STO and STS in the Significator of the Spirit

[ricdaw]

If card 19 is the Oversoul, it implies that your higher self has sub-selves from both polarities. (Because that's in the picture.)

Can you explain this? I don't see any imagery that explicitly suggests STO and STS in this card, though on a implicit level the male/female polarity contains in microcosm all other polarities.

There are various drawings of this card, so what I describe may not appear in them all. (And there is no Ra to ask which parts of the picture should be ignored.)

The male figure is holding a flower in his right hand, which is a clue to me that this figure is not another representation of the Magician (consciousness) but is supposed to be an actual person. Only a person can interact with the physical environment. (The poor Magician in card 1 can do no more than point.)

The famale character is also interacting with the environment. In some renderings she is holding wilted flowers. In others she is dropping dust onto the bare ground.

So, these two figures are people.

The female's dress is highly stylized. In the card I was first introduced to, her dress was made of a repeating pattern. When you looked closely, they were eyeballs. Eyeballs absorb light. That eyeball pattern is more stylized in some renderings. In others, the pattern is scrubbed completely and she is all white (a huge disservice to the student!)

The male's flower in some renderings is pointing at the male, it is not a flower that stands perfectly upright.

Both figures stand in a field with flowers, this is another clue that they are real people standing in the real world, and not recapitulations of the Conscious and Unconscious. In some renderings, the female figure casts a shadow (again indicating interaction with the environment and absorption) while the male figure does not.

So, if my first assumption is correct, that the interaction of the figures with the world makes them people, then what are we looking at?

The male figure is white, reflecting the light. Given the way the flower he holds is pointing at him, he is likely generating light. This is the characteristic of the STO path fully polarized.

The famale figure holds wilted flower which she has plucked (taken) from the ground (all things in service to her). The life energy has been drained from the flowers, a sign of her actually absorbing energy from the matter around her. In other depictions, she is dropping dust from her hand to the ground (she offers no nurture or sustenance to anyone or to any thing "other" than her, only dust.) So I view this as a picture of a fully polarized STS person.

The "significance" of spirit (for us) is to polarize. Ra really drills that into us through the text, but this is really the only card which shows explicitly the outcome of that choice. The "significance" of spirit for us humans is to become one of these two figures. The hints and clues in all the others cards about polarity are finally expressed here. This is the "significance" of them.

The Sun above is (as I've mentioned previously) significant in that it shines equally on both figures. If God favored one path more than the other, I imagine there would be clouds blocking the female's side of the sun, or an eclipse. But that is not so. That is a significant idea!

Modern tarot decks utterly shred out the fundamental meaning of the card. Evil is lost entirely from Rider-Waite. While all the flowers in that deck point at the sun, save one which points at the white baby on a horse. (I don't even try to decode the meaning of that imagery!) Christians probably reject the concept that the STS path is as highly regarded by God as is the STO path. And that's why modern decks scrub out the explicit message of the Sun card that the STS path is also in God's grace, IMHO.

So in this card we learn two fundamental "significant" spiritual things: (1) a person's spirit polarizes in two ways so that he/she "shines" or "absorbs." (2) Our creator is neutral on that choice and shines light equally to persons on both paths.

[Stranger]

The Sun above is (as I've mentioned previously) significant in that it shines equally on both figures. If God favored one path more than the other, I imagine there would be clouds blocking the female's side of the sun, or an eclipse. But that is not so. That is a significant idea!

Christians probably reject the concept that the STS path is as highly regarded by God as is the STO path. And that's why modern decks scrub out the explicit message of the Sun card that the STS path is also in God's grace, IMHO.

So in this card we learn two fundamental "significant" spiritual things: (1) a person's spirit polarizes in two ways so that he/she "shines" or "absorbs." (2) Our creator is neutral on that choice and shines light equally to persons on both paths.

ricdaw, I believe you are overstating the Creator's "high regard" for the STS path. The Creator invented the STS path, to be sure, and ultimately the STS entity is the Creator, wearing a mask. Behind the mask, the Creator eternally remains unified and whole, and so of course loves all of Himself, however his light manifests in the illusion.

