Esoteric Astrology

by Alice A Bailey

  AQUARIUS, THE WATER CARRIER

  This constellation is one of supreme importance to our solar system at this time, for it is the sign into which our Sun is rapidly moving and its influence is gaining in momentum and added potency with each vanishing decade. It is, therefore, largely responsible for the changes now being effected in our planetary life in all the kingdoms of nature, and, because it is an air sign, its influence is all pervasive and inter-penetrating. To many types of mind, this influence is intangible and must, therefore, be unable to produce the desired results; yet the fact is that these intangible pervasive results are of far greater potency and are far more extensive in their effects than the more concrete and spectacular happenings. It is not my intention here to deal with these subjective and potent effects. I have indicated much and have hinted at more in my other writings. I am only generalising in this delineation of the subjective significance of the twelve signs, and seeking to give a broad and not detailed picture [135] of what I might call the lines of the new astrology, its mode of approach to the more esoteric aspects involved in the soul horoscope. The new astrology will deal with significances and meanings, and not so much with the symbols and the outer happenings such as events and mundane activities.

  The keynotes of this sign are three in number and very easy to understand, though when they make their note felt on the reversing wheel, most difficult to demonstrate. They are:

  1. The service of the personality, the lower self, which eventually transmutes itself into the service of humanity.

  2. Superficial and selfish activity which changes into a deep and active intention to be active on behalf of the Hierarchy.

  3. Self-conscious living which changes finally into a sensitive humanitarian awareness.

  The quality of these keynotes changes from a petty and superficial nature to one of deep purpose and profound conviction. The low grade and undeveloped Aquarian upon the Mutable Cross manifests through a superficial self-awareness. This matures in Leo and becomes a deep-seated self-consciousness and a profound interest in self and its need and wishes. As the interplay goes on between Leo and Aquarius (for they are polar opposites) there comes a deepening of all qualities and the superficialities disappear until—upon the reversed wheel—the intensive self-consciousness of Leo expands into the group awareness of Aquarius. The individual becomes the universal. Man, alone and separative, becomes mankind in his reactions and awareness and yet, at the same time, preserves his individuality; he is no longer just a human being, individually self-centred [136] and separative, but becomes humanity itself, losing his personal identity in the good of the whole yet retaining his spiritual Identity. From self-service, he proceeds to world service and yet is always the individualised Son of God until after the third initiation.

  As one studies these twelve signs, it is interesting to trace the relation of consciousness to the preceding sign and to the succeeding sign. It is peculiarly so in connection with the sign Aquarius. The material, earthly quality of Capricorn becomes “dissolved into the air” in Aquarius. The individual “fish” of the other sign becomes eventually the soul, and soul quality emerges, and on the reversed wheel it demonstrates as the pervasiveness of wisdom (Pisces) and the universal love of the truly developed Aquarian. On the wheel as it “rolls onward into illusion,” the wheel of the personality, the superficiality and the airy nature of the undeveloped Aquarian deepens gradually into the concrete and rocky material nature of the Capricornian. The average man in Aquarius puts all his wares into the window, and often in the room behind the window there is little to be found. Esoterically, the developed Aquarian puts all he has into his water pot, storing it there for service and giving it freely on demand to meet a need.

  The sign Aquarius is also a dual sign and signifies two vibrations. It is here that its relation to Pisces emerges, for just as Pisces on the wheel of illusion, the Mutable Cross, stands for substance and bondage, in Aquarius, substance and the anima mundi or imprisoned soul begin to work in mutual tolerance, and in the higher Aquarian individual, soul and spirit are expressing themselves through substance. There is consequently an astrological relation between the band of stars in the constellation Pisces, which unites the two fishes, and the quality and nature of Aquarius [137] which relates and binds together into one working and synthetic whole. The Aquarian recognises the bond which holds all together subjectively and in truth, whilst in Pisces the energy of relationship constitutes an imprisoning band which confines and holds captive. Think this out. It is an error to consider the margin of contact between two signs in the passage of the Sun to be in the nature of hard and fast frontiers or set boundary lines. Such is not the case. There are no rigid lines of demarcation separating two entirely different areas of experience and consciousness upon the solar path. It only appears to be so and this itself is part of the Great Illusion.

