Carpe Diem #203, The Star (XVII) Tarot

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I will thank you all for your patience with me according to The Tower (XVI) I was late with publishing that episode, but I am glad that you all were so kind to respect that. Second I have published our new prompt list for June than we will have all classical Japanese Kigo (seasonwords) and third I have read some really wonderful prompt-suggestions and I will take a look at those. Oke back to our today's prompt, here we go ...

As we now have entered the realm of the Spirit the cards are becoming lighter and more colorful. It seems like we are in the Divine Light of the New Jerusalem (Revelations 21: 1-5a.) although we are still a long way away of It, but It's Light reaches us already. It's Light reaches even to the boundaries of the realm of the Spirit.

divine light
caresses my cheeks
almost there

As I stated in our Zodiac days, back in April, that we are now living in the time of Aquarius , the time of spiritual growth, the growing of the universal consciousness.

now is the time
Aquarius rules the world -
Honeysuckle blooms (*)

(*) Honeysuckle's deeper meaning is: The path of wisdom to find the Inner Self

Honeysuckle, the path of Wisdom to find the Inner Self.
As you all will know Chèvrefeuille, the French translation for Honeysuckle
is my 'nom de plume'.

All over the world people are standing up to the common rules e.g. Islamic women are standing up against the female unfriendly interpretation of the Qu'ran or what do you think of the worldwide economic crisis, which I even could have used in our episode of The Tower (XVI). Those are all signs that we have entered the realm of Spirit, the time of Aquarius, so maybe ... this whole journey through the Tarot and our quest for the Divine meaning of it brings prophecies out in the open. Who can say?

rebellion
all over the world visions change -
metamorphosis

The first thing which came in mind as I was doing research for this episode, this new step in our journey through the Divine Tarot, I think I can already say that the Tarot is Divine, was the Star of David, which we saw in the card of The Hermit (IX) and which lead the three Kings, the three Wise Man (or Magi) from the East to Bethlehem's stable in which (Mother) Mary gave birth to our Lord Jesus (Matthew 2: 1-12 NIV). Also that stable I could have used in The Tower (XVI). Jesus was born in poverty and had already all divine knowledge and wisdom He needed to do what He had to do. His birth in poverty is all back to base, back to the Spiritual Self, back to the time before The Fall (Genesis 3: 1-24 NIV).

Star of David
shines on my path
finding my way

finding my way
David's Star dispels the night
enlightens my spirit

Another thing which came in mind was, don't ask me why, because I don't know it, was 'Stardust', the song composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics added in 1929 by Mitchell Paris. This song, 'a song about a song about love', played in an idiosyncratic melody in medium tempo and is considered one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century with over 1500 total recordings. I love to share here the 'Stardust'-versions sung by Katie Melua (2005) and by Nat King Cole.

In this song there is a line which brought another thought in mind: 'The Nightingale tells his fairy tale of paradise where roses grew. Though I dream in vain in my heart it will remain'.
We have entered the realm of Spirit, we are back in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2: 8-9 NIV) where roses grow and bloom.

no fairy tale,
but a new reality
Paradise regained

Let us take a closer look at The Star (XVII) from the RW-Tarot-deck. What do we see?

We see a naked woman kneeling by the water, one foot is in the water, one foot is on the land. Above her head a star shines out. In each hand she holds a jug. From one jug she pours a liquid into the water. From the other jug she pours a liquid onto the land. The jugs in both hands are very familiar with the balance in Temperance (XIV)

The pool of water refers to the subconscious or the universal, the cosmos. The land refers to the material world. The naked, natural, woman or Mother Nature renews both. The two pitchers represent integration of the two opposite sides of our nature. Usually divined as hope for the future, it may indicate good things to come in the things represented in the next cards.

nature regains
a fragile balance
Mother Earth's care

The Star (Jesus) represents a moment, a time, of renewed hope, inspiration and discovery. (The time of Aquarius in which we are living now?) We have escaped The Devil, as we saw in The Devil (XV) and The Tower (XVI) and we are now in calm waters. It's a major breakthrough, a new opportunity to rise to a higher state of consciousness. (In The Tower (XVI) there is a third window. That window means 'super consciousness' which is just granted to a few. It stands for the secret, ancient, deeper knowledge as hidden in the Crown of the Tree of Life, the Kabbalistic glyph, Kether or God Consciousness. And that knowledge is now in reach tthrough the spiritual growth, through this Aquarius era.In some  Tarot-decks The Star depicts Aquarius pouring the water into the water and upon the land.)

gaining insight
re-balancing the Inner Self
the Crown is in reach

The Star (XVII) is the first of three cards of increasing light. A higher pathway will become visible, the way to Calvary. A way we have to go to enter the City of God (Revelation 21: 1-5a. NIV). The Star is indicating that we are approaching the goal og Enlightenment, the goal of our journey and quest through the Divine Tarot.
The Star (XVII) is followed by The Moon (XVIII) and The Sun (XIX) all three cards full of light, God's Light. The Light that shines upon us and is part of us (2 Corinthians 4: 6 NIV).

divine sources
the sun, the moon and the stars
lightning our path

As we travel on we can rejoice the Love of God, we feel lightfooted and we may dance on our way to the New Jerusalem. That will bring us eternal life as we can see in the little flowers on The Star card, they are all depicted with leaves in the form of the lemniscate, the sign for 'Eternity' as we saw in earlier episodes of our journey and quest through the Divine Tarot e.g. The Magician (I)

It was really a joy, and this time no struggle, it flowed just out of my pen, to share this episode in our journey and quest through the Divine Tarot. It feels like my Inner Self has guided me. I hope you enjoyed reading it as just my thoughts on The Star (XVII) and not as a sermon. It's not my intention to preach, it's just my gift to all of you ... the Tarot is Divine and not occult.
Be inspired to compose your haiku and share them with us all. Carpe Diem is one big family and I hope that you all feel free to say what's on your mind and heart. I hope that Carpe Diem gives that safety.

