by Alyce Howell
8 - Courage
This card demonstrates a tiny wild flower which is surrounded with the rocks and pebbles in its pathway to arise into the sunshine of the daytime. Encircled by an aura of lively yellow light, it reveals the magnificence of its miniature self. Bold, it is equivalent to the sunniest sun.
When we face an extremely tough situation we have options: either we can be angry and look for someone or something to criticize for the sufferings, or we can deal with the challenge and rise.
This tiny flower indicates us the path, as its zeal for life directs it out of the gloom and into the bright. There is no use of battling against the obstacles of life, or trying to escape or repudiate them. It is there, and if the seed has to turn into a flower we should travel through them. Be courageous as much as necessary to turn into a flower you are meant to be.
9 – Aloneness
When we are all alone in our lives we can either be lonesome, or enjoy our freedom that loneliness brings. When we have no support amid other people for our profoundly felt certainties, we can either experience isolation and bitterness, or rejoice the fact that our foresight is intense enough even to endure the significant human necessities for the consent of family, friends or colleagues.
If you are encountering such a circumstance now, be conscious of how you are opting to see your "aloneness" and take charge for the selection you have decided on.
The modest figure in this card glows with a light that emanates from within. One of most important contribution of Gautama Buddha's to the divine life of humanity was to assert to his followers, "Be a light unto oneself." Eventually, all of us must create within ourselves the ability to make our pathway through the blackness without any mates, plans or escorts.
10 – Change
The sign in this card is a huge wheel demonstrating phase, destiny, karma. Galaxies rotate around this continuously revolving circle, and there are 12 symbols of the zodiac on its boundary. Just inside the boundary are the 8 symbols of the I Ching, and close to the center, there are 4 directions, all illumined by the vitality of lightning. The whirling triangle, at this instant pointing upwards, towards the heaven, and the yin and yang symbol, black and white, male and female, inventive and receptive, is at the epicenter.
It has usually been believed that the only unchangeable thing in the biosphere is change itself. Life is constantly altering, developing, vanishing and being reincarnated. All contraries play a role in this massive spherical pattern.
If you grip to the verge of the wheel you can get wobbly! Go towards the midpoint of the whirlwind and relax, being aware of the fact that this too shall pass too.
11 – Breakthrough
The prevalence of red color in this card designates at a glimpse that its subject is dynamism, authority and power. The intense radiance arises from the solar plexus region, or epicenter of power on the figure, and the pose is one of energy and willpower. All of us sometimes reach a stage when we can’t take it anymore.
At such point we feel like doing something, even if in future it turns out to be a blunder, to toss off the burdens and limits that are restricting us. If we don't, they creep to choke and cripple our very life vitality itself.
If you are now experiencing which you can’t take anymore, then let yourself to take the chance of devastating the old prototypes and restrictions which has kept your vitality from flowing. By doing that you will be surprised at the liveliness and liberation this Breakthrough can bring in your lifeless life.
12 - New Vision
The character on this card is a new born, arising from his earth bounded roots and developing wings to take flight into the boundless. The geometric figures surrounding the body of the character show the various elements of life at the same time available to him. The square signifies the physical, the visible, and the known. The circle signifies the invisible, the soul, and pure cosmos. And the triangle signifies the threefold characteristic of the cosmos: visible, invisible, and the human who comprises both.
Now you have been offered a prospect to view life in all its dimensions, from the lowest to the highest point. They occur together, and when we realize from our experience that the darkness and the challenges are needed as much as the sunny and easy, then we initiate to have a very diverse viewpoint on the world. By permitting all of life's shades to penetrate us, we turn more integrated.
13 - Transformation
The figure in the center in this card assembles on the top of the gigantic flower of the emptiness, and grasps the symbols of transformation—the sword which slashes through delusion, the snake that revitalizes itself by coming off its skin, the shattered chain of restrictions, and the yin/yang sign of excelling duality. One of its hands lies on its leg, accessible and receptive. The other extents down to touch the orifice of an asleep face, representing the quietness which comes when we are relaxing.
This is a phase for a profound let-go. Let any pain, grief, or trouble just to be there, receiving its "facticity". It is very similar to the experience of Gautama Buddha when, after ages of in search, he ultimately gave up realizing that there was nonentity more that he can do. That very nightfall, he became clarified. Transformation arises, like death, in its own point of time. And, like death, it takes you away from one dimension into a new.
14 – Integration
The picture of integration is the mystical unification, the blend of opposites. This is a period of contact between the earlier experienced dualisms of life. Instead of night opposing day, darkness overpowering light, they work with each other to form a unified whole, turning endlessly one into the other, each containing in its deepest core the seed of the opposite.
