It is wonderful to contemplate how the planetary forces balance each other so perfectly that universal equilibrium is maintained despite the disturbances of the billions who inhabit the earth alone, not to speak of other spheres. Every moment of time, our actions, individually and collectively, interfere with terrestrial equipoise, and were not this instantly restored, the earth would leave its orbit, fly off at a tangent, and be destroyed. Nor are physical disturbances most potent in disturbing or restoring balance. It is a fallacy to confound solidity and rigidity with strength (as is most thoroughly explained in our Lecture No. 19, "The Coming Force"). A train has no strength itself, but must be solid because it is operated upon by an invisible gas called steam. There is no force in a rigid hammer, but when driven by a column of flexible liquid, like water, backed by an elastic cushion of compressed air, the force stored in the air drives the powerful hydraulic ram irresistibly through whatever comes before it. Likewise subtle, invisible stellar rays are the factors which maintain our ponderous planet in its path and spiritual disturbances generated by mankind are naturally the most subtle force which interfere with the earth's equipoise.
Therefore each planet has its opposite, and every time we radiate the quality of one planet, we call forth a countercurrent of corresponding force, and by the action and reaction of those forces in and upon us and our environment we learn the lessons of life. If we vibrate to the love ray of Venus, instantly Mars comes to tempt, and tries to turn love to lust, but it depends upon us whether we remain steadfast in virtue or yield to vice. If we court the ideal of Jupiter, if we aim to elevate the standards of church or state, instantly the saturnine forces invite to self-aggrandizement and appeal to the passion for power. With us it lies, to remain true to the ideal and reap laurels that last through eternity, or yield to the promise of present gain of worthless gold which we repay in sorrow when Saturn turns and becomes the chastiser. Each horoscope shows the tendencies in even the humblest life, and opportunity continually knocks. May we all be prepared to meet it as spiritual astrologers should.
Astrology
Independent Study
Module No. 10
Chart Interpretation
Having learned to "cast" a horoscope, our next concern is to "read" its message. In a systematic course on reading, the first step is to familiarize oneself with the intrinsic nature of the signs, houses, planets, and the aspects. This will form the subject of the present and several future Astrology Independent Study Modules. The student is expected to thoroughly memorize our different classifications, for when reading the horoscope there is no time to look them up, any more than we would refer to the alphabet for name and sound of a letter when reading a book. The alphabet must be memorized to such a degree of proficiency that there is no tax on the consciousness when reading, for this is the basis of the art of reading; and the nature of the signs, houses, planets, and aspects which are the alphabet of the heavens, must be mastered as fully and completely before it is possible to read the mystic message, the scroll of life, which we call the horoscope.
Destiny may be divided into three kinds. In one kind we sow and reap from day to day, or from year to year with little delay between the action and its reaction, and with the thread of fate clearly linking cause and effect. Liabilities incurred and liquidated under this "pay as you go" system of fate are particularly indicated by planets in cardinal signs and angles. The cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. These signs are called "cardinal," because when the Sun is in any one of them he is in one of the four corners of the heavens; at a turning point, where he is forced to take another direction. In Aries he is as far east as he can go. Cancer is the tropical point of the north where he gives the most perpendicular ray at the summer solstice, and consequently the greatest heat. Libra is the extreme western point of his path where he turns away from the Northern Hemisphere.
In midwinter, at Christmas, he is in Capricorn at the farthest point south, where his horizontal ray leaves the people of the North in winter's icy grip. The nature of the "angles," and the effect of the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses, is similar to the effect of the cardinal signs because these houses are at the east, north, west, and south points of the horoscope. The nature and effect of cardinal signs and angles may be summed up in the words, "action" and "initiative" though each acts differently from the others. Planets placed in cardinal signs and angles give zest to life according to the nature of the particular planet, sign and angle. For instance, the intrinsic nature of the Sun is "life"; the cardinal sign Aries is aggressive, forceful and "self-assertive." Therefore, when the Sun is in Aries in the spring, nature bubbles over with life; there is such a super-abundance of vital force that all creation is impelled to procreate itself in order to use the surplus. In the human horoscope the solar life is similarly intensified when expressed through the cardinal sign Aries or when it is in the eastern angle (the first house), which corresponds to Aries. This position makes for greater vitality, so great in fact that it frequently runs amuck, overheats the blood, and sends it racing through the veins. Therefore we find people with the Sun in Aries subject to fevers, but it is also a fact, not generally known to physicians, that in the Sun-in-Aries people the temperature may rise far above the ordinary extreme danger point, remain there for hours, burn every hair of the patient's head, and yet produce no fatality, because the spark of life is too strong to be extinguished even when it has burned the body to a cinder.
While Aries gives "self-esteem," Capricorn, or the 10th house, (the southern angle), which corresponds to Capricorn, brings "social honor," that is to say, the esteem of others, and good planets in Capricorn or the 10th house will certainly bring preferment. Take, as usual, the keyword of a planet, combine it with the keyword of the sign and you have the interpretation. For instance, the keyword of the Sun is life, of Capricorn, social honor. Therefore the Sun in Capricorn or the 10th house will promote a lively social esteem for one with that configuration, and as a matter of fact, people who rise to high and responsible positions generally have the Sun so placed and well aspected, for aspects have to be taken into consideration also in judgment, but one thing at a time. The keyword of Saturn is "obstruction," of Capricorn "social honor," of Aries "self-esteem." If Saturn is in Aries he will tend to obstruct self-esteem, crush the spirit, and make a man timid and shrinking. If Saturn is afflicted in Capricorn or the 10th house, the man may strive to rise, but obstructions will pile mountain high to bar his way to social honor. If he persists and does attain, down-fall awaits him anyway. Napoleon is said to have had this configuration.
As Capricorn or the 10th house, gives our status in the world, the human family, so the opposite cardinal sign, Cancer, or its correspondent, the 4th house, (the northern angle), determines our "home life." Take a horoscope with Venus there, another with Mars, and a third with Saturn. What is the meaning of the stellar script in each? Again the keywords afford easy reading, for Venus is "coalition," the force that binds and attracts and smooths out all unpleasantness. When she is in Cancer or the 4th house, love will brighten the hearth and house. There may be a hard battle with the world, but peace will reign by the fireside. Mars is "dynamic energy"; he rides roughshod over everything and everybody. In Cancer or the 4th house he is a tartar, and tyrant in the home, and it is strange how dual we may be, for the man who is such a bear at home, may have Venus in the west and be an angel in public. Nor should we call him a hypocrite; it is simply that in one department of life he feels the influence of the martial ray, and the Venusian dominates another. It should excite our compassion, and show the way to overcome by knowledge, if we can reach and teach him the stellar science. The keynote of Saturn is obstruction, and it is easy to see what he would do in Cancer, or the 4th house.
