Sage Leaves: The Chariot and the Heroine's Journey

Healing Ancestral Wounds Through Tarot

🌿 In This Week’s Sage Leaves

This week in Sage Leaves, we continue our path around the Wheel with a look at The Chariot’s role in the Heroine’s Journey—a timely card as momentum builds toward the Summer Solstice. You’ll also find your Tarotscope for June 3–9, 2025, offering energetic insight to guide your days ahead.

And if you’ve been curious about Ember, Oracle of the Wheel, now is the perfect moment to lean in. Her flame will be fully kindled for the upcoming Wheel of Visions: Litha, arriving in your inbox on Sunday, June 15. Subscribe now to receive the full three-day Solstice experience—including Tarot, ritual, meditations, and herbal enchantments—crafted to honor the still point of the sun.

The Chariot’s Role in the Heroine’s Journey: Claiming Direction, Reclaiming Power

In the Heroine’s Journey, few cards speak so clearly of choice, momentum, and inner resolve as The Chariot. At first glance, it may seem like a card about winning or conquering. But for the heroine, the message runs deeper: this is about taking the reins of your own life after emerging from the underworld of self-doubt, shadow work, and inherited beliefs.

This card often appears after a hard-earned turning point—when the heroine begins to understand that she is no longer waiting to be rescued. She doesn’t need a white horse, a prince, or a perfect plan. What she needs now is direction and inner alignment.

The figure on The Chariot is not walking; they are riding a vehicle powered by opposing forces. These might be sphinxes, horses, or other symbolic animals. One dark, one light. One pulling left, the other right. They reflect the internal tension many of us carry—between old patterns and new possibilities, between loyalty to others and authenticity to ourselves.

In the Heroine’s Journey, The Chariot represents the moment when you say: “This is my path. I may not know where it leads, but I will move forward anyway.”

You may still be carrying the wounds from earlier stages of the journey—old betrayals, parental expectations, cultural conditioning—but you are no longer ruled by them. The Chariot asks: Can you hold these tensions without being torn apart? Can you drive forward, not in spite of the contradictions, but because of them?

This is not easy. The Chariot requires discipline. Not the kind of discipline that punishes or forces control, but the kind that comes from choosing again and again to show up with clarity and intention. It's the steadying breath before the leap. The inner "yes" that overrides the outer chaos.

For the heroine, this card often marks the passage from inner integration to outer action. After confronting her past, her doubts, and her fear of rejection, she begins to test what it means to move through the world with purpose. Not everyone will approve. Not every choice will be clear. But The Chariot insists: “Trust yourself enough to try.”

"The Chariot doesn’t demand perfection—it asks for direction. Even a crooked road becomes sacred when you choose it for yourself."

From a symbolic perspective, The Chariot may follow the stage of “initiation” or the descent into the deep self. Having faced what lies within, the heroine now begins to steer her energy outward again—toward new expressions of identity, creativity, or leadership. She may be returning to the world she left, but she’s not the same. And she must learn to drive with that new self in mind.

In Tarot, The Chariot is associated with Cancer, a cardinal water sign. That’s an interesting paradox. Water signs are emotional and intuitive. Cardinal signs initiate. So The Chariot blends feeling with forward motion. It’s not cold ambition. It’s a path led by the heart—but one protected by armor. You move forward sensitively, but not naively.

That tension is key. In many Heroine’s Journeys, this is the moment when personal sovereignty must be reclaimed. When the question becomes not “What should I do?” but “What is mine to do?”

The Chariot doesn’t answer that for you. But it gives you permission to steer.

It reminds you that movement is part of healing. That every time you choose yourself, you build a new road beneath your wheels. That even if your path is crooked or uncertain, what matters most is that it’s yours.

So when The Chariot rolls into a reading during your Heroine’s Journey, listen. It may not be time for speed, but it is time for direction. Choose. Trust. Move. The sacred road rises to meet you.

🌿 Sage Leaves Weekly Tarotscope: June 3–9, 2025

"The road to liberation is paved with questions, not answers."

This week’s spread begins in shadows and sharp words, but ends with liberation, laughter, and radiant light. With The Sun rising and The Fool following close behind, we move through contraction and confrontation toward a bright new doorway—though it doesn’t open without a little personal reckoning. You’re being called to shed something tightly gripped, something no longer aligned, and to choose joy over fear, play over power, and risk over repetition.