  The rulers of Aquarius are of a peculiar interest. They constitute an effective group of planets and bring in the influences of the seventh, second and fourth rays. These are pre-eminently the rays which determine the final stages of man's progress as well as the initial stages, being more potent at the beginning of the involutionary path and the end of the evolutionary path than they are in the middle period. They determine the final stages and happenings of the Path of Initiation. The seventh ray brings into expression upon the physical plane the major pairs of opposites—spirit and matter—and relates them to each other, producing eventually one functioning whole. The second ray gives soul expression and spiritual consciousness and also the power to pour out love and wisdom upon earth whilst the fourth ray indicates the field of service and the mode of attaining the goal. This mode or method is that of conflict and struggle in order to reach harmony and thus express all truly human characteristics, for the fourth ray and the fourth Creative Hierarchy constitute essentially one expression of truth.

  Some astrologers assign Saturn as one of the rulers. [138] Alan Leo does so, but I would point out that in this case he is dealing entirely with the progress of the ordinary man upon the wheel of life, and the Saturn which he senses as ruling Aquarius is the Saturnian influence of Capricorn, in which sign Saturn governs in two fields. On the reversed wheel, the Saturnian influence exhausts itself in Capricorn and the man is then free from karma and needs no presentation of opportunity for he stands a free initiate, a true Master Mason and can then proceed with world service undeterred and held back by no thought of self or selfish desire. He comes then under the influence of Uranus, that mysterious and occult planet. His will is focussed and developed by the Uranian influences and he develops into a leader. He brings about desired changes and produces those new conditions which will help the soul of humanity to express itself more freely. Water being the symbol of substance and of material expression plus emotional motivation, Aquarius is consequently dual in its activity, and the third ray expresses itself powerfully through this sign, reaching our planet through Uranus and the Moon which hides or veils Uranus symbolically in this case. There is, therefore, to be found the double influence of Uranus, expressing the quality and bringing in the energies of the seventh ray, in one case, and the third ray in the other. The seventh ray is, in the last analysis, the focussed differentiated energy of Ray One as it expresses the will of the first aspect of divinity on earth through the power to relate and bring into objective manifestation—by an act of the will—both spirit and matter. This it brings about through the activity of Ray Three, expressing itself through humanity and its individual units, though combining with the energy of the three rays which are released through the ruling planets: [139]

  1. Uranus—Ray Seven—The will to be and to know simultaneously on all planes of manifestation.

  2. Jupiter—Ray Two—The fusion of heart and mind, which is the subjective purpose of manifestation. This is brought about through the third and the seventh ray activity on the exoteric wheel.

  3. The Moon—Ray Four—The will to be and to know plus the fusion of heart and mind is the
result of the work carried forward in the fourth Creative Hierarchy under the influence of that energy which produces harmony through conflict.

  I would here call your attention to the fact that in connection with the Moon, as it is related here to one of the Creative Hierarchies, you have in the Moon itself the exoteric influences of the ordinary mode of procedure upon the wheel of life, and in the planet which it veils and hides (in this case the planet Uranus) you have the esoteric energy which brings this Hierarchy to subjective realisation.

  Uranus gives innate spontaneous activity and this produces evolutionary development—both natural and spiritual. It is the urge to better conditions.

  Jupiter gives an inherent tendency to fusion which nothing can arrest. The achievement of ultimate synthesis is inevitable, and this Jupiter promotes.

