05-26-2016, 08:36 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-26-2016, 08:39 PM by ricdaw.
Edit Reason: needed hard returns added
)
A remarkable conversation. Thank you for sharing it.
In the conversation about courtship vs. plunder, and the various analogies spun off these, there is an objectification of the two female figures. At one level this works, as it represents the choice of polarity. The two females being about HOW you put the deep mind to work; for self or for other.
Bring4th_Jade wrote:
“[H]ow do you see the transformation? What are you "giving up" in terms of which principle use of the mind are you letting go of? Because to me that is the main concept of the archetype. * * * * This is about aligning your will with the will of the Creator, which is your will anyway - another paradox, but resolvable. And it's about consciously, constantly letting go of any attitude towards others that their resources are yours to use. Do you look for ways which you are viewing others as just resources, and reframing your intentions when you do? Because then you are using the transformation of the mind.”
But I see another kind of transformation in the card.
That male figure has closed eyes. In a row of “mind” cards, where even the Unconscious has open eyes (albeit veiled), this is a telling clue to me. How does mind/consciousness NOT be aware (see)?
I would expect the male figure to have open eyes, if he is making a choice between the two females. Open eyes being consciously looking at and evaluating the two possibilities.
But what if the transformation (at the deeper level) is not about choosing between the two female figures at all. Isn’t there another way expressed in this card? The male figure closes his eyes. No longer captivated by the apparent 3d choice of how to use the mind, the male abdicates the conscious (open eyed) choice to a deeper level of the male’s own being. The card is not, which will I choose? But, what is the longing waiting for me to give it form and life and action and purpose?
Do I choose the field, or does grass choose me?
Perhaps the transformation of the mind (at one level) is about the surrender to the deeper self?
The Magician consciously wills, draws forth from the receptive High Priestess.
The Emperor observes/experiences, from the possibilities of the Empress.
These are paired cards. Active and Passive.
But the transformation card, the Lovers card, is not paired. The only action is recursive. That male figure is looking within . . .
Perhaps the choice and the transformation is to abandon the concept, so apparent in the other cards, that “I” am the actor and in control. It is to surrender apparent control to the deep mind itself. To discover not what “I” want to do, but to hear the calling, the longing, from deep within that seeks to manifest THROUGH me.
Perhaps the card shows that the worldly competition for the male’s attention from these two female figures is actually the very distraction that needs to be abandoned. What must be given up is the very idea that “I” am here . . . for me.
In the conversation about courtship vs. plunder, and the various analogies spun off these, there is an objectification of the two female figures. At one level this works, as it represents the choice of polarity. The two females being about HOW you put the deep mind to work; for self or for other.
Bring4th_Jade wrote:
“[H]ow do you see the transformation? What are you "giving up" in terms of which principle use of the mind are you letting go of? Because to me that is the main concept of the archetype. * * * * This is about aligning your will with the will of the Creator, which is your will anyway - another paradox, but resolvable. And it's about consciously, constantly letting go of any attitude towards others that their resources are yours to use. Do you look for ways which you are viewing others as just resources, and reframing your intentions when you do? Because then you are using the transformation of the mind.”
But I see another kind of transformation in the card.
That male figure has closed eyes. In a row of “mind” cards, where even the Unconscious has open eyes (albeit veiled), this is a telling clue to me. How does mind/consciousness NOT be aware (see)?
I would expect the male figure to have open eyes, if he is making a choice between the two females. Open eyes being consciously looking at and evaluating the two possibilities.
But what if the transformation (at the deeper level) is not about choosing between the two female figures at all. Isn’t there another way expressed in this card? The male figure closes his eyes. No longer captivated by the apparent 3d choice of how to use the mind, the male abdicates the conscious (open eyed) choice to a deeper level of the male’s own being. The card is not, which will I choose? But, what is the longing waiting for me to give it form and life and action and purpose?
Do I choose the field, or does grass choose me?
Perhaps the transformation of the mind (at one level) is about the surrender to the deeper self?
The Magician consciously wills, draws forth from the receptive High Priestess.
The Emperor observes/experiences, from the possibilities of the Empress.
These are paired cards. Active and Passive.
But the transformation card, the Lovers card, is not paired. The only action is recursive. That male figure is looking within . . .
Perhaps the choice and the transformation is to abandon the concept, so apparent in the other cards, that “I” am the actor and in control. It is to surrender apparent control to the deep mind itself. To discover not what “I” want to do, but to hear the calling, the longing, from deep within that seeks to manifest THROUGH me.
Perhaps the card shows that the worldly competition for the male’s attention from these two female figures is actually the very distraction that needs to be abandoned. What must be given up is the very idea that “I” am here . . . for me.
![[+]](https://www.bring4th.org/forums/images/collapse_collapsed.png)