I've been working through Ra's suggestions for studying the archetypes and just completed the first task: studying the categories of archetype in groups of three.
I've posted my conclusions at
http://www.zhibit.org/abstrktion/categor...-of-arch-2 because it is too long for a forum posting. The paintings I've started doing for the archetypes are here as well.
I'd welcome any helpful and constructive feedback.
Also, I cited three people on this forum: Plenum, Zenmaster, and JustLikeYou. I am very grateful to them for sharing their understandings. If I've misrepresented their ideas, I hope they will let me know so I can change the posting.
Thank you.
Hello.
this is a very impressive treatment of the archetypes. Very academic, and akin to what Ken Wilber would write if he had been exposed to the Ra material (intended as a compliment, although it might not be received that way
).
I think one of the cornerstones of the Adept's Path is that they make their own individual path through the brushes and foliage of Distortion. The adept here is one who has penetrated the blue ray, and is seeking to work with indigo energies.
The Adept is perforce a Rebel. They have individuated and assumed their own Inner Power; and are on the verge of total Creatorship. Their Path is their Own.
as such, the tools of the archetypes - whether they be the Tarot, Astrology, or the Kaballah - become a highly personal tool for development; each comes to their unique understanding of the relationships of the Energies and the Lessons of the Cards.
you have done an impressive thing in collecting all these separate strands together, and presenting them as a Single Theory. But much like my own introduction to the Tarot, the proof is in the pudding. The pragmatic side of me is always paring down and testing the words that are testable. Those things which are not testable become matters of Faith.
as such, Pragmatic Knowledge is that which further Empowers and Strengthens the Individual on their Path. How much Light does it shine? does it stand the Test of Time? Is it a Universal Stepping Stone?
these are the only true gauges of Truth. Ra's words have influenced and enlivened for 30 years; what we write here is still up for the Testing.
I greatly applaud your efforts; and am most overjoyed that there is another member here who is so fascinated with Book 4; most people glaze over when they reach the last sessions, and almost like a marathon runner, are too spent to go on further. You have the stamina.
in peace, and great love,
plenum
Thanks Plenum--I had to look up Ken Wilber! (and I'm always pleased when someone gives me another thread to investigate!). I hope I cited you correctly. I've been contemplating the chakra connection, but I have a great deal to learn about chakras. If you can suggest a good website or book, that would be helpful. Have they been equated to the Paths in the Qabalah--I'd understand them better probably through that lens, or through Astrology.
I think you are absolutely right about this being an individual path, but we can encourage each other, and I appreciate your encouragement and the fact that you are seeking along this way as well.
Like you, I'm very pragmatic. When I was working through the Qabalah (something I am nowhere near completing...), I noticed that I could throw just about any situation up on the Tree and look for relationships (e.g., person A could be functioning in a Netzach way and I could be coming from a position at Hod...etc.). I'm thinking the same could be done with the Tarot...but have yet to use it fully--I am finding, however, that pairing it down to Ra's material is helping to elucidate the other scholarship that has been amassed around the topic...by people doing the same thing that you and I are doing--studying to come to their own conclusions and testing them against Life.
Peace and Love to you too. I'll be waiting for your next installment of insight as well!
How pleased I am to see this conversation growing. When I released that first batch of threads in an ecstatic frenzy, I eventually discovered that I seemed to be doing more teaching than conversation. For this reason, I decided it would be wise to study on my own before I write anything else that might be taken as authoritative. Now that I am again ready to speak, it is fortuitous that there are now others who seem willing to converse.
abstraktion, I recommend you check out this website: freemeditation.com . It the URL is very bland, but in fact it is a compendium of information within a newer tradition called "Sahaja Yoga". In my brief experience with this tradition, I have learned that there is a very precise and intricate theory of the seven chakras. I still need to do much more research of my own, but it appears very promising as an alternative to Ra's treatment.
Like you, I am feel more drawn to the Tree of Life...unfortunately, this is not the direction Don went with Ra, so I've had to learn two languages, so to speak. The associations between paths and stations on the tree of life and the 22 Major Arcana is a subject I've pondered in depth. It is something of a Holy Grail for me at the moment. Perhaps we can begin a conversation about this at some later point.