In connection with the sun sign, the rising sign and the effect of the thoughtform relating to the moon, the position of esoteric astrology is as follows:
1. The sun sign.—This sign indicates the present problem of the man; it sets the pace or the established tempo of his personality life; it is related to quality, temperament and the life tendencies which are seeking expression during this particular incarnation, and it is suggestive of the rajasic or the activity aspect of the innate man. Fundamentally, the forces here found are indicative of the line of least resistance.
2. The ascendant or rising sign indicates the intended life or immediate soul purpose for this incarnation. It holds the secret of the future and presents the force which, rightly used, will lead the man to success. It represents [19] the sattvic or harmony aspect of life and can produce right relationship between soul and personality in any one incarnation. It thus points the way to the recognition of the force of the soul.
3. The moon.—This type of force (coming from certain planets and not from the moon) indicates that which is past. It, therefore, summarises limitation and the present handicaps. It governs the physical body and shows where the prison of the soul is to be found.
The next statement which I would like to make, and which grows normally out of the above, is that the zodiacal, the systemic and the planetary energies act either as hindering or as stimulating forces, according to the type of vehicle or body upon which they play; the nature of these vehicles and their capacity to attract, to respond, to reject, to absorb and to transmute is entirely dependent upon the point in evolution attained and also upon the general planetary condition and psychology to be found in the human family at any given time. An instance of the latter can be seen today in the world where the forces, beating in an almost violent and somewhat new measure and tempo upon our planetary life, are evoking a greatly intensified response from the world thinkers, thus stimulating them to earnest effort along ideological lines and, at the same time, are drawing forth from the masses and the little evolved people nothing but terror, a miserable fatalism, widespread physical depletion and many other undesirable reactions from the form nature. An understanding of these hindering or stimulating effects can be easily grasped by those who can comprehend the nature of the activities of the planet, Saturn. This is the planet which conditions primarily the point in evolution where choice definitely becomes possible, [20] where rejection of opportunity or its acceptance can consciously be undertaken, and the shouldering of personal responsibility becomes a recognised fact in a planned and ordered life. This point in the human evolutionary process is spoken of in the Old Commentary in the following symbolic phrases:
“Amid the whirling forces, I stand confused. I know them not, for, during all my past, they swept me up and down the land wherein I moved, blinded and unaware. From place to place and point to point, they drove me up and down the land and nowhere was there rest.
I know them now and here I stand and will not move until I know the Law which governs all this movement up and down the land. I may revolve and turning face the many different ways; I face some wide horizons and yet today I stand.
I will determine for myself the way to go. Then onward I will move. I will not travel up and down the land nor turn in space. But onward I will move.”
There is another revolutionary idea which the esoteric science of astrology brings to its modern and exoteric aspect: In the greater cycle of man’s many incarnations, he—as is well recognised—passes through the zodiacal circle from Pisces to Aries, thus retrograding through the signs as he follows the sweep or path of the Sun’s retrogression. This phrase has always disturbed me, but the apparent retrogression, based upon the precession of the equinoxes, is all an integral part of the Great Illusion. The moment a man begins to emerge out of that illusion and is no longer subject to the glamour and to the effect of the world maya, that moment the motion of the great Wheel of Life [21] is reversed and he then begins (slowly and laboriously) to work in the opposite direction. He then passes through the signs from Aries to Pisces. He begins patiently and consciously to function as a soul struggling towards the light until finally he emerges at the end of the Path in Pisces as a world Victor and a world Saviour. He then knows the significance of the triumph over death because he has surmounted and overcome desire.
This reversal of the way a man travels through the signs of the zodiac will necessitate a readjustment of the method employed by astrologers when they are casting a horoscope of senior aspirants, of disciples and of initiates.
According, therefore, to an individual’s point of evolution upon the Path or (in other words) the individual’s place upon the wheel of life, the practising astrologer will arrange the interpretation of the horoscope. It will require the work and the thought of the intuitive astrologer, dependent upon soul contact and much meditation, to determine the processes of astrological interpretation for those who are active and living souls at some one or other of the final stages upon the Path. The casting of the horoscope of the average man or the undeveloped man presents no such difficulties.
It might be added in addition that the signs of the zodiac are concerned primarily with the life expression of the Heavenly Man (as far as our planet is concerned) and therefore with the destiny and life of the planetary Logos. They are also concerned with the great man of the heavens, the solar Logos. I refer in this last instance to their effect as it makes itself felt in the solar system as a whole and with this effect there are few astrologers at this time fit to deal. I would remind you that to the lives who inform these great constellations and whose radiation [22]—dynamic and magnetic—reaches our Earth, this effect is incidental and unnoticed. The primary effect that they have is upon our planetary Logos and this effect reaches us through Him, pouring through that great planetary centre to which we have given the name of Shamballa. It is, therefore, capable of evoking the major response from the monads, and these monads express themselves through the kingdom of souls and through the human kingdom; it consequently expresses itself through the Hierarchy and through humanity as a whole. This is a point of real importance and should be noted and connected with all the teaching you have had upon this most interesting theme of the three major planetary centres. It is the work of the zodiacal influences to evoke the emergence of the will aspect of the Heavenly Man and of all monads, souls and personalities who constitute the planetary body of expression. This statement means but little to you today but it will mean much to those students who, in a few decades, will study what I am here saying. Properly understood, it accounts for much that is happening in the world at this time.
