Esoteric Astrology

by Alice A Bailey

  This final judgment, as far as this planetary cycle is concerned, will take place in the next great world cycle and by that time two-thirds of the human race will have unfolded the Christ principle in one or other of the various stages of unfoldment and be upon one of the final stages of the path of evolution; they will be either probationary or accepted disciples or upon the Path of Initiation. Eventually, in some mysterious way, there will be only ten signs of the zodiac again; Aries and Pisces will form one sign, for “the end is as the beginning.” This dual and blended sign is called in some of the ancient books “the sign of the Fish with the head of the Ram.” We shall then have

  1. Aries-Pisces 6. Virgo-Libra

  2. Taurus 7. Scorpio

  3. Gemini 8. Sagittarius

  4. Cancer 9. Capricorn

  5. Leo 10. Aquarius

  Fire and water will then blend, veiling the past which has gone instead of the future as is now the case. Earth and air will then fuse and in this way the old prophecy, repeated in the Bible, that “there shall be no more sea” will be proved correct. Air (heaven) will then have “come down to Earth” and fusion will be established.

  In the cosmic sense then and not in the individual sense, the unfoldment of the cosmic Christ will be manifested for which “the whole creation waits”; thus will come the consummation of desire as a result of dedicated aspiration. [232] Then, and only then, will the “Desire of all nations come” and He for Whom all men wait will appear.

  The history of desire is to be found in the four signs of Taurus, Libra, Scorpio and Pisces.

  1. Taurus the Bull of Desire. Material desire rules.

  (Life.)

  2. Libra the balancing of desire. The opposite objective to desire is the scales or balances.

  (Balance.)

  3. Scorpio the victory of spiritual desire. The soul triumphant.

  (Quality.)

  4. Pisces consummation of divine desire. The “Desire of all nations.” The Cosmic Christ.

  (Appearance.)

  There is therefore the individual experience in Libra of the balanced life wherein experiment is made and the consequent tipping of the Scales in one direction or another until either desire or spiritual aspiration weighs the balances down sufficiently so as to indicate the way that the man must go at the time. There is the experi ence of humanity in Libra in which the same adjustments and experiments are being made, but this time the entire race of men is involved and not just an individual. This group experience, carried out upon the mental plane, will only happen when all men are polarised mentally and will take place and constitute the Judgment day, referred to above. Of this, the “point of crisis” in Libra and the present world situation and needed adjustment is the forerunner; this time the balancing is, however, upon the astral plane and the desires [233] of men are predominantly in a position of casting the deciding factor, whereas in the next great cycle it will be the minds of men which will do the deciding. Today, the foremost men of the age—disciples, aspirants and the intelligentsia—are being tested under the Scorpio experience whilst the masses are in the Scales; the weight of mass desire will turn them either up towards spiritual decision or down towards material and selfish ends.

  It is because of this balancing quality in Libra that this constellation can be associated more specifically with the problem of sex than can any of the others. Sex is usually connected in the mind of the average astrological student with the signs Taurus and Scorpio. This is probably due to the fact that the Bull is so frequently regarded as the symbol of the mad urges of the uncontrolled sex principle and because in Scorpio fundamental tests are applied. For most aspirants in the early stages, sex does constitute a fundamental problem. Esoterically, however, it is in Libra that the whole question comes up and will increasingly come up for answering, and it is in Libra that the balancing of the pairs of opposites must take place and reach solution through the activity of the judicial mind and the establishing of a point of equilibrium between the male and the female principles. This again (for it is a piece of recurrent symbology) is the problem existing basically between the Sheep and the Goats, between negative and positive, and between those who blindly follow either instinct or custom and those who climb freely where they choose and are self-directed in conduct and attitude. This self-direction may lead them in either direction upon the wheel of life, following either selfish desire or spiritual aspiration, but the point to have in mind is that, judicially and with intent and after due reflection and balancing of the various ways, they then [234] do as they will and as seems to them right and desirable. This is of itself of a basic usefulness and thereby they learn; for all action produces results and the judicial mind weighs cause and effect more correctly than any other.

  It is not my intention here to indicate the solution of the problem of sex. Humanity will inevitably work it out as the aeons slip away and as the herd instinct gives place to the premeditated and self-conscious attitudes of the aspirant and the intelligentsia. I would remind you, however, that the herd instinct in relation to sex has its basis either in normal and natural animal instinctual desire or in emotional attitudes, and of these the last category are by far the worst and carry with them by far the more deep-seated seeds of trouble. They range all the way from the stage of free love and a general promiscuity to the orthodox narrow and bigoted Christian angle, as that is normally understood though not in the sense in which Christ viewed life. This narrow viewpoint and the normal Anglo-Saxon attitude (an outcome of the teaching of the Middle Ages) regard sex as unusually sinful, ever undesirable, and as something to be lived down and overcome, and kept secretly in the background of the Christian consciousness, where it is hidden as a prurient mystery. This again is due to the influence of St. Paul but not to the teaching of Christ.

