Tarot and the Gates of Light

by Mark Horn

  When you’re new in a twelve-step program, sobriety feels like the world has been flattened. Without your drug of choice, the heightened apprehension of addictive thinking becomes covered in a kind of haze. Which brings me back to the Six of Swords: we can see the people in the boat as headed toward sobriety, which when glimpsed from afar and not long after hitting bottom looks like a gray world. But this is the result of the addictive thinking; thus, the swords still in the boat are in the way of the passengers’ ability to see what’s ahead. One way I like to think about the story in this card is that as they make their way across the water to the other side of addiction, the people in the boat throw over the swords one by one as they do the inner work to set themselves free. So that by the time they reach the other shore, they are free of addictive thinking and they can see the green on the trees instead of dull gray world. Once again, the only way out is through—and with Compassion for yourself.

  Day 20: Yesod of Tiferet in Assiyah

  The Nine and Six of Pentacles

  _________within_________

  What if we looked at the merchant giving alms in the Six of Pentacles and the woman in the garden in the Nine of Pentacles as a married couple—the masculine and feminine energies of these two Sephirot interacting? With these cards, I think it makes sense to consider Yesod of Tiferet as the Foundation of Beauty. When we look at the people in the cards, one is out in the world and sharing his worldly blessings with others and the other is tending the garden at home and using the gift of material blessings to create a fertile space for creative energy to find expression. The hooded falcon suggests the harnessing and channeling of sexual energy to be unleashed when appropriate. The snail could be a clue that indeed the man in the Six of Pentacles and the Woman in the Nine of Pentacles are the same person, since snails are hermaphroditic. We can look at these cards as portraying the Divine Marriage within, expressed in the world as the Compassion that is born out of passion. When we have a Heart Connection and a sexual Connection with another person, the boundaries fall away and it’s easier to feel Connected to all humanity.

  The snail also Connects us to the cyclical nature of, uh, nature, so that we can see the merchant who goes out into the world and the marketplace and then the woman in the garden who takes time to go within, to retreat and find sustenance from the natural world as part of a cyclical movement of going out and going within. This is an external metaphor for the loop of awareness that creates Intimacy in relationship and Harmony within the soul. But whether they are a story about Intimacy between two people or about the Harmony of an internal relationship, these cards show the result when the desire to Connect and Create is Bonded securely to the Heart.

  If there is any warning in this pairing of cards, it may be in the position of the mendicants receiving alms in the Six of Pentacles. They are kneeling on the ground, so their position makes the act of Compassionate giving not one of reaching across from one Heart to another person, a shared recognition of the humanity that Binds giver and receiver, but one of establishing a distance between the people. The solitary woman in the Nine of Pentacles can also be seen as an expression of emotional distance, with the hedges of the vineyard creating a fence that keeps the unruly garden outside her well-cultivated world at bay. It’s easy to feel superior, to feel above others when one has both emotional and material resources at one’s command. This is one of the many dangers of the popular “prosperity gospel,” which comforts the comfortable with the belief that the blessings they enjoy are the result of their faith in God.

  Because we are in the world of Assiyah, this pairing also suggests examining how you center yourself and perhaps giving voice to your spiritual and sexual urges in an inner dialog between them.

  Questions for reflection and contemplation: Day 20

  1. (Wands) In what ways do you create distance in Intimate relationships? Do you hold yourself above the other or put the other on a pedestal? How do you expect to get hurt, and do you prepare for it by walling yourself off in some way? How does this manifest in your sexual relationships? How might you heal the split?

  2. (Cups) When do you appear to be open to Connection, but you’re really not? Sit for a minute in the same position as the man in the Nine of Cups and imagine you’re greeting guests in this position. How does it feel? Are there any familiar thoughts or feelings? What comes up?

  3. (Swords) Have you ever used substances or compulsive behavior to avoid feelings (or been close with someone who did)? How has this affected your relationships? Has it ever led to a breakup? Is there anything you can do to heal this, either between you and another person or within yourself?

  4. (Pentacles) Is your Compassion built on a strong Foundation? Do you Bond with others in the desire to Create? How does your Creative work express your Compassion? How do you bring Harmony to your sexual and spiritual desires?

  Day 21: Malchut of Tiferet

  The Dignity in Compassionate Action

  Today is the twenty-first day of the Omer, which is three weeks of the Omer.

  Malchut, as the tenth of the Sephirot, is the culmination of them all and is often looked at as Sovereignty or Dignity. However, it is also the Sephira that is about manifestation on the earthly plane of this world, which is a world of imperfection. For this reason, I will take a bit of a different interpretation from the classic look at the energy of the day and suggest that this is where we look at the limits of our Compassion. I don’t mean the kind of limits imposed by Gevurah. In the world we live in, our own Compassion is going to be imperfect. Because the Truth is that we are not realized beings. And we are not even Sovereign in our own lives. When we recognize this, really get it at our core, we can also have some Compassion for ourselves in our imperfection. And as we work to bring Compassion into the world, we understand that our Compassion is limited and imperfect.

