The Chariot

Professor of Astral Travel

Mandrake Academy’s professor of astral travel will help you slip the bonds of gravity, and guide you through the mysteries of space and time. Don’t lose this card: it’s your ticket to the astral plane.

Key Symbols

• The professor practices her art at night, when most astral travelers are asleep or on the verge of sleep.

• She looks beautiful, fit, and trim — but her preternaturally white hair reveals that she’s much older than she appears. She’s a direct descendent of Hecate, the ancient goddess of the dark moon.

• Long ago, Hecate guided travelers at crossroads into places of mystery. Today, the professor of astral travel can guide you through the darkness, too.

• She’s flying over the crossroads of time and space, at the pyramids in Egypt. The ancient monuments symbolize long-distance travel through this world — and the next.

• The Sphinx that guards the pyramids is a blend of four creatures — bull, lion, eagle, and man — which symbolize the four fixed signs of the zodiac.

• The professor rides a proverbial witch’s broom, and she wears a pointed hat. She’s not afraid to reclaim the word witch, or the ancient tools and traditions of the craft.

• A witch’s hat is a cone of power, and a broom is a magic wand that can sweep away the mundane and take riders on wild flights of fancy and creative imagination.

• While witches on broomsticks are sometimes shown with cats perched behind them, this professor’s familiar creature is a pharaoh hound. He’s a spirit animal who glides beside her in the night.

• Her hat has a garland of stars around the brim, and her cloak is sheer, spun from the fabric of the night. Her traveling clothes make her invisible to people on the ground below.

• The band of her hat features shimmering glyphs for the astrological sign Cancer. The stars of the constellation Cancer are swept up in the bristles of the broom, too. Cancer is the sign of home and family life — but astral projection makes it possible to see the world without leaving home.

• The new moon in the sky is a silvery crescent, just emerging from its darkest phase. It symbolizes new beginnings and new adventures.

• A cluster of stars behind the professor is shaped like the Hebrew letter Cheth, which means fence. A fence may mark a boundary, but it can’t contain the human soul.

Practical Magic

Astral travel is a meditative exercise, a lot like lucid dreaming. During astral travel , you can leave your body and travel through the astral plane, a spiritual level of reality filled with thoughts and mental imagery.

Astral travel is accomplished mostly through creative visualization. The technique is simple.

• First, prepare a traveling potion of herbal tea to help you relax before your journey.

• Lie down on your bed.

• Breathe deeply, and imagine yourself floating two or three feet above your physical body, as comfortably as if you were resting on an air mattress in a pool.

• Then imagine yourself rising comfortably through the ceiling, and head for any destination you choose. You might find yourself traveling through the air, or you might find yourself transported there instantly.

• When you’re ready to go home, imagine yourself back in your room, still floating a few feet above your bed, and allow yourself to be pulled back into your body.

The Charioteer’s Time Travel Spread

This spread taps into the magical power of the number three. When you read it both vertically and horizontally, you’ll be able to develop a comprehensive overview of your life’s path.

Shuffle and deal three cards in each position. You don’t need to look at all the cards; the top card is likely to reveal the information you need. If you’d like clarification, however, you can consult the cards underneath.