The Experience of the Spirit

[JustLikeYou]

The Experience of the Spirit – The Light in the Darkness



80.8

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. This is the nature of the power of your visitor and may shed some light upon the power of one who seeks in order to serve others as well, for the missteps in the night are oh! so easy.

80.15

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. Even the most unhappy of experiences, shall we say, which seem to occur in the Catalyst of the adept, seen from the viewpoint of the spirit, may, with the discrimination possible in shadow, be worked with until light equaling the light of brightest noon descends upon the adept and positive or service-to-others illumination has occurred. The service-to-self adept will satisfy itself with the shadows and, grasping the light of day, will toss back the head in grim laughter, preferring the darkness.

As with all experience cards, the Experience of the Spirit is a depiction of the Matrix of the Spirit after it has been potentiated. I have named this Archetype the Light in the Darkness in order to underscore its status as the Matrix Potentiated. Both the Matrix and the Experience are distinctly marked by their darkness. The spirit is so poorly known to itself, so constricted and constrained in the human experience that the vast majority of its assets remain in darkness and may never been found within an entire lifespan. But the slow cycle of the evolutionary movements of the Spirit will reveal more and more of the wide expanse of the Spirit's potentials as potentiation flickers into existence (the Lightning), collapsing existing ego-structures (the Tower), thus generating a new, purified perspective (Faith/The Star) in which a step toward the more genuine self can be made (the Moon).

It is important to remember that this card is still very dark. Notice that the Moon is covered by clouds. Even though it is a full moon (and therefore the brightest moonlight possible), it is obscured and diffused, giving a misty and very shadowy appearance to anything that might be glimpsed. The Moonlight is the same light which is found in the two previous Archetypes, the Lightning and the Star. But it is dimmer than the Lightning and it is not as sharp as the Star. The importance of this fact is that this kind of light is gives the least amount of certainty. Whereas the Lightning will reveal sharp detail and the Star provides a clear direction, the Moon can only give a glow of which you must then make the best use you can. In more concrete terms, this means that once you have experienced a moment of sudden enlightenment or awakening or discovery (the Lightning), the flicker fades into a distant spark. That distant spark is the deep desire within you which you can only see once the Tower of your illusions, fears and other various ego-constructions collapses. It is in this space of emptiness (signified by the pouring out of water in the Star card), the spiritual vision clarifies and the true contents of the heart can be seen. It is the contents of the heart which are an occasion for faith. When you see what it is that is truly in your heart, you are then offered the opportunity to walk forward in the faith that that deep calling is a possibility, that what may have seemed absurd to you in the face of popular opinion – perhaps even in the face of your own beliefs about yourself – is truly possible. The faith of the Star is the trust that following your heart will not lead you astray.

It is at this point that the real thrust if the Moon card, the Experience of the Spirit, can be seen. While you must trust that your heart will not lead you astray, it is not so easy to distinguish between your heart and your shadow. Your heart, if you actually do follow it, indeed will not lead you astray. But your shadow, if you follow it, will always lead you astray. So we see the crawfish emerging from the ocean, the pure light of spirit descending upon it, but extending only out to its next step. The crawfish cannot see the complete path to the Tower it seeks, but only each next step. Regardless of which path it takes, what lies between it and its goal is the opposite of that which it seeks. The crawfish is that self which has emerged from the unconscious depths, innocent, unsure, slow-moving, and fully reliant on its instincts rather than its intellect. This is the self which emerges out of the choice to make use of the faith you have found in trusting your heart.

And so you step forward. As long as you pay attention only to the next step, you will be provided clear light because your own heart can at least shine that far. But can you maintain this kind of vision? The Tower you seek is the ediface of beauty which you have seen in the glimmer of the Star. The Tower is the Great Work which you seek, not only to accomplish, but to become. Any alchemist knows that the Great Work is the transformation of the Self. In this card (as opposed to the Potentiator of the Spirit), the Tower is the You that you know you could be (and, paradoxically, already are). But as you make your way toward this vision of yourself, toward what you know is in your heart, you will be confronted by, on the Positive path, your shadow self or, on the Negative path, your inner weakness and softness. It is this confrontation which is the greatest peril in the Experience of the Spirit. It is here that “misteps in the night are oh! so easy” (80.8). Observe the two dogs. They look identical. Not only do they look identical, they look each other in the eye. You will eventually find yourself looking your opposite self in the eye. Will you recognize this self as the opposite of what you seek? Or will you follow this opposite self's lead and make an accidental step toward the wrong Tower?

This is what it is like to walk in faith. You can only see your next step, not the whole path. And as you walk, you are bound to find your shadow self standing before you, offering you an opportunity to forget what it is your heart contains. The shadow is a trickster. On the Positive path, the dark side of yourself will seek to convince you that it is your heart. It will convince you that in following it, you are walking toward the Light. On the Negative path, the light side of yourself will seek to entice you to indulge the aspects of yourself that you know are soft and easy for others to manipulate.

However, the confrontation of the shadow self is not to be avoided if the seeker is dedicated, for it is this confrontation which represents the next Devil, the next part of the Matrix which is ready for potentiation. A careful seeker will be careful enough not to make ruinous misteps, but honest enough to recognize that misteps are always made, for it is these misteps that lead to further growth. With each mistep, there is the opportunity to increase the brilliance of the Light shining in the Matrix and hence to avoid further misteps. This is how experience is gained.

[Plenum]

the essence of this card appears to be discerning clarity from confusion.

this can be deeply healing, as the true self may begin to be seen (the spirit, rather than the ephemeral manifestations of the body and mind).

the greater the fullness of the moon, the greater the clarity, and vice-versa.

distorted beliefs can begin to be seen for what they are, and do not need to be antidoted or countered. They fall away like film from the eyes.

[Aaron]

Before I begin, I should note that I'm approaching this archetype from the viewpoint of the conscious mind within incarnation having an experience of the spirit. This may or may not be correct. But it is also possible to view this archetype as that experience which the spirit has while climbing through the third density. The difference is highlighted by asking the question: Is this the "Experience of the spirit", or "The experience of the spirit"?

Ra describes the spirit as a shuttle to intelligent infinity, or the channel by which contact with intelligent infinity is made.

The moon as depicted in this card strikes me as being the spirit itself, that spiritual self which is always replenishing itself, always full, always whole, and needs no movement or seeking.

