The Great Chain of Mind

[Plenum]

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the following is strictly my interpretation of the first 7 tarot cards. This information may or may not be based on what Ra gave in book 4; my understandings have blended various sources, and it's quite hard to untangle what came from where. Think of this as my chef's meal; you are free to like or dislike, but it comes as a warm meal to your table.

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the first 7 cards of the tarot form what I call the Chain of Mind.

these cards are:

the Magician
the High Priestess
the Empress

the Emperor
the Hierophant
the Lovers

the Chariot

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I have purposefully split it into two groups of three, and then leaving the last card on it's own. The reason is this: I have found it most helpful to map the 7 cards onto the chakras; these 7 cards having to do with the 'Mental Qualities' of how the chakras function. They can show the lessons, the blockages, and the acceptances in stark relief when fully understood.

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let us take the first 3 cards: the Magician, the High Priestess, the Empress

these correspond respectively to the Matrix of the Mind, the Potentiator of the Mind, and the Catalyst of the Mind. These terms are Ra's, not mine.

what are the core meanings here?

the Magician: represents the Creative Faculty of consciousness. Linked to the root chakra, the first and foremost quality of human consciousness is to Create, for are we not a splinter of the One Infinite Creator? We cannot help but create. Maybe not works of art, but our 'creatorship' lies in all elements of our lives; how we dress, how we talk, how we work, how we interpret the wider world ... this is all a Creation in the mind separate from the facts.

the High Priestess: the High Priestess is known as the Potentiator of the Mind, and interacts with the Magician by feeding it Information from hidden sources. These sources include the subconscious, the dream world, and all the good stuff from the time/space component of yourself. This card may be seen as the 'Veil', and when one gains adeptship, the High Priestess steps through the Veil, and standing side by side with the Magician, all things about the Self may be known.

the Empress: the Empress may be seen as the mind holding sway over a Court; she governs social relations, social interactions, and social standing. This card represents how the Mind, that is, you, connects itself with the wider society and groups in general, also known as yellow ray. The Empress is the 'catalyst of the mind' and there is no better catalyst than interacting with other entities, for they are the mirror unto yourself. Blockages here reveal themselves most most easily.

the first 3 cards fit into the ordinary world quite easily. There is nothing strange or too outlandish about any of the functionings outlined above. Most of them would be pretty standard in any modern psychology textbook, and the stuff is founded on a fair amount of observation of human behaviour going back to Freud (in a formal sense) and shifting all the way back to Shakespeare and the classical Greek playwrights (in an informal sense).

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the next 3 cards deal with more metaphysical aspects of the Mind. These cards correspond to the Experience of the Mind, the Significator of the Mind, and the Transformation of the Mind.

we have:

the Emperor: the Emperor holds dominion over a vast empire, and how the mind chooses to engage with this empire is what this card is all about. My personal reading (easily disputable) is that this is the fundamental choice between Service-to-Others, and Service-to-Self. The Benevolent Emperor is one who chooses to serve all the citizens in his empire; he has, for whatever reason, gained the position that he has through circumstance, skill, or prior knowledge. The choice made here opens up/closes the green ray.

the Hierophant: the Hierophant is associated with the blue ray of Wisdom. An understanding of this archetype is that one has come to see the link between catalyst and the lessons to be learnt, so that one is then able to fully and consciously direct the path of one's personal evolution. Once this is fully understood and appreciated, one has the first 5 energy centers (at least for the mental component) open and activated, which then opens up ...

the Lovers: my tentative understanding of this card is that it represents a blending of energies in the Mind. These are real and literal, and are drawn through the indigo center (third eye)

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the final card in the Great Chain of Mind (archetypes) is probably the one I understand the least, and is probably only really speculative on my part right now.

the Chariot: I see the Chariot as a Circle in which the Mind stands in. When the Chariot has been ascended to via the first 6 cards, then the Mind has learnt all its faculties, and is able to direct attention at will. The attention is focussed totally inside the Chariot, and fills it, and then the Chariot is shifted mentally to wherever it wants to go in the Universe. Outlandish? yeah, I thought you'd say so. But I am still working through this one, maybe prematurely, because I think my understanding of the previous card (the Lovers) is still sketchy and hazy, and that Knowledge informs this Knowledge.

