Thursday Night Tarot – Tower/Chariot

This is the seventh in a series of conversations between the Birth Card pairs and Jason C. Lotterhand, through “The Thursday Night Tarot”, (edited by Arisa Victor). The host for this series is the Fool, representing the individual taking the journey. The seventh Birth Card pair up is the Tower/Chariot.

Fool:  Welcome to this series of conversations. Information discussed here is based on Jason C. Lotterhand’s work, as presented in “The Thursday Night Tarot”. Something to keep in mind before we enter into the following conversation is the theme for the Tower/Chariot duo: “Releasing ego and old structures, grounding yourself in the present and the day to day of life ” To my left is the Tower, to my right is the Chariot, and to the Chariot’s right we have Mr. Lotterhand. Thank you all for being here. Tower, you may begin.

The Tower: I would like to thank Mr. Lotterhand and the Chariot for being here, and the Fool for hosting this series. As we all know, Birth Cards work in pairs. However, we all carry our own identity. Through Mr. Lotterhand’s work, we hope to clarify who we are to those who carry our energy.

Mr. Lotterhand, what does Tower energy represent to you? So many people are afraid of it, yet it certainly serves a purpose.

Jason C. Lotterhand: The Tower represents all of the rationalizations and excuses that we use in life. Think of the Tower this way – each brick represents a word in our life. Together, those bricks form a self-imposed prison around us. Blasting away these bricks manifests a rebirth in our life … it makes room for new energy to move in and take root. Traditionally, this blast blindsides us, but that is only because we are not acting on what is going on in our life. In the process, we move from ordinary consciousness into a consciousness that is completely different from our environmental conditioning … one that emancipates our spirit.

The Tower: What function does the lightening bolt serve?

Jason C. Lotterhand:  The Tower is something that we erect in our minds. We build up our ego with words. The lightening bolt traces the descent of the Life Power through the Tree of Life. It is the weapon that destroys our intellectual pride so that we can access our inner wisdom. This is a joyous transition, when we think about it. The fuss is caused when we fight to hold on to outdate or misinformed beliefs.

The Tower: What do the 22 yods around the Tower symbolize?

Jason C. Lotterhand: The 22 yods around the Tower symbolize the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. They are seed images … archetypal ideas with enough energy within themselves to come to expression on the physical plane. The represent the “word” of what is going to be. They are organized to show the Logos at work. The ten on one side form the pattern of the Tree of Life, and the twelve on the other side signify the zodiac. When our awareness connects with each archetype, this special energy becomes available to us.

Fool: Thank you, Tower, and you, Mr. Lotterhand. Chariot, you have the podium.

The Chariot: Thank you, Fool. I would like to thank the Tower and Mr. Lotterhand for being here, and the Fool for acting as host.

Mr. Lotterhand, can you explain to us why the Chariot represents the middle way?

Jason C. Lotterhand: The Chariot is the Way of the Self, and it is in the middle because that is the place of mastery. The Self is the master in each of us. The Self is the Charioteer, the rifer in the vehicle of personality. This Tarot image is a mirror of yourself. The Chariot Key summarizes all of the Keys in the first row of the Tableau, The Magician is our self-conscious, the High Priestess memory, the Empress is active imagination, the Emperor our ability to live by the Law of life, the Hierophant is our intuitive faculty,, while the Lovers symbolizes discrimination.

The Chariot: What purpose do the sphinxes represent?

Jason C. Lotterhand: The sphinxes represent primary factors in the victory over the Inner Self. The white sphinx is the “I like it” side of the desire-nature. The black sphinx represents the “I don’t like it” side. The Charioteer holds the invisible reins of the mind. Think of the sphinxes as representing our senses. They are the link between the Being and the Being’s fulfillment.

The Chariot:  The Chariot represents control. Is control a good  thing?

Jason C. Lotterhand: It is, because the focus of control for each individual is on their own personal senses. In order for our vehicle to move, we have to persist. The Chariot will ground you and tell you who you are.

The Chariot: Do you have any final thoughts for our audience?

Jason C. Lotterhand: In the Tower we see power, and we learn to chip away at the illusions of the ego. Through the Chariot we find balance, and expression of our true self.

