“Upon the golden triangle, the cosmic Christ appeared; His head in Gemini; one foot upon the field [349] of the Seven Fathers and the other planted in the field of the Seven Mothers (these two constellations are sometimes called the Seven Brothers and the Seven Sisters. A.A.B.). Thus for aeons, the Great One stood, His consciousness inturned, aware of three but not of four. Intent, with suddenness, He heard a sound go forth.... Arousing to that cry, He stretched Himself, reached forth both arms in understanding love, and, lo, the Cross was formed.
“He heard the cry of the Mother (Virgo), of the Seeker (Sagittarius), and of the submerged Fish (Pisces). Then, lo, the Cross of change appeared, though Gemini remained the head. This is the mystery.”
In this occult statement is hidden one reason why Gemini is regarded as an air sign, for it is cosmically related (as are Libra and Aquarius, the other two points of the airy triplicity) in a most peculiar way to the Great Bear, to the Pleiades and to Sirius. The relation is essentially a sixfold one, and here you will find a hint as to the resolution of the pairs of opposites—involving as these three constellations do the three ideas of opposition-equilibrium-synthesis or universal fusion. It might be stated that:
1. Gemini—forms a point of entrance for cosmic energy from Sirius.
2. Libra—is related to and transmits the potencies of the Pleiades.
3. Aquarius—expresses the universal consciousness of the Great Bear.
It might be profitable to you to bear in mind at this point what I have often told you, that the great White Lodge on [350] Sirius is the spiritual prototype of the great White Lodge on Earth, of which modern Masonry is the distorted reflection, just as the personality is a distorted reflection of the soul. I would also remind you again of the relation between Gemini and Masonry to which reference has frequently been made.
A close consideration of what I have said above will serve to emphasise in your consciousness the importance of this constellation, Gemini, and the inner significance of the Mutable Cross. All the constellations on this Cross mark points of change or are the custodians of those energies which produce the needed periods of re-orientation, preparatory to fresh developments and new activities. It might be of interest if I pointed out that:
1. The Mutable Cross—brings about those conditions which will produce great periods of change in the life of the planet, of a kingdom in nature or of a human being. Mercury plays a part in this.
2. The Fixed Cross—brings about, as a sequence, to these inner changes, certain great points of crisis which are unavoidable and present definite opportunity. Saturn is dominant in bringing this about.
3. The Cardinal Cross—is responsible for bringing about certain great points of synthesis, as a consequence of both change and crisis. Jupiter is responsible for the focussing of energies at this point.
I will enlarge upon this later, but the above will give you (even in this brief form) certain positive ideas of great importance, and will indicate certain situations which can be looked for in the lives of those whose Sun is in one or other of these signs and on one or other of these Crosses.
[351] In the expression of the activity of this sign of duality, it is subjective energy we must consider as it produces objective effects. This sign controls esoterically the heart of our solar system and thus controls the pulsation of life which sustains all that is. Gemini is, therefore, connected with the heart of the Sun, just as Cancer is related to the physical Sun and Aquarius to the central spiritual Sun. Here again, you have a significant triangle of a cosmic nature, the energies of which are focussed through the three aspects of the Sun in a most mysterious fashion:
1. Cancer . . . physical Sun . . . . . . . 3rd aspect . . . intelligent activity of the Whole.
2. Gemini . . . heart of the Sun . . . . . 2nd aspect . . . love of the Whole.
3. Aquarius . . central spiritual Sun. . 1st aspect . . . the will of the Whole.
Through these signs the three major aspects of divinity are at this time focussed. In casting the horoscope of the planet (a thing that has never yet been accurately done, owing to the lack of data available to the exoteric astrologer) it is the influence of these three constellations which will be found of dominating importance. In Cancer, you have the intelligent synthetic consciousness of the mass, viewing it from the consciousness of matter itself and the awareness of all forms and atoms; in Gemini, you have an emerging recognition of duality, leading to experience and growth in all separative intelligent forms; in Aquarius, you have the results of the activity of Cancer and Gemini, producing a higher synthesis and a universal group awareness. This the intelligent student can trace with moderate facility in relation to humanity, but it applies equally to all forms in all kingdoms of nature and also to planetary and solar expression. The proved reality of this is one of the developments of the initiatory process at the end of the long, long path [352] of evolution. Attraction and repulsion are therefore conditioning factors in our solar life, and this conditioning reaches us through Gemini. It is the effect of a cosmic energy at present unknown to humanity. The waxing and the waning light which distinguishes soul experience from the first faint move towards incarnation and Earth experience, the rise and fall of civilisations and the growth and unfoldment of all cyclic manifestations are produced by the “interplay between the two brothers,” as it is called. In that far-off time when the greater round of the zodiac was started in Gemini, as now it is in Pisces, there was a relation between the waxing and the waning moon, due to the pulsating power of Gemini. This is now greatly lessened, owing to the removal of the responsive life from the Moon, but the rhythm then set up still remains, producing the same basic illusion. I am talking here in terms of ancient facts and not in terms of reflection, as is now the case. I refer to realities and not to shadows.
