The Body as the Means of Action

[Plenum]

I've highlighted in a couple of previous threads how the cycles of archetypes have an inherent theme.  For eg, the Archetypes of the Spirit (cards 15-21) have a theme of light, and Archetypes of the Mind feature a sphere of inner power.

The Archetypes of the Body (cards 8-14) have been more elusive to me.  It's only just recently that I've delved back into them, and tried to find a yield of understanding that I can use to help resolve some leftover issues regards my relationship to my body and the physical.

I think I've come across a nifty piece of connecting evidence just recently.

JustLikeYou mentioned that the Significators offer a clue as the primary function of what that Significator is referring to.  For the Mind, the significator references the cogitation of thoughts, for the Spirit, it is about a relationship to the Light/Universal Intelligence, and for the Body, I believe it is about the means of Concrete Action.

The middle three cards of the Body may illustrate this better.  They all feature a prominent use of the hands.  The hands, of course, referencing a means of action or manifestation.

Catalyst of the Body:
Experience of the Body:
Significator of the Body:

the last card, especially, shows that the power of the self sinks down into the hands, almost with the force of a spiritual gravity.

If you also look at the other Body Archetypes, you can see a prominent use of the hands, each with a different 'instrumentation'.  (The Transformation - Death, the Great Way - the Alchemist, Balance and Wisdom).

The hands are also featured in the other archetypes (the non-body archetypes) but not with the degree of emphasis and variety that is present in these ones.

The hands are the means of action.  The Body is the way that we express the self in action in relation to others.

[AnthroHeart]

When I saw a miniature Ra manifested before me, he was using his hands a lot to do magical gestures.

[Plenum]

it also seems that none of the Body Archetypes encode any of the principles of polarity (unlike the Mind cards or the Spirit cards).  

The Wheel of Fortune (catalyst of the body), does offer positive and negative experience:

The most carefully noted addition would be that the outside stimulus of the Wheel of Fortune is that which offers both positive and negative experience.

but that says nothing about how one chooses to respond to that experience.

The Body really is the means of expressed action.

Now, that may seem an obvious statement to some  but trying to get a deeper understanding of the true function and operational mechanics of the various portions of the mind/body/spirit complex can be very satisfying, as well as leading to changes in erroneous attitudes towards the body, and it's overall purpose.

[JustLikeYou]

JustLikeYou mentioned that the Significators offer a clue as the primary function of what that Significator is referring to.

I suspect you meant to say "primary function of what the entire cycle is referring to."

I also think you've hit the nail on the head with this one. The orbs-in-hand in the mind cycle suggest action from afar, but the active hands in the body cycle suggest direct contact.

it also seems that none of the Body Archetypes encode any of the principles of polarity (unlike the Mind cards or the Spirit cards).

I'm not sure I'm on board with this one. Even the three you've depicted here have polarity indicated: #10 has, as you noted, the two figures; #11 has the two birds atop the woman's head (which are very difficult to make out in this photo), and #12 has the two pillars (mirroring those of #2 and #5). Extending the observation, you'll notice the scales in the hand of #8, the two snakes that lead the way for the man in #9, and the two cups in #14. I can't find a clear suggestion of polarity in #13.

There is also this Ra quotation to consider:

86.29

In the use of the system known to you as the tarot for advancing the spiritual evolution of the self a proper understanding, if we may use this misnomer, of Archetype Twenty-Two is greatly helpful in sharpening the basic view of the Significator of Mind, Body, and Spirit and, further, throws into starker relief the Transformation and Great Way of Mind, Body, and Spirit complexes.

The body complex gives expression (or actuality) to the possibilities in mind, but these expressions are themselves unpredictable. We all have ideas about what an experience will be like (such as when we want to experience farming, marriage, a silent retreat, an abusive relationship, etc.), but the ideas are a vague and often inaccurate picture of the reality that manifests. As the mind comes to know its own inclinations, moving further into a harmonic set of beliefs, emotions, and desires, the body responds by manifesting experiences that assist in drawing the mind closer to this Alchemical Marriage.

The body, however, offers a form of growth in its own right, without direct reference to the mind. The body can be trained. We often call it "muscle memory." It learns and records the subtle nuances necessary to live and move in harmony with your environment. It gives you signals that you might miss if you relied exclusively on mental resources, and these signals often come more rapidly and suddenly than realizations of mind. The body gives us the opportunity to refine ourselves further, attending to the details, and ultimately achieving the Light Touch (as Ra calls it).

Because of this refining nature that the body has which adds to the mind's capacity for offering the Self growth, rather than leaching off the mind, the body has its own unique relationship with moral polarity. Consider Death, for example. Death is a matter of sloughing off what is not needed, but there are, as always, two ways of doing it: you can cut off the offending part (a tumor, a parasitic relationship, a toxic environment) and toss it into the trash, or you can simply stop feeding it and let it wither in its own time. The first method is closely aligned with negative morality (STS), and the second method is closely aligned with positive morality (STO).

[native]

I agree with the idea of concrete action. Personal experience has shown me, and I believe you mentioned this recently Plenum, that we can have all sorts of fancy ideas and theories about things, but it is only through experimentation and trial and error (that is, the use of the body) that we will come to know ourselves and find balance. Experience is the great teacher. "It is the being that informs the working, not the working that informs the being."

Working with the archetypal mind is referred to as the disciplines of the personality, and much discipline is noted in the body cards, especially the significator cards in general. So I see disciplined action/service, or restrained action as it relates to free will being the key.

Ra also speaks of discipline in terms of sacrifice, with the symbol of the cross representing transformation due to that sacrifice. Referring to the Experience of Mind..

"The cross formed by the living limbs of the image signifies that which is the nature of mind/body/spirit complexes in manifestation within your illusion. There is no experience which is not purchased by effort of some kind, no act of service to self or others which does not bear a price, to the entity manifesting, commensurate with its purity. All things in manifestation may be seen in one way or another to be offering themselves in order that transformations may take place upon the level appropriate to the action."

So I see the "seeds of potential" being sown as representative of disciplined use of the body related to service..love/light, potentials, the energy giver. Notice how in the significator of the spirit the pair stands within a blossomed circle (probably representative of the seeds which were planted), which could indicate a person that both respects boundaries related to others and also someone that respects their own limits.

[Lighthead]

I wonder if there is any relationship with the hands and work. When I say work, I mean work in the most general sense. I sort of see the work that is done with the hands to be of a transformative nature. For example, when someone is cooking, they are trying to transform what is potentiated into what is actual. The same thing happens when someone is doing work for a job. A computer programmer has in mind a design for a website, and his hands make it happen. I see the work of the hands as magical when I think of them this way. Magic which is obviously action.

[native]

It's certainly true..the body is a magical tool. If the mind, body, and spirit are all entwined, how the mind moves is only one aspect of the song and dance being played out.

The thing that's not necessarily obvious is that discipline (passivity) is use of the body as well. When two people dance one is both the mover and the moved. So the idea is to learn how to move in rhythm with all that is around you.