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76.6 Questioner: Sorry we have had such a long delay between the last session and this one. It couldn’t be helped I guess. Could you please tell me the origin of the tarot?
Ra: I am Ra. The origin of this system of study and divination is twofold: firstly, there is that influence which, coming in a distorted fashion from those who were priests attempting to teach the Law of One in Egypt, gave form to the understanding, if you will pardon the misnomer, which they had received. These forms were then made a regular portion of the learn/teachings of an initiate. The second influence is that of those entities in the lands you call Ur*, Chaldea*, and Mesopotamia* who, from old, had received the, shall we say, data for which they called having to do with the heavens. Thusly we find two methods of divination being melded into one with uneven results; the, as you call it, astrology and the form being combined to suggest what you might call the correspondences which are typical of the distortions you may see as attempts to view archetypes.
76.7 Questioner: Then am I correct in assuming that the priests in Egypt, in attempting to convert knowledge that they had received initially from Ra into understandable symbology, constructed and initiated the concept of the tarot? Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct with the addition of the Sumerian influence.
76.9 Questioner: Is there, in Ra’s opinion, any present-day value for the reuse of the tarot as an aid in the evolutionary process?
Ra: I am Ra. We shall repeat information. It is appropriate to study one form of constructed and organized distortion of the archetypical mind in depth in order to arrive at the position of being able to become and to experience archetypes at will. You have three basic choices. You may choose astrology, the twelve signs, as you call these portions of your planet’s energy web, and what has been called the ten planets. You may choose the tarot with its twenty-two so-called Major Arcana*. You may choose the study of the so-called Tree of Life with its ten Sephiroth* and the twenty-two relationships between the stations.
It is well to investigate each discipline, not as a dilettante, but as one who seeks the touchstone, one who wishes to feel the pull of the magnet. One of these studies will be more attractive to the seeker. Let the seeker then investigate the archetypical mind using, basically, one of these three disciplines. After a period of study, the discipline mastered sufficiently, the seeker may then complete the more important step: that is, the moving beyond the written in order to express in an unique fashion its understanding, if you may again pardon the noun, of the archetypical mind.
76.12 Questioner: But I am assuming that the concepts of the tarot and the magical concepts Tree of Life, etc., were not in use by Ra. I suspect, possibly, some form of astrology was a previous Ra concept. This is just a guess. Am I correct?
Ra: I am Ra. To express Ra’s methods of study of the archetypical mind under the system of distortions which we enjoyed would be to skew your own judgment of that which is appropriate for the system of distortions forming the conditions in which you learn/teach. Therefore, we must invoke the Law of Confusion.
77.12 Questioner: That is correct. I am asking with respect to this particular Logos, our sun, in creating the experience of its planetary system and those sub-Logoi of it.
Ra: I am Ra. This query has substance. We shall begin by turning to an observation of a series of concept complexes of which you are familiar as the tarot.
The philosophy was to create a foundation, first of mind, then of body, and then of spiritual complex. Those concept complexes you call the tarot lie then in three groups of seven: the mind cycle, one through seven; the physical complex cycle, eight through fourteen; the spiritual complex cycle, fifteen through twenty-one. The last concept complex may best be termed The Choice.
Upon the foundation of transformation of each complex, with free will guided by the root concepts offered in these cycles, the Logos offered this density the basic architecture of a building and constructing and synthesizing of data culminating in The Choice.
78.11 Questioner: Could you elaborate please on the nature and quality of the matrix and the potentiator?
Ra: I am Ra. In the mind complex the matrix may be described as consciousness. It has been called the Magician. It is to be noted that of itself consciousness is unmoved. The potentiator of consciousness is the unconscious. This encompasses a vast realm of potential in the mind.
In the body the matrix may be seen as Balanced Working or Even Functioning. Note that here the matrix is always active with no means of being inactive. The potentiator of the body complex, then, may be called Wisdom for it is only through judgment that the unceasing activities and proclivities of the body complex may be experienced in useful modes.
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.
78.37 Questioner: The fourth archetype, called the Emperor, seems to have to do with the experience of other-selves and the green-ray energy center with respect to other-selves. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is perceptive. The broad name for Archetype Four may be the Experience of the Mind. In the tarot you find the name of Emperor. Again this implies nobility and in this case we may see the suggestion that it is only through the catalyst which has been processed by the potentiated consciousness that experience may ensue. Thusly is the conscious mind ennobled by the use of the vast resources of the unconscious mind.
