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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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