  In Christian Cabala, Tiferet is identified with the Sacred Heart of Jesus—an open wound that takes on the suffering of the world. In Malchut of Tiferet, we are deeply aware of that suffering; we feel it because we are not separate from the world. This means we must bear our own suffering with Dignity and that as we work to lessen the suffering of others, we do nothing to lessen their Dignity.

  In the realm of Malchut, Compassion is manifested in the world. In other words, it is Compassion in Action, which just happens to be the title of a book by one of my Queer HinJu*26 Heroes, Baba Ram Dass (cowritten with Mirabai Bush). For Ram Dass, Compassionate action is the outer expression, and complementary to, inner exploration: acting compassionately is the work of peace and justice and is a recognition of our interconnectedness.10

  Choose your path of Compassionate action. Start small but do it consistently. Just like this practice of Counting the Omer.

  Day 21: Malchut of Tiferet in Atzilut

  The Ten and Six of Wands

  _________within_________

  The man on the horse in the Six of Wands knows Responsibility must be shared. He’s only carrying one staff, and the people around him each have a staff of their own. He knows that for his followers to feel a Heart connection to the team, each of them must also feel their own Sovereignty, have a sense of personal agency, and feel recognized with Dignity and respect as an individual. When the horseman shares both this Compassion and respect, his team returns those feelings with recognition of his true leadership ability.

  But there are leaders who neither feel a Heart connection with their team nor are willing to give them the agency and respect they deserve. There was a creative director I worked for who would stand over his art directors’ screens as they worked on a layout; you could watch him try to keep himself from taking over. But the moment always came when he took the controls from a subordinate and finished the layout himself. He could not share the Responsibility, so he was always on edge and feeling overwhelmed, not unlike the man burdened by the bundle of staves in the Ten of Wands.

  When I was promoted to be a group creative director, I knew there would be some administrativ
e tasks. But my focus was on inspiring greater creativity and on creating a more cohesive and happier team. I didn’t realize that I’d have a budget and would have to divide up raises and bonuses based on my judgment of each team member’s contribution. I didn’t think about how I would have to decide whom to cut if we lost business. And I didn’t anticipate how wearing corporate politics would be on my Heart. There are some tasks that the leader can share. And there are other tasks that are his or hers alone. When we can approach the Responsibilities we are given with a sense of Balance and Harmony, and a sense of Self-Possession, these tasks will not be as great a burden as we see in the Ten of Wands.

  Day 21: Malchut of Tiferet in B’riah

  The Ten and Six of Cups

  _________within_________

  For Compassion in Action to be most effective, it must be matched by inner exploration. The goal isn’t for us to feel good about being Compassionate; it’s about feeling our Connection to everyone and helping to restore the Dignity and recognize the Nobility of those we assist. This is a Grounded Compassion that comes from the understanding of impermanence. The four children in the Six and Ten of Cups will grow up (well, not according to Keats, but that’s another urn). The flowers in the cups will fade and die. The rainbow in the Ten of Cups is evanescent—a moment of Beauty that is gone in another moment. So what remains?

  The spirit of generosity and Openheartedness in the Six of Cups remains. The willingness to look for what is both Beautiful and True in the rainbow, even as it disappears in the sky. There is nothing less Grounded than a rainbow. It would seem to be more a symbol that goes with Tiferet, representing the harmony of colors that come together in the one clear light. And in some ways, this is the message of the Ten of Cups here: the rainbow may be beautiful but remember to stay Grounded. True Harmony stays balanced, even as conditions change. Because change they will.

  One of the phrases that comes to mind for the Ten of Cups is “and they lived happily ever after.” Except there is no “happily ever after.” When we reach a ten card, we have come to the end of a cycle, and a new cycle will begin. Reaching the end is worth celebrating, just as the family in the card seems to be celebrating. But to borrow a phrase from the Buddhists, after enlightenment, the laundry.

  The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. It was important and worth celebrating. But it didn’t end voter suppression. Marriage equality was established by the Supreme Court in 2015. The night of the decision, I was dancing in the street, celebrating with several thousand people in Greenwich Village. But it hasn’t ended gay conversion therapy or the epidemic of homelessness among LGBTQ youth abandoned by their families or the attempts by the so-called religious right to roll back these advances. As I write this, students from Parkland, Florida, the site of yet another mass shooting in a school, are meeting with state officials who oppose common-sense gun laws, and they’re getting a firsthand experience of the effect of dirty money in politics.

  In the pair of the Six and Ten of Pentacles, I am reminded not to be blinded by a childish naïveté while being encouraged to cultivate a childlike optimism and Openheartedness that confers Dignity on everyone, even those who oppose my causes, as I work to change things for the better. Demonizing our opponents brings out our own demons. Acting for my cause should not include anything that diminishes the humanity of those who oppose these causes—even if their strategies include diminishing my humanity. I refuse that equation. It’s a trap that continues the cycle.