This prompt will stay on 'til May 25th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post (if I can) our next episode, The Moon (XVIII), later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Namaste.

Carpe Diem Specisl #38, Kyoshi Takahama's 'a gold bug'.

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am so glad that I can publish a new Special haiku by Kyoshi Takahama, our haiku-master of this month, instead of preparing a new episode in our Tarot-journey. No research, no seeking for words, no struggle to get it online, but just sharing a nice haiku written by Kyoshi.


kogane-mushi nageutsu yami no fukasa kana

a gold bug -
I hurl into the darkness
and feeling the depth of night


A nice haiku of Kyoshi for your inspiration. Be inspired and share your haiku in the same sense, tone and Spirit as the one by Kyoshi. Have fun!

Credits; Firefly

My haiku inspired on the one by Kyoshi is:


firefly party
their fragile light caresses me -
no lonely night


This Special will stay on 'til May 24th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will draw our next card in our Tarot-journey, The Star (XVII), later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Carpe Diem #202, The Tower (XVI)

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

Our new episode was really a struggle so I couldn't publish it yesterday, but here we go ...

With our last episode, The Devil (XV) we entered the last phase of our journey through the RW-Tarot-deck and our quest for the divine meaning of the Tarot.
As we started our journey (and quest) I stated that the Tarot is in his original form divine, but through the centuries it has been used by occult movements or groups as e.g. The Golden dawn for divination and occult work.

once divine
than magical and occult
again divine

This month has been, so far, a revelation for you all, but also to me. It's a joy and a struggle to prepare and write the posts of this month. And as we are going further on our journey we are coming closer to the spiritual realm of the divine Tarot.
With The Devil (XV) we entered that realm and now we are at the next step, the next card, The Tower (XVI), it's the equivalent of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9 NIV). Mankind builded a Tower to reach Heaven so they could become one with God and like Him, but as we all know, God scattered the Tower and gave humankind all different languages and dispersed them all over the world.

reaching for Heaven
building the Tower of Babel -
broken Sunflower

Is this the true meaning of The Tower (XVI)? Let us look closer at this card.

What do we see?

The Tower stands alone on a very high rock. It has three windows which were previously occupied by two people. Upon the very top of The Tower was a crown (Kether, the first sephira on the Tree of Life). At the moment we see the Tower, several things are happening. First, the lightning bolt is coming from Heaven and has hit the Tower. The crown is flying off. The Tower has burst into flames. The two occupants have jumped from the Tower and are falling to unknown depths below. There is a rain of Yods all around the Tower. (Yod is the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet it represents a divine point of energy. Yod is used to form all the other letters, and since God uses the letters as the building blocks of Creation, Yod indicates God's omnipresence. Yod is the starting point of the presence of God in all things, the 'spark' of the Spirit in everything. By the way Yod is part of every Hebrew letter and is therefore omnipresent in every word of the Old Testament.)

yod the tenth letter
base for all Biblical words -
a spark of Spirit

The Tower (XVI) is a multiple layered card with a lot of symbolism in it. The Tower stands alone and symbolizes our individual consciousness, exclusively in the realm of mind and thought. In other words, it symbolizes the spiritual realm. The Tower is our mind, and represents all that which we have learned during our life.
The ligtning bolt stands for the flash of intuition, the flash of recognition, the dawn of consciousness, wherein we finally see absolute total divine light. We are using our minds and beginning to radiate with the glow of God's truth. The lightning bolt is the fire, the Light of God (John 9: 12 NIV), that touches us.

transformed to gods
as we reach for the Light of God -
Summer Solstice

Than starts our transformation which in the card is depicted as the burning tower. However that burning is not a destruction, it is a transformation. We have dealt with the temptations of the nihilism involved in the pathway of death as it pertains to the transcendence of ego, the transformation of our mind. This refers to Roamns 12: 2 NIV 'Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is'.
As the tower is burning it releases different chemicals. Some of the energy will be released from the wood and rise up into the air, to Heaven, as a kind of sacrifice. E.G. the pure thoughts and unconditional love we have learned through our lives. Other parts will turn to ash and charcoal, these are the 'bad' 'evil' thoughts who are of the Devil, which we have already conquered in our last post.

sacrifice
burning the ships behind me -
a new day rises

This separating is also seen in the two figures jumping out of The Tower. They represent our conscious and our sub-conscious minds which are purified through God's Power.
Back to my first thought, the tower of Babel. God scattered the tower and made humankind diverse through their languages. This says: 'We call by many names what is truly one'. (All Gods Are One).

