The Message of the Stars
by Max Heindel and
Augusta Foss Heindel
(Part 1)
An Esoteric Exposition of
Natal and Medical Astrology
Explaining the Arts of Reading
the Horoscope and
Diagnosing Disease
Table of Contents »
I. Evolution As Shown
in the Zodiac
It is a matter of common knowledge among mystics that the evolutionary career of mankind is indissolubly bound up with the
divine hierarchies who rule the planets and the signs of the Zodiac, and
that passage of the Sun and the planets through the twelve signs of the
Zodiac, marks man's progress in time and in space. Therefore it is not to
be wondered at, that in the course of their investigations into the
spiritual development of mankind, the writers have also encountered much
that deals with the Zodiac which is the boundary of our evolutionary
sphere at the present time. So much has been perceived in the memory of nature that sheds light upon obscure passages of the Bible, that notes have been made from time to time of different points, but how to collect and collage these dissociated writings into a united whole, has been a great problem for a long time. Even now, the writers know and feel that what they are bringing forth is only a very, very weak attempt to set
before the students that great body of facts which have come to them
through the memory of nature. They feel, however, that this will give a
new and more profound meaning to the old symbols, and that by passing on
what has been found they put themselves in line to receive more light.
Concerning the future evolution of planets; the Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception teaches, (click/touch here), that "when the beings upon the planet
have evolved to a sufficient degree, the planet becomes a Sun, the fixed
center of the Solar System. When the beings there have evolved to a still
greater degree, and consequently it has reached its maximum of brilliancy,
it breaks up into a Zodiac and becomes, so to speak, the womb of a new Solar
System. Thus the Great hosts of Divine beings who, until then, were
confined upon that Sun gain freedom of actions upon a great number of
stars whence they can affect, in different ways, the system which grows up
within their sphere of influence. The planets or many-bearing worlds within
the Zodiac are constantly being worked upon by these forces but in various
ways according to the stage they have reached in evolution. Our Sun could
not have become a sun until it set out from itself all the beings who were
not sufficiently evolved to endure the high rate of vibration and the great
luminosity of the beings who were qualified for that evolution. All the
beings upon the different planets would have been consumed had they remained
in the Sun. This visible Sun, however, though it is a place of evolution
for beings vastly above man, is not by any means, the Father of other
planets, as material science supposes. On the contrary, it is itself an
emanation fron the central Sun, which is the invisible source of all that IS
in our solar system."
"Our visible Sun is but the mirror in which are reflected the Rays of
energy from the Spiritual Sun, the real Sun is as invisible as the real man."
From this teaching it is apparent that the great spiritual
hierarchies which are now guiding our evolution, have had their training for
this path in previous schemes of manifestation, also that what they are now
doing, we shall some day do for others. Already the foremost among our human race are treading the path of initiation, and have thereby advanced into
stages, far beyond the general status of our present humanity. It has been
learned that those who have gone through the Mercurial School of the lesser
Mysteries, and have graduated from the School of the Greater Mysteries are now
preparing human evolution for the Jupiter Period. They have entered the
planet Jupiter, by way of one of the Moons, which serves as a stepping stone.
Others there are, unfortunately, who have gone the other way. We read in
the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, that even as the whole population of the
earth was at one time expelled from the present Sun because of their inability
to keep up with the vibrations of the beings thereon, thus hindering them
and being hindered themselves, so also it becomes necessary in the Lemurian
Epoch, to expel a number of the stragglers from earth. Thus the Moon was cast
out into space to revolve as a Satellite around our present planet. Those
unfortunates are gradually degenerating and the time will come when they
will all go to the planet Saturn, which is the door to Chaos. Thence they
will be expelled to inter-planetary space to await the time when, in a new
system, there will be a favorable condition for their further evolution.
Thus the Zodiac and the planets are as a book in which we may read the
history of Humanity during past ages, and they also give a key to the future
which is in store for us. In the famous Zodiac in the Temple of Denderah,
Cancer is not pictured as we have it in modern days. There it is a beetle, a
scarab. This was the emblem of the soul, and Cancer has always been known in
ancient times, as well as among modern mystics, to be the sphere of the
soul, the gate of life in the Zodiac whence the spirits coming into rebirth,
enter our sub-lunary conditions. It is therefore aptly ruled by the Moon
which is the planet of fecundation, and it is noteworthy that we find
Capricorn, which is its opposite, ruled by Saturn the Planet of Death and Chaos, who is mystically depicted as "the reaper with his scythe and hour
glass in hand." These two opposite signs are therefore turning points in
the soul's career. Cancer and Capricorn respectively mark the highest ascent
of the Sun into the Northern Hemisphere, and its lowest descent into the
South. We observe that during the summer when the Sun is in the sphere of
Cancer and allied signs, fecundation and growth are the order of the day. But
when the Sun is in the South, in Capricorn, we have winter, when nature is
dead. The fruits of the summer are then consumed and assimilated by us. As
a circle dance of the Sun among the twelve signs determines the seasons of
the year when direct, causing the germination of myriads of seeds cast in
the earth, also the mating of the fauna, which then makes the world alive
with the sights and sounds of manifested life, and at another time leaves
the world dumb, dull and drear in winter's gloom, under the sway of Saturn,
so by the slower backward movement, known as the Precession of the Equinox,
does it produce the great changes which we know as Evolution. In fact, this
precessional measure of the sun marks the birth and death of races, nations
and their religions, for the pictorial Zodiac is a symbolical presentation
of our past, present and future development.
Capricorn, the goat, is not a goat at all as we know that animal, but
part fish and part goat. Its Saturnine rulership, and the fact that it
receives the Sun at the dawn of each New Year, naturally by analogy associates
it with the beginning of precessional epochs. It represents the stage in
evolution covering transition from fish, through amphibia to the mammalian
form. The belligerency of the goat is well known, and an apt symbol of the
struggle for existence, in which the weak perish unless able to outdistance
their foes. This phase of the matter is sometimes expressed in the symbol,
when drawn as part fish and part antelope. Jacob, in the forty-ninth chapter
of Genesis, pronounces blessings upon his children, which symbolize the
twelve signs. There he speaks of Naphtali as a "hind" let loose; thus a
very apt symbol of Capricorn, for when the Sun is there at each winter
solstice, it is starting a race through the circle of twelve signs, which
it must complete in a given time — a year.
When the Sun leaves Capricorn, by precession, it enters the sign
Sagittarius, and this is pictured in the symbolical Zodiac as a Centaur,
part horse and part man. Thus it shows aptly, the fact that we have
evolved through the animal stage into the human. The centaur is in the act of
drawing his bow, showing that there is something for which the human spirit,
on its pilgrimage through matter, is seeking, that it aspires to something
that lies beyond it, as a lofty ideal, for the bow points upward to the stars.
The next step in human unfoldment is not so much along the physical lines
as along the mental. Its nature is shown by the Sun's passage through the
sign Scorpio, which is pictorially represented as a serpent or scorpion,
emblems of cunning and subtlety. It is plain from this symbol that the
faculty of the mind evolved by infant humanity was cunning, and we still see
that that is a characteristic trait among the lower natures even among many of our present-day humanity.