Faust, though most of us think of it as written by Goethe, is not a human creation. The plot is found in one of the ancient myths and though our modern stage rendering makes it seem only the story of an ordinary seduction, the myth itself, and even Goethe's rendering brings out much of the esoteric truth. Among other pearls is Satan's description of himself. When asked by Faust, "Who art thou?" he says:
"The spirit of negation,
The power that still
Works for good
Though scheming ill."
That fits Saturn. I know that all in God's world work for ultimate good, and that physical resistance develops physical muscle-that spiritual obstruction is necessary to grind away the rough edges from the soul and polish it to diamond brightness.
Saturn is chief of the lapidaries. Knowing that he hurts to help, we must try to be patient. When even the stone in being ground gives sounds of seeming suffering, who shall blame us if we wail at the time when the hand of Saturn is heavy or applied in a particularly sensitive place? Although I thank him for benefit received from chastisements, and recognize the benefit of his restraining influence at times when he makes me feel like a dog on the leash, I cannot help thinking of him as a cold, clammy hand of huge proportions, ready to wet blanket all ambition, self-assertion, and other martial characteristics. "The spirit of negation" — no bit ever fretted a spirited horse as much as the curb of Saturn, which says: "Don't, Don't, Don't." Saturn can fret and worry a martial spirit bubbling over with energy and ambition, and as a planet is always most evil, so-called, in the sign where it is weakest, Saturn in Cancer or the 4th house is particularly severe. Children whose parents have Saturn in Cancer or the 4th house may or may not be kicked and cuffed physically; that depends upon other factors. But there Saturn has them cornered; they are helpless children, they cannot run away from the parental home, no matter how they feel, and the saturnine don't, don't, don't will wet-blanket their spirits, quench their ambition, and make it a thousand times more difficult for them to fight the battle of life. Oh! that we could realize our wrong when we unthinkingly betray the trust of the little ones who come to us for protection and a home until they are able to fight their own battle in the world. If we could only see how the saturnine ray in the home hampers our mate, and how much better it would be for him, or her, if we would cease to restrain and throw cold water, if we would give encouragement instead of always having don't on the tip of the tongue.
Aries being the fountainhead of egoism (the force which aims to center everything on the individual regardless of all others), it is reasonable that the opposite sign must have the opposite qualities, and signify what we share with others or have in community with others. "Partnership" may therefore be said to be the keyword of Libra, its corresponding western angle the 7th house. As marriage is the most important partnership of life, capable of making or marring it as no other relation can, the configurations in this sign and angle are particularly vital in that respect.
The Sun is positive and masculine in its nature and signifies, therefore, the marriage partner in the horoscope of a woman, and the negative, feminine Moon indicates the partner for a man, that is generally speaking, but planets in Libra and the 7th house gives particular testimony in this respect. The Sun thus placed gives life, and zest here as elsewhere, regardless of sex. Saturn obstructs successful intercourse with our fellows; Mars gives dynamic energy, makes us aggressive; we put down our rivals though we may also ruin ourselves by so doing.
You have now the method and must learn to apply it so that you may read the stellar scrip as you read a book. There is no time like the present, so I will give you a problem which you must answer without looking up any books other than the letters and self-study modules furnished in this course.
The keyword of Jupiter is "benevolence." Do you know the "jovial" fellow, with the big heart and the broad smile, who shakes your hand till the ligaments of your arm are almost sprained? He is "hail fellow well met" with everybody, always ready to give anything or anybody a boost and never gets angry on his own account, but may be moved to righteous indignation by the wrongs of others. Yet even though he is terrible in his wrath, he is never cruel to the aggressor or oppressor, but shows mercy and kindness as soon as the foe is vanquished. Do you know him? He is scarcely breeding absolute purity, but is Jupiter personified.
Work for the Student:
(You are welcome to e-mail your answers and/or comments to us.
Please be sure to include the course name and Independent Study Module number in your e-mail to us. You will find the answers to the questions below in the next Astrology Independent Study Module.)
1. Now, write what you think the effect would be of Jupiter in each of the four cardinal signs, their corresponding angle and house. I want four nice short paragraphs, one for each sign. Put as much time as you can spare in making each description as full and as consistent with brevity. The astrologer should not obscure his meaning with many words. Try to be both clear and concise.
Additional Keywords
That May Be Used For
Astrology
Independent Study
Module No. 10:
Planetary Keywords:
Jupiter:
Benevolence
Generosity
Tolerance
Sign Keywords:
Aries:
Enthusiastic
Pioneering
Dynamic
Aggressive
Cancer:
Feeling
Maternal
Imaginative
Protective
Libra:
Justice
Artistic
Eclectic
Integrated
Capricorn:
Responsible
Honorable
Self-control
Efficient
The Keywords give the essential nature of the Planets and Signs.
To the Rosicrucian student astrology is a phase of
religion, basically a spiritual science. More than any other study it reveals
man to himself. No other science is so sublime, so profound, and so all-embracing. It portrays the relation between God, the macrocosm, and man, the microcosm, showing them to be fundamentally one.
Esoteric science, investigating the subtler forces that
impinge upon man, the Spirit, and his vehicles, has charted their effects with
no less definiteness than has academic science the reactions of sea and soil,
plant and animal to the solar and lunar rays.
With this knowledge we may determine the astrological
pattern of each individual and know the relative strength and weakness of the
various forces operating in each life. To the degree that we are in possession
of such knowledge we can begin systematic, scientific character building — and
character is destiny! We note times and seasons cosmically advantageous to
unfolding undeveloped qualities, correcting faulty traits, and eliminating
destructive propensities.
The divine science of astrology reveals the hidden
causes at work in our lives. It counsels the adult in regard to vocation, the
parent in the guidance of children, the teacher in management of pupils, the
physician in diagnosing diseases, thus lending aid to each and all in whatever
position they may find themselves.
No other subject within the range of human knowledge
appears to hold for this day and age the possibilities open to astrologers for
helping people to their own dignity as gods-in-the-making, to a greater grasp
of universal law, and to a realization that we are eternally secure within the
caressing fold of Infinite and Boundless Being.
The Accuracy of
Astrology
Millions of words, both printed and verbal, have been
used in argument as to whether or not astrology is "accurate" and
"scientific." The anti-astrology group (the non-students, the uninformed, the
exoterically religious and mentally unadventurous) hold forth with arguments
that serve, in the long run, only as disparaging reflections on the personal
abilities of those who "read horoscopes." They argue that, if astrology is
scientifically accurate, it should be proved so by the perfect agreement of
all astrologers on any given point of the subject. All such argument is
spurious and a waste of time since it does not pertain to the basic essence of
the subject at all.
(A brief pause to inquire of these "antis" if all
Christians agree as to the meaning of their Teacher's message; all musicians
as to the "correct" interpretation of a Brahms symphony; all doctors as to the
"right" treatment of infantile paralysis; all parents as to the "perfect" way
of raising children.)
Every protagonist of astrology varies in ability to
interpret a horoscope from every other astrologer. Each differs from his
colleagues in "approach," in ability to comprehend symbology, in exactitude of
mathematical calculation, in ability to sense the dynamic essence of the
horoscope, in ability to understand the psychological problems represented and
their potentials for solution. This is the "human variant."
Astrology is an exact science because: Every
factor in a correctly calculated horoscope is a symbolic representation of an
exact and impartial effect of a specific cause. It represents the cosmic and
immutable law of cause and effect operating in the conditions and experiences
of a human being on his progress of many incarnations.
Nothing in a correctly calculated horoscope is there
by chance, accident, heredity, or whim of blind fate. Every planetary position
and aspect is one factor of the subject's soul body, one phase of his
consciousness, one milestone on his spiritual path.
To the degree that the astrologer identifies his
horoscopical findings with the law of "as ye sow, so shall ye reap" will he be
able to synthesize correctly the chart in its entirety, will he be able to
reduce past causes of present conditions, will he be able to determine the
potential solutions of difficulties.
Astro-Dynamics
The term astro-dynamics is used to indicate
the study of a horoscope from the standpoint of the planetary influences being
diminished or intensified by the native's reactions to his experiences during
a given incarnation. The cyclic functions of life forces create a periodic
emphasis on each planetary influence and aspect and to the degree that each
emphasis is utilized constructively is the alchemical transmutation made. To
the degree that the negatives are expressed will the positives be depleted and
made less effectual for growth. This is easily understood when we consider
that no human being is ever "cut off" from any part of his horoscope. There is
no such thing as a "stoppage" of planetary influence. Even the inhibitive and
restrictive ray of a heavily afflicted Saturn is still "expressing" in the
consciousness of the person who is expiating such a form of karma.
A practical application of astro-dynamics may be
stated thus: any person who consults an astropsychologist does so because he
is "in trouble." He is in trouble because he has been "living with his
negatives." Without a dynamic approach to interpretation, the reader can
easily fall into confusion if he interprets the trines and sextiles of his
client's chart as "statically good." A trine or sextile is "good" only if it
is put into concrete expression as a counteractive to that which is
destructive or retrogressive in the person's nature. Poverty, sickness,
unfulfilled or distorted love-impulses, fears, and the like are evidences that
the client has not applied the urge to fulfill the promises of his sextiles or
the benefits of his trines, but has expressed his energies in terms of his
squares and oppositions, thus depleting his possibilities for good as life
goes on. A continual expression of negatives will result in depletion of the
regenerative urges and a tighter bondage to the Wheel of Life is created.
In musical parlance, the term "modulation" is used to
indicate a chord or passage which serves as a bridge from one section to
another in a different key or tonality. This term may also be used, in the
astro-dynamic terminology, to describe the purposes of the sextile and
opposition aspects. These aspects, in a given chart, may be considered the
"points of transmutation" when the two planets of an opposition receive the
trine and sextile from a third planet, and when one planet of a sextile is
squared by a third planet. In either of these cases, the planet making the
good aspect to the affliction represents the agency by which the person finds
his "redemption from evil." Thus, through the exercise of that planetary
energy transmutation is made and the power of the square and opposition to
express discord is diminished and neutralized.
The aspects described above represent the "easiest"
form of alchemy. However, others must be considered: In all probability, the
transmutation of an unrelieved square is more difficult than any other
experience in life. This term indicates two planets in square aspect to each
other with no trines or sextiles to other planets. Superficially it represents
an aspect of "heavy karma," indicative of a serious problem through which the
native must learn a much needed lesson. Since each of the two planets
concerned will be activated from time to time by favorable aspects of
lunations and progressed Moon, etc., there is a certain amount of "assistance"
assured. But, because such an aspect indicates the possibility of great sorrow
or difficulty, the native must be instructed as to the basic, positive
qualities of both planets. When the aspect is activated recognizably, the
native must do his utmost to express, to some degree at least, the positive
expression of the two planets, or at least the one that is most directly being
expressed. Since the two planets of the square are continually "hand-in-hand"
they are constantly affecting each other — the negatives of one intensify the
negatives of the other, and the resultant evil breeds more evil in the future.
However if, by spiritual discipline and/or corrective psychology the native
allows only a constructive vibration of each planet to be expressed, then the
good of each stimulates the other, transmutation is made and, in time, destiny
is transcended.
Much the same approach can be made to the unrelieved
opposition, with the exception that the function of fusing the two at once
would apply more practically and more possibly than in the case of the square.
There is such an element of "seesaw" about the opposition aspect that if one
planet is emphasized at the expense of the other, a condition of lopsidedness
could result — hardly a manifestation of harmony or balance! In other words,
the alchemical transmutation demanded by this type of aspect is "expressing
the affairs of each in terms of the other" or "in cooperation with the other."
The most important thing for the astro-psychologist
to bear in mind with reference to adult clients is that, in most cases,
negative aspects have been expressed and experienced for many years of life,
and that many people are not really aware of the best good that they are
capable of expressing and realizing. Humanity becomes so accustomed to its
troubles, fears, bad habits, frustrations, and sordidness that the majority
become reconciled to the attitude, "That's the way I am and I can't do
anything about it." All of which is very foolish and wrong. There is a
solution to be found for every human problem, in so far as a "problem" is only
the result of some form of misdirected energy. But, with the horoscope as the
way-shower, the agencies of solution can be found in all of the benefic
aspects of the chart.
The dynamic approach to astrological interpretation
finds its master-work as a guide for children. The newly incarnated Ego, boy
or girl, comes to parents who have undertaken the sacred responsibility of
guidance. They may have preconceived ideas of what they would like their child
to be, but if they wish to be real parents, they will guide that child
along the lines that are best for him. Such guidance includes much more than
vocational guidance, important as that is. It means that they themselves must
act as neutralizing agencies for the negatives indicated in the child's chart.
No woman whose child has Mars afflicting Moon should allow herself to indulge
in "temper" in the child's presence. Why? Because every time she does, she
emphasizes that discordant vibration in the child's subconscious, his
instinctive irritability becomes intensified, and a "picture of cruelty" is
etched more deeply into the child's vibration-pattern. However, because a
little child reacts to everything that goes on around it, every
manifestation of calmness, poise, kindness and consideration neutralizes, to a
small degree, the harsh impulse of Mars square Moon and makes it possible for
the child to deal with those impulses much more easily as he grows up. In
other words, the mother, in right conduct, emphasizes something that is
harmonious and constructive in the child. She then represents something that
is good, not evil, in its chart — and in its life.
This material is presented for the consideration of
advanced students and astrological practitioners. It correlates the dynamic
factors of alchemical transmutation with the mathematical calculation and
tabulation of progressed aspects.
The title derives from the approach that at no time
does a horoscope "stop functioning." Nature, they tell us, abhors a vacuum;
there is no such thing as "nothing" in manifestation. Correspondingly, there
is no such thing as "nothing," "emptiness," or "cessation of activity" in a
horoscope. There are, to be sure, periods of apparent quiescence, routine
activity, and a general smoothness or monotony of function. These, however, in
their own good time, build to peaks of climax, intense experience, drastic
change fulfillments, and/or seeming descents.
It is the purpose of the astro-dynamic approach to
study the progressed aspects, or cycles, from the standpoint of their
representing a stimulation of not just one planet at a time, but of an entire
"area" of the horoscope.
The nature of planetary vibration allows a "field of
extension" which we call the "orb." This extension of either side of a
planet's exact position allows it to "reach out and take hands" with the other
planets that it aspects. Thus, the "life" of the horoscope is activated.
Ordinarily, in the preparation of an astro-analysis
we list the progressed aspects in order for the current year or two for the
purpose of determining the principal sources of experience in the person's
life at the present time. In astro-dynamics we do the same, except that we
list the progressed aspects by "groups" or "areas." It is this approach which
most clearly indicates the possibilities for alchemical processes. We contrast
the positives and the negatives that are being stimulated simultaneously or in
sequence and thereby determine which factors are available for regeneration of
emotion and redirection of reactions.
Whatever extra mathematical calculations may be
involved for this kind of "treatment" is more than compensated for in the
vivid and vitalized presentation of the progressed aspects concerned. The
whole horoscope takes on added "dimension" — from a picture on a flat piece of
paper it becomes a galvanic representation of a living thing. Attention!
A man requests your assistance concerning a marital
problem. You calculate both his and his wife's charts, tabulate the aspects
pertaining to each and pay particular attention to the mutual conjunctions.
These mutual conjunctions form the basis for your problem-analysis.
In his chart you find Pisces on the Ascendant;
Mercury, ruler of the seventh, is in 9 Aquarius, in the eleventh house. Mars
is in 12 Scorpio, eighth house, square Mercury. You find one mutual
conjunction uniting the two charts. Her Mars is in 10 Aquarius — conjunct his
Mercury — square Moon in Taurus, which is opposition his Mars in Scorpio. The
conjunction of her Mars to his seventh house ruler is the key to a difficult
marital situation, characterized by the vibration of unregenerate Mars. His
alchemical agency is his unafflicted Venus sextile to Mercury. (Get the
picture by putting these positions on a blank chart.)
In tabulating his current progressions, you find that
from the previous Adjusted Calculation Date to the next Adjusted Calculation
Date the Moon travels 13 degrees 38 minutes. By division of twelve the monthly
travel of the progressed Moon is shown to be one degree and eight minutes. The
ACD is the fifteenth of the month. There are thirty-four minutes of Moon-
travel each half month.
Tabulating the monthly positions of the progressed
Moon for this year-period — from the fifteenth of each month — reveals that
during the last two weeks of March, 1947, the progressed Moon makes the exact
conjunction of his Mercury. In early June it makes the exact square of his
Mars. In early August it makes the exact sextile of his Venus. (On the outside
of your practice chart indicate these Moon positions. Tabulate these aspects
and dates, at the bottom of the page. Bracket them so as to impress your mind
with the fact that you are dealing with a "field of stimulation.")
The Mercury-Mars square shows that from late March to
early June the marital problem is going to be stimulated in a very decided
way. (Since you are, in this hypothetical case, dealing only with the man, it
is not particularly necessary to concentrate further on the wife's chart. It
is his reactions that you are concerned with. Whatever the wife may do during
those months will tie in with his aspect.) However, with the conjunction to
Mercury, the sextile to Venus begins to vibrate simultaneously with the square
to Mars, because Venus is in orb of sextile in the native chart. Therefore,
Venus is the alchemical agency for this man to use during this period of a
little over four months. He must counteract the Mars vibration (which in
Scorpio is very strong) with the principle of the Venus vibration It is his
panacea at this time. Using it persistently during this troublesome time will
result in great soul growth and as his marital experience progresses he will
be much better able to direct his part constructively.
A short elaboration on the above: Suppose that both
the man and his wife consult you jointly. Both are eager to learn more clearly
how to harmonize their marriage experience. You then combine the factors of
both charts and find that she has Saturn unafflicted in Gemini trine to her
Aquarius Mars and sextile to his unafflicted Venus. In this case, tabulate her
progressed aspects — by "area" for the same months. Each person provides a
negative stimulation of Mars for the other. But each one has an alchemical
agency to work with. In mutual understanding that each must use a certain
constructive vibration to neutralize and harmonize discord they then can face
the coming period with greater assurance of mutual help and consequently
greater marital happiness. She must counteract a violent disposition (Mars
square Moon) with the patience and poise of Saturn in Gemini He must transmute
the tendency to mental discord through ever deepening affection and outpouring
of love. Each has his own pattern to deal with, but, since they are, together,
a partnership, mutuality of growth and alchemy can be achieved.
The above is a very simple, direct illustration of
this approach. However, the procedure is the same for any complexity of
progressed aspects. The principles of alchemy and transmutation demand that we
look for the solution of the problem, but if we consider each progressed
aspect as "a thing in itself" the solutions may not be so evident. Tie up the
areas in your tabulations and causes. Effects and solutions will be so much
more "livingly" manifested.
Planets Are People
The identity of relationships through the study of a
horoscope is one of the most subtle and difficult problems with which the
psychological astrologer has to deal. The difficulty lies in the fact that the
reality of a relationship between two people is not a thing of flesh or man-
made law, but of the essence of feeling of the two people for each other. This
"essence of mutual feeling," in the cases of intense attractions or enmities,
is a holdover from contacts made in past incarnations and can manifest
distinctly regardless of age, sex, or worldly relationship. The esotericist
knows that a deep bond between two people cannot spring into being at the very
first contact of the persons concerned. The first contact was made in the
past, and the relationship, whether of love or hatred, is being continued
in this life as though there had never been an interruption.
There is only one possible end for any relationship
between two people — and that is fulfillment. No bond of hatred is ever
left "hanging in the wind." Such a thing would refute the Law of Love. Hatred
is "love in reverse" — it is consciousness of contact with the universe,
through another person, turned in on "self." Until the consciousness
reinterprets that expression of energy in terms of the higher self, it
can only express that which is negative, destructive, and unredeemed.
The following are some hypothetical examples of
relationships and experiences, which from a karmic standpoint represent
sources of hatred, fear, and envy. They are found in the lives of men and
women the world over and in all ages.
The creative original individualist, in any field of
endeavor, represents a threat to the crystallized orthodox person. These
prototypes may be described as, or symbolized by, Uranus and Saturn,
respectively. Uranus may fear and hate Saturn because the latter stifles and
frustrates his freedom; Saturn may fear Uranus as a threat to undermine the
"status quo." Hatred results when Uranus loses freedom, or when the security
of Saturn is destroyed. Until each can learn something of value from the
other the conflict remains.
The conflicting phases of feminine nature are
illustrated by the "maternal woman" and the "sweetheart woman." The age-old
tug of war, with the male of the species as the harried and bewildered object
of conquest! Mrs. Moon-Jupiter-Saturn develops an implacable hatred for that
hussy, Miss Venus-Uranus, and sees in her a threat to the peace of home and
respectable living. The latter regards her hardworking, dowdy sister as a
pitiful fuddy-duddy who has forgotten the meaning of romance.
A tragic problem — and there are many such — is
represented by parental interference. A person who, in the past, neglected his
opportunities may be karmically drawn to a parent who is very egoistic and
possessive. The parent, with no regard for the child's intrinsic urges, seeks
to make him over into a replica of an admired relative — or himself. The
child's whole life-experience then becomes a distortion which results in
frustration. This, in turn, results in bitter hatred and resentment toward the
parent. The possessive egoism of the parent feeds on himself to the degree
that the child becomes enslaved; the parent's life becomes more and more
"fixated" on its vicarious fulfillment through the child. Other sources of
experience are ignored, friendships become more and more meaningless;
spiritual, mental, and psychological atrophy result. Affection, companionship,
and mutual understanding are experience and what could have been a source of
inspiration, warmth, and fulfillment turns into a deadly horror. Both are
wrong. The child is wrong in permitting another to live his life for him. The
parent is wrong in using power with the urge to domination as the chief
motive. As the negative and painful emotions take more and more hold of these
people, they incapacitate themselves for good in every other expression in
life. And — what they take with them into their next experience had better be
left unsaid.
In so far as the validity, reality, or importance of an
experience depends on the reactions to the event of the person concerned, and
since our experiences come to us as objectifications of what is indicated in
our horoscopes through our "interchange" with other people, is it not logical
to interpret the aspects of the chart as people? In the soul-vibration
of another person is found a correspondence with something in your own nature
which is indicated in your chart.
If the aspect should be a negative one (square or
opposition), your contact with that person stirs into being a negative or
destructive reaction. You call that reaction "fear" or "jealousy" or "hatred."
You say, "I fear that man," or "I envy that man," or "I hate that man." That
is what you say, but in the light of astrology, that is not what you really
mean. What you mean actually is: " That man served to remind me of something
negative in my nature. I feel that he might do a wrong to me that I remember
having done to another. My feeling is fear. I know that he has achieved
something that I should have achieved, but did not. My feeling is envy. His
wrong to another reminds me of my own past wrong-doing. My feeling is hatred."
The man or woman you describe as your worst enemy is
the person whose horoscope, in some way, corresponds with your worst aspect.
That person might be anyone: father, mother, sister, brother, child, husband,
wife, lover, or employer. As one tuning fork causes another of the same pitch
to vibrate with it, so the negative state of your "enemy" stimulates your
negative and brings it into your consciousness with pain. Use that
painful reaction as a barometer of your own spiritual state. It is indicating
to you a very important lesson. It serves to point out the need for you to
undertake a very important step in development. Your "enemy" is not your
enemy. He or she is your teacher. Learn through that person, of yourself.
But don't stop there. In identifying your "enemies"
by means of your reactions toward and experiences with them, you attain a
detached perspective of yourself as a factor in your circle of relationships
and see how you make of yourself an "enemy" to others by the expression of
your own negatives. The next step is to make of yourself a "friend" to all
people. As you, to a greater and greater degree express the positive
possibilities indicated in your chart, you make of yourself a magnet to draw
into expression the good that is latent in others.
As you cause, by your constant efforts toward
regeneration, the stimulation of the good in others they are automatically
made aware of their own good. They like you. They admire you. They are
comfortable and happy when in your company. They feel at their best: more
courteous, more considerate, more courageous, stronger. They say that they
love you, that you are their friend. That doesn't quite convey what they
really mean. What they mean is that their higher self is brought to
their consciousness through their contact with you. They do not really "love
you." They are simply made more aware of their own God-Self, through which
they express harmonious and constructive reactions.
Your reactions to any person constitute the only
factor that determines your relationship with him. Use your "positives,"
transmute your "negatives," and defeat your "enemies" by eliminating the
"enemy" within yourself.
The artist in man has, for ages past, sought to
interpret in verse, songs, and pictures, his concept of life as a Great
Battle. Every scripture has told the story, in symbol and allegory, of the
onslaughts of the Forces of Darkness against the Stronghold of Light, the
contention of the Devil with God for the soul of man, the ceaseless friction
between Evil and Good, the Tempter eternally seeking to undermine that which
is aspiring in the human heart.
Sorties, skirmishes, and battles-to-the-death — all
phases of this Conflict — are shown in each horoscope. The aspirant contains
within himself the field upon which the claims of destiny contend with
everything in his nature that urges him forward and upward. He must, if he
would triumph, attain as clear an understanding as possible of the nature of
the enemy that abides in his subconscious. This enemy has aides-de-camp in the
form of the squares and oppositions, but his headquarters is the 12th house.
It is there that the plans are made, the traps are set, the shackles are
forged and the nets of illusion are woven. The light of day seldom penetrates
to this cave, for the enemy and his minions prefer darkness for their labors.
The aspirant can dispel the shadow only with the light of "self-knowledge."
Since each experience represents a triumph or
(temporary) defeat in the battle, and since each experience is brought about
by contact with another person — or persons, those people whose planetary
energies serve to stimulate the afflicted ruler or occupant of the aspirant's
12th house must be viewed and studied by him with the attitude that they
objectify his innermost possibilities for self-defeat. And — those people can
be anyone; a parent, a child, a friend, a love, wife, or husband can fulfill
that pattern. The aspirant is such because he has taken steps toward the
Impersonal, and in using his horoscope as a "map" on the Path of Life it
behooves him to understand that he must study his relationships from the
standpoint of his subconscious reaction to them, not from the worldly name
they have. As he transmutes his reactions, so he improves the quality of his
relationship.
The following method is suggested: The aspirant makes
a detailed study of his twelfth house conditions from the standpoint of
malefic conjunctions, squares and oppositions. He then relates as far as
possible the charts of those persons who have had a deleterious influence in
his life. He studies particularly those charts which have any planet or
ascendant conjunct the afflicted ruler or occupant of his twelfth house;
he makes a mental summary of his experiences with these persons and thereby
makes himself aware of the negatives in his nature which were stimulated by
contact with them. Regardless of the severity and painfulness of the
experiences, he will release all hatred. He will realize that each and
every one of these persons served to objectify a phase of his own negative
subconscious and he will no longer think of them as "perpetrators of evil"
against him, but as object lessons for his instruction and enlightenment.
Afflicted Sun rules 12th: Power is the key to
this karmic lesson. The aspirant has misused power in the past, and in this
incarnation he suffers abuse and injustice from those in authority. He has
used his position and influence to enslave another, in some degree, and he
must learn that power must be expressed in terms of justice and mercy. The
father, or an older brother, may be the instrument used during the aspirant's
childhood to reflect the past wrong. In later life the employers, since they
exercise authority over him, may bring to his attention this needed lesson.
Power as it expresses in physical vitality may be indicated, in reverse, in a
weak and ineffectual body, karmically attracted to a father who is much
subject to illness and physical debility.
Afflicted Moon rules the 12th: Womanhood is
the key to this karmic problem. It represents for this incarnation, a time for
adjusting all unredeemed destiny that originated when the aspirant used a
female body, unredeemed destiny that concerns domestic experience, the
opportunity to develop, through feelings, an increased faculty of sympathy and
tenderness. The Moon symbolizes the feminine polarity of the human psyche and
whether the aspirant is male or female, this karmic aspect, indicates
disorders and insufficiencies of this faculty. "Trouble through the mother" is
the classic interpretation of afflictions to the Moon. In this sense, the
aspirant's mother is seen as his "enemy." Such being the case, he will realize
that her influence on his life parallels his own on someone else — in a past
life. His heavy responsibility to her in this incarnation fulfills what he
left undone — in the past. His affection for her is never adequately returned
and he learns what the withholding of love means. He is tied to home
conditions now, for he sought to escape them — in the past. Women baffle him,
he never seems to gain a clear understanding of them. He never tried to be a
"real-woman" — in the past. Or he treated women with indifference — in the past.
The aspirant will realize that women are not his "enemies." He must, however,
cultivate a deeper understanding of and sympathy for the basic elements of
"woman-nature" if he is to redeem this karmic state.
Afflicted Saturn rules the 12th: The karma is
repression. The "enemy" is Crystallization. Persons who represent this
position are a seeming blight on the life of the aspirant. They stimulate his
feelings of insecurity; they lead him into paths of suppression and denial;
they (apparently) block up the flow of Life. Through his relationships with
them he receives his severest disciplining; through them he fulfills his
deepest and longest-overdue responsibilities. They serve to remind him of
everything in his nature that is impractical; they hold him to earth while he
yearns for freedom.
He is an individualist while they are hidebound; he
is mystically inclined, they are orthodox and observant of forms; he attaches
no particular significance to money, they interpret everything in life in
financial terms. His instinctive tendency and desire is to free himself from
them and escape the fetters of their influence. The tendency will remain until
he realizes that he cannot escape his rightful responsibilities; that he must
learn to utilize intelligently the things of earth; that money, though it has
no power of its own, still is a medium of exchange among people, and he must
learn its proper use. The philosophical aspirant will realize that he is not
tied to difficult and disappointing relationships that are not of his own
making, but will seek to give of his best to these conditions and learn
whatever there is for him to learn from the others involved with him.
Afflicted Neptune rules the 12th: The Enemy is
deception. This "enemy," because of its subtlety, is a difficult one to
defeat. Treachery, betrayal, mental confusion, and perversion, constitute its
armor. The opponents of the aspirant who has this position are underhanded and
sneaky — they "don't play fair." Well, the aspirant himself didn't play fair in
the past, and now he must learn what it means to be the recipient of such
treatment. He professed one thing and did another; he solicited the trust of
others and betrayed that trust; he used spirituality — or a claim of it — as a
smoke screen for power or gain; he trafficked — not wisely but too well — with
astral forces; he misrepresented and misled. The aspects made to this
afflicted Neptune represent the types of people through whom this karmic
return will be made. One person may influence him into a destructive habit;
another may share a wrong-doing with him — and leave him "holding the sack;"
his faith and deepest love may be expressed toward someone who proves unworthy
of anyone's high regard. The aspirant's two best weapons in dealing with this
particular "enemy" are faith in spiritual principles and knowledge.
With knowledge he can bring himself into a more perfect alignment with
spiritual honesty — the finest corrective for that form of subconscious
conditioning which results in illusion and deception.
So it is with the other planets: Uranus (unbalance),
Jupiter (extravagance and greed), Venus (possession), Mercury (thought), and
Mars (manhood and sex.) Each one, as afflicted ruler or occupant of the
twelfth, indicates a certain group of people who serve, however unconsciously,
as one's most valued teachers.
The mechanics of relationship provide the esoteric
student with a perfect "field of research" for the study of alchemy. The
interchange of reactions of
two people who are "close to each other" is the pabulum which either one, or
both, may utilize in the "weaving of the golden wedding garment." From the
base metal of a subconscious mixture of attractions and repulsions,
each person may distill, by his own transmutations, the essence which is
called love. The Great Teacher has instructed us — "Love your enemies,
and do good to those who persecute you." Why? Because He knew that a reaction
of hatred or vengeance creates a bond between the recipient and the
perpetrator of an evil deed, and only when that reaction is neutralized by
good will the bondage be dissolved.
How true it is that we so often, though unwittingly,
cause pain to those we profess to love, mislead those we would help, and
injure those toward whom we have the "best intentions!" There are so many
relationships in which we can just as easily express our negative aspects as
we can our positives. The relationships are, generally, our most intimate
ones — those in which other people contact and stimulate various phases of our
natures. The comparison-study of the horoscopes of two persons who are "close
to each other" will reveal the significance of the relationship to each of the
persons concerned — the mutual harmonies, the mutual problems, and the mutual
agencies for alchemical transmutation. In this application the stellar science
indeed offers a key for the unraveling of mysteries. No phase of life is more
illusionary than relationship; nowhere is the keen eye of detachment
more needed to "see through" the fogs of desire, fear, enmity, and conflict.
In attaining a detached and impersonal viewpoint of a
relationship, we realize that terms sued as "husband-wife," "parent-child,"
"brother-sister," and "lover-beloved" are as garments to be worn for
identification on the physical plane. The essence of these relationships is
found superphysically, on the mental, emotional, and spiritual planes.
This essence, its purpose, and its reality are found
in the mutual conjunctions of the two horoscopes. Two agencies of Spirit find
their expression through the same degree (approximately) and the horoscopes
are thereby riveted together like two boards — each mutual conjunction being a
nail. A perfect classical example of "alchemy through relationship" is found
when each planet so involved has one square and one sextile. Each person
stimulates a latent disharmony in the other, but each person contains
within himself the means of transmuting that disharmony. The house in
which the conjunction falls in each chart will indicate, of course, the
department of that person's life through which the relationship will be
expressed and which will be most directly affected by it. The complete
"picture of disharmony" is found by combining the square aspects in each chart
with their position in the other person's chart. Then the effect of each
person, for evil or unhappiness, on the other is seen in completion.
The "alchemical picture" is found in the same way,
with reference to the planets making the sextile aspects in each chart, and
the position and effect in the chart of the other. When the sextile is "used,"
the square in each chart is transmuted to a degree, the sextile in the other
chart is sympathetically stimulated, the houses involved are favorably
stimulated; the relationship, as a whole, is improved in quality and the
possibilities for mutual harm are thereby lessened. By continual application
of this process, the relationship becomes, more and more, one of love — since
each person concerned assists the other in attaining awareness of his Higher
Self.
An astro-alchemical function of a more difficult and
intense nature is created when only one of the two persons "uses his sextile."
When this happens, the "evil" that is continually expressed by the other,
under stimulation of the mutual conjunction, is "met constructively" by the
alchemist in his expression of his sextile aspect. The "evildoer" intensifies
his negative tendency by the repeated expression of his square aspect and the
result is depletion of the capacity to do good. To paraphrase a medical term,
this condition might be described as "sextile-anemia." A tragedy — no less. It
is tragic for the evil-doer and doom for the relationship. There will come a
time when the negative person can no longer respond to his sextile
possibilities and the relationship, as an exchange between two persons, can
live no longer. The relationship is dissolved, each comes to a parting of the
ways. The alchemist goes on to an upward expression of living — the other must
face the results of his wrong-doing.
To the degree that a relationship is complicated by
a variety of mutual aspects will it be complicated in its expressions. There
may be two or three mutual conjunctions, one of which may be afflicted, one
benefic and one mixed. It is such relationships as these that go on for years
and years — or lives and lives. Further, since no life contains only one
significant relationship, each one of these aspects in one chart represents
relationships with yet other people. The person who has to deal with a complex
relationship with one person may, for greater understanding, study his
"exchange" with the other people represented by his various aspects. He can
learn from every one of them — and should — if he would make that one
relationship a thing of fulfilled harmony. The people represented by benefic
mutual conjunctions are those through whom he "tunes in" on his best self, and
through them he understands more and more clearly what he can contribute to
the relationship that contains many mixed conditions. His trines symbolize
expressions of his Higher Self — the people who reflect his trines show him
his best contribution to any relationship.
It is interesting to note that the odd-numbered
houses of the horoscope, culminating in the eleventh, are designated as the
"houses of relationships," and the eleventh itself as the "house of friends."
From the first house through the ninth we express the "personal," "fraternal,"
"parental," "marital," and "pedagogic" relationships. Then the cultivated,
distilled essence of all relationships is shown by our capacities through
expression of the eleventh.
Love without passion, affection without
possessiveness, intimacy without smothering, assistance and encouragement
without over-indulgence, cooperation without domination and subservience,
fruitful joys without pleasure-madness, sympathy without negative
sentimentality, mutual exchange without any loss of mutual freedom of thought
and action — such are the attributes of all harmoniously fulfilled
relationships. The essence of these attributes we call Friendship, the urge
toward universal Brotherhood.
Because the eleventh house represents our most highly
spiritualized impulses in reference to relationship, it may be studied as one
of the "spiritual barometers" of the horoscope. To the degree that the
eleventh house is "benefic" may every other relationship problem be assisted.
Every brother-sister, parent-child, and husband-wife problem can be
"unknotted," to a degree, by application of the harmoniously expressed urges
of the eleventh house.
Friendship, then, may be said to be the panacea for
the "wounds of relationship."