As we overcome the barriers of language, we recognize that we are, and always have been, one family (as e.g. Carpe Diem is). We are talking here in the Tower about awareness, past language. This is extremely difficult. Part of the power which The Tower is transferring to us is the ability to rise above and beyond the limitations of language, to be able to perceive things as they are in their pure prelinguistic state.

no boundaries
all humankind gathered
as water in the seas

The Divine Light, which strikes the Tower, seeks to enable us to see people as they are, to love them all unconditonally, to leave the darkness of our solitude, to transform that conscious energy into its original pure state and be able to recognize things as they are.

open your eyes
like the compassionate Buddha
see the real world

The Tower, as we have seen, is all about purification. When we are purified the pathway towards Gods Realm, Heaven, the New Jerusalem (Revelations 21: 1-5a) is open in front of us.
The Tower can be seen as a 'watch-tower' from which we get a glimpse of Heaven, the new Jerusalem, but may we enter? Through purification, the message of The Tower, we may.
Moses wasn't purified. He could not enter the Promised Land, Heaven, the New Jerusalem was forbidden. We can read this in Deuteronomy 34: 1-4 NIV.

purified we stand
eye in eye with the Father -
a newborn child

This was The Tower (XVI) and I have struggled to write this episode. Blood, sweat and tears I shed, but I had to write this to fulfil our journey and quest trhough the Divine Tarot. I hope this post inspires you to write and share haiku.

This prompt will stay open 'til May 24th 11.59 AM (CET) and I hope to publish our next episode, a Special haiku by Kyoshi Takahama, later on today around 10.00 PM (CET). That Special haiku I will share here already.


kogane-mushi nageutsu yami no fukasa kana

a gold bug -
I hurl into the darkness
and feeling the depth of night

Carpe Diem #201, The Devil (XV) Tarot

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

The last few episodes weren't easy to write, but this episode will be tougher. Why? I ppersonally don't believe in the excistence of The Devil as an equivalent of Evil. In my opinion The Devil is an imagenary creature to give Evil a face, but the next step in our journey (and quest) through the Tarot is the card of The Devil (XV) depicted as a horned and winged creature, with a dragon's tail and goat's legs. This image looks more like Pan, the flute playing god of nature, so it's in my opinion more an image which tells us that we are bound to earth, as an equivalent of matter and materialism. The Devil is more a physical creature than a spiritual creature, but on the other hand, The Devil is very spiritual. Why? I will try to explain that through the ancient mystical knowledge of numerology. First I will share the RW-Tarot deck card The Devil (XV) with you, so you have an idea of it.

As you maybe know our body has seven chakra's, seven energy points, in some scriptures even more some say 13 some say a lot, but that isn't of importance for this episode. As we look at the seperate numbers of The Devil (XV), 10 + 5 = 15 = 1 +5 = 6. In Numerology we can take the sum of the digits together. Fifteen becomes so 6. Six refers to the 6th chakra, there were the Third Eye is located, in the middle of the forehead. It's the chakra of wisdom and ancient knowledge. This is the place in which you can start an astral trip through all times. (I have done that once and I can say it was awesome). In sanskrit it's called: Agnya.

agnya
the Inner Eye
to beat the devil

"The sixth chakra is the chakra of forgiveness and compassion. Forgiveness is the power to let go of anger, hatred and resentment and to discover, in humility, the nobility and generosity of the Spirit. It is the one that dissolves all our conditionings, ego, habits, false ideas of racialism, and all our misidentifications. It is the narrow gate which opens the way for our consciousness to ascend to its final destination, which is the seventh center."

Agnya is the last stage before the life-energy, the Chi, reaches the Crown-chakra upon the middle of your head, your skull. To reach that chakra we need to gather all ancient knowledge and wisdom and become free of all anger, hatred and so on, say in one word "all Evil", but ... we have free will. So you can decide if you will go on or not. That is also the meaning of The Devil (XV). The Devil "asks" you to choose between Good and Evil action. As is said of the Snake in the Garden of Eden whom seduced Eve to eat from the Tree of Good and Evil, hoping that she became as wise as God. (Genesis 3: 1-24, NIV).


temptation
looking around in the jewelry-shop -
the devil's laugh


He, The Devil, did ask that also of Jesus Christ when He (Jesus) was tempted in the desert (Luke 4: 1-13 NIV). He, Jesus, had also free will and He choose to be Good and Righteous.
Before I go on I have to share something different. In the Old Testament (of the Hebrew Bible) there is never spoken about the Devil, not until the Babylonian Exile before that exile their was only God (the agent) as we can read in the books of Samuel. When the Israelites returned to their land, which is written in the books of Chronicles, than The Devil is named. Why? Well ... in Babylon the religion was different and was called Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrian was a prophet, who sought for God.  Around the year 580 B.C., he came to a revelation that everything that happens in the world that is good is the act of God, and everything that is bad is the result of a single controlling underlord, the evil mind, Anya Maynu.  This is the evil one; this is Satan. Through the Babylonian exile, the Jews encountered Zoroastrianism, and became familiar with the idea of the Devil.  When they came back, the Devil was intimately a part of their religion. After the Babylonian exile the scribes of the Hebrew Bible started to use this Devil (or Satan) to describe Evil and deeds of Evil.