In fifth and sixth density, but especially fifth, where the spirit is consciously experienced, it is not necessary to recycle body complexes:

(105.20)
I am Ra. When the discipline of the personality has led the mind/body/spirit complex into the fifth and especially the sixth level of study it is no longer necessary to build destruction of the physical vehicle into its design, for the spirit complex is so experienced as a shuttle that it is aware when the appropriate degree of intensity of learning and increment of lesson has been achieved.

From our viewpoint in this density, looking at this card, the spirit is not clearly seen. It is obfuscated by the clouds, and far into space, seemingly unreachable. In order to experience the spirit in this density (but not actually BEING the spirit, being the moon, as that has its place in fifth density), we must move over the dangerous dark ground, and past the dogs, into the pyramid of our choice. The dark pyramid being the choice of the negatively polarizing adept, and visa versa. The negatively polarizing adept will be seeking to experience the spirit in service to itself, seeking that dark pyramid, and the opposite for the positively polarizing adept, who seeks to experience the spirit in service to others. Both pyramids receive instreamings from that same moon, that same spirit.

The pyramids in this card speak to me as being that inner locus wherein the true and fulfilling experience of the spirit may be grasped by the seeker/adept. This would fit in with the general idea of the physical pyramids being places of initiation, where the adept would go to experience temporary death/rebirth and contact with the spirit.

(57.24)
The initiation of Queen’s Chamber has to do with the abandoning of self to such desire to know the Creator in full that the purified in-streaming light is drawn in balanced fashion through all energy centers, meeting in indigo and opening the gate to intelligent infinity. Thus the entity experiences true life or, as your people call it, resurrection.

Moving towards that pyramid, that apprehension of the experience of the spirit, either on the positive or the negative path, the dogs are encountered. On either side, these dogs are of an opposite nature of their respective pyramids. This says to me, similarly to what JustLikeYou wrote above, that along the way towards integration of the spirit complex (entering the pyramid), one will encounter their opposite self... the shadow self for those polarizing positively, and the loving self for those polarizing negatively. One must pass by these guardians with the conscious knowledge that what they face is the self, but does not represent their chosen path.

For me, the dogs bring to mind the concept of the Dweller on the Threshold.

"From ancient recesses of the memory, from a deeply rooted past, which is definitely recalled, and from the racial and the individual subconscious (or founded and established thought reservoirs and desires, inherited and inherent) there emerges from individual past lives and experience, that which is the sumtotal of all instinctual tendencies, of all inherited glamours, and of all phases of wrong mental attitudes; to these, (as they constitute a blended whole) we give the name of the Dweller on the Threshold. This Dweller is the sumtotal of all the personality characteristics which have remained unconquered and unsubtle, and which must be finally overcome before initiation can be taken. Each life sees some progress made; some personality defects straightened out, and some real advance effected. But the unconquered residue, and the ancient liabilities are numerous, and excessively potent, and - when the soul contact's adequately established - there eventuates a life wherein the highly developed and powerful personality becomes, in itself, the Dweller on the Threshold. Then the Angel of the Presence and the Dweller stand face to face, and something must then be done.

Within that quote is the hint that the dogs arise from accumulated experience in this density that has been sifted out and pushed aside/rejected by the entity as it experiences incarnations. All that has been experienced that speaks of the path opposite of one's choice must be integrated in order for a pure experience of the spirit to take place.

The scorpion at the bottom of the card seems to indicate the constant risk of those missteps in the night which Ra speaks of. When moving towards an experience of the spirit while in this veiled third density, there is always the possibility of attracting experiences to the self which can be harmful, due to the fact that the spirit and things of a magical nature are not understood or able to be worked with in this density. I think there is more to this scorpion, like the fact that it is facing towards the positive pyramid. But a deeper understanding of it escapes me at this time.

[Ankh]

Archetype Eighteen:



Although Ra said that the stars could be removed from all Tarot cards, in this case I believe that they are more or less necessary as to illustrate the night and the body in the sky being the moon and not the sun.

The moon symbolizes to me the magic of the spirit. It represents also the top of an ankh, which is part of the concept complexes of Archetypical Mind.

The moon is obscured by the clouds, which to me speaks of workings in the shadow where missteps are oh! so easy, but seen from the viewpoint of the spirit, even the most darkest experiences may be worked with until the light is equaled the light of brightest noon and positive illumination of the spirit has occured.

The contast between black and white in this image is, as it also is in the Archetype Four, the experience of the mind, sharp. That more profound contrast between black and white in the Archetype Four was indicating the present polarity, and although many of the images of Archetypes of the Spirit do have this sharp distinction present, I believe that in this card, this contrast is about, as in Archetype Four, the polarity of the adept.

Then we have two pyramids, the white one and the black one. These too speak to me of the polarity of an adept and two paths that are to be chosen. The spiritual power then can be used for either radiating to others, or absorbing it for the self. As Ra said in 80:15 - due to the Catalyst of each adept the adept may begin to pick and choose that into which it shall look further. The Experience of the Spirit is the more manifest of influences upon the polarity of the adept.

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?

The pyramids are the place of healing and initiation. If choosing the positive path, the healing for instance needs to be done firstly of the self by the self before it can be offered to others, using the spirit as that shuttle which contacts the intelligent infinity directly. But before that, there needs to be an initiation of that spirit. And this initiation is what these pyramids represent to me in this card of this Archetype. As the mind has been initiated, and in Archetype Four the adept begins its flight towards the great Logos, the spirit needs to be initiated in order to contact this great Logos.

In front of the pyramids there are dogs who seem to guard the entrance of the pyramids. These dogs are of opposite colors compared to the pyramids themselves. To me it symbolizes that before the initiation of the spirit, each adept needs to face its oppositely polarized aspect of the spirit. For instance, in 80:15 Ra says that the negative adept when grasping the light of day still laughs preferring the darkness, while the positively polarized adept in quote 80:8 is said to misstep easy, because embracing the falsity, to know it, to seek it and to use it gives power that is most great!!

But I also want to explore what the dogs in ancient Egypt mean. As Ra pointed the focus towards the cultural meaning of the cat in ancient Egypt in the Archetype Four, I would like to seek the cultural meaning of the dogs in ancient Egypt in Archetype Eighteen.

Tour Egypt: The ancient Egyptian word for dog was "iwiw", which referred to the dog's bark. They served a roll in hunting, as guard and police dogs, in military actions and as household pets...//...Anubis is often referred to as the jackal headed god, but Egyptians seem to have identified other dogs with this god, and at times domestic dogs were buried as sacred animals in the Anubieion catacombs at Saqqara. Anubis (Inpew, Yinepu, Anpu) was an ancient Egyptian god of the underworld who guided and protected the spirits of the dead.

