The Discovery of Satori Chess
I have been feeling very whole this week. The dream of this morning continued this theme. I was living with my parents and the household seemed uncharacteristically harmonius and calm. My father and I were playing chess [which we did play when I was a child and teen]. But I had discovered a new version of the game in my
Children's Encylopaedia called Satori Chess. Usually very conservative, my father seemed to be unusually tolerant to learning this new version.
The board was unconventional, being ten squares across rather than eight, and possibly ten squares deep. On the right hand back rows there were, instead of the usual King-Bishop-Knight-Rook, two new pieces. To the right of the King was a tall columnar piece, shorter than the Queen but taller than the Bishop - it was a different type of Bishop. Next to the right was the Knight. Following that was the Transcendent Factor, also called The Fool, which looked like an oversized Pawn. Lastly was the conventional Rook. On the left hand back row the pieces were almost conventional, except that to the left of the Queen were two Bishops, the one missing from the right side having been placed immediately next to its counterpart.
The Transcendent Factor or Fool had a very unusual characteristic. Like a King it could move only one square in any direction at a time. But capturing the Fool could actually radically change the game, in some circumstances making the loser the winner. In the dream my Father with a White Knight was pondering whether to capture my Black Fool. We both knew that the game could then become very unpredictable. There was a sense that in playing the game we would both learn a lot about ourselves and each other. I woke up.
This seemed to be another dream of reconciliation.
Satori, although I didn't recognized the word during the dream, is the
experience of enlightenment traditionally associated with Zen Buddhism. It was a word I only vaguely remembered until I Googled for it, but I did study Zen when I was a teenager. Satori Chess was played at a level which went well beyond ego consciousness, revealing the deepest parts of the self to oneself and to the other player. In its reconciliation aspect Satori Chess could be considered similar in function to the Japanese Tea Ceremony. That my father was willing to take part was a rewriting of my personal history as significant as my mother's actions in the previous dream.
The function of the Transcendent Factor or Fool was similar to the sacrifice that Obi-Wan Kenobi took in Star Wars, "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful then you can possibly imagine". Like the Fool in the game of Tarot, it was a sacrificial piece which could effectively reincarnate back into your hand. There is an interesting connection of course between Obi-Wan fighting Darth Vader or the "Dark Father", and my playing chess with this piece being confronted by my father's knight.
I note that I was playing the Black pieces, which I preferred to do. Like the feminine Moon, Black has the advantage of contemplation and reflection since White goes first. Black may therefore react and respond, having learned something significant about the other player - the position of apparent weakness as the second player becomes a strength.
Much of this rather unusual dream was translated for me by Sophie after I woke. The pillar shaped piece to the right of the King or Emperor is analagous to the High Priestess (but she can also be the Princess of a suit), effectively his
anima consciousness. The white Rooks are the Tower, the black Rooks Death. The white Bishops are Hierophants, the black Bishops Hermits. The white Transcendent Factor is the Magician, the black Transcendent Factor the Fool. The white Knights are Chariots (as well as Knights or Princes) and the black Knights are Strength.
The pieces used in Satori Chess are meditational when used in transcendental play, but can be also become divinational. Used as a divinatory tool, the pieces are mixed up in a velvet bag which is emptied from a height onto a chess board. Those that land within the board are considered significant. White can also represent the masculine Swords and Staves, Black indicates Cups and Pentacles. Reversals are indicated by the position of the piece relative to the viewer. Pawns are counted by number to become a numerological significators within their suit.
Now, I'm not sure why this synthesis of Tarot and chess was significant, because it doesn't seem very practical - and maybe I'm wasting yours and my time by putting it down. It does cross my my mind that this may be presenting me with the idea of using runes, but I think that the dream imagery would be a lot clearer if this was the case. Instead it may be a future resource that dreams might use, I don't know.
