Free Osho Zen Tarot Reading

While the world of fortune telling is generally rather dark and mysterious, made of astrology and esotericism, there are certain cases that break the rule. In cartomancy, for example, one sometimes finds divinatory tarot decks that are far more luminous and spiritual than others. Such is the case of the Tarot of the Angels, the Rider Waite, the Belline Oracle or the Lenormand tarot.

But if there is one that comes closest to the values of the wisdom of Zen and to the Enlightenment of Buddha, it is the Osho tarot which, like a meditation, leads us toward knowledge and self-acceptance.

Born in 1931, in the city of Pune, in India, the young Rajneesh Chandra Mohan Jain spent his childhood and teenage years with his family, before going off to study at university. After earning a degree in philosophy, he became a teacher at the university of Bombay, where he was able to let his students benefit from his great oratory skills whenever he set out to share with others his many insights into human nature.

Some time later, he left the pollution behind to return to Pune, his hometown where he would found his own ashram, his very first centre of spiritual awakening.

Very busy from its very first year of opening, its success would only grow with time. All the more so since, after having changed his name to Osho and having naturally become a guru to hundreds of thousands of people, he began to write countless books on awakening to self-knowledge, through meditation, in order to reach Enlightenment.

While he advocated personal development through the philosophy of Hindu life and Buddhist life, he nonetheless incorporated more contemporary ingredients such as a most heightened sexual tolerance and a modern state of mind.

Thus, for him, the human being could enjoy the great pleasures of life as Zorba the Greek does so well, while keeping the wisdom and the serenity proper to Buddha. It was therefore a new conception and philosophy of life, one more based on balance and harmony, without having to shut oneself away in a monastery.

In his teachings, he also transformed the ancestral method of meditation, performed in silence, seated with the eyes closed to better concentrate, into a so-called dynamic and chaotic meditation, in which one was advised to move about, to sing and to shout, in order to release the stress held within oneself for far too long. Suffice to say that while his teachings won over many followers among the population, he also turned quite a few purists against him, who saw in him a real danger to society.

A great lover of esotericism and of the paranormal world since his earliest years, Osho took the time, between two books, to design his own tarot deck. Although very influenced by the one from Marseille, the Osho tarot was to be far more luminous and spiritual than the latter. It was marketed a few years before his death, which occurred in 1990, but did not meet the expected success. Indeed, the Osho tarot and the guidebook that accompanies it would only be very little used, and that only by unconditional devotees of the controversial guru.

Even today, the Osho tarot remains the most unknown there is, and although it can be found in esoteric shops or on online marketplaces with free delivery, its sales remain very confidential.

The Osho Zen tarot is therefore influenced by the teachings delivered by its creator. During a divinatory reading, it draws on the consultant’s past, makes them accept their personality and their spiritual situation as well as their current material one, in order to provide predictions about their future and about their chances of being able to reach enlightenment.

It is made up of 79 cards, including 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana, to which is added a so-called special card, that of the Master.

The depictions of each of the cards are of course highly symbolic, while being far more modern than those seen in the Tarot of Marseille, or any other divinatory Oracle.

The Osho tarot comes with a booklet including all its secrets. Its texts are very instructive and are soberly illustrated through careful sketches. The cards and the booklet are held in a box set, somewhat in the manner of the Belline Oracle.

Each of the cards contained in the Osho tarot is of precious help in order to know oneself and to find the open-mindedness needed for the achievement of future projects. Like a meditation, a divinatory reading performed with these cards leads to sacred consciousness, the one that finally makes us discover all our hidden potential.

All the major arcana of the Osho tarot will point out to us a key moment in our quest to reach high spirituality and finally Enlightenment as it is perceived through the messages of Buddha. Among the latter, we find for example the cards named Emptiness, Thunderbolt or The Lovers.

As for the minor arcana, they will speak to us of episodes relating to who we are on the path of our life. We find there for example the cards named Success, Morality or Playfulness.

Finally, the Master card is the one that makes us follow the initiatory journey of our life during a reading; it has somewhat the same functions as that of the Fool or Magician found in the Tarot of Marseille. It often depicts the image of the portrait of Osho himself.

One can perfectly well use just a single card that one will keep with oneself throughout the entire day. The latter, strong in symbolism and accompanied by a story of its own, will be able to speak to you as soon as you ask it and thus answer the questions you raise.

As for a divinatory reading, all you need to do is follow the examples given in the booklet.

Among the latter, the 5-card spread seems to be the simplest to perform when one is starting out, since it is close to a cross spread as practised with the other tarots. First, you will simply need to find a place where you will not be disturbed with your consultant.

Once nicely settled and calm, you will shuffle the cards so that they are well mixed, to avoid interference with previous readings.

Meanwhile, your consultant will have asked the question to which they would like to have an answer. This question must be of the most personal nature to them, so that the reading can be effective. Then you will lay out the cards in a fan, face down, flat on a table, and your consultant will draw 5 from the lot, which you will place one after the other, in a straight line.

Then you will turn them over one by one, read them calmly, taking into account their positions on this line. The further the card is to the left, the more it expresses the past. Placed in the very middle, it will speak to you of your consultant’s current situation. And the further it is to the right, the more it will reveal to you predictions about their destiny.  

Meaning of the 22 cards of the Osho Zen Tarot