Naught but my bow and arrow, O Master of my Life, but they suffice, and, when the right time comes, I, thy Lanoo, will follow fast upon the shaft I sent. The horses I will leave upon this side of the door, for them I have no further need. I enter free, regain the arrow which I sent and speed upon my way, passing from door to door, and each time the arrow speeds ahead.”
It is for this reason that the keynotes of Sagittarius are five in number.
1. Attached or fused duality—the Centaur.
Unattached duality—the Archer.
Freedom or one-pointedness—the Bow and Arrow.
2. Human ambition leading eventually to spiritual aspiration.
3. A clear shaft of light which is the intuitive and focussed attitude of the pledged disciple.
4. The “returning arrow of the intuition,” as it is sometimes called. For it is the shaft of the arrow of aspiration which returns to the sender as the arrow of the intuition. Sagittarius is one of the intuitive signs, for only the intuition will suffice to carry a man to the foot of the mountain of initiation in Capricorn.
5. Idealism which is the power to see the vision and to direct one's course towards it. This is the work of Mars, the expression of the sixth ray.
A study of the charts of the human family at all the different stages, from the time of the Mutable Cross experience wherein the personality is built up, constructed, developed and integrated, to the final crucifixion of the personality [178] upon the Fixed Cross of the Heavens, will reveal that every time the man finds himself under the influence of Sagittarius it is with the objective of orienting himself to some new and higher objective, with the task of refocussing himself towards a higher goal and with the unfoldment of some basic and directing purpose. These developing purposes may range all the way from purely animal desire, through selfish human ambition, to the struggle of the aspiring disciple or initiate in order to achieve the needed liberation towards which the entire evolutionary process has impelled him. It is interesting, in this connection, to trace the unfolding of the human consciousness through the influence of the energies let loose through the various zodiacal signs:
1. Instinct, governing desire—Cancer. Mass unevolved consciousness.
I desire.
2. Intellect, governing ambition—Leo. Individual consciousness.
I know.
3. Intuition, governing aspiration—Sagittarius. Soul consciousness in early stages. Initiation 1 and 2.
I vision.
4. Illumination, governing intuition—Capricorn. Soul consciousness in later stages.
I realise.
5. Inspiration, governing service—Aquarius. Group consciousness.
I go forth. [179]
6. Identification, governing liberation—Pisces. Divine consciousness.
I and the Father are one.
In these signs—Cancer, Leo, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces—you have the six signs which constitute the six pointed star of the human or fourth Creative Hierarchy; Cancer and Pisces marking the two extremes. The Crab symbolises imprisonment (the hard shell and the rocks under which the Crab ever takes shelter), and the Fish signifies freedom. In between—in Leo, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius—come the four stages of personality development, struggle with the pairs of opposites, and finally release into full spiritual service. In connection with the development of the intellect into the intuition and its consummation as the divine aspiration of the personality (“inspired from on high,” as this stage is technically called), the following ideas may be found useful; I am simply hinting at them and am leaving the student to work out the various implications for himself.
We have seen that Cancer is the sign of instinctual life, and that in Leo the intellect or mind became part of the individual man's equipment. This intellectual awareness is the result of a slow evolution of the instinctual nature which, when it has reached a certain stage of development, came under the direct influence of the Hierarchy of the planet in a new way, and then—under the stimulation of energies from the planet Venus—a fusion took place which resulted in the emergence of individual self-conscious man. Gradually, as the aeons have slipped away, the instinctual nature has receded steadily into the background or below the threshold of consciousness, whilst the intellect has become more and more dominant and an increasingly potent factor. In [180] Scorpio the mind is released into full governing activity. This release takes place in two stages:
Stage 1—Wherein the intellect becomes dominant and powerful and controls eventually the emotional nature.
Stage 2— Wherein the intellect is illumined by the light of the soul.
In dealing with probationary disciples and with ordinary humanity, the servers of humanity would do well to remember these two stages and not confuse them as they attempt to aid those who are in one or other of them. The emphasis is laid upon the struggle of the personality to release itself from the grip of lower desire in the first case, and in the second to release itself from surrounding world glamour which is revealed when soul light is thrown into it, via the reflecting and illumined mind. In stage 1, the power of the trained reasoning and rationalising mind is called into activity by the soul; in the other, the illumination of the soul must pour into the mind and is then reflected, like a searchlight, onto the astral plane.
This takes place upon the Probationary Path and is called the experience of the disciple in the depths or the valleys.
In Sagittarius, the intellect which has been developed, used and finally illumined, becomes sensitive to a still higher type of mental experience and to this we give the name of intuitive perception. There come flashes of light upon problems; a distant yet possible vision of attainment is seen; the man begins to climb out of the depths to which he has descended in Scorpio and sees ahead of him the mountain in Capricorn which he knows he must eventually climb. He walks no longer in the dark, for he sees what he has to do and he therefore makes rapid progress and travels “fast [181] upon the Way.” He “flies from point to point, searching for the arrows which he has discharged.” He has, figuratively speaking, to dismount constantly from his white horse (the developed and purified personality) and find where the arrows of intuitional aspiration will take him; he travels upon the “wings of the soul” (note the relationship to the winged feet of Mercury, the messenger of the Gods) and becomes, in his own personality, himself the winged God: Mercury, as you know, governs Gemini, the polar opposite of Sagittarius. This he does until he has established a balanced relationship between the personality and the soul and can function as either at any desired moment with equal facility.
