Bring4th_Jade Wrote:I have to argue against my analysis being "too meta". The archetypes, as presented by Ra, are primarily meant for use by the adept, and are almost impossible to divorce from the source material, which places the archetypes in a position of meta. The archetypes are about peering through the illusion, so the end goal itself is meta, therefore I think analysis of the cards, particularly of the Fool, should probably be somewhat meta.
Just to be clear, the charge of being "too meta" was only my first thought. That my first thought was critical rather than supportive is surely catalyst for me to reflect on. Forgive me if I was a little sharp here; I'm still learning how to be less prickly.
In any case, I do think your interpretation is acceptable, but it still strikes me as only appropriate to the highest macrocosmic description of 3d.
While you are right that the
images are intended for adepts, the archetypes themselves are experienced by all, so we shouldn't limit our interpretations of the symbols to only what an adept would notice, though we should definitely include the things only an adept would notice. Everyone inhabits the building but only a few of us check the blueprints to better understand how to use the building.
sunnysideup Wrote:However I have the feeling there might be a cultural difference at play on how we view the croc compared to early civilizations in the Nile valley. Eventhough I also read plenty of writings that contradict my hunch, the overall impression I got is that these civilizations considered the Nile crocodile a sacred animal and a sign of fertility. Back then river floodings were seen as a good thing for it would fertilize the land, and where there were floods there were crocs. According to some Egyptian mythologies the Nile river was created by the sweat of the crocodile god Sobek and the Nile crocodiles were its protectors, warding off evil. Furthermore archaeologists have found mummified crocodiles on the burial sites of pharaohs and records suggesting they might have kept them as pets, and in my humble opinion these findings show how highly respected this animal was at the time. In session 93.21 and 93.22 Ra talks about the significance of the serpent form pictured in the catalyst of the mind card and how the ancient Egyptians culturally viewed the animal as a sign of wisdom. Obviously crocs aren't serpents, but I guess the thought I am trying to get across is that perhaps one needs to view the crocodile in the same light the Egyptians did the serpent. A sign of fertility or something along those lines.
I don't know enough about ancient Egyptian culture to comment on the accuracy of this claim. I wonder if pharaohs kept crocs as pets the same way crime lords on TV keep attack dogs as pets. If the Egyptians did have such positive associations with this animal, then I commend them on their willingness to find the good within the terrifying. However, it's still pretty hard for me to sidestep the notion that a crocodile with an open mouth is an immediate danger that should be avoided.
I find myself wishing Ra had gone out on a limb to update these images for us. You almost have to be an archaeologist to understand them.
Jade Wrote:Sharing this in the spirit of the discussion, a completely different facet of crocodiles than any of us have ever seen
I can't see this video either.
Ankh Wrote:And the same goes with Sphinx.
Yep, another sticky one. It's very difficult to separate ancient Egyptian meanings of this creature from those meanings that have been piled upon it in more recent times, such as the meanings ascribed in astrology or the western occult. Ra, as usually, gives us only a morsel to nibble on.
Ankh Wrote:Some people say that once you spiritually wake up, you can never go back to sleep again. And it has been my personal experience too. The *view* of third density and its problems is not the same anymore. To take as an example, some people, once they have been spiritually awakened, stop watching TV or read the newspapers or follow sports. Some others change their way of living and being in some other ways. My point is that once you wake up from third density sleep, many things within third density lose their importance and significance for you, like sports or TV for instance. You also start to view third density differently, and you can never go back to how it was before you woke up. There are other values, spiritual ones, that become more important than the third density values like money, career, etc.
Given your "nope" response to yourself, you might have figured this one out already. But your description here sounds like it belongs to archetypes 15, 16 and 17: the collapse of your personal narrative in the face of sudden awakening and the subsequent effort to walk a path forged by your new-found faith, regardless of the cultural resistance you might meet. Ra even speaks to this:
80.10
Ra Wrote:The progress chosen by many adepts becomes a confused path as each adept attempts to use the Catalyst of the Spirit. Few there are which are successful in grasping the light of the sun. By far, the majority of adepts remain groping in the moonlight and, as we have said, this light can deceive as well as uncover hidden mystery. Therefore, the melody, shall we say, of this matrix often seems to be of a negative and evil, as you would call it, nature.
