The Chariot's Journey

09/05/23

Today I pulled the Chariot card from Chris-Anne's beautiful Light Seer's Tarot deck. (Card of the Day draw)

As I am currently away from home, on a journey to visit my beautiful daughters, and other family, one of whom has been in the hospital ICU for 5 days, drawing this card seemed synchronous for me.

The art on this card is especially interesting as the "charioteer" isn't sitting in the chariot seat. Nor is he holding on to any reins.

Chris Anne's rendering shows a white horse and black horse, seemingly pulling slightly in different directions. In other words, they are not quite parallel. The charioteer is a young man crouched on top of the moving chariot, one hand on the roof's surface, the other arm resting on his knee. He is steady, not uncomfortable, but very alert, looking forward and ready to move as necessary at any moment.

There is a feeling of both speed and magic here. Indeed, now that I am looking at the card again, the magic dust looks like reins.

In one interpretation, the horses are thoughts, and they are not aligned. You might even say they are in opposition, or at the very least different. In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the charioteer looks to be encased in a cement block from the waste down. A fascinating juxtaposition.

I have learned that our thoughts, even more than our actions, determine the course of our lives. After all, thought precedes action. Even seemingly instinctual or habitual action comes from ingrained thought patterns

Is this young man letting his thoughts run away with him?
Who or what is in control?
What would be the significance of magic reins?
How will his journey proceed from here?
What magic might be happening here?

My Journey to California

As I reunite with family members, I am finding myself confronted with all kinds of thoughts and habitual actions, and I realize that it is easy to fall back into patterns that no longer serve me. Thoughts of judgment. Thoughts of fear. Thoughts of scarcity.

And now, I must see myself as the Charioteer and rein in the thoughts that don't serve me (or others) well.

This trip is an opportunity for me to see things in a different way, because I am in a place that gets me out of my normal ways of moving throughout the day. I can see habits of thought, habits of action, habits of attitude perhaps a little more up close.

It's unsettling because I can feel the resistance as I decide whether to engage in family gossip or take the higher road. I can tell you that it's work, and I am still working at it. But I am getting better and the awareness is huge! I am learning so much about myself.

This Path I Honor

I have a philosophy that I follow summed up as "This Path I Honor" which means that I cannot judge the circumstances of anyone's life. We all have family and we all know they have "circumstances," as do we ourselves, that we feel we would change if we could, or at least do differently if we were in their shoes.

This is a mantra for me, not because I follow it perfectly. Far from it. But it is a mantra to remind me of my intention. Every person, community, situation and circumstance has its own idiosyncracies. Which means one's own mixture. (As I typed this out, I was spelling idiosyncracies as idio-synch-racy, thinking about synchronicity. )

It's the wrong spelling, but it's not altogether wrong. Every person's path, and wherever they are on it, is a mixture AND I'd argue a time (synchro) of one's own. On a Soul Contract level, we can never determine just what life lessons another person needs, or how they need to show up for them. And this combination of circumstance and timing is what creates their personal idio-snynchronicity.

This Path I Honor. My own path, and the path of each individual. This is a mantra of no judgment, no interference, and one of the spirit of Namaste. The divine in each of us. This is not a mantra of bypassing, spiritually or secularly. (Yes, secular bypassing doesn't get press, but it's a thing too. More on this in a future post. This is not a mantra of a lack of compassion or action on behalf of myself or others, but of wise and considerate responses.

DayLight Dreaming Exercise

If you're in a place where you can reasonable close your eyes for a few minutes, try this short exercise. Open you eyes to read between paragraphs if necessary. To re-enter your imagination as meditation imagery, breathe deeply and relax, drawing forth the elements in a soft manner.

Now, if you wish, close your eyes, and imagine yourself as the charioteer. What is happening? What do you see? What is your experience like? Use your inner senses to draw forth the imagery in your mind.

Now, see that you are in control. If your horses are runaway horses, you can rein them in. If your chariot needs repairs, you can do that as well.

Take it a step further, and see yourself making any changes necessary to handle yourself, your chariot and your horses.

And one step further, see yourself arriving at a destination of your choice. A holiday getaway for relaxation. A place where you receive information or illumination about a situation. Or the finish line of a goal that you are aiming to accomplish for transformation.

This can take only a few minutes! Magic can indeed happen at the speed of the Chariot!

♡ Runa

P.S. I would love to hear any thoughts or questions you have or your "imagined DayLight Dreaming experience." Comment below!

Enhanced DayLight Dreaming exercises and illustrations are available at the higher membership/subscription levels. I'd love to tell you more, if you're interested, in a complimentary Soul to Soul conversation. <<--Click to schedule.