  From these attitudes, there has been a violent reaction which is today at its height and this, in its turn, is both undesirable and dangerous, as are all violent reactions, for the one is as untrue as the other; it is at the centre of the Scales or at the hub of the wheel that the true perspective and indicated action can be seen correctly. When the basic “sex” relation is finally established and soul and body (negative and positive) are permanently related in the lives of the world aspirants, then we shall see the right handling of the [235] world teaching on the subject of physical sex. This teaching will come from the merging and synthesis of the best views of all the spiritually minded teachers in both hemispheres, embodying the experience of the East and of the West, and of the mystical and the scientific approaches to a mystery which is both physical (requiring scientific understanding) and mystical (requiring spiritual interpretation). It will involve the aid and conclusions of the medical profession in order to give the needed wise, physical instruction and the aid also of the cultural knowledge of the yogis of India in connection with the energy flowing through the centres—in this case the sacral centre. Finally, through the intelligent activity of the judicial and legal-minded men of the world, the search for a balanced and desirable point of view will come to an end. Out of the many sexual experiments now going on, the coming generation will arrive at a point of balance and then, as a consequence, they will tip the scales in the desired and desirable direction. Of this there is no question of doubt; there is only the point in time and this will be astrologically determined. Through the legal minds and through right legislation, sex will be seen eventually to be a proper and divine function and will then be safeguarded by right education of the young and the ignorant, and the right action of the young and highly intelligent emerging generation—the children and babies of today.

  The teaching of wrong sexual habits, the example of widespread prostitution (I use this word in connection with men as well as women), the growth of homosexuality (not in its rare physiological forms and predispositions but from the angle of a perverted mentality and an unwholesome imagination, which today lie behind so much of its expression), the narrow-minded Christian inheritance of a “guilt [236] complex”
where sex is concerned, and the heritage of diseased and over-or under-sexed physical bodies, have brought the race to its present chaotic and unintelligent handling of the important problem. The solution will not be found through religious pronouncements, based upon an outworn theory, or through physiological inhibition or legalised license; neither will it come through legislation, inspired by various schools of thought in any community or nation. It will be the result of the united activity of the spiritually minded consciousness, the judicial attitude, the intellectual perception and the steady urge of the evolutionary process. Nothing can prevent the inevitability of the solution and the appearance of desirable attitudes and conditions wherein sex can find right expression.

  Libra, as you know, governs the legal profession and holds the balances between so-called right and wrong, between negative and positive and also between East and West. This last point of adjustment may seem to you to be a meaningless phrase, but when the true and right relationship is established between the orient and the occident (which is not yet the case) it will come about through the activity of Libra and the work of the legal profession.

  Libra has been the “sponsor of the law.” Legislation has hitherto been engrossed with the enforcing of those negations and those attitudes of fear which have been preserved for us in the Mosaic code and imposed through the medium of punishment for infringement. This has been a probably necessary stage for child races and for the preservation of a “nursery regime” for men. But mankind is reaching maturity and a different interpretation of the purposes and intents of Libra through the medium of law is now required. The law must become the custodian of a positive righteousness and not simply the instrument of enforcement. [237] Just as we are attempting to eliminate force out of our national relationships, and just as it is obvious today that the process of drastic penalties has not succeeded in preventing crime or in deterring people from violent selfishness (for that is what all crime is), and just as the social attitude (in contradistinction to the anti-social position of all law-breakers) is being regarded as desirable and taught in our schools, so it is beginning to dawn upon the public consciousness that the inculcation of right relations and the spread of self-control and the growth of unselfishness (and these surely are the goal, subjective and oft unrealised, of all legal procedure) are the needed approach to the young.

  The influence of Libra should be imposed in childhood along spiritual lines. Crime will be stamped out when the environing conditions in which children live are bettered, when physical attention is given in the early formative years to glandular balance as well as to teeth and eyes and ears, to right posture and correct feeding, and when there is also a more proper apportionment of time; when esoteric psychology and esoteric astrology give their contribution of knowledge to the bringing up of young people. The old methods must give way to the new and the conservative attitude must be dropped in favour of religious, psychic and physical training and experiment, scientifically applied and mystically motivated. When I say religious, I do not refer to doctrinal or theological teaching. I mean the cultivation of those attitudes and conditions which will evoke reality in man, bring the inner spiritual man to the foreground of consciousness and thus produce the recognition of God Immanent.

  I must write no more along these lines. I have enlarged somewhat upon sex and the judicial system as they are both [238] ruled and conditioned by Libra and this will be increasingly the case. The subject is too vast and too important for me to do more than indicate lines of approach. A cursory handling of the problem is of no real usefulness. In this transition period through which the world is now passing and in this interlude between two activities—that of the Piscean Age which is passing and that of Aquarius which is coming in—Libra will eventually rule, and the end of this century will see the influence of Libra steadily coming into pronounced control and into a position of power in the planetary horoscope. There is, therefore, no need for real anxiety.