But, when the Sun enters the sign Libra, 'The Scales,' by precession,
the balance of reason gives him a new start upon the evolutionary path. Under
the care of divine instructors man had at that time advanced to the point
where because of this new faculty, reason, he could be made fully responsible
to nature's laws, and thus reap what he had sown, that he might learn the
lesson of life by actual experience, be able to reason out the connection
between cause and effect and in time learn to govern himself so as to
progress further upon the path.
Thus, under the guidance of the spiritual hierarchies, focused through
the signs of Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, and Libra, were his physical,
moral and mental attributes acquired, and he was equipped and mental
attributes acquired, and he was equipped to commence the spiritual side of his
evolution. The germ of this progress is hidden in the celestial virgin, the
sign Virgo, which is the vehicle of the immaculate conception, the heavenly
mother of Christ; not of one Christ only, but of many. This is one of the
most sublime signs of the Zodiac and one of the most mystical, so fraught
with hidden meaning that its full import cannot be fully understood save
when viewed by the internal light of spiritual illumination. Yearly, at the
winter solstice, the immaculate Madonna is ascendant at midnight, when the
new born Sun commences to rise to the task of growing the grain and grape,
to save humanity from the cold and famine, which would inevitably result
were he to remain in the southern declination. The Sun is therefore an apt
symbol of the Savior, born to feed his flock on the spiritual bread of life.
But, as we must have eyes attuned to light to see the sun, so must the
Christ be born within before we can perceive spiritual light. As Angelus
Silesius says:
"Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born
And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn.
The Cross of Golgotha thou lookest to in vain
Unless within thyself it be set up again."
Therefore, by the precessional passage of the Sun through the sign Virgo,
the germinal impulse was given towards the birth of Christ within man. The
mystic marriage of the lower self to the higher, the immaculate conception, and the divine motherhood, which nourishes deep in its bosom, unseen by a
scoffing world, "the new born Christ," are actual experiences of a growing
number of people. And without the celestial prototype, fructified by the
solar precession, this would be an impossibility; neither has this ideal
been realized in such fullness during the past ages as today. The reason of
this will appear when we take up the joint consideration of opposite signs
of the Zodiac.
A great future is in store for this offspring of the celestial virgin.
Listen to the wonderful prophecy of Isaiah: "For unto us a child is born,
unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders and
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end."
Humanity is to rise to a wonderful spiritual height and this is
symbolized by the Sun's precessional passage through the royal sign Leo,
pictorially represented by the king of beasts, the lion. this is an apt
allusion to the King of Creation, who will then embody the three great virtues
of the Master Man, Strength, Wisdom and Beauty.
It is wonderful to trace the various phases of the religions given to the
pioneers of the Atlantean Race from the time they were "called out" in the latter
third of the Atlantean Epoch, to the end of the Aquarian Age, when a new
humanity will have been definitely born. This aspect of the Zodiac will form
the subject of the following sections. It will shed light on many of the most
obscure passages of the Bible, as only study of this Cosmic Science can.
When we consider the Zodiac in its religious as well as its evolutionary
aspects, by means of the six pair of opposite signs into which the twelve
may be divided, we also commence with Cancer and Capricorn, for the reason
given in the previous article, namely: that these are the solstitial points
where the Sun reaches its highest and lowest declination.
Considered in this manner, we find that there are two sets of three pairs
of signs, the first being Cancer and Capricorn, Gemini and Sagittarius, Taurus
and Scorpio. In these pairs of signs we may read the history of human
evolution and religion, in the early, the middle and the latter third of the
Atlantean Epoch. This is also divisible into three distinct periods,
namely: the Aryan Age, from Moses to Christ, which comes under Aries-Libra;
the Piscean Age, which takes in the last two thousand years under
Pisces-Virgo Catholicism; and the two thousand years which are ahead of us,
called the Aquarian Age, where the signs Aquarius and Leo will be
illuminated and vivified by the solar precession, for the upliftment of the
Son of Man (Aquarius), by the Christ within, the Lion of Judah (Leo), to the
estate of Superman.
It must not be thought, however, that the Atlantean Epoch only lasted
while the Sun by precession went through Cancer, Gemini, and Taurus, a
period of only six thousand and a few hundred years; far from it; but there
are spirals within spirals and recapitulation takes place in the epochs, so that we may know what is the general destiny by looking at the
Sun's passage through these signs and therewith taking this import and
symbolism into consideration. It may also be said that the further we
advance the smaller do the spirals become, the shorter the time in which a
given improvement is made, because of the proficiency we attained in former
ages, and therefore it is extremely probable that this present is the last
lap, that the coming Aquarian Age is the final preparatory school day which
will fit us for the new age, the Sixth Epoch, and that this will begin when
the Sun by precession enters Capricorn.
This, of course, would mean that the Second Advent must take place just
before that time, and though it seems to us that so many signs point that
way, still it is a mere surmise and may not have any truth in it at all.
Thousands of people have been misled during all the ages that we know of, to
think that Christ would soon be here; it is, however, better that we are
looking forward to it than if we should say with some, that it will never
take place. In that case the Great Day would find us unprepared and we
should find ourselves among the stragglers who are unfit to attend the
wedding feast of the Higher Self to the lower because lacking the "soul-
body," the "wedding garment," necessary to enfold them.
The Sun's passage by precession through the sphere of Cancer with its
opposite sign Capricorn, designates the early third of the Atlantean period,
which was intensely watery as the whole earth was covered by a dense,
drenching fog. The Niebelung, or "Children of the Mist," lived then in the
basins of the Earth. Cancer was not then represented by the same symbol as
today; in ancient times it was pictorially figured as a beetle or scarab.
This was the signature of the soul, for then mankind was much less body than
soul.
The sign Cancer is watery in its nature, and the fish part of Capricorn,
the opposite sign, also helps to symbolize this state of life under water
when the Sun went through the watery sign Cancer by precession. The Moon,
the planet of fecundation, points mystically to this period of germination,
when mankind first commenced to exercise the Creative function at the
dictates of desire inculcated by the Lucifer Spirits. Thus mankind opened
the Gate of physical Life through Cancer, and strayed into the
terrestrial sphere, but opposite stood Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn,
ready to slay them with his scythe, and usher them through the Gate of Death
back into the spiritual realms where they are at home.
Capricorn was the opposite of Cancer and embodied the ideal that as the
goat climbs the mountains, so man must leave the basins of Atlantis and come
up from the mist.
Our condition during the middle third of the Atlantean Epoch is
illustrated in the Sun's passage through the sign Gemini, the twins, which
aptly represent infant humanity. During this age the division of soul from
soul by the veil of flesh, which we call the body, became more noticeable,
for the atmosphere had already cleared to a considerable extend, and the
faculties of the spirit had become more focused in its physical instrument.
With this delusion of the personal self, there came at once the idea of "me"
and "thee," "mine" and "thine," our individual interests commenced to clash
with those of others, so that a tragedy such as that recorded between Cain
and Abel became possible. Nor was the shedding of blood confined to human
beings, for we learn from the Bible that "Nimrod was a might hunter". This
savage ideal was expressed in the Celestial Centaur, Sagittarius, with his
bow and arrow.
But both of these pairs of opposites, Cancer-Capricorn and
Gemini-Sagittarius, may be considered pre-historic hieroglyphics of a
development accomplished in Sidereal years, long past, though none the less
important on that account. Our own times, with the development prescribed for
them, are symbolically represented in the two pairs of signs within the
fixed cross, the Bull, the Lion, the Serpent and the Man.
