Inherent Worthiness of the Body

[Plenum]

I'd like to offer some thoughts on Card 12 today, which is the Significator of the Body.



I, like others have also expressed, have experienced a certain level of dissociation from the physical, which has led to perhaps an overactivity on the mental level, which is perhaps an unbalanced state.

The physical is very much a part of who we are; and is the place where the mind is able to meet and greet others in a concrete way.  It is the means by which one is able to see the effects of our thoughts; and their true consequences.

so what does this Archetype have to offer in terms of understanding?

well, the figure has strung himself upside down (by choice).  His hands are also tied.

what can we take away from this?

well, the body is not what it seems to be, just like the mind is not what it seems to be.  Without further examination, the physical illusion of our reality is most convincing; without further analysis, everything seems most real.

And yet, through the pursuit of spirituality and metaphysics, there is a singular understanding which is conveyed.  Which is that the world in which we live in is just an Illusion, or a Phantasm of personal projections and preconceived attitudes.  We get the experiences that are attracted to us.

The body/physical is a means by which we can come to further examine the consequences of our thoughts.  Quite often, it is the final means by which karma/thoughtforms come to reveal themselves to us.

So the body can be examined; it can be strung up, put upside down, and be on display for ourselves and others.  It is a true mirror of where we are energetically.

The hands being bound show that the means of action are also not what they appear to be.  Rather than the hands making change, it is the energy which is funneled down through the entire physical complex (from the feet downwards, as depicted, which is how the kundalini rises, from the feet to the crown), to where the final effects are expressed through the hands.  It is not the hands which take action independently.  They are animated by everything that comes before, and are just the final outward expression of integrated action.

The right leg crossed to the left is something that I am not sure.

As is the head turned to the left, which is also something present in the Emperor card.

[sunnysideup]

I'd like to offer some thoughts on Card 12 today, which is the Significator of the Body.


I, like others have also expressed, have experienced a certain level of dissociation from the physical, which has led to perhaps an overactivity on the mental level, which is perhaps an unbalanced state.

The physical is very much a part of who we are; and is the place where the mind is able to meet and greet others in a concrete way.  It is the means by which one is able to see the effects of our thoughts; and their true consequences.

so what does this Archetype have to offer in terms of understanding?

well, the figure has strung himself upside down (by choice).  His hands are also tied.

what can we take away from this?

well, the body is not what it seems to be, just like the mind is not what it seems to be.  Without further examination, the physical illusion of our reality is most convincing; without further analysis, everything seems most real.

And yet, through the pursuit of spirituality and metaphysics, there is a singular understanding which is conveyed.  Which is that the world in which we live in is just an Illusion, or a Phantasm of personal projections and preconceived attitudes.  We get the experiences that are attracted to us.

The body/physical is a means by which we can come to further examine the consequences of our thoughts.  Quite often, it is the final means by which karma/thoughtforms come to reveal themselves to us.

So the body can be examined; it can be strung up, put upside down, and be on display for ourselves and others.  It is a true mirror of where we are energetically.

The hands being bound show that the means of action are also not what they appear to be.  Rather than the hands making change, it is the energy which is funneled down through the entire physical complex (from the feet downwards, as depicted, which is how the kundalini rises, from the feet to the crown), to where the final effects are expressed through the hands.  It is not the hands which take action independently.  They are animated by everything that comes before, and are just the final outward expression of integrated action.

The right leg crossed to the left is something that I am not sure.

As is the head turned to the left, which is also something present in the Emperor card.

Interesting insights, Plen. I especially like your interpretation on the body hanging upside down with the kundalini rising from feet to crown. I myself find card 12 a tough one to crack plus there's also very little to go on. However I noticed that it is his left leg that is tied up and his right leg is free to move, which made me think that perhaps the sts path is somehow tied up to a certain set of conditions. Also and this may very well be of no significance, but it seems to me that eventhough his hands are tied up, he would still be able to untie his leg if he so chooses.

