KEYWORDS: Divided path with focused mind.
Instead of using the traditional Chariot image, I chose the Gorgon Medusa to represent the VII trump. She is the infinite mind, focused, clear, and as potent as a laser beam. Like her serpent friends, she uses the incredible power of mind control to harness her energy and transfix any aggressor.
Medusa was one of the Gorgons (the Grim Ones) who were a Libyan tribe of Amazons, the last to be conquered by the patriarchy. The three famous Gorgons were: Stheino – the Strong One, Euryela – the Wide-Roaming One, and Medusa – the Cunning One (the three lunar phases, Maiden, Nymph and Crone respectively).
Medusa is a moon goddess in her guise as the transfixer. The Gorgons wore masks as part of their ritual to scare off those who would profane their rites. Perseus’ alleged beheading of Medusa symbolized the Hellenic overthrow of the Goddess’ chief shrines and the stripping of her priestesses of their Gorgon masks and sacred horses. The Gorgon’s mask, which Medusa wears and which was worn on Amazon tunics, was a symbol of chastity; it meant death to the person who removed it without the wearer’s permission.
The Gorgon is ruled by the dual mental sign Gemini. Geminis often seem to be pulled in two directions by dissonant thought forms. The Gorgon’s ability to focus the mind is a positive solution to this problem: use the power of the mind, do not be used by it.
Medusa is drawn in a chariot by a white and black horse (her sacred animal) who appear to be moving in divergent directions. She maintains a subtle control over these forces, the powerful struggle of emotions and fleeting thoughts, by her strength of will. Medusa contains the intense power of the horses without the aid of reins! Her ability to focus energy, to transfix is truly how Medusa “turned men to stone.” She was definitely a woman of psychic potency and this was her protection.
She said, “No mortal has yet been able to lift what covers me”: she was Death, and to see her face was to die – that is to be turned to stone. “Another meaning of her hidden dangerous face is the menstrual taboo. Primitive folk often believe the look of a menstruating woman can turn a man to stone.”
Medusa wears the traditional Gorgon mask, replete with snake hair, wild eyes, fangs and protruding tongue. The snakes which appear in any image of Medusa may have served a triple purpose.
1: Gorgons were Africans, so the snakes may have been a misrepresentation of their Afro-hair.
2: Snakes are symbolic of wisdom, regeneration, psychic power and the power to transfix, and could have represented the Gorgon’s aura.
3: Lastly, snakes enhance the overall shock value of the mask.
The full moon shines down on Medusa in her silver chariot. In her hand, the labyris – symbol of female power. She charges through the sea foam, a Gorgon head on the face of her chariot.
The essence of this card is the ability to maintain focus and clarity even amidst divergent energies and fluctuating emotions. The focus of the mind is the psychic protection–the armor if you will, offered by the Gorgon.
