Review – The Osho Zen Tarot

Osho Zen Tarot

Author: Ma Deva Padma
Artist: Ma Deva Padma
Osho International Foundation
1994
ISBN 0-312-11733-7

Suits: Fire (Wands), Water (Cups), Clouds (Swords), Rainbows (Pentacles)

Court Cards: King, Queen, Knight, Page

The addition of the Osho Zen Tarot to my collection was a turning point for me. Before this I had used decks interchangably – the Osho Zen deck came to be one that I used in readings for myself and others where the question/issue was of a much more spiritual origin. The LWB (little white booklet) puts the focus of the deck on mirroring the awareness of the individual to his situation, to the current moment, rather than looking for the prediction of future events.The cards came into my life in a very round-about way. I recommended the deck as a gift for someone else to give my sister. I showed so much interest in the cards that the same person gifted me with them! At first I pulled a card-a-day, as a way of getting to know them. Then I joined an on-line tarot list that chose a card a week, with each list member presenting their interpretation of that card from two different decks. I chose to use the Osho Zen as one of my two decks. At the same time, I had the chance to do short readings for a couple of members on the list.

I used the Osho Zen and Morgan Greer decks “in tandem,” employing a spread from the Osho Zen LWB.

The spread that I used is called “The Paradox.” After shuffling the cards thoroughly, the deck is split into three piles. One pile is chosen to read from. The top card is read as the here/now, the bottom card is read as a past-life influence. A random card from the same pile is read as insight into the “paradox.” It has been my experience that much knowledge can be gained from this small spread! The connection between all things in life is shown, as well as the “way out” (the “paradox” card).

I recommend this deck as part of the backbone of any readers’ collection, or as a starting point for someone going into tarot as a self-learning experience.

(c) December 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

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