OK ... back to the Temptation of Christ. The temptation of Jesus by the Devil is astoundingly illustrative.  Regrettably so few seem to recognize what these temptations are.  Temptations are not simply Jesus being able to prove that he is really the Son of God.  There are three temptations, and each one represents a very specific danger on the pathway of spiritual existence.  As we learn, as we grow, as we are able to harness strength and manifest the divine will, and as we begin to overcome the temptations of ego, there are three definite temptations which the Devil gives to us. To overcome these temptations that's the true meaning of this Tarot-card. Which three temptations uses The Devil to tempt us? Let us take a closer look at those temptaions as The Devil used to tempt Jesus.

Temptation #1:  If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.  The temptation here is to use the spiritual powers which the adept acquires for the purpose of satisfying his own flesh and his own needs and wants. (Luke 4: 3 NIV)

Temptation #2:  The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all of the kingdoms of the world and all of their glory.  He said to Jesus, "All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me."  This temptation is the final and most difficult.  This is, in some respects, the last dying gasp of the ego.  As the ego becomes cleansed and spiritual abilities are granted, and as the soul begins to recognize that it is a manifestation of God, the temptation is to harness those energies to control the entire world. (Luke 4: 6 NIV)

Temptation #3:  If you are the Son of God, stand upon this high pinnacle of the temple and throw yourself down.  The temptation here is, as one overcomes the limits of normal humanity and begins to glow with the celestial light of God, to make a spectacle of one's self and point to one's self as an object of worship and adoration. (Luke 4: 9-11 NIV)

Can we overcome these temptations? How can we overcome these temptations?

To overcome temptation #1, we must always seek to serve others and recognize that we are all one. 

For temptation #2, we must recognize that we are, in fact, nothing more then a conduit of the divine light and a channel of God's presence in this world.  

And for temptation #3, we must recognize that the totality of manifest creation, as glorious as it is, is simply the dancing of shadows upon the face of God.  We are to live not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  We shall not tempt the Lord our God, and we shall worship the Lord our God and serve Him only. All this we know is part of the Lord's Prayer ( Matthew 6: 9-15 NIV) and of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 1-17 NIV).

The Devil must be overcome, and these temptations must be overcome as we return on the pathway.

Jesus, through his passion and his death on the cross, states quite clearly, "It is finished."  The struggle between good and evil, God and man, the spirit and the flesh, is over.  The bonds of sin and death have been broken.  The chains which ensnare the human race have been cast aside.  We are now free to worship God and no longer be cast about and plagued by the Devil, yet the Devil is still alive and still well.     

This is the symbolism of card #15.

Credits: temptation

So what is this saying? The Devil (XV) is the turning point on our spiritual, Christian, path to Eternity. We have to conquer the temptations we all see around us in the world e.g. alcohol, drugs and so on. We have to learn from eachother, love eachother unconditionally and we have to learn from the ancient knowledge and wisdom to reach our final goal ... the Heavenly City.

Where do we find The Devil (XV) on the Tree of Life, the Kabbalistic glyph? We find him on the Path 25, which is the path between Yesod (the 9th sephira) and Tipharet (the 6th sephira). And the meaning of that is:

Yesod is the water of the Moon and magic of belief. It is also the beginning and the end as symbolised by the number 9. The beginning of a spiritual journey and the end of your material ties. (The choice we have to make as The Devil is tempting us.)

Tiphareth is the heart centre of the "Tree of Life". It is the Sun which all the planets revolved around. It is the Buddha, Krishna Mohammed, Christ Child within us all. With Tiphareth we all have the power to heal ourselves.

Tiphareth is the love we have for ourselves, not the passionate love of Geburah ( Mars ) nor the romantic love of Netzach ( Venus ) it is the self love we have for our own God within us. It is our Faith. It is our own understanding of ourselves and such is the centre of our universe, as the Sun is the centre of astrological universe.

through the Devil
love will lead us towards Heaven -
spiritual growth


In this we see how important The Devil (XV) is as depicted in the Tarot. We could look a bit further into this card and than we will see Adam and Eve, after The Fall, chained to the throne/altar of the Devil, but as we look closer the rings around their necks are big enough to pull them over their head, but they don't do that. It's another image for 'free will', will they (Adam and Eve) choose to free them self or not? As we now know The Fall was the fall of Ego and The Fall of our Lord Jesus, His Crucifixion, is The Fall of the physical and the step to spiritual growth.

I wonder what will The Tower (XVI) the next card of the Tarot bring us? We will see it in our next episode.I hope you enjoyed the read and I hope it inspired you to compose haiku. Namaste.
This prompt will stay on 'til May 23th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, The Tower (XVI), later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Carpe Diem #200, Temperance (XIV)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are going on with our quest for the divine meaning of the Tarot and I am sure we will find that divinity of the Tarot. In our quest we are taking our next step and I have drawn Temperance (XIV) for our next prompt. However ... this post will not be completed today, because of lack of time. Why? Well I am in the nightshift and therefore don't have enough time to prepare a complete episode, but hereafter follows a first part of this episode.

'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God'. (John 3: 3 NIV).

