quieted down for a
few years and they had a couple of kids. Then another
throne was dangled in front of Jason's eyes and he suddenly decided that he was tired of the simple life.
Gaining the crown of Corinth required Jason to marry the daughter of the king. This wasn’t technically a problem since he'd never gotten around to making
things legal with Medea. He blithely informed
her that, in order to insure the future social standing of his sons, he had no
choice but to marry the fabulously wealthy and extremely beautiful
heiress. He
went on to explain that, to
avoid giving his new bride embarrassment, Medea would have to leave
Corinth, but their sons would stay behind with him as Greek custom
required.
A lot of people make out what happened next to
be Medea’s fault, which technically would seem to be the case. But come on.
Past experience would have suggested to anyone with even basic intelligence that there was a slight
chance she might not take this too well.
She didn’t.
The prospective bride ended up with a special
wedding dress that burnt the flesh from her body and also killed her father when he tried to put out the flames. Just to make her point a little clearer,
Medea then killed her own sons so that Jason wouldn’t end up with them. She fled Corinth (something she was getting
pretty good at by now) in a chariot drawn by winged dragons, leaving the usual
wake of destruction behind her.
If the Chariot upright speaks of victory, the
Chariot reversed warns of defeat, especially if some of the emotions commonly
associated with this card are present: rage, ego, selfishness, arrogance and
bully-like tendencies. Medea lost, not
when Jason decided on another bride—because, let’s face it, the guy was no
prize--but when she let her anger overcome her good sense. |
|
|
|