(CANCER) VICTORIOUS WARRIOR: (East/Below)
Esoteric Titles:
The Conquering Hero
The Chariot of the Sun
The Lord of Triumph
The Celestial Pioneer
The seventh Arcanum of the Tarot is called The Chariot, and traditionally ruled by the zodiacal sign of Cancer – the constellation was known to the ancients as the burial ground of bygone heroes. The solar charioteer is depicted standing in his chariot, holding the reins in one hand, he holds a rod, whip or scourge in the other, over him hangs a canopy decorated with the stars of the celestial firmament. The chariot itself has an emblem of a cross and is drawn by two sphinxes or griffins, one black, the other white, while beyond them lies the citadels and protective walls of a nearby city. The Sphinxes are symbolic of the passage of time and the influence of the planets Jupiter – expansion and Saturn limitation. The image therefore signifies triumph over both good and bad circumstances in life because both may, given the right circumstances, be detrimental to one’s personal aims and ambitions. That one’s talents or gifts may be misused or that fortune favours the bold is well known, although with wealth and recognition, and any temporary fame and success comes an inevitable sense of responsibility. The ancient analogy of the Horse and Carriage – probably of Asian origin, was employed by G.I. Gurdjieff in his lectures to illustrate and expand upon these dilemmas – entitled The Human Condition, He states:
“A man as a whole, together with all his separate identities or personalities is identical to the individual aspects of a horse, a carriage and a coachman. The real or imaginary self likewise is the passenger sat inside the coach. In the case of an enlightened or conscious “I” the passenger actually owns the carriage, in the case of an unenlightened man he is like a passer-by who temporarily hires the privilege or comfort of transportation. The body of the man with all its motor reflexes corresponds to the coach, his feelings correspond to the horse, and his intellectual centre corresponds to the cabby or coachman who receives instructions from the passenger and then directs the horse to where he wishes to go. In the case of the majority of human beings due largely to a poor or incomplete education the carriage is in a state of poor repair, the horse is ill-fed, poorly trained, decrepit and old, and the cabby is often lazy, half-asleep, slightly deaf or possibly drunk.”
The temptation of course is to give vent to one’s negative feelings and misdirect thoughts to the detriment or the welfare of one’s destiny. In giving full rein to one’s passions, and desires simply in pursuit of one’s goals, no matter how well-intentioned can often lead to disaster. The means can never justify the end result. It was once remarked that behind the charioteer stands a black slave warning his master in the solemn words:
“Remember, Master thou art a mere mortal”.
Indeed anyone who attains celebrity status as we all know even today needs to be aware of this distorted view that their fans have of their powers, status and origins. In fact there is a great deal of pressure on them to be examples of genuine sincerity otherwise the gloss of their exalted position in society will soon wear off leaving them disgraced or vulnerable to scandal and envy. It therefore warns against indulging or revelling in sycophantic applause or approval and being wary of jealousy, cynicism and bitterness. Many examples could be given of people who enter politics, the military or commercial sector, achieve a modicum of success but then end up over-stepping their mark and their lives end up in ignominy, exile or poverty. Only then do they realise their power, influence and success were merely temporal and mutable.