Let’s walk the arc, one card and one day at a time.

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🌘 Tuesday – 5 of Swords
Moon in Virgo Square Mercury in Gemini
Oof. This energy kicks in with tension, miscommunication, or a petty conflict that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Someone wants to be right more than they want to be kind—and maybe that someone is you. There’s no shame in walking away. In fact, this card suggests that winning might cost you more than it’s worth. Ask yourself: is it the sword or the peace you really want to carry?

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🌿 Wednesday – 7 of Pentacles
Venus in Aries Sextile Jupiter in Gemini
Time slows a bit. You're standing in the garden of your efforts, wondering if all this work is going to bear fruit. This is the energy of patience, evaluation, and course correction. If the ground feels fallow, it may be time to try another method. If you’re beginning to see little sprouts, then nurture them—but don’t rush them. Growth is happening, even if it’s still invisible to everyone but you.

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🔥 Thursday – The Devil
Mercury in Gemini Sextile Mars in Leo
Here’s the pivot. The Devil arrives to show you where you’ve bound yourself—knowingly or not. Addiction, distraction, overwork, or self-sabotage. It’s not about guilt. It’s about recognition. What are you clinging to out of fear? What story do you keep telling yourself that keeps you smaller than your truth? This card doesn’t demand shame; it demands awareness. And once you see the chains, you can choose to slip them off.

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🌬️ Friday – 4 of Swords
Moon in Libra Sextile Mars in Leo
After the Devil’s intensity, a much-needed exhale. This is a day for rest, contemplation, and intentional silence. Your nervous system may feel a bit fried after the week’s earlier events—give it the stillness it craves. Put the phone down. Stretch out in the sun. Let your body catch up with your mind. Remember: retreat is not failure. It’s integration.

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💎 Saturday – 4 of Pentacles
Moon in Scorpio Square Pluto in Aquarius
And here we see the shadow grip again—only this time, it’s material. This card asks: what are you afraid to release? Money, identity, titles, possessions—are they grounding you, or are they holding you hostage? Security is important. But clinging too tightly turns safety into scarcity. Let go, even a little. Breathe. You don’t need to carry it all into the next chapter.

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☀️ Sunday – The Sun
Mercury Enters Cancer
And just like that—the light returns. Whatever clouds you’ve passed through begin to part, and clarity arrives. This is one of the most joyful cards in the deck: radiant, affirming, open-hearted. You may feel a creative spark, or receive affirmation that lights up your path. Lean into it. Smile. Let yourself feel good without questioning it. That’s part of the healing too.

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🌱 Monday – The Fool
Jupiter Enters Cancer
Now, the reset. The Fool enters just as Jupiter shifts into nurturing, intuitive Cancer, inviting you to trust your inner compass and take a leap of faith. What adventure calls to you now? What new territory are you ready to explore? There’s no map here—only instinct, hope, and a wild willingness to begin again. This card is the sacred reset button. Press it with joy.

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🌟 The Arc in Summary

This week begins with conflict and control—both inner and outer. But the deeper movement is toward release, clarity, and a joyful new path. The Devil, The Sun, and The Fool mark a spiritual liberation, a passage from shadow into radiance. If you've been stuck in fear, scarcity, or stagnation, this week gives you both the mirror and the doorway. Will you walk through?

You don’t have to carry the past into the future. The Fool knows this. The Sun affirms it. And your spirit is more than ready to rise.

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🌿 Feeling the stirrings of a deeper question?
Sometimes a single card, drawn with intention, can bring a shift in clarity. And sometimes, the story needs space to unfold more fully—personally, privately, and with care.

If this week's arc resonated with you, or if you're navigating your own turning point, I offer one-on-one Tarot consultations designed to hold space for your insight, healing, and next steps. No performance. No pretense. Just meaningful reflection in a shared sacred space.

✨ When you're ready, I'm here.

Until next time, may your days be rooted in stillness and lit by small revelations.
May the cards speak clearly, the herbs offer comfort,
and your own inner wisdom rise gently to meet you.

Take care, be well, and good-bye for now!

With warmth from the liminal in-between,
—Dr. Winkler