Tarot and the Gates of Light

by Mark Horn

  I remember one day I was walking along Sixth Avenue on my way back to my office; it was a beautiful spring day, and I was filled with joy. As I walked, I took in the Beauty of everyone on the street, many of them lost in thought. Some of the people kept their eyes down in the way people do to avoid contact on a crowded street in a city, even when we were so close we could touch each other. Some people looked straight ahead, but their eyes were focused on some inner goal or story instead of seeking some outer connection. It was the full panoply of humanity that is often on display on a New York City street, and it was Beautiful to me. And then my eyes were caught by the eyes of another man who was looking at me looking at everyone else. Now, this was Chelsea, and you might think that this was a cruising situation. And indeed, this man was very attractive. But that wasn’t the energy I felt from him. The man was a young Lubavitcher Chasid, and as we made eye contact I felt a thrill of joy; I felt he could see that I was looking at the world with eyes of wonder. And I felt that he was looking at the world—and me—the same way. For a moment—just a moment—we were both awake to the joy and Dynamic Harmony of creation, and we connected in that instant wordlessly, with wide smiles. There was no need to speak. And I never saw him again. But I have never forgotten that moment. It was an awareness of the deeper spiritual Harmony that connects us all. You may well have had a similar experience in your history. If you have or haven’t had this experience, this is a propitious day to keep your eyes open for just such a moment, when the Love that is Chesed tips the balance of Tiferet toward the Harmonious dissolving of boundaries.

  Day 15: Chesed of Tiferet in B’riah

  The Four and Six of Cups

  _________within_________

  My first memory of smelling the fragrance of honeysuckle is when I was around five years old. There was a bush near the building where I lived, and the scent was so strong and wonderful that I asked my mother what it was. She held me up to the blossoms so I could take in a good sniff. It was heaven. Sometimes, when I look at the Six of Cups, I remember this moment. Yes, I know the flowers in the card are lilies, but this is the memory the image triggers in me. And it’s always good to explore anything the images call forth.

  As I’ve noted before, in the modern tradition of tarot reading, one of the meanings of the Six of Cups is nostalgia. And I find that nostalgia can be like gauze pulled over difficult emotional memories. But reading a card according to just one meaning is reductionist, and the memory of honeysuckle leads me to another interpretation. I am always amazed and somewhat envious of how easily children can be absorbed by something that interests them and how almost anything can interest them. How quickly they can find the fun in almost any situation. So on this day of Chesed in Tiferet, in the Six of Cups, I see the Beauty of a child’s emotional reaction to the gift of a simple flower.

  In this card, the flowers are held lovingly in the containers of the cups, and they are in full bloom. Just as a child is held in the emotional container of Tiferet provided by parents. In such a place of Balance, when presented with something as Beautiful as a blossom, Love and joy arise naturally from within.

  Of course, the blossom is Beautiful. But more Beautiful is the impulse to give or share such Beauty with another: this is the true Beauty we see in the Six of Cups. Perhaps there is a time you can recall when you received just such a simple gift and found yourself filled with the spirit of Love and Harmony, even if only a moment before that you were feeling down. In this way, the act of receiving awakened the energy of Chesed of Tiferet within you. Or perhaps there was a time when you found yourself compelled to give such a gift to another, and the two of you found yourselves together in a Beautiful communion. This is another manifestation of Chesed of Tiferet in B’riah.

  In my practice, there have been years when I came to this, the fifteenth day, Chesed of Tiferet, and like the man in the Four of Cups, I just wasn’t feeling it. Even as it seemed as though blessings kept coming, my heart was closed to this Beauty. I’ve learned that while you can work on opening your Heart even when it’s closed, you can’t force it. And to beat yourself up for not feeling open is a trap; it’s falling into the shadow side of the day. This is where the Acceptance Prayer found in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous comes in handy. It’s a good time to practice Love and Compassion for oneself—when in this “shut down” frame of mind, accepting it with Love and Compassion is exactly the Chesed of Tiferet response.

  Rachamim is the Hebrew word for Compassion, and this is also one of the names for the Sephira of Tiferet. The root for this word, rechem, means womb in Hebrew, which points to the way Compassion holds those who need it. On days during this week when it is hard to enter the feeling of Tiferet, especially in your relationships, remember to have Compassion for yourself. And if that means spending time alone, in a space that gives you the sustenance of the womb on an emotional level, then that’s just what you need.

  Day 15: Chesed of Tiferet in Yetzirah

  The Four and Six of Swords

  _________within_________

  The history of Judaism is a history of broken lineage. From the destruction of the Temple and the enslavement of the people in exile in Babylon to the Holocaust, there hasn’t been a century where the Jewish people and the wisdom of the Jewish tradition weren’t in peril of extinction.

  When I think back now on the rabbis who were my teachers when I was eleven years old, I can understand now that they were only twenty years past the experience of the Holocaust. And while my own family was affected by this genocide, I had no real understanding of my teachers’ experiences. I could only see their failings as teachers. Now I realize that these men, many of them survivors, were severely traumatized by their experiences.