The Lord of Triumph (“Power to the People”)
In Shakespeare’s play “Coriolanus” the chronological context of the action takes place some 400 years before the time of Rome’s Imperial Emperor, “Julius Caesar” (the subject of another play by Shakespeare), the late 5th century BC when the state lacked the sophistication of Rome in contrast to that when the heroic Mark Anthony was alive. It actually coincides with the lives and reign of the Etruscan Tarquin dynasty whose scurrilous relatives feature in Shakespeare’s poem “The Rape of Lucrece”. In the early life of Coriolanus, Lucius Junius Brutus removed the monarchy and replaced it with a newly instituted republic ruled entirely by aristocrats. The senate believed the famine was a consequence of the gods not their rulers and implored the populace to make the appropriate adjustments and ultimately some personal sacrifices. Consequently, the majority of the Roman people were plagued by injustice and poverty imposed upon them by rich aristocrats. There was a yawning gap or chasm between the rich, privileged minority and the poor disempowered majority. This lack of social or political cohesion would no doubt have been the subject of debate and consternation in Elizabethan England where famines, plagues and rural or agricultural activity was threatened by drought or poor infrastructure. Some believed that they were the consequence of the arrival of comets or a malefic alignment of the planets and not the fault of the state, the monarchy or the nobles entrusted with valuable estates. According to Plutarch’s historical commentary the people of Rome agreed to the provision of easy loans in return for fighting the neighbouring Sabines and capturing their women and forcing them into sexual slavery masquerading this as “enforced marriage”. They were later bankrupted when interest rates were increased by the bankers and decided to revolt against their oppressors. After the uprising the working populace were then allowed to elect their own representatives in the senate. Whether in real terms they had a voice in political and judicial affairs is another matter. Similarly, in England, during a food shortage, the local merchants tended to hoard grain in the hope that prices would increase which precipitated anger and conflict among the starving populace. According to official records in the 1590’s the Stratford actor William Shakspere was guilty of a similar act and was accused and fined for hoarding grain during a time of dearth in Stratford-upon-Avon. He also involved himself in the enclosure of common land in order to increase or enlarge upon his property portfolio. He occasionally lent money to friends or associates and then when they could not afford to repay him took them to court in order to retrieve his investment as did the Jewish banker, Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice”. Social unrest and rebellion also feature in Shakespeare’s “Henry VIth Part 2” in the historical guise of Jack Cade who leads a band of rebels who burn down London Bridge. The rebellion, although just and popularly supported was put down and its leader, Jack Cade and his supporters were all hanged, drawn and quartered.
The illustrious noble, Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex returned victorious from his Cadiz expedition and was celebrated as a hero by other aristocrats as well as the populace throughout the country. However, he had numerous enemies at court, namely the Robert Cecil faction which is strategically opposed to the Essex/Southampton faction. Robert Devereux is subsequently sent on a suicidal mission in Ireland to render Tyrone’s forces to submit to the crown. Instead he makes a deal with Tyrone and many officers are knighted by him which outraged the Queen. Subsequently he is arrested on his return for his failures, he then escapes and attempts to raise a rebellion against the Queen in London. This also fails and he is again arrested, tried and finally executed in 1600. The Earl of Southampton Henry Wriothesley (Shakepeare’s patron) is also arrested but is later pardoned with the help of his father, Edward de Vere. The following narrative extract is from my screenplay “Not Without Mustard” and was composed using genuine documents and letters or proclamations from the time as well as some of William Shakespeare’s text from a variety of plays:
Queen Elizabeth:
My Lord Essex, how readily thou hast plucked victory
From defeat, and the whole of London, nay the nation,
Celebrates your bold ventures and your glorious return.
You shall be henceforth, Master of my Horse,
My champion and constant companion at court.
Robert Devereux:
By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap,
To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon,
Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
Where fathom line could never touch the ground,
And pluck up drowned honour by the locks.
Anthony Bacon:
Our Earl, God be thanked! He hath with the bright beams of his valour and virtue scattered the clouds and cleared the mists that malicious envy had stirred up against his matchless merit; which hath made our Old Fox, Lord Burghley to crouch and whine.
Robert Devereux:
My gracious silence, hail!
Wouldst thou have laugh’d had I come coffin’d home,
That weep’st to see me triumph? Ay, my dear,
Such eyes the widows in England wear,
And mothers that lack sons.
Henry Wriothesley:
A hundred thousand welcomes. I could weep
And I could laugh, I am light and heavy. Welcome.
A curse begins at very root on one’s heart,
That is not glad to see thee! You are three
That England should dote on: yet, by the faith of men,
We have some old crab-trees here at home that will not
Be grafted to your relish. Yet welcome, warriors:
We call a nettle but a nettle and
The faults of fools but folly.
Robert Devereux:
Hail, lords! I am returned your soldier,
No more infected with my country’s love
Than when I parted hence, but still subsisting
Under your great command. You are to know
That prosperously I have attempted and
With bloody passage led your wars even to
The ports of Spain. Our spoils we have brought home
Do more than counterpoise a full third part
The charges of the action. We have made peace
With no less honour to the French
Than shame to the Nederlanders: and we here deliver,
Subscribed by the consuls and patricians,
Together with the seal o’ the state, what
We have compounded on.