I know a strange start of a new Carpe Diem episode in our journey through the Tarot in a quest to discover the divine Tarot, but I think this is a decent introduction to our next Tarot-card in which an Angel is depicted, Temperance (XIV).
Let us look closer to this Tarot-card and maybe we will come a step closer to our goal, finding the divine meaning of the Tarot. What do we see?

Temperance is almost invariably depicted as a person pouring liquid from one receptacle into another. Historically, this was a standard symbol of the virtue temperance, one of the cardinal virtues, representing the dilution of wine with water. In many decks, the person is a winged person/angel, usually female or androgynous, and stands with one foot on water and one foot on land.

This is the guardian Angel which accompanies as a faithful ally the divine image in man, just as visious inclinations have made their way into the human functional organism which was, before The Fall (Genesis 3: 1-24 NIV), the divine likeness. The guardian Angel undertakes the functions, destroyed by original sins, in the likeness, and fills the breacjh wrought by them. He substitutes himself for functions destroyed through The Fall.The guardian Angel acquits his charge in five ways:

1. he guards
2. he cherishes
3. he protects
4. he visits  (and)
5. he defends

Therefore he is a 'Flaming Star' in which we can find his connection with the first five cards of the Major Arcanum, in which we saw the Holy Trinity. Our guardian Angels are part of the Holy Realms of The Trinity, the 'Home of God' (The New Jerusalem) (Revelation 21: 1-5a NIV).
The guardian Angel is our advocate before Divine Justice, and they (the guardian Angels) are our intercession to the Lord saying: 'Forgive them their sins. If not, efface us from the Book of Life that you have written'.
The guardian Angel (female Angeline) defends his protege like a Mother defends her child, withour regard to whether he may be good or bad. It's the mystery of maternal love which lives in the heart of the guardian Angel. This is why traditional art presents them as winged females as we can see on this Tarot-card. This card openly presents the Angel as a winged female dressed in a woman's robe, half-blue and half-red.
Guardian Angels (or Angelines, because they're female) are the manifestation of high and pure maternal love. For this reason the Holy Virgin and Mother of God bears the liturgical title Regina Angelorum 'queen of the Angels'.
Angels, including guardian Angels, live and move exclusively in the Vertical. Ascent and descent constitute
the law of their life, their respiration. They ascend towards God; they descend towards mankind. As I wrote this a bible-verse came in mind. It's from Genesis and it tells about a dream which Jacob had at Bethel.

[...] 'Jacob had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the Angels of God were ascending and descending on it'. [...] (Genesis 28: 12 NIV)


THERE WILL BE MORE TO COME FOR THIS EPISODE, BUT ... WELL THE TIME ...


This prompt will stay on 'til May 22th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, The Devil (XV), later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

I will enclose the linking widget already and you may post of course your haiku inspired on Temperance. Sorry guys that I haven't time to share the whole episode.

Carpe Diem #199, The Death (XIII) Tarot

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I have drawn The Death (XIII) from the RW-Tarot-deck. I first thought 'shall I avoid this card?', but than ... I got a 'revelation' ... death belongs to life, so I cannot avoid this card. This card is crucial in the Tarot and for sure after The Hanged Man (XII). What started in The Hanged Man, the death of Ego, will be followed in The Death. I know that there are people who are scared of death, and I can understand that very well. In my work as an oncology-nurse I know what it is to be confronted with death. In my life I was already several times confronted with death. At least one confrontation with death was sad and a heavy burden. That occured 18 yrs ago in 1995. In that year my older brother died of lungcancer. It was than that I realized myself. 'Death is not the end', because life went on. At the moment that my brother died, a woman gave birth to a son. I than thought 'maybe in that little boy my brother will live, resurrected, reincarnated'.


cherry blossoms fall
giving room for the leaves
and cherries


life goes on
cherry blossom petals falling -
cherries in autumn


Let us take a look at this card The Death (XIII).

The Death card depicts a skeleton riding a horse. Surrounding it are dead and dying people from all classes, including kings, bishops and commoners. The skeleton carries a black standard emblazoned with a white flower. Some decks depict the Crashing Towers from The Moon with The Sun rising behind them in the background.

In the background, where the sun is rising, we see the shadow of New Jerusalem, God’s Heavenly Town or in some translations, God’s House with many rooms.
This card doesn’t  represents a physical death,  it implies an end and therefore implies an increased sense of self-awareness. This can also mean ... finally found Enlightenment and self-consciousness.

resurrection

part of my being is dying
finally found myself

The Death (XIII) follows The Hanged Man (XII), not on purpose, but chosen to be there, because (as we saw in The Hanged Man) death is a new beginning. We lose our Ego to become a whole new person. In many religions and spiritual philosophies it’s said that there is a new life after death, I personally think we will reincarnate after our death. Reincarnation isn’t an accepted idea in Christianity, however we say “we will be resurrected on the day when Jesus will return to Earth”.

The Death (XIII) is a doorway to deeper insight and self-development. After death we all will be better people. Not the physical death, but the death of Ego will transform us into better souls and better people.

Source: Tree of Life

What is said about The Death (XIII) if we look at the ancient and mystical wisdom of the Kabbalah? Let us look closer to the Tree of Life (the Kabbalistic glyph).