Gemini, as you may now begin to grasp, is related to the etheric body; it is the custodian of conditioning energy and the intermediary, as far as basic essentials are concerned, between soul and body. These are the two allied brothers. In the average person, the etheric vehicle is the transmitter of psychic energy, galvanising and coordinating the dense physical body and permitting, therefore, astral and mental control of the personality. When the man is upon the Path of Discipleship and, therefore, upon the reversed wheel, leading to initiation, the etheric body becomes the transmitter of soul energy and not of personality force; the powerful effect of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom—working through the subjective six rays, according to ray type—begins steadily to dominate the vital body, producing consequently the shift of force and of intensity to the [353] centres above the diaphragm. The power of the personality lessens and wanes whilst that of the soul waxes and grows. There is much to be learned from the study of the dual activity—higher and lower—of the etheric body and its relation to and responsiveness to the constellation, Gemini, but it is too abstruse for the ordinary student. It is nevertheless an esoteric fact to be borne in mind and will be some day of real service to the astrology of the future, for some day astrology will be lifted up to a higher plane. True interpretation will come and true healing in all departments of human living through a proper understanding of the available potencies and energies pouring into the planet at any particular time.
We come now to a consideration of the Rulers of this sign and there is much to be learnt from a study of them. The orthodox ruler is Mercury who, as the Messenger of the Gods or the “divine Intermediary, carries messages between the poles with speed and light.” In this most potent and important planet the idea of duality is again to he found, enhancing and enhanced by the influence of Gemini. Mercury is the expression of the dual aspect of the mind as it mediates between the higher and the lower. This mediation again falls into two stages: the use of the concrete mind as the mediator within the personality, conditioning the personality life, analysing and distinguishing between the human self and the not-self and emphasising the “me and thou” consciousness as well as that of the personality and its environment. Secondl
y, it carries the messages between the soul and the brain and establishes right relation between the lower self and the higher self; it is, therefore, the illumined mind, relating soul and personality. This process of the higher relationship is carried forward with rapidity upon the Path of Discipleship. There is a third [354] aspect of Mercury which begins to function when the other two are perfected or in process of rapid perfecting. Mercury, in this case, is the abstract mind—removed from all form contact as we understand it—and relates soul and spirit, and this again in two stages. Mercury is the revealer of the Spiritual Triad (atma-buddhi-manas or spiritual will, spiritual love and the higher mind) to the soul, and this carries the disciples to the stage of the third initiation. It is then the revealer of the life aspect during the processes of the higher initiations, but upon these it is not necessary for us to enlarge.
In a peculiar way, therefore, Mercury increases in the Gemini subject the latent sense of duality in its various stages and also the sense of distinction, leading to that mental agility and that fluidity of mind which is one of the major assets as well as one of the major difficulties of this sign. This agility has, however, to be rightly understood and handled. When there is facility of mental approach in any direction and in connection with the many opposites in manifestation, you have the emergence of the divine Messenger in his true character, able to comprehend extremes and to relate them divinely to each other. Gemini is pre-eminently the sign of the messenger, and this sign produces many of the messengers of God as they appear down the ages, the revealers of new divine truths and the intermediaries between the fourth and fifth kingdoms.
It is for this reason that you have the exoteric ruler given as Mercury and the esoteric ruler as Venus, for they embody between them the energies of the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict and the fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge or Science which is embryonic understanding of causes and conditions resulting therefrom and also of the Plan.
Again you find the note of duality in the relationship [355] (established by the activity of these two rulers) between the third kingdom of nature, the animal kingdom and the kingdom of God or of souls, the fifth kingdom in nature, thus producing the fourth or human kingdom. Between these two the influences play from Sagittarius to Gemini and vice versa. It was the activity of Venus—under the influence of Gemini—which produced the great crisis of the individualisation when the two kingdoms “approached” each other. Venus, Mercury and the Earth then set up a magnetic field which made the intervention of the Great Lodge on Sirius and the dual stimulation of Gemini effective in producing significant results of which the fourth kingdom in nature is the expression. The fact that Gemini is the third sign and embodies what is called “a third potency” enabled it to reach, with its force, the third kingdom and produce that reaction which resulted in the individualising or the humanising of its higher forms of life. You will note that Venus is also the hierarchical ruler of Capricorn, thus showing the power of the mind and its place and purpose in connection with both the major human crises: Individualisation and Initiation. It relates humanity in an unique way to Gemini. In the coming world religion this fact will be noted and in the month of June, which is essentially the month in which the influences of Gemini are peculiarly strong, due advantage will be taken in order to bring man nearer to the spiritual realities. Just as Venus was potent in producing the relation of such pairs of opposites as the fifth kingdom of souls and the third kingdom (the synthesis of the sub-human kingdoms) leading to a Great Approach between soul and form, so in the new world religion this fact will be recognised. Appeal will be made to the Forces which can utilise this planetary potency in order to work out the divine plan upon the Earth. It is because Venus thus [356] relates certain pairs of opposites that she has been erroneously connected in the minds of men with sex and the sex life and with the relation of the physical opposites, male and female.
