The Chariot traveling around the North Star

In the opening of Canto XIII Dante starts with a "fresh page", and asks us to imagine what he is about to say.

He then describes the 15 brightest stars beautifully shining around him in all directions in the constellations, in part as a reminder of the spiritual light that could be found in every part and every direction of your life.

Then he describes the Chariot (in the literal meaning the big dipper) that circles the North Star and is always visible for us, in the sense that it never goes below the horizon.

This could also be read as the Chariot of the Church, or Theology, and thus also the Sun itself in Paradiso with its two "wheels" of the mind and the heart; of the reason/intellect with the Dominicans, and with the spiritual/love/mysticism with the Franciscans. The unity of these two dimensions and realms as a chariot, is what will bring us closer to G-d and the Divine Light, shining immovably above us as the final aim of the Journey.

And again Dante's verse connects us to our often solitary moments of looking up at the sky at night - and then makes it an inviting image of Divine Illumination, and a symbol of the ascent up towards the highest Heaven, and towards G-d.

Date: 2024-01-09 20:46:59 - Views: 573

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The Chariot traveling around the North Star

In the opening of Canto XIII Dante starts with a "fresh page", and asks us to imagine what he is about to say.

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