[Jeremy]

What is he dropping? Or is he planting seeds of some sort? I'm also curious if the leg bent at a 90degree angle has purpose along with the cross shape he's creating with his leg being bent.

Also that constellation above his feet his interesting. I'll have to look that up as I've seen that pattern in the sky.

Edit: well now that I look at my brotherhood of the light deck, there are more stars compared to what is shown. I show two more stars with a similar pattern but a bit different so maybe is nothing.

Also in mine, those are definitely seeds so he's planting seeds of some sort. Seeds of the Mind maybe??

[sunnysideup]

Yeah I also interpret it as planting of seeds. Though to me it represents the offering of new experience to the matrix.

[JustLikeYou]

The hanged man is a Significator, which means that it represents the totality of one of the three complexes: body, mind or spirit. As such, it is a complete picture of "the very nature" of the body, as Ra says (79.37). In plain terms, the image you see tells you what the body's function is. As Ra says, "The entire mood, shall we say, of the Great Way is indeed dependent upon its notable difference from the Significator," (103.11), which suggests that whereas the Significator shows the function of the complex in question, the Great Way shows the complex perfected, the end result. That distinction is important to keep in mind when interpreting either classification.

In some decks the hanged man drops coins, while in others he drops seeds. If they are coins, then he is spending resources. To me, the expenditure of resources mirrors Ra's statement that "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," (94.26). The function of the body is to maintain an economy. Expenditure of resources is necessary for purchasing an experience. It is the body complex's job to be the direct interface with the physical reality, a marketplace where various experiences may be purchased by offering various resources.

I lean toward seeds because the concept of sacrifice and purchase is implied by the hanged man's position. The card is sometimes called "the Martyr." Embedded in the seed symbol is the full-grown tree that emerges from the seed, which indicates that our actions only appear to cause our experiences. In each action you take, there is a mental seed: each time you do something you are sowing your mind's intentions into the world. Plenum indicated something very similar with his analysis of the bound hands---an analysis I agree with, though I'll have to reflect a little more about the kundalini thing.


Jeremy, there are quotations which answer some of your curiosities.


About the 90 degree angle:

94.18
Questioner: In Card Three the feet of the female entity are upon the unstable platform, signifying dual polarity by its color. In Card Four one foot, pointed, indicates that if the male entity stands on the toe it would be carefully balanced. The other foot is pointed to the left. Would Ra comment on my observation that if the entity stands on this foot it will be very, very carefully balanced?

Ra: I am Ra. This is an important perception, for it is a key to not only this concept complex but to others as well. You may see the T-square which, at times riven as is one foot from secure fundament by the nature of experience yet still by this same nature of experience, is carefully, precisely, and architecturally placed in the foundation of this concept complex and, indeed, in the archetypical mind complex. Experience has the nature of more effectively and poignantly expressing the architecture of experience, both the fragility of structure and the surety of structure.

103.11
The use of the tau and the architect’s square is indeed intended to suggest the proximity of the space/time of the Great Way’s environment to time/space. We find this observation most perceptive.


About the stars:

96.15
[I]t is good to view the images without the astrological additions

[Jeremy]

Awesome thanks. I pretty much stopped reading the Ra material once they started on the tarot stuff as I never interested me so apologies that my curiosities were answered already

[Lighthead]

Interesting insights, Plen. I especially like your interpretation on the body hanging upside down with the kundalini rising from feet to crown. I myself find card 12 a tough one to crack plus there's also very little to go on. However I noticed that it is his left leg that is tied up and his right leg is free to move, which made me think that perhaps the sts path is somehow tied up to a certain set of conditions. Also and this may very well be of no significance, but it seems to me that eventhough his hands are tied up, he would still be able to untie his leg if he so chooses.

Legs and feet signify locomotion. So maybe it means that STS entities have only certain places where they are allowed to go? And perhaps this is something that they intuitively know. I don't know.