It is interesting to discover that the hierarchical ruler of Gemini is the Earth itself, which is a non-sacred planet. The Earth is also the esoteric ruler of Sagittarius, the polar opposite of Gemini. These are the only two constellations ruled by the Earth, and this fact is of major significance, creating an unusual situation in the solar system and a unique relation. The cosmic line of force from Gemini to Sagittarius and the reverse is subjectively and esoterically related to our Earth, thus guaranteeing its soul development, the unfoldment of form as an expression of that soul, and leading our sorrowful humanity upon this woeful planet inevitably to the very gate of initiation in Capricorn.
In this statement and in the fact of the pain and sorrow which are distinguishing qualities of our planetary life lies hid a secret mystery.
Through this relationship and through the medium of the potencies pouring into our planet, a situation is set up which I might express in the words of the Old Commentary:
“When the dual forces of the cosmic brothers (Gemini) become the energy of the one who rides towards the light (Sagittarius) then the fourth becomes the fifth. Humanity, the link, becomes the Hierarchy, the bestower of all good. Then all the Sons of God rejoice.”
A slight study will show you that you have in these three rulers a most interesting sequence of forces, for Rays 3, 4, and 5 produce a synthesis of activity and of [357] eager potencies which are essential for the development of humanity. In this world cycle and for humanity as it is now constituted you have:
1. Ray 3.—Active Intelligence, under the influence of this third sign, Gemini, slowly conditioning the etheric body.
2. Ray 4.—Harmony through Conflict, under the influence of Gemini-Sagittarius, staging those situations upon the astral plane which will produce the conflict in the astral body which is essential to the final treading of the burning ground and subsequent release.
3. Ray 5.—Concrete Knowledge or Science, under the influence of Capricorn, focussed through Venus, which will enable the man to take initiation.
These three energies, focussed through the three planets governing Gemini, are essentially dedicated to the development of the fourth kingdom in nature and are polarised in the Earth, itself one of the rulers.
Mercury, the star of conflict, is also the major planet of relationships, for it governs and “engineers” (if I may use such a term) the interplay between our Earth with its conditioning constellations. In the case of Gemini, it relates our small planet to Virgo (Mutable Cross), to Aries (Cardinal Cross) and to Scorpio (Fixed Cross), and its mission, therefore, emerges as one of supreme importance. Through the medium of this inter-relation and consequent intercourse, the three cosmic Crosses become closely related and, in Gemini, certain of the fundamental zodiacal influences—synthesised and coordinated—are focussed upon our planet. This produces strain, action and reaction, and that condition of potent struggle and of difficulty which is so characteristic of our planetary life, but which produces eventually the awakening of humanity to full planetary consciousness, [358] and, in the case of the planetary Logos, to full cosmic consciousness.
This effect is most powerful in Gemini owing to the fact that the two arms of the Mutable Cross are thus related, and the result of the activity of Mercury as it rules Gemini is to produce a steady pull between the pairs of opposites; in Virgo it produces that interior struggle between the exoteric not-self and the esoteric self, between the form-consciousness (planetary, human and subhuman) and the soul within all forms. In considering this subject you will have to consider the following astrological formations:
1. Gemini . . . . . . . . . . . Virgo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mercury.
The Earth
2. Gemini . . . . . . . . . . . Aries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mercury.
The Earth
3. Gemini . . . . . . . . . . . Scorpio . . . . . . . . . . . . Mercury.
The Earth
The importance of these triple formations being based on the fact that they are conditioning triangles, with the energies of two constellations focussed through Mercury upon the Earth, i.e.
The potencies of Gemini-Aries, instilled into our planetary life via Mercury, focus the energy of the conditioning will-to-be upon the Earth, producing initial beginnings [359] as in incarnation, or initiation, or the start of organisation as well as organisms. It should be remembered that there is the will-to-be in form and the will-to-be free from form, but all these aspects of will are achieved through conflict and interplay of which energy both Gemini and Mercury are the eternal symbols.
Mercury, as it relates Gemini to Scorpio and to our planet, has a mass or general effect, for it is the hierarchical ruler of Scorpio and its effect is of a planetary nature far more than is usually the case, and is, therefore, far more difficult to trace at our present point of planetary development and human consciousness. Its true significance will not be understood until the consciousness of individual man is also planetary in its scope and grasp, which is never the case until after the third initiation. I have here emphasised two of these relationships between the constellations and the Earth even though it is not possible for you to grasp the implications. So often in our studies, one is apt to forget that it is not possible for any unit of consciousness, within the planetary sphere of influence, to conceive of conditions as they exist apart from the Earth because that small planet is inevitably for that unit the very centre of his known universe and—under the Great Illusion—the constellations with their rulers and with their prototypal counterparts revolve around the Earth. When man has progressed further and his consciousness is beginning to awaken to reality, the nature of this illusion will become apparent to him, but at present this is not possible. Even theoretically it is not possible. Study, for instance, what I can still further add as to the influence of these related constellations and see whether it truly conveys to you any exact knowledge beyond a general idea of focussed energies and related forces. Let me, therefore, add:
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