  The Moon brings about the inclination to create these conditions which lead to the great and critical transformations of instinct into intellect. This the moon brings about, but Uranus causes the great transference in the human consciousness from intellectual perception to intuitive knowledge. Bear in mind that the esoteric forces combine with the forces of the exoteric or orthodox planets and that they do not negate their influence. They only supplement [140] and dominate them. The man is thereby enriched and his experience is extended and his consciousness expanded by the new energies, but all the time the effects and conditioning achieved and attained under the old influences are not altered. They have “determined” his nature and fixed his qualities and, therefore, remain persistent and energetic, but the new and deeper influences and potencies are those which in the future upon the Fixed Cross will condition and motivate gradually and steadily all his activities. In the future, instead of speaking of the orthodox planets when dealing with the planetary influences we will speak of the exoteric and the esoteric planets and so bring our vocabulary and definitive words more into line with the inner teaching. In astrology, we are dealing all the time with the energies which produce movement and subjective and outer activity; we are concerned with the impact of many forces upon the human, the planetary and the systemic expression of life and purpose, and with the resultant effects. When these effects and activities are purely objective (and under that word I place all events and happenings going on in the three worlds of human experience—the physical, astral and mental planes) you have personality demonstration. When they are consciously related to the world of causes and are the result of “right and conscious direction” of the emanating centre, the soul, then the personality forces become subject to the diffusion of the soul energies and the personality or form nature becomes magnetic in a different manner, and so attracts to itself energies of a higher and more dynamic plane to the ones with which the man has been concerned hitherto and which he has learned to control and use; in other cases, the soul energies intensify certain of the personality forces and the effect of the exoteric planets is supplemented by an increasingly steady inflow of the energies [141] of the esoteric planets, and these begin to have a dominantly esoteric effect. In Capricorn, for instance, the influence of Saturn is both exoteric and esoteric; in Taurus, Vulcan has both an esoteric and hierarchical effect, whilst in Leo the Sun rules all three—the exoteric, the esoteric and the hierarchical life. This we will study somewhat later in this section and when we come to the consideration of the constellation Leo. Planetary influences are unusually potent in Aquarius during this world cycle because it is, in a peculiar way, a culminating sign for the majority of people who proceed from Aries to Pisces upon the Fixed Cross. A rare few consummate the experience of life upon the three Crosses in the sign Pisces, and so become world saviours. They know then, and only then, the highest aspect of the first ray as it expresses itself through the activity of Death. The bulk, however, of the world initiates climax their experience in Aquarius and become liberated world servers. They turn their backs upon all further progress for themselves in this cycle and on all satisfaction of their own spiritual aspiration and become carriers of the water of life to humanity, joining thus the ranks of the Hierarchy. Those who achieve in Pisces and make the higher and further grade in their development pass into that centre to which we have given the name of Shamballa, but the bulk of the initiates and disciples remain attached to the second centre, that of the Hierarchy of Service.

  Aquarius is pre-eminently a sign of constant movement, of changing activity and recurrent mutations, and the symbol for the sign is expressive of this state of activity. It is, therefore, a sign in which the significance of cycles is mastered and understood by the initiate. The results of the valley experience (to use the well-known language of the mystics of all ages) and of the mountain top with its vision [142] and light, are very vividly depicted by the sign. The Aquarian can experience the depths of depression and of self-depreciation or he can know and pass through the exaltation of the soul and the sense of spiritual power which soul control gives, and know them to be the interplay and the action and reaction which are necessary for growth and comprehension. The law of such action and reaction is the law with which he works.

  In Leo, a man's centre and point of consciousness is himself; he turns upon himself and revolves entirely upon his own axis and in respect and relation to himself, and is all the time the self-centred individual, consecrating all thought, time and service to his own well being and personal interests. But in Aquarius, the polar opposite of Leo and its sign of consummation, he becomes outgoing; there is no centre or circle of circumscribed influence but only two outgoing lines of energy, pouring from him into the world of men. The self-conscious individual in Leo becomes the conscious server in Aquarius, and this is well expressed for us in the symbols of these two signs. The Aquarian is consecrated to group service and to the welfare of humanity. The average Aquarian upon the Mutable Cross will be, for instance, a faithful employee, the adherent and worker in some firm or business within whose limits all his interests are confined and to whose welfare all he has is consecrated. Upon the Fixed Cross this consecration to others becomes world service.

