Granny Jones - The Chariot

nisaba

This card shows us Granny Jones herself, riding her "chariot" - an adult tricycle - through the hills of Tasmania. Behind her on the road are broken stones, symbolic of difficulties, but in this card always looking like seeds or nuts to me, symbols of fertility. The road winds through a green, fertile landscape towards a gipsy caravan parked casually, horseless but with a little dog nearby. It has a little eccentrically bent iron chimney on the front end of it, and a green roof, symbol of growth and fertility. Brown curtains grace the visible windows, and the visible wheel has eight spokes, reflecting the eight seasonal festivals of the wheel of the year.

The road ends at the caravan - it is the obvious destination - but the landscape does not. It continues on, rolling hills and scattered trees in the sunny mid-ground making it asy to avoid or ignore the three snow-capped mountains under cloud in the far background, Granny's visual shorthand for looming difficulties in the future. The corks on Granny's pilgrim hat are bobbing and her purple shawl is billowing merrily and she has two of her Siamese cats with her, one in the basket behind her saddle and the other in the basket on her handlebars, looking forwards eagerly.

Near the sun are flying the three Birds of Blessing, which I always see as a sign of divine favour, equating to the Triple Goddess. The sacred colours of the Triple Goddess, remember, are in her outfit: the white of the Maiden is the white of her apron (hidden, now, by her facing away from us), the red of the Mother and the black of the Crone in the red and black stripes of her skirt.

So aside from being comfortingly Pagan in its symbolism, what does this card actually tell us? Well, it tells us about movement, energy and enthusiasm: the "Chariot" is in motion, the cats are as enthusiastic as their mistress is, and the card is fairly barrelling along. It tells us of the importance of having a direction, an aim, a destination - the road does not pass beyond the caravan. The open landscape tells us that the world is open to you if you are riding the wave of this energy. And the three pointy mountains lurking in their dark cloud in the far right corner, tell is that there are still difficulties and problems "on the horizon", so make hay whilst the sun shines, and take advantage of your momentum while you still have it. Follow the road in front of you. And when you reach its end, forge new roads, find your own way. Just be aware that some directions are sunnier and easier than others, which might have clouds and mountains.