The Matrix of the Spirit

[Ohr Ein Sof]

The Matrix of the Spirit is also called “The Devil” in tarot.   In the Brotherhood of Light deck, the devil is depicted as the Egyptian deity Typhon, the spirit of the Adversary.  Typhon means insolence and pride and represents egotism and self-centeredness.   This archetype suggests the lesson as to how it happens that beings can forfeit their freedom and become slaves of a monstrous entity that makes them degenerate by rendering them similar to it.  

Its theme is one of the generations of negative thought forms and of the power that they have over those who generate them.  It is the Arcanum of the creation of artificial beings and of the slavery into which the creator can fall - becoming a slave of his own creation.

The ego is just such a thought form.  Grafted onto us during development as an infant, the Ego functions as a way to interact in mostly material existence.  Its purpose is as an interface, allowing you to function within this plane.  Its domain is the material and is concerned with physical survival.

In a perfect world, the veil between worlds is not as tightly shut, and the higher takes command over the lower and thus has command over the ego.  However, in our world, we are lost in the lower and our egos often have full command of us and often keep us enslaved. We become lost in the roles we play, in the masks we wear.

For some, this mask is all there is.  For others, the calling of Spirit penetrates through and beckons them forward.  

The self-centered desires of the ego, when followed, often result in destruction and enslavement.  You become what you focus on.  Those that focus on the lower, attract and become the lower.  Those that focus on the higher, attract and become the higher.  The difference can sometimes be subtle.  The lower feels desperate and urgent.  The higher feels more subtle.  One demands.  The other suggests.  This is how to tell the difference between the urgings of the lower and the subtle pull of the higher.

The more we follow the lower, the more we become enslaved by it.  The deeper the darkness becomes.  

Ra says, “The Matrix of the Spirit is what you may call the Night of the Soul or Primeval Darkness”.

This archetype can be seen as the difference between inspiration and counter inspiration.  

Every moment is a choice and the choice of what to be inspired by is critical to the development of the adept.  

To be inspired by that which is false demands the adept to immerse themselves in that which is false.  Likewise, for adepts to be inspired by that which is true requires the adept to see through falsity.  Just how it is easier to gain weight than to lose it, the starting position of everyone who comes through 3D reality at this time is darkness.  It requires constant vigilance, work, and applied wisdom to see through falsity.  Some, such as wanderers, have a better developed Spirit that can help them see through it easier than others.  But it requires work nonetheless to avoid the trappings of Typhon.  

Ra says,
“The adept, then, is working with the power of hidden things illuminated by that which can be false or true. To embrace falsity, to know it, to seek it, and to use it gives a power that is most great.”

While the darkness is deep in this matrix, the divine flash of lighting can break through and provide a glimpse and insight into a path out of the dark.

Surrounding Typhon and his slaves are fallen pillars.  In the Potentiator of the Mind, Isis is shown between two great pillars symbolizing the fact that Nature attains productivity by means of polarity.  The pillars represent two out of three pillars of the Tree of Life.  These are Strength and Wisdom with the third pillar being Harmony which is placed between them.  

Two pillars are also often represented archetypally as entrances to sacred places.  They represent an important gateway or passage toward the unknown.  

The destruction of the pillars by Typhon reinforces the image of this archetype being darkness by cutting off this gateway to the Spiritual.  Without the guiding influence of Spirit, chaos, destruction, and enslavement reign supreme, and those that attempt to serve the Ego eventually become enslaved by it.

Very nice what you have written here Dreams!!!! I agree. I had to look at the card/key you are using and I found it quite obvious that the creature we call "the Devil" or the adversary is making a gesture that it intends to swallow the light which is the burning torch.
The condition of mankind I find fits this well as materialism always swallows the light. The worship of anything in the material world will swallow the light.
This particular key has the Hebrew letter Ayin in the lower right corner that means "eye". Seeing life experience for what it truly is or it sees it incorrectly and in error thus creating a darkness which is called ignorance; ignorace that swallows up the light.
Also, to the lower left is the Hebrew letter Samekh that corresponds to Key 14, Temperance or the Holy Guardian Angel. And then the Roman numeral X which is 10; thus signifying Key 10 or the Wheel of Fortune (the Law of Rotation).
This may offer us clues that what we experience here in the material plane; all the atrocities and suffering is written in a universal law thus allowing for this process to take place so that mankind may go deep into his materialistic desires in order that eventually he may liberate himself and come full circle as the letter Samekh indicates. What temps us, liberates us eventually. And to me this Key indicates that what is bad is good as each of us will use the ignorance of the world to further polarize and eventually helping others when they are leaving the darkness of the material world.
The small entities at the feet of The Devil; combined, they make the gesture of the Magus. One figure points upward and the other points to the below. Signifying the conscious and subconscious mind are at play here. Possibly indicating that All is mind and all is generated by mind; who knows this better than the conscious entity that positions himself correctly? And he who has left the darkness but realizes that every experience created and everything around him he has created as all is mind; he begins to use the limitations of this material plane to further his work upon the material plane of existence.