Archetype Classifications Defined

[JustLikeYou]

Your question is very clear, Ken. Thank you for that. I am aware that my responses are often less than clear. Perhaps this is as it ought to be since each archetype must be viewed uniquely by each being.

First, just to be clear, I'll address the gender associations of the archetypes.

88.24 "When, at length, the student had mastered these visualizations and had considered each of the seven classifications of archetype, looking at the relationships between mind, body, and spirit, we then suggested consideration of archetypes in pairs: one and two; three and four; five; six and seven. You may continue in this form for the body and spirit archetypes. You will note that the consideration of the Significator was left unpaired, for the Significator shall be paired with Archetype Twenty-Two."

Therefore, I have taken the Significators and The Choice to be without a prevailing gender.

Mind
Matrix: Male
Potentiator: Female
Catalyst: Female
Experience: Male
Transformation: Female
Great Way: Male

Body
Matrix: Female
Potentiator: Male
Catalyst: Male
Experience: Female
Transformation: Female
Great Way: Male

(My mind can be swayed as regards the transformation and great way of the body because I am inclined to think that the Body Cycle ought to mirror the Mind Cycle. However, when I view these archetypes, I still see the transformation as female and the great way as male.)

Spirit
Matrix: Female
Potentiator: Male
Catalyst: Female
Experience: Male
Transformation: Male
Great Way: Female


With all of that said, you can now see that the only male matrix is the Magician and the only female potentiator is the High priestess. In general, the matrix has a somewhat female function and the potentiator a somewhat male function because a matrix is something which receives and a potentiator is something which gives. It is exactly this unique situation which led me to decide to create threads dedicated to Archetypes 1 and 2, rather than merely glossing over all of the first 7 archetypes in a single thread. My solution to this conundrum has been to imagine the sexual interplay between the Magician and High Priestess. The Magician is immobile and can be imagined as an "unmoved mover" to use a technical term which Ra endorses (though in a different context). The High Priestess is therefore that which moves, but she must move in response to the "reaching" of the Magician. It is the orb which I have viewed as the instrument of reaching; in fact, I have imagined that this orb is the phallus of the Magician and the High Priestess will only rest herself upon this phallus when the will of the Magician is set (and the orb is thus aglow).

You see, the Mind will have no new thought unless the unconscious mind grants it, for all that is new to the conscious mind comes from the unconscious mind in some way. Thus, although the Magician is that which receives information from the High Priestess, he will only receive what he reaches for. By extension, the Experience of the Mind, the Emperor, who is the Matrix now informed, will only acquire what he takes hold of.

I find that because these Archetypes are concept complexes, it is important to remember that the male and the female principles wind, flow and intermingle throughout all archetypes, regardless of the prevailing gender association. Just consider the Sun card (Significator of the Spirit). This card is rife with sexual symbolism and yet it has no prevailing gender.