This takes place upon the Path of Discipleship and is called the experience of the disciple upon the plains of Earth, for the path between the pairs of opposites runs straight and level, leaving the depths of personality experience and the heights of soul experience (at this point of development) on either side.
In Capricorn, the initiate learns to realise the meaning of the growing light which greets his progress as he climbs upward to the mountain top. The flashes of intuition with which he is becoming familiar change into the blazing and constant light of the soul, irradiating the mind and providing that point of fusion which must ever be the “fusion of the two lights, the greater and the lesser light” to which I referred in A Treatise on White Magic. The light of the personality and the light of the soul blend. Upon this I need not enlarge, as nothing I could say would be more than it now is—the theory of initiation. This takes place upon the Path of Initiation and is called the experience of the mountain top. All are needed—the depths, the plains and the mountain top.
[182] As you know, Sagittarius is one of the four arms of the Mutable Cross. An idea of the general symbology of this Cross, from the quality angle, can be gained if we give the two sets of characteristics which distinguish the man upon this Cross—both unevolved man and the aspirant to divinity. We might list these as follows, finding for each arm a distinctive phrase :
Unevolved man Gem
ini—Changeableness. Instability. Interplay.
Sagittarius—Ambitious desire. Direction. Orientation.
Virgo—Material life. The cherishing of an idea.
Pisces—Sensation. Mediumship. Fluidity.
Evolved man Gemini—Recognition of soul and form. Soul interplay.
Sagittarius—One-pointed spiritual aspiration. Disciples.
Virgo—The mother of the Christ Child. Gestation.
Pisces—The world Saviour. Mediatorship.
In connection with the above, it is interesting to note that the Twins set apart and unattached in Gemini become the Centaur, the man-beast, in Sagittarius, whilst Virgo, the Virgin, becomes the Fish goddess in the polar opposite, Pisces. A treatise could be written on the subject of the relation of the opposites in the zodiacal circle for they express spirit and matter and their inter-relation, plus the [183] play of qualitative energies; they bear witness at the same time to the fact that these two are one and are simply the expression of great mutable, and yet fixed and initiated spiritual Lives. It is for this reason that the constellation Libra occupies a unique place in the Great Wheel, for it is the energy coming from this constellation which controls what we might call (for lack of a more suitable word) the “hub of the wheel.” This is that point in intermediate space where the twelve zodiacal energies meet and cross. Libra, therefore, controls the “moment of reversal of the wheel” in the life of every aspirant, for there comes a moment in the cycle of lives wherein a point of balance is reached and a relative equilibrium is attained, and over this event Libra presides. Some day it will be of interest to make a scientific research and investigation into the power of balance which Libra wields and a consequent analysis of the effect of Libra in an individual life. It might then be possible to discover whether the particular life in which a man carries forward the process of reversal may not perhaps be one in which the sun is in Leo, with Libra rising. Such statistical studies have not yet been made, but there is much to be done along these lines; I only make suggestions, but it will, I think, be found that this is the case. A proper investigation likewise into the life history of spiritualism and of the mediums associated with it may prove that the majority of the mediums in the world who are of a low grade type or purely trance mediums—negative and usually unintelligent—are born in Cancer with Pisces rising, or in Pisces with Cancer rising. Such studies would necessarily have to deal with hundreds of cases and be carried forward over a long period of time in order to prove the point which I seek to make. It would also be interesting to make an analysis of those particular incarnations and their horoscopes wherein [184] the polar opposites both appear in relation to each other—one as the sun sign and the other as the ascendant, for these lives usually express some degree of either equilibrium or of consummation; they will not in any case be negative lives or lacking in direction, event or purpose. This is particularly the case upon the Fixed Cross of the Heavens.
You will note that my purpose in this section of our treatise is to evoke interest and enquiry and to incite students to scientific, statistical and analytical investigation. Only in this way will my basic premises be proven and eventually substituted for the present unsatisfactory methods—methods which most astrologers who have any real capacity and insight regard as deplorable and unsatisfactory.
The ruler of Sagittarius from the orthodox angle is Jupiter, and from the standpoint of the path of discipleship it is the Earth itself. Mars governs this sign from the standpoint of the Hierarchies involved. The most interesting fact which emerges as we study the Mutable Cross as a whole is connected with the rulers of all the four signs. From the point of view of orthodox astrology, only two planets rule or govern all the four signs; these are Jupiter and Mercury. Mercury governs Gemini and Virgo, whilst Jupiter governs Sagittarius and Pisces. The reason for this is obvious if you study the nature of the rays which express themselves through these signs. Mercury is the agent or the messenger of the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict, whilst Jupiter is the medium for expression of the second Ray of Love-wisdom. These two rays govern the mass of men upon the Mutable Cross and are closely concerned with the mass incarnation of the fourth Creative Hierarchy. Their function is to fuse and blend into one cooperative whole the great dualities expressing themselves through the fourth kingdom in nature. The significance of this will be [185] obvious. It is easily apparent how, through the influences of Mercury and Jupiter, material desire can be transmuted into divine love, and the conflict which is the distinguishing characteristic of the human family can be instrumental in resolving dissonance into harmony. The definite pattern and direction of this process has to take form upon the Mutable Cross before the energies of the Fixed Cross can change the ambitious selfish man into the selfless disciple. All this has perforce to be initiated upon the Mutable Cross which is essentially and significantly the Cross of the mutable, fluidic, restless mind and it is on this Cross that the mind nature is finally developed and begins its integrating control of the personality. When this process is proceeding, the Mutable Cross experience is over and the Cross of Discipleship begins to play its part.
