Rorschach-1 Letterhead

This is certainly the strangest of Osho's letterheads, bar none. Zero information is conveyed by it, at least overtly. But the ways of our unconscious are deep and mysterious, as are Osho's ways of reaching us, so let's see if a deeper look might bring ways of understanding this thing. There are a couple of angles we might try.

The first is a consideration of the mystery blob's overall appearance. We have called it Rorschach to suggest its infinite possibilities. There are other letterheads of a similar vintage -- the "Novelty" group (example linked) -- that are all design and no message, but their patterns are at least regular and geometric.

The blob's shape is not an obviously recognizable shape overall, so we are left with our intuition, imagination and unconscious processes. Shapes that are seen allowing these processes are ... well, the editor sees a Tibetan hat, and a map of somewhere exotic never seen before, perhaps Bastar. Other ideas are welcome here, see discussion for how to submit yours.

Second, within the blob are what appear to be Devanagari characters, but whether they are intended to convey some verbal message or are just Rorschach-like gibberish remains to be determined. We are awaiting an informed opinion on this. There is otherwise no textual information on this letterhead.

Four letters are known to have been written on this letterhead. They are:

Letter written on 25 Sep 1968, to Deriya Ji, published in translation in Sw Ageh Bharti's book Beloved Osho,

Letter written on 27 Sep 1968, to JK Datta,

Letter written on 2 Jul 1969 (Sohan), to Ma Yoga Sohan,

Letter written on 2 Jul 1969 (Kusum), to Ma Kusum Bharti, published in Prem Ke Swar (प्रेम के स्वर), as letter #2