The Chariot
The vehicle drawn by forces the driver must master.
The Chariot: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The chariot is the self in motion, drawn by powers it must guide. Plato made the soul a charioteer with two horses; in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna, the god, is Arjuna’s charioteer. The sun’s chariot crosses the sky each day.
The Chariot: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Helios and Phaethon, Elijah’s chariot of fire, Ezekiel’s merkabah, the Chariot of the Tarot.
From the Sources
Socrates figures the soul as a charioteer with a pair of winged horses, one noble and one ignoble, so that the driving of them necessarily gives him a great deal of trouble.
“…the human charioteer drives his in a pair; and one of them is noble and of noble breed, and the other is ignoble and of ignoble breed; and the driving of them of necessity gives a great deal of trouble to him.”
Plato, Phaedrus, Socrates' second speech. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. The text, read in part
Ovid tells how the steeds rush on and leave the beaten track, while their driver, alarmed, does not know which way to turn the reins.
“Soon as the steeds have perceived this, they rush on, and leave the beaten track, and run not in the order in which they did before. He himself becomes alarmed; and knows not which way to turn the reins entrusted to him”
Ovid, The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Vol. I, Books I-VII, Book II, Fable I (Phaethon). Literally translated with notes and explanations by Henry T. Riley, M.A.; with an introduction by Edward Brooks, Jr.; Copyright, 1899, by David McKay; Press of Sherman & Co., Philadelphia. The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Where to Read
- Symbols of Transformation, CW 5
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Ways and Thresholds
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Chariot.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/chariot.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Cave: The hidden place of transformation, inside the earth. The Centre: The still point around which everything turns. Cibatio: Nourishing the matter in the vessel, a little at a time. The Circle: Wholeness, without beginning or end.