My tarot card for the month is the Chariot.
One aspect of the Chariot is self-control. This is the area I am working on this month mainly because the universe kept putting some amazing things in front of me this month.
One thing I came across was the story of the two wolves, the black wolf and the white wolf. Here is one of the many links I reviewed. I can’t now find them all.
Black and white wolves
The black wolf represents rage, jealousy, arrogance, greed, sorrow, regret, lies etc.
The white wolf represents hope, love, joy, honesty, peace, truth, generosity etc.
The quick version of the story is the wolf you feed wins. A quick think would lead one to believe that feeding the white wolf is the best choice. But that would be too easy.
The black wolf doesn’t die if you dont feed it. It becomes secretive, angry, resentful, and it lurks, it waits for a moment of weakness to pounce. Think of those moments where our response is disproportionate to the situation or times where we start to brood, or get annoyed even as we strive for being completely loving.
According to Carl Jung, the brighter the light the darker the shadow. So the more one tries to be bright, light, positive etc the darker their shadow self becomes.
As the Chariot card I have has a black and white horse or dragon (two different decks) I thought this would be interesting symbolism to work with. Traditionally the black represents the moon, femininity, unconscious mind and the white represents the sun, masculinity and the conscious mind.
However, I could easily see how looking at these two as my shadow self and my light self. For me to have self control it is not to feed the white wolf so it wins but to feed both so they work together and I have inner balance and self control. A chariot doesn’t drive well if the dragons are fighting or going off in different directions.
The black wolf, when fed- not indulged- it has qualities the white wolf needs such as tenacity, courage, fearlessness, strategic thinking, and a strong will. Of course the black wolf needs the white wolf as well.
Indulging the black wolf is throwing the temper tantrum, lying, choosing to put off whatever task you have to do- exercising, chores, etc.
Feeding the black wolf is doing things such as shadow work, exploring negative belief systems, inner child work, integrating and accepting those aspects we have tried to hide and deny.
Feeding the white wolf is developing intuition, meditating, self-care etc.
As I have been focusing on an attitude of gratitude and being loving etc., my black wolf was being shunned. I have found it harder and harder not to indulge the black wolf- lethargy and irritability have been showing up a lot more in my life. So instead of racing to feed the white wolf, I need to feed my black wolf to bring myself in more alignment and have the balance and self control that is visible in the upright Chariot.
I decided to do a quick tarot pull for the card before the Chariot and the card after the Chariot. You can pick the meanings for each of these cards. I have brainstormed a bunch but I settled on the following.
For me, the card before the Chariot represents: What does the black wolf need from me to be/feel valued.
The card after the Chariot represents:
How does the black wolf present itself when it is being repressed/ignored.
I was blown away with the accuracy of the messages of the two cards I pulled. My goal for the rest of the month is to recognize the signs of the undervalued starved black wolf and to then find ways to feed it in line with the card I pulled. The black wolf is not evil it is just often misunderstood and therefore misused.
Blessed be.
