I read through the entirety of this insightful topic/thread waiting for someone to describe the Choice as the culminating choice, rather than the choice of STS v STO. But no one did. So let me throw it out there just in case someone else finds it interesting or useful.
I think the Fool is both card 0 and card 22. As card 0, the Fool is the leap of faith of the soul that decides to incarnate in the Earth Life School (ELS). Ra did not describe the origin of souls. But if souls come from outside our solar system, they are probably attracted to the ELS and they may want to explore its “classes.” But this exploration comes with a price. The ELS is intensive. There will be lots of incarnations to achieve the lessons because our lifetimes are so short now. And, once you are in the ELS, you’re probably committed to several thousand years (25,000) before you might be able to graduate out. (Acknowledging that some special people can self-graduate early.) The Fool card then is the state of the traveling soul who decides to drop down here into the ELS. It’s like walking off a cliff.
For the Wanderer, this excursion is particularly fraught with peril (alligator). Because there is the Forgetting. Wanderers have already graduated from this level of education, and to go back down might mean a whole new round of karmic entanglement with the ELS inhabitants. For another 25,000 years! So the Choice to enter the ELS is a great big deal.
In a smaller way, each incarnation recapitulates this card all over again. You’ve lived your life. You die. In heaven you work on the next life, do some planning, make arrangements psychologically with your new parents, and then you jump back down all over again! Geronimo! The Forgetting applies every time you incarnate. You really have no idea if you will come out of the next life better than you went in. So the Fool card is accessed at the beginning of each lifetime.
Now, card 22 is the CHOICE. But, I posit, not the choice between STO and STS (that is implied) but the choice to GRADUATE. That eclipse on the card is a rare celestial event. Harvest is a rare celestial event. So perhaps that eclipse is also representational/symbolic of harvest? The Fool walks under the sun/moon eclipse of harvest.
So what is the CHOICE? Move forward to the end of your life. You’re in heaven now standing on those stairs of light. You can tell by where you are standing that you have properly polarized and can graduate to 4d Earth. But you look down the stairs and see thousands, millions, maybe billions of your fellow humans who are not ready for graduation. They stand on the lowers steps. And here is the essence of the CHOICE. You might have spent the last 25,000 years with these people. They are every friend you’ve ever known. Every family member. Every lover. But they aren’t coming with you to 4d Earth. They will be repeating 3d. Do you still choose to graduate? This is the CHOICE.
Ra didn’t appreciate the CHOICE when they were in 3d, “The one great breakthrough which was made after our work in third density was done was the proper emphasis given to the Arcanum Number Twenty-Two which we have called The Choice. In our own experience we were aware that such an unifying archetype existed but did not give that archetype the proper complex of concepts in order to most efficaciously use that archetype in order to promote our evolution.” Why? Because their whole planet graduated together. There was no practical choice to be made. They were ready to graduate and they did. There was no reason to stay. But in a mixed harvest environment (Earth) especially if the bulk of the population is not harvestable at all, the dynamics are far different. We have a different CHOICE.
The last harvest, if I recall, had no actual graduates. There were a few harvestable people, but they made the CHOICE to stay and not to graduate to 4d. And can you imagine a different result? These people were positively polarized STO. Everyone they knew and loved was staying. It is a fundamental act of STO to choose to stay to help these otherselves. (And, weirdly, implicit in the decision to choose to graduate is a huge element of STS. The graduate who walks up the steps of light must turn his/her back on all those he/she leaves behind to advance themselves into the next density. Think about that paradox. This is why the energy and CHOICE of Archetype 22 is so powerful.)
Pretend now that you are the only one of all the people you know who will be harvestable. Assume that once you have transitioned into time/space after death, you remember all the hundreds of lives you have spent with all these same people. They are precious to you. What are you going to do? Will you walk those steps and graduate without them? This is the CHOICE.
For the STS person who can graduate, the dynamics are similar. Such a person has been a dictator or billionaire or someone who gets their way. Maybe they have had many lifetimes of wealth/power/control. And now they are standing on the stairs of light. Unlike the STO person, I doubt such a person cares about all the others who are not able to graduate standing on the lower steps. But, the STS person might be thinking really hard about the consequences of graduation. They are already able to be a big fish in the small pond of 3d Earth, do they really want to graduate to a world where they are a novice/new-arrival to the 4d world where everyone else is just as accomplished in power politics as they are? Or, might such a person be inclined to pass on graduation and to stay in 3d where he/she can have another round of wealth/power/control among the non-polarized masses? Is it better to be the big fish on a small pond, or a small fish in a big pond?
