Progressing the
Ascendant and Midheaven
(continued)
Dear Friend,
In the last Astrology Independent Study Module you set up a horoscope and progressed the angles for 45 years. You then found that the MC had moved three degrees to every two traveled by the ASC. This shows that opportunities for soul growth will abound, irrespective of whether the person profits by them or not, and judgment of this figure should point out how the finer faculties may be cultivated, put to maximum use, and made to yield abundant treasure in heaven. Had the ASC moved more rapidly than the MC it would indicate that this soul requires a material life work during this embodiment. Hints to promote proper material pursuits would then be more helpful and indirectly productive of soul growth.
To justify this rule it is not required that the person whose MC is speedier than his Asc. becomes a great spiritual light. He may even commit a crime and languish in prison through years of sorrow and suffering; but whatever the circumstances, his experiences will produce great soul growth. The soul never blooms until watered abundantly with tears. As Goethe says:
"Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
Who never spend the midnight hours,
Weeping, watching for the morrow,
He knows ye not, ye heavenly powers."
The rose does not yield its full fragrance till its petals have been crushed; the well of true sympathy springs only from a broken heart. All who really advance spiritually are men of sorrow and acquainted with grief. Paul mentions as the principal qualification of Christ Jesus that He had suffered as we suffer, hence is able to feel for all who are weak and heavy laden as no one could feel who had not thus suffered.
What a pathos lies in the words of Faust! What an anguish of soul is revealed when he says:
"Two souls, alas! are housed within my breast,
And struggle there for undivided reign;
One, to the earth with passionate desire,
And closely clinging organs still adheres;
Above the mists the other doth aspire
With sacred ardor unto purer spheres."
Also, in our horoscope is foreshown a bitter war between the higher nature and lower appetites. Saturn in elevation, sextile Neptune, on the ASC, trine Sun and Uranus, will give such wonderful perception in mystical matters that it will isolate this soul from his fellow man because his ideas will be beyond their comprehension. That will be a trial and will cause regret. Saturn in Taurus, the sign which rules the tongue, gives a thoughtful, sometimes stubborn disposition. He will be slow of speech and because Saturn is in the 11th house it tends to limit friendships. Mars in Gemini gives a keen, active and alert mentality, but in the 11th house tends to friction in friendship through bluntness of speech. Though Saturn in Taurus denies vocal expression, Sun, Venus, and Mercury in Virgo will give unusual facility for writing in a most beautiful manner.
Misunderstood and criticized, denied the companionship of others, he will be driven back upon his own devices for enjoyment. He may become a glutton, for the Moon, ruler of the ASC, is in Taurus, which has dominion over the palate, and serious illness would follow gastronomic excess.
The astrologer sees these tendencies, but is, of course, too tactful to tell. He will not name disease, but rather seek to prescribe a preventive or a remedy.
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. Write a few words what advice you would give the parents of this boy. Please also progress the angles for the 20th, 30th, and 40th years, and determine if his opportunities will be the best from childhood to 20, from 20 to 30, or from 30 to 40. (optional)
Since the MC has moved almost 3/2 over ASC (MC moves three degrees to every two traveled by the ASC), it is evident that opportunities for soul growth will be presented, whether the native takes advantage of them or not.
In most cases the Ruler of the ASC is the ruler of the chart: but, when by aspect, the planet ruling ASC is weak, receives no support and another planet shows greater strength, then another planet may become ruler of the chart. In every case the ruler of the ASC is important (especially in Medical Astrology). though not always the ruling planet. In Astrology Independent Study Module No. 28the Sun is ruler of the chart. See aspects to Sun and Mercury showing strength of Virgo planets (Sun in particular). Note, Moon has no supporting aspects and in relation to either Moon or Mercury, both need an avenue of expression as they have no basic nature of their own but take on the conditions of a sign, house and aspect (See The Message of the Stars, p. 193 and 219). Therefore strength of will manifests (Sun and Mercury) and Sun is Ruler of Chart.