  The greatest teacher of their generation, the Piasetzna Rebbe, Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, was devoted to educating the young with Love; he was also a teacher of Kabbalistic meditation. While he was held prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto, he was given an opportunity to escape, but he chose to stay with his congregation. He was transferred with them to a concentration camp in Trawniki and was murdered with all the prisoners in that camp in 1943.

  Before Shapira was transferred out of the ghetto, he buried some of his papers in a strongbox with a letter requesting that if it were found the papers be sent to his surviving family in Israel. Miraculously, they were found many years later, and this chain of transmission, which could have been lost, was restored, since among those papers was a short book, Experiencing the Divine: A Practical Jewish Guide. This book included the meditation instructions he gave to a group of his students. And we are fortunate that it has been translated and published in English as Conscious Community: A Guide to Inner Work. This is the kind of teaching that was only passed on from teacher to chosen students, face-to-face.

  I have read some of the sermons he gave in the Warsaw Ghetto, and I have studied his meditation instructions. I was shocked to discover that these instructions could have been lifted right out of a Vipassana meditation retreat. But then, the instructions themselves are not tied to a tradition: they are steps anyone can take as they develop a sharp intellect and a spirit of Love in Compassion. In fact, if you read any of his surviving works, including the sermons he gave while imprisoned in the ghetto, you will recognize just such a spirit at work.

  These thoughts and feelings crowd my mind when I consider Chesed of Tiferet in Yetzirah. In the world of Yetzirah, we’re encouraged to discover what the wisdom of the Jewish tradition offers on the subject of Love within Compassion. And with this pairing of cards, I read the Four of Swords as a call to consider the meditative teachings within the tradition that, like the people in the Six of Swords, have somehow managed to make their way to safety.

  If Judaism is your tradition (or is a tradition you’re interested in exploring more deeply), today is a good day to explore just these kinds of texts. If yours is another wisdom tradition, seek out those teachings that might have been lost, but somehow survived. If you’re Christian, consider reading
the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. And if, like me, you can recall having teachers who failed you in some way, find the Love in Compassion for them today.

  Day 15: Chesed of Tiferet in Assiyah

  The Four and Six of Pentacles

  _________within_________

  The Four and Six of Pentacles are an interesting pair for the Flow and Love in Compassion. Because we’re in the world of Assiyah, which is the world of action, and some action must be taken to participate in the Flow. Traditionally, within Jewish practice, this action is called tzedakah,*22 the religious obligation to give charity, which we can see being played out in some way in today’s pairing.

  In the twelfth century, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides or the Rambam, wrote of eight principles for giving charity. Consider the images in the cards as you think about these different levels of giving tzedakah: Which level best describes what’s happening in the image in the Four of Pentacles? Where does the man giving alms in the Six of Pentacles fall on this, ahem, scale? Which level best describes the way you approach giving charity?

  Here are Maimonides’s eight levels of charity:

  The highest-level action you can take is to give an interest-free loan or an outright grant or to work with or find employment for the recipient so that they no longer need to rely on others and can contribute personally to the flow.

  Give to someone anonymously—so that neither of you knows the other’s identity—through a known and trustworthy public charity.

  Your identity is not known to the recipient, but you know to whom you’re contributing.

  Give publicly through a trustworthy organization without knowing to whom you’re giving. However, the recipient knows who you are and that you have given.

  Give to a person directly—right into their hand—before being asked.

  You only give to another after being asked.

  Even when you don’t give enough, but you give with an open heart and a smile, this is still worthy of being called tzedakah.

  The lowest level of charitable action is when you feel forced to give tzedakah out of obligation, so that you do give something, but not out of any willingness to do so. Some readings of this lowest level suggest that it’s not about giving only out of obligation but also giving out of pity—not out of the love of sharing but out of some feeling of guilt.

  I know I’ve given in every one of these ways. But every day is a new opportunity. And because the world of Assiyah is about taking action, this day in particular is a good time to give tzedakah at the highest level possible and to commit to it as part of one’s regular spiritual practice.

  Questions for reflection and contemplation: Day 15

  1. (Wands) Whose presence in your life gives you joy? If you haven’t expressed appreciation to that person lately, write a short letter of gratitude and send it today.

  2. (Cups) Is your heart feeling open or closed today? Express gratitude in prayer or in writing to the Divine for the depth of your heart from the depth of your heart, regardless of whether you’re feeling open or closed.

  3. (Swords) Are there any teachers in your life who have been a source of Love and Compassion? Express your gratitude to them in prayer or by journaling about them. Are there any teachers in your life who have seemed blocked and unable to Love their students? See if you can feel Compassion for them and express that as well in a way that feels appropriate.

  4. (Pentacles) When you give charity, which level of giving as defined by Maimonides do you prefer? Why? Give charity in a different way that pushes your comfort level today.

  Day 16: Gevurah of Tiferet

  The Role of Judgment in Compassion

  Today is the sixteenth day of the Omer, which is two weeks and two days of the Omer.

  Judgment sounds so, well, Judgmental. But being able to discern the Truth is an essential skill. Expressing Compassion without first ascertaining the Truth of a situation may assuage the feelings of the one who wishes to be Compassionate. But if the response isn’t Balanced appropriately, rather than helping the situation, it can be harmful.

