The Hierophant: Significator of the Mind

[Jade]

Q'uo: For it is the Significator that is the actor upon the stage of creation that is able to become more than it is because of the efforts of those qualities known as Matrix and Potentiator.

Here we have come upon the Hierophant, the Significator. Above him soar the wings of manifestation, leading him onward through the cycles of potentiation/catalyst/experience/transformation.



The Significator is that which is complex, and therefore that which is not. Being fractured into sub-sub-Logoi, that which we are not, allows us to experience the "dynamic tension" of "Creator vs. Creator". This allows experience to create and recreate by its very nature. That which we are not is also symbolized by the confusing polarity on the card - the white hatted imp sits on the Hierophant's left right side, and the dark-hat sits on the left. This shows that "negative" experience often feeds polarization of the positive path, and "positive" experience feeds polarization on the negative path - for instance, one who struggles with money can learn many lessons of empathy and seeking that which is not material, and one who never struggles with money will take that experience as one that supports them as having unending resources to plunder.

The polarity in the card is represented by the hand gestures, as Ra says here:

Ra: You may note that the hands of the central image indicate the appropriate bias for right- and left-hand working; that is, the right hand gestures in service to others, offering its light outward. The left hand attempts to absorb the power of the spirit and point it for its use alone.

The Significator is the one who chooses to act, to know, to seek. Here the Significator of the Mind is shown on a stage, and even, within a box. This is the complex actor who decides the nuance of how to tell the story that it is performing in. Ra says due to imperfect memory and imperfect usage of catalyst, the Significator itself is not the most "efficient" use of the cycle, as you can see in comparing it to the symbols on the Great Way.

The Hierophant is not only upon the stage, but dependent upon the stage (the body complex, in micro/macrocosm) for its experience.

Ra: I am Ra. O student, you have grasped the barest essence of the nature of the Significator’s complete envelopment within the rectangle. Consider for the self, O student, whether your thoughts can walk. The abilities of the most finely honed mentality shall not be known without the use of the physical vehicle which you call the body. Through the mouth the mind may speak. Through the limbs the mind may effect action.

There are 8 black and white cartouches surrounded by a black and white checkerboard (more boxes within boxes). This has to do with the octave and specifically, the many octaves and sub-octaves of experience.

97.17 Questioner: The eight cartouches at the bottom would possibly signify the energy centers and the evolution through those centers… possibility for either the positive or negative polarization because of the white and black coloration of the figures. Would Ra comment on that after making the instrument cough?

Ra: [Cough.] I am Ra. The observations of the student are perceptive. It is informative to continue the study of octaves in association with this concept complex. Many are the octaves of a mind/body/spirit complex’s beingness. There is not one that does not profit from being pondered in connection with the considerations of the nature of the development of polarity exemplified by the concept complex of your Card Number Five.

Ra says the cartouches roughly translate to "And you shall be born again to eternal life." It is a riddle of the octave. There is no death or dissloution, just harvest into the next octave, ad infinitum. The Significator exists throughout.

The Significator holds our "current" beliefs and biases, represented by the box he is protecting. These beliefs and biases come from this incarnation and beyond - more and more from other incarnations as the veil is lifted. This is a microcosm of "And you shall be born again to eternal life" - with each incarnation, that which is the Significator becomes greater in culminated experience. It is this conscious use of catalyst made into stored experiential biases that the creator desires, thereby ascending the octaves. Gradually, the Significator turns from that which it is not (separated) into that which it is (unified, The Great Way). Or, for the other path, to potentiate that which it is not into its furthest separation.

The wings signify the "covenant with the spirit" - that through all this acting and performing, the spirit is what is high above the stage and drawing the actor onward through each scene change. It is always there. It is always nearby, no matter what role you are playing. All experience upon the stage is blessed, which was foreshadowed by the sun in the Catalyst of the Mind, waiting to protect and shine over those who consciously use catalyst and turn it into experience.

Ra: The Significator owns a covenant with the spirit which it shall in some cases manifest through the thought and action of the adept. If there is protection in a promise, then you have chosen the correct sound vibration, for the outstretched wings of spirit, high above manifestation, yet draw the caged mind onward.

The Significator will continue to be led to transformation, it is just whether or not you will use this process consciously to accelerate along your path.

[ricdaw]

"Ra says the cartouches roughly translate to "And you shall be born again to eternal life."

This too. A cartouche is "an oval or oblong enclosing a group of Egyptian hieroglyphs, typically representing the name and title of a monarch." Essentially, they are name plates. The Hierophant has many of these cartouches, signifying many names. The figure stands atop them. So one could also think of the image as saying that the Hierophant is the sum of many PAST lives. It is the current expression of a multitude of past lives and experiences. This is no naïve entity, but an experienced one.