For that reason the two pairs of opposites comprising the fixed signs,
Taurus-Scorpio and Leo-Aquarius, are mentioned in the Bible, and we shall
find that our modern systems of religion are full of allusions to the three
pairs of opposites. Aquarius-Leo and the two adjacent pairs of signs,
Aries-Libra and Pisces-Virgo. These three pairs of opposites are, as
already stated, emblematic of the development in the entire Aryan Epoch. In
the early third of this Epoch, the Sun by precession went through the sign
Aries, the middle third of its find the Sun in Pisces, by precession, and
during the last third the Sun will go through the sign Aquarius. Then the
solstitial point Capricorn will see the inauguration of a new cycle or age.
The spiritual preparation for this development commenced about thirteen
thousand B.C., when the Sun by precession, was in the sign Libra, the
Balance, the last time. Different phases of this germinal impregnation
of people then living were carried on during the precessional travel of the
Sun through Virgo, Leo, and culminated in Cancer about eight thousand B.C.
when the last of Atlantis was destroyed by water, substantially as related by
the Egyptian priests to Plato. We shall see presently how the germinal
ideals, given to humanity in those far. by-gone days have grown and flowered
into factors of human development and spiritual standards of the greatest
importance.
In the latter third of Atlantis, egoism had developed to a far greater
degree than before, the spiritual sight had been lost by the large majority
of the people who then lived entirely on the material plane and gloried
particularly in their material possessions.
The Bull was very properly worshiped by them, being an emblem of strength
necessary to conquer the material world. It was, on account of its
prodigious strength, an invaluable aid in all their work. The proverb about
"the flesh pots of Egypt" has remained illustrative to the present day, to
show how abundantly that animal supplied their physical need of food, the milk
of the female being also an important article of diet. The possession of
many cattle was therefore ardently desired by the ancient infant nations, and
the worship of the Bull was inaugurated under the solar precession through
Taurus during earlier Great Sidereal Years, and continued to the
comparatively modern times, when the Sun by precession went through the sign
of Celestial Bull for the last time.
At that point when the Sun entered the sign of the Lamb, Aries, the post-Atlantean Fifth Epoch religions were inaugurated. The religion of the Lamb is to hold sway for
the next Great Sidereal Year, while the Sun by precession passes around the
twelve signs of the Zodiac, as the religion of the Bull has held sway during
the previous celestial year from the time the Sun entered Taurus, until it
left the same sign on its next passage.
New religions, however, are not revealed in their fullness at the
beginning; they are started and go through a period of gestation long before
the religion which they are to succeed ends its material existence, and
similarly, and ancient religion about to be abrogated survives along after
the religion which succeeds it has become the official source of upliftment
for humanity. The Atlantean pioneers, chosen to inaugurate the worship of the
Lamb, Aries, during the Fifth Epoch, were taken from "Egypt," the home of
the Bull "Taurus." Not our modern Egypt however. The story of Pharaoh, who
endeavored to prevent their emigration and was drowned, has reference to
Atlantis which was submerged thousands of years before Moses is supposed to
have made his escape with the Israelites through the "Red Sea." The facts
underlying the story are that a multitude of people left the land where the
bull "Taurus" was worshiped, (Atlantis or Egypt) whose inhabitants were then
drowned, to seek a :promised land" beyond the water which had engulfed an
"ungodly nation." There they were dedicated to the worship of the "Lamb"
Aries which had been slain in "Egypt" (Atlantis); through its blood these
pioneers had been preserved from death, and it was thus "the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the (present) World" which we call the Fifth Epoch. Noah's escape presents another phase of the same occurrence relating that
the mists which had enveloped Atlantis condensed to rain, and flooded the
basis of the earth, leaving a clear atmosphere in which the Rainbow was seen
for the first time at the opening of the New Age, the current post-Atalantean Fifth Epoch, where a new Covenant was made with the pioneers of the polity then ushered in.
Atlantis was the home of the Bull, Taurus, and when the Sun, by
precession, was leaving that sign the last time, the Religion of the Lamb
Aries was definitely ushered in. Thenceforth, the worship of the Bull was
abrogated and when any of the pioneer humanity, brought out from the
ancient Atlantean dispensation by the blood of the Lamb, Aries, backslid and
worshiped the Taurean "Calf," they acted contrary to the law of progress
and were therefore "Idolaters," and an abomination to the divine hierarchs
whose task it was to guide them during the ages preceding the advent of
Christ.
Apart from the Astrological key, the Bible is truly a closed book, but
with this key, the matter is different. In the Old Testament reference is
made of two classes of animals: Bulls, which were Taurean, Sheep and Goats,
which were Arian. These alone were used as Sacrifices. (Turtle doves were
permitted as a concession to poverty). All the principal characters of the
Old Dispensation were shepherds (Arian) and Christ also announces Himself as
the Great Shepherd.
In the New Testament we find another animal, the Fish, attaining great
prominence, and the apostles were called to be "Fishers of Men," for then
the sun by precession was nearing the cusp of Pisces, the Fishes, and Christ
spoke of the time when the Son of Man (Aquarius) shall come. Thus our
evolutionary journey is mapped out in the hidden astrological allusions of
the Bible.
The student now has a line on the march of events, which it is well to
keep in mind.
Jesus taught the multitudes in parables but explained the mysteries of
the Kingdom to His disciples. Paul gave spiritual meat to the strong, but
the milk of doctrine to the multitude, for there has always been an esoteric
and an esoteric side to every religion. Taking Taurus, the sign of the
Bull, to symbolize the worship of that animal as practiced in Egypt, Persia
and other countries at that time, then we shall find that the opposite sign,
Scorpio, symbolizes the esoteric doctrine if the priesthood, who were the
guardians of the ancient Atlantean Mysteries.
In this connection we will note first that the sign Scorpio is
represented in the pictorial Zodiac by a Scorpion or Serpent, and we wish to
impress particularly on the student's mind that the Scorpion has its sting in the tail, while the Serpent has the venom in its teeth. This is very significant, as well shall see presently.
On looking up the word "serpent" in the Bible, we shall find that there
are about seven words that have thus been translated; but one of them, which
was borrowed from Egypt, is Naja. This word is found on the old tablets in
the ancient temples of Egypt where Osiris, the Sun God, is hailed when arising
from the primordial deep. He was then crowned with glory and has the Uraeus
Naja, an emblem of cosmic wisdom. The Uraeus was a part of a serpent's
body, with its head depicted as protruding from a point in the forehead
just above the nose, where the human spirit has its seat; and Christ
therefore referred to the ancient Serpent-Initiates, when He said: "Be ye
wise as serpents."
In ancient Egypt the King wore a crown adorned by a double serpent, Uraeus or Naja, which seemed to protrude from his forehead when the crown
was placed upon his head. This was to symbolize the fact that he held the
double office of King and Priest by virtue of his sublime wisdom. In India,
also, the guardians of the Mystery Teachings were called Nagas or Serpents.