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as you can perhaps see, these cards are more than mere Pictures or evocative names; they encapsulate understandings and evolutionary processes.

Ra has transmitted a most precious gift in this.

[abstrktion]

Cool!!
You are much more concise than I am on this! I think I'm up to 10 pages on the classifications and I've spent at least 4-5 on just the first two archetypes of the mind! I plan to quote you in the stuff I'm writing--is that ok?
(It's really nice to have other parts of myself that are capable of brevity and focus...)

[Plenum]

abstrktion - you are free to use these words ... for they are not really mine. Well, they are mine, but there is no claim of ownership over them

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[zenmaster]

It is interesting to attempt to determine the essence of an archetype, because that helps seat it in the imagination. For example, the experience of mind archetype combines the principles of activity (using resources), consciousness (masculine quality), and nobility. Ra chose their words for the sake of precision and minimizing possibility for distortion. "...it is only through the catalyst which has been processed by the potentiated consciousness that experience may ensue. Thusly is the conscious mind ennobled by the use of the vast resources of the unconscious mind." So experience is being equated to ennobling.

Noble comes from the latin "nobilis". Nobilis was derived from from "nosco" meaning "I know, recognize, am acquainted with"
It is interesting how recognizing "raises one's status", so to speak. Sort of like, by virtue of recognizing, one becomes recognized.

[abstrktion]

It is interesting to attempt to determine the essence of an archetype, because that helps seat it in the imagination. For example, the experience of mind archetype combines the principles of activity (using resources), consciousness (masculine quality), and nobility. Ra chose their words for the sake of precision and minimizing possibility for distortion. "...it is only through the catalyst which has been processed by the potentiated consciousness that experience may ensue. Thusly is the conscious mind ennobled by the use of the vast resources of the unconscious mind." So experience is being equated to ennobling.

Noble comes from the latin "nobilis". Nobilis was derived from from "nosco" meaning "I know, recognize, am acquainted with"
It is interesting how recognizing "raises one's status", so to speak. Sort of like, by virtue of recognizing, one becomes recognized.

Love this! (I MA'd in Linguistics). Hope you don't mind my quoting you too? That last part was really precise and perceptive!
The last bit is also sort of beautiful in the sense of the biblical sense of "knowing" one's spouse...which should be ennobling as well. And (darn it, I can't find the quote right now) isn't the Empress the unconscious ennobled by the conscious?

Any thoughts on that?

[zenmaster]

Love this! (I MA'd in Linguistics). Hope you don't mind my quoting you too?

Sure, but as an archetype, it can find expression in many different ways and it's always good to find one's own identifying elements.

That last part was really precise and perceptive!
The last bit is also sort of beautiful in the sense of the biblical sense of "knowing" one's spouse...which should be ennobling as well.

I think the seeking act is ennobling in general, regardless of the particular experience because "everything is the creator". "We have hoped to balance this understanding by enunciating the Law of One, that is, that all things are One Creator. Thus seeking the Creator is done not just in meditation and in the work of an adept but in the experiential nexus of each moment."

"Each experience will be sequentially understood by the growing and seeking mind/body/spirit complex in terms of survival, then in terms of personal identity, then in terms of social relations, then in terms of universal love, then in terms of how the experience may beget free communication, then in terms of how the experience may be linked to universal energies, and finally in terms of the sacramental nature of each experience." The possible energy transfers also follow a similar progression.

And (darn it, I can't find the quote right now) isn't the Empress the unconscious ennobled by the conscious?

Any thoughts on that?

The Empress is the unconscious ennobled by the conscious. It's the offering of the unconscious mind (which takes on various qualities according to prior experience, bias and polarization) for conscious use (catalyst). Unconscious = feminine (or passive role).

As Ra said "Know then, first, the mind and the body. Then as the spirit is integrated and synthesized, these are harmonized into a mind/body/spirit complex which can move among the dimensions and can open the gateway to intelligent infinity, thus healing self by light and sharing that light with others."

