The Experience of the Spirit

[dreamoftheiris]

Some thoughts on this archetype:

The Experience of the Spirit represents the opposite of the Star.  Where the Star represents how the light inspires us to evolve, the Moon represents the false picture we can receive from that very same light.    

The moon has no light on its own but receives its light from the sun.

And as the moon reflects the light of the sun, so too does human intelligence reflect the creative light of the Divine - and the latter is eclipsed when the lower intellect prevails.

The lower intellect is concerned with materiality.  It dwells with facts and figures and acts more like a computer, processing inputs and calculating outputs.  Given false inputs, the lower intellect will not realize that its outputs are also false until it hits an impasse and a forced awakening causes it to reassess.  The lower intellect is completely blind and is detached from seeing absolute reality.    

Ra says, “The moonlight, then, offers either a true picture seen in shadow or chimera and falsity. The power of falsity is deep as is the power to discern truth from shadow. The shadow of hidden things is an infinite depth in which is stored the power of the One Infinite Creator.

The adept, then, is working with the power of hidden things illuminated by that which can be false or true. To embrace falsity, to know it, to seek it, and to use it gives a power that is most great.”

The intellect alone cannot tell what is true.  Those who experience an awakening, who meet the Potentiator of the Spirit, often find themselves immersed in what they believe is the truth, but is merely a simulacrum of truth.

You see this sometimes manifested in those who grew up in strict Christian households.  Often there is an awakening whereby the rigid structure of the tower upon which they’ve built their beliefs comes crashing down.  A rejection then occurs whereby instead of transcending the tower, the individual turns towards lower forms of expression.  

In the macrocosm, this scenario plays out as evidenced by the rise in relativistic philosophy, the rejection of the Spirit and Faith, the worship of the intellect, and ridiculous pseudo-spiritual beliefs.  What’s needed to transcend the falsehood of the pure intellect is intuition.  

The intellect is the map and your intuition is the compass.  It inspires, guides, and gives insight into what is “north”.

Those with just a map and no compass can easily get lost.  They can easily confuse the map for the territory.  Only by using intuition can one transcend the bounds of the intellect into true insight.  

All this is not to say the lower intellect has no place.  Rather, the intellect must be put in service to the higher.  The higher should guide the lower.  While the lower can discern the territory somewhat, the higher has the full picture and can guide the mostly lower towards Truth.

The dogs in front of the pyramids represent the ability to sense unseen things. According to the famed Occultist Manly P. Hall dogs were revered in ancient Egypt for their ability to follow and track unseen persons for miles which “symbolizes the transcendental power by which the philosopher follows the thread of truth through the labyrinth of earthly error.”

The scorpion below can be seen as representing wisdom as well as deceit.  It is considered a symbol of both wisdom and self-destruction for the fire which the scorpion controls are capable of illuminating as well as consuming.  Scorpions were revered by the ancient Egyptians as well as the Babylonians and Assyrians as guardians of the gateway of the sun.  Seven scorpions were said to have accompanied Isis when she searched for the remains of Osiris scattered by Typhon.

Ra says, “By far, the majority of adepts remain groping in the moonlight and, as we have said, this light can deceive as well as uncover hidden mystery.”

The way out of the moonlight is to transcend the intellect by the use of intuition and faith.