A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.

In these words, John Lennon articulated the essence of Aquarius. And now, in the month of February, we’re bathing in the dream.

The reality of a collective dream, dreamed together, may not yet be apparent in physical reality, but it already exists in the etheric – as a potential awaiting precipitation. Who will make it rain? It will take more than one or two, because the key to Aquarius is the group. It’s not about the individual as it was in the Pisces era of the last 2 000 years. It’s about ‘we’, not ‘I’.

That doesn’t mean that we lose our hard-won individuality. Quite the contrary, because to be a true group server in Aquarius, requires a highly individualised awareness. So much so, that just ‘me’ is no longer enough. We’ve tasted life as a profoundly intelligent, powerful, dynamic ‘I’ in our journeys round Leo. This is the polar opposite of Aquarius and, as always, we understand ourselves by embracing our duality.

Now we’re ready to merge our sense of individuality in the greater intelligence, awareness and power of the group. The iconic water bearer is this Aquarian energy, pouring love and light forth from a bottomless jug -Water of life am I, poured forth for thirsty men.

Let’s take a moment to sound together a mantram affirming ourselves as the Aquarian water bearer; the Christ in manifestation:

Forgetting the things which lie behind, I will strive towards my higher spiritual possibilities. I dedicate myself anew to the service of the Coming One and will do all I can to prepare men’s minds and hearts for that event. I have no other life intention.

Alice Bailey called those of us who are water bearers, the new group of world servers. (1) This is a rather cumbersome term for something that was difficult to define when she was writing in the 1930s. Now we have a clearer idea of what this group looks like. We may be part of it, although it has no outer structure, group logo, leader, membership, or the usual trappings of an organisation. It’s more of a naturally occurring organism made up of powerful individuals who know who they are, and what they want to do to make the world a better place. It’s a loose network of people who may or may not know each other, but all are guided by a heart aflame with love, and a mind clearly leading the way. They live to serve others, the kingdoms in nature, and the whole planet.

The internet and social media is greatly enhancing the capacity of this group, because the internet is like a prosthetic for humanity’s future capacity to be telepathic. Bailey says that many of the new group of world servers are already telepathic, but they may not realise it. Think about that great idea you had, only to discover that other people, perhaps living on the other side of the world, have had the same idea. That idea may have eventuated from the intuitional levels, and is now on its way down, as an ideal, into physical plane manifestation.

According to Bailey, ‘The fundamental ideas which underlie (the) great areas of human thought all emanate from intuitional levels’. (2) And she suggests that the intuition is, ‘an idea clothed in etheric substance.’ (3) As we learn to grasp these ideas and draw them down, from the etheric into matter, we are being truly creative. It is the magnetic resonance set up between ourselves and the idea that allows us to contact it and make it manifest. This is the basis for white magic; the creative artist or creative humanitarian making the divine and the sacred available for all to see.

The New Group of World Servers
This creative work can be anything from an abstract and esoteric concept that seeds a new attitude, through a sublimely beautiful work of art that raises us to a higher level of consciousness, to a grass-roots initiative to transform local vacant land into a community vegetable garden, making freshly grown produce freely available to everyone.

Whether an individual is physically alone, or in a group; whether the idea has been received telepathically, from the plane of the intuition, or grasped as an ideal on its way into manifestation, all who seek to sow this seed are part of the new group of world servers. Their work is characterised by a love of all humanity, an attitude of goodwill even to those they may not like, a respect and reverence for the sacredness of life pulsing through all matter, and a determination to fan the flames of this life and love in all they contact.

We first journey through Leo and achieve the heights of human achievement for the self; the personality. Then we turn and walk the alternative path, back to our source and begin to embrace the energies of Aquarius. We join the new group of world servers, giving all our energy, resources, money, time and love to planetary healing. On the way we are offered opportunities – ours to take or refuse because we have freewill. If we step through these doorways, we bring about changes in ourselves, gradually destroying all that holds us back from the freer expression of our soul.

The Three Decantes of Aquarius
There are three decantes in every sign, dividing it into three stages. We’re told that the first decante of Aquarius, and the decante into which we now moving, is ruled by Saturn. This is the planet of discipleship and it is, ‘active today, presenting to the world disciple those difficult situations and crises which will involve free choice, discriminative pioneering, wise response and correct decision.’ (4)

We can see the impact of Saturn in ourselves and in the world as we’re all faced with a plethora of confusing information from which we must make choices about how to live our personal life – what’s acceptable for me as a disciple, a student of the ageless wisdom, may not be what the masses deem right. Every moment we’re being challenged to discriminate in ever tightening circles, and it can be exhausting.

That’s why meditation and some solitude every day is so important, to give us that opportunity to be, ‘impressed from on high’; to get our true bearings and re-orient ourselves to our true course.

As The Gayatri says:

Unveil to us the face of the true Spiritual Sun
Hidden by a disc of golden Light
That we may know the Truth
And do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet.