"Each experience will need to be observed, experienced, balanced, accepted, and seated within the individual"

I think that after working with consciousness for a while, people begin to realize there are underlying principles in operation, which seem to be 'universal'. To actually have identified this system to the extent they did is quite an accomplishment. I am wondering to what extent these archetype descriptions, as explained to the ancient Egyptians, were derived from the Sun and Venus logoi and how they may have been created naturally by seekers native to Earth.

[godwide_void]

Plenum, are you planning on making an analysis of the other archetypes/tarot cards? This post was really helpful in helping me understand better what these cards most likely represent.

[Plenum]

Plenum, are you planning on making an analysis of the other archetypes/tarot cards? This post was really helpful in helping me understand better what these cards most likely represent.

hey GV, yes, I do plan on writing the 2 companion pieces for this (Great Chain of Body, Great Chain of Spirit), but there are a few things to untangle still. I've had a few key insights that have led to some personal understandings and transformations, and it still needs the process of rhetoric to make it comprehensible for others. I have also become acutely aware of what Ra called 'teach/learning'; and if you haven't taught, then you haven't really learnt. We are not silos of information; we are sunflowers emitting our pollen to the world

[JustLikeYou]

I'm glad to see that you have pursued the correspondences between the chakras and the Cycles of 7 in the Archetypes. It is not a direction I have explored with any significant effort. However, I would like to contribute a bit of insight concerning especially the Emperor.

I found myself wondering for a long time where the concept of forgiveness fits into the Archetypes. My conclusion is that it is primarily located in Archetype 4, the Experience of the Mind. We see in Archetype 6 that the Choice offered to the mind lies in the approach that the Conscious mind chooses to take toward the Unconscious mind. This approach can be either as a maiden to be loved, accepted and courted or a prostitute to be treated with no virtue. My most recent discovery in this Archetype is that most people maintain an active dialogue between their Conscious and Unconscious minds. Anything you say "to yourself" takes the position of one of these aspects. I have a friend who does not know how to process her emotions. So when she recently experienced an emotion which she had thought she left behind 30 years ago, she said she was "too old for this" and that she was "being stupid". She even called herself stupid. Retrospectively, this sounds to me like the Conscious mind speaking directly to the Unconscious mind. This particular instance is one of abuse, but one can also imagine a person who "loves herself" and is always reinforcing herself with positive thoughts. "Affirmations" are really just beautiful words whispered into the ear of the Unconscious mind, the lover of your Conscious mind.

Now because the Unconscious mind reveals itself in everyone you meet (a concept brought out beautifully in the OP by association with the Yellow Ray), the way you see others is also the way you see yourself. Thus, to love, forgive and accept the Unconscious mind is to do so to all the Universe.

I have also found great mileage from renaming the Emperor "The Sovereign" (this is a name taken from C. C. Zain's work). A sovereign takes possession of what is his and becomes royal or ennobled in so doing. This concept really clarifies for me the "firm grasp" of the Emperor that Ra mentions.

Plenum, you may also find it useful to consider the unified yet dualistic nature of the Third eye. It is the gateway and therefore both transmits and receives. The experience of polarity in the mind takes a very specific shape, and this shape has been explored in depth in German philosopher Hegel's work: First there is a thesis, an object of consideration. The mind contemplates this object and arrives at the conclusion that it cannot be known unless it is distinguished from its surrounding context. This context is the antithesis. In Ra's terminology, the thesis is the positive and the antithesis is the negative. However, this process is not complete until a step forward is taken: the two, when balanced and united, become a third entity which is distinct from the two: a synthesis. For example: in the political world today, there is a constant battle between the Right and the Left, where one side is imagined as supporting businesses as having greater institutional virtue and the other side is imagined as supporting governments as having greater institutional virtue. If these two perspectives are balanced and united, it will be determined that both businesses and governments are inefficient in their processes and that less centrally controlled groups will effect the greatest virtue. This is neither left nor right, but an advance. In the constant tug of war in the mind between good and evil, acceptance and control, no advance is possible until both sides are sufficiently experienced and then balanced. Once this happens, the way becomes clear and a choice will be made. I can go on, but I'd better not unless asked to do so.