It wasn’t easy to find the correct words for this connection with the Kabbalah, but on the Tree of Life, The Death (XIII) is the Path between Tifereth (the 6^th sephira, Beauty, the Place of Christ Consciousness) and  Netzach (the 7^th sephira, Eternity) and that says: ‘in death there is beauty, death leads to eternal life’. There is nothing beautiful on death, but as we embrace death as a part of our life, than we will see and understand that death is beautiful, because it will bring us eternal life. That’s of course right for physical death, but it also is right for the death of Ego, as we saw in The Hanged Man (XII). With The Hanged Man we started to walk on the path between beauty and eternity and we will arrive there were The Death is awaiting us.

And Christianity? What is said about this Tarot card The Death (XIII) in Christianity? Let us look at that right now and here and take a Christian look at this Tarot-card.

There is no death.  There is only resurrection.  Live your  life of fulfillment, taking advantage of every opportunity of every moment of every day.  When the miracle of resurrection has passed on, then you are at peace to recognize that things have simply returned to their natural state. 
That is why this card is in the Tarot deck.  It is meant to be embraced.  It is meant to be a gateway to a new birth.  If we can embrace death, then our lives are transformed.  That is the physical realm.  This is also a card of immense spiritual power.  The crucifixion of ego, that we saw in the Hanged Man, can and will become reality.  As that ego dies, we then live in a glorious resurrection.  As we continue to look at the card, we see several important elements.
Death is a secret, death is a darkness which we do not wish to look at nor embrace.  So if we are not going to supplicate death and we're not going to ignore death, what response do we have?  The response of the little child.  Unless we have faith like a little child, we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven and recognize all truth.  The little child does not seek to turn death into a friend.  The little child does not seek to ask death to go away.  The little child does not turn her eyes and pretend that death is not there.  The little child opens her eyes, sees death in the face, recognizes death as what it is, and has a simple straight forward natural acceptance of this reality. Here we can see what is said in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 19 verse 14:

Source: Matthew 19:14

Jesus said: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these".

Back to the card The Death (XIII) Notice that in the background there is a ship sailing on the river.  Life goes on.  For every death, there is a rebirth. This is the eternal cycle of God's plan.
As the final element, look at the right hand side of the card, just above the head of the Pope.  Notice, that we have two towers (some sources say that these are a prophecy, hidden in the Tarot-card The Death, of 9/11), and we have the Sun beginning to rise.  Death is a stripping away of the veils--physical, emotional, mental and spiritual veils.  And as we strip away veils, we can see more clearly into the heart of truth.  That heart of truth is the light.  God is the light.  That is the Sun, and that sun will become our destiny in the next cards.
That halo of light which surrounds the head of the Hanged Man is nothing less than the presence of infinite God himself, and we must now, as we follow with these cards, take a journey, a long journey up and over the hills, until finally we will come to these two towers again.  We will come to the Sun again.  Death is the beginning of the pathway to resurrection, not instantaneous, not immediate, not overnight.  Death is rather just the beginning. As we follow this path we finally will enter the New Jerusalem as is forseen in:

Revelations Chapter 21: 1-4

1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Source: New Jerusalem as fortold in Revelations 21: 1-4

leaving this world
seeking sanctuary in God's House -
the New Jerusalem


The disciples were engaged upon the start of the spiritual pathway when they began to understand the resurrection of Jesus.  You must start there to understand the death and resurrection of Jesus.  But as we have said before, Jesus’ death and resurrection are only the beginning, because they are an instruction booklet for you and your personal death and resurrection.  That is the power that enables you to embrace death, look it squarely in the face with the faith of a little child, and rise beyond the human limitations to a glorious and infinite resurrection.

And so this episode on The Death (XIII) ends in rejoicing and maybe embracing death as part of our life. I hope you enjoyed the read and I hope that you don't think of it as a sermon, because that wasn't my intention.
This prompt will stay on 'til May 20th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will draw our new card, Temperance (XIV), later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Namaste.

Carpe Diem's Kamishibai #2

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to publish another episode of Carpe Diem's Kamishibai, the place of story-telling and writing haibun. In the last weeks I have written a lot of haibun-like posts for our Tarot-Journey and I enjoyed it very much.

Kamishibai (紙芝居), literally "paper drama", is a form of storytelling that originated in Japanese Buddhist temples in the 12th century, where monks used emakimono (picture scrolls) to convey stories with moral lessons to a mostly illiterate audience. 

Kamishibai endured as a storytelling method for centuries, but is perhaps best known for its revival in the 1920s through the 1950s. The gaito kamishibaiya, or kamishibai storyteller, rode from village to village on a bicycle equipped with a small stage. On arrival, the storyteller used two wooden clappers, called hyoshigi, to announce his arrival. Children who bought candy from the storyteller got the best seats in front of the stage. Once an audience assembled, the storyteller told several stories using a set of illustrated boards, inserted into the stage and withdrawn one by one as the story was told. The stories were often serials and new episodes were told on each visit to the village.

For this episode of Carpe Diem's Kamishibai I have chosen a wonderful photograph to use for your inspiration to write a haibun. So I challenge you all to write a haibun inspired on the photograph.

Well ... let it happen, let your inspiration flow and write your haibun inspired on this wonderful Ancient Magic Egypthian Art-work.