This instrument’s dorsal side grows stiff, and the instrument tires. We welcome one more query.
79.16 Questioner: I am going to guess that in the system of the tarot those archetypes would roughly correspond to, for the mind, the Magician, the Emperor, and the Chariot. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is incorrect.
88.13 Questioner: Thank you. I would like to ask you as to the initial production of the tarot, where this concept was first formed and where the tarot was first recorded, where did this— the very first concept?
Ra: I am Ra. The concept of the tarot originated within the planetary influence you call Venus.
88.14 Questioner: Was the concept given to— let me ask— you say it originated there… was this concept devised for a training tool for those inhabiting Venus at that time or was it devised by those of Venus as a training tool for those of Earth?
Ra: I am Ra. The tarot was devised by the third-density population of Venus a great measure of your space/time in your past. As we have noted the third-density experience of those of Venus dealt far more deeply and harmoniously with what you would call relationships with other-selves, sexual energy transfer work, and philosophical or metaphysical research. The product of many, many generations of work upon what we conceived to be the archetypical mind produced the tarot which was used by our peoples as a training aid in developing the magical personality.
88.15 Questioner: I’ll make a guess that those of Venus third density who were the initial ones to partially penetrate the veil gleaned information as to the nature of the archetypical mind and the veiling process and from this designed the tarot as a method of teaching others. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. It is so.
88.16 Questioner: I will also assume, which may not be correct, that the present list that I have of the twenty-two names of the tarot cards are not in exact agreement with Ra’s original generation of the tarot. Could you describe the original tarot, first telling me if there were twenty-two archetypes? That must have been the same. And if they were the same as the list that I have read you in a previous session or if there were differences?
Ra: I am Ra. As we have stated previously, each archetype is a concept complex and may be viewed not only by individuals but by those of the same racial and planetary influences in unique ways. Therefore, it is not informative to reconstruct the rather minor differences in descriptive terms between the tarot used by us and that used by those of Egypt and the spiritual descendants of those first students of this system of study.
The one great breakthrough which was made after our work in third density was done was the proper emphasis given to the Arcanum* Number Twenty-Two which we have called The Choice. In our own experience we were aware that such an unifying archetype existed but did not give that archetype the proper complex of concepts in order to most efficaciously use that archetype in order to promote our evolution.
88.18 Questioner: I will ask the following questions to clear up possibly only the method of teaching these concepts which may give me important clues to understanding the concepts themselves. Did Ra use cards similar to the tarot cards for the training purpose in third density?
Ra: I am Ra. No.
88.21 Questioner: Then when Ra attempted to teach the Egyptians the concept of the tarot, was the same process used, or a different one?
Ra: I am Ra. The same process was used. However, those which were teach/learners after us first drew these images to the best of their ability within the place of initiation and later began the use of what you call cards bearing these visualizations’ representations.
88.23 Questioner: You mentioned earlier that the tarot was a method of divination. Would you explain that?
Ra: I am Ra. We must first divorce the tarot as a method of divination from this Major Arcana as representative of twenty-two archetypes of the archetypical mind.
The value of that which you call astrology is significant when used by those initiated entities which understand, if you will pardon the misnomer, the sometimes intricate considerations of the Law of Confusion. As each planetary influence enters the energy web of your sphere those upon the sphere are moved much as the moon which moves about your sphere moves the waters upon your deeps. Your own nature is water in that you as mind/body/spirit complexes are easily impressed and moved. Indeed, this is the very fiber and nature of your journey and vigil in this density: to not only be moved but to instruct yourself as to the preferred manner of your movement in mind, body, and spirit.
Therefore, as each entity enters the planetary energy web each entity experiences two major planetary influxes, that of the conception, which has to do with the physical, yellow-ray manifestation of the incarnation, and that of the moment you call birth when the breath is first drawn into the body complex of chemical yellow ray. Thus those who know the stars and their configurations and influences are able to see a rather broadly drawn map of the country through which an entity has traveled, is traveling, or may be expected to travel, be it upon the physical, the mental, or the spiritual level. Such an entity will have developed abilities of the initiate which are normally known among your peoples as psychic or paranormal.
