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Esoteric Astrology - The Nature of Esoteric Astrology - Spiritual Effects of the Zodiacal Constellations
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 focused 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 [178] personality 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 refocusing 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 realize."
  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 symbolizes 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 simple 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 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 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 glamor 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 rationalizing 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.

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