Carpe Diem #198, The Hanged Man (XII) Tarot

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are going further on our journey through the Tarot-cards and on our quest for the deeper divine (Christian) meaning of this wonderful game of cards. Today we have arrived at The Hanged Man (XII). The first thing which came in mind was a few crucifixions of which I know or have heard, e.g. Jesus Christ and Saint Peter. And I thought of Judas Iskariot who hanged himself. Let us take a look at this card from the RW-Tarot-deck:

What do we see?

We see a man hanging upside-down by one foot. The figure is suspended from a wooden beam (as in a cross or gallows) or a tree.

In his book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, A. E. Waite, wrote of the symbol:

[...] The gallows from which he is suspended forms a Tau cross (It has been a symbol to many cultures before Christianity, including a mention in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. It has been adopted by Christianity as a representation of the Cross. It is said by St. Jerome (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus 347-420) and other Catholic Church Fathers that the Tau is an Old Testament allusion to the cross and crucifixion of Jesus mentioned in Ezekiel "Mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh". (Ezekiel 9:4 ), while the figure—from the position of the legs—forms a fylfot  cross (a swastika). There is a nimbus about the head of the seeming martyr. It should be noted :

1.) that the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves thereon;

2.) that the face expresses deep entrancement, not suffering;

3.) that the figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension, but life and not death.
I will say very simply on my own part that it expresses the relation, in one of its aspects, between the Divine and the Universe.

He who can understand that the story of his higher nature is imbedded in this symbolism will receive intimations concerning a great awakening that is possible, and will know that after the sacred Mystery of Death there is a glorious Mystery of Resurrection [...]

Saint Jerome in his study painted by Dominico Ghirlandaio
Church of Ognissanti - Florence (Italy

The symbolism of The Hanged Man (XII) has to do with divinity and is associated with the Passion of Christ, especially the Crucifixion. Jesus had the choice in the Garden of Getsemane were He was praying to His Father, short before the Crucifixion, to go on with His Life or Give His Life up for rescuing mankind. A pure form of altruism. As we know He gave His Life for us.
With His sacrifice He destroyed Self, Ego, and gave mankind a new chance. The Hanged Man shows that too. On the card, this is symbolized respectively by the person of the hanged man and the living tree from which he hangs bound. Saint Peter was crucified upside down and in a way similar with The Hanged Man. Saint Peter was really a Saint and he died for the love of Jesus, the Messiah who he once had denied knowing.

Crucifixion upside down of Saint Peter, similar with The Hanged Man

Let us look a bit closer to The Hanged Man. As we look closer we see that he hangs on an Oak Tree, which represents courage, endurance and the protective power of faith. He wears a radiant halo, a symbol for enlightenment attaining higher awareness and insight. The young lad looks like he's androgynous, without sex. That we can see in the reversed four of his legs which is a symbol for masculinity and the triangle of his arms which is a feminine shape. This symbolizes that you have to follow your inner voice, discover your inner self, and gain insight into the forces that influence your life story.
It also stands for bringing in balance your masculinity and feminity or in other words ... unfold and discover the male and female in you.

unfolding the quest
become an androgyn creature
and be whole

As you hang, like the hanged man, upside down at a monkey bars than the world looks different and you become aware that the world has her other side, another sight. It's a free choice to look in a different way (upside down) to the world, to your surroundings. If you hang a little while upside down, your blood streams to your head and you become dizzy and your sight will become blurred, as looking through your eyelashes e.g. can be. The world becomes mysterious and mystical and than you realize that the world can be different and that you, maybe, can help to chance it.

Source: The Crucifixion of Christ

This is the Christian meaning of The Hanged Man. Jesus Christ gave, out of altruism, His Life to save mankind. He saw the world through divine eyes, as looking through his eyelashes, and saw that the world was in danger. His sacrfice was physical as The Fall was spiritual. Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden, because they would be like God, knowing all of Good and Evil, to gain Ego. With the sacrifice of Jesus, purely physical, He turned The Fall right, so concluding the circle of wisdom and knowledge, because His sacrifice gave mankind a chance to change.

full circle
after The Fall, the Cross stands tall,
wisdom regained

The Hanged Man (XII) a difficult card to interpret, but I think I have succeeded. After re-reading this episode it feels like a sermon, that wasn't my intention, but ... well ... maybe this whole month feels like a sermon, because we are on a journey, a quest, through the divine Tarot.
With this episode, The Hanged Man (XII), we are a step closer to the divine Tarot and we will go on further on our journey through the Tarot tomorrow with Death (XIII). Another not so easy prompt I think, but we will see.

For now: I hope you enjoyed the read and forgive me if it was to much a sermon, that wasn't my intention. This prompt will stay on 'til May 19th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will draw our following card later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Namaste

Carpe Diem Special #37, Kyoshi Takahama's 'the night of Spring'

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

No Tarot today, but a new Special haiku written by Kyoshi Takahama, our haiku-master of May. Kyoshi isn't a well known haiku poet, but he has written wonderful haiku. This month I introduced him to you and shared a few haiku already.