When the archetypes are shuffled into the mix of astrologically oriented cards which form the so-called Court Arcana and Minor Arcana these archetypes become magnetized to the psychic impressions of the one working with the cards, and thusly become instruments of a linkage between the practitioner of the astrological determinations and divinations and the one requesting information. Oft times such archetypical representations will appear in such a manner as to have seemingly interesting results, meaningful in configuration to the questioner. In and of themselves, the Major Arcana have no rightful place in divination but, rather, are tools for the further knowledge of the self by the self for the purpose of entering a more profoundly, acutely realized present moment.
89.14 Questioner: I have here a deck of twenty-two tarot cards which have been copied, according to information we have, from the walls of, I would suspect, the large pyramid at Giza. If necessary we can duplicate these cards in the book that we are preparing. I would ask Ra if these cards represent an exact replica of that which is in the Great Pyramid?
Ra: I am Ra. The resemblance is substantial.
89.19 Questioner: In that case, I’ll ask you… You stated that Ra used the tarot to develop the magical personality. Was this done by the system of learning to become, in mind, the essence of each archetype and in this way develop the magical personality?
Ra: I am Ra. This is incorrect. The clothing one’s self within the archetype is an advanced practice of the adept which has long studied this archetypical system. The concept complexes which together are intended to represent the architecture of a significant and rich portion of the mind are intended to be studied as individual concept complexes; as Matrix, Potentiator, etc., in viewing mind/body/spirit connections; and in pairs with some concentration upon the polarity of the male and the female. If these are studied there comes the moment when the deep threnodies* and joyful ditties* of the deep mind can successfully be brought forward to intensify, articulate, and heighten some aspect of the magical personality.
89.21 Questioner: In Archetype Number One, represented by tarot card number one, the Matrix of the Mind seems to me to have four basic parts to the complex. Looking at the card we have, first and most obvious, the Magician as a part, and what seems to be an approaching star. A stork or similar bird seems to be in a cage. On top of the cage we have something that is very difficult to discern. Am I in any way correct in this analysis?
Ra: I am Ra. You are competent at viewing pictures. You have not yet grasped the nature of the Matrix of the Mind as fully as is reliably possible upon contemplation. We would note that the representations drawn by priests were somewhat distorted by acquaintance with and dependence upon the astrologically based teachings of the Chaldees.
89.22 Questioner: When Ra originally trained or taught the Egyptians about the tarot, did Ra act as teach/learners to a degree that Ra became learn/teachers?
Ra: I am Ra. This distortion we were spared.
89.24 Questioner: Now as I understand it, what you suggest as far as the tarot goes is to study the writings that we have available and from those formulate questions. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. No.
89.25 Questioner: Sorry, I didn’t understand exactly what you meant with respect to that. Would it be appropriate then for me to answer the questions with respect to what I think is the meaning of the three items that you spoke of for Card One and then Card Eight, etc.? Is this what you meant?
Ra: I am Ra. This is very close to our meaning. It was our intention to suggest that one or more of you go through the plan of study which we have suggested. The queries having to do with the archetypes as found in the tarot after this point may take the form of observing what seem to be the characteristics of each archetype; relationships between mind, body, and spiritual archetypes of the same ranking such as Matrix; or archetypes as seen in relationship to polarity, especially when observed in the pairings.
Any observations made by a student which has fulfilled these considerations will receive our comments in return. Our great avoidance of interpreting, for the first time, for the learn/teacher various elements of a picture upon a piece of pasteboard is involved both with the Law of Confusion and with the difficulties of the distortions of the pictures upon the pasteboard. Therefore, we may suggest a conscientious review of that which we have already given concerning this subject as opposed to the major reliance being either upon any rendition of the archetype pictures or any system which has been arranged as a means of studying these pictures.
