The Chariot Tarot Card Meaning

The Chariot upright

A princely figure stands in a chariot drawn by two sphinxes, one dark and one light. Waite calls him the hero who has answered the riddle — a conqueror on several levels, mostly through the mind. The card says your will can hold contrary pulls together. Set the destination and keep a steady hand.

The Chariot reversed

Waite reversed lists riot, quarrel, dispute and being defeated. When this appears, check whether you are forcing things, or whether the "two sphinxes" — two goals, two people — are pulling apart.

A reversed card (What does Upright / reversed card mean?) is one drawn upside-down.

Is The Chariot a yes or no?

Upright: Leans yes. Yes — through effort and focus. It is a "you can make this happen" card.

Reversed: Reversed, The Chariot reads as a gentle no: loss of control, quarrels, scattered drive.

The yes/no lean is BornClock’s reading convention drawn from the card’s meaning — Waite himself did not assign one.

Symbolism in the The Chariot card

What appears in the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith picture, as Waite describes it:

• Two sphinxes, dark and light — opposing forces under one will
• Charioteer with a drawn sword — Waite: the hero who has conquered — ready and active
• Emblems on his shoulders — Waite: the Urim and Thummim — guidance in decisions

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: succour, providence; also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble.

Reversed: riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, defeat.

Source: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910, public domain). Some of Waite’s 1910 fortune-telling meanings are old-fashioned; the plain-English reading above is ours.