Supplemental Student
Material:
The American Astrologer
The horoscope of the United States of America: 10th —
14 Aquarius 11th — 13 Pisces 12th — 23 Aries Ascendant — 7 Gemini 2nd — 1 Cancer
3rd — 21 Cancer. Planets: Uranus — 9 Gemini Mars — 21 Gemini Venus — 3 Cancer
Jupiter — 6 Cancer Sun — 13 Cancer Mercury — 24 Cancer North Node — 7 Leo Neptune-
-24 Virgo Saturn — 15 Libra Pluto — 27 Capricorn Moon — 18 Aquarius. Mercury in
Cancer is ruler of the chart and the numerical power five (the sum of
digits representing July 4, 1776) is the Mercury number. The three principal
planetary powers are, in sequence of relative value: (1) Moon in Aquarius; (2)
Mercury in Cancer; (3) Uranus in Gemini. All other planets are related, by
disposition, to Moon (Venus, Jupiter, and Sun in Cancer, Saturn in Libra,
Pluto in Capricorn, no planets in Taurus, Sagittarius, or Leo) and Mercury
(Mars in Gemini, Neptune in Virgo, no planets in Aries, or Pisces).
The "personal rulership" by Mercury designates this
nation as a "messenger of the gods" in the sense that the United States of
America has, as its evolutionary purpose, the fusion of races,
nationalities, and religions for gestation of the Aquarian Age. We have
incarnated here at this time — during the past 174 years — to learn more about
the principles of life in terms of our archetypal nature as humans. We are, by
virtue of our Gemini Ascendant and third house Mercury, a composite of
life students, a national epitome of basic brotherhood-sisterhood relationship
of humans. The chart's ruler focalizes the Ascendant-identity in the third
house-sign, Cancer; the third cusp is then the vibratory ascendant; its ruler,
the Moon in Aquarius, is the vibratory ruler, Cancer is "matrix," "seed,"
"nest," "mother," "enfoldingness," "protectiveness of the immature, the
unformed, and the growing." The Cancer-Capricorn diameter is the vibrational
diameter of parentage, and in this chart its rulers, Moon in Aquarius and
Saturn (exalted) in Libra, the fixed and cardinal of the air-trine, are trine
to each other. That which is being gestated — the New-Age Race — will be matured
in spiritual aristocracy of true, living democracy if, repeat if,
certain vital realizations are made by each progressing individual. The
pattern of Moon-trine-Saturn is amplified by Uranus in Gemini (conjunct
Ascendant) trine Saturn, and Mars in Gemini trine to both Saturn and Moon.
Here we have a four-planet-and-Ascendant grand trine in the signs of the three
octaves of fraternity as the "parallelity in human relationship."
Because the chart has a grand trine as its basic planetary pattern, it is
shown that this nation is provided with a distilled spiritual pabulum which is
to be used for progressive — and needed — regeneracies to fulfill its
specialized evolutionary purpose. The "pabulum" is the residue of democratic
consciousness of each individual who incarnates as an American citizen or who,
by evolutionary qualification, becomes a citizen through naturalization.
Since the "vibratory horizontal" (third cusp, ninth
cusp) of the chart is the diameter of education (third — learning, ninth —
teaching) it is shown that we are a composite of life-students and
life-teachers. This diameter is focalized by the opposition of Mercury
in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn and the significance of this opposition — as
an "awareness-pattern" — is to reveal the timing for regenerating the
"practical mind" into an octave of "practical spirituality." This opposition
is "channeled" by Neptune in Virgo, since Neptune sextiles Mercury and trines
Pluto. Neptune is not only ruler of the eleventh house but it is in the sign
and house of its own polarity, Virgo, fifth house. It is felt by the author
that this position of Neptune, because the fifth house is in the lower semi-
circle of the wheel, is one of the most significant factors in the entire
wheel. It is disposited by the ruler of the chart and in sextile aspect (the
"mechanism of alchemy") to it. It is the fellowship ideal which must
be, sooner or later, realized by each individual American and expressed as a
factor of that which is implied in "being an American." The fifth house
placement of Neptune is personal radiation of love-power and in probably no
other country is the ideal of fellowship more stressed in the pattern of
family-life. Democratically minded Americans recognize and respect the
individuality of children and the fellowship-relation between members of
family-groups is definitely a transcendence of the "old picture" of rigid
family-hierarchy in which children are not companions of but subjects of their
elders. Because Mercury rules the fifth as well as the Ascendant we recognize
that as parents Americans make a dynamic contribution to the spiritual
evolution of our national plan in being willing to learn from their parentage-
experiences, to study their children and study with their children. The
upsurgence of interest in child psychology in this country is evidence of this
planetary aspect in action — and it is the democratically-minded parents who
comprise the vanguard of this activity. That American parents and children
shall be friendly companions to each other — as an expression of Love-Power — is
a foretaste of that which is to be established in the New Age.