Then there are different articles about these dogs, but most of them pointing into the dogs being guardians, pets and helpers in hunting. If thinking about the God which is most closely associated with a dog, i.e. Anubis, then we have a guardian of the spirit of the dead.

I believe that the image of the dog in this card represent a guardian of the entrance of the initiation of the spirit. Before entering that pyramid of initiation and healing, the spirit must first face the oppositely polarized aspect of itself.

And at the bottom of this card we have a scorpion, which in my interpretation of this Archetype, faces the white pyramid, which to me symbolizes the positive experience of the spirit, and it is on this path where the missteps in the night are oh! so easy. The bite of a scorpion is poisonous and could even be fatal (reminds me of the story Jim McCarty told once about the negative wisdom and the bite of a spider). When an adept has chosen the positive path, it has to watch for these missteps, as the poison of the bite of a scorpion could be fatal, which to me speaks of what Ra said about the power of embracing the falsity which is most great. And as an adept gains more polarity, it gains more power, and it is due this power the reversing of the polarity becomes more and more easy.

As plenum mentioned in one of his posts, the information about this Archetype on which one can ground its interpretation isn't voluminous. I grasp the Archetype about experience of the mind, but what is exactly experience of the spirit?

In 94:7 Ra gives an example of it:

Therefore, each of the support group also experiences a weariness of the spirit which is indistinguishable from physical energy deficit except that if each experiments with this weariness each shall discover the physical energy in its usual distortion.

This is how an experience of the spirit *may* be detected; if one has learned to distinguish between experiences of the mind and the body, and the experience is not of these two, then it is of the spirit.

In 52:11 Ra tells us the heart of evolution of the spirit:

Unity, love, light, and joy; this is the heart of evolution of the spirit.

My take that the experience of the spirit are more profound, more deep. It hasn't much to do with interpretation anymore, as it was in the experience of the mind. The mind and the body are already known by the adept when it starts its workings with the spirit. The path is cleared all the way to this shuttle. And the power of it can be used either to radiate it to others or absorb it for itself.

[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.

[third-density-being]

Hello Dear Other-Selves,

Thank You for All your Words.

The moonlight, then, offers either a true picture seen in shadow or chimera and falsity.

There is absolutely nothing “certain” within Environment of the Experience of the Spirit.
I prefer interpreting “two dogs” as two Aspects of Self, rather than “confronting Other-Self” (as to divide Self). I think it is about recognition within Self true nature of the “Spirit of Self”. There’s no “good” nor “bad” natures of Spirit – both are Embraced by the Spirit and Creator Him/Her/It/They-Self/Selves.
Therefore “two dogs” signify for me following things:
- for either Adept, more obvious/easier-perceived is an opposite Path/Polarization (as Other-Selves and Events/Phenomenon and Their nature/”polarization They possess / carrying with Self”).
- “two dogs” are not looking at each-Other, but Up, at the Moon. I had a dog for fourteen years (German-shepherd), and I always saw in  His eyes, when He was about to attack His Fellow Other-Second-Density-Self. He was looking at Other-Self eyes and His nose was pointed down to Earth. His head was in position of “two dogs” when He was trying to catch a fly “Two dogs” seeks the same thing – Spirit/The Moon – but both seems to “start” from “unfavorable position”. Also Their tails are lifted up-high – There are Highly-Attentive with “High Alertness”.
- either of the “two dogs” is not “Enlighten” by the Spirit/The Moon and it makes extremely hard to distinguish that, what is sought for each of the “dog”.

The power of falsity is deep as is the power to discern truth from shadow.

In Environment of this Archetype, Self finds Self (literally) poorly informed but motivated enough to pursue Spirits/The Moon Light. At this point I would like to write, that I fully agree with Words of Aaron:

Is this the "Experience of the spirit", or "The experience of the spirit"?

Ra describes the spirit as a shuttle to intelligent infinity, or the channel by which contact with intelligent infinity is made.

The moon as depicted in this card strikes me as being the spirit itself, that spiritual self which is always replenishing itself, always full, always whole, and needs no movement or seeking.

In fifth and sixth density, but especially fifth, where the spirit is consciously experienced, it is not necessary to recycle body complexes:
(…)

I think it is “The Experience of  the Spirit”. “At Our current Beingness”, Spirit is beyond Our direct grasp. As quote pointed out, it is fifth-density, where “The Experience of the Spirit” (Conscious contact with Spirit – Aspect of Self – to Become Spirit) is possible/established.

Spirit is Unspoken/Incomprehensible/Subtle/Divine. To really tap to Spirit’s Source, is to tap to the abilities of Creator Him/Her/It/Them-Self/Selves. As in following quote Ra Him/Her/Them-Self-Selves pointed out:  

The shadow of hidden things is an infinite depth in which is stored the power of the One Infinite Creator.

This is an astonishing information for Being on “Dark Path”/who Embraced Polarization Service-to-Self (to Serve Creator through Self).

(…)the power of the One Infinite Creator(…).
What kind of “mode of Beingness” would One become? “How One would understand Him/Her “Self”? In consequence, Identity changes dramatically/drastically. As JustLikeYou wrote when interpreting Catalyst of the Spirit:

Prior to the striking of the lightning, we maintain numerous beliefs about ourselves and our surroundings which seem perfectly acceptable, true, and useful. But when the catastrophe occurs, only then do you realize what really matters. Only then do you learn that the petty things are nothings, wispy and ephemeral they fall away with ease. Food doesn't matter, comfort doesn't matter, the opinions of others don't matter. What matters is what lies within you at the deepest levels.

Those are Strong Words that are describing Profound Change within Self, that was initiated by the Lighting (Potentiator of the Spirit) and sought with Faith/One-Pointendess through an entire Environment of the Catalyst of the Spirit.
Self uncovers and starts to explore an entire new/alien/fearful/hopeful Environment/Aspect of Self/Aspect of Reality Self is currently Existing in/Aspect of Beingness unknown and unperceived before until now – as this bolded, three letters/symbol on the background of this text. At some point of Seekings, such “visibility/obviousness/Clearness of Aspect of Spirit” will be accessible to third-density Seeker.

Getting back to quote of Ra: For Beings/Entities on Service-to-Self Path, this Environment seems to be more preferably than next Archetype on the Path of Spiritual Evolution of Consciousness of this/Our Logos.

The service-to-self adept will satisfy itself with the shadows and, grasping the light of day, will toss back the head in grim laughter, preferring the darkness.