The case is quite different in connection with the subjective side of unfoldment, and esoterically the disciple who finds himself in incarnation under the influence of the Mutable Cross in his personality life whilst he, as a soul, is upon the Fixed Cross, comes under the directed energy of four planets, three of which are non-sacred planets. Usually these four supersede or rather begin to dominate the influence of Mercury and Jupiter, giving greater facility of expression and exerting that influence which will bring the personality into right relation to the soul, for that is essentially the task of the Fixed Cross and the goal of the disciple. It is in connection with the planets governing Sagittarius, exoterically and esoterically, that an idea can easily be gained of the complexity of the forces with which every disciple has to contend and the significance of the ray forces which pour into and through him. Take for example the constellation which we are now considering, and remember that the same basic streams of energy will have to be [186] noted in connection with every other sign in which a man may take incarnation. We find that we shall have to consider:
1. The Sun Sign.—In this case Sagittarius conditions circumstances, indicating inheritance and forcing the environment to be declarative in connection with the subject.
2. The Rising Sign.—The ascendant can be one of the other eleven signs.
3. The Mutable Cross.—The four energies which meet “at the midway point” and have a united and definite effect upon the subject. The same statement applies to the other two Crosses.
4. The Orthodox Planets.—These condition the personality. In this case we have Mercury and Jupiter. The twelve houses governed by the planets are likewise of prime importance from the angle of the transmitted energy.
5. The Esoteric Planets.—These bring in renewed or increased planetary energy and ray energy in a more dynamic manner. In the case of Sagittarius these energies are Venus, the Moon, the Earth and Pluto.
6. The Planetary Ruler of a Hierarchy.—In this particular case, this planet is Mars, ruling the sixth Creative Hierarchy, the lunar Lords (the elementals of the threefold personality) who have to be brought under the control of the solar Lord.
A study of the above will reveal most interesting relationships and prove my point anent the multiplicity of energies to which the wonderful mechanism of man can respond and [187] to which, as evolution proceeds, he can become increasingly sensitive.
I cannot here enter into a detailed analysis of the many energies which pour through the disciple as he arrives at the final stages upon the Mutable Cross, and in Sagittarius achieves the determination to “direct his steps into another way of life and with ardour firm to mount another Cross,” as the Old Commentary puts it. I can only point out that the following ray forces pour onto the man through the medium of the following planets:
Exoteric Mercury–– 4th Ray––– Harmony through Conflict.
Esoteric Venus–––– 5th Ray––– Concrete Science. Mind.
The Moon– 4th Ray––– Harmony through Conflict.
The Earth– 3rd Ray––– Active Intelligence.
Pluto––––– 1st Ray––– Destructive aspect.
Hierarchical Mars––––– 6th Ray––– Devotion. War to the death of the personality or form.
An analysis of this will show that the “forces of conflict” are powerful in this sign, primarily in the life of the disciple. Harmony through Conflict is ceaselessly active and appears in both the orthodox and the esoteric assignments. The destructive power of the first ray, focussed in Pluto, brings change, darkness and death. To this intensity and potency of Pluto must be added the forceful and dynamic energy of the planet Mars. This brings the entire human family, as well as the individual, under the law of strife, based this time upon sixth ray devotion to an ideal, high or low. All these play upon the individual born in the sign of [188] Sagittarius, as well as upon the fourth Creative Hierarchy as a whole. This, you can see for yourself, brings in a terrific situation, and the forces playing upon the disciple are of a momentous nature—provided that the mechanism of awareness is adequate to respond. These forces in all the signs are ever present, but responsiveness and sensitivity to their impact is dependent upon the nature of the response apparatus. Ponder upon this thought, for it is this sensitivity which marks the difference between the disciple and the average man.
These planetary influences are distinctive of the Sons of Mind, of Venusian origin; they are characteristic of the Lords of Sacrifice and Will functioning in time and space as the fourth Creative Hierarchy. The form life is ruled by the Moon, veiling a hidden planet; these Sons of Mind live on the Earth and thus within the body of the planetary Logos, and are of a definitely intelligent nature, making them Lords of Knowledge, achieving their goal through the light of the mind and through the method of conflict, for they are also Lords of Ceaseless and Persevering Devotion. All the above names which are related to the planets governing Sagittarius will be remembered by students of The Secret Doctrine. They are the “quality names” of the Divine Manasaputras, the Agnishvattas who are ourselves.
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