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 questions and answers following this one, especially 80.13, make it even clearer that Ra is talking about just this kind of removal or "dissociation" from consensus reality:
80.13
Ra Wrote:The excursion of which you speak and the process of disassociation is most usually linked with that archetype you call Hope which we would prefer to call Faith. This archetype is the Catalyst of the Spirit and, because of the illuminations of the Potentiator of the Spirit, will begin to cause these changes in the adept’s viewpoint.
Ankh Wrote:Considering this Archetype from this perspective, makes me to see the croc as both guarding and "beware of danger of your missteps" warning. It can represent the fear one may feel when one decides to make this culminating Choice, and danger that exists when walking this road. In polarity lies also power. This power is protected by the croc in the proportion to seeker's purity of will to serve. This power is depicted by outstretched wings outside the box of Significator and above its head.
I agree with this.
Ankh Wrote:the Fool has only its experiences of both polarities, carefully packed in two different bags, and the walking stick of faith and will to guide it.
Jade offered a rather different interpretation of these bags that, I think, should be considered against this one. Here's Jade's interpretation:
Jade Wrote:The most poignant symbol to me in the Fool card is his baggage. The Fool starts off with a humble sack of belongings - sitting on his left shoulder and echoing the downward slant of the left hand side of the card - I believe this is the symbol of the artifacts constructed in third density, specifically technology. Ra says that balancing the body cycle is all about "understanding the body in its natural functions", and the role of most modern technology is that of thwarting or deviating from nature. As the Fool begins and ends the journey, the small knapsacks represent the few things we actually need to progress on our spiritual journey, having abandoned all the extra things/distortions we have accumulated along the way.
This has been roughly my interpretation of the baggage also. If we take the "meta" perspective, the baggage also represents the harvest of the process.
Maybe these two interpretations are consistent with each other. Surely polarity is indicated, since there are
two bags, one on each side. Maybe each sack contains the tool necessary for polarizing on that path, and the Fool chooses which set of tools to use.
I also wanted to comment on another of Jade's contributions:
Jade Wrote:As far as the column, if we look at where the column symbol is echoed - the Priestess, the Hierophant, the Chariot, and the Hanged Man - so primarily the mind cycle, seeming to indicate that the fear is more psychological ('illusory') than actual literal physical danger. The symbol of the knocked over column is also echoed in the Spirit cycle in the Lightning card - the fallen over construct of the mind
You make a good point. I've interpreted the constructs in the mind cycle (most notably, the Heirophant) as the mental construct we create of the world: our belief system or paradigm. It still seems important to me that the column begins to disintegrate in the water. So, echoing something Ankh said earlier (which I said belonged to the spirit cycle), this column looks a little like the disintegration of our mental constructs as we wade deeper and deeper into the unconscious.
A final note on Ankh's reminder that this archetype represents the
culminating choice.
I seems to me that a culminating choice doesn't need to be looked upon statically (not that anyone here is doing that). I think of making the capstone 3d choice as a gradual process of magnetizing all the disparate elements of self that arise in each different situation. A person can be a saint in some situations and a jerk in others. We might be tempted to think that such a person was only pretending in their saintly moments, but my experience tells me that we don't polarize evenly. One phase of a person's personality maybe have undergone the fine-tuning that brings about moral polarity, while another phase is still rough, unconscious, and fairly destructive in its effects upon others.
I would hesitate to accept descriptions in which making the Choice occurs in a single identifiable moment, like Christians going before the congregation and "getting saved." The process seems more like an achievement of critical mass, like magnetizing a piece of iron by setting it next to a magnet. The individual molecules in that piece of metal will gradually turn, some sooner than others, until they are all facing the same direction and the iron now has a magnetic field of its own. While there will be some identifiable moment in which the iron took on its own polarized field, the work doesn't happen all in that one moment. I don't necessarily see anyone here suggesting that our experience of this archetype is not dynamic, but I wanted to say "out loud" why I don't think it is.