Why? Because of hidden within Shadows Power of Creator Him/Her/It/Them-Self/Selves. Infinite Source of All Possibilities. If Adept would succeed in tapping to such Source, His/Her Capability would be literally limitless. I understand the temptation of such Path.

Service-to-Other Seeker/Adept attempts to clarify the “Light of The Moon”, to bring it upon Self to assist Self to discern nature of All Experiences and to follow the “Path of Clarification” and accepting/integrating.

Even the most unhappy of experiences, shall we say, which seem to occur in the Catalyst of the adept, seen from the viewpoint of the spirit, may, with the discrimination possible in shadow, be worked with until light equaling the light of brightest noon descends upon the adept and positive or service-to-others illumination has occurred.

I think in this particular Archetype Polarity truly establishes Self – this is Springboard for further intensification of Seekings. Seekings, that from Experience of the Spirit acquire “Magical” Qualities/Attributes/Nature of Experience. And word “Magical” is a cultural based/shaped/created (mass-Consciousness) label/Word/name for mass-Perception of the Unknown.

So few truly tapped to the Spirit with strong enough Focused One-Pointendess/Faith and possess equally Refined Power-of-Will (“The Sculpture”) which through Mind manifest Spirit in/through the Body/third-density. Mass-Memories of those Accomplishments are alive and clothed with/in myths and ancient tales. In most cases they depicting Service-to-Self Adepts.

---

One of very valuable way of perceiving/understanding the nature of Polarization, would be to ascribe following understanding to each Pole:
Service-to-Others – To Radiate with and Accept/Appreciate Flow of Light
Service-to-Self – To Absorb and Redirect Flow of Light

---

Service-to-Others Path always seeks The Sun (Significator of the Spirit).
As this Aspect is important to fully understand Experience of the Spirit, I would like to quote a Lovely description/Understanding of Seeker JustLikeYou, of what Service-to-Others Path’s Significator of the Spirit/The Sun/Radiating and Accepting the Light really is:

(…)
The Significator of the Spirit is an Archetype of harmony. To describe the experience of this Archetype is to rely upon mystical terminology, for the spirit, when experienced as the self, is in constant communion with the Infinite. Tonight, I prepared myself a mug of hot chocolate and took a walk around my neighborhood, enjoying the cool December night, observing the high energy of the college kids heading out to their parties on a Saturday night, and appreciating the trees that greeted me along the way. I walked slowly, without any particular destination, knowing that there was no hurry to get anywhere. The purpose of my walk was the experience of walking. Each scene that I observed, whether it was the static placidity of the trees or the dynamic movement of the college kids, seemed to be in its proper place. I did not wish any of them to be any different than they were.

As I walked, it seemed that the dark places of my spirit, those places not yet discovered, were not in conflict with the aspects of my spirit which have found expression in my life already. Do I have much yet to learn? Most certainly. Yet this simply was not the point tonight. The point was that I belong exactly where I am, that this small piece of the Universe is holy, sacred, perfect. Anywhere I might turn, I would still find myself walking upon holy ground, and at every moment the spiritual self which is known finds itself facing the spiritual self which is not yet known. Each tree, each student, offered me not only a piece of myself, but a microcosmic reflection of my very being, an infinity coiled up into a beautiful little gift for me on this one particular Autumn evening. Whereas the mind sees in the other-self that which can be known, the spirit sees that which is mysterious because it is infinite.
(…)

What about Service-to-Self Path? For Spirit both Paths/Polarizations are Equally Valued and Desired.

The service-to-self adept will satisfy itself with the shadows and, grasping the light of day, will toss back the head in grim laughter, preferring the darkness.

Does Adepts of this Path rejects Significator of the Spirit? Can They close Great Cycle of Spirit without It? Matters unanswered for me at this time.

RA’s Words regarding “density ascending” suggest dual natural of Catalyst of the Spirit:

82.28
(…)
Ra: Prior to the veiling process the measurement would be that of an entity
walking up a set of your stairs, each of which was imbued with a certain
quality of light. The stair upon which an entity stopped would be either
third-density light or fourth-density light. Between the two stairs lies the
threshold. To cross that threshold is difficult. There is resistance at the edge,
shall we say, of each density. The faculty of faith or will needs to be
understood, nourished, and developed in order to have an entity which
seeks past the boundary of third density. Those entities which do not do
their homework, be they ever so amiable, shall not cross. It was this
situation which faced the Logoi prior to the veiling process being
introduced into the experiential continuum of third density.
(…)

RA used logical disjunction or. That would suggest, that name Faith for an Archetype presenting Qualities/Attributes/Movement/Processes of the Catalyst of the Spirit, is of Service-to-Others Polarization/Nature. For Service-to-Self Beings, Arcanum No. 17 is called The Will.

Polarization seems to determine in extreme way what Experience of the Spirit is for each Adept. In this Archetype lies most differences which are most significant from all Others co-Creators/Arcanum. Here Adepts making an actual and fully honest Choice.
Polarization of the Spirit, in terms of experience on two other Paths might be expressed in some silent/deeply-inner longings/echoes/tendencies to certain kind/form/”angle-of-Approach” thought-patterns, reaction, behaviors, cherished Beliefs, etc.

What are You Prod Of? What are You ashamed Of?
This may be example of “Experiences of the Spirit” – quite extreme example, but easy to grasp. Most of experiences related to the Spirit (practically each and every one of Them One is Experiencing) are vague, dancing at the threshold of Seekers Perception/Comprehension. Always willing to step through, if invited/welcomed appropriately.  

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.

What is Invited/Welcomed and Hosted-within-Self will Polarize Beings in an exponential rate. I believe that Environment of The Moon (Shadows/Mysteries/Possibilities/Temptations/ the power of the One Infinite Creator) may be literally a Springboard to an End of Great Cycle/Last Archetype/Density-Ascension, for determined and dedicated Adept of either Path. It is “here”, when “Separation” truly occurs and is not United/Balanced until middle sixth-density, where Illusion of Separation finally Falls and both Poles of Polarization become One again.

---

It is my brave Thought, that late sixth-density and an entire seventh-one are dedicated to refining “Oneness?/To become All-That-Was-Is-and-Shall-Be. True “Singularity”, that probably is manifested at All Levels-of-Beingness/Densities at once – which suggest one of possible interpretations of Phenomenon labeled by Us as “Black Hole”. In such line of Thoughts, Black-Hole is literally an end of Octave (to Return to Logoi by/through Becoming Logoi).

