I
The Matrix of the Mind
The Magician · The Mind
Archetype I · Matrix · The Mind
The conscious mind before experience writes on it — that which reaches.
“The Matrix of the Mind is that which reaches … to intelligent infinity, Love, and all that follows from that Logos; to the Matrix or, shall we say, the conscious, waiting self of each entity”
Ra · 92.13 · read in context ›
The concept
The mind cycle fills the tarot's first seven cards (). Its stations run Matrix, Potentiator, Catalyst, Experience, Significator, Transformation, Great Way, and the Matrix of the Mind is the first of them — the tarot's Magician. It is not a symbol or a function to be decoded but a thing in itself, a significant ding an sich (, ): that from which all comes, unmoving, yet the activator in potentiation of all mind activity (). The name explains itself — consciousness is the great foundation, mystery, and revelation that makes this density possible, and the self-conscious entity stands full of the magic of what is to come ().
Its Potentiator is the unconscious, the sea into which consciousness dips to create, ideate, and become more self-conscious (). Ra reads the pair as a general polarity — that which reaches is a male principle, that which awaits the reaching a female principle () — echoing a larger pattern: the Matrix reaches for experience through free will just as intelligent energy, in its kinetic phase, reaches to create the Logos (, ).
The veil changes how full that reaching starts out. A newborn's Matrix is new and undistorted, veiled from its Potentiator and ready for the incarnation to come (), its only bias to reach, through free will, toward what experience will bring () — unlike the adult student's consciousness, already dipped, many times over, into potentiation, catalyst, experience, and transformation ().
The image
In the Egyptian tarot Ra endorses, the Matrix is pictured as a male figure — read not chiefly as biological sex but as the male principle in general (). The out-reaching hand carries the concept of will pouring from every facet of the image; the wand drawn across it Ra names an astrological addition standing in for the hand's own magical gesture, while the sphere near it Ra affirms as the excellent portion of the image, indicating the spiritual nature of the object of will (). That hand reaches outward, not within — without potentiation the conscious mind has no inwardness to reach into ().
The caged bird, wings folded, is read through the wings' position: the Magician cannot act without reaching its winged spirit, which cannot fly until released into conscious manifestation (). The checkered ground Ra confirms as the image of polarity, waiting to be tasted by the Matrix — the true source of a polarity elsewhere proposed as a cup, which Ra calls a later distortion (, -). A proposed sword and coin Ra affirms only as concepts — real struggle, real work accomplished — pictured by objects that do not themselves belong to Ra's original image (-).
The star Ra discards outright, astrological and never part of the images designed to evoke the archetypal leitmotifs (). The priests who first drew these cards worked under the influence of Chaldean astrology, so distortion entered before the images reached their present form (); what remains still carries the ordinary residue of Egyptian costume and mythology ().
Working with the archetype
Ra's general method applies to the Matrix as to the rest: study it first as an individual concept complex, then paired with its Potentiator, attending to the polarity each carries (). Clothing one's self within the archetype — taking on its character rather than only considering it — is an advanced practice belonging to the adept long already at work with this system; it is not where the work begins ().
Short of that, Ra offers one concrete use: when the conscious mind is full to bursting with unmanageable ideas, so that further ideation stalls, the adept may call upon the new mind — untouched, without bias, without polarity, full of the magic of the Logos — and dwell within it (). The archetypal mind generally is not the foundation of spiritual evolution but a tool for grasping it without distortion, a blueprint of real use to the adept when penetrated lucidly (-).
In Ra's words
The naming of the first archetype, and what makes it the Magician:
We now address your query as to the archetype which is the Matrix of the Mind. As to its name, the name of Magician is understandable when you consider that consciousness is the great foundation, mystery, and revelation which makes this particular density possible. The self-conscious entity is full of the magic of that which is to come.
The wand and the sphere, read against the reaching hand Ra affirms as the true image:
The concept of will is indeed pouring forth from each facet of the image of the Matrix of the Mind. The wand, as the will, however, is, shall we say, an astrological derivative of the out-reaching hand forming the, shall we say, magical gesture.
The excellent portion of the image—which may be seen distinctly as separate from the concept of the wand—is that sphere which indicates the spiritual nature of the object of the will of one wishing to do magical acts within the manifestation of your density.
The distortion the priests carried into the images, traced to Chaldean astrology:
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.
Clothing one's self within the archetype, named as advanced practice, and how the pairs are meant to be studied:
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.
The Matrix elsewhere: the Matrix of the Body · the Matrix of the Spirit
Study passages
It just seemed to me that since the planets were an outgrowth of the Logos, and since the archetypical mind was the foundation for the experience, that the planets of this Logos would be in some way related. We will certainly follow your suggestion. I have been trying to get a foothold into an undistorted doorway, you might say, into the archetypical mind. It seems to me that everything that I have read having to do with archetypes is, to some degree or another, distorted by those who have written, and the fact that our language is not really capable of description. You have spoken of the Magician as a basic archetype, and that this seems to have been carried through from the previous octave. Would this then be, if there is an order, the first archetypical concept of this Logos?
I would like to try and understand the archetypes of the mind of this Logos prior to the extension of the First Distortion. In order to better understand that which we experience now I believe that this is a logical approach. We have, as you have stated, the Matrix, Potentiator, and the Significator. I understand the Matrix as being that which is the conscious, what we call the conscious mind, but since it is also that from which the mind is made, I am at a loss to fully understand these three terms, especially with respect to the time before there was a division between conscious and unconscious. I think it is important to get a good understanding of these three things. Could you expand even more upon the Matrix of the Mind, the Potentiator, and the Significator, how they differ, and what their relationships are, please?
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?
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?
Thank you. Third: Just as Free Will taps intelligent infinity, which yields intelligent energy, which then focuses and creates the densities of this octave of experience, the Potentiator of Mind utilizes its connection with intelligent energy and taps or potentiates the Matrix of the Mind, which yields Catalyst of the Mind. Is this correct?
The Matrix of the Mind is depicted seemingly as male on the card and the Potentiator as female. Could Ra state why this is and how this affects these two archetypes?