As these influences pour through our planet and thence to the centres of force upon the planet, they produce a dual effect:
1. They produce an effect upon advanced man, galvanising the centres above the diaphragm into activity and enabling him to respond to the radiation and the activity of the Hierarchy.
2. They produce an effect upon unevolved man, enabling him to function as an ordinary, unenlightened human being.
It should be noted here, however, that all the energies—zodiacal, systemic, and planetary—have a definite effect [23] upon all the lives in all forms in all kingdoms of nature. Nothing can escape these radiatory and magnetic influences. The goal of evolution for humanity is to become consciously and livingly aware of the nature of these energies and begin to know them and to use them. This is the field of occultism as the Hierarchy has always told men. It might be stated that the disciple has to become consciously aware of the planetary influences and begin to use them for the carrying out of soul purpose. The initiate has to be aware of the zodiacal influences which emanate from outside of the solar system altogether. These can be recognised as
a. A vibration, registered in one or other of the seven centres.
b. A revelation of a particular type of light, conveying a specific colour to the initiate.
c. A peculiar note.
d. A directional sound.
The whole story of the zodiac can be picturesquely yet accurately summed up in the following statement: There are three books which the three types of human beings study and from which they learn:
1. The Book of Life—Initiates—the 12 constellations.
2. The Book of Wisdom—Disciples—the 12 planets.
3. The Book of Form or of Manifestation—Humanity—the 12 Creative Hierarchies.
In summation, it might be said that:
1. The zodiacal signs affect primarily the man who lives below the diaphragm. This is the ordinary average man. These signs thus condition four of the centres: [24]
a.The base of the spine.
b. The sacral centre.
c. The solar plexus centre.
d. The spleen.
2. The inner group of solar systems, working in conjunction with the zodiacal signs, affect primarily those who live above the diaphragm. They, therefore, condition:
a. The heart centre.
b. The throat centre.
c. The ajna centre.
d. The head centre.
3. Three of the energies work through the head centre but only after the third initiation.
There are one or two other points which might be noted here also. I note them for your enlightenment. Out of all the many energies which impinge upon, pass through and produce effects upon our planet, esoteric astrology emphasises the following four types of force because they affect what might be called the personality of our Earth:
1. The quality of our solar system. God is a consuming fire but God is also love. This is the teaching of both esoteric and exoteric truth.
2. The quality of the Logos of our planet as it pours through the chains, the rounds, the races, and the kingdoms of nature.
3. The quality of the Earth’s complementary planet, which is the Earth’s polar opposite, esoterically considered. This planet is Venus.
4. The quality of the attraction of the three planets which produce an esoteric triangle of force.
[25] I have several times used the phrase “pass through” the centres and forms. This concept necessitates the idea of distributing centres to which the incoming energies may go and from which they may pass out again as radiation. Some idea of this might be grasped if I gave you the new proposition (new to you though old to esotericists) of the centres in the human etheric body. The four centres above the diaphragm—the heart, throat, ajna and head centres—are basically and primarily receiving centres. The centres below the diaphragm—the base of the spine, the sacral, solar plexus and spleen centres—are galvanised into activity by the four higher receiving centres. This, when accomplished, demonstrates as personality and physical magnetism and influence until the time comes when there is a reversal in the way of passing—as a soul—around the zodiac. This is symbolised as the revolution of the sun around the zodiac from Aries to Pisces instead of the reverse movement, from Aries to Taurus. This is repeated in the human frame and the four lower centres eventually return that which has come to them. They thus reverse the process normally followed and the centres above the diaphragm become radio-active, dynamic and magnetic. This is an intricate occult study and is concerned with the response of the etheric body to the incoming energies. It relates finally the lowest centre at the base of the spine to the highest centre, the head centre. This is a correspondence to the relation of the Earth to the Sun. Think this out.
As we work and study over these matters, let us bear in mind always the fact that we are considering the seven rays and their inter-relations in the cosmic process. We are concerned esoterically with:
1. The seven rays and the twelve signs of the zodiac. [26]
2. The seven rays and the twelve Creative Hierarchies.
3. The seven rays and the planets as they govern the twelve houses of expression.
As we ponder and think and as we correlate the various aspects of the teaching, we shall find three propositions emerging which govern the inflow of life to the planet and to the individual man. These have been laid down earlier in A Treatise on the Seven Rays but it might profit us to state them here:
Proposition One—Every ray life is an expression of a solar life and every planet is therefore:
1. Linked with every other planetary life.
2. Animated by energy pouring into it from the seven solar systems, of which ours is one.
3. Actuated by three streams of force:
a. Coming from solar systems other than our own.
b. Our own solar system.
c. Our own planetary life.