[Shin'Ar]

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the Magician: represents the Creative Faculty of consciousness. Linked to the root chakra, the first and foremost quality of human consciousness is to Create, for are we not a splinter of the One Infinite Creator? We cannot help but create. Maybe not works of art, but our 'creatorship' lies in all elements of our lives; how we dress, how we talk, how we work, how we interpret the wider world ... this is all a Creation in the mind separate from the facts.

The Magi is man practicing the art of making the divine connection that will lead to the Astral gate. A he perfects that art he becomes introduced to the Goddess.

the High Priestess: the High Priestess is known as the Potentiator of the Mind, and interacts with the Magician by feeding it Information from hidden sources. These sources include the subconscious, the dream world, and all the good stuff from the time/space component of yourself. This card may be seen as the 'Veil', and when one gains adeptship, the High Priestess steps through the Veil, and standing side by side with the Magician, all things about the Self may be known.

This is the Goddess still veiled and secretly protecting the key to the Astral gate.In her cloak she partially reveals the scrolls with the knowledge to find the key.the veil represents the Mystery to be solved.


the Empress: the Empress may be seen as the mind holding sway over a Court; she governs social relations, social interactions, and social standing. This card represents how the Mind, that is, you, connects itself with the wider society and groups in general, also known as yellow ray. The Empress is the 'catalyst of the mind' and there is no better catalyst than interacting with other entities, for they are the mirror unto yourself. Blockages here reveal themselves most most easily.

here the Goddess has removed the veil and becomes the gateway herself. having discovered the key you now have permission to travel through the birth channel from the material world to the spiritual.

the Emperor: the Emperor holds dominion over a vast empire, and how the mind chooses to engage with this empire is what this card is all about. My personal reading (easily disputable) is that this is the fundamental choice between Service-to-Others, and Service-to-Self. The Benevolent Emperor is one who chooses to serve all the citizens in his empire; he has, for whatever reason, gained the position that he has through circumstance, skill, or prior knowledge. The choice made here opens up/closes the green ray.

This is the puppet ruler of the right hand path. In all appearances he is a ruler and authority, but not the true ruler. His role is to lead to the left hand path where we find the true ruler.


the Hierophant: the Hierophant is associated with the blue ray of Wisdom. An understanding of this archetype is that one has come to see the link between catalyst and the lessons to be learnt, so that one is then able to fully and consciously direct the path of one's personal evolution. Once this is fully understood and appreciated, one has the first 5 energy centers (at least for the mental component) open and activated, which then opens up ...

Here we find the true ruler, not to be confused with the catholic Pope as it often is. this is the left hand path and wearing the true crown of balance and Sacred Fire, the Shin'Ar.


the Lovers: my tentative understanding of this card is that it represents a blending of energies in the Mind. These are real and literal, and are drawn through the indigo center (third eye)

This has nothing to do with lovers or sex. this is the left hand path and the right hand path and man choosing which path he will follow. There is always the choice and one often walks both ways on each, but one can not partake of both. he either walks forward on the one or the other.- -

the final card in the Great Chain of Mind (archetypes) is probably the one I understand the least, and is probably only really speculative on my part right now.

the Chariot: I see the Chariot as a Circle in which the Mind stands in. When the Chariot has been ascended to via the first 6 cards, then the Mind has learnt all its faculties, and is able to direct attention at will. The attention is focussed totally inside the Chariot, and fills it, and then the Chariot is shifted mentally to wherever it wants to go in the Universe. Outlandish? yeah, I thought you'd say so. But I am still working through this one, maybe prematurely, because I think my understanding of the previous card (the Lovers) is still sketchy and hazy, and that Knowledge informs this Knowledge.

Having chosen the left hand path and realized the Goddess, passed through the gate, he has conquered the flesh and ascended to victory. As you noted he is now in control of which way he will now steer. This factor will be crucial in understanding the next few cards, specifically the balance card or what some refer to as Justice.


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My words posted above in red.

