Dear Yogis.

Here we are at the beginning of another unusual week.  I have been super busy finishing the TeaLeaf Reading cards and bringing them to you, and organising the next tarot training class and our Tea&Tarot afternoon on the 28th of this month.

This Saturday we had a wonderful Tarot Training and I have opened the door to those of you who want readings, but only for students and people I know at the present.  I will be going onto zoom for Tarot and for the Tarot Training.  I will let you know when I have this organised.  At present, if you are interested in knowing more (The Get-Together, Readings, Trainings….)  – please email me and I will keep you in the loop> Email:yogafirst2@bigpond.com

The Revelation Tarot available on Etsy, or as part of your Tarot Training.

Years ago I did meditation training in London with Osho.  Because we think our teachers will be around for ever, I didn’t take as many classes with him as I was able to. I believed I was too busy – it was my loss and now it will have to wait until next time.

Osho of course was a Zen master (although he may not have considered himself that), and his books which can be read at the Theosophical Library or purchased at the bookshop are still sharp and relevant.   Unlike  other religions which rely on dogma and superstition, a pillar of Zen is the belief that we each have a unique ability to reach enlightenment without intervention.  Osho, like Jesus came to tell us we didn’t need to have an intermediary to find God or Enlightenment.  This capacity can be realised ONLY THROUGH MEDITATION . One of the Biblical sayings  “As a man thinks so is he”, and the idea of going inside to find God, not going to the Temple and paying for guidance… were both radical ideas in their day, and led to death….

Although I did have a valued student who moved away from our school because she said “her colleagues” didn’t like the idea that she was being taught by someone who practiced reading the tarot.  I hope she notices that I haven’t stopped, in fact I am doing more.

The history of the tarot is most interesting.  We believe it was being used prior to the Egyptians, and later during the Middle Ages was used as a code to transmit the teachings of the medieval mystery codes. Some people say that the number of cards is based on the steps taken by Siddhartha – the infant who was later to become Gautama the Buddha.  He walked seven steps forward and seven steps backwards in each of the four cardinal directions, and as legend has it this became the model for the number of cards in the minor deck.

The major arcana which is  the suite that I tend to focus on in my readings,  tells the story of the human spiritual journey, from the Fool to Completion.  It is a journey of self-discovery, and like the sound of the gong is a spiral with each Completion leading to a new level on our path.  This journey for most of us does not lead to 12 years in a cave, or sitting on a mountain top, but through a rich blend of daily doings which can become our meditations.  I have been as deeply moved watching a monk sweep a floor, as I have in any high meditation, and find the power struggles in the yoga room or a kitchen as significant as understanding any sutra.  Even our relationship struggles can teach us where we are on the path.

It is in a commitment to making the whole of life a meditation that this deck was channelled to me.  I daily dedicate it to the Buddha in us all.

The Buddha is no-body’s monopoly, it is nobody’s copyright.  It is everybody’s innermost being.  You don’t have to be a Buddha to be a buddha.  To be a buddha transcends all concepts of religions; it is everybody’s birthright.  Persuade it to come along with you, to your daily activities, so everything in your life becomes a meditation, a grace, a beauty, a benediction.

OSHO: No Mind:The Flowers of Eternity

 

Dear Yogis,

Sunday again.  We had a fantastic Tarot Training Yesterday.  It is not just about the cards.  It is about where we find ourselves, how the cards help us to understand ourselves as well as others.  How the cards can help us find the heaven that is with us in the now.  When used properly, they can be a high TANTRIC TOOL. They are deeply spiritual and can bring the student back to the spiritual path…

According to Buddhist teachings, no matter how confused and tormented you and I may be at the moment, our underlying nature of  being is clear and pure.  In the same way that clouds come between us and the sunlight, so too our anxieties, depression and the suffering that they cause can temporarily obscure but cannot destroy or even touch the fundamentally clear nature of our consciousness..

Dwelling deep within us our heart and the hearts of every living person without exception is an inexhaustible source of love and wisdom.  According to buddhist writings, the ultimate goal of every person is enlightenment which occurs when all the delusions, greed, hatred, ignorance, presently obscuring our mind have been completely removed, and when all of our positive qualities have been fully developed.   This fully awakened state is characterised by unlimited compassion, and unlimited skill (or power).

We are taught that the  path to fulfilment is a gradual process of cleansing our mind of all its faults and limitations, and replacing these thoughts, with thoughts (and actions) of complete love and wisdom.  Because of this gradual approach of sutra, this is called the causal vehicle to enlightenment because of the emphasis on creating causes for a future result.

Compared to this sutra approach, tantrayana is a much speedier path to the goal of enlightenment.  The tantric yogi or yogini, learns to think, speak and act NOW as if he or she were already a fully enlightened buddha.  Because the powerful approach often bring the the future full awakening into the present experience, it is sometimes called the resultant vehicle to enlightenment.

According to Tantra, perfection is not something that is waiting for us in the future, HEAVEN IS NOW.  Everything that we need is with us in this moment, it is simply a matter of being able to recognise it.

This is the Tantric approach that we will be exploring… in the cards if you com to training, or here in the daily newsletters.

The present Tarot Training is closed, but I am enrolling for the next class which will start in July.  We will also be holding a on Sunday the 28th June at 2pm at the Studio.  At this time we will be coming together to learn more about the tarot, to swap skills, and generally link in with others who are looking for a deeper way.  TANTRIC TAROT.  Please let me know if you are interested… it is not an open house.  This will be a learning experience.

Have a wonderful Weekend.

NAMASTE JAHNE

 

Dear Yogis,

This morning I am going to talk to you about COOKING as a means to empowerment.  Usually, and I am sure you have felt this too, cooking is a way of being relegated to the kitchen… but look how many women (and men) have used it as a way TO GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN.

Take for instance Nardia Hussein.  She started her cooking life as a contestant on The Great British Bake Off. She had an arranged marriage (luckily to a good husband – good Karma), quickly had children and was marooned in her house all day in an industrial English town.  She suffered with depression, alienation and other emotional stresses, as you can imagine.  Whatever propelled her to enter the competition I don’t know.  She was the only Muslim, wore a voluminous black headscarf throughout the whole show, and doubted herself until the last few shows where she started to see her own potential.  She won.  When she got the prize she said “whatever happens, I am never, ever going to doubt myself again”.

She still battles her depression, but the person you see on the television is totally different now.  She has cooked a cake for the Queen.  More importantly, she has ditched the black for beautiful colours.  Her clothes and her headscarf are BEAUTIFUL colours.  She is shining through.

When are you going to take off the headscarf.

What made me think about this is because at one time my hair was the only thing I really felt I had control over (although I couldn’t have talked about it in that way).  Colours, curls, short long.  It changed all the time, but of course didn’t give me any control…. except on that one small thing, and it was only a temporary fix.

For the last 8 years I have grown it.  It is fast.  Last weekend I had such a strong urge to cut it – a need to feel differently about myself.  I examined that urge, and at the base of it was CONTROL.  Everything in our world has changed, and like you, I am still finding my feet.  I thought I was doing well, until that “hair thing” re-surfaced.  Luckily, I recognised it, and I didn’t manifest that anxiety.  I did what I tell you to do.  It hit the mat.  More yoga and certainly more meditation and more sleep, and I danced around the yoga studio to this song….

 

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY – IN THE LIGHT

NAMASTE.  JAHNE