Arcanum 1 (Ra's Tarot), The Matrix of the Mind

Aria appears to have landed on top of the cage which holds the bird.

She points to the bird which struggles to fly, while she herself is free but she herself also cannot fly. The cage is ready to break. Aria is ready to kill but her target is not the bird. Her destiny brings her to the bird, even though she doesn't control this encounter.

The bird also represents Ava Luxealv, whom Aria meets later on unintentionally.

Despite being able to control so many things with the Cards of Self, Aria doesn't control everything, and coincidences still occur in her life.

1. ) There is more symbolism which I may not explain until some other day. ... Aria represents the conscious mind, and her instrument of choice, her revolver, represents the active principle of volition which belongs to the conscious mind. ... The darkness around the bars of the cage represent the subconscious mind, a rested force which provides duality, such as how the darkness of the universe is naught without the light which sprang forth. The duality is again reiterated with Aria's symbol of the dual spiral galaxy, her focus in which is upon the light itself of the galaxy and not the duality of good and evil (the two arms of the spiral), for she cannot accept truly being good or evil; her remaining pursuit is the moving force at the source of both paths. The freedom of the bird, the spirit of the seeker, is locked from the conscious mind by the subconscious mind until the conscious mind pierces through the subconscious mind. The square shape of the cage represents the illusion of the materialized world we live in perceived without magic or purpose. Only the Mage who has become empowered and treads the universe can hope to find freedom and exert his or her own power over the material world. Then, the spirit may finally fly and so too can the magician, when the illusion is broken, when the Magician first reaches into the subconscious mind as a resource.

This in reality is not a complex process, and it occurs simplistically and frequently. In reality, there are more than just this one card, but the understanding of the nature of the mind becomes increasingly more unmistakable and more connected with the nature of the body, the spirit, and with the understanding of the nature of the universe. This card merely portrays this one process of the conscious mind as it uses the above described elements in a subjectively obvious way.

2.) Arcanum 1 is known as the Matrix of the Mind in Ra's tarot. Its one of the 7 archetypes/arcanums of the Archetypical Mind (so the 7 are like parts of something greater, in this case the original mind).

Each archetype can be understood as what is represented when the archetype is illustrated in a card of the tarot.

When all cards are correctly interpreted and understood together, they give a greater understanding of the universe and the true nature and purpose of the human experience.

The Matrix of the Mind is also known as Archetype 1.

In the common tarot, its known as "The Magician", and its also the first card of that major arcana.

3.) In Ra's tarot, there are 7 archetypal facets/ arcanum / archetypes (this term is used for brevity) for: the mind, the body, the spirit.

The 7 archetypal facets combined make up the archetypal mind, or body, or spirit.

All three sets of seven combined make the 21 archetypes...the 21 arcanum.

• The first seven archetypes describe the nature of the mind.

• The next seven describe the nature of the body.

• The final seven describe the nature of the spirit.

• The 22nd arcanum is called "The Choice".

• In the common tarot, the 22nd arcanum is known as card zero, called "The Fool", because the fool begins its journey without knowing. This is somewhat useful and similar to The Choice, but the use of the major arcana was not originally meant to be for mystical divination. ...

I didn't plan this drawing to be this way.