I also wonder if there is any significance to the fact that the face is angled towards the hanged man's right, but to the viewer's left. Could it mean that the naive physical entity perceives physical reality as negative whereas the core of physical actions are positive?

I also liked, Plenum, how what you said fits in nicely with physical reality ultimately being a choice.

[AnthroHeart]

If we mentally believe our body to be of infinite worth, than it becomes easier to channel intelligent infinity. It also makes life lots more fun.

[anagogy]

My interpretation of this card, as the significator of the body complex, is that the upside down figure represents the very nature of the physical world, and/or life in the body.  It is the opposite of mind -- the inversion of mind or time/space (space/time).  The hanging upside down perspective is completely inverted to the mind, offering a wholly new perspective on the universe at large, offering a reflection, in opposites, to the perspective of the mind.  

The left foot is tied to the supporting platform, which is indicative of the fact that life in the physical world is supported, naturally, by the left hand (or foot haha) perspective, which is predominantly an outer oriented perspective.  The body, by its very nature, is oriented toward the realm of its domain: the physical world, the tangible world, the sensual world.  The right foot, while free to move in either direction, is pointing to the left.  The basic reason why is that the nature of the body is such that the orientation will naturally lean toward the STS perspective, a more or less innocent orientation toward the "natural man" since the negative centers are the lower energy centers and are naturally oriented toward the negative of mind: matter.  The main domain of expression, and achievement, of the left hand path, is the physical world.  STS entities are predominantly oriented toward the development and aggrandizement in the physical outer world, and STO entities are predominantly oriented toward, or concerned with, the development and disciplines of the personality in the inner world, the world of consciousness. One tends to place value in material things, the other tends to place value in mental things.

Once again, we see the perspective of the figure looking to the left, which is yet another repetition of the natural perspective offered by the physical body.  The head is free to turn towards the right, but the natural tendency of life in the body is for the attention to be caught transfixed toward the outer/lower poles of experience. That is to say, toward material aggrandizement.  

The hands being tied is meant to represent or symbolize the fact that life in the body is bound to certain simple ranges of physical movement and expression.  Physical limitations are a fact of life in the body, and movement is more or less restricted to the parameters of the physical body one incarnates into.  But even in situation of stricture and limitation, the seeds of growth may be sewn, as is evidenced by the figure dropping plentiful seeds onto the ground below -- the physical fruits of his labors, which, with any luck, and in the course of time, will spring forth as bountiful trees of growth, and fruitful experiences.

[Shemaya]

All excellent interpretations.

The first time I saw a version of this card, I immediately thought of Christ and his Sacrifice.  I was prompted to write because Plenum spoke of the existential despair he experienced yesterday. Christ experienced that in a profound way in the garden, the night before he died.

I really connect with Christ energy through many lifetimes.  it is an energy of Sacrifice and leading others to freedom, out of oppression which is the second coming of Christ.  The Sacrifice as taught in dogma is not the true sacrifice, the true Sacrifice is in becoming seemingly  finite, human, impermanent.  It is a sacrifice of becoming veiled, to our true nature as Sparks of the Creator.  We lose our understanding of ourselves as perfect and whole. We enter into a world that has many expressions that are contrary to our true nature as loving, powerful, compassionate, Light-beings.  We believe we are unworthy of our true inheritance and birthright as children of the Creator.  That is the sacrifice. It is a sacrifice that we all make, as we are all sons and daughters of the Creator.

It is interesting to see the pillars with vines and fruit growing around them.  I used to have a recurring dream as a child, of Jesus in a throne with vines and flowers growing around the throne.  It was very much like a combination of Emperor/ Empress cards now that I reflect back. 

I like how you phrased it, Plenum, " spiritual gravity".   Surely we are living in times when the spiritual gravity is increasing.  It is a time to help others out of their oppression and lead them to freedom.