  Day 21: Malchut of Tiferet in Yetzirah

  The Ten and Six of Swords

  _________within_________

  The call to Compassion in Action does not mean making a martyr of yourself. While we are called on to make sacrifices, the Balance of Tiferet asks that we do so mindfully, so that we aren’t left feeling like victims.

  In the Ten of Swords, we have come to the death of an idea, the end of the line for a negative way of thinking if we’re lucky and if we’ve been doing the work. Otherwise, this negative thought process is likely to do us in. Of course, even if we’ve managed to escape this mind-set, it has likely had unfortunate results in our lives.

  An extreme example for this pair of images might be the Japanese phenomenon of karōshi, or death by overwork. Consider the story of a twenty-two-year-old nurse who died from a heart attack after thirty-four hours of continuous duty five times a month. We all want to have a nurse who is devoted to our care. None of us wants a nurse who neglects her own health. But this young woman believed that this is what she had to do—and this is not just a Japanese issue. Our own training system for doctors in the United States requires young residents to work 80 to 100 hours a week, with some working as much as 135 hours a week. Our society has created a kind of hazing system for medical personnel, and for some reason we have bought into the idea that this is acceptable and a good way to train people in Compassionate care. This is crazy thinking that taken to an extreme will kill us, and most likely will hurt other people in the process.

  The root of this dead-end thinking can be a virtue taken to extremes; as I said, everyone wants a nurse who is truly devoted to caring. We all want a doctor who, in the face of an emergency, can work through the crisis no matter how long it takes. And this is where the Balance of Tiferet in this pair comes in: we need to bring Balance back to this way of thinking. As we can see in the Six of Swords, sometimes even as we try to restore balance, the habit pattern of our mind makes it hard to see past these patterns, just as the swords in the boat make it hard for the passengers to see to the far shore.

  Sometimes this belief system comes from an outside group, and we buy into it to become part of that group. Sometimes it’s a set of ideas we grew up with and never challenged. But all of us carry some ideas that have a negative impact on our lives and relationships. And the challenge of the Six and Ten of Swords is to recognize what the dead-end thought process is in our own lives, then to not become a martyr to it but to reject it.

  Day 21: Malchut of Tiferet in Assiyah

  The Ten and Six of Pentacles

  _________within_________

  The path between Malchut and Tiferet is a straight line passing through Yesod, with Tiferet representing the Messiah and Malchut as the Shekinah. So there’s a way in which this pairing is also a symbol of the inner union of male and female—a reunification within the Divine and within ourselves. What can we do to help further this goal? Since we are in the world of Assiyah and working with the Sephira of Malchut, it’s clear that in this case real action in the world outside is essential for healing the split within the world inside.

  The world outside is clearly pictured in the Ten of Pentacles: we see men and women, children, adults and the elderly, the animal kingdom and the kingdom of humans. We even see hints of the world of nature and the world of the arts in the decorated cloak covering the old man seated at the city gate, with repeating patterns of bunches of grapes surrounding what appears to be a lyre (the instrument of King David). Superimposed over this crowded scene are ten pentacles suspended in midair, unseen by the people in the image, in the pattern of the Tree of Life. So we understand that the continued existence of our material world depends on the ever-flowing Divine Sephirotic energy, whether we’re aware of it or not. Every now and then, we catch a glimpse of this energy at work in our lives.

  In the Six of Pentacles, we’re given to understand that we are recipients of a Divine Compassion that wisely and generously Balances what we need with what we are able to hold safely. One goal in the Omer practice is to strengthen our physical and spiritual container so that we are able to receive more of this energy.

  Questions for reflection and contemplation: Day 21

  1. (Wands) When expressing Compassion, how can you preserve and protect the Dignity of others? What can you do to recognize and encourage their Dignity?

  2. (Cups) What are the practical actions you can take to express Compassion for another? When momentary setbacks pull you into pessimism, how do you bring yourself back? H
ow can you have both a wounded Heart and an open Heart?

  3. (Swords) What is your experience of martyring yourself to help someone else? Where have you forgotten your own Sovereignty in your desire to care for another? How do you feel about it? What part of this is your responsibility? Can you regain your Sovereignty without withdrawing your Compassionate response?

  4. (Pentacles) What actions do you take to help make the world a more Compassionate place? What action will you take today?

  WEEK 4

  Netzach

  AUGUST 15, 1945, WAS THE FIRST TIME in history that the emperor of Japan spoke to the people of his country. The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been destroyed the week before by the first (and I hope the last) use of atomic weapons in war, and it was clear that Japan had lost. In the last years of the war, as the tide turned against Japan, the civilian population endured great privation and suffering. And up to this point, the militarism that had overtaken Japanese culture, denying even the possibility of surrender, had primed the people to commit suicide rather than surrender. But in his speech, Emperor Hirohito did not ask for this supreme sacrifice. In what was perhaps the understatement of the century, he said, “The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage.” He was announcing the surrender. So why am I writing about this for the week of Netzach, which is often defined as Victory? Because it is also defined as Endurance, and as the emperor told the people, “We have resolved to pave the way for grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable.”1 This Endurance is passive Endurance.