The Darkness and the Illumination

[Plenum]

I'd thought I'd look at another pairing of cards today.  These would be the Matrix and the Potentiator of the Spirit, or cards 15 and 16.



their names can be seen as the 'Devil' and the 'Lightning'.

In my own terms, I would call them (as a pairing) as the "Darkness" and the "Illumination".  They work in conjunct.

Now, when we are talking about cards 15-21, we are talking about the spirit archetypes.  All the archetypes exist as a portion of the deep mind, so they are things in consciousness, even though we are referencing the qualities and aspects of the spirit when we talk about archetypes 15-21.

At the end of the day, it is only pure consciousness which exists; and that consciousness is able to 'think thoughts' using the interface of the mind that is available in that particular density.  That mind, in turn, then interfaces with the the body complex, and the spirit complex available to it.  When we are talking about the Body Archetypes and the Spirit Archetypes, we are talking about the mind's way of relating to these two other core complexes.

The spirit complex is something that is not activated in a 2d entity.  It is present, but dormant.  The activity/learning of a 2d entity is to gain self-awareness of itself as an individuated entity; or, to put it in other words, to become a personality within a social context.  That is, the graduation from 2d to 3d for an animal/pet is to have the yellow-ray function brought into beingness - graduation is about becoming an individuated personality.  One can only become a 3d entity through some action of becoming different ("self aware") from the group consciousness of the 2d species.  Some animals think and behave almost identically (think bees and ants), and some, like cats and dogs have a much greater sense of 'different personalities'.  It is that individuation and self-awareness that enables it to graduate.

So the spirit complex is not active in a 2d entity.  It is active for a 3d entity.

For this spirit complex to start to express itself, a process of further-individuation is required.  As an analogue of the 2d entity becoming self-aware and becoming a personality, a 3d entity has to be able to choose one of the two paths to further that process of individuation.

It is not enough for 3d experience to be a personality within a society (yellow ray).  The activity of choosing a path of polarity is the action of 3d, and is what triggers the development of the spirit complex.  The Spirit Complex is any activity from green ray and upwards.  Spiritual activity does not apply to the first 3 energy centres.

"The next foundation ray is yellow. This is the great stepping stone ray. At this ray the mind/body potentiates to its fullest balance."

Now, back to the archetypes above.  The Matrix (or Devil card) is that quality or thing which is the baseline for that spiritual activity.  It is the starting point.

Initially, this is 'Darkness', or an absence.  There is no light.  There is no motive force.  For the self to begin motion within the spirit complex, there has to be a powerful directed will to seek and to know things beyond the physical.  There is a recognition of things beyond the body, and beyond the mind.  Those things are variously and nebulously classified as "spiritual things".  In this darkness, the seeker is born:

80.10 Questioner: Now, the fifteenth archetype, which is the Matrix of the Spirit, has been called the Devil. Can you tell me why that is so?

Ra: I am Ra. We do not wish to be facile in such a central query, but we may note that the nature of the spirit is so infinitely subtle that the fructifying influence of light upon the great darkness of the spirit is very often not as apparent as the darkness itself.

and

"It is also to be noted that an adept is one which has freed itself more and more from the constraints of the thoughts, opinions, and bonds of other-selves. Whether this is done for service to others or service to self, it is a necessary part of the awakening of the adept. This freedom is seen by those not free as what you would call evil or black. The magic is recognized; the nature is often not."

the seeker has to walk their own individual path towards the spirit.  This is the process of further individuation within 3d, continuing to individuating work from 2d.

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So the Devil is referncing the Darkness, or the Ignorance.  What is the thing which interacts with Ignorance, to provide the possibility of non-ignorance?  It is the action of the Potentiator; in this case, the Lightning or the Illumination:

The Matrix of the Spirit is what you may call the Night of the Soul or Primeval Darkness. Again we have that which is not capable of movement or work.

The potential power of this extremely receptive matrix is such that the potentiator may be seen as Lightning.

In your archetypical system called the tarot this has been refined into the concept complex of the Lightning Struck Tower. However, the original potentiator was light in its sudden and fiery form; that is, the lightning itself.

so here we have the fundamental metaphor of the development of the spirit.  Darkness and Light.  Not darkness in the sense of evil or negativity.  But darkness, in this case, as the non-presence of light.

Darkness (ignorance of eternal affairs), and Lightning, as that which sparks across the consciousness of an individual's mind, and provides insight and awareness of sudden new possibilities.

The Darkness and the Light.  The Darkness and the Illumination.

- -

these 2 cards (the matrix and the potentiator) provide the baseline interaction for the spirit complex.  The more we seek, as the Devil (as an individuated being), the greater the fruits of polarity that become available to us.  The Matrix becomes increasing filled with more and more Light.

And that is the function of the spirit.  To draw upon time/space aspects and qualities, and to use them to inform the experience and activities of the mind and body.

This is referenced in the Sphere of Power present in the mind archetypes.

"The sphere of spiritual power is an indication indeed that each opportunity is pregnant with the most extravagant magical possibilities for the far-seeing adept."

- -

with increasing polarity (the fruits of seeking), the confusion present within consciousness as a result of "not knowing" becomes less and less.  And what is the greatest confusion of all?  not knowing/understanding that we are all one, and that there is only One Infinite Creator.  As we approximate or get closer to this lived awareness through greater polarity, the mind is able to be filled with the light of the spirit, and have any doubts about the true nature of eternal reality be dispelled with direct contact.

As we move from green-ray spiritual activity to blue ray spiritual activity, and then into indigo ray activity, then eventually, the following experience may one day be possible:

"The contact with intelligent infinity is most likely to produce an unspeakable joy in the entity experiencing such contact."