---

To embrace falsity, to know it, to seek it, and to use it gives a power that is most great.

For both Paths.
Service-to-Other Seeker may fall for Catalyst of Service-to-Self nature and Potential of fast Polarization, that might be clothed with Service-to-Others Qualities and actions – but at the root would build within Self Momentum that would plant a “Seed of Experience”, that offers vast variety of possibility of negative/directed-at-Self nature.
On side of Experience of two others Paths, This may induce certain Thought-Patterns/Tendencies/Temptations, etc. Once tasted Fruit will leave unforgettable aftertaste; an Experience that forever will become Part of You.

I think it may be compared to “basic concepts” of an Idea of Meme, that treats “Idea” almost like an Entities/Viruses that “spread from Mind to Mind”. In some way it is similar with Our Experience, which become part of Seeker’s very Intimate and Individual “Filtration process” of Everything that We “let into Self”, that is consonant with Our Understanding of what Is that what We Seek, and It’s Nature.

---

The Light of the Moon on the ground between “two dogs” and the Scorpio in the middle of it.

To this I believe following quote is relating:

To embrace falsity, to know it, to seek it, and to use it gives a power that is most great.

Bolded part refers to Ability to Direct Self. To possess Wisdom to perceive, recognize and accept/reject or reject/accept encountered Catalyst of the Spirit, which in such take is mentioned earlier Seed of Seekings, as well as Seed of Polarization, that Adept continue to Nourish and Grow within Environment of next Archetype – The Moon. (Therefore at Catalyst Arcanum Female is pouring fluids into/offering to Both Polarities Equal Acceptance and Care).

The adept, then, is working with the power of hidden things illuminated by that which can be false or true.

With Faith/Will or Will/Faith, an Adept is Consciously Learning/Teaching Him/Her-Self. He/She is in a position of Investing significantly within Self / to Accelerate His/Her Journey on/at chosen Path. In order to do so, true nature of Scorpio must be revealed. Is it the Catalyst One is Seeking? Is it a Guise/False direction? It is up to Each and Every Being/Entity/Consciousness within this Logos to determine that.

Inevitable both of Paths leads to the Transformation of the Spirit:

That which you call the Sarcophagus in your system may be seen to be the material world, if you will. This material world is transformed by the spirit into that which is infinite and eternal. The infinity of the spirit is an even greater realization than the infinity of consciousness, for consciousness which has been disciplined by will and faith is that consciousness which may contact intelligent infinity directly. There are many things which fall away in the many, many steps of adepthood. We, of Ra, still walk these steps and praise the One Infinite Creator at each transformation.

All I have Best in me for You

[JustLikeYou]

RA used logical disjunction or. That would suggest, that name Faith for an Archetype presenting Qualities/Attributes/Movement/Processes of the Catalyst of the Spirit, is of Service-to-Others Polarization/Nature. For Service-to-Self Beings, Arcanum No. 17 is called The Will.

Be careful with this kind of interpretation. The quotation you reference is a contentious one because it is literally the only place in the Ra Material where Ra uses "or" between "faith" and "will" rather than "and." It is also worth noting that Ra's typical treatments of these two concepts is that will is as a mental phenomenon, whereas faith is a spiritual phenomenon. Consider, for example, that Ra identifies the concept of will as being central to the Matrix of the Mind in particular.

That said, I appreciate your original approach to this troublesome quotation.

[third-density-being]

Hello Dear JustLikeYou,

Thank You for your Reply.

Be careful with this kind of interpretation. The quotation you reference is a contentious one because it is literally the only place in the Ra Material where Ra uses "or" between "faith" and "will" rather than "and." It is also worth noting that Ra's typical treatments of these two concepts is that will is as a mental phenomenon, whereas faith is a spiritual phenomenon. Consider, for example, that Ra identifies the concept of will as being central to the Matrix of the Mind in particular.

That said, I appreciate your original approach to this troublesome quotation.

I admit that I’ve expressed quite intuitive understanding and I fully agree with your point.

---

Therefore I think it may be said that for Adept of each Path, following is appropriate:

Service-to-Others – Faith/Will
Service-to-Self – Will/Faith

- as to emphasize characters of both approaches:

Service-to-Others - Through Acceptance
Service-to-Self - Through Force

But Faith is indeed needed for both Paths. Service-to-Self Adept also must “believe in”/”be trustful in regards of” existence and possibility of “Greater Reality”/ Infinite Creator.

---

I’m insisting upon such definite “division”, because this is first and I think mostly “divided Archetype” in term of Polarizations. In fact It depictures Polarization-It-Self. Catalyst of the Spirit also posses accent of Polarization, but there “Both Poles” are more like “Childs/Seeds to be equally cherished”.
In Experience of the Spirit Grown-Up/Fruits are to be chosen – on the other hands labels “Grown-up/Fruits” may be misleading, as within Experience Environment “Child/Seeds” are still “Growing”, but They seem to be at the Growth-Level/Stage” where Choice must be made (or mustn’t for lack of Polarization). Therefore I think it is conscious/deliberate processing/pursuing the Experience(s) that provides means of Polarization/Growth within Polarization.

---

Regarding the “logical disjunction” or in Ra’s quote.
I’ve brought it up, because it regards quite unique situation, which is “Density Ascension”.

82.28
(…)
Ra: To cross that threshold is difficult. There is resistance at the edge,
shall we say, of each density. The faculty of faith or will needs to be
understood, nourished, and developed in order to have an entity which
seeks past the boundary of third density.
(…)

I understand above Words as an indication that One shall choose whether “Attempt to cross boundaries of the Density” will be done with Faith/Will or Will/Faith. I’ve connected this “choice” with Choice of Polarization made by Seekers in Environment of Experience of the Spirit.

---

I have a lot to ponder on, but at the same time I’m Very Open for Discussion


All I have Best in me for You

[JustLikeYou]

I need to meditate on your interpretation of this Archetype, so I'm not going to comment on it here. Instead, I'm only going to point out one more important feature of the quotation of which you're making heavy use. Ra is here describing the method of harvesting prior to the veiling process. Although Ra does not say whether this method changed after the veiling process, the possibility remains. This suggests that it may have been that prior to the veiling, will and faith were nearly indistinguishable; whereas, after the veiling they become very distinct indeed. How, for example, could faith prior to the veiling involve trust where knowledge is absent? If we strip away from faith the ignorance provided to us by the veiling, all that is left is a kind of certainty or resoluteness. I'm not sure this is distinct from will in any way except that it is felt in the spirit complex rather than the mind complex. Having said this, keep in mind that my analysis is only hypothetical. You may very well be correct about this one. I'll get back to you in a few months when I start meditating on this Archetype seriously.