Proposition Two—Each one of the ray lives is the recipient and the custodian of energies coming from
1. The seven solar systems.
2. The twelve constellations.
Proposition Three—It is the quality of a ray life—manifesting in time and space—which determines the phenomenal appearance.
Before we penetrate further into the consideration of our theme, I would like to emphasise two points:
First of all, that we are considering esoteric influences and not astrology, per se. Our subject is the seven rays and [27] their relationship to the zodiacal constellations or—in other words—the interaction of the seven great Lives which inform our solar system with the twelve constellations which compose our zodiac.
Secondly, that we have necessarily to study these energies and their interplay from the angle of their effect upon the planet, and incidentally, their effect upon the forms in the various kingdoms of nature and particularly in connection with the fourth kingdom, the human, and with individual man—average man, the disciple and the initiate.
We shall enter into no definitions in connection with technical astrology, nor shall I use the many technical terms. If, in the presentation of this vast subject, and in the process of indicating the attitude of the Ageless Wisdom to this new and coming (yet very ancient) “science of effective energies,” as it has been called, I may present a new approach, or point out an unsuspected relation and from the standpoint of the Ageless Wisdom correct what are deemed errors by the Teachers on the inner side of life, I am hoping that some astrologers may be found who will be sensitive to that which is new. I am believing that there are investigators along astrological lines who will be open-minded enough to recognise possible hypotheses and then to make fair experiment with them. May I repeat: I am not writing a treatise upon astrology, but one upon the seven rays and their equivalent and corresponding energies, upon the effects of ray energy and the interplay of these energies with, and their effect upon, the various planetary forces, particularly those of the Earth. I am looking for these fair-minded astrologers to make due experiment with the factors and suggestions which I may indicate. With this in mind, let us proceed.
[28] I have pointed out that these energies fall into three groups:
1. Those coming from certain great constellations which are to be found active in relation to our solar system and which, from the most ancient days, have always been related in myth and legend to our system. To these constellations, ours is related in a peculiar way.
2. Those coming from the twelve zodiacal constellations. These are recognised as having a definite effect upon our system and our planetary life.
3. Those coming from the planets found within the periphery of the Sun’s sphere of influence.
From a certain point of view, one can generalise largely and say that these are the correspondences in the solar system to the three great centres of force which produce and control manifestation and evolutionary progress in the human being:
1. The great exterior, yet controlling, constellations are analogous to that centre of force which we call the Monad and to its universal will-to-power which is distinctive of the first divine aspect.
2. The twelve constellations might be regarded as embodying the soul aspect and, for the present, their effect upon the individual must be regarded and should be studied in terms of consciousness and of the development of the life of the soul. This is in essence t
he will-to-love.
3. The planets, twelve in number (seven sacred planets and five non-sacred), are effective (using the word in a technical sense) in relation to the external life, environment and circumstances of the individual. Their force contacts should be interpreted largely in terms of the human [29] personality, the third divine aspect. They thus exemplify the will-to-know.
I would have you remember that I am talking entirely in terms of consciousness and of the responses and reactions of the individual to the forces which impinge upon him. The effect of the emanation of our planet, the Earth, is a correspondence to the effect of that aggregate of atoms and molecules which we call the dense physical body and of its response to the pull and the attraction of any or all of the subtler bodies.
As regards the influence of the seven solar systems, I should suggest (more I cannot do) that they are linked up astrologically with the constellations, the Great Bear, the Pleiades, and Sirius. They are intimately related to them, but their exact effect is a transmitted one and cannot be noted as producing noticeable results, as yet, upon humanity and the other kingdoms in nature. The effect of the three great constellations also cannot be noted by individual man until such time as he becomes conscious of the monadic vibration, after the third initiation. There are many potent influences playing upon our solar system and the planet all the time but—as far as man is concerned—his response apparatus and his mechanism of reaction remain what is called “occultly unresponsive,” for they are not yet of a quality which will permit any noticeable recognition, either in the dense or subtler vehicles or even by the soul. Later in the evolutionary process, recognition and response will come, but for all astrological purposes and recognisable produced effects, they may be regarded today as non-existent except as they react upon the fourth kingdom of nature as it constitutes a living unit in the body of the planetary Logos. As little conscious effect is produced by these forces as the effect of a [30] high moment of contact in your morning meditation produces an effect upon the atom or cell in the little finger upon one of your hands. There may be a general response and stimulation throughout the entire body, but the intelligent atom makes no conscious response. The vibration is of too high a character.
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