Please note: These are, of course, imaginary conversations. The information has been taken from “The Thursday Night Tarot”, Jason C. Lotterhand, edited by Arisa Victor, Newcastle Publishing Co. Inc, 1989. Any errors in translation are mine, and mine alone.

Images are from the Tarot Lovers Tarot (Karyn Easton, http://paranormality.com/) .

 © October 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

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Conversations Overheard – Tower/Chariot

Conversation Overheard –
Tower/Chariot

I have been trying to think of ways in which I could make the Birth Card pairs come to life. I thought that it might be fun to have a Birth Card pair chatting over coffee or drinks. I was going to work with the gentlest Birth Card pair that I could find, just so the conversation would be, shall we say, a “nice, quiet one” Best laid plans, and all of that. The first two individuals that choose to speak were the ones that were the hardest for me to write about – The Devil and The Lovers. They choose to speak over drinks … fair warning! Today’s Birth Card pair are the Tower and the Chariot. The Tower is represented by Henri Duschene, a very reclusive gentleman living in Avignon, France. No one is quite sure of his past, except that his interests include rare books. People that come to see him do so in a very clandestine manner, and interact only with Duschene himself. The Chariot is represented by Giles Davies, Group Chairman of Barclay’s in London.

Scene: It is 9 am on a Saturday in August, 2012. A prearranged Skype meeting is being held, with two participants: Henri Duschene and Giles Davis. As always with such conversations, both audio and video are being used. Both men are wearing dark colored business suits. Henri is wearing a white business shirt with a dark, finely striped tie. Giles is wearing a cream colored shirt, with a solid, maroon colored tie. Both men have coffee cups and a crystal glass of water at hand.

“Good morning, Henri. It appears that what we agreed upon is working out well. The decision to use the weather as a catalyst to move humanity forward is showing results much faster than when we have used it in the past.”

“Good morning, Giles. Some countries may have been taken off guard, but as individuals people are picking up the lesson quickly. This past week I spoke with representatives from Scandinavia, Japan, and the Baltic countries. Everything is going as planned. People seem to accept “natural disasters” as a learning tool over having to face their own errors.”

“This has always been so. When humankind moved away from their close connection with mother earth, they lost the ability to connect with the source of their lives. It was necessary for their learning, but we did not expect it to take this long for them to move back in that direction. It took events like the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico debacle, and the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Your piece de resistance was the ancillary damage to Japan’s nuclear reactors. It is sad that it takes something like this to bring the people of the world together, but together they came.” Giles took a sip of coffee, then gazed into his cup pensively.

“Even I did not want to see the domino effect of the damage in Japan, but I looked into the veil, and it was what I had to do. We had thought that letting loose the financial crisis was going to be enough, but it wasn’t. New ways of understanding and doing evolved, but then they stalled. Another nudge was needed.” Henri watched Giles, as he sipped from his own coffee.

He then continued:

“I have always felt that dramatic upheaval was the best tool that we have for instituting change on a deep level. We need to change how people view things, how they place them in their life, how they see themselves in relation to the world around them. The Book has been written, but the story may be altered, to a small extent, by the actions of each individual.”

“And the transition they are going through now – we both know that many will not make it.’

“Giles, we agreed that to keep true to the Book, we were going to have to eliminate those who were not willing to live their best in the present. Those who choose to live in the past, or in the future, will be exiting the physical world. They will continue their journey elsewhere. Those who are willing to move on to the next phase, to live in the present, and develop their talents, will be allowed to do so. Even amongst them there will be born leaders, as well as those who need to be shown the way. “ Henri picked up his crystal glass, and took a sip of water. His energy was fading, and he knew that he needed to be present at this time for Giles.

Giles caught the brief shimmering in the Skype screen. Henri was tiring … the past century had been a difficult one for him, as he learned to fine tune his own powers.

“Henri, between the two of us we have had many successes. I am sure that the transition this fall will be equally successful. Those who need to exit this plane will have done so, and the remainder will be willing to regroup and rebuild their worlds from the inner core. There is more change to come, as we both know, but it will take place on a subtle level, and won’t take long to assimilate.”

“Giles, you are so right. We are finally down to the subtle as a starting point, as opposed to an end point. The veil has shown us the truth. It is time for me to go – I have another meeting that I must prepare for. Adieu, my friend.”

“Adieu, Henri.”

With that, both Skype screens closed out/

© August 2012 Bonnie Cehovet