89.26 Questioner: All right, we’ll attempt to do that. Ra stated that a major breakthrough was made when proper emphasis was put on Arcanum Twenty-Two. This didn’t happen until after Ra had completed third density. I assume from this that Ra, being polarized positively, probably had some of the same difficulty that occurred prior to the veil in that the negative polarity was not appreciated. That’s a guess. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. In one way it is precisely correct. Our harvest was overwhelmingly positive and our appreciation of those which were negative was relatively uninformed. However, we were intending to suggest that in the use of the system known to you as the tarot for advancing the spiritual evolution of the self a proper understanding, if we may use this misnomer, of Archetype Twenty-Two is greatly helpful in sharpening the basic view of the Significator of Mind, Body, and Spirit and, further, throws into starker relief the Transformation and Great Way of Mind, Body, and Spirit complexes.
91.18 Questioner: Thank you. We have some observations on the archetypes as follows. First, the Matrix of the Mind is depicted in the Egyptian tarot by a male and this we take as creative energy intelligently directed. Would Ra comment on this?
Ra: I am Ra. This is an extremely thoughtful perception seeing as it does the male not specifically as biological male but as a male principle. You will note that there are very definite sexual biases in the images. They are intended to function both as information as to which biological entity or energy will attract which archetype but also as a more general view which sees polarity as a key to the archetypical mind of third density.
92.7 Questioner: In the last session we discussed the first tarot card of the Egyptian type. Are there any distortions in the cards that we have (which we will publish in the book if possible) that Ra did not originally intend, with the exception of the star, which we know is a distortion, or any additions that Ra did intend in this particular tarot?
Ra: I am Ra. The distortions remaining after the removal of astrological material are those having to do with the mythos of the culture to which Ra offered this teach/learning tool. This is why we have suggested approaching the images looking for the heart of the image rather than being involved overmuch by the costumes and creatures of a culture not familiar to your present incarnation. We have no wish to add to an already distorted group of images, feeling that although distortion is inevitable there is the least amount which can be procured in the present arrangement.
92.8 Questioner: Then you are saying that the cards that we have here are the best available cards in our present illusion at this date?
Ra: I am Ra. Your statement is correct in that we consider the so-called Egyptian tarot the most undistorted version of the images which Ra offered. This is not to intimate that other systems may not, in their own way, form an helpful architecture for the adept’s consideration of the archetypical mind.
93.7 Questioner: With the third tarot card we come to the first addition of archetypes after the veiling process, as I understand it. And I am assuming that this third archetype is, shall I say, loaded in a way so as to create, if possible, polarization since that seems to be one of the primary objectives of this particular Logos in the evolutionary process. Am I in any way correct on this?
Ra: I am Ra. Before we reply to your query we ask your patience as we must needs examine the mind complex of this instrument in order that we might attempt to move the left manual appendage of the instrument. If we are not able to effect some relief from pain we shall take our leave. Please have patience while we do that which is appropriate.
[Thirty-second pause.]
I am Ra. There will continue to be pain flares. However, the critical portion of the intense pain has been alleviated by repositioning.
Your supposition is correct.
93.15 Questioner: Then Ra presented the images which we know now as the tarot so that the Egyptian adepts of the time could accelerate their personal evolution. Is this correct, and was there any other reason for the presentation of these images by Ra?
Ra: I am Ra. You are correct.
93.16 Questioner: Are there any other uses at all of value of these images or tarot cards than the one I just stated?
Ra: I am Ra. To the student, the tarot images offer a resource for learn/teaching the processes of evolution. To any other entity these images are pictures and no more.
93.17 Questioner: I was specifically thinking of the fact that Ra, in an earlier session, spoke of the tarot as a system of divination. Could you tell me what you meant by that?
Ra: I am Ra. Due to the influence of the Chaldees, the system of archetypical images was incorporated by the priests of that period into a system of astrologically based study, learning, and divination. This was not a purpose for which Ra developed the tarot.
96.12 Questioner: This seems to be connected with the concept of the birds being messengers in the tarot and this is a demonstration of this concept in the tarot, and I was wondering about the mechanics, you might say, of this type of a message. I assume the hawk was a messenger, and I assume that as I thought of the possible meaning of this with respect to our activities I was, in the state of free will, getting a message through the appearance of this very unusual bird, unusual, I say, in that it came so close. I would be very interested to know the origin of the message. (Of course, the origin is the One Creator.) The mechanics of this are very mystifying to me. Would Ra comment on this, please?
Ra: I am Ra. No.