The bald eagle and the white swan are both creatures of flight and magnificence. The eagle is a symbol of power and solitude. The swan is a symbol of cosmos and purity, gradually floating and leaping upon and within the water which is an element of emotion, contented and whole within her precision and beauty. We are a blend of eagle and swan: masculine and feminine, blaze and water, life and demise.
This card of integration signifies self-creation, new birth, and spiritual union; or else known as alchemy.
15 - Conditioning
This card reminiscences an ancient story of Zen, which was about a lion who was brought up by a lamb and who use to think that he is a lamb too until an elderly lion trapped him and took him to a fish pond, where he made him see his own reflection. Most of us are just like this lion - the picture we have of ourselves doesn’t come from our own experience but from the beliefs of others. An “identity” forced from the outside substitutes the uniqueness that could have developed from within. We turn into just another lamb of the herd, not capable to move freely, and unaware of our own true self.
It's time to peek at your own mirror image in the fishpond, and take a step to get out of whatsoever you have been conditioned by people around you to believe in yourself. Party, ride, jog, and do gibberish - whatsoever is required to wake up the asleep lion within you.
16 - Thunderbolt
The card demonstrates a pylon being scorched, demolished, and blown away. A male and a female are falling from it not because they wish so, but because they have no other option. In the backdrop, there is a see-through, meditating picture demonstrating the witnessing awareness. You might be experiencing a turbulence right now, as if the ground is rocking below your feet. Your sense of safety is being tested, and the natural propensity is to try to grasp on to whatever you can.
But this internal earthquake is both essential and extremely important - if you permit it, you will arise from the wreck tougher and more willingly available for fresh experiences. After the destruction, the earth is stock up; after the hurricane the air is clean. Try to observe the devastation without any attachment, almost as if it is someone else is experiencing it. Say yes to the procedure by encountering it halfway.
17 - Silence
The quiet mirror like openness of a night filled with stars and a full moon is mirrored in the hazy la
ke beneath. The face in the skies is meditating, an idol of the nighttime who brings profundity, harmony and understanding. Present moment is a very valuable time. It will be simple for you to relax inside, to align the complexities of your own internal silence to the position where it unites with the silence of the cosmos.
There's nothing you can do, no place to go, and the excellence of your internal silence infuses everything you do. It can make some individuals uncomfortable, adapted as they are to all the noise and action of the biosphere. Never mind; look out those who can reverberate with your silence, or like your solitude.
This moment is the time to come back home to yourself. The thoughts and visions that come to you at this time will be revealed later on, in a much outgoing point of your life.
18 - Past Lives
The hands of survival form the figure of the feminine genitals, the gateway of the cosmic mother. Shown within are many pictures, faces from other eras. While it may be amusing to fantasize about well-known past lives, it is merely a diversion. The actual point is to observe and recognize the karmic configurations of our lives, and their origins in an infinite repetitive cycle which traps us in unaware behavior. The two multi-colored lizards on each side signify known and unknown. They are the guards of the unknown, making certain that we are ready for a revelation that may otherwise be shattering.
A sight into the perpetuity of our presence is a gift, and understanding the purpose of deeds in our lives is not something that can be grabbed at will.
This is an enlightenment; the happenings in your life are trying to demonstrate you a pattern as olden as the voyage of your own soul.
19 - Innocence
The elderly man in this card glows with an innocent delight in the world. There is a sensation of grace around him, as if he is at his home with himself and whatever life has conveyed. He appears to be having a lively interaction with the meditating mantis on his hand, as if both of them are the greatest friends. The rosy flowers pouring around him signify a period of letting go, easing and sweetness. They are there because of his presence, a mirror image of his own qualities.
The innocence that arises from a profound experience of life is innocent, but not silly. The innocence of kids is beautiful, but oblivious. It will be substituted by distrust and uncertainty as the kid grows and realizes that the world can be an unsafe and frightening place. But the innocence of a life which is lived completely has a feature of knowledge and reception of the ever-changing phenomenon of life.
20 - Beyond Illusion
The butterfly in this card signifies the outside which is continuously moving, and which is unreal and is an illusion. At the back of the butterfly is a face of awareness, looking inward to that which is eternal. The third eye between the eyes has opened, illuminating the lotus of mystical unfoldment and the emerging sun of consciousness. Through the emerging of the innermost sun, meditation takes birth.
The card tells us not to see outside for what is actual, but to see within. When we concentrate on outside, we usually get trapped in judgements—this is decent, this is evil, I need this, I don't need that. These decisions keep us caught up in our illusions, our inattentiveness, our old ways and arrays. Drop your narrow-mindedness, and move to interior. There, you can ease into your own inmost truth, where the dissimilarity between hallucinations and realism is already known.
21 - Completion
The very last part of a jigsaw puzzle is being placed on the location of the third eye, the location of internal perception. Even in the altering flow of life there are times in which we came across the moment of completion. In such moments we are capable of perceiving the complete image, the combination of all the small fragments that have engaged our responsiveness for so long. In the end, we can either be in anguish because we don't wish the circumstance to come to an end, or we can be thankful and being receptive of the fact that life is filled with endings and new commencements.
Whatsoever has been consuming your time and vitality is now going to end. In concluding it, you will be emptying the place for something fresh to begin. Use this break to rejoice both—the completion of the previous and the upcoming of the fresh.
The Master
The Master in Zen tarot is not the master of other cards, in fact a master of himself. His each movement and his each word imitate his enlightened form. He has no personal goals, no longing which anything must be other than the manner it is. His followers get together around him not to go along with him, but to absorb his existence and be motivated by his illustration. In his eyes they discover their own reality reflected, and in his quietness they tumble more easily into the calmness of their own existences.
The master greeting the followers not because he desires to lead them, but because he has so much more to give. Together, they generate an energy turf which supports all the exclusive individual in discovering their own light. If you can discover such a master you are fortunate. If you cannot, keep on looking. Absorb from the teachers, and the aspiring masters, and move on. Keep on progressing.
Osho Zen Tarot
Minor Arcana: Suit of Rainbows
Ace of Rainbows: Maturity
The dissimilarity between the pastures and the flowers is the similar to difference between you don’t know that you are Buddha, and the second you become aware that you are Buddha. In fact, there is no other way to be else. Buddha is fully flowered, entirely unwrapped. His flowers, his petals, have come to a finishing point....
Undoubtedly, to be filled of spring is much more delightful than the autumn dewdrops dipping on the leaves of lotus. This is one of the utmost wonderful things to see: when autumn dewdrops falls on the leaves of lotus and sparkle in the sunrise like real pearls. But, it is a merely brief experience. As the sun mounts, the dews of autumn begins to evaporate....
This short-term beauty cannot be matched, undoubtedly, with an everlasting spring inside you. You gaze back as far as possible and it was always there. You gaze forward as far as possible, and you will be astonished: it is your very existence. No matter where you are it will be present there, and the flowers will carry on to flood on you. This is divine spring.
2 of Rainbows: Moment to Moment
As this character walks across the steppingstones, he steps carelessly and non-seriously, and at the very same time completely stable and attentive. Behind the whirling, altering waters we can see the outlines of buildings; there seems to be a town in the back drop. The man is at a market but at the same time away from it, keeping his balance and able to lookout it from directly above.
This card of rainbow challenges us keep away from our worries with other places and other moments, and pay attention to what is happening right now. Life is like a huge ocean in which you can enjoy if you keep aside all your judgments, your likings and the affection to the particulars of your long-term plots. Be receptive for what approaches your pathway, as it approaches. And don't fear if you trip or fall; just stand up, clean yourself off, have a good laughter, and move on.
3 of Rainbows: Guidance
The angel with multi-colored wings on this card signifies the guide which all of us carries inside. Just like the second figure in the background, we may sometimes be a little reluctant to trust this guide when it comes to us, because we are so accustomed to taking our cues from the outside rather than from the inside.
The actuality of your own deepest existence is trying to indicate you which path to choose right now, and when this card shows it means you can believe your innermost guidance you are being granted. It expresses in soft voice, and occasionally we can vacillate, unaware if we have understood correctly. But the signs are clear: in going along with the inner guide you will experience more wholeness, more integration, as if you are shifting away from the very epicenter of your existence. If you go with it, this ray of light will take you precisely where you have to go.
4 of Rainbows: The Miser
This lady has made a fort around herself, and she is holding on to all the assets she thin
ks are her possessions. In fact she has gathered so many things with which to decorate herself—together with the quills and furs of animals—she has turn herself into an ugly woman in the effort.
This card challenges us to see what we are holding on to, and what we think we own that is so valued it has to be protected by a fort. It doesn’t have to be a huge bank balance or a chest full of jewelry—it could be anything as simple as spending our time with a friends, or taking the risk of telling someone that you love him or her. Like a well which is covered and turns stagnant from abandonment, our possessions turn dull and worthless if we deny to share them. Whatsoever you're clutching on to, always remember that you cannot take it with you. Release your grip and experience the freedom and vastness sharing can bring.
5 of Rainbows: The Outsider
