The Experience of the Spirit

[JustLikeYou]

For the sake of clarity: the crawler in this depiction is traditionally viewed as a crawfish rather than a scorpion. In fact, some drawings of this card have it as a crab. I think that both can be made to work, given the proper interpretations, but in this depiction it does look much more like a scorpion. Was this a result of a distortion of the Brotherhood of Light's perception of the crawler? Or was the crawfish a result of a distortion of later occultists' perception of the crawler? The question remains.

I want to further emphasize the interpretation of the dogs, an interpretation on which all of us seem to agree. In Jungian psychology, the Shadow Self is seen, not necessarily as the Evil Side, but as the collected aspects of the Self that have been rejected, that have been deemed unacceptable. It is the self from which we attempt to hide. Hence, it is not necessarily of the opposite polarity as much as it is perceived to be of the opposite polarity. A sexually repressed person will, for example, view many of his sexual desires as being the evil side of him. Once this person integrates this side of his Shadow Self, however, he will discover that it was not evil at all, just rejected and misunderstood.

The Shadow Self is, therefore, not of itself the opposite polarity as the greater Self, but is, rather, an opportunity for the Self to view itself under the opposite polarity. So a negative adept would, when he views the Shadow Self, commit his entire Self to this perception in order to polarize further. He becomes that which is unacceptable and relishes it. It is for this reason that the concept of acceptance is largely anathema to the negative path. The negative adept accepts what his spirit pulls toward, but the acceptance ends there, because what is in his spirit is domination. Remembering that the Shadow Self is not of itself the STS within us will help to integrate it. It is full of virtues distorted and misunderstood. What is STS is to intentionally choose to maintain the isolation of this aspect of the Self from the rest and to then feed it from the reserves of the rest of the Self.

I am unsure of the last sentence of this quote in regards to the english language and how and exactly what Ra meant by: "The Experience of the Spirit, that which you have called the Moon, is then, by far, the more manifest of influences upon the polarity of the adept." Can anyone offer an interpretation/explanation of this particular sentence?

Each act of choosing has influences. As I choose to continue typing this response to you, I am influenced in a number of ways: I enjoy talking Archetypes; I have free time and am feeling mellow (which makes writing appealing); I feel that my understanding can contribute to the larger conversation; perhaps I also just like to hear myself talk; there are also a number of chemical influences within my body which involve the movement of my hands. All of these are influences upon my choice to type these words in response to you.

A manifest influence influence would be one which is more evident, more clearly associated as a motivational cause. A manifest influence upon my choosing would be the "reason" that I give you when you ask me why I did something. There are many influences upon my choosing, but the most evident one is the one that I attribute causation to. In this case, the manifest influence is my belief that you might benefit from my words. All of the others are more latent influences.

Keep also in mind that in the context of that quotation, Ra is comparing the first four Spirit archetypes, saying that the Experience is by far the more manifest influence in comparison to the rest.

Thus, if the Experience of the Spirit is by for the more manifest influence upon the polarity of the adept, it is the influence from which we draw our "reasons" to polarize one way or another. Intuitively, this makes sense. How you respond to the very difficult experiences which come up when you face your Shadow Self will have an enormous impact on which path you choose.

The Lightning begets a very difficult situation. Say someone you loved and trusted ruthlessly betrayed you or used you. This shatters your illusions about the world in which you live and you find yourself vulnerable and naked as you face the disorganized mess of emotions that this experience leaves you with. Suddenly all of your priorities have changed. And when you are ready to stop crying, you see that it is time to move forward, you see the Star in the distance that calls you forward, in the faith that you can move past this in a way that will strengthen you. Then you examine yourself in the Moonlight. You look at how this situation came to be, how someone you trusted ended up betraying you and using you. You examine what you know about that person. And here you are faced with a very important choice: Do you choose to accept the shortcomings of all involved and look for the good intentions and the ways that such a situation can be avoided for the benefit of all, even amidst such a difficult experience? Or do you steel your heart, committing yourself to never give so much power to another person, to always learn how to have the upper-hand and be in control? The three preceding archetypes all lead up to the resolution which occurs in the Experience of the Spirit, where polarity is not only chosen, but pursued.

The Catalyst of the Spirit is a more subtle influence upon the polarity of the Adept, because it offers only a seed, a vague impression that growth can come from this experience. Within that seed is lies the deep pull of the Spirit toward its chosen polarity. But this pull must either be confirmed or denied in the Experience of the Spirit phase, when the choice of polarity becomes a much more conscious act.