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7 of Wands |
7 of Cups |
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7 of Swords |
7 of Disks |
The wolves in the 7 of Wands and the 7 of Cups were inspired by
Plato's allegory of the soul in Phaedrus.
`Of the nature of the soul, though her true form be ever a theme
of
large and more than mortal discourse, let me speak briefly, and
in a
figure. And let the figure be composite-a pair of winged horses
and a
charioteer. Now the winged horses and the charioteers of the
gods are
all of them noble and of noble descent, but those of other races
are
mixed; 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. I will endeavour to explain to you in what way
the
mortal differs from the immortal creature. The soul in her
totality
has the care of inanimate being everywhere, and traverses the
whole
heaven in divers forms appearing--when perfect and fully winged
she
soars upward, and orders the whole world; whereas the imperfect
soul,
losing her wings and drooping in her flight at last settles on
the
solid ground-there, finding a home, she receives an earthly
frame
which appears to be self-moved, but is really moved by her
power; and
this composition of soul and body is called a living and mortal
creature. For immortal no such union can be reasonably believed
to
be; although fancy, not having seen nor surely known the nature
of
God, may imagine an immortal creature having both a body and
also a
soul which are united throughout all time. Let that, however, be
as
God wills, and be spoken of acceptably to him. And now let us
ask the
reason why the soul loses her wings!"
and,
"As I said at the beginning of this tale, I divided each soul
into
three-two horses and a charioteer; and one of the horses was
good and
the other bad: the division may remain, but I have not yet
explained
in what the goodness or badness of either consists, and to that
I
will proceed. The right-hand horse is upright and cleanly made;
he
has a lofty neck and an aquiline nose; his colour is white, and
his
eyes dark; he is a lover of honour and modesty and temperance,
and
the follower of true glory; he needs no touch of the whip, but
is
guided by word and admonition only. The other is a crooked
lumbering
animal, put together anyhow; he has a short thick neck; he is
flat-
faced and of a dark colour, with grey eyes and blood-red
complexion;
the mate of insolence and pride, shag-eared and deaf, hardly
yielding
to whip and spur. Now when the charioteer beholds the vision of
love,
and has his whole soul warmed through sense, and is full of the
prickings and ticklings of desire, the obedient steed, then as
always
under the government of shame, refrains from leaping on the
beloved;
but the other, heedless of the pricks and of the blows of the
whip,
plunges and runs away, giving all manner of trouble to his
companion
and the charioteer, whom he forces to approach the beloved and
to
remember the joys of love. They at first indignantly oppose him
and
will not be urged on to do terrible and unlawful deeds; but at
last,
when he persists in plaguing them, they yield and agree to do as
he
bids them."
In the Mary-el Chariot card the chariot is drawn by wolves and
so
wolves will feature in the 7 of Wands and Cups. Wolves are a
spiritual brother to humankind with a complex community,
behaviors
and instincts. The white wolf, akin to the white horse,
represents
morality, valor, goodness, the will of the soul. The 7 of Cups
is
going to follow as the black wolf representing animal appetites,
passions and the will of the body.
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