OSHO Zen Study Group: XIV Integration

Indigo Rose

"The image of integration is the unio mystica, the fusion of opposites. This is a time of communication between the previously experienced dualities of life. Rather than night opposing days, dark suppressing light, they work together to create a unified whole, turning endlessly one into the other, each containing in its deepest core the seed of the opposite."Osho Zen Tarot, by Osho
 

pleroma

Integration seems to be the overriding message of this deck. So to me it seems strange that the card presents so many opposites and seems to lack the third- the mixture of the two. Is there no third, no true blending but only a harmonious interplay of opposing and opposite forces? If there is no blending then what is true integration?
 

Judith D

I also find this card quite difficult in regard to the aspect of 'integration', but feel perhaps that we need to recognise that all those aspects are within us to be used together, not necessarily fused together. We may be the union of all things, but we also need the opposing aspects to function. We need the balance without losing sight of the elements themselves.
I like the way the images are upside-down - the starry sky at the bottom and the crystal of the earth at the top.
To equate to the temperance card is the idea of balance. Temperance in my Robin Wood deck is one of my favourites, with a lovely 'feel' to it, but I do not feel so drawn to this new card.
I'm not very happy with my understanding of the book explanation of this card, talking of split personality (perhaps because I have a nephew who suffers greatly with paranoid schizophrenia and it just doesn't read well) and the integration of the mind. It just doesn't seem to match what I see in the card. Obviously I need to look some more.
 

Paulb

The trick to me seems to be in the stregething of the bridge between the two opposites so that the work together to form a unit, rather than actually coming together to form a unit.

The question I have is: what is the significane of the snake? If I remember correctly its Ouroboros, symbolising eternity...?

(Am new to Tarot so may well be waaay out here... feel like I'm sticking my neck out here!!)

P.
 

squeakmo9

Paulb said:
The question I have is: what is the significane of the snake? If I remember correctly its Ouroboros, symbolising eternity...?

(Am new to Tarot so may well be waaay out here... feel like I'm sticking my neck out here!!)

P.

This taken from Sandra A. Thomson's Pictures From The Heart:

"Ouroboros
An ancient symbol of a serpent or a lizard bent in a circle to bite its own tail (the "tail eater"), it is another image of the resolution of opposites."

I think this card is so beautiful, just lush.
It's always been such a challenge to maintain an inner balance, all my life. Most of the time, my subconscious crap gets in the way, so I wasn't always knowing at what was eating at me, or "haunting" me, as it were. When I get this card in daily draws for myself, I know I'm just getting closer to being in sync with all that is within me, and outside of me.
Also whenever I see this card, makes me think of interpersonal relationships, regardless of there length in duration. I've been blessed in that I have learned so much from all my relationship, at times, just as much about myself as the other. So I see this card as a mirror, that if things aren't just so within, chances are, someone outside of myself will indicate (directly or indirectly) what matters I need to attend to. Like, as a single person, I have understood myself as being anything but the "jealous" type. Yet, when I find myself involved in a relationship, guess what, I get soooo jealous when I even sense another female in the picture. Well, what the hell is that?
Not all of me was fully integrated, I had to address issues of insecurity, some real serious issues for me.
Never did I ever imagine that something such as jealousy was "dormant" as a single person, never did I think I had a problem with it. So now I try to fix those insecurity issues (quite an undertaking) so it will not ruin yet another future relationship.
In closing, card XIV means (to me) understanding self, so much so, that everything outside of myself will run soothly as well. When it does not, the answers are all within.
 

Master_Margarita

There's something cartoonish and overly bright about the colors on this card. There's no subtlety in the shading. It's a naive rainbow. Oh, and the left eye (on our right) of the merged faces really should be shaped somewhat differently. It's just too Egyptian, and not in a good way.

Now that I have the art critic out of my system, I think this is a very interesting and helpful way to convey the concept of Temperance on a card. I do agree that this card shows a balancing of opposites that continue to co-exist, rather than the merging of two opposites that lead to the creation of a third, unique, substance. I can't really answer pleroma's question, though, because it seems to me that integration doesn't have to lead, necessarily, to the annihilation of the opposites that are integrated. In other words, I think swirls of black and white paint can lay just as much claim to being integrated as can a batch of gray paint. But I could easily be wrong.
 

Sanctum_Priest

Integration (or crystallisation) is not a "third way" but an alternative to duality.
 

EoMg

The Ouroboros also represents cyclicality, as mirrored in the yin/yang (which endlessly cycle into one another) and then sun & the moon.