[ricdaw]

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?

I have only a partial understanding of this card, but I did have some practical spiritual experiences which I think may inform its meaning.
I think that one of the aspects of the card is to hint to the viewer that there is more to spirit than just some internal aspect of being.  The tower is the "aha!" of inspiration.  The Star inner faith.  But this card is an outside card and I think its primary lesson is to show that spirit is acting as profoundly on the external environment (things and events) as it works upon the inner environment.  What that dim and clouded moon suggests to me is that there is magic out there.  Real life magic.  It's not obvious (shadowy moonlight), it is protected (dogs), and it is possibly perilous to try and find it/learn it (scorpion, crawfish, crab).  The black magic (STS) is hard to find (no door on that dark pyramid) while white magic (STO) is easier to access (there is a door) but still it will take initiation and going into that huge pyramid structure.
But the magic, if found (either STO or STS magic) is so profound that it is a huge influence on polarity.
With some conscious mental thoughts and actions I was able to manifest a 40 minute winning streak gambling in Vegas.  It was an amazing experience because I had planned it to be a test of what I had learned about magical workings, so it was a lot more than winning some cash.  It was a validation that magic really worked.  (For New Agers, you would call it "you create your own reality.")  If I had had a mild tendency to STS, I'm pretty sure that the wonder and feedback of winning cash so easily would have sent me down the STS path.  (Woo hoo!  I'm gonna be rich!)  The "experience" of spirit that I actually had was profoundly influencial on me.  It was an experiment into the nature of reality and it proved (to me at least) that reality actually was subject to magical thinking.   "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." 
My gambling experiment was real and physical, but it was first and foremost an "experience of the spirit" because that is how I designed it to be. 
I think anyone that experiences psychic phenomena or hands-on healing or winning the lottery through prayer is someone who is likely to be influenced down one polarity or the other by such things in a huge way.  Reading Ra is quite moving, but putting the knowledge into practice is jaw dropping.
I think that's what the quote and the card speaks to:  spirit acting upon the environment is possible and powerful.

[Loki]

I believe associating polarity STO/STS to will and/or faith is plain wrong. How Ra would say it: The two or merely tools albeit important ones which could be used for both polarizing directions STO/STS. I do not think we can whatsoever associated a certain preference of one polarity for one tools. Archetypes are also tools used for acquiring polarity and not polarity holders.

[Nau7ik]

I believe associating polarity STO/STS to will and/or faith is plain wrong. How Ra would say it: The two or merely tools albeit important ones which could be used for both polarizing directions STO/STS. I do not think we can whatsoever associated a certain preference of one polarity for one tools. Archetypes are also tools used for acquiring polarity and not polarity holders.

You’re right, the principles shown forth in the Tarot cards are like blueprints. They can and are used in order to choose and develop polarity. The principles apply to both positive and negative paths.

For example, with the Lovers card, the man is in between two females in a position of being undecided. His going with one woman or the other indicates his approach in using the resources of his deep mind. The Transformation is still had with either choosing.

[ricdaw]

I believe associating polarity STO/STS to will and/or faith is plain wrong. How Ra would say it: The two or merely tools albeit important ones which could be used for both polarizing directions STO/STS. I do not think we can whatsoever associated a certain preference of one polarity for one tools. Archetypes are also tools used for acquiring polarity and not polarity holders.

The Archetypes are tools to CHOOSE polarity, not to acquire polarity.  There may be playbooks for acquisition and enhancement of polarity, but that would not be the tarot.  The cards present universal psychological experiences/psychological objects which present various flavors of The Choice.

[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.

[Sacred Fool]

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.

 
Here's a much more fleshed out, so to speak, description of mind in the context, not of Experience of the Spirit, but from the perspective of how it functions within the illusion.

https://llresearch.org/transcripts/issue..._0415.aspx

J: Yes, Q’uo, I have one further query. Would it be approximately correct to say that the mind is constituted by concepts in a way analogous to the body being constituted by atoms? If so, can you say more? If not, can you say what is incorrect?

Q’uo: I am Q’uo, and am aware of your query, my brother. We find that your analogy is quite apt and perceptive, for your mind, indeed, is composed of a great deal of concepts that are received from each of your five senses, as well as from those inner intuitive senses that give you a feeling for that which the five senses give you the information. The body, being the physical vehicle that carries you about in your illusion, is composed of those various cells of skin, of ligament, of blood, of tissue, and so forth, which allow a functioning upon the physical level, so that the mind may be able to move about within your third-density illusion and gather information that will allow it to function in a similarly balanced, progressive, and expansive fashion, so that there is the ability of the seeker to continue to gather information and furnish the various portions of the mind complex with the kind of evaluation of experience, or catalyst, shall we say, that will be useful in the long run of the incarnational process. 

Thus, the mind has various levels of storage of information that may be analogous to the various kinds of fluids and functioning of the body complex that allows the movement of the blood throughout the body to refurnish the energy of the physical sense, the mind has its ability to circulate various concepts and combinations of concepts that allow the seeker of truth to be revitalized by new information or new combinations of old information that have now been seen in a broader sense, or a deeper sense.

The mind, while not clearly seeing Spirit, is an indispensable tool for spiritual growth, ironically enough, because it is the mind which helps define and organize the ways in which we interact with Spirit, because what we get is most often what we seek, and seeking has a whole lot to do with mind.

The reason I got started with this post is the observation that, although the putative subject of this thread is "Experience of the Spirit," so far no one has offered up much about their experience of the Spirit; rather, it's been a largely intellectual discussion of symbolic stuff instead of experience.  I'm wondering if anyone's experience of Spirit sheds any useful light upon the symbolic stuff, or the other way around?
  

[Patrick]

The only thing that comes to my mind regarding the experience of the spirit is the word "release".

Not sure what that means. Maybe that, from the point of view of the mind, it means to release all expectations?

That if we use the mind to catalogue all the wonders of Creation and let, in Faith, the spirit choose the experiences instead of trying to control the process using the mind?

[Ohr Ein Sof]

Archetype Eighteen:



Although Ra said that the stars could be removed from all Tarot cards, in this case I believe that they are more or less necessary as to illustrate the night and the body in the sky being the moon and not the sun.

The moon symbolizes to me the magic of the spirit. It represents also the top of an ankh, which is part of the concept complexes of Archetypical Mind.

