Interrelationships of the Great Ways

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“The Great Way of the Mind, the Body, or the Spirit draws the environment which has been the new architecture caused by the veiling process and, thusly, dipped in the great, limitless current of time/space.” This supports the idea that the patterning offered by The Great Ways is the understanding of the relations and totality of the other archetypes; it offers the structures for dealing with the options available to a self-willed, seemingly separate entity, providing the largest number of archetypal patterns offered by Logoi thus far. However, a separate analysis could be made regarding the word “draws”—does Ra mean “pulls into itself,” “outlines,” or “pulls along” (like a wagon)? I like the idea of it meaning “pulls to itself” even though the idea of “pulls along” might be suggested by the title of the traditional tarot card. For me, this “pulls to itself” suggests an orbit.

RA asserts strongly that The Great Way of the Mind is not the final point in a progression: RA states, “we may suggest that the student look at the Great Way of the Mind, not as that which is attained after contact with intelligent infinity, but rather as that portion of the archetypal mind which denotes and configures the particular framework within which the Mind, the Body, or the Spirit archetypes move.” Thus we see that “The Great Way” denotes something more akin to a “road,” maybe even a “roundabout” than a destination. RA even takes the trouble of stating this a second time in different words: “We ask that the student consider the Great Way not as the culmination of a series of seven activities or functions but as a far more clearly delineated image of the environment within which the mind, body, or spirit shall function.”

So The Great Way of the Mind is an environment. That makes it a static archetype, a form in which the other archetypes “move”—the archetypes being like cars in a roundabout, or even like planets orbiting a sun, or moons/satellites orbiting a planet.

“The Great Way of the Body must be seen, as are all the archetypes of the body, to be a mirror image of the thrust of the activity of the mind. The body is the creature of the mind and is the instrument of manifestation for the fruits of mind and spirit. Therefore, you may see the body as providing the athanor [or furnace] through which the Alchemist manifests gold.” Here again, we see that the Great Way isn’t the end of a progression.

In this case, we must look at the characteristics of the athanor: it provides the conditions under which the agent manifests. It is also interesting that Ra clarifies that The Great Way isn’t the Alchemist himself, as the traditional tarot title might imply. Instead, The Great Way of the Body is the tool of the Alchemist. It isn’t even that which is transformed, but rather the conditions and environment in which the transformation takes place. This is interesting as it implies that it is not the body that undergoes transformation, but rather, it is that which the body houses that transforms—the Spirit. If we continue to work analogically, the agent, that is the Alchemist, is really Mind—or Potentiated Consciousness--or Will...

So now we have the idea that The Great Way of the Body is the patterning that suggests how we should understand and interpret “the body”—as an environment that gives rise to the circumstances under which manifestation of spiritual/transformative growth might occur.
Summing it up thus far, if The Great Way of the Mind is the environment of the journey, where we encounter all the archetypal resonances, The Great Way of the Body is the environment that generates manifestation.
So that leaves The Great Way of the Spirit. All Ra gives us on this archetypal patterning is that it “represents contact with intelligent infinity” and that such contact would result in “unspeakable joy.”
If we were to follow the paradigm set by the other Great Ways, then somehow, The Great Way of the Spirit should be an environment—but what kind? What lives there? How does it function? What is its relation to the other Great Ways?

If the archetypes in total “move” in The Great Way of the Mind, then The Great Way of the Spirit orbits/moves/functions within it as well (interesting…orbiting within something instead of around it…). Drawing from this idea, it could be that the other archetypes of each category exhibit a similar behavior with regard to the other Great Ways, all within The Great Way of the Mind. Indeed, if The Great Way of the Body is the patterning that informs us of how to use the circumstances of Life to achieve transformation of the Spirit, then truly, it does sound like all the archetypes of the body are within it.

So then, it is reasonable to posit that The Great Way of the Spirit houses the other archetypes of spirit, in some way suggesting to the entity that comes into resonance with them the ways in which they may be used together, and when they have been used, and the Spirit transforms in such a way that it can contact intelligent infinity, unspeakable joy, that is, union with God, is the result.

In sum, I chose “Space” as the title for The Great Way of Mind because all moves within it. I chose “Union” as the title for the Great Way of the Spirit because even within the illusion of separation, we exist in Oneness. I chose “Time” as the title for The Great Way of the Body because it is one of the most significant conditioning circumstances of the manifested Life; it is an “active” or “force” archetype, pushing in on the Significator.

JustLikeYou’s precisely sums up the relation of The Great Way to the Significator: “Whereas the Significator depicts the complex, the Great Way depicts the entire cycle which brings the Significator experience. Thus one may think of the cycle and the Great Way as being analogous to the mathematical set (cycle) that contains itself. So the Significator can be viewed as the Complex without any vision of the process of evolution occurring, whereas the Great Way depicts the Complex within the context of the process of evolution.”

This is as far as I've gotten in thinking about the cycle of spirit--if anyone could comment on my ideas so I can see better the inconsistencies, let me know. Please understand; however, that my goal isn't to build up images, but to get down to the basics. I'm trying for the most simple, primitive, aspect of each archetypal pattern--that's what I eventually want to paint.

RA says, " You may well consider the very informative difference between a thing in itself and its relationships or functions. There is much study of archetype which is actually the study of functions, relationships, and correspondences...however, the archetypes are, first and most profoundly, things in themselves and the pondering of them and their purest relationships with each other should be the most useful foundation for the study of the archtypical mind."