These "wounds" are the frustrations of those
essential qualities that are peculiar to each type of relationship. The
fraternal, or brother-sister, relationship is experienced during childhood and
the formative years, and represents the first step toward the fulfillments of
the eleventh house. In the intimacy of home life under the guidance of
parents, boys and girls learn cooperation, sharing, and the enjoyment of group
pleasures. The reactions of brothers and sisters to each other and to their
parents constitute the basic elements of their relationship tendencies.
Naturally, when the fraternal relationship is fraught with discord, fear, and
hatred, the later fulfillments in mature life are often inhibited and
distorted.
Many a man or woman has experienced misery and
inharmony in marriage due to subconscious negatives that are traceable to the
fraternal relationships in childhood. Competition for the parents' favor,
rivalry in talents and accomplishments, aversions, and resentments, and all
other forms of conflict, if untransmuted, can very easily be, and usually are
carried over into the marital and parental patterns and cause relationship-
defeat in later life.
Of course conditions vary as charts vary. A man may
have a "difficult third house" and a "fortunate seventh house." In other
words, his experiences in early life with brothers and/or sisters may contain
much that is unhappy, and his marriage-partner may be the greatest blessing of
his life. However, to the degree that he carries his dark reactions, into his
marriage, later on, will he be unresponsive to the assistance that his wife
can give to him.
Another man may have companionship of the most
harmonious and fruitful kind with his brothers and sisters and yet, through
marriage, face his greatest tests. Nevertheless, because of the harmonious
relationships during his childhood, he knows much more of the meaning of
living. His relationship-pictures are painted with Joyfulness, Companionship,
Give-and-Take, Mutual Trust, and the like, and through the expression of these
spiritual powers he can deal with his marital problems.
No student of astrology need endure pain and
suffering for years and years because of an unhappy relationship with a
brother or sister. The unhappiness is the result of only one thing — continual
expression of a negative phase of the third house. As that negative phase is
transmuted the relationship is improved and the pain neutralized. The
fraternal relationship is, of all relationships, the one that can most
directly be redirected into Friendship. Since it usually does not involve the
possessive elements of parenthood, and never involves the sexual exchange of
marriage, it contains much more of the element of freedom.
In one respect, the fraternal relationship is
particularly important, from a psychological standpoint. That is in reference
to an experience of karmic responsibility of a person for a younger, or less-
evolved, brother or sister. In this instance, on the inner planes the
relationship becomes that of parent and child, and the negative reactions of
the older person may be transmuted more effectively through the expression of
his, or her, parental urges — rather than those of the eleventh house. In other
words, the parental impulses constitute the "way of transcendence," or the
"redemption of karma." A serious lesson in parenthood is indicated by such a
condition — its fulfillment will free the person to a much more successful
expression of actual parenthood. Because of its subtle and illusionary
quality, this kind of "karmic parenthood" usually contains much that is
painful in its working out, but its fulfillment brings a rich reward in wisdom
and spiritual strength — all of which is to the person's advantage in his
relationship with his own children.
The downfall and failure of parent-child
relationships, either actual or esoteric, is due more to the parent's egoism
and possessiveness than to anything else, and in no relationship in life is
the impersonal viewpoint more vitally necessary. No mother or father can be a
"good parent" — in the spiritual sense — unless the attributes of friendship are
expressed in the relationship. There must be recognition of the child's
intrinsic worth and tendencies. There must be discipline and guidance — but in
terms of the child's requirements. No mother or father is a good parent who
makes the child's life a vicarious fulfillment of her or his own frustrations.
The parent who is a friend guides his child into the best expression of the
child's own pattern of life.
Look to your eleventh house and find your
"Friendship-key." This is the planet which is either the unafflicted ruler of
the eleventh — or the planet that makes the best aspect to the ruler. Planets
in the eleventh indicate conditions that are interpreted through friendship,
but the ruler is the key to the expression of friendship and brotherhood.
The ruler of the eleventh house may have several
aspects, both harmonious and otherwise. However, if an unafflicted planet
makes a benefic aspect to the ruler in this case, that planet represents a
pure channel of "relationship-transmutation." It is the planet that can, if
applied, unloose the snags and snarls of any relationship problem. It
represents the best you have to offer in your spiritual exchange with other
people.
Combine the vibration of this planet with that of the
sign on the eleventh house cusp and the vibration of the ruler itself. This is
the foundation of your "house of Friendship." It shows a composite of how you
love your friends, what you wish to do for them, what you can do for them, and
the best that they see in you.
Persons who are identified, by mutual aspects, with
the trines in your eleventh house conditions are those who stimulate your
deepest capacity for loving. It is through them that you contact your own best
self and express your finest for all relationships. It is through them that
you find your clearest recognition of Universal Brotherhood.
Persons who are identified, by mutual aspects, with
the squares to the eleventh house ruler are " enemies of utmost importance."
They externalize or objectify your reactions that defeat or destroy
friendship. Because of the transcendent urges of the eleventh house, the
malefic aspects (representing frustrations and difficulties) can manifest as
deep hatreds, fears, and conflicts. Every relationship in your life is tainted
or warped to the degree that these afflictions remain untransmuted. No esoteric
or astrological student can afford to ignore these "warnings" in the
horoscope.
In conclusion, here is presented an example that
illustrates the inter-relationship of Astrodynamics with "Planets Are People."
For clarity's sake, this example is in a simple form.
Two persons meet in the mature years of life, and
friendship is immediate, deep, and happy. Each has one square and one sextile
to the ruler of the eleventh, and the contact is represented by progressed
Moon trine one person's eleventh house ruler, which is conjunct any one planet
in the other person's eleventh house "pattern." In other words, the
relationship "flowers under the best of conditions."
Each person has reacted, over a period of many years,
to every phase of his eleventh house pattern, and the comparative strength, at
that time of life, of the sextile and square influences have, in this
friendship, a perfect testing. To the degree that the negative of one is
expressed, will the other be given an opportunity to transmute; to the degree
that both respond to the square, will the friendship be spoiled and disrupted;
to the degree that each person transmutes, will the other be "lifted"
spiritually.
This type of relationship represents a perfect
opportunity for the practice of alchemy. That which is negatively inclined in
the relationship can be neutralized by the highest expressions of both persons
who are lovingly united.
What more perfect expression of friendship is there?
— Supplemental Student Material Reference: Studies in Astrology, Elman Bacher
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