The moon is obscured by the clouds, which to me speaks of workings in the shadow where missteps are oh! so easy, but seen from the viewpoint of the spirit, even the most darkest experiences may be worked with until the light is equaled the light of brightest noon and positive illumination of the spirit has occured.

The contast between black and white in this image is, as it also is in the Archetype Four, the experience of the mind, sharp. That more profound contrast between black and white in the Archetype Four was indicating the present polarity, and although many of the images of Archetypes of the Spirit do have this sharp distinction present, I believe that in this card, this contrast is about, as in Archetype Four, the polarity of the adept.

Then we have two pyramids, the white one and the black one. These too speak to me of the polarity of an adept and two paths that are to be chosen. The spiritual power then can be used for either radiating to others, or absorbing it for the self. As Ra said in 80:15 - due to the Catalyst of each adept the adept may begin to pick and choose that into which it shall look further. The Experience of the Spirit is the more manifest of influences upon the polarity of the adept.

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?

The pyramids are the place of healing and initiation. If choosing the positive path, the healing for instance needs to be done firstly of the self by the self before it can be offered to others, using the spirit as that shuttle which contacts the intelligent infinity directly. But before that, there needs to be an initiation of that spirit. And this initiation is what these pyramids represent to me in this card of this Archetype. As the mind has been initiated, and in Archetype Four the adept begins its flight towards the great Logos, the spirit needs to be initiated in order to contact this great Logos.

In front of the pyramids there are dogs who seem to guard the entrance of the pyramids. These dogs are of opposite colors compared to the pyramids themselves. To me it symbolizes that before the initiation of the spirit, each adept needs to face its oppositely polarized aspect of the spirit. For instance, in 80:15 Ra says that the negative adept when grasping the light of day still laughs preferring the darkness, while the positively polarized adept in quote 80:8 is said to misstep easy, because embracing the falsity, to know it, to seek it and to use it gives power that is most great!!

But I also want to explore what the dogs in ancient Egypt mean. As Ra pointed the focus towards the cultural meaning of the cat in ancient Egypt in the Archetype Four, I would like to seek the cultural meaning of the dogs in ancient Egypt in Archetype Eighteen.

Tour Egypt: The ancient Egyptian word for dog was "iwiw", which referred to the dog's bark. They served a roll in hunting, as guard and police dogs, in military actions and as household pets...//...Anubis is often referred to as the jackal headed god, but Egyptians seem to have identified other dogs with this god, and at times domestic dogs were buried as sacred animals in the Anubieion catacombs at Saqqara. Anubis (Inpew, Yinepu, Anpu) was an ancient Egyptian god of the underworld who guided and protected the spirits of the dead.

Then there are different articles about these dogs, but most of them pointing into the dogs being guardians, pets and helpers in hunting. If thinking about the God which is most closely associated with a dog, i.e. Anubis, then we have a guardian of the spirit of the dead.

I believe that the image of the dog in this card represent a guardian of the entrance of the initiation of the spirit. Before entering that pyramid of initiation and healing, the spirit must first face the oppositely polarized aspect of itself.

And at the bottom of this card we have a scorpion, which in my interpretation of this Archetype, faces the white pyramid, which to me symbolizes the positive experience of the spirit, and it is on this path where the missteps in the night are oh! so easy. The bite of a scorpion is poisonous and could even be fatal (reminds me of the story Jim McCarty told once about the negative wisdom and the bite of a spider). When an adept has chosen the positive path, it has to watch for these missteps, as the poison of the bite of a scorpion could be fatal, which to me speaks of what Ra said about the power of embracing the falsity which is most great. And as an adept gains more polarity, it gains more power, and it is due this power the reversing of the polarity becomes more and more easy.

As plenum mentioned in one of his posts, the information about this Archetype on which one can ground its interpretation isn't voluminous. I grasp the Archetype about experience of the mind, but what is exactly experience of the spirit?

In 94:7 Ra gives an example of it:

Therefore, each of the support group also experiences a weariness of the spirit which is indistinguishable from physical energy deficit except that if each experiments with this weariness each shall discover the physical energy in its usual distortion.

This is how an experience of the spirit *may* be detected; if one has learned to distinguish between experiences of the mind and the body, and the experience is not of these two, then it is of the spirit.

In 52:11 Ra tells us the heart of evolution of the spirit:

Unity, love, light, and joy; this is the heart of evolution of the spirit.

My take that the experience of the spirit are more profound, more deep. It hasn't much to do with interpretation anymore, as it was in the experience of the mind. The mind and the body are already known by the adept when it starts its workings with the spirit. The path is cleared all the way to this shuttle. And the power of it can be used either to radiate it to others or absorb it for itself.

The dog is a symbol of "adaptation" a type of evolutionary adaptation.

[dreamoftheiris]

The mind, while not clearly seeing Spirit, is an indispensable tool for spiritual growth, ironically enough, because it is the mind which helps define and organize the ways in which we interact with Spirit, because what we get is most often what we seek, and seeking has a whole lot to do with mind.

The reason I got started with this post is the observation that, although the putative subject of this thread is "Experience of the Spirit," so far no one has offered up much about their experience of the Spirit; rather, it's been a largely intellectual discussion of symbolic stuff instead of experience.  I'm wondering if anyone's experience of Spirit sheds any useful light upon the symbolic stuff, or the other way around?
  

Anytime you are relying on your intellect alone, you are not seeing the full picture.  There is a variety of ways this can manifest.  Ra says,

"The power of which you speak is a spiritual power. The powers of the mind, as such, do not encompass such works as these. You may, with some fruitfulness, consider the possibilities of moonlight. You are aware that we have described the Matrix of the Spirit as a night. The moonlight, then, offers either a true picture seen in shadow or chimera and falsity."


For example, consider a situation where an emotional reaction to some occurrence continues to happen for you in your life.  Let's say the reaction is a result of your "ego" being bruised for whatever reason.  

The Ego, of course, is purely the Matrix of the Spirit.  By itself, it is completely detached from Spirit and completely immersed in Matter.  The Spirit locked completely within Ego is locked in darkness.

Now, there are a variety of possible reasons why this individual's "ego" was bruised.  Perhaps there was not enough love given to them as a child and they, therefore, developed a big ego to give themselves the love they always sought.  Because the self is immersed within the Matrix of the Spirit, they cannot see this, though.

And whenever their ego is bruised, they react, unconsciously by attacking the one who has seemingly caused this reaction within themselves.