In the Icelandic "Eddas," the Northern Vedas, Siegfried, the truth seeker,
slays the serpent, tastes of its blood and them becomes wise. Nor, to
elaborate on the statement made above, is it necessary to go outside our own
religion for proof that the serpent is the symbol of wisdom, for the Christ
Himself said: "Be ye wise as serpents." The serpent is certainly not
sufficiently sagacious to warrant a literal meaning of this saying; but when
we understand that when the creative fire is drawn upwards through the
serpentine spinal cord it vibrates the pituitary body and the pineal
gland, connecting the Ego with the invisible worlds by opening up a hidden
sense, the allusion is perfectly clear.
There is, however, a lower phase of spiritual development, symbolized in
ancient times by placing the Uraeus or serpent at the naval, to show that
the mediumistic faculties in the solar plexus had been developed.
Mediumship is a negative phase of spiritual sight or hearing possessed by a
person who, under the control of an outside intelligence, prophesies. This
undesirable phase of seership was represented in the Zodiac by the symbol of
the Scorpion, which has the sting in its tail. In the Serpent, Initiate the
Creative Cosmic Fire was drawn upward through the head to serve as a
spiritual end; in the Medium the creative energy is expressed for selfish,
sensual ends through the procreative organ ruled by Scorpio.
The point between the eyebrows, whence the serpent of wisdom protrudes,
is the seat of life, whereas all that opens the womb is subject to the sting of death, contained in the Scorpion's tail.
If we now turn with this information to our Bible, we shall find that a
great many things, previously obscure, will become clear. As said, the
Egyptian word for this Uraeus or serpent is Naja and it was borrowed by the
Israelites who expressed the negative faculty of mediumship by affixing the
feminine ending "oth," giving Naioth; while those able to function
consciously in the spiritual worlds were given the positive, make plural
ending "im," and were called Naim. If we read the nineteenth chapter of
first Samuel with this understanding we shall readily see that the incident
there narrated was of a mediumistic nature. David had become afraid of Saul
and he went with Samuel to "Naioth." This is supposed by Bible translators
to be a place, and maybe a village was so named. But if that was the case,
it was because the people who lived in that place were Naoith, or
mediums. They were called prophets in the chapter before us, and it is
significant that as soon as anyone came within their camp, he commenced to
prophesy or speak under control. Even Saul, who came there, anxious to get
David away that he might slay him, was seized by the spirits and prophesied,
to the amazement of all present.
In the New Testament we are told that the Christ went to the city of Nain
and there raised the Son of a Widow. In the Latin Testament, this city was
not called Nain, but Naim. And it is very significant that all three, Naim,
Naioth and Endor, where the sorceress that assisted Saul is supposed to have
lived, are in the same locality by Mount Tabor.
Every Freemason knows that the brethren of that Order are called "Sons of
the Widow." And it is stated in the Bible that Hiram Abiff, the Master
Builder of Solomon's Temple, was the Son of a Widow, a cunning craftsman.
We cannot in the present article repeat the Masonic Legend which tells the
reason why. This we have given the book on "Freemasonry and Catholicism"
and also in our books on the Rosicrucian Philosophy. But suffice it to say
that in the Bible story to which reference has been made, we have one of the
Naim, a Widow's Son or initiate of the old Serpent School, for the priests
of Egypt were "phree messen," children of light. Each had within, the
ancient Serpent Wisdom. But a new religion was being inaugurated, and it was
necessary to raise the ancient Initiates to the Mysteries of the Coming Age.
Therefore the Christ, the Lion of Judah, Lord of the New Kingdom, went to the Widow's Son of Nain and raised him up by the strong grip of the Lion's
paw. And we may here emphasize that the first Initiate under the new system
was Hiram Abiff, the highest Initiate of the old system, who by this new
initiation given him by the Christ, became a Christian, pledged to bear the
Rose and the Cross, which were the symbols of the New Mystery Teachings of the Western World and he was then given the symbolical name, Christian Rosenkreuz.
Thus from the time when the Sun entered the sign Aries by precession, it
became a crime for the pioneers of humanity to worship the bull exoterically, or to
partake of the esoteric Serpent wisdom. And for a similar reason it is atavistic when people of the West take up the Eastern religions and kindred teachings. For in the current Fifth Epoch, only the Western Religions, the religions of the Lamb, have the proper effect on human evolution. All previous systems are detrimental to the Western people; and in time those also who are now in the East will be compelled to embrace this religion, or be left far behind in evolution.
The post-Atlantean Fifth Epoch may be divided into three eras; but they are all served
by the religion of the Lamb. The first division covers the time when the
Sun, by precession, went through the sign Aries, the Lamb. Jesus was born
when the Vernal equinox was in about seven degrees of Aries; so the
twenty-three degrees which lie on the other side belong to the Old Testament
period, when the pioneering people were in captivity and lost in the wilderness
of the world; the new religion had not then found its place. Then the
Christ came and inaugurated this new teaching definitely. He came not to
destroy the old prophecies and the law, but to give us something higher when
they shall have been fulfilled. The sign opposite Aries is Leo, the scales
or balance of Justice; and therefore we are told in the new religion that
there will come a day of judgment, when Christ shall appear to give to every
man according to the deeds done in the body.
Christ was the Great Shepherd, but He called His disciples to be "fishers
of men," for the Sun by precession was then leaving the sign of the Lamb and
entering Pisces, the sign of the fishes. Therefore a new phase of the Aryan
religions was opening up. The Bishop's miter is also in the form of a
fish's head.
The New Testament, therefore, does not mention the Bull or the Lamb, but
references to the fishes are numerous. We also found the celestial virgin
prominent and the wheat ear of Virgo is the Bread of Life, to be gained only
through immaculate purity. Thus Christ fed the multitude of fish (Pisces)
and loaves (Virgo).
Before the time of Christ, the new religion of the Lamb (Aries), could
get no foothold. Moses, the erstwhile leader, could not bring the chosen
people to the "promised land." That was reserved for Joshua, the son of
Nun. Joshua is the Hebriac for "Jesus" and the Hebrew word for "Nun" means
"fish" (Pisces). It was thus foretold that the religion of the Lamb would
attain prominence during the precessional passage of the Sun through the
sign Pisces, the fishes.
This prophecy has been fulfilled, for during the two thousand years which
have elapsed since the birth of Jesus, the Western religion has been taught
by a celibate priesthood, worshiping an immaculate virgin, symbolized by the
celestial sign Virgo, which is the opposite of Pisces. This same priesthood
has also enjoined the eating of fish and forbidden the use of flesh on
certain days. When the children of Israel left the flesh pots of Egypt,
where the Bull was slain, they left it by the blood of the Lamb. But in the
Piscean dispensation no shedding of blood is enjoined and flesh eating is
condemned as a sin at certain times, for man is now taught to forsake the
lusts of the flesh and also lusting after the flesh.
This ideal was tried under the Aries dispensation, when the pioneering people
were yet in the Wilderness, so called, but without success; they would not
have the heavenly manna. Now, however, man is being weaned from the
cannibalistic practice, and in the seven hundred years which remain before
the Aquarian age is definitely ushered in, we will, in all probability,
have made great strides, both in overcoming the lust of the flesh and the
lust after the flesh. For Virgo, the immaculate celestial virgin, and the
ears of wheat contained in the sign, show both these ideals as profitable to
soul growth at the present time. Jupiter, the planet of benevolence and
philanthropy, which rules Pisces, has been a prominent factor in promoting
altruism during the past two millennia.