  A real-world example on the macroscale would be the emergency response to a natural disaster. An organization flies in with supplies, like powdered milk for the children. However, when the water supply is unsafe, powdered milk is worse than useless. This is Compassion without Discernment.

  A biblical example of Judgment or Discernment in Compassion might well be the story of King Solomon deciding between two women claiming to be the mother of a child.1 Consider that story as you contemplate today’s paired cards. In this story of Solomon, what initially looks like a very Harsh and Severe decision is what ultimately reveals the Truth, resulting in the right outcome.

  Of course, the Sephirotic pairings create a kaleidoscope of dynamically shifting energies, so that depending on where you are today, you might consider Gevurah of Tiferet as the Form of Beauty. Or the Discipline of Truth. The Restraint of Compassion. The Organization of Harmony. Play with the Sephirotic key words to see how your experience of the energy meets this day.

  Day 16: Gevurah of Tiferet in Atzilut

  The Five and Six of Wands

  _________within_________

  Looking at the Five and Six of Wands, I see the underlying Structure (Gevurah) in the Dynamic Equilibrium of Harmony (Tiferet). One of the ways we can look at the men in the Five of Wands is as Morris dancers. In this traditional English folk dance, the dancers often carry sticks that they use in what looks like a chaotic fight but is really a highly-Structured event.*23 Conversely, watch some people practicing t’ai chi, a martial Discipline that has a Form and Structure so that it can look like dance. And if you’ve seen films as varied as Robin Hood, Star Wars, or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you have seen fight scenes that were choreographed. I don’t mean to downplay the competition we can see in the Five of Wands, other than to say that within the context of Gevurah of Tiferet in the world of Atzilut, we’re looking at a kind of competition that’s taking place on another level, giving rise to collaboration.

  Atzilut is the world of the psycho-spiritual, and we can think of the image in the Five of Wands as an expression of intrapsychic conflict that’s a reflection of a Structure that’s too rigid to hold the contradictions within. An example from my own experience was my struggle as a youngster to reconcile my emerging sexuality with my religious tradition.

  Another way to look at it from a more emotional point of view (even though this is Atzilut) is the story in the Pixar film Inside Out. In this movie, five emotions are vying for control of a young girl’s personality. And that’s one way to think about the Five of Wands: all the people pictured in the card are aspects of your Self, competing for dominance.

  In the Six of Wands, all these competing aspects have now been Harmonized and united toward a higher goal. Of course, at different times, different figures will be sitting on that horse, since Tiferet Harmonizes Chesed and Gevurah in Dynamic Equilibrium. But it is a Harmony that unites your inner spirit around a focused purpose. Tiferet finds a way for the self to live with its internal contradictions. And that way is through the Compassion that comes from the Balance between self-love (Chesed) and self-criticism (Gevurah).

  The Compassion of Tiferet enables a person to accept self-criticism without going down the drain of negativity. And the Restraint within that Compassion also enables one to feel self-love without getting all fuzzy in a pink cloud. This is a Compassion that responds dynamically to changing conditions, feels the pain of all these inner conflicts, marks the Boundaries of that pain, and then surrounds it with tenderness. The ability to do this on both the personal and community levels is what makes a great leader—the leader we see in the Six of Wands.

  Day 16: Gevurah of Tiferet in B’riah

  The Five and Six of Cups

  _________within_________

  One of the things Gevurah reminds us in the Five of Cups is that life is a Limited time offer: we have an expiration date. Unlike Chesed, which would keep expandi
ng out eternally, Gevurah sets Limits on everything. Can you remember the first time in your life you experienced the Limitation of “no more?” It was most likely when you were an infant and you were hungry. And then in what seems like the blink of an eye, we rocket ahead to our eighties or nineties and find the Limits of our lives as we come to that bodily Limit, death.

  In the Five of Cups, the figure in black has come up against loss and the Limiting nature of Gevurah. But we’re in the week of Tiferet, and this is the Gevurah that is in Tiferet, so shouldn’t that mediate things? Well, look at the Six of Cups. It’s often interpreted by readers as looking back on the innocence of childhood with nostalgia, but the feeling I come away with here is a warning from a shadow side of Tiferet.

  One of the names for Tiferet is Truth. And the Truth is, there is loss. There is Limitation. And this is something I can’t deny or pretend away. To do so is to promote a false Harmony in my relationships with others and within myself.

  In Tiferet we feel the full power of Gevurah’s Severity in equal measure with the Benevolence of Chesed. Shut down to one and you shut down to both. I’m sure you’ve seen people who are shut down in this way.

  In the Object Relations school of psychology, when an infant experiences Limits on its desires, it expresses rage and grief in its crying because it feels its very existence is threatened. It has internalized its relationship with the mother. And to hold the tension of not getting what it wants, the infant splits the mother internally into the good mother and bad mother. The child’s ultimate psychological health depends on its eventually being able to heal that split and to hold both the mother’s love and the mother’s setting of Limits together. As we develop the ability to experience the complexity of this reality, we have our first experience of Tiferet’s dynamic tension.