Our wise response to these daily choices leads us to the final decante of Aquarius, ruled by Venus. We’ve learnt to follow the true values and we’re rewarded with more light from the intuition. Our way is increasingly illuminated, so that we can see through world events more clearly, enter the hearts of our fellow humans and see into their soul. With such knowing comes responsibility, to think and speak only with love and harmlessness.

Throughout our journey, although we’ve often felt bereft and alone, we’ve been under the gaze of the silent watchers – the spiritual hierarchy – the guides and protectors of humanity. It’s only when we’ve fully known the individuality bestowed by our Leo experiences, that we can embrace the idea of a hierarchy of beings who were once humans like us. Who have walked the same path, and having mastered themselves through service, now see with a panoramic vision, the divine Plan. It’s this plan that we’re all destined to eventually see for ourselves.

What is this plan? It’s the future being created from the past. As we learn to meditate, use creative visualisation, and think clearly in the present, we can take our place as co-creators of the new reality. Some of us can see its shimmering presence on the skyline of our group vision. The ability to see telepathically is latent in us all, and the more we develop this way of knowing, the more will we see of the new day ahead; the clearer will we realise that we are in truth, one humanity, with a shared and sacred purpose. As the Aquarian age opens up before us, we can each do our part to make real the dream we dream together; the dream of a more equitable, sustainable and just world for all.

Sources:

1. Alice Bailey, Treatise on White Magic, p.398-433
2. Bailey, Telepathy, p.49
3. Ibid, p.189
4. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p.148

All You Need Is Love
… it is in the nature of truth or love, cosmic consciousness, whatever you want to call it, to express itself, to affirm itself, to overcome difficulties. Once you’ve understood that the world is love in action, consciousness or love in action, you will look at it quite differently. But first your attitude to suffering must change. Suffering is primarily a call for attention, which itself is a movement of love. More than happiness, love wants growth, the widening and deepening of awareness and consciousness and being. Whatever prevents that becomes a cause of pain, and love does not shirk from pain. (Hameed Ali’s Ridhwan School)

The next 12-years will be a great opportunity for us all to learn about love as a means to widen and deepen our awareness, and consciousness, of what it means to be a human being. Much of this may involve pain.

One of the major planetary transits shaping world events until 2023 is Pluto moving through Capricorn. This combination of energies is offering us all the opportunity to tread the burning ground and begin the ascent of the mountain that leads to initiation. The type of initiation depends on where we are in our evolutionary journey, but we all now have the opportunity to be more consciously human, whether it’s being a better parent or partner; joining a group to save penguins, or serve the world.

Pluto began transiting Capricorn in 2008, and last year we saw the effects of the growing momentum of this partnership in upheavals such as the popular uprising called the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement. In the financial sector we saw the decline of the European and US financial markets, and the massive increase in economic growth of markets in the once labelled third world countries such as Ghana in Africa. As an example, this country’s economy grew from nearly five percent in 2010 to twenty percent in 2011. Other developing countries like Qatar in the Middle East followed with an increase of fourteen percent, and Turkmenistan in Central Asia with twelve percent. Only then comes China with a nine percent increase and India with eight percent.(1)

This may sound like an economics lesson, but by considering these facts, we can get an idea of the full implications of how radically the power balance in our world is about to change. Pluto rules power – both of the upperworld, and the underworld. How will the emerging nations handle their power on the world stage? With a less than two percent growth in advanced economies like Australia, what happens when the younger kids get hold of the key to the canteen? Economists predict rising unemployment in developed countries, and a slowdown in output which will lower living standards. (2)

All Shook Up
The world’s status quo is being severely shaken, and beside the reactions of fear, we are also seeing joyful hope that this may be the change into a more equitable and sustainable world that we’ve been hoping to see. But what will it be like in the process?

Last year we saw how Pluto can personally deliver Capricorn energy to us on a plate. According to astrology charts of the US, it has natal Pluto at 27° Capricorn. The US was born in 1762-78 during a time of economic and political crisis. As everything goes in cycles, it’s interesting to consider what sparked the rebellion by a bunch of American farmers against the British back then. We can see their demands for freedom being repeated now when Pluto again triggers the same point in the US natal chart, as disparate groups across the US and beyond demand accountability and freedom from financial, business and government corruption. (3)

Some astrologers predict that the US will have to be completely transformed in some way. (4) The US also has four planets in Cancer which is the polar opposite of Capricorn, so Pluto will be opposing them over the next 12-years. This is already affecting the US economy, and we could say that this Pluto transit through Capricorn is writ large in the US. As we’re now a global village, the slowdown in the US economy has affected the European Union (5) so that now it too is facing a crisis.

It looks as though the law of cycles, karma, and cause and effect, is working its way across the world. Many of us will be forced to trim off our excesses and let go of inessential parts of our lives, getting us back to basics and becoming “lean and mean” again, or for the