It is often said, and rightly so, that the boy is father of the man. And
on the same principle we may say that the Son of Man is the Super-Man;
therefore, when the Sun by precession enters the celestial sign Aquarius,
the water-bearer we shall have a new phase of the religion of the Lamb,
exoterically; and the ideal to be striven for is shown in the opposite sign,
Leo.
The Moon, which is the habitat of the autocratic Race Ruler and Lawgiver,
Jehovah, is exalted in Taurus, the sign of the Bull, and all Race religions,
even the Mosaic phase of the Fifth Epoch "Aries" religion of the Lamb, demanded a
sacrificial victim for every transgression of that law. But the Sun is
exalted in Aries, and when the great Sun spirit, Christ, came as High Priest
of the Aries religion, He abrogated sacrifice of others by offering up Himself as a perpetual sacrifice for sin.
By looking to the mother ideal of Virgo during the Piscean Age, and
following the Christ's example of sacrificial service, the immaculate
conception becomes an actual experience to each of us, and Christ, the Son of
Man, Aquarius, is born within us. Thus, gradually, the third phase of the
Fifth Epoch religion will be ushered in and a new ideal will be found in the Lion
of Judah, Leo. Courage of conviction, strength of character and kindred
virtues will then make man truly the King of Creation, worthy of the trust
and the confidence of the lower orders of life as well as the love of the
Divine Hierarchs above.
This, the mystic message of Man's evolution, is marked in flaming
characters upon the field of Heave, where he who runs may read. And when we
study the revealed purpose of God, we shall in turn learn to conform
intelligently to that design, thereby hastening the day of emancipation from
our present cramped environment to the perfect liberty of free Spirits,
risen superior to the law of Sin and Death, through Christ, the Lord of Love
and Life.
It is for us to decipher this message, and solve the Riddle of the
Universe.
When judging a horoscope it is of prime importance that
we take into consideration the social standing of the individual,
for configurations which are of great significance in the horoscope of an
educated individual, may mean little or nothing in the figure of his or her uneducated and uncultered counterpart. Neglect of this factor would inevitably lead to false conclusions, as we shall now explain.
It is a mystic maxim that the lower in the scale of evolution a being is
placed the more certainly it responds to the planetary rays, and conversely
the higher we ascend in the scale of attainment the more the man conquers
and rules his stars, freeing himself from the leading strings of the Divine
Hierarchies through the planetary aspects in such a manner that we do not
hurt ourselves beyond recovery in the experiences of life.
But coupled with this guidance there is of course the measure of Free
Will, which grows as we evolve. The child in our midst has really very
little free will, being the subject not only to its parents but to the
servants, if such there be in the household, and to everybody with whom it
is associated, all exercising control over it for its own good. As the
child grows, this measure of restraint is by degrees relaxed, and in the
course of years the child will learn to exercise its free will. This method
has been followed by the Divine Hierarchies in the case of man. Infant
humanity was absolutely guided by Divine rules without having any Will at
all; "Thus shalt thou do, or not do," were injunctions laid upon them which
must be implicitly obeyed, otherwise the Divine displeasure was at once shown
by such strenuous manifestations as appealed to infant humanity's mind,
namely, lightning, thunder, earth-quakes and great visitations of plagues.
This was for their collective guidance, for individual restraint there were
strict laws, commandments and ordinances. Tribute must be paid continually
to the Divine Leader and offered up on the altar as sacrifices, and for every
offense against the law a certain sacrifice of material goods must be made.
Fear was the dominant keynote of that dispensation: for "The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of righteousness." This regime was carried on under
the planetary conditions of Mars and the Moon. Mars, being the home of the
dominant Lucifer Spirits, gave to mankind the energy necessary that
evolution may be accomplished; this martial energy was of the very greatest
importance, particularly of course in the earlier stages. The Moon, which
is the home of the Angels, under their Divine Leader Jehovah, gave to infant
humanity that child-like brain-mind which is amenable to rulership, and
bends itself readily before authority.
These with Saturn were the only planetary rays which affected mankind as a
whole during the Lemurian Epoch, and if a horoscope were erected for any of
the people who lived then, it would be unnecessary to enter the places of the
other planets, because they could not respond to their rays. Even today a
great part of mankind has not evolved very far beyond that point, a large
portion of our western world being dominated principally by these
planetary rays. Under their impulses they act with automatic certainty in a
specific manner, and it is possible to predict exactly what they will do under
a certain aspect of these planets, because they live entirely in their
emotions and are scarcely, if at all, responsive to the intellectual
vibrations of Mercury. Neither can they appreciate such emotions as signified
by Venus or its octave, Uranus,; they respond solely to the lower nature,
the animal passions. They move under the impulses of Mars and the Moon
respecting sex and sustenance. Their pleasures are of the lowest and most
sensual nature, they live like animals altogether in the physical, and their
creed is "eat, drink and be merry." Their desires run chiefly to "wine
and women," for they have not as yet awakened to the charm of song; Neither
has beauty had a chance to enchant the savage heart at this stage of
development for that comes from the Venus rays which are beyond such people.
Woman is to the man of that stage only a beast of burden and a convenience.
Meanwhile "Father Time" represented by the planet Saturn, keeps the
score, and wields over them the whiplash of necessity to drive them forward
on this evolutionary path, meting out to each the fruits of his labor at the
harvest time between lives. When the man has cultivated the savage virtues
of bravery, physical endurance, etc., he dreams in the post-mortem existence
of new field to conquer, and sees where he was lacking and why his desires
were frustrated because of lack of implements. Gradually the constructive
martial ray and the Saturn cunning fertilize the lunar brain which he is
building, so that in time he learns to make the crude implements necessary
for the attainment of his primitive ambitions. Even today we see the same
cunning traits of character, the same crude crafts displayed in and by many people for the purpose of irrigating land, mining ores or milling
grain. All those earliest implements were the result of the planetary rays
of Saturn, Moon and Mars, impinging on the primitive brain of infant
humanity.
A little further along the path of evolution, in the Atlantean epoch, the
Lords of Venus and the Lords of Mercury came to the earth for the purpose of
giving a further impulse to the mental and emotional development. It was
the task of Venus to combat the lower emotions and raise the brutish animal
passion of Mars to the softer and more beautiful Venus-love. She was to add
beauty to strength, and to attain that ideal the Lords of Venus fostered the
plastic arts, painting and sculpture. These were not taught men of the
general public at that time; the ideals which are to be developed in humanity
are always first taught to the most advanced ones in a mystery temple, and
at that time initiation included no spiritual instruction, but consisted of
an education in the liberal arts. Sculpture taught how the beautiful may
be incorporated in physical form. It called attention to the body and
idealized the softly curved lines. The result is now incorporated in our
own human body, for it should be thoroughly understood that in an mystery
school an ideal is not taught today simply to be forgotten tomorrow or in the
next generation, but ideals are inculcated so that in time they may become a
part of the very life, soul and body of humanity.