[abstrktion]

@Shin'Ar - Can you clarify your meaning of left hand and right hand paths? I'm a bit unsure of what you mean because traditionally it seems like the left hand path is "evil" and the right hand path is "good". Thanks!

[Shin'Ar]

The right hand path is the path that we first embark upon as young consciousnesses. When a consciousness first begins to incarnate in human form, they are very immature in understanding and ability to comprehend. Deep within they have this instinctive desire to know the Creator, but their consciousness is much too inexperienced to be able to understand the higher aspects of God.

They invariably become caught up on a path of traditional and cultural religion more often long established within their family history, or imposed upon them by the last conqueror or hierarchy. On this path their understanding and knowledge of God is taught to them according to the doctrines of particular religions. And they usually accept these doctrines without question because they are too immature of consciousness to bother discerning them. This is the path of conformity and obedience, where one follows the rules and laws without question of disruption. You are one of the 'good' sheep.

This is the Right Hand path.

As a person matures and their consciousness evolves through lifetimes of walking the right hand path, they slowly begin to speculate for themselves, and in that theorizing and consideration a seed of doubt begins to develop. And as that seed bursts forth so also does their curiosity and supposition. they begin to ask questions that their authorities cannot answer, and they begin to apply wisdom and logic to dogmas that seem to have many holes in them. Everything that they used to just accept blindly is now becoming blatant disrespect for a truth which seems to be glaring brightly before them and they feel drawn to it in a way they cannot deny. Even to the extent that they are willing to give up family and tradition to follow after it. You become one of the 'bad' sheep. rebellious and disrespectful of the rules.

This is the Left hand path.

And this is why the Left Hand path is often associated with evil. On this path one has become evil in the eyes of all of those religious authorities who must enforce and impose traditional law in order to maintain the control and the dominance of their flocks. However the true evil is nothing more than man;s inability to cast off the old ways and to seek after the Spirit instead.

It is not evil to choose to leave the right hand path except in the eyes of those who deliberate to keep one following that path.

This was manifested in the most cruel and nefarious way when the Romans conquered most of the civilized world and imposed their right hand path upon peoples who had practices paganism for thousands of years before that. Paganism was an extract from ancient teachings from the Far and Middle East which had long ago evolved from the right hand path, which many called the left hand path for that reason.

And for that reason the Romans made an effort to completely eradicate all traces of it. Now, which is truly the path of evil? That must be left to a discerning mind.

It is my opinion that the Tarot is an expression of the differences of the two paths because it is virtually the ascent of the consciousness from the one to the other om the journey from material to Spirit, from darkness into the Light. All of the codes and symbols are found in the correct Tarot expressions, and their correspondences to Light and dark, right and left hand are obvious to one who understands. If one knows, and look for these in the tarot, reading the signs becomes clear.

[abstrktion]

Thanks Shin'Ar--that was a great explanation--and very clear about the way that the left-hand path isn't the same at STS, etc.

So would you posit that these are the paths indicated by the Lovers? (rather than STS and STO)...and by all the legs pointing when they are crossed?** I think that makes a great deal more sense. It also explains the Matrix of Spirit as Ra expresses it--the way that the adept becomes separated from his fellows as he finds his own light. Have you read Plato's Allegory of the Cave? Speaks to the same idea.
**BTW, which side of the card is "left" or "right"--do we see left and right based upon our view or the character's view?

[Shin'Ar]

Thanks Shin'Ar--that was a great explanation--and very clear about the way that the left-hand path isn't the same at STS, etc.

So would you posit that these are the paths indicated by the Lovers? (rather than STS and STO)...and by all the legs pointing when they are crossed?** I think that makes a great deal more sense. It also explains the Matrix of Spirit as Ra expresses it--the way that the adept becomes separated from his fellows as he finds his own light. Have you read Plato's Allegory of the Cave? Speaks to the same idea.
**By the way, which side of the card is "left" or "right"--do we see left and right based upon our view or the character's view?

I decided rather than addressing one card and trying to make sense of a process by speaking on one small part of the whole, that I would start a new thread showing exactly why I look at it the way that I do and let others decide on its merit from a complete perspective. That thread is in this forum with JustLikeYou's approval.