The Transformation of the Body
-Archetype Thirteen-

In the Law of One material, the archetypes form a fundamental part of understanding the structure and evolution of the mind, body, and spirit. The Transformation of the Body depicts the process of transition from one configuration of the Significator of the Body to the next. Like all Transformation archetypes, it has a transitional persona that appears at the threshold between two very different states of consciousness. It has two sides to its expression—a before and an after—the after presenting a mystery to the state of consciousness of the before. The body transforms through reconstitution of both conscious and unconscious approaches to the body, set in motion by the development of critical distance between the subjective witness and the mind’s total conception of its body as a vehicle for manifestation.

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Overview of the Archetype

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The Transformation of the Body is symbolized by a skeleton that uses a scythe to reap human hands, feet, and heads of both masculine and feminine forms. The skeleton faces its left, and behind the skeleton there is a rainbow.

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Symbolic Elements

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The Skeleton and the Scythe

The reaping skeleton is the point of perspective in this archetype. He is the Traveler, the subjective witness whose nature is to be stripped of all nonessential attachments to the current details of his life. The Traveler has set aside history, aspirations, worries, and emotional biases. The Traveler’s frame of mind is skeletal; they want to be the empty frame onto which a new way of existing in the world can be built. In this frame of mind they turn their attention to an examination of the past, as represented by the heads, hands, and feet.

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The Heads, Hands, and Feet

The heads represent the past mental approach to the events in the world. The male heads, representing the previous perspective as Catalyst, use these events to trace reactions back to previous action or inaction. The female heads, representing the previous process of Experience, use the understanding of the Catalyst to decide how to rearrange the energy flows of the body and the environment. The hands represent previous actions as well as the consequences they have been observed to bring about. The feet represent the previous holistic way of life—a symbol of the previous Significator as a whole. The act of reaping is not mere killing. Death collects the old ways for examination so that the useful may be sifted from the useless. Death is harvesting and culling as it harvests.

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The Rainbow

The rainbow has two meanings. The first is a symbol of rebirth, as rainbows can be seen after a destructive storm, reminding of the beauty that still remains and of the fertility of the ground. The second is a symbol of the seven energy centers, indicating that the rebirth of the body affects all levels of bodily concern, from actions that seek to secure survival to those that seek to discover the sacredness of each moment.

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Functions and Dynamics

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The Reaper has come to see the error of their way. Their entire way of life has begun to seem unsustainable. The Reaper sees the harmful patterns of behavior more clearly than ever before and has concluded that small reforms will no longer suffice. They need a deep and lasting change, a reconstitution of the way of life from the ground up. The Reaper wants to shut down the economy of the household, tear the entire house down, rebuild, and then restart the system. The method is negative: the Reaper draws upon all the various events that have revealed what is not wanted. Body and environment have become uncomfortable and unsupportive. Whatever comes next will have to be something very different from this toxic way of living.

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The Role of Catalysts

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The Transformation of the Body arises when the Traveler has developed sufficient critical distance from the current Significator of the Body. The tension between the Fool and the Significator enters into the dynamic interplay between conscious and unconscious mind as these two relate to the body as a vehicle. The Traveler becomes aware of the roles that both the conscious and unconscious minds have played in deciding how to interpret the events of the physical world and reflects on what might now be different. On the personal level this often follows a major event that shakes the inner witness into critical distance from standard habits concerning the body. On the interpersonal level it appears when patterns of behavior in a relationship have made it toxic. On the social level the Reaper is a Revolutionary who judges that reform of a system is no longer an option.

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Veiling and Unveiling

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The skeleton represents the Traveler stripped of nonessential attachments. The veil between conscious and unconscious approaches to the body remains, yet the act of reaping allows both to be examined as a corpse and as a whole. The only way the two sides will see a promising way forward is through stepping back to examine their relationship with the kind of scrutiny and objective distance that comes from no longer being invested in its continuance. They must both consider their previous relationship to be dead so that a new contract of mutual treatment can be discovered.

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Polarity and Balance

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The right-hand path Reaper commits to a new respect for the boundaries of both self and other, as well as a new consideration for their own needs. This Reaper wants to let go of the need to enforce will on others and to learn sensitivity to the threshold between action that does not violate free will and action that does. The change is achieved primarily through removal of temptations. The left-hand path Reaper takes stock of actions and inactions to determine whether and how they have been failing their own aspirations. This Reaper wants to identify weaknesses that make them soft and receptive to others, and to cut them out. Mixed expressions are the common condition; pure polarized expressions are the ideals toward which Transformation moves.

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Integration and Transformation

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The Reaper’s function is to reconstitute the dynamic economy of both body and physical environment. The empowering capacity is the ability to examine the past without letting attachment to the way things have been influence judgment about the way they ought to be. Distorted expressions include the undisciplined Reaper who attempts radical change but falls back on old ways, and the Reaper who reconstitutes the wrong parts of the self because causal relationships have been misjudged. Integration occurs as the Traveler’s critical distance allows both sides of the persona to examine the previous relationship as dead and to discover a contract of mutual treatment that both can agree to. When that contract is found, the Significator of the Body is reconfigured and the cycle of catalyst and experience continues at a higher degree of polarity.

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Practical Application

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In practical terms, working with the Transformation of the Body involves recognizing when patterns of behavior toward the body or its environments have become unsustainable and when small reforms will no longer suffice. Meditation and honest self-inquiry can reveal the events that have shown what is not wanted and the attachments that prevent a deep change. The work is not to force a radical reconstitution before critical distance has developed but to notice when the Traveler has already stepped back and is ready to examine the previous way of life as a corpse. By allowing the Reaper to harvest and cull the old ways, the seeker creates the conditions under which a new configuration of the Significator of the Body may be born.

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Summary

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The Transformation of the Body is the transitional threshold at which the Traveler reaps the previous configuration of the Significator of the Body so that a new way of living in the physical vehicle may be reconstituted. Through its symbolism of the skeleton reaping heads, hands, and feet, and the rainbow of rebirth and the energy centers, it shows how critical distance from the current Homesteader allows both conscious and unconscious approaches to the body to be examined as dead and how a new contract of mutual treatment may be discovered. This archetype guides the seeker to recognize when the current way of life has become unsustainable, to examine the past without attachment, and to allow the Reaper to harvest what is useful so that the body complex may be reconfigured and the cycle of catalyst and experience may continue.