It may be objected that we are degenerating compared with what is shown
in the Hellenic Arts, but that is positively not so; it is rather that we
have not yet attained to that highest ideal. In ancient Greece the mystery
temples occupied a much more prominent position than today; the beautiful
form was idolized to the detriment of the mind notwithstanding the fact that
Greece had a Plato and a Socrates. The Lords of Mercury who had charge of
the development of mind, at the time when the Lords of Venus exercised their
great influence on the emotions, had not then been able to make a
universally strong impression on the early humanity. We are well aware even
today that it hurts to think, but it is easy to follow the emotions. At
the present time the middle class of the West is much further advanced than
the ancient Greeks because of the influence of these two planetary rays in
our lives. Woman naturally excels in the highly imaginative Venus faculty,
because of her part in the creative function which aids in molding the body
of the human race. On that account her figure has the graceful curves which
naturally express beauty, while man has the worldly-wise intellect fostered
by the Lords of Mercury, and is the exponent of reason, the creative agency
of physical progress in the world's work.
We always long for, admire, and aspire to what we lack. In days of
savagery when kicks and cuffs were her daily fare woman longed for a
caress from her lord. The Venus ray gave her beauty and made her an adept
in the feminine arts which have conquered the masculine heart, so that
now man plays the role of protector on the plea that woman is not mentally
competent meanwhile he is becoming that which he admires in her; he is more
gentle and kind, Venus is conquering Mars, but the Mercury delusion of
intellectual superiority needs another influence to conquer it. And this,
woman is now supplying by her aspiration. As she mastered martial
brutality by Venus beauty, so also, will she free herself from Mercurial
bondage by Uranian intuition.
To primitive man, driven by the whip-lash of Saturnine necessity, when
not by the animal lust and passions of Mars and the Moon, the world looks
gloomy. Fear is the key-note of his existence: fear of animals; fear of
other men; fear of the nature forces; fear of everything around him. He
must ever be watchful and on the alert, vigilance is eternally the price of
safety. But when evolution makes him amenable to the influences of Venus
and Mercury; they will soften his emotions and brighten the mentality; he
begins to regard love and reason as factors in life. The Sun also begins
to brighten his outlook upon life, and sunshine in the nature of man during
this phase of his evolution partly dispels the gloom of Saturn. Thus, by
degrees, as man evolves and becomes responsive to the music of the spheres,
one string after another in the celestial harp strikes the kindred chord in
the human soul and makes him amenable to its vibrations, so that as a tuning
fork which is struck, awakens the music in other tuning forks of even pitch
within reasonable distance, so the planets in our solar system have in
evolutionary succession struck various chords that have found an echo in the
human heart.
But the strings on the celestial Lyre of Apollo are not all in harmony,
some are in actual discord, and while man responds to some he must necessarily
remain, at least partially, unresponsive to others. In fact, before it is
possible to respond perfectly to the rays of Venus it is necessary for man
to conquer Mars to a considerable degree, and bring him under control so that
certain undesirable martial traits in his nature will be kept in the
background, while others, which may be valuable, are retained. The Venus
love which is willing to give all for the loved ones cannot dwell side by
side in the heart with the Mars ray which demands all for self. Therefore
the savage must learn to conquer himself in a certain measure ere he may
become the more civilized family man of modern times. Under the unrestrained
passionate rays of Mars and the Moon, parents bring children into the world
and leave them to take care of themselves almost as animals do, for they are
products of animal passion. The females are brought and sold as a horse or
cow or else taken by force and carried away. Even so late as the mediaeval
dark ages, the knight often carried away his bride by force of arms,
practically in the same manner that the male animals battle for the possession
of the female at mating time.
Thus we see that the first step toward civilization requires that a man
conquer one or more of the planets to a certain degree at least. Unbridled
passion such as generated by the primitive Mars rays is no more permissible
under the regime of modern civilization, neither is the tenet that "might is
right" any longer admissible, save in wars when we return to barbarism. The
Mars quality of physical prowess, that at one time made it a virtue to
attack others and take away property, is no longer admired in the individual.
It is punished by various means, according to law, thought it is still
effective as far as nations are concerned, who go to war under this primitive
impulse for purposes of territorial aggrandizement. However, as said, Mars
has been conquered to a great degree in civil and social life in order that
the Venus love might take the place of the Mars passion.
As previously noted, the children of primitive man were left to their own
resources, as soon as they had been taught to defend themselves in physical
warfare. With the advent of Mercury another method is observable. The
battle of life nowadays, is no longer fought with physical weapons alone.
Brain, rather than brawn determines success. Therefore the period of
education has been lengthened as mankind advanced, and it aims principally
at mental accomplishments because of the Mercurial rays which accompany the
Venus development of modern civilization. Thus man sees nature from a more
sunny side when he has learned to respond to the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Mars,
Moon and Saturn, even if only in a very slight measure.
But although these various stages of evolution have gradually brought man
under the dominance of a number of planetary rays, the development has been
one-sided, for it has aimed to foster interest solely in things over which
he has a proprietary right: his business, his house, his family, his
cattle, farm, etc., are all vitally important, and must be taken care of.
His possessions must be increased, if possible, no matter what happens to
the possessions, family, etc., belonging to anyone else, that not being his
concern. But before he can reach to a higher stage of evolution it is
necessary that this desire to appropriate the earth, and retain it for
himself if possible, must give way to a desire to benefit his fellowmen. In
other words, Egoism must give way to Altruism, and just as Saturn by yielding
the whip lash of necessity over him in his primitive days brought him up to
his present point of civilization, so also Jupiter, the planet of altruism,
is destined to raise him from the state of man to superman where he will
come under the Uranian ray in respect to his emotional nature, where passion
generated by Mars will be replaced by Compassion, and where the childlike
consciousness of Lunar origin will be replaced by a Cosmic consciousness of
the Neptunian ray. Therefore the advent into our lives of the Jupiterian
ray marks a very distinct advance in the human development. As taught in
the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, we are to advance from our present
Earth period into the Jupiter period, and therefore the Jupiterian ray
marks that high stage of altruism which will then be a prominent factor
in our relations, one with the other, and it will be readily understood
that before we can really respond to the rays of Jupiter we must in a
measure cultivate altruism, and conquer the egoism that comes through the
Mercurial reasoning power. We have learned to conquer some of the phases of
Mars and the Moon, we may have also learned to conquer some of the lower
phases of Mercury and Venus; the more we have overcome these the better we
shall be able to respond to the highest vibratory forces emanating from
these planets; yes, if we strive earnestly we shall some day be able to
overcome even the highest stage of the Venus love, that always attaches
itself to an object which is owned by us. We love our children because they
are ours; we love our husbands and wives because they belong to us; we
take pride, Venusian pride, in their moral characteristics or Mercurial
pride in their accomplishments; but Christ set a higher standard: "Unless a
man leave his father and mother he can not be my disciple." The idea that we
should neglect our fathers and mothers or that we must hate them in order to
follow Him was far from His mind, of course, but father and mother are only
bodies; the soul that inhabits this body of the father and mother is to be
loved, not the mere physical garment. Our love should be the same
whether the person is old or young, ugly or beautiful. We should look for the
beauty of the soul, for the universal relationship of all souls and not mind
so much the relationship of the bodies. "Who are my mother and my
brothers," said the Christ, and pointed to his disciples, those who were at
one with Him in His great work. They were closer to Him than any brother
could be on account of mere physical relationship. This attitude
constitutes an upward step from the Venus love which places the emphasis on
the physical garments of the love ones and leaves out of consideration the
soul that is within. The Jupiterian love on the other hand takes cognizance
only of the soul, regardless of the body it wears. The Mercurial or
reasoning phase of mentality is also changed by response to the altruistic
Jupiter. Cold calculation is out of the question. One who feels the
expansive ray of Jupiter is big hearted where his emotions are concerned,
his love; big hearted where all things of the world are concerned. "A
jovial fellow," is an apt expression. He is welcomed and love by everyone he
meets because he radiates not the common selfishness, but a desire to
benefit others that breeds in us a feeling of trust, diametrically opposed
to the sense of distrust we instinctively feel when we come in contact with
a Saturn-Mercury man.