However, the ultimate destiny of the octave is reunification, where the apparently individualized portions of the Creator "come home" into the oneness and love that are not at all part of the illusion, but are in fact the underlying reality. The STS path is meant to be a temporary negation of that fundamental truth, designed to offer catalyst for the benefit of a fuller flowering of the varieties of existence and experience, rather than being the goal in itself.

As such, STS is limited in 1) number (much fewer than STO), 2) duration (only until 6th density) and 3) capability - for instance, being unable to say "that is the truth" without losing polarity. There are probably other limitations of STO we have not yet discovered, as that is part of the game, but think about that last one - what a beautiful statement this makes about our Logos (who, Ra tells us, has a bias toward kindness!) to have limited STS to being unable to say "that is the truth" without losing polarity!

When I asked about why that should be the case, I was told that STS is meant to be like the spice in a dish - a little bit gives it flavor, but you don't want to let it run amok and spoil the dish!

So, yes, the Creator loves both STS and STO entities, because the Creator is love, and dwells in love, and all are the One Consciousness behind their STO or STS mask of apparent individuality. But STS is inherently designed as a temporary and intentionally limited perversion of the One Reality. Loving all is not the same as favoring all!

[zvonimir]

reedited img to big ...

[ricdaw]

The Creator invented the STS path, to be sure, and ultimately the STS entity is the Creator, wearing a mask.

As such, STS is limited in 1) number (much fewer than STO), 2) duration (only until 6th density) and 3) capability - for instance, being unable to say "that is the truth" without losing polarity. There are probably other limitations of STO we have not yet discovered, as that is part of the game, but think about that last one - what a beautiful statement this makes about our Logos (who, Ra tells us, has a bias toward kindness!) to have limited STS to being unable to say "that is the truth" without losing polarity!

When I asked about why that should be the case, I was told that STS is meant to be like the spice in a dish - a little bit gives it flavor, but you don't want to let it run amok and spoil the dish!

Asked who?

ricdaw, I believe you are overstating the Creator's "high regard" for the STS path.

What part of the tarot card image conveys the message that the Creator does not hold the STS path in high regard?

[Stranger]

When I asked about why that should be the case, I was told that STS is meant to be like the spice in a dish - a little bit gives it flavor, but you don't want to let it run amok and spoil the dish!

Asked who?

I asked the Logos. Speaking to Him is no different than speaking to Hatonn or Quo.
However, whatever the source may be, the information stands on its own, and either resonates or doesn't. I share it freely for anyone who may find a different perspective beneficial.

ricdaw, I believe you are overstating the Creator's "high regard" for the STS path.

What part of the tarot card image conveys the message that the Creator does not hold the STS path in high regard?

I do not believe I have alluded to the Tarot anywhere in my post.

[Plenum]

The "significance" of spirit (for us) is to polarize. Ra really drills that into us through the text, but this is really the only card which shows explicitly the outcome of that choice. The "significance" of spirit for us humans is to become one of these two figures. The hints and clues in all the others cards about polarity are finally expressed here. This is the "significance" of them.

yes, there are a few Ra quotes which support this:

the two polarities as either being radiant or absorbent:

Another method of viewing polarities might involve the concept of radiation/absorption. That which is positive is radiant; that which is negative is absorbent.

the spirit archetypes as having a heavy dose of 'light' in the chosen namings - Lightning, Star, Moon, Sun, Cosmos.

The Significator of the Spirit is that living entity which either radiates or absorbs the love and the light of the One Infinite Creator, radiates it to others or absorbs it for the self.

- -

for reference:

[ricdaw]

the spirit archetypes as having a heavy dose of 'light' in the chosen namings - Lightning, Star, Moon, Sun, Cosmos.

And have you noticed how the 'light' progresses across the seven cards? Near total darkness in the Devil card, a flash of light in the darkness in the Tower. A bit more light through the Star. Then more light in the Moon. A whole buncha light with the Sun. Then there is the radience of the Heavens in Judgment and, finally, the All-Light of Cosmos.