The Experience of the Body

[Plenum]

the Enchantress card: the woman playing with her Lion

note: Ra calls this card 11, whereas the standard tarot lists this as card 8 and calls it a different name - "Strength"

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thanks so much for your above analysis and observations. It is very detailed and a fine breakdown of the visual elements of this card.

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I guess I can only offer my perspective on this archetype; which is not a direct response to yours.

I start with the Crowley depiction of this card:



as one can see, this is a much 'rawer' and 'visceral' depiction of this energy/archetype. The butt naked woman (female energy) is 'mounted' on the lion with many heads (male energy) and she has the reins and the control. What she is holding/grabbing in her right hand is up for question. Some think it is a uterus?? (reference) but I will call it as I see it, and say that it is a giant erect nipple (male bias).

inside the uterus/giant breast are snakes?? and beams of light. I don't know what the hell this is lol.

let us forgo the imagery (for the moment), and return to what Ra has given us.

* the Enchantress is the Experience of the Body
* "it produces further seed for growth"

let us back up a bit and note that the Enchantress is the card that follows the Wheel of Fortune (card 10). What the Wheel does is that it is the Catalyst of the Body - it places us in new and novel sitations (a chance meeting in an elevator, a chance to try new foods, new experiences) and then once this has happened, The Enchantress takes over. She takes the raw experience and then weaves it into a Story. We become 'entranced' by the next time we will have this experience, try to plan for it, 'load it' with meaning. It is, for lack of a better word 'Lust' brought into physical being.

the 'Lust' or 'Enchanting' is very much a Delusion; we become bound by the story and narrative; a narrative that only exists within our heads. We want this fantasy/experience to play out in the real world, ie the Body.

it is very much in line with the thinking that we are here to experience what we wanted to experience, and that the physical being/world is just a way of making this 'real'. As Ra says, nothing is to be overcome, but it is to be experienced and then accepted. And as we also know, one cannot snap out of Lust/Enchanting without either 'doing it for real' or penetrating the nature of the delusion (the less painful way). There is no 'error' in following through on your Lust; it is just that is has more real-life consequences for other people. If one can resolve the Lust/Enchanting through an archetypal balancing of energies in your mind, then there is more efficiency with that route.

And once the Lust/Enchanting is satisfied/experienced, one steps onto the Hanged Man, which takes the lessons of the Body further.

peace all