It is a matter of actual experience to astrologers endowed with spiritual
sight that every man's planetary rays produce certain colors in his aura. The man with the thin, sickly blues of a commingled Saturn and Mercury, is to be pitied rather than censured for the avarice and gloom which are his constant attitude of mind; he sees everything in the world through the auric mirror which he has created around himself; he feels that the world is cold, hard and selfish, that therefore it is necessary for
him to be more selfish and more cold in order that he may protect himself.
On the other hand, when we see the divine blue ray of Jupiter tinted with
perhaps the fine gold of the Uranian nature we realize how differently such
an exalted individual must view the world from the other's sordid way of
seeing things. Even those who have the faintest Jupiterian tinge are in a
world filled with sunshine, flowers blooming, everything in nature gay and
glad. Any by looking at the world through such an atmosphere they call
forth from other sources a similar response, as the tuning fork previously
mentioned generates a vibration in another of an even pitch.
After what has been said it will not be difficult to understand that the
Uranian characteristics, where love becomes compassion, give wisdom that is
not dependent upon reasoning, a love that is not fixed upon one object
alone, but includes all that lives and moves and has its being' being
similar to the characteristics that are to be evolved by humanity during the
Venus period when perfect love shall have cast out all fear, when man shall
have conquered all the lower phases of his nature and love shall be as pure
as it is universally inclusive.
When these Uranian vibrations are felt by advance in the higher life
through aspiration, there is great danger that we may throw away the fetters
of law and convention before we are really ready to govern ourselves by the
law of Love divine, that we may disregard the laws that are in the world,
that we may not render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, whether in
obedience or coin, that we may not be careful of avoiding the appearance of
evil, that we may think that we have so far transcended the ordinary stage of
humanity that we can live as super-humans, that the passion of Mars has in our
cases been changed to Uranian compassion, which is sexless. Under such
misapprehensions, many people who endeavor to tread the path disregard the
laws of marriage and enter into relationships as soulmates and affinities.
They feel the Uranian ray, but cannot quite respond to its sublime purity,
therefore they experience a counterfeit Venusian sensation which usually ends
in adultery and sex-perversion, so that instead of the natural animal
passion of Mars having been transmuted to the compassion of Uranus it has as a
matter of fact, degenerated into something that is far worse than the
fullest sex expression of the martial rays committed in a frank and proper
manner. This is a danger that cannot be too strictly guarded against and it
behooves every one who endeavors to live the higher life not to try to aspire
to the Uranian rays until he at first becomes thoroughly imbued with the
altruistic vibrations of Jupiter, for more misery is brought into the world
by those who have aspired too high and fallen low, then by those who are not
sufficiently aspiring. "Pride goeth before a fall," is an ancient and very
true proverb, which it behooves every one of us to take to heart. The
Christ took part in the marriage at Cana. Marriage is a regular Christian
institution, and must exist until abolished in the kingdom to come; there the
bodies we have will not wear out and therefore there will be no need of
marriage to generate new ones.
Let it also be understood that the minister who marries cannot truly mate
people, therefore the presence of the basic harmony for true marriage should
be determined before the marriage ceremony.
As we have seen in the foregoing, Mars, Venus and Uranus mark three
stages in the emotional development of man. During the stage where he is
only amenable to Mars, animal passion reigns supreme and he seeks
unrestricted gratification of all his lower desires in the intercourse with
his fellowman but particularly with the opposite sex; during the stage where
he becomes amenable to the rays of Venus, love softens the brutality of his
desires and the animal passions are somewhat held in leash, he is even, under
the higher phases of this planet, ready to sacrifice himself and his desires
for the benefit and comfort of the loved ones. When he has evolved to the
point where we can feel the rays of Uranus, the passion of Mars gradually
turns to compassion; there the love of Venus which is only for one
particular person, becomes all inclusive so that it embraces all humankind
regardless of sex or any other distinction, for it is the divine love of soul
for soul which is above all material considerations of whatever nature.
The mentality also evolves through three stages according to the
amenability of the person to the vibrations of the Moon, Mercury and
Neptune. While man is only amenable to the lunar influence, he is childlike
and easily guided by the higher powers, which have led him through the
various stages mentioned in our previous sections. Under the stellar ray of
Mercury he gradually develops his intellectual powers and becomes a reasoning
being. As such, he is placed under the law of cause and effect, made
responsible for his own actions, so that he may reap what he has sown and
learn thereby the lessons that human life has to teach him under the present
regime. Being inexperienced, he makes mistakes in whatever direction
indicated by the afflictions to Mercury in his horoscope and consequently he
suffers a corresponding penalty of sorrow and trouble. It he has not the
mentality to reason on the connection between this mistakes and the sad
experiences growing from them, during his life times, the panorama of life,
which unfolds in the post-mortem state, makes this clear,and leaves with him
an essence of "right feeling" which we know as "conscience."
This conscience keeps him from repeating past mistakes, when the feeling
generated has become sufficiently strong to overbalance the tendency to
yield to the particular temptation which caused him suffering. Thus he
gradually develops a spiritual consciousness which is above and beyond human
reason, but which nevertheless is also connected with reason in such a manner
that when the result has been reached, the man who has this Cosmic
Consciousness knows the reason why such and such a thing is and must be, or
why he ought to take a certain action. This Cosmic Consciousness is
developed under the ray of Neptune and differs from that intuitional right
feeling developed under the ray of Uranus in the very important fact that
while the person who has developed the Uranian quality of intuition arrives
at the truth instantaneously without the necessity of thinking over the
matter or reasoning, he is unable to give anything but the result; he
cannot connect the various steps of logical sequence whereby the final result
was reached. The man or woman, however, who develops the Neptunian faculty,
also has the answer of any question immediately and is able to tell the
reason why that answer is the proper and right one.
The faculty of intuition built up from the Martial base of passion,
through the Venusian stage of love, and the Uranian rays of compassion,
depends upon the ability of the person involved to feel very intensely. By
love and devotion, the heart is attuned to every other heart in the universe
and in this way it knows and feels all that may be known and felt by any
other heart in the universe, thus sharing the divine omniscience that binds
Our Father in Heaven to His children and through the direct heart to heart
touch with that omniscience the person obtains the answers to whatever problem
is placed before him.
The noblest men of all ages, Christian saints of the most transcendent
spirituality, have attained their wonderful development through the
spiritual rays of this planet because of the intense feeling of Oneness with
the divine and with all that lives and breathes in the universe.
But there are others who are not thus constituted and they are not able
to walk that path. These, through the Moon, Mercury and Neptune have
developed their intellect and attained the same results plus the Neptunian
power of idealization.
This is very important point and it is only brought out in the Western
Wisdom Teachings tell us that there is in addition a third factor in universal
advancement, namely, Epigenesis; the faculty whereby the spirit may choose
a course that is altogether new and independent of what has gone before.
