Phaethon’s Ride
The Wish
Once upon a time, the Sun granted his son one wish.
Phaethon earned this reward from his father Helios for becoming Champion in the annual chariot-racing tournament in Corinth. Head adorned with a ring of laurels, Phaethon made the long journey East, passed Ethiopia, and then India, and onward toward his father’s palace. The grand doors opened, and he was nearly blinded by the shining countenance of the Sun God. As they adjusted, Phaethon could see that attendants stood around him, the Years, Seasons, Days, and Hours, personified. He gathered his courage, approached the golden throne, and declared:
“I wish, for one single day, to drive the Solar Chariot across the sky!”
Helios was shocked, and reluctant to grant such a request. The daily task of driving the Sun was imperative to life on Earth, not to mention, treacherous. Even he sometimes felt fear lift his stomach as he passed through the dizzying height of Noon. He pleaded with his son to reconsider, ask for wealth, power, renown! But Phaethon’s desire burned on, and the God was obligated to keep his divine promise.
Realizing argument was futile, Helios switched to advising his son on the techniques necessary to his quest:
“The trip is a marathon, not a sprint.”
“Hold the reins with an iron grip.”
“Stay locked on the Ecliptic path.”
As he recounted the necessary steps, this son beamed up at him, and this took the edge off his nerves. Perhaps, since his own blood ran through Phaethon’s veins, who’s prowess with the chariot was unmatched, his son could make it across the sky to the sea in the West.
The Drive
5-7AM : the 1st House of Self
Phaethon approaches the chariot, a masterpiece of the blacksmith Hephaestus, in twilight. Glittering stars make their last twinkles as the Goddess of the Dawn, Eos, announces the day’s arrival. He turns toward his father, who speaks final words of encouragement, and spreads a balm across his son’s face, to protect him from the flames of the horses’ hooves. The solar steeds are weary of the unfamiliar hands who now hold their reins, but at their driver’s command, they begin to walk, trot, and then gallop forward and upward.
As they gain speed and rise over the Eastern Horizon, Phaethon feels true power flowing through him. Confidents radiates from him. He is invigorated by the adventure’s beginning. All eyes are upon him, as the inhabitants of the world watch with bated breath to see what will happen on this fate-filled day. But when he looks out, Phaethon sees the whole world bathed in golden light, and is optimistic. He’d not have made this wish if he did not believe he could succeed!
7-9 AM : The 12th House of Fear
The chariot first ascends at a steep incline, the horses’ strides long and fast. As Phaethon continues to look upon the ground, he sees that dark shadows stretch out long behind the trees, buildings, hills. Soon, the gigantic Himalayas loom ahead, jagged peaks reaching, trying to pierce him! He urges the stallions ever higher to escape.
His view of the scene disappears, as the horses lead them through thick, puffy cumulus clouds. Suddenly, Phaethon is alone. All is quiet. His skin grows wet from accumulating dew, and he shivers from passing winds. His confidence wavers, realizing that he can rely on no one else to complete the task he’s assumed. Maybe this is a huge mistake. Perhaps he did not fully consider the dangers that await him. He tries to steady both his knees and his mind, and grips the reins more tightly as the weight of his task grows heavy upon his shoulders.
9-11 AM : The 11th House of Gains
After what seems like eons, the horses, chariot, and then the Sun exit the cloud layer, and emerge into a clear stratosphere. Vision restored, Phaethon can see for countless miles in every direction. So many possible paths, though he knows he must not stray from the Ecliptic road ahead. Breathing steadies, mind focuses, and even a small smile touches his eyes.
While they are high, and continue to climb ever higher still, the trajectory begins to level out. From this new vantage point, Phaethon is once again filled with faith in his ability to complete his mission. He steals a glance down below, and sees that the shadows are getting much smaller. People move across the land, pursuing their daily activities of survival, or love, or profit. As they often look up toward the bright Sun he transports, it seems as though the people of the world are cheering him on, rallying toward his success.
11 AM - 1 PM : The 10th House of Legacy
As he culminates, coming to the highest point on the celestial track, Phaethon feels, and literally is on top of the world. Were he to look down now, he would view no shadows upon the ground. But he does not dare from this great a height. He could not have dreamed up such a wondrous expanse than what lay around him now. The mad-rush of the climb over, the horses float along, as though in a lush meadow. For just a brief moment out of time, Phaethon lets go with one hand, reaches up, and touches heaven.
Suspended, he basks in his accomplishment, the legacy he has generated in taking on his father’s mantle. His story will be written down by many hands, spoken aloud by uncountable tongues, and and his name will be remembered forever.
1-3 PM : The 9th House of Wisdom
More than half-way through the ride across the sky now, the horses begin to trot back downward. Phaethon feels his stomach staying up high and behind him as his body descends. Taking on his father’s oracular vision for just a moment, he sees masses of people in the future feeling this same sensation, at the drops of roller coasters. Still they glide, covering more distance than depth, but their acceleration is noticeable. They must no longer fight against gravity, but work with it.
Phaethon takes a deep breath and steadies himself by recounting the lessons of his chariot teachers, and his father. Admonitions in resonant base tones urge awareness, and patience through the back-half of the race. If he can remain consistent in constitution, the finish line will soon come into view. To reach his goal, he will have to rely on all he has learned, and all the grit and wisdom passed down to him from the masters of the past.
3-5 PM : The 8th House of Obstacles
In the later part of the afternoon, the solar-stallions turn more and more downward, and gallop furiously, sensing the end to their work. They rush once more into the layer of clouds, plunging Phaethon back into darkness. These are not the cotton cumulus of the morning, but have transformed into charcoal, altostratus anvils. He is immediately drenched in rain yet-to-fall.
Blinded and deafened by a clash of lightning and thunder, it’s all Phaethon can do to keep a hold on the reigns, knuckles white as his vision. As the shock abates, he sees ominous shapes dancing around him. He feels something brush his shoulder, and out of his peripheral, Phaethon sees the spined-tail of a dragon swoop by in the darkness. As he turns to try to see more clearly, he is struck on the head, and the reins fly from his hands. He cries out for his father to save him.
Phaethon sighs as the clouds turn more transparent, and begin to dissipate. But relief is fleeting, as he realizes they are hurdling down far too rapidly, nosediving toward the Earth. The shadows once again reach out long away from him, and grow rapidly. If the steeds to not turn back upward, they will crash. The heat of the Sun scotches the Earth. Forests catch aflame, oceans boil, and the drying ground cracks open, causing even Hades and Persephone to shield their eyes from afternoon light.
Instinct drives the horses back upward, and away from their own demise, saving the Earth from absolute apocalypse. But the damage is done, devastation far-reaching, a disaster. Phaethon cannot bare to look around and witness the calamity he’s ushered upon the world. Rain falls from the clouds and from his eyes, as the Chariot ascends up far too high for this late time.
5-7 PM : The 7th House of Endings
The surface of the Earth cools, but then dips too much, toward an unseasonal frost. The Sun recedes into the vaults of heaven. Both Gods and Men pray that Zeus will restore order on the world by solving the Solar-chaos. After receiving swift council from the Olympians, including Helios himself, Zeus instructs Hermes to fly the God of the Sun up to his chariot at once. As they leave, he stands from his throne, thunderbolt in hand, and jogs upward toward the mountain’s peak.
The land around him lay in ruins, flames continue to consume the vegetation, even as falling rain turns to snow. He aims just a degree ahead of a faint light in the clouds. Startled horses lead the Sun wildly off course. With the assurance of divine authority, and supreme duty, Zeus pulls his arm back, and sends lighting justice Westward.
Like a comet, a tail of golden flames and silver smoke trails above Phaethon as he falls. No longer is he filled with confidence, nor with fear. The long and winding river of stars, Eridanus, catches his body. However, even its rushing rapids cannot extinguish the smoldering of his corpse, which continues as the Sun is guided back under the horizon by Helios.
The next day, as the God of the Sun returns to his primary duty, he peers down to see his son remains aflame in the river. The Sun externally reflects the slow creep of dark grief within him, and humanity is once again struck with terror as the Solar light disappears unnaturally from the sky. Helios is strong, and the total eclipse of his heart does not last long. The day must go on, though his radiant son is gone.