96.15 Questioner: I planned to re-draw the tarot cards eliminating extraneous additions by those who came after Ra’s initial giving and I would like quickly to go through those things that I intend to eliminate from each card we’ve gone over and ask Ra if there is anything else that should be eliminated to make the cards as they were when they were originally drawn, before the astrological and other appendages were added.
I would eliminate all of the letters around the edge of the card with the possible exception of the number of the card— one, two, three, etc. That would be the case for all of the cards, I think— the exterior lettering and numbering.
In Card Number One I would eliminate the star at the upper right hand corner; eliminate the wand in the Magician’s hand. I understand that the sphere remains but I am not really sure where it should be. Would Ra comment on that please?
Ra: I am Ra. Firstly, the elimination of letters is acceptable. Secondly, the elimination of stars is acceptable in all cases. Thirdly, the elimination of the wand is appropriate. Fourthly, the sphere may be seen to be held by the thumb and index and second finger.
Fifthly, we would note that it is not possible to offer what you may call a pure deck, if you would use this term, of tarot due to the fact that when these images were first drawn there was already distortion in various and sundry ways, mostly cultural.
Sixthly, although it is good to view the images without the astrological additions, it is to be noted that the more general positions, phases, and characteristics of each concept complex are those which are significant. The removal of all distortion is unlikely and, to a great extent, unimportant.
99.6 Questioner: We now have an additional set of tarot images. We will refer to them as the Royal Road images, since that’s the name of the book they came from. They are similar to, but in some instances different from the C.C. Zain* images. Which of these two sets are closer to Ra’s original intention? And if they are mixed, let me know that.
Ra: I am Ra. The principle which moves in accordance with the dynamics of teach/learning with most efficiency is constancy. We could explore the archetypical mind using that set of images produced by the one known as Fathman* or we could use those which have been used.
In point of fact, those which are being used have some subtleties which enrich the questioning. As we have said, this set of images is not that which we gave. This is not material. We could use any of a multitude of devised tarot sets. Although this must be at the discretion of the questioner, we suggest the maintaining of one and only one set of distorted images to be used for the querying and note that the images you now use are good.
100.6 Questioner: Thank you. To continue with the tarot, I would like to make the additional observation with respect to Card Six that the male’s arms being crossed, if the female to his right pulls on his left hand it would cant*, in effect turn him, his entire body, toward the right and the same is true for the female on the left: pulling on his right hand she will turn his entire body to her side. Which is my interpretation of what’s meant by the tangle of the arms. That the transformation occurs by pull which attempts to turn the entity toward the left or the right-hand path. Would Ra comment on that observation?
Ra: I am Ra. We shall. The concept of the pull towards mental polarity may well be examined in the light of what the student has already accreted* concerning the nature of the conscious, exemplified by the male, and the unconscious, exemplified by the female. Indeed, both the prostituted and the virginal of deep mind invite and await the reaching.
In this image of Transformation of Mind, then, each of the females points the way it would go, but is not able to move, nor are the two female entities striving to do so. They are at rest. The conscious entity holds both and will turn itself one way or the other or, potentially, backwards and forwards, rocking first one way then the other and not achieving the transformation. In order for the Transformation of Mind to occur, one principle governing the use of the deep mind must be abandoned.
It is to be noted that the triangular shape formed by the shoulders and crossed elbows of consciousness is a shape to be associated with transformation. Indeed, you may see this shape echoed twice more in the image, each echo having its own riches to add to the impact of this complex of concepts.
105.13 Questioner: We have been, you might say, experimentally determining a lot of things about the body, the next portion of the tarot, and have been experiencing some of the feedback effects, I might say, between the mind and the body. I sense from everything that we have done so far with respect to these effects that the great value of the third-density, yellow-ray body at this time is as a device that feeds back catalyst to a mind to create the polarization. I would say that this is the major value of the third-density body here and would ask Ra if initially when the mind/body/spirit— not the mind/body/spirit complex, but the mind/body/spirit— was designed for third-density experience if this was the major use of the yellow-ray body and if not, what was the purpose of the yellow-ray body?
Ra: I am Ra. The description which began your query is suitable for the function of the mind/body/spirit or the mind/body/spirit complex. The position in creation of physical manifestation changed not one whit when the veil of forgetting was dropped.
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