The CHOICE is the culmination of all the ELS lifetimes. Whatever soul work we do through our many Earthly lifetimes, the kind of stuff that can only be done in a 3d environment, that kind of work is done when you graduate. When you get to 4d, the lessons are different and there is no longer an opportunity to do 3d-level work/improvement. You leave everything of the 3d environment behind. (Note the Fool has a tiny knapsack.)
If I polarize enough to graduate, if (as I strongly suspect) the vast majority of my friends and family will not be polarized enough to graduate, and if I know that means a possible 25,000 year separation as they recycle through another 3d world, I’m not sure if I want to graduate. OMG! This is the CHOICE. It is a CHOICE that may result in a heart wrenching goodbye to all familiar experience. It is a potentially 25,000 year goodbye to everyone you have ever known and loved. What will you do if this scenario applies to you too?
If you choose to graduate, if you make that CHOICE, you will find yourself at the exit from the 3D ELS, stepping out in complete faith into 4d just like the Fool card depicts. It’s you (foolish once more) falling into a totally new environment. The Fool, stepping off the cliff. Again.
I know that the other 5 pages of posts talked about the Choice being STO v STS, but while the Fool card evokes the polarities too, so do most of the other cards. I personally see the choice everyone else was talking about, the choice between STS and STO, in the Lovers card, and also in the Moon (there is no middle ground between those two blocking pyramids; you have to enter one of those pyramids in order to get to the other side). The Fool card is the EXIT choice. It is the decision to GRADUATE choice. It is the second spiritually meaningful choice (the first being the choice between STO or STS) and it only comes to people who made the prerequisite STS/STO choice long before (otherwise you would not be harvestable at all).
So, to recap. The Fool (card 0) is the initial choice to commit to a possible 25,000 years in the Earth Life School. For Wanderers it is a commitment to one lifetime, but with the Forgetting, it is a choice with the risk of having to repeat another 25,000 year cycle if the Wanderer gets entangled in earthly karma/people/events.
The Fool is also (card 22) the CHOICE TO GRADUATE from the ELS. It is the culminating choice. Harvest/graduation is voluntary. For a mixed harvest world like ours, one where most people are not harvestable at all, the CHOICE might be a heart-wrenching decision. This is the energy of the card: if offered the opportunity to graduate, will you still go if you must leave all your loved ones behind?
I think the Fool is both card 0 and card 22. As card 0, the Fool is the leap of faith of the soul that decides to incarnate in the Earth Life School (ELS). Ra did not describe the origin of souls. But if souls come from outside our solar system, they are probably attracted to the ELS and they may want to explore its “classes.” But this exploration comes with a price. The ELS is intensive. There will be lots of incarnations to achieve the lessons because our lifetimes are so short now. And, once you are in the ELS, you’re probably committed to several thousand years (25,000) before you might be able to graduate out. (Acknowledging that some special people can self-graduate early.) The Fool card then is the state of the traveling soul who decides to drop down here into the ELS. It’s like walking off a cliff.
For the Wanderer, this excursion is particularly fraught with peril (alligator). Because there is the Forgetting. Wanderers have already graduated from this level of education, and to go back down might mean a whole new round of karmic entanglement with the ELS inhabitants. For another 25,000 years! So the Choice to enter the ELS is a great big deal.
In a smaller way, each incarnation recapitulates this card all over again. You’ve lived your life. You die. In heaven you work on the next life, do some planning, make arrangements psychologically with your new parents, and then you jump back down all over again! Geronimo! The Forgetting applies every time you incarnate. You really have no idea if you will come out of the next life better than you went in. So the Fool card is accessed at the beginning of each lifetime.
Now, card 22 is the CHOICE. But, I posit, not the choice between STO and STS (that is implied) but the choice to GRADUATE. That eclipse on the card is a rare celestial event. Harvest is a rare celestial event. So perhaps that eclipse is also representational/symbolic of harvest? The Fool walks under the sun/moon eclipse of harvest.
So what is the CHOICE? Move forward to the end of your life. You’re in heaven now standing on those stairs of light. You can tell by where you are standing that you have properly polarized and can graduate to 4d Earth. But you look down the stairs and see thousands, millions, maybe billions of your fellow humans who are not ready for graduation. They stand on the lowers steps. And here is the essence of the CHOICE. You might have spent the last 25,000 years with these people. They are every friend you’ve ever known. Every family member. Every lover. But they aren’t coming with you to 4d Earth. They will be repeating 3d. Do you still choose to graduate? This is the CHOICE.
Ra didn’t appreciate the CHOICE when they were in 3d, “The one great breakthrough which was made after our work in third density was done was the proper emphasis given to the Arcanum Number Twenty-Two which we have called The Choice. In our own experience we were aware that such an unifying archetype existed but did not give that archetype the proper complex of concepts in order to most efficaciously use that archetype in order to promote our evolution.” Why? Because their whole planet graduated together. There was no practical choice to be made. They were ready to graduate and they did. There was no reason to stay. But in a mixed harvest environment (Earth) especially if the bulk of the population is not harvestable at all, the dynamics are far different. We have a different CHOICE.
The last harvest, if I recall, had no actual graduates. There were a few harvestable people, but they made the CHOICE to stay and not to graduate to 4d. And can you imagine a different result? These people were positively polarized STO. Everyone they knew and loved was staying. It is a fundamental act of STO to choose to stay to help these otherselves. (And, weirdly, implicit in the decision to choose to graduate is a huge element of STS. The graduate who walks up the steps of light must turn his/her back on all those he/she leaves behind to advance themselves into the next density. Think about that paradox. This is why the energy and CHOICE of Archetype 22 is so powerful.)
Pretend now that you are the only one of all the people you know who will be harvestable. Assume that once you have transitioned into time/space after death, you remember all the hundreds of lives you have spent with all these same people. They are precious to you. What are you going to do? Will you walk those steps and graduate without them? This is the CHOICE.
For the STS person who can graduate, the dynamics are similar. Such a person has been a dictator or billionaire or someone who gets their way. Maybe they have had many lifetimes of wealth/power/control. And now they are standing on the stairs of light. Unlike the STO person, I doubt such a person cares about all the others who are not able to graduate standing on the lower steps. But, the STS person might be thinking really hard about the consequences of graduation. They are already able to be a big fish in the small pond of 3d Earth, do they really want to graduate to a world where they are a novice/new-arrival to the 4d world where everyone else is just as accomplished in power politics as they are? Or, might such a person be inclined to pass on graduation and to stay in 3d where he/she can have another round of wealth/power/control among the non-polarized masses? Is it better to be the big fish on a small pond, or a small fish in a big pond?
The CHOICE is the culmination of all the ELS lifetimes. Whatever soul work we do through our many Earthly lifetimes, the kind of stuff that can only be done in a 3d environment, that kind of work is done when you graduate. When you get to 4d, the lessons are different and there is no longer an opportunity to do 3d-level work/improvement. You leave everything of the 3d environment behind. (Note the Fool has a tiny knapsack.)
If I polarize enough to graduate, if (as I strongly suspect) the vast majority of my friends and family will not be polarized enough to graduate, and if I know that means a possible 25,000 year separation as they recycle through another 3d world, I’m not sure if I want to graduate. OMG! This is the CHOICE. It is a CHOICE that may result in a heart wrenching goodbye to all familiar experience. It is a potentially 25,000 year goodbye to everyone you have ever known and loved. What will you do if this scenario applies to you too?
If you choose to graduate, if you make that CHOICE, you will find yourself at the exit from the 3D ELS, stepping out in complete faith into 4d just like the Fool card depicts. It’s you (foolish once more) falling into a totally new environment. The Fool, stepping off the cliff. Again.
I know that the other 5 pages of posts talked about the Choice being STO v STS, but while the Fool card evokes the polarities too, so do most of the other cards. I personally see the choice everyone else was talking about, the choice between STS and STO, in the Lovers card, and also in the Moon (there is no middle ground between those two blocking pyramids; you have to enter one of those pyramids in order to get to the other side). The Fool card is the EXIT choice. It is the decision to GRADUATE choice. It is the second spiritually meaningful choice (the first being the choice between STO or STS) and it only comes to people who made the prerequisite STS/STO choice long before (otherwise you would not be harvestable at all).
So, to recap. The Fool (card 0) is the initial choice to commit to a possible 25,000 years in the Earth Life School. For Wanderers it is a commitment to one lifetime, but with the Forgetting, it is a choice with the risk of having to repeat another 25,000 year cycle if the Wanderer gets entangled in earthly karma/people/events.
The Fool is also (card 22) the CHOICE TO GRADUATE from the ELS. It is the culminating choice. Harvest/graduation is voluntary. For a mixed harvest world like ours, one where most people are not harvestable at all, the CHOICE might be a heart-wrenching decision. This is the energy of the card: if offered the opportunity to graduate, will you still go if you must leave all your loved ones behind?
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