Todays haiku by Kyoshi is written at the end of Spring and in this haiku he said that very nice and calls it 'the night of Spring'. I think that's a wonderful imagery for the departure of Spring. Well ... let us look at that Special haiku:

haru no yo ya tsukue no ue no hiji-makura

the night of Spring -
an elbow-pillow
on the desk

Makura (elbow-pillow)

Isn't this a nice haiku? I hope it will inspire you to write a new haiku in the same sense, tone and Spirit as the one by Kyoshi. Have fun, be inspired and share.


This haiku by Kyoshi inspired me to write:

last moon of Spring
leaning on the windowsill
watching her beauty



This prompt will stay on 'til May 18th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, our next Tarot-card, The Hanged Man (XII), later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Carpe Diem #197, Justice (XI) Tarot

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you maybe have seen earlier today I have introduced a new feature on Carpe Diem. I have called it Carpe Diem's Oasis and as the name already says it's a place to be alone with your thoughts writing and composing haiku, senryu, tanka, kyoka, haibun and haiga, without a given prompt. Just a space to create your haiku which you already would have been sharing if there was a prompt for it. Now there is a place to share that haiku, without a given prompt, so without boundaries, just a place full of freedom where you can share (maybe, or not) your deeper thoughts which inspire you.

Back to our topic for today. I have drawn the card Justice (XI) from our divine Tarot and we go on with our journey, our quest to see the all positive (and Christian) meaning of Tarot. Today I will use a different approach, I will look from another angle to this card., but first I will share this card from the RW-Tarot-deck with you all.

In other decks than the RW-Tarot-deck Justice comes as the card numbered with VIII, which we have seen as Strength (VIII) earlier in this month. In those decks Strength comes as XI, but on this moment that's not so important to know, because I use the RW-Tarot-deck and in that deck it's numbered XI.


Lady Justice
blind folded she stands strong
weighing her thoughts


As I first saw this card I thought of Lady Justice. The personification of justice balancing the scales of truth and fairness  dates back to the Goddess Maat, and later Isis, of ancient Egypt. The Hellenic deities Themis and Dike were later goddesses of justice. Themis was the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom, in her aspect as the personification of the divine rightness of law.

Ancient Rome adopted the image of a female goddess of justice, which it called Justitia. Since Roman times, Justitia has frequently been depicted carrying scales and a sword, and wearing a blindfold. Her modern iconography frequently adorns courthouses and courtrooms.
Lady Justice is most often depicted with a set of scales typically suspended from her right hand, upon which she measures the strengths of a case's support and opposition. She is also often seen carrying a double-edged sword in her left hand, symbolizing the power of Reason and Justice, which may be wielded either for or against any party. This idea is also meant through the blindfold she wears.

As we look closer to Justice (XI) we see a male who is holding a double-edged sword in his right hand and a scale in his left hand. He wears a three-pointed crown. He sits on his throne between two pillars and wears a red gown, which stands for fire and action, the passionate love for doing justice.


King Solomon
rightful judge in God's presence -
a child is saved

What does the card of Justice (XI) tell me? What can I learn from it to fulfil my quest for the Divine meaning of Tarot? I think a lot.

Without justice our world should be in chaos (as it maybe is already through corruption and so on), but the judge sitting on his throne, holding his double-edged sword and his scales rules with hard hand, but to rule without overruling he needs the guidance of God. That guidance is shown in the sword pointing upwards to Heavens and the scales pointing downwards to Earth. It's the same image we saw in other Tarot-cards such as The Hierophant. The positions of the hands, in this card the sword and scales holding, means that the judge prays for knowledge to do the right justice.

Jachin and Boaz, Law and Liberty, the two pillars in front of King Solomon's Temple

The pillars, Jachin and Boaz (Law and Liberty) stood also in front of King Solomon's Temple and we saw them earlier in The Highpriestess (II) and The Hierophant (V). These pillars stand for Justice. Justice is based on the Law and will set you free, give you your Liberty through praying and fairness of God the Father. 

The Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, is depicted in the crown the male wears and with that crown we are in the Higher Spheres of the Tree of Life, the Kabbalastic glyph. Justice is part of the first triade, but it also is part of Malkuth, Earth, the tenth sephira on the Tree of Life. So Justice has influence on everything, from Heaven to Earth all what's in between.

justice done
through saying the prayers
God have mercy


Let us dive a bit deeper in the Justice-card. The pillars on both sides of the throne are pointing to the Wisdom of King Solomon. King Solomon was a good and fair judge and his judgements were all righteous. One of his judgements we can find in the First Book of Kings chapter 3 verses 16-28. I will reproduce that text hereafter. It's in the New International Version (NIV).

King Solomon's Judgement (1 Kings 3: 16-28 NIV)
Fresco in the rectory of the Pilgrimage Church of Frauenberg (Austria)

A Wise Ruling

16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.
19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”
22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.
23 The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’”
24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”
But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
27 Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”
28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

So in this RW-Tarot-deck card named Justice (XI) we find also God's Wisdom, and another step forward in our journey ... a little bit closer to the Divine meaning of the Tarot.

I hope you all have enjoyed the read and that it will inspire you all to write and share haiku with Carpe Diem. This prompt will stay on 'til May 17th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new Special episode, a haiku written by Kyoshi Takahama, later on today around 10.00 PM (CET). That Special haiku will be:

haru no yo ya tsukue no ue no hiji-makura

the night of Spring -
an elbow-pillow
on the desk