We have been given information through esoteric
teachings that the progressive Americans of this age trace their evolutionary
descent from ancient Egyptian incarnations. A characteristic of this ancient
illumined civilization was that the initiate-priests and priest-kings were not
"just rulers" of their subjects — they were spiritual parents. Spiritual
instruction of the citizenry was available to all — at all times. Only
spiritual worth qualified a man or a woman to function as a spiritual guide in
those times — all aspirants were tested to the utmost to prove their
qualifications as teachers, seers, healers, "watchers," "warriors on the inner
planes," etc. All were fraternal in this respect, regardless of plane of
development; all were "life-students" who had to qualify by examination to
fulfill spiritual service-patterns. So, the fraternity of American parents and
teachers to children and students is the channeling by Neptune of the third-
house — ninth-house placement of Mercury opposition Pluto. Parents who are
focused on this relationship-ideal are those who most clearly qualify to give
embodiment to New-Age personalities.
The astrologer, as a contributive factor in the
spiritual life of this nation, is basically on the "ray of philosophy" rather
than that of "devotional religion." He may be Protestant, Hebrew, Catholic, or
a follower of any other form of devotion as far as his immediate "religious
mold" is concerned, but his focus of attention is the study of life principles
through symbols. The planet Uranus, ruler of the fixed air-sign Aquarius, is
the planetary significator of those elements of consciousness that enable a
human to "become an astrologer." As a fixed sign, Aquarius is one of the
structure-points of the square of resource; as an air sign, it is one of the
structure-points of the trine of fraternal consciousness. Its square is
initiated by its own polarity Leo (fixed fire), the principle of radiative
Love Power; its trine is initiated by the cardinal air-sign Libra, arch-
principle of reflective complementation. Dynamically, Aquarius is the love-
potential liberated for universal expression; reflectively it is the
perception of the love-potential of all people by what we call the
"spiritualization of Fraternity." The "Leo part of you" alerts you to your
attributes as an expression of divine love; the "Aquarius part of you" alerts
you to your capacity to express that potential boundlessly and perceive it
endlessly as an attribute of every other human. "Psychology" (which is also
designated by Uranus) is the "study of the soul" or the "study of the soul's
laws." What is the soul but the distillation of past love-expressions?
"Psychiatry" is the study of the effects from congestion of the soul's powers
in the desire-octaves — a Gemini-like function of studying a specialization of
the Law of Cause and Effect. The psychologist deals with the "Leo-Aquarius
part of you;" the psychiatrist deals with the "Taurus-Scorpio part of you."
It is interesting to note that in the chart of the
United States there are no planets in Taurus-Scorpio; this diameter is
intercepted in the twelfth and sixth houses. The chart contains, however, a
very pronounced emphasis on second house patterns: the ruler, Mercury, in its
own second house sign; Venus, Jupiter and Sun in the second house; Venus
dignified by position; the vibratory horizontal (third cusp and ninth cusp) is
duplicated on second cusp and eighth cusp, and the Moon, as vibratory ruler of
the chart, is the prime planetary significator; the other two vibratory
significators are, in order of significance, Mercury and Uranus. Venus
disposits Saturn in Libra which squares Jupiter and Sun in the second house.
The violations of the Principle of Stewardship of materials and money is one
of the outstanding factors which originate the psychiatric condition of
American individuals. The intense compression of attention on evaluation by
money-standards with its attendant complexes, tensions, anxieties, and
sex-neuroses (sex-consciousness is tied, hand and foot, to possession-
consciousness because the diameter of Scorpio-Taurus is a polarity) results in
the present high rate of mental-hospital population. Such afflicted persons
bring into the present incarnation congested residues, from many past
incarnations, of materialistic evaluation of life. But American incarnation is
indicative of a timing to evolve from that illusionary evaluation to prepare
for the fellowship evaluation of the New Age. It is in the hands of American
astrologers to alert clients, audiences, and readers to the meaning of
stewardship of materials and balanced exchanges as principles of life.
Whenever a person seeks guidance from an astrological reader or analyst
regarding "money, income, property and investment" he is, in his higher
motivations, actually seeking a clearer understanding of the equilibrium-
principle behind these things. Let every astrological practitioner who reads
this material refresh his awareness of this truth. We dare not contribute to
the weakness of others by catering to their desire for information regarding
"good and bad days for financial exercise." We aspire, rather, to
contribute to their strength by alerting them to the principles of life
which are chemically expressed through media of exchange, coinage, barter,
investment, and whatnot. All days are good days for the expression of
principle; when the Principle of Equilibrium is comprehended, financial
exercise becomes a life-giving channeling for the good of society, the nation,
and the race at large.
Because American citizens, as children, enjoy
interchange and mutual growth with children of many national backgrounds, we
recognize that the Aquarius-power in the United States chart points to each
American astrologer as a "structure-point" in the edifice of international
understanding. The astrologer who functions with White-Lighted consciousness
knows that "nationalistic traits" are temporary collective specializations of
human personality. Because so many people are congested on karmic patterns of
nationalistic and racial fears, animosities and frictions, it is the privilege
of the astrologer who is also an American citizen to alert the
consciousness of his brother and sister humans to the fact that no one's
identity is "national" — it is "vibrational." An interesting illustration of
alchemy is shown in the United States chart in this way: Neptune, ruler of the
eleventh house, is squared by Mars in Gemini but sextiled by the chart's
ruler, Mercury, which "disposits" both of these planets. When our
international sympathies are touched we open homes, pocketbooks, and resources
to those in need. When our localized national prejudices are touched we tend
to forget that all Americans are fellow-citizens and we give expression to
animosities based on external (Mars, ruler of Aries, the twelfth house-sign)
differences of "color, superiority, inferiority," etc. Since the ruler of the
Ascendant and fifth cusp is the alchemical agency for the Mars-Neptune square,
it is up to each individual American citizen to decrystallize the residues of
nationalistic and "caste-ish" prejudice and hatred. Each must do for himself
in this regard by very virtue of the fact that democracy — in the spiritual
sense of the word — recognizes the individual's right to exercise his
potentials, make his own mistakes and learn from the results of his mistakes.
The Moon in Aquarius, as vibratory ruler of the chart tells us that an ever-
deepening realization of our exoteric identity as "Earthians" is the key we
must use to disintegrate those negatives of nationalistic pride, destructive
rivalry, violation of exchange-principles and stewardship-principles, etc., in
order that the Uranian requirements of the Midheaven may be fulfilled. The
"melting-pot" quality of American citizenship and civilization is microcosmic
Earthian identity in gestation. The American astrologer, who in his service is
the Uranus-power in action, can do much to help others clarify their awareness
of the significance of "nationality" as an evolutionary "molding mechanism."
In other words, because the ruler of the chart also
rules the fifth house and the sign Leo is on the fourth cusp (the
"psychological base"), the Cancer-position of both Mercury and the Sun
identifies the nurture-principle of the love-vibration as the esoteric
impulsion behind this gestation of "Earthian identity." Aquarius, with Uranus
trine to Saturn (ruler of eighth and ninth houses) is the esoteric objective
to be fulfilled. The Sun is squared by Saturn in this chart; blindness to
philosophic values impels over-attention on money-values as compensation.
Think about this in the light of historical fact. We "take pride" on being the
richest country in the world but in all justice we cannot feel anything but
shame in the way we have mis-stewarded our vast resources. Conversely,
however, adherence to the principles of intelligent and foresighted
stewardship would be a demonstration of true power because then the
White Light of Sun would combine with the White Light of Saturn as
"stewardship-responsibility-power" fulfillment.
Another most important factor in this chart is the
sign Libra on the sixth cusp; Venus, its focalizer, is in the second and
conjunct Jupiter which, with the Sun, is squared by Saturn. Libra is the arch-
symbol of the Principle of Exchange-in-cooperation so we see that cooperation
as a factor in our national work-pattern is a "must" if we are to realize the
ideal of true abundance. Venus is a result, a distillation of the qualities of
energy-expression; when cooperation between work-initiators (employers) and
work-instruments (employees) is not founded on a basis of mutual good
then the Venus-power is demagnetized with attendant depletion of Saturn-power.
Jupiter, as ruler of the seventh house, conjunct the Sun and both squared by
Saturn, then becomes the "opponent" — the illusionary satisfactions of material
greed. Negative Jupiter is "greed" as an intense focus on illusionary
compensations for the loss of realities. It becomes the establishment of false
security through illusionary abundance. We do not, individually or
collectively, own any material thing — we exercise our intellects and
consciousness as stewards.
Also, Neptune in Virgo squared by Mars pictures the
consciousness-defaults of both employers and employees in regard to the
principles of service. When Neptune, as ruler of the eleventh house, is
contaminated by negative Mars then the Aquarian objective of the Midheaven is
held back from fulfillment. As long as the slogan "Capital versus
Labor" is interpreted as a reality, this square — as a congestion in the
national consciousness — will prevail. The sextile by the chart's ruler Mercury
to Neptune, plus Libra on the sixth cusp, ordains that every American citizen-
worker, whether employer or employee, is evolutionarily committed to exercise
the principle of cooperative love-service in balanced exchanges. The employer
who is negatively based, in ignorance, on exploitation disqualifies for the
creative identity of "employer;" the employee who is based on the "un-
principle" of non-improvement disqualifies for further development — he
postpones the day for qualifying as a creative or administrative worker.
The astrologer in this country who is focused on the
ever-clarifying of his consciousness of life-principles has a specialized
evolutionary service to contribute to the race in this "modulatory, gestative"
time. In the United States, he can deal with almost every kind of evolutionary
social strata, every kind of karmic-return pattern and, because of the
repolarization of the archetype during the past century, he is able to
contribute a clarifying of relationship-principles through the extended
understanding of the principles pertaining to our sexual and generic nature.
He himself — through attribute as a "Uranus-identity" — stands as a microcosmic
Earthian identity not just because he is an inhabitant of this planet but
because the impersonality of his viewpoint, scope of perception, radiativity
of Uranus-love-power qualify him, in degree, to personify the New-Age
Human.
The Point, The Line,
and the Circle
For a long time it has been one of the author's
most deeply-rooted personal convictions that astrology is humanity's supreme
interpretative art. "Supreme" because its elements of structure and symbolism
composite the structural and symbolic elements of the other arts. It is the
symbolic picturing of cosmic principles "expressing humanly;" as such, it
pictures everything which humanity itself seeks to express in the fine arts.
It is the patterning of actions and reactions and these two words together are
the macrocosm of what we call "human experience" which, in turn, is the
"distillation of spiritual consciousness." Art, in whatever form, serves to
intensify and vivify Man's awareness of himself, other people, and the world
around him.
The fundamental simplicity of astrological
symbolism has the deep-reaching effect on our consciousness that it does have
because of its archetypal quality; hence its messages — through planets, signs,
houses, and aspects — reach us continually as we ourselves unfold our resources
of wisdom and perception. All artists, universally considered great, are
considered so because of an unusually high development in at least one branch
of their particular art; the great astrologer is one who has effected a
harmonious integration of intellect with love and intuition. He is, by nature
of his talent, an intellect and an instrument, a stimulator and a reflector, a
parent and a brother. He knows darkness but his awareness is centered in
Light; he serves to illuminate the consciousness of others regarding their
real identity as expressions of the Law of Cause and Effect, which is cosmic
polarity in action through the human archetype.
This introductory discourse on the "point, line,
and circle" is for the purpose of mental preparation for consideration of the
analogies between the fine arts and astrology. Any work of art is a
chemicalized organization of elements, abstract and concrete, which serves to
embody an archetypal idea. The conception of the idea is the action of the
artist's feminine polarity; it represents his functioning as a"focus-er" of
inspirational powers and as a perceptor of the archetype, by intuition. By
exercise of will-power and technical skill (the masculine polarity) a
vibratory fusion takes place which makes possible the gestation of the
embodiment — the archetype is condensed and objectified through the particular
artistic medium — the inherent perfection of the archetype is relatively
manifested in tone, color, designs, movement, gesture, words, etc. The fusion
of intuition with will is the exercise of bi-polarity — the artist is, at one
and the same time, the "father-mother" of his work. Human beings do not and
cannot — create tones, colors, designs, movements, gestures, etc. We do,
however, have the faculty of becoming aware of the existence and nature of
archetypes, and our talents permit us to manifest our concepts of the
archetypes, which are, and always have been, resident in Divine Mind. We as
individuals, simply give individualized expressions of them. The transcendent
quality of the work of a truly great artistic genius has its resource in the
clarity with which he perceives the archetype and the efficiency with which he
gives it expression. Think about this in connection with those works of art
which you love most deeply and which have inspired you the most intensely.
They live always in your consciousness and they serve to symbolize inner
realities to you. Your response to them is part and parcel of your soul body;
their essence will live in it as long as you exist. They are, in whatever
form, vibratory statements of truth. The "creativity" of the artistic
manifestor is the originality with which he embodies the archetype.
A few examples — to illustrate the archetypal
quality of great art: The music of Johann Sebastian Bach; the singing of
Marian Anderson; the dance-arts of Isadora Duncan, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Mary
Wigman; the acting of Eleanora Duse and John Barrymore; the dramas of
Shakespeare; the sculpture of Rodin; the novels of Pearl Buck; the
architecture of ancient Egypt; the poetry of Verlaine, etc.
Without the "point, line and circle" there can be
no astrological picturing. Without understanding the archetypal significance
of these three we cannot understand the archetypal significance of either a
work of art or a horoscope. In the composite of "point, line and circle, " as
a sequence, is seen the symbol of emanation — macrocosmic and microcosmic,
divine and human. Have you ever wondered what to do to create a symbol of
"nothing?" Simple enough. You abide by the meaning of the word and do nothing.
You leave the paper blank. The instant you have indicated anything on the
paper, you have given embodiment to a " something. " The most fascinating
factor in symbology is the study of the point — because the point is the start
of all outpicturing. Can you draw a line"all-at-once"? No — you have to start
with a point. To counter with "but I can use a stamp and draw the line all at
once" is equivocation; the stamp (made to draw a line) was itself made by
process.
People — most people — are inclined to think that a
zero (circle) is the symbol for "nothing." The mere fact that a zero is a
"drawn thing" automatically invalidates such an interpretation. ("One and
zero" — as a drawing — is not "one" but "ten.") Let us consider the nature of a
"zero-circle" from the standpoint of how it is essentially made; from that,
perhaps, we can attain a clearer perception of what it essentially symbolizes.
(Note that, in addition and multiplication, our "numerical results" emanate to
the left — just as the Ascendant-line "emanates" from the center of the Great
Mandala in specific time-space. The number farthest to the left in the
arithmetical result is analogous to the Ascendant-point.)
The instant your pencil-point touches the paper
you have established the point. By sequence of movement in time-space, you
draw the line from that point. The point, then, is the source of the line, as
far as representation is concerned. Polarity is represented here: your will
and mind impose themselves on the material substances of the pencil and paper;
the thought of drawing the line is your subjective action; the drawing is the
objective action which results in the manifestation of the line. Of the two
instruments, the pencil is masculine because its substance is qualified to
make the mark; the paper is feminine because its nature is to "receive" the
impress of the pencil-point and reflect back the picturing of your idea. By
correspondence, you are (in this action) God; the pencil and paper are matter
and the line is the specific result of the action of your will on the material
substance; by correspondence again — just as Father-Mother God (creative Will
and Imagination) utilizes the material universe to manifest archetypes — and
those archetypes might be "humanity, ""cat," "oak tree," or "humming bird"
(human, quadruped, vegetable, or bird). The action of the pencil-point on the
paper is analogous to the action of cosmic polarity on and through the
material universe. resulting in a specialized manifestation.
Just as you, as an "emanation" of Father-Mother
God, are the source of your expressions, so the point you have drawn is the
source of all lines, planes and (theoretically) solids which can, or might,
emanate from it. As such, it is the abstract symbol of infinite subjectivity;
from that point lines can be drawn in infinite space and infinite time.
Because the line "lives" is evidence that the point exists; because we are
sustained in manifestation is evidence that our source exists. The line, then,
is specific effect from a specific cause; the drawing of it is a chemicalizing
process; the measurement of it is the exercise of your will to manifest
perfectly the archetype in your mind. (An indefinite line is unfulfilled
manifestation of the archetype; a measured line is specifically, definitely
qualified as an archetypal outpicturing.) Actually the point is a "filled-in
dot;" abstractly, and we are now dealing with abstractions, it symbolizes the
pure composite of all dimensions. Give the word "archetype" a great deal of
thought — it could be made the subject of a life-time study for it is one of
the most fascinating and illuminating of words.
The point is now seen to be — as an abstract
symbol — the archetype of source: God, cause, subjective essence, nucleus,
seed, etc. The line, correspondingly, is the first emanation of the potential-
-source because no other line was, as yet, drawn from the point. When the line
is completed by specific measurement it is fully "chemicalized" and it is
qualified, by its attributes of fineness" to emanate planes and solids.(just
as a child, "emanated" by his parents, possesses the attributes of becoming a
parent himself when he matures; his maturity, of body and emotion, qualifies
him for a specific identity — parenthood — as the measurement of the line
specifically qualifies it.
Applying to the subject of this discourse, the
point is the archetypal idea of the artist. The drawing of the line is the
action of manifesting the archetype. The measured line, complete, is the
finished work now qualified by its attributes to be seen heard, and enjoyed —
responded to. In the Great Astrological Mandala the center-point is the
inherent Divinity of the archetype humanity; the line drawn to the left is the
abstract ascendant, Aries, the "I am" of all human-beings. In the horoscope of
the individual human the central point is his "God-spark," his individualized
"portion" of Divinity, the chemicalization of which is the line drawn
horizontally to the left from the point; its contact with the circumference of
the circle is his physical birth — the objectification of his "I am. " Since
there is only one radius of any circle, this "Ascendant-line" is the composite
of the human's four basic identities: male and/or female; complementation (and
these two comprise the sexual identity); masculine and feminine gender (these
two comprise the identities of being Causers and Effects of
Causes or Expressors and Reactors).
The word "Art" corresponds to the word "Artist "
as the word, " Humanity " corresponds to the composite word " Man-Woman. "
There are many forms of Art — expression just as there are various types of
human beings. Art, as an archetypal word, means: the manifestation of
archetypes through the media of tone, color, substance, word, and movement and
the abstract elements of design and rhythm."Humanity" means: manifestation, on
this planet, of an archetypal idea of Father-Mother God; it is expressed
through the two media of male and female sex appearing in the "evolutionary
dimensions" of unfulfillment and relative fulfillment of Divine potentials.
Now, the emanations of the line — as, in itself, a "source":
Just as the Archetypal number is "one," so there
is only one center to any horoscope and one radius — though, consequently, two
diameters. The artist possesses — manifestively and/or interpretatively — one
artistic endowment and that is his ability to perceive archetypes and to
manifest them. But there may be many ways by which he can exercise his
artistic "I am" — both by participation in different art-forms or in different
phases of one particular form There are in astrology three expressions of the
four basic identities which were previously mentioned. In each of these twelve
identities, the human expresses his specialized potentials; in each of the
phases of the artist 's endowment (the genders of which, masculine and
feminine, are manifestor and interpreter, respectively) he expresses his
specialized artistic potentials; the playwright expresses through various
dramatic forms and the actress learns to interpret various types of roles; the
musician deals, or can deal, with different instruments and musical forms; the
architect and the sculptor learn to adapt different substances to give
embodiment to their ideas. The artist fulfills the " radii of the wheel "with
each satisfactory demonstration of his manifestive and/or interpretative
endowment; the human individual fulfills "his radii" when he becomes aware of
the spiritual principles involved in his experience-patterns and expresses
that realization in his daily living. How is the "end" of all this symbolized?