But the emotional reaction offers the possibility of clarity for them.  It offers them the ability to awaken and uncover the hidden trauma that causes them to react this way.  Alternatively,  if offers them the opportunity to deepen the darkness and to strengthen the personality.  To deepen the separation.   As Ra says,

" 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. Even the most unhappy of experiences, shall we say, which seem to occur in the Catalyst of the adept, seen from the viewpoint of the spirit, may, with the discrimination possible in shadow, be worked with until light equaling the light of brightest noon descends upon the adept and positive or service-to-others illumination has occurred. The service-to-self adept will satisfy itself with the shadows and, grasping the light of day, will toss back the head in grim laughter, preferring the darkness." 


So the Experience of the Spirit is such that, for the most part in 3D reality, we dwell in an unconscious state.  Those that are "awake" are still veiled to a great extent, and while they are seeing more of the landscape illuminated by the Moon, they still get tricked by the shadows if they are not discerning enough.

[Sacred Fool]

 
Okay.

Just trying to add a bit to the dialogue, I would note that intellect is but one facet of mind...or one could choose to look at it that way.  Mind as an whole is an indispensable element in spiritual evolution as it informs the upwelling creative energies as to the form they will take, as shaped by you as mini-Creatrix (or sub-sub logos, if you prefer).  For example the upwardly drawn energies are constructed into your body as they are shaped by your mind.  ("The body is a creature {created thing} of the mind.")

Intellect, Q'uo says someplace, is a function of the orange and yellow ray energy centers which allow us to navigate through the illusion.  Deeper parts of the mind function through different chakras and inform of things transcendent of--or transcendent of, but mixed up with--the illusion.  And our ability to navigate in our lives using these veiled energies is very much a hit-or-miss affair because out attunement to them is irregular at best....due to the veil.

Experientially, this means that I can sometimes perceive subtle stuff, but sometimes cannot.  A good example is that the more personal a matter is, the more stake you have in the outcome, the harder it is to read.  (Ergo, many or most psychics go to other psychics for readings, just as  most doctors go to other doctors for medical treatment.)  I would say this is one possible description of what that moonlight business is about.  It's a poetic sort of way of describing the challenges operating via spirit (which is the goal of the aspirant) when everything keeps coming into focus and going out of focus in an unpredictable fashion.

One advantage of the moonlight metaphor, parenthetically, is that it allows for a description of a subsequent phase of developement where the aspirant begins to see, not by external light, but is illumined from within.  But that's another story.....

Good night.

    

[flofrog]

The mind, while not clearly seeing Spirit, is an indispensable tool for spiritual growth, ironically enough, because it is the mind which helps define and organize the ways in which we interact with Spirit, because what we get is most often what we seek, and seeking has a whole lot to do with mind.

The reason I got started with this post is the observation that, although the putative subject of this thread is "Experience of the Spirit," so far no one has offered up much about their experience of the Spirit; rather, it's been a largely intellectual discussion of symbolic stuff instead of experience.  I'm wondering if anyone's experience of Spirit sheds any useful light upon the symbolic stuff, or the other way around?
  

Mmm, this is an interesting question, SF. I have a small example but I am not sure it corresponds to your question, and to the initial OP so apologies in advance.

My middle child before he was 2 fell in a pool and near drowned. We were renting this house built on poles above a small patio in which there was a pool. Because when we moved in I was so worried, I had put locks on all french doors which led to the patio. But one day I probably forgot to check all doors and one stayed unlocked. Ten minutes later after I had seen my son in the house, I saw him in the pool and retrieved him doing CPR.
But the thing is that a few days before, I woke up suddenly very early one morning and saw at the bottom of our bed three long transparent figures in prayer. At the same time I could see behind them, which was sort of funny in a way, a number of transparent figures moving through the room behind them. The funny thing is I thought I wonder if my hubby sees that too, (!) so I turned to him and shook him up lightly to wake him up, as I was doing that, I saw his transparent image getting back inside his body and then he woke up.
At that point, everything disappeared and my hubby asked me what was wrong and I said, oh sorry no it was nothing.

So, I dont know if we can consider this an experience of the spirit correlated through the material body related to the quote from Qu'o. Just curious. So SF I dont know if your post was about this kind of experience, if it is then I am happy it provides one.

To me, since the accident happened about three days later, it does relate.

There is something lovely from second density to add to this. At the time in that rented house, there was a large plant with large beautiful leaves, a Fiddle Leaf Fig, and my daughter who was 3 and my son who was less than 2 used to pick tiny little bits from her. So I used to ask then not to do it as a plant is a living being who feels this, but they would at times continue in a discreet way. About three days after the accident, one morning we woke up and found she had lost all her leaves during the night..

[Sacred Fool]

So, I dont know if we can consider this an experience of the spirit correlated through the material body related to the quote from Qu'o. Just curious. So SF I dont know if your post was about this kind of experience, if it is then I am happy it provides one.

What is Spirit?  This is my contraction of Q'uo's description in the Some Technical Terms Defined thread.

Spirit = That which, though unseen, feels to be a presence or a sense of guidance.

Your experience was partially seen, but we can "overlook" that, methinks.  So, yes, this is an illustrative instance of how in-and-out and somewhat informative and mysterious Spirit can be in our experience.

Thank you.

   

[Spaced]

One thing that comes to mind regarding the imagery of the card (it's interesting that unlike other archetypes Ra and Don don't really discuss the imagery of this one much) is the parallel between the pyramids and the pyramid in the Potentiator, i.e. the Tower. We also see these two pyramids united to form a tetrahedron as it were in the star depicted on the Catalyst of the Spirit card.

The Potentiator is all about sudden revelation which can shatter our preconceptions, which I see as represented by the pyramid/tower. We are then cast out and once more in the dark with only the fading afterimage and our own faith to guide us. This catalyst can then be worked with (in the shadow of moonlight as it were) from either a positive or negative interpretation to build a new tower/pyramid where we can once more feel comfortable in our level of understanding until we get knocked on our behinds again. I think this is what Ra talks about with the "groping in the moonlight" comment, and I've certainly seen that pattern play out in my own spiritual journey. This all has to do with the analysis of spiritual experiences through the faculties of the mind.

So how do we move past the groping? I think this is where concepts like balancing, acceptance and mental discipline come into play. The two dogs make me think of the idea of "balancing each and every positive and negative charge with its equal." Perhaps when one has reached this point where the polarities have been internalized and one is able to maintain a state of acceptance/detachment they can pass between their gaze.


Or maybe not.