What Are You For?

From the Osho Zen Tarot, the Empress; from the A'HA Oracle, Resonance:

          Padma's title for the Empress is 'Creativity,' and delineates clearly a major difference between the actions of the Emperor and the Empress. The Emperor creates laws and sanctions based on what he is against; the Empress creates her world based on what she is for. How different our conversations would be around the dinner table and in shopping lines if we asked, "What are you for? What do you value and hold dear? And how are you working to create such an environment in your own life, your community, and the world?" Resonance is an amplification that occurs when an object is exposed to the vibrations of another object with the same natural frequency. Basically, what is in harmony tends to strengthen each other. It makes sense that people with common causes would be drawn together to find a common solution. But what a difference it would make if their efforts were not wasted raging about what they were against, but nurturing what they wanted to create.

Common Prudence

From the Osho Zen Tarot, the Nine of Pentacles; from the A'HA Oracle, Prudence:

          Padma has titled this card 'Ripeness,' a nod to things being at their peak. It is a time to pause and enjoy rather than rush off looking for the next pleasure. Yes, things will change soon, as that barely-there crescent moon indicates. And it is often the loss of them that reminds us of their worth. If we can enjoy the moment without attachment to it, it becomes possible to appreciate it without adding the weight of desperation. Prudence - the foresight of wisely managing resources - suggests making use of what we have while we have it with a dose of discernment. Today in America is Black Friday, a day consumers are encouraged through every media source available to spend, spend, spend. While it is a great day to find some good deals, the buyer might want to remember the bills that will come due next month.

 It is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in.

~Aesop

Paradox of Pain

From the Osho Zen Tarot, the Three of Swords; from the A'HA Oracle, Chameleon:

We must not allow ourselves to numb out or to deny or hide from the pain we are experiencing. We must allow our vulnerability to teach us. 

—Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara

          Padma calls this card 'ice-olation,' a phrase that fits perfectly. Pain can be isolating, particularly when we hold it inside or attempt to box it up and place it out of sight. I know this too well from years of practice. But hidden pain is like a viral infection; sooner or later we start to show symptoms. It is normal to hurt when we've experienced harm or loss, and it's healthy to feel the emotions with it. What makes me feel isolated is not the emotion but the thoughts I attach to it: "This isn't fair - I try to be a kind and compassionate person. I've been through more than anyone else has to endure. Life should not be this hard." The irony is that it is my pain that connects me to others and my thoughts of being singled out that makes me feel alone. The Chameleon card brings up the other extreme of pain - the empathic person who not only feels someone else's pain but takes it on as their own (thus compounding the problem rather than helping). In this case, I can be willing to sit with someone in pain so they don't have to be alone, yet I must realize I don't have the power to change his or her mind about the situation. Hopefully, if calmness is catching, common sense will come to light. 

Perhaps that’s the clue about the happiness inherent in caring connections: The frightened “I” who struggles is replaced by the “we” who do this difficult life together, looking after one other.

—Sylvia Boorstein

Peaceful Surrender

From the Osho Zen Tarot, New Vision / Hanged Man; from the A'HA Oracle, Fruition:

Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control. ~Jack Kornfield

          Surrender simply means we stop fighting. We stop declaring that our way is the right way, that our way of seeing is correct. In the stillness of surrender, we can gather new information and perhaps see from a perspective that was impossible before while our blinders were on. Our heart becomes open and our mind becomes flexible. We may have given up the fight, but we've gained equanimity and a fuller understanding. Fruition implies that what we have done has born fruit. Every act and thought in the past is producing a harvest in the present. I can't change the seeds I've already planted, but I can be mindful of what I'm planting now that I will reap in the future.

Eventually you will see that the real cause of problems is not life itself. It's the commotion the mind makes about life that really causes the problems. ~Michael Singer

Glimmers of Light

From the Osho Zen Tarot, the Three of Cups; from the A'HA Oracle, Omniscience:

          Misery does love company, which is why we can always find someone to gripe or rant about a person or situation with us. That quality is a dime a dozen. But what I want is someone who knows how to see a glimmer of light in the darkness and who can find fun or humor in a frustrating situation. I don't want to be an Eeyore, I want to be a Pooh-bear (with a weekend here and there as a Tigger). And I want to hang out with people of the same mindset. Life is too short to spend it raging or whining (and I've done enough of that already). Omniscience means all-knowing, to perceive all things. No one wants to make a bad choice or miss an opportunity, which is why we go to fortune-tellers and read books on how to improve our intuition. But in my opinion, I think that is an impossible goal for humans; I'd settle instead for a bit of clarity. And spending time with the right kind of friends might grant me the ability to see with a wider vision.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. ~Maya Angelou

Shadow Side of Nostalgia

From the Osho Zen Tarot, the Six of Cups; from the A'HA Oracle, Shadow:

          Give my brain a few moments of intense pleasure, and that experience will be filed away for life. Then when I'm annoyed with my current partner, I'll pull up a memory of a beau from the past and think, "Now that's the way life should be." The problem is, I conveniently forget the other one thousand ways the guy from the past was a jerk. Nostalgia can be an enjoyable activity as long as it doesn't keep me from living in the present. The Shadow card suggests I look at the parts of my personality of which I might be ashamed or afraid. My shadow shows itself in my interactions and relationships with others; what frustrates and annoys me about others is likely a denied trait or mindset I have myself. Yet when I acknowledge and accept it, I can better understand and accept that same side in others. Then I won't have to go fishing in the past to find something more palatable than the present.

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. ~Carl Jung

Love as Space

This week I'll be using the Osho Zen Tarot, created by Ma Deva Padma with Osho and published by St. Martin's Press. I'll also be using the A'HA Oracle, created and self-published by Linnie Lambrechtsen. Today's draws are the Lovers and Temple of Gentle Reasoning:

Love is space. It is developing our own capacity for spaciousness within ourselves to allow others to be as they are. That is love. And that doesn’t mean that we don’t have hopes or wishes that things are changed or shifted, but that to come from a place of love is to be in acceptance of what is, even in the face of moving it towards something that is more whole, more just, more spacious for all of us.
—Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams

          This Lovers card has two images of the same set of partners, one of which is inside a heart. As Padma explains, there is a whole spectrum of love: "as we begin to mature, we can begin to experience the love that exists beyond sexuality and honors the unique individuality of the other." Sex, while exciting and pleasurable, is just the tip of the iceberg in deeply committed relationships. The Temple of Gentle Reasoning (the heart) resembles a stupa - a hemispherical structure containing relics of Buddhist teachers that is used as a place of meditation. It reminds me that true love requires me to look beyond any fixed ideas I might have about it, to allow it enough space and freedom so each individual can continue to develop over time. As one-half of a decades-old partnership, I am beginning to understand this wisdom.