The Movement from the Experience into the Significator

[ricdaw]

Ricdaw, your analysis, though clearly the result of focused effort, appears to be subject to frequent mislabelling. I'll identify these mislabels, but I also want to respond to some of your statements.

I wish there was an Archetype for the drunkard who visits this forum after a happy night of food and bourbon. That card would apply to me for last night! I mislabeled all over the place....

The Empress is not a constraint or difficulty, it is the opposite. The Empress is Opportunity

I agree with you here, but Plenum had associated the Emperor with constraint, not the Empress (though I disagree with Plenum's association--I prefer "responsibility" or "sovereignty" as governing conceptions of the Emperor).

Sorry Plenum and JustLikeYou. See preceding drunkard comment.

I can see "responsibility" in card 4, in the sense that we are responsible for the catalyst we draw forth from Card 3. But I think the primary attribute of Card 4 is to become aware of the way Catalyst works. Those who read Ra get the way of catalyst already. But for those who go through life la de da will probably come to see that the apparently random universe seems to be acting with a high degree of non-random behavior. Emperor observes the environment and begins to see that there is a pattern. The opportunities presented repeat themselves as if they were lessons to be learned. The events of card 10 (wheel, if I can count right) are too targeted to be truly random. So Emperor looks at the state of the landscape (Card 3 Empress) and the characteristics thrown out of card 10 (wheel) and begins to perceive a pattern; that there is purpose expressed there. Eventually, if the Emperor seeks a bit more, he will see that there is a spiritual purpose to these same things. Not just a hope of a purpose (Faith/Star) but a demonstrable larger purpose to the lifetime (Moon).

I put a lot of the work of discovery on the poor Emperor.

There is only one Significator of any importance; card 4....Only the Significator in row 1 holds the resolution or understanding of all three row's catalyst. The Significators of the Body and Spirit rows mean something different.

Presumably you mean card 5, the Hierophant.

Can you explain this thought? If the other two Significators are not important, then why do we have archetypes for them? What is it that they do?

Darn. I really was toasted last night. Sorry, folks.

Some of the cards are more placeholders in the grid than highly complex concepts. Death is one of those cards to me. The Hierophant is the incarnate soul. It has the sum of past lives (biases, understandings, state of spiritual development, etc.) It's a pretty big deal with the concept reincarnation and soul progression over many lifetimes. But the Hanged Man is (IMO) a juxtaposition to de-emphasize the Body. We humans associate too much with our bodies and can be very limiting. The "lesson" of this card is to free ourself from the body as an end in and of itself. We are not down here for our body. We are in a body to work on spiritual development. It's a relatively simple, albeit life changing kind of concept.

So, to me, Sun and Hanged Man are simpler concepts, more like placeholders in the column. That may be my bias. Maybe the concept of reincarnation is the one that hit me hardest. And once I "got" that, the fact that the body is just a temporary vehicle seemed kind of obvious. So Hanged Man has seemed relatively straight forward. The Sun might be very charged for someone who came to tarot from organized religion. The concept that God is okay with what we call "evil" might be a very charged concept The most self-serving dictator is loved too? Really? There is no hell? No eternal punishment for that kind of stuff? So the Sun is a great card to ponder when you read the daily news. These people doing (supposed) bad/evil things are loved as much as the saints!?!

The Moon confuses, but it is not Confusion. The Moon explicates that there is a deeper purpose here. it is not obvious but hidden. There is a mystical overlay on existence. Those who seek will find.

I agree that these are aspects of the Moon. Confusion is part of the Fool archetype, not the Moon.

How so? I see naiveté, not confusion, in that card. The very first time we come into incarnation on the Earth Life School is going to be quite a ride.

The experience of the Moon archetype indicates hidden things, but there is more going on here. The experience classification indicates the means by which catalyst is processed. In the Spirit Cycle, the catalyst of naked and vulnerable faith which steps forward naively into the spiritual world brings hard lessons which temper faith with what I refer to as discernment (note that you and I are using the word "discernment" in two different ways).

I put all the "tempering" into card 14 (Temperance). It is the processing of mental, physical and spiritual catalyst for me. I don't see the figure in the Star as being a person at all, just a personification of a concept. Her feet do not sink into the water like a person's would. They float. This, to me, is a critical visual cue that the figure in that card is not supposed to be a person at all. Faith is a passive concept, adopted in the dim starlight to hold onto a belief in God and spirit and purpose. Those of STS use this faith not at all. Their "waters" (left hand pouring) go back to the sea of emotional water/spirit unused. Those of STO (right hand pouring) cultivate growing plants and light as those waters fall upon the land. The card does not evoke characteristics of a person (naked and vulnerable) because it is a drawing of a concept which is naked because it is not a person.

The spiritual seeker (the Sun) walks forward on the Path, its heart leading the way, but finds not only that there is far more than is dreamt of in its philosophy, but also that the way is strait and narrow.

I don't see a seeker in the Sun. I see the Seeker in the Fool. And eventually, through observation and discernment, the Hierophant becomes a seeker when he/she gets that big choice to make in the Lovers card. The Sun card does not describe a person seeking. It is the Sun and the idea that spirit gains positive and negative "charge" during its incarnation cycle.

Seekers tend to be oafish and fumbling, their shadows constantly accosting them in the guise of the heart's desire. It is the province of the Experience of the Spirit to deliver to the seeker a sense of discipline about her act of walking in faith: she must always be on guard to distinguish whether what is being followed is the heart or the gut, the true self or the ego (to use standard new age terminology). Hence, on the card the two oppositely colored dogs face each other indicating direct confrontation of the shadow. And the black dog guards the white temple, indicating that the shadow lies squarely in the path of the seeker's quest for the Great Work.

Very interesting. I don't understand the concepts of shadow or walking in faith. The Experience of Spirit to me is to see that there is a spiritual meaning or purpose behind everything that is/happens to you while incarnate. Sometimes good things happen (white dog) but they lead to an easy life and the dark pyramid is not explored (or noticed). A person is lead into complacency and does not strive in that lifetime to "see." Sometimes bad things happen (dark dog) and the catalyst of that leads to seeing the white pyramid, and seeing that spirit brought you that unpleasant dog on purpose. To the extent that the Seeker sees all catalyst (both white and dark dogs) as revealing important life lessons, a person can remain balanced and progress quickly between those two towers to the greater truth beyond/between them. More than hardship or shadow, I see the biggest impediment is wealth, TV, easy living. Those are the shadows that can stop learning for an entire lifetime.

Good discussion JustLikeYou. I will ponder your interpretation of the Moon and see if I can learn more!