16/04/2022
While this wasn’t originally the plan, given that it is Easter, now is the perfect time to unveil a project I’ve been working on. I have decided to read the Bible as an adult and I’d like to share my findings.
A few months ago, I briefly watched the show, “Greenleaf,” on Netflix. I was really fascinated by the main character, a pastor that moves back home after living away from it for a while. She explains to someone in the show that her sermons feel as though spirit is talking through her. That’s also how it feels when I do a Tarot reading, which led me to realize the amount of religious symbolism in the Rider-Waite deck (most common deck used by Tarot readers).
I’m tired of the constant belief that it is demonic, because it isn’t. I’ve decided that it would be a good idea to read the Bible in adulthood for my own Tarot study. I’m going to pair Tarot cards with Bible stories to enrich both the meanings of the cards and the biblical stories themselves.
The last time I read the Bible was probably in high school, also the same time I lost my faith in Christianity. While my Atheism softened and eventually molded into the Buddhist Spiritual Witch before you today, I’ve been doing a ton of reconnecting and it’s time to look back on one of the most famous books in the world.
I’m going to do my analysis like this:
I’m going to follow literary rules and escape into the world, the plots, with God being the protagonist.
I’m going to prove why it shouldn’t be taken literally, but rather as a tool for developing your relationship with God.
I’m going to deep dive into some of the verses that caused oppression and ones that definitely could, if interpreted by the wrong hands.
I might be snarky sometimes.
I’m going to do my best to keep a beginner’s mind.
Well, here goes nothing:
Reading Genesis as whole makes it obvious of its major theme: life and death. All of the major stories have a degree of this, Genesis as a whole goes through generations of people more or less making the same mistakes, but with new, horrifying ones that affect the generation as a whole*. In the scriptures, God allows each generation to suffer, which leads me to Buddhism’s 1st and 2nd Noble Truths: Life causes suffering and suffering is optional. It feels as though it is a metaphor for life itself.
In all of the stories, except for maybe Noah, God continues to bless people that don’t really practice the kindness I thought they did as a child. Most of the characters in Genesis were extremely flawed and sometimes awful. The 2nd half of Genesis gets really wild, with just about every atrocity known to humankind. Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, it always did.
There was also a ton of scripture devoted to lineage, even introducing characters that aren’t always relevant. From what I understand, it is there to show the passage of time and how generations change, but the suffering is the same.
Scientifically, there is no way people lived for hundreds of years as stated in the Bible. The reality is more like 30 years. In Buddhism, they believe in reincarnation and the idea of karma. Most people see karma as a what goes around, comes around kinda thing, but that is only a sliver of it. What I’ve come to believe through my studies about karma is more about learning life lessons. You will keep going through the same lesson, again and again, until you truly learn it. I think the ages of the people represent how long it took each of them to learn all of these lessons.
Also as a child, I remember being told that God is a perfect, all-knowing being, but after reading Genesis, I no longer believe that. First of all, Adam and Eve were made in God’s image, so wouldn’t that mean God isn’t perfect, too? The first half of Genesis, he seems to have high expectations of his children and gets angry when things don’t go how he expected. He even shows some remorse after the flood on how he will never destroy his creatures again. He doesn’t live up to that, though.
As for the Tarot cards that go with Genesis themes are the Lovers, Death, and the Fool.
I chose the Lovers card because of the Adam and Eve symbolism on the card. If you get this card in a reading, it usually means that you are building a great connection with someone, whether it be a lover, friend, or family member. It is also an Air element card, which connects directly to the biblical symbolism of God’s Air*, which both gives life and takes it away.
When reading Genesis, the Death card and its meaning are spread throughout the book. While the card could mean actual death, most of the time it means that you are going through a major change that will lead to rebirth. For example, Eve ate the apple and they were no longer in Eden. Think of it as a metaphorical death, much like the phoenix, you, too, will rise. If Eve hadn’t eaten the apple, there would be no story. There would be no suffering and it seems that humans need to suffer in order to learn life’s toughest lessons.
Finally, the Fool represents new beginnings and that you should dive right in. In the card it is a picture of a person that is about to step off a cliff. There is a lot of wandering in Genesis and it reminded me of the message in this card. It is also a reminder to keep a beginner’s mind.
Now tell me, what do you think?
*I’m not completely doing this analysis alone, I have been listening to podcast to help me with parts that don’t really make sense.