Esoteric Astrology
Page 55
2. The twelve constellations of the zodiac, each with its own inter-relations, peculiar to its own integral Life, form—each of them—part of a triangle of energies. Each of these triangles is a unit in itself but in conjunction with the other triangles forms part of that major quaternary which is the cosmic analogy of the quaternary of the One Life—soul and the dual psychic nature, called in some of the esoteric books kama-manas, plus the vital nature. These four are the expression of the One Ineffable Cause.
3. Our solar system (of supreme unimportance) is yet a part of the sevenfold appearance of that same Essential Cause. As you know, from a study of The Secret Doctrine, our solar system is a tiny reflection or replica of the 1, the 3, the 7, the 12. Because of that innate, inherent correspondence, it has within itself the capacity to respond to the energies emanating from this fountainhead of light and will. More than this I may not say, because the entire theme is too vast for human thinking, with its limitations of consciousness and its inadequacy of language. But even a dim perception of that vast aggregation of intelligent Forces and this immense concatenation of stupendous, divine “Intentions” will serve to bring into clearer light, the realisation that our solar system (and consequently our planet) is a part of this vast whole, kept alive by its “grace,” [609] fused by its will, and preserved by its “Intention.” Because these Forces are, we are; because They persist, we persist; because They move in form, in space, in time, we do the same.
4. Cosmic Energies and Transformation.
Let us now briefly get an idea of this stream of energies as they move outward into space from Ursa Major, as they are transmitted, through certain zodiacal constellations to our solar system and thence, via the Sun to the seven sacred planets. These produce what are called “transformations” on our non-sacred planet, the Earth, bringing it increasingly into line with the will aspect of divinity. You have in reality the following explanatory diagram, which may make the whole process somewhat clearer to you:
DIAGRAM THREE
This is the only way that I can give you an idea of the distribution of energies, their limitation within the bounds of the zodiac, and their focussing within the periphery of [610] our solar system. Let me make it more specific as regards one of the rays and its triangular relationships as given in Tabulation X:
DIAGRAM FOUR
a. The Earth being itself one of the five non-sacred planets, only four are listed as among the transfiguring agents.
b. The darkened planets indicate the transmitting agents of the Forces, passed through the transformation process by the Sun.
c. The Sun and Moon are listed among the non-sacred planets as they are, in this instance, blinds or veils.
d. The origin of the hour glass is to be found in this diagram of the inflowing energies.
e. The above diagram can be used in connection with any of the seven rays, but will involve:
1. The use of other transmitting agents in the form of the appropriate three zodiacal constellations and their rulers. [611]
2. The indicating of planets, different to those involved in the inflow of first ray energy.
f. The key to the whole process as far as the Earth is concerned—and the individual on the Earth—is to be found in the words:
Transcending.—The transcending cause.
Transmitting.—The zodiacal constellations.
Transforming.—The Sun. The Soul.
Transfiguring.—The planets.
To these I might add one word in connection with the Earth and its humanity which is allied to all the above.
DIAGRAM FIVE
This word is Translated, for when the “souls of just men are made perfect,” a process of translation takes place which [612] lifts humanity off and away from the planet on to one or other of the seven cosmic Paths to which our seven initiations form the entering doors.
In connection with the human individual and his progress and initiation or translation from one state of consciousness to another, there is to be found a small replica of the above:
a. The soul of man receives from all three major planetary centres or groups.
b. The darkened spots indicate awakened, alert centres.
c. The diagram indicates the “interior light chart” of an advanced aspirant on the verge of discipleship.
The whole story of extension from the One into the Many and of the Many into the One is contained in these macrocosmic and microcosmic diagrams.
Let us now take each of the seven Rays and see how they embody and transmit the three aspects of the will, via three constellations and their rulers, to our Earth. We enter here into the realm of causes and are dealing with those transcendent purposes, incentives, urges and objectives of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being. This great Life, the Ancient of Days, the Lord of the world, Sanat Kumara, the Eternal Youth, the planetary Logos—His many names are of relative unimportance—is the only Existence upon our planet Who is capable of responding to and carrying out the objectives of the solar Logos. He, in His turn, is the only one in our solar system capable of responding to the sevenfold Emanating Cause, expressing Itself through the Great Bear or Ursa Major. We will, however, deal with the psychological aspects of the emanations of the seven Rays which embody the will-to-good. [613]
RAY I. Will or Power: Aries,
Leo . . . . . working through the medium of the four planets: Mars, Mercury, the Sun, Saturn.
Capricorn.
This is the will which lies behind all initiatory activity, that is,
a. The initiation of the previous stages of creation.
b. The initiation of the urge to evolve, proceed, progress.
c. The initiation of the differentiating process in order to produce.
These are all expressions or effects of the activity of the ray energy and all can be best summed up in the thought of a dynamic “entering into”—by an act of the focussed will—a new state of consciousness. This leads inevitably to a new realisation of being. In this statement, you have one of the basic definitions of initiation as far as the initiation of a human being is concerned. These are dim reflections of the dynamic processes to which the One Life subjects Itself as it enters into the dualistic condition of spirit-matter. The will here referred to lies behind the dualism and is analogous to the reception and focussing of an initial idea as it enters into the mind of a creative, advanced human being, his thought processes and his achievements. Some understanding of this will come if the disciple will consider what fixed aspiration, a vision of the goal and a determination to follow the will-to-good has effected in his life. Beyond this realisation, he cannot go, but it holds for him the cosmic seed of understanding.
It is necessary to remember that on the Path of Initiation, the whole training process is turned towards the evolution of the will and this is possible because behind the development of love lies the revelation of the will. It is rightly [614] taught that man’s immediate goal is the unfoldment (into full expression) of the love nature. This begins to take place and reaches a relatively high stage of unfoldment upon the Path of Discipleship. The detail of the process in a broad and general sense might be stated as follows:
1. Path of Evolution and Probation.
a. Unfoldment of intellect and of sensory perception.
b. Response to the centre called Humanity.
c. The mind takes control. Personality functions.
2. Path of Discipleship.
a. Unfoldment of the love nature.
b. Achievement of illumination.
c. Response to the centre called the Hierarchy.
d. Buddhi or the intuition is in control. The soul functions.
3. Path of Initiation.
a. Unfoldment of the will.
b. Achievement of synthesis.
c. Response to the centre called Shamballa.
d. Dynamic Purpose in control. The will-to-good. The Monad functions.
This covers familiar ground for all of you but in the effort t
o achieve a vision of the whole, constant repetition has its place. We are now concerned with the third stage of the evolutionary process, carried forward upon the Path of Initiation and entered into (as far as humanity is concerned) at the third initiation, and consummated at the seventh initiation—an initiation far more easily reached by people upon the first Ray than on any of the others.
This—as far as you can at this time grasp—concerns primarily the creative will as it: [615]
1. Initiates manifestation, and conditions that which is created.
2. Brings about eventual fulfilment.
3. Overcomes death or differentiation.
All initiates must and eventually do express dynamic, creative will, a focussed purpose which expresses only the will-to-good and also that sustained effort which brings fulfilment. I would remind you here that sustained effort is the seed of synthesis, the cause of achievement and that which finally overcomes death. Death is really deterioration in time and space and is due to the tendency of matter-spirit to isolate itself, whilst in manifestation (from the standpoint of consciousness). This sustained effort of the Logos is what keeps all forms in manifestation and preserves even the life aspect as the integrating factor in form building and—which is equally an act of the sustaining will—can abstract or withdraw the life consciousness intact at the close of a cycle of manifestation. Death and limitation are synonymous terms. When the consciousness is focussed in form and identified entirely with the principle of limitation, it regards freedom from form life as death; but, as evolution proceeds, the consciousness shifts increasingly into awareness of that which is not form and into the realm of that which is transcendent or into the world of the abstract, i.e., into that which is abstracted from form and focussed in itself. This, by the way is a definition of meditation from the angle of goal and achievement. A man can truly meditate when he begins to use the mind, the reflection of the will aspect, and employs it in its three aspects: as initiating his entrance into the world of souls, as conditioning his personality life and as enforcing and eventually bringing about a full expression of soul purpose. This results [616] in the complete overcoming of death. I am bringing this whole concept down into terms of the microcosm even though it will be obvious that only the pledged disciple in preparation for initiation can begin to grasp some of the significant implications.
Perhaps I can best sum up the keynote of the first Ray of Will or Power, as it seeks expression as dynamic purpose on Earth and in relation to the human being, by quoting or paraphrasing the Old Commentary.
“The Transcendent One, the Life, the Whole, the All entered into communion with Itself and by this act became a vital point of life and focussed power.
I am and I am not. Greater than This is That; smaller than That is This. But That must show to This the nature of the whole, and showing prove itself unto Itself.
I, the beginning am. I am the outward and the inward Way and back into the point of concentration and from the point I turn again unto Myself, carrying within my heart of love that which I, the One, have served and that for which I sacrifice Myself.”
In the process of sacrifice, that which is the sustaining Whole, the inner core of all life and the principle of integration, realises within Itself the following stages in consciousness:
1. It knows Itself as the transcending will, the will which sees the entire process from the point of initiation, but which limits itself to the gradual expression of that will on account of the limitations of those aspects of Itself [617] whose consciousness is not that of the Whole. That which initiates, sees the end from the beginning and works towards the goal in progressive stages, not for Itself but for those aspects which are still limited, unaware, blind and unseeing and unreasoning.
2. It knows Itself as the transmitting will, working from the point of synthesis, stepping down the energies distributed, in line with the creative, evolutionary plan. This, the Life of our planet, carried forward in three major stages, particularly from the consciousness angle; that is via Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity. From thence the transmitting Life moves outward into all the other kingdoms of nature. Each great centre is, therefore, a transmitting agency. The fourth Creative Hierarchy, the human Kingdom, is the agent through which eventually the energies of Shamballa and of the Hierarchy will be focussed for the redeeming of the life of all the sub-human kingdoms. This can only take place when humanity can work with the focussed will, engendered by the life of Shamballa, inspired by love, fostered by the Hierarchy and expressed through the intellect which humanity itself has developed—all of these used dynamically and consciously under the pressure of that which is higher and greater than Shamballa itself.
3. It knows Itself as the transforming will or that sustained, applied process which brings about the needed mutations and changes through the action of the constant incentive of the will-to-good. Yet at the same time it is not identified in any way with the process. These mutations, producing transformation of the One into the Many and later in time and space of the Many into the One are carried forward from a point of [618] focussed, dynamic will, the “Point in the Centre” which changes not but remains ever immovably subject to its own inherent purpose.
When the disciple or the initiate can stand also at the centre as the transforming will, he can then bring about the needed changes in the form nature without identifying himself with it or being himself affected by the changes. This may serve to make my meaning clear.
4. It knows Itself as the transfiguring will. This transfiguration is the fulfilment of purpose and the final expression of synthesis brought about by the sustaining will-to-good of the transcending, transmitting, transforming will.
Students would do well to shift their eyes off the goal of transfiguration (achieved at the third initiation and increasingly present at each previous initiation) and pay more attention to the recognition of that in them which “having pervaded their little universe with a fragment of itself remains.” They will then have anchored their consciousness in the centre of transcending power and guaranteed the flow of the will-to-achieve. From that high point in consciousness (imaginatively reached at first and practically achieved later) they would find it useful to work at the process of transmission, knowing themselves to be agents for the transmission of the will-to-good of the Transcendent One. They should next pass on to the stage of transformation wherein they would visualise and expect to see developed the needed transformation carried forward in their lives; then—equally expectant—they should believe in the transfiguration of those lives in line with the will of the [619] Transcendent One, the success of the Transmitting One, and the activity of the Transforming One—all of Whom are but the One, the Monad, the Self. All this is done by the use of the will, conditioning, fulfilling and overcoming.
To return to our theme of the greater Whole, leaving behind us for a minute the efforts of the microcosm to comprehend the Macrocosm, let us consider the relation of the three constellations in the task of expressing Ray One:
1. ARIES is the constellation through which initiating conditions will stream into our solar system. It embodies the will-to-create that which will express the will-to-good. It is the monadic ray of our planetary Logos, Whose Soul ray is the second and the personality ray the third. You can note here, therefore, how the transmitting ray of our planetary Logos is the first; and hence the place which the will plays in our human evolutionary process; His transforming ray is the second and that eventually brings transfiguration through the medium of the third and in this combination you have the reason why, in the evolution of the will aspect, you have the influence of Mars and Mercury—the one bringing conflict and the death of the form and the other bringing illumination and the development of the intuition as a result of that conflict and death. New cycles of Being and of consciousness are initiated by conflict. Such seems as yet to be the law of life and the governing factor in evolution. If, however, the result of this initiating, energising will is to produce such beneficent
effects of intuitive understanding and the activity of Mercury as the messenger of the Gods, it can be seen how truly through conflict the will-to-good can be wrought out.
2. LEO. This is the constellation through which the will-to-fulfilment or to achievement pours into humanity and on to the planet. It is essentially the spirit of self-determination. [620] It is at first the determination of the little self, the personality, the self-conscious individual. It is next the determination of the Self, the soul, the group conscious individual, aware of the greater Whole and of itself as the part, integrated and basically at-one.
This will-to-good (achieved through fulfilment) works out in relation to the human being through the medium of three climaxes:
1. The will-to-good, demonstrated by the achieving of self-consciousness. This is the first stage of completed, divine fulfilment. It connotes body, appearance. It is the expression of the third aspect.
2. The will-to-good, demonstrated at the third initiation when self-consciousness gives place to group consciousness. This is the second stage of divine fulfilment. It connotes soul, quality. It is the expression of the second aspect.
3. The will-to-good, demonstrated in the higher initiations when God-consciousness is achieved. This is the third stage of divine fulfilment. It connotes Monad, Life. It is the expression of the first aspect.