Roger Manners:
Set honour in one eye and death in the other,
And I will look on both indifferently.
Those Spanish dogs will ne’er set sail against our shores
We will prevail despite their spite and arrogance.
Henry Wriothesley: [Aside to Manners]
Take heed, my lordship is wearied, and scorneth the practices
And dissembling courses of the court and would rather be rid of it.
He should win the Queen’s preference through peaceful
Means, not with a popular reputation of a military dependence,
And to speak against popularity, lest it offend her majesty.
Robert Cecil:
I am appointed Secretary to the crown, Cobham is now Warden of the Cinque ports, and our liege Sir Francis de Vere is appointed Governor of Brill. While our Lord Howard takes equal honours with Essex for the sacking of Cadiz.
Queen Elizabeth: [Aside to Devereux]
Fear not your lordship will be appointed Earl Marshal.
Robert Devereux:
That is most fitting and generous, your majesty.
Queen Elizabeth:
And further, you will replace Sir Richard Bingham in Ireland.
You are after all a prime man of the nobility,
Strong in power, honour, wealth and in favour with military men
You would do well as general of an army there.
Robert Cecil:
Aye, good my lord you have our consent to this service in Ireland.
Robert Devereux:
Good, then I’ll accept and unto Ireland I go. The Queen hath irrevocably decreed it; the Council do passionately urge it, and I am tied to my reputation to use no tergiversation. And as it were indecorum to slip the collar now, so were it minime tutum, for Ireland would be lost, and although it perished by destiny, yet should I be accused for it, because I saw the fire burn, was called to quench it, and yet gave no help. The difficulties of a war where the rebel that hath been hitherto ever victorious is the least enemy that I shall have against me; for the disease of that country consumes our armies, and if they live, yet famine and nakedness make them lose heart and strength. And if vituals are sent over, yet there will be no means to carry them. All these things which I am like to see, I do forsee.
Ideally monarchs prefer to exercise absolute power, with some few exceptions, and the ruling monarch in the latter part of Shakespeare’s lifetime did not enjoy compromises with either the House of Lords or the Commons. Analogies could be drawn and allusions debated regarding the nature of the character Coriolanus with those heroic warriors who fought in Spain and the Netherlands. But equally, the essential debate hidden in this play is who really displays valour through populist acts of heroism and who plays the puppet master? This paradox is clearly an aspect of the play which may hark back to Essex’s Rebellion (1600), Walter Raleigh’s reluctance to end the war with Spain and the back room machinations of Robert Cecil and Queen Elizabeth who were pulling the strings. Soon after the murder or secret elimination of “Christopher Marlowe” (1593) Raleigh’s estates were confiscated and his seat on the Privy Council lost. The Earl of Essex for all his audacity and popular success was sent to Ireland by the disingenuous Queen Elizabeth 1st to end the dissent of the rebel Tyrone, to keep him occupied and ostensibly away from court and from any further action in Europe. An ageing Queen after overs 40 years on the English throne she was alarmed and paranoid about Essex’s popularity at home.
Furthermore, this was the last of the Shakespeare plays about the gore and glory that was ancient Rome. It is a psychological drama about a mature man who is also a child and whose ambitious mother has more influence on his future reputation and psyche than anything else. An ancient aphorism states (Ignatius of Ayola): “Show me the child at seven and I will prescribe you the man” and this is especially true of the character of Coriolanus, a war hero, feeding off conflict who is not suited to the demands of peace but is more anxious to engage in battle than he is to manage the difficult affairs of state that require restraint, wisdom and diplomacy. Unlike say “Hamlet”, Coriolanus is not an introspective or deeply intellectual man, he is foremost and singularly a man of action.
Divinatory Meaning of this Card:
Positive: Mastery of external factors, self-confidence and control, talents, will and skills exploited successfully despite limitations or obstacles.
Negative: Lack of discipline or self-esteem, envy or self-imposed limitations, failure to seize an opportunity. Fatalism, lack of courage or responsibility.
SPHERE 8 Hod (Splendour) Perfection Cheth -A Fence
Astrological: Libra or the 7th House.
Constellation: Auriga – The Charioteer
Sacred Gemstone: Staurolite
The next Arcanum in this series can be viewed by clicking on the following link:
