The Tao in the Tarot

by Sarita Armstrong

  I can hear people saying: “but that is not so! Evil people in this world seem to thrive, whilst the good are downtrodden and never get a chance.” But that is looking at it from the point of view of the necessity of immediate retribution and reward in a single life-time and in material benefit. And who are we to judge the happiness or otherwise of a millionaire? Must we assume also that the simple peasant can find no joy unless he is educated into believing he could be richer? Might a miserly millionaire not eventually find happiness reborn in a peasant family whose love is so much greater than their income? In this way he may finally come to realise that you do not need money to buy happiness (even if it helps)!

  As it says in the opening verses of The Dhammapada:

  “All that we are is the result of all we have thought. All that we are is founded on our thoughts and formed of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain pursues him as the wheel of the cart follows the hoof of the ox that draws it. If a man speaks or acts with a good thought, happiness pursues him, like his own shadow that never leaves him.”1

  This reminds us of the image of the wheel again, forever turning. So everything is 'just' as it has to be. We could not understand how this could work until we accepted the longer view. In a single life-time, what justice could we see when the torturer goes free and lives a pleasant life? What justice is there for the deformed child who cannot get out of a wheelchair? But in the long term, may the man who has blown the kneecaps off another not end up reborn with the incapacity he needs in order to learn how it feels to be on the receiving end of pain and to spend his life in a wheelchair? It may be the only way he can come to appreciate what it really means to suffer like that and finally learn compassion for his fellow man, because he could not learn it any other way. This idea should in no way decrease our sympathy and compassion for those less fortunate members of society. In fact it should increase it and may even enable us to help them in a more constructive way by giving them the love they were previously unable to accept. People do not learn by being told things; most often they learn by seeing the example of other people and by a subtle infection of love and compassion that surrounds them.

  In the Waite Tarot card we have a rather Christian attitude of retribution, but this is not the reality of it. Another name for this card could be Balance, for we are weighed in the scales, not by a Saint Peter in some future entrance to heaven or by a little devil at the gates of hell, but at every moment in our lives. The ancient Egyptians believed that on death their heart was weighed in a balance against a feather, and the simplicity of this is shown in my own image. The result decided their fate in the afterlife. How many of us would balance the scales?

  Our main aim in life should be to live through the karma we have accumulated as best we can whilst creating as little as possible for the future. In a difficult situation we should not be asking in frustration, “Why is this happening to me?” But, “What do I need to learn from this?”

  We can see that balance creates harmony, and achieving harmony is what the ancient philosophers believed we should be aiming at. No doubt the strings of the instruments playing the Music of the Spheres are absolutely balanced, in tune, and harmonious, though to Mankind's idiosyncratic ear it would sound cacophonous.

  The balance represented by this combination card is brought about by the bright awareness produced by the intellect in the receptive principle, together with the enhancement of the intuition in the active principle. We get a hint of the idea behind it in one of the greatest of Greek goddesses, Athene, who was born from the head of Zeus. Zeus is represented by the Tarot card of the Emperor who is so good at making decisions. Now we see his cerebral ability combined with the gentleness and compassion of the feminine goddess. The god Apollo would be another – that great Sun god who was also the gentle maker of music and poetry. The card stands at the mid point of the circle and at the turning point where moving outward stops and we start on the return route.

  The Exhortation: Keep your balance on the tightrope of life!

  Justice/Balance is twinned with

  Hexagram 52 Kên: Stilling

  Upper Trigram: Kên: hard, desisting, obstinate. Youngest Son; Larger Yin.

  Lower Trigram: Kên: hard, desisting, obstinate. Youngest Son; Larger Yin.

  SYMBOL This hexagram symbolizes two mountains conjoined. The Superior Man [Elite Traveller] takes thought in order to avoid having to move from his position.

  Hexagram 52 is made up of the trigram for stilling, doubled. The Taoist idea of stillness is a very important one. Stilling the mind and stillness of the body can be very appropriate. It represents the turning of the other cheek to cut the karma in a situation that would otherwise create more bad karma. When we see that angry words occurring as a result of angry words only creates an angrier situation, then stilling the mind – and stilling the body (that raised hand ready to strike) is the best way forward.

  Although in worldly terms this is not a particularly auspicious hexagram, the translation is very beautiful:

  Keeping the back so still as to seem virtually bodiless, or walking in the courtyard without noticing the people there involves no error … When it is time to stop, then stop; when the time comes for action, then act! By choosing activity and stillness, each at the proper time, a man achieves glorious progress …

  Blofeld comments:

  The prime Taoist concept that very often the best form of action is to refrain from action appears to antedate the founder of Taoism … All that is said in connection with this hexagram points to the advantage of stillness when circumstances so dictate … this may refer to the practice of meditation, that inward turning of the mind, which plays such a vital part in the eastern religions. The back is kept straight but not stiff, and the mind seeks to attain a state that is above both sensory perception and conceptual thought - a sense of voidness.

  This stillness is found in the minute space that exists between the thoughts that flick so fast through one’s mind, if only one can grasp that empty space, that blank moment, before another thought sneaks through.

  Wilhelm comments:

  In its application to man, the hexagram turns upon the problem of achieving a quiet heart. It is very difficult to bring quiet to the heart. While Buddhism strives for rest through an ebbing away of all movement in nirvana, the Book of Changes holds that rest is merely a state of polarity that always posits movement as its complement.1

  Here we see it signifying that moment when a change of direction occurs. It is the eye of the hurricane, or the still point at the centre of the turning wheel.

  This hexagram is particularly apt here on our journey when we realise there is not much point going on in the same old direction, accumulating and expanding our ego in an ever greater worship of the individual. There comes a point where one stops and says, “Just a moment. What is it all for – this ever-inflating desire for more?” Our route from here inevitability continues around to the beginning again, even though we see it as moving on. A single lifetime epitomises the larger scale as we grow from birth to maturity, ever accumulating and growing in strength and accoutrements, until our body starts the slow decline towards the end of its usefulness. In the same way we now move on towards the end of the circle when we may realise that we have arrived at a new beginning at the moment when the present circle has completed its purpose.

  Card 12: The Hanged Man (Yang)

  The Hanged Man is one who is now able to start on the return half of the circle (see Figure 1:), so he necessarily must have a completely different view of life. Like the man in the image, it is as though he must look at everything from a completely different angle. Such a turning point must inevitably produce this reaction to the world. Just as the creation of Strength produced the reaction of the Hermit turning away from the world, so here Justice-Balance produces the Hanged Man. It is the first step on the return route, so everything must be looked at in an upside-down or back-to-front way to begin with. It is a different way o
f looking at worldly things. We also have the sense that even though we are still within this second octave we have turned the volume up a notch.

  Everything in which we believed has been questioned and found wanting. Our old ways of looking at life are no longer valid. There is nothing to be done, for the change has already occurred, therefore there is a sense of inevitability and acceptance in the image. This is why the Hanged Man in the image looks quite relaxed in his posture. He has no burdens and the light glows from his head. There is also an element of trust in the picture: the tree branch by which he hangs is sprouting leaves and surely will not break. His hands are open, and one touches the edge of the circle for balance. Only those who cling to the material will see this as a depressing card. It is actually a card of lightness and freedom. After all, the Hanged Man is only held around one foot by a small loose band like the strap of a sandal. It is that small strap that holds him to the world of material existence.

  So what has brought about this dramatic change? It is the understanding of the two previous cards. We have come to realise that we have to take responsibility for the way we are - the way we behave to each other and to ourselves. But this also gives us a terrific sense of relief, because equally we can see a way out of the sorry state in which we find ourselves, and we are released from all those repressive ideas of guilt and original sin. We do not have to rely on a priest or a God to forgive us - we only need to forgive ourselves!

  It is a conscious turning point, hence relates to Yang. The card gives the sense of independence; of doing what you know is right regardless of how others see it. Just as the Fool is only foolish when viewed by others, so the Hanged Man is only hanging upside down from the viewpoint of others. It reminds us too of how the Norse god, Odin, was hanging on the Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life, when he spied the magic runes lying scattered on the ground.

  In some of the older Tarot packs the Hanged Man is shown with money falling out of his pockets as he hangs upside down. This has been taken to symbolise the price Judas Iscariot paid when he betrayed Jesus but I cannot go along with that. He is the self-made millionaire who gives away all his money when he finally realises it has brought him no real happiness. In doing so he finds freedom and friends that his money was actually preventing him from attaining. The desire for physical accoutrements is the price we all pay to release ourselves from the prison of our own making.

  The Hanged Man seems very close to the Fool. He has all the attributes of the Fool, but he is still trapped in the world cycle. He can see how everything stands – upside-down - but he is unable to take that extra step out of the world. He has understood it with his head but he still needs to take it into his heart. We have, after all, taken only the first steps on the opposite side of the circle but our course is now set.

  The Exhortation: Care not how others perceive you!

  The Hanged Man is twinned with

  Hexagram 49 Ko: Revolution, Moulting

  Upper Trigram: Tui: lake, rain, marsh. Youngest Daughter; Larger Yang. Autumn.

  Lower Trigram: Li: fire, brilliance, beauty, (sun, dependence, lightening). Middle Daughter; Lesser Yin. Summer.

  SYMBOL This hexagram symbolizes fire rising from a marshy lake. The Superior Man [Elite Traveller] regulates the calendar and thus ensures that men are clear about times and seasons.

  It is only natural that there would be a lot of moving lines in Hexagram 52, Stillness, in order to arrive at Hexagram 49 entitled Revolution, which is an obvious choice for this Tarot card.

  Not before the day of its completion will men have faith in it - sublime success! ... Regret vanishes!

  This hexagram gives the sense that revolution - be it political, psychological or of whatever kind - has a way of happening internally and general trust in it will not be forthcoming until after the event. It relates to that feeling of knowing something is right intuitively - the right course of action - even though you cannot see exactly how it is going to pan out. Deep inside you know that a great change has come about and all caution is scattered to the wind in spite of those who tell you there is no sense in it.

  Determination in a righteous course brings reward; regret vanishes!

  We are also reminded:

  The timely application of this hexagram is of vast importance.

  And:

  The Superior Man regulates the calendar and thus ensures that men are clear about times and seasons.

  This all indicates to me that the timing of this revolution is of the utmost significance because it follows the important turning point of the card Justice/Balance on the circle.

  Wilhelm adds Moulting to Revolution as the name for this hexagram, which gives a more gentle meaning to the idea of revolution. Moulting indicates the need for change at the right time in order to stave off stagnation. We think of revolution as something involving anger and action, but the idea of moulting turns it into a very necessary change by getting rid of the old to let in the new, especially when it is combined with the correct timing. An animal moults by getting rid of its old wool or pelt when the warm weather comes, to reveal a new hide for the new season. If it did not do this it would be too warm and uncomfortable and probably full of mites. A snake sloughs off its old skin as it grows out of it, otherwise it would be so restricted it would die. There is a need for revolution, of change, to keep from stagnation setting in.

  Wilhelm’s commentary says:

  Revolution means removal of that which is antiquated…

  REVOLUTION. On your own day

  You are believed.

  Supreme success,

  Furthering through perseverance.

  Remorse disappears.1

  The internal change has already happened, so the reality of the change will inevitably follow.

  The Fool as Joker (The Unexpected)

  It is worth noting at this point that if the Fool in its aspect of Joker were placed within the pack of Tarot cards, then its position here would create the correct number of cards in the Psychological Octave (between Strength and Temperance).

  We may recall that without the Fool the Major Arcana forms a circle of 21 cards which divide neatly into 3 sections with 7 cards in each section: The Material Sequence, the Psychological Sequence and the Spiritual Sequence (see Figure 3: ). This is the neat circle of life which brings us back to the same starting point (see Figure 1: ). However, if we look at the Major Arcana in a more esoteric way as a series of three octaves (see Figure 8: ) rather than sections, wherein the two transitional cards (Strength and Temperance) are part of each octave to which they relate, we find we are lacking a card within the middle section. Placing the Fool in its guise as a Joker in this position fills the purpose, and then we have not a circle but a spiral allowing us a way forward onto a higher level of existence. The Fool is the card that changes the circle into a spiral and changes our simple idea of 21 divided by 7 into 22 divided by 7: π (Pi) the division of which will produce a number with an infinite number of decimal places. (See Part 1).

  Arguments over the positioning of the Fool within the Major Arcana have been going on ever since the Tarot came to light in the West, but if we take the beginning and ending as being correct, and Strength and Temperance lying opposite each other as being the fixed points of the division of sections and octaves, we are left short of a card in the middle octave unless we place the Fool there.

  In this aspect the Fool is the Unexpected of Hexagram 25, Wu Wang, which is made up of the upper nuclear trigrams Chên from Hexagram 49, Revolution, Moulting (representing the Hanged Man) and Chi’en the upper nuclear trigram from Hexagram 18, Decay, for the following card: Death. Every hexagram is read from the bottom upwards and the nuclear trigrams are the two sets of three lines that can be found at its heart. Lines 2, 3 and 4 make up the lower nuclear trigram whilst lines 3, 4 and 5 make up the upper nuclear trigram. It is only in more evolved divination that the nuclear trigrams are taken into account, but they are intended to convey the inner core of a problem or answer. In a move
ment between Hexagram 49 and the forthcoming hexagram for the card Death: Hexagram 18, Decay, we find the trigrams that make up Hexagram 25 Wu Wang for the Fool nestling, as it were, within the heart of both of them.

  In diagrammatic form we have:

  Moreover, we find that the nuclear trigrams of Hexagram 25 are Kên and Sun. These are the double trigrams for the combination cards on either side of the Hanged Man and Death. So not only is Hexagram 25 contained within Revolution and Decay but also contains within itself the fundamentals of the hexagrams for the two combination cards on either side of them: Stilling (for Justice/Balance) and Gentle Penetration (for Temperance). Below we have the combined lower and upper nuclear trigrams of Hexagram 25; the lower nuclear trigram forming Kên (Stilling) and the upper nuclear trigram forming Sun (Gentle Penetration).

  The Fool as the Unexpected is very similar to the Hanged Man, for his behaviour does not coincide with the norm of society. The attitude reminds me of a lovely Haiku poem:

  “And when robbed

  One is still rich