  A certain relationship or configuration of stars—of which one is the star Regulus, in Leo—will bring about a situation wherein the re-orientation of the attitude of the legal profession will take place; its functions and duties will be centralised for the purpose of world usefulness, and in this process legislation for children will assume great importance and be the motivating power. This legal step will be primarily advocated by Russia and endorsed by the United States of America. Before 2035 A.D. such legislation will be universal in its sphere of influence and control.

  All this will come about because Libra rules the present interlude and might be regarded as “the master of no-man's land,” as one of the Masters of the Wisdom called it lately.

  A study of The Bhagavad Gita and of Arjuna's problem when he sat down in despair between the two opposing armies will be found most illuminating in connection with Libra. The great battle which is related in that ancient scripture of India really took place in the first instance in mid-Atlantean days and in the sign Libra. The major conflict of this present, Aryan period is being waged upon a higher turn of the spiral and is under the influence of Scorpio. [239] That in the past prepared the world probationary disciple, humanity, for the path of true discipleship. That in the present is preparing the world disciple to take initiation. During the vast interim between the Atlantean decisive happening and the present time, a great re-orientation upon the wheel of life has taken place; since then, several million men have passed from Scorpio into Libra (symbolically speaking) and there have been “weighed in the balances” and have afterwards refocussed their desire life towards spiritual aspiration and reinforced their determination to move forward and thus have returned into Scorpio upon the reversing wheel. Ponder upon this thought, for this constitutes the real problem for the masses of intelligent men at this time.

  As you already know, Libra is one of the four arms of the Cardinal Cross. This accounts for our difficulty in understanding the real nature of its influence. The significance of the energies working out into our solar system through the medium of the four arms of this Cross, or from the four constellations, Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, can be summed up in the four words: Creation, Manifestation, Legislation and Initiation. Having given you these words, their very scope and meaning make it hard for you to understand.

  Cosmically, they mean the activity of Deity when spirit and matter are brought into a definite relationship and, under divine purpose, produce that fusion of living energies which will be adequately potent in time and space to bring that purpose to its desired consummation. This is Creation, or Aries in activity. They mean also the objective appearing of the thoughtform which God has thus created and in which is embodied His desire, His will, His purpose and His plan. This is Manifestation, or Cancer in activity. They mean again the working out of the plan under [240] spiritual and natural law which is evolutionary in expression; this is the goal of evolution and its expression and is steadily revealing the nature of God, for the laws under which this solar system of ours is governed are expressions of God's quality and character. This is Legislation, or Libra in activity. They mean, finally, the processes of initiation wherein, step by step and stage by stage, under law and through the method of gained experience whilst in manifestation, the creative plan is realised in consciousness. The unfoldment of the plan is thus carried forward through a progressed series of beginnings, of manifestations, and of consummations—all relative in nature but leading to an absolute consummation. This is Initiation, or activity in Capricorn. All this is on a somewhat vast and incomprehensible scale as far as the human understanding is concerned.

  But consciousness and understanding of the larger purpose which lies behind the more exoteric intent of the unfoldment of the consciousness in this solar system, in the planet and in man, has to be grasped eventually towards the final stages of the evolutionary process. When this understanding unfolds, then man becomes an initiate, vacates his position upon the Fixed Cross and begins the relatively slow process of mounting the Cardinal Cross. Then he be
comes a cooperator in the great creative process and purpose. He begins to create his own body of expression upon the Cardinal Cross and the impulse of Aries begins to appear to him. As yet he understands it not. He manifests consciously in the world that which he intends to carry forward and Cancer then reveals to him its secret. He becomes his own legislator, ruling his conduct wisely, controlling his impulses intellectually and then Libra enables him to balance the material and the spiritual law. When he has done all this, [241] he discovers himself ready to enter into new and deeper experiments (should I call them experiences?) and as a participator in the divine plan and as a cooperator in the divine purpose, he then becomes his own initiator and is thus ready to take initiation. Such are the paradoxes of the spiritual life. But the secret of the Cardinal Cross is revealed only to the man who has mounted the Fixed Cross and gone through its fourfold experience. It is not possible to say more than what I have said.

  Libra is an air sign; there are three air signs in the zodiac and their inter-relation makes a most interesting study and well worth the close investigation of the student as are all these major triplicities. Each of these signs is to he found in one or other of the three Crosses:

  1. Gemini, the Twins . . . . . . . . . . Mutable Cross . . . . . . Duality.

  2. Libra, the Balances . . . . . . . . . Cardinal Cross . . . . . Equilibrium.

  3. Aquarius, the Water-Carrier . . . Fixed Cross . . . . . . . . Initiation.

  These three, therefore, stand for duality—sensed, overcome and resolved into the synthesis of the great World Server, identified with the Heavenly Man and bringing his contribution, wrested in his experience upon the wheel of life from the sum total of energy, to the service of the Whole. Forget not that initiation is but another name for synthesis and fusion.

  From another angle, you have: