OshoZen 8 of Clouds (swords)

OshoZen 8 of Clouds (swords) :
Guilt

The card shows a woman holding her hands to both sides of her head, screaming.

All I can say is that guilt is a useless emotion, until of course you have that Drakes cake, twice!!!

What a horrible image - picked at and scratched and pinched by harsh scaly claws, living in a grey, dirty, cloudy landscape and unable to see the bright new blossoms over our head because we can only concentrate on our own agony of mind. Guilt does indeed colour everything else we do and feel, but punishing ourselves all the time does no good whatsoever.
It is one of the big arguments against the more organised religions - that they load feelings of guilt on their followers. It is one of the reasons I feel buddhism is so liberating - no such thing as sin, or sinful people, or original sin, only thoughts / deeds done that are not good.
The traditional RWS card is the woman bound and blindfolded, partly surrounded by upright swords. It can represent giving up or examining the past and learning to trust the future. Leaving our guilt behind and looking forward certainly matches that.

By the looks of this card, there doesn't seem to be any worse plague then when your thoughts play havoc on your well-being. Talking about headache!
It is self imprisonment, just like the RWS version. The flower blossoms above her hint at a better way of being/thinking. To think of all the years I wasted feeling really bad about myself and my life. In many cases I needed to have a good fall before I began picking myself up...you can only abuse yourself for so long.

squeakmo9 said:

By the looks of this card, there doesn't seem to be any worse plague then when your thoughts play havoc on your well-being. Talking about headache! It is self imprisonment, just like the RWS version.

Click to expand...

Exactly my impression! The image of this card is really terrifying. Actually, it reminds me of something out of one of the Grudge movies. The LWB entry for this card includes one of the most positive and liberating statements in the whole book: "You are absolutely okay as you are, and it is absolutely natural to go astray from time to time. Just learn from it, move on, and use the lesson not to make the same mistake again." I can't add anything more to this.

Alan Ross said:

The LWB entry for this card includes one of the most positive and liberating statements in the whole book: "You are absolutely okay as you are, and it is absolutely natural to go astray from time to time. Just learn from it, move on, and use the lesson not to make the same mistake again." I can't add anything more to this.

Click to expand...

I can't add much more to this, either, other than to note that the LWB also notes (although not in these exact words) that guilt pulls us out of the present moment, which is something to be avoided.