We see the expression of this in all kingdoms relative to form, but in the
human kingdom, epigenesis expresses itself as genius, a creative instinct,
which makes man more akin to the divine than any other of his
accomplishments. This is developed under the Neptune ray when that planet is
well placed in the horoscope. There is of course also such a thing as an
evil genius, a destructive faculty developed under an afflicted Neptune.
Only the most sensitive people in the world feel the rays of Uranus and
Neptune at the present time. To feel these vibrations the connection
between the dense physical body and the vital body, which is made of ether
must be rather loose for where these two vehicles are firmly interlocked the
person is always of a materialistic turn, and cannot respond to the higher
and more subtle vibrations from the spiritual world. But when the stellar
rays from these two planets impinge upon a person whose vital body is
loosely connected with the physical, we have what is called a sensitive.
The direction and quality of this faculty depends upon the placement and the
aspects of the two planets mentioned, however. Those who are particularly
under the domination of an adverse aspect of the Uranian ray, usually
develop the more undesirable phases of clairvoyance and mediumship. They
easily become the prey of entities from the invisible world who have no
regard for their victims' desire, even if in a weak manner these should
protest. Such mediums are generally used in simple trance communications and
in a few cases known to the writer have lived very beautiful and happy lives
because of implicit belief in the spirits that dominated them. In these
cases the spirit-controls were of a better class than usually met with. But
as this Uranian faculty is built up through Mars and Venus, passion is
prominent in such natures and under the influence of obsessing spirits many
of these people are driven into gross immorality. Vampirism and
kindred disreputable practices are also engendered by the perverse use of
the Uranian ray in mediums.
Neptune may be said to represent the invisible worlds in more positive
aspects and those who come under the evil rays of this planet are therefore
brought in touch with the most undesirable occupants of the invisible
worlds. Actual obsession whereby the owner of a body is deprived of his
vehicle takes place under the ray of Neptune and no materializing seance could
ever be held if it were not for this stellar vibration. Magic, white or
black can never be put to practical use save under and because of this
Neptunian vibration. Apart from this ray it will remain theory, speculation
and book learning. Therefore the Initiates of every Mystery School,
Spiritual; Seers who have full control of their faculty, and Astrologers are
amenable in varying degrees to the ray of Neptune. The Black Magician and
the Hypnotist, who is a twin brother to him, are also dependent upon the
power of this stellar ray for use in their nefarious practices.
The highest human development at the present time, namely, the soul
unfoldment which is undertaken in the mystery temples through initiation, is
directly the result of the Neptune ray, for just as evil configurations lay
men liable to assault by invisible entities, so the good configurations of
Neptune are particularly required to enable a man to unfold by initiation
his whole soul powers and become a conscience agent in the invisible worlds.
Let us remember, however, that good or evil configurations are not the
result of chance or luck, but are the product of our own past acts; the
horoscope shows what we have earned by our past living and therefore what we
are entitled to in the present life.
Moreover it should always be kept in mind that the stars impel but do not compel; because a man or woman has an evil configuration of Neptune or
Uranus it is not unavoidable that they should go into active evil Mediumship
and Black Magic and thereby makes life harder for themselves in the future.
Their opportunity to do so and the temptation will come at certain times
when the heavenly time markers point to the right hour on the clock of
destiny. Then it is time to stand form for the good and for the right;
being forewarned through a knowledge of Astrology one is also forearmed and
may the easier overcome when such an aspect culminates.
Thus we have seen that man is amenable to the planetary rays in an
increasing measure as he advances through evolution, but the more highly he
becomes developed spiritually the less he will allow the planets to dominate
him, while the younger soul is driven unresistingly along the tide of life
in whatever direction of the planetary vibrations impel him. It is the mark
of the advanced soul that he keeps the true course regardless of the
planetary vibrations. Between these two extremes there are naturally
all graduations, some amenable to the rays of one planet, some to another.
The bark of life of men and women is often driven upon the rocks of sorrow
and suffering, that they may learn to evolve within themselves the will
power that finally frees them from all domination by the ruling stars. As
Goethe, the great mystic, said,
"From every power that holds the world in chains,
Man frees himself when self-control he gains."
And it may be asked, have we run the gamut of vibrations when we have
learned to respond to all the seven planets which are mythically represented
as the seven strings on Apollo's Lyre? In other words is Neptune the highest
vibration to which we shall yet respond? The Western Wisdom Teachings tell
us that there are two more planets in the universe which will be known in
future ages and that these will have an influence in developing qualities of
so transcendent a nature that we cannot now understand them. The
number of Adam, man or humanity, is nine, and there are nine rungs upon
the stellar ladder by which he is ascending to God; up to the present time
he has climbed only five of these rungs; Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn, and not even the vibration of these has he by any means learned;
Uranus and Neptune are slowly coming into our lives; they will not become
active in the same manner and to the same degree that for instance, the Moon
and Mars are at the present time until many ages have passed. But even when
we have learned to respond to them there are two more which we shall know
something later on; it is the opinion of the writers that these are probably
not felt by any except those who have graduated from the Greater Mystery
School and by the Hierophants of that sublime institution.
In conclusion to this article on the Amenability of Man to Planetary
Vibrations we quote from the Rosicrucian Mysteries the article on Light, Color and Consciousness.
"Truly, God is One and Undivided. He enfolds within His Being all that
is, as the white light embraces all colors. But He appears three-fold in
manifestation, as the white light is refracted in three primary colors,
Blue, Yellow and Red. Wherever we see these colors they are emblematical of
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three primary rays of Divine Life
are diffused or radiated through the Sun and produce Life, Consciousness and Form upon each of the seven light bearers, the planets, which are called the
'Seven Spirits before the Throne.' Their names are, Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. Bode's law proves that Neptune does not
yet belong to our solar system and the reader is referred to "Simplified,
Scientific Astrology" by the present writer, for mathematical demonstration
of this condition.
"Each of the seven planets receives the light of the Sun in a different
measure, according to its proximity to the central orb and the constitution
of its atmosphere, and the beings on each, according to their stage of
development have affinity for some of the solar rays. The planets absorb the
color or colors congruous to them, and reflect the rest upon the other
planets. This reflected ray bears with it an impulse of the nature of the
beings with which it has been in contact.
"Thus the divine Light and Life comes to each planet, either directly
from the Sun, or reflected from its six sister planets. and as the summer
breeze which has been wafted over blooming fields carries upon its silent,
invisible wings the blended fragrance of a multitude of flowers, so also the
subtle influences from The Garden of God bring to us the commingled impulses of all the Planetary Spirits and in that vari-colored light we live and move and have our being.
"The rays which come directly from the Sun are productive of spiritual
illumination; the reflected rays from other planets make for added
consciousness and moral development and the rays reflected by way of the
Moon give physical growth.
"But as each planet can only absorb a certain quantity of one or more
colors according to the general stage of evolution there, so each being upon
earth, mineral, plant, animal and man can only absorb and thrive upon a
certain quantity of the various rays projected upon the earth. The
remainder do not affect it or produce sensation any more than the blind are
conscience of the light and color which exist everywhere around them.
Therefore each being is differently affected by the stellar rays, and the
science of Astrology, a fundamental truth in nature is of enormous benefit in
the attainment of spiritual growth."
Reference: The Message of the Stars, by Max Heindel and Augusta Foss Heindel
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