  Aquarius, we are told, governs the blood system and its circulation. By means of the blood, the life force is distributed throughout the entire human body. It is, therefore, symbolic of the task of the liberated Aquarian who dispenses spiritual life throughout the fourth kingdom in nature. The Aquarian influences are felt also as life-giving [143] in other forms of planetary life and other kingdoms in nature but with these we will not deal as we are confining our attention to humanity.

  Aquarius, as you know, is one of the arms of the Fixed Cross. This Cross is outstandingly the Cross of Discipleship and of the three major initiations in connection with which it might be pointed out that:

  1. In Taurus—Desire is transmuted into aspiration, darkness gives place to light and illumination, the eye of the Bull is opened which is the spiritual third eye, or the “single eye” of the New Testament. “If thine eye be single,” said the Christ, “thy whole body shall be full of light.” This single eye takes the place of the two eyes of the personal self. The attention of the man becomes focussed upon spiritual attainment. He treads the Path of Discipleship.

  2. In Leo—The self-centred man becomes eventually the soul in life expression and focussed on the achievement of the spiritual goal of selflessness. In this sign, he undergoes preparation for the first initiation and takes it also in this sign, or under this sign when it is the rising sign, becoming “the Lion who seeks his prey,” that is the personality who becomes the captive of the soul.

  3. In Scorpio—In this sign, the disciple undergoes those tests which will enable him to take the second initiation and demonstrate that the desire nature is subdued and conquered and that the lower nature is (by being lifted up in the air, i.e. into heaven) capable of reaching the goal for this world period, and that from the earthy foundations of Scorpio the personality can be so tested that it shows fitness for the world service demanded in Aquarius. This is beautifully expressed for us in the [144] legend of Hercules, the Sun-God
who overcomes the nine-headed Hydra or serpent of desire by being forced to his knees and from that position of humility lifts up the serpent into the air, and then deliverance comes.

  4. In Aquarius—In this sign, the long effort of the soul is consummated and concludes the experience of the disciple upon the Fixed Cross. The man then takes the third initiation and becomes free from personality control, taking the next two initiations upon the Cardinal Cross.

  I might here give you the following names for the three crosses taken from the ancient archives and therefore difficult to translate:

  1. The Mutable Cross—The Cross of changing and absorbed Experience. This is the place of action and of reaction, of karmic control and of response to impacts leading to the awakening of consciousness to the nature of the goal ahead.

  2. The Fixed Cross—The Cross of Transmutation. Desire becomes aspiration, and selfishness is transformed into selflessness.

  3. The Cardinal Cross—The Cross of Transcendence. Personality life and form life and planetary life no longer control. The man stands free.

  Substance, the ocean of life, water, the symbol of desire and the impulse to incarnate are transmuted into soul light and light substance and the urge to tread consciously the path of return, plus the longing to serve. Desire is developed and focussed in Taurus when the man is upon the Mutable Cross and progressing around the zodiac. It is reoriented and repolarised in Taurus when the man has mounted the [145] Fixed Cross and is eventually relinquished in that sign. In the polar opposite of Taurus, Scorpio, the personality is humbled and brought to grips with the soul; in that sign the personality is “occultly killed and then resurrected into air and light,” in order to become from that moment the servant of the soul. In Leo, the individual awakens to his own identity, concentrates his purpose, learns the lessons and uses of selfishness (for that is one of the best ways to learn and to discover that it is contrary to the laws of the soul) and is eventually so cornered by the life processes that he becomes aware of the futility of self- interest. In Aquarius, the man awakens to the beauty of group life, group interest and his individual responsibility towards the group and begins to live his life and to spend himself in the service of humanity.