Let us consider the fulfillment of the point — the circle:
The ineffable beauty of a perfect circle is man-
kind's supreme symbol of spiritual realization and perfect fulfillment of
potentials. Subsequent to realization and potential-fulfillment comes perfect
releasement, in perfect timing, from bondage to form. "Form" can mean a
specific relationship, a specific experience-pattern on a particular octave, a
specific state of manifestation, or a specific evolutionary cycle. To
illustrate:
On a paper draw the next simplest geometric form-
-an equilateral triangle. The mid-points of the sides are the three points
that are closest to the center (of the figure). As you move along the
triangle from anyone of these three points you recede from the center until
you come to the next angle-point. Do the same with the square — the mid-points
of its sides are the four points closest to the center and the angle-points
are most removed from the center. All three-or-more-sided enclosed figures are
crystal symbols — they represent static states. Movement around them, though
rhythmic in equilateral figures is not constant in relationship to the center.
In this respect, the circle differs from all other enclosed figures. Trace
your pencil-point from any place on the circumference of a perfect circle
around the wheel and back to the starting-place: your pencil-point was the
same distance from the center at all times. Hence, the "spiritual perfection"
of the circle and its aesthetic perfection (a continuous, perfectly controlled,
"flow" from a given point) represents the ideal of rhythmic, harmonious
expression of potentials and their perfect fulfillments in Love-Wisdom.
Since the equilateral triangle — the " Grand
Trine" — is the next most significant as a spiritual symbol (because of the
"closeness" of its mid-points to the center) we have, in it, the picture of
the relative perfection of the human being exercising, from time to time, the
highest and best of his attributes. He doesn't — being human — stay at those
high points (those closest to the center — and they have an analogy to the mid-
points of a horoscopical diameter); he tends to recede from his Center toward
the next angle-point — which symbolizes a new identity for further releasements
of Love-Wisdom powers. Study the four generic trines, each one enclosed in a
circle, with the mid-points of the sides connected to the center — to picture
the "closeness." The angle-points, being furthest from the center, are in each
of the four symbols, the triune power of identity (cardinal) to be expressed
and fulfilled through love (fixed) and wisdom (mutable). The enclosing of a
smaller circle by the three mid-points represents the"returning" of
individualization (Adam-and-Eve) to unity (Paradise) by redemption through
Love-Wisdom (the Christos). Continuing this process of creating smaller
circles in the same way would eventually, from an abstract symbolic
standpoint, reduce the original circle to its original Center-point, the
conclusions of the experience of a manifested archetype: "from "Subjectivity
through Objectivity and back to Subjectivity." To conclude:
The circle is not a "chemical symbol." it is
manifestation of the inherent perfection of a chemicalized expression. It is
the ideal of perfect objectification and of perfect realization. It is the
infinity of perfect effect as the center-point is the infinite perfection of
the archetype. The circle of the horoscopical wheel is the human archetype
to be manifested (Mastership); it is the truth, the goodness, and the beauty —
the inspirational power — of the fulfilled work of art. It is the refined and
sensitized consciousness of the artist as manifestor — interpreter — and "
interpreter " means "teacher" as well as "performer" — and the fulfillment of
his sacred endowment as a spiritual instrument. The circle's center-point is
the divine source of manifestation — on all planes, octaves, and cycles.
This web page has been edited and/or excerpted from reference material, has been modified from it's original version, and is in conformance with the web host's Members Terms & Conditions. This website is offered to the public by students of The Rosicrucian Teachings, and has no official affiliation with any organization.
