In the sweep of the zodiac there are four signs which are
signs of birth, of beginning and of renewed cyclic realization.
- Aries, the "birthplace of divine Ideas," whether these ideas are souls
brought into incarnation and controlled by Mars until they reach the point of
reorientation and become sensitive to the influence of Mercury, or whether they are the
birth of the ideas of God in the form of the hierarchical plans to which the initiate
becomes sensitive.
- Cancer, the "birthplace into the life of form," the door into physical
incarnation. This is the sign in which humanity, as a whole integrated unit, is born, the
scene of the emergence of the fourth kingdom in nature. Humanity has "emerged from
rock and water and brings its habitation with it" (as the Old Commentary expresses
it) and mass instinctual consciousness comes into being. Note that phrase.
- Leo, the "birthplace of the individual," the coming into form of
individual self-conscious man who emerges out of the mass and herd in Cancer,
substituting, for instinctual consciousness, self-awareness and a sense of responsibility
of an individual kind.
- Capricorn, the "birthplace of the Christ," the place of the
"second birth" and the scene for the emergence of [103] the fifth kingdom in
nature when the right time comes. In this sign, the initiate comes into a spiritual
awareness which demonstrates later in Aquarius and in Pisces as man, the world worker, and
man, the world savior - both of them with a universal mission.
It is from hints such as these that the astrologer of the future will determine the
type of horoscope which should be cast. Two questions will then arise, requiring reasoned
answers:
- Is the subject a personality, progressing around and around the wheel, perfecting
self-consciousness and developing a rounded out personality through experience and the
working of the Law of Karma, subject to the Great Illusion and arriving eventually at the
height of personality ambition in Capricorn?
- Or, is this person beginning to manifest as a soul, pouring light through dense
fogs of illusion, and preparing for the major tests in Scorpio, to be followed by
initiation in Capricorn?
Subsidiary questions would, for instance be: For which death is the man preparing? Is
there an imminent crisis at hand which indicates a birth into some new state of
consciousness? The crucial question, however, to be determined in every case, is the
direction in which the man is progressing around the wheel of life. The orthodox horoscope
concerns the personality life and the form is bound upon the "wheel of life as it
turns from right to left" (from Aries to Taurus via Pisces). But the soul is bound to
the wheel as it turns from left to right, going from Aries to Pisces, via Taurus. It is
this antagonistic movement of the wheel "turning upon itself" (as it is
expressed in the Bible) [104] which leads to the conflict carried on in the individual
life, in the life of humanity and in the life of the planet. In the early stages of
evolution and upon the Mutable Cross, the consciousness is entirely identified with life
in form and with the life of self-consciousness, self-preservation and self-enrichment.
Then comes an interlude wherein the consciousness begins to shift into that of the group
and becomes identified with the soul and with soul purpose. The experience of the Fixed
Cross covers this period. It might here be noted that the experience of the three crosses
has a Masonic significance and can be connected with the Blue Lodge:
- The Common
Cross - The E * A * Degree
- The Fixed
Cross - The F * C * Degree
- The Cardinal
Cross - The M * M * Degree
Much will
come to light in Masonry when its astrological implications are studied and understood.
Much also will be revealed anent individual life and purpose when the fate of certain
planets (when in the various zodiacal signs) is properly investigated and grasped and
their symbolic significances interpreted. For instance, it is well known theoretically and
mathematically that,
- The Sun is exalted in Aries. Here the Sun stands for the life of the spirit which comes
to full expression as the result of the great evolutionary process, initiated in Aries.
The life of God which in this sign is "swung into activity" eventually achieves
consummation. Latency becomes potency and midnight merges into midday. God, the Father,
rules.
- The power of Venus is lessened in this sign. It is a detrimental sign to Venus. The
reason for this is that when the Sun is exalted and blazes forth in all its glory, [105]
the other lesser luminaries fade out. Just as the personality is lost sight of in the
light of the soul, the solar Angel, so the soul itself disappears and its power and
radiance fade out when the Presence, which it has hitherto veiled, appears and dominates
the scene at the end of the greater world cycle. We are told that the incarnating Minds,
human beings, the solar Angels, came originally from Venus, but they in turn give place to
the monad, the One. Mind gives place to intuition and reason to pure perception.
- Saturn "falls" in Aries. This has two meanings, for this is a dual sign.
First: Saturn is the Lord of Karma, the imposer of retribution and the one who demands
full payment of all debts and who therefore condemns us to the struggle for existence,
both from the form side and from the soul side. Saturn, therefore, "fell" when
man fell into generation. He "followed the sons of men down into their low
place."
Second: Saturn's power is completely ended and his work accomplished when man (the
spiritual man) has freed himself from Karma and from the power of the two Crosses - the
Common and the Fixed. Esoterically, Saturn cannot follow man on to the Cardinal Cross.
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