Tag: I Ching vs Tarot

Weekly Reading, May 16, 2021

This week I decided to do a random one card draw from the Osho Zen Tarot and try to find a similar concept in the I Ching.

The Osho Zen Tarot is a Tarot deck which uses the basic structure of the tarot, but replaces a lot of the cards with very different concepts that are based in Zen with quotes from books by Osho.

The concepts are very interesting in this deck, but when I looked for a similar concept in the I Ching I found more of a how to behind the concept which is interesting.

This card is called Past Lives and is in the spot of the Tarot normally reserved for The Moon. The text of the guidebook mentions that while it is exciting to think about what our past lives might have been like, the real work in this life is to understand our own karmic patterns, and how we might be trapped in them.

Based on my own experience, by using deep meditation and asking the right questions we can become aware of these patterns and find answers that may help us break these cycles that do not serve us. Some of these answers may be deeply buried in our own subconscious, and we may need to wait until the right time in our lives to be able to receive this knowledge.

Paging through the vast knowledge of the I Ching I found two helpful tools or concepts in accessing the ability to break out of karmic patterns.

The first is Hexagram 20 – Wind Above, Earth Below – and is called Overview. The tool here is the ability to keep still and observe what is deep and what is shallow. This comes from cultivating a practice of stillness with awareness. In observing true nature of things we can begin to become aware of cycles both internally and externally. At this stage we don’t do anything it’s with the cycles we observe, we just learn to observe them which in and of itself takes practice.

The second is Hexagram 48 – The Well. The well is a symbol of inexhaustible nourishment throughout many cultures. In order to tap into our essential nature we must dive deep within ourselves to produce clarity and penetrate our problems and self development is the key to this, as well as potentially slowing down to allow the time to dig deep.

I hope you have enjoyed this exploration, when we cross reference tools and cultures we never know what we might find. This week I wish for you the ability to find some stillness so that you may dig deep into the the knowledge of your own well, and discover something of your own karmic patterns.

Mutual Attraction vs The Lovers

Both the I Ching Hexagram of Mutual Attraction and The Major Arcana Tarot card of The Lovers seem to point to romantic outcomes and the joining of two souls. Its the message we think we are waiting for at many times of our lives, but if we dig deeper into I think the meaning is much different.

There are some common themes between the two. On the level of the tools themselves, the I Ching shows us our journey through the cycles and turning points of our life, and the Major Arcana of the Tarot show us where we are at in our Souls Journey.

Both messages are about harmonization or attraction between two potentially opposite forces and about balance but I believe that’s where the similarities end.

The Hexagram of Mutual Attraction is about finding the balance and harmony of a situation, or relationship, or within oneself. That’s similar to Justice, or Balance from the Tarot, but this is specifically between two things. This balance is found through establishing a harmonious resonance by means of having an open heart, and pure intentions. Its a means of establishing proper influence using the harmonious coordination of two parts vs authoritative means or manipulation. Its about the union of things. Its also active in principle, this union will not happen passively or else it will not be of the right influence spoken of here.

In contrast the Lovers card is about reaching a cross roads on your souls journey. You have just come from achieving individual mastery, and you must now decide if you want to remain on your own or join in other endeavors. Its about choices, and the choices can be varied. It can be choice between accepting the pull of an opposite force, or to join two inner polarities. Its not about creation of resonance or influence though, its about taking two existing forces and making a choice to balance them, or to result in disunion or disintegration back to only directing your energies or your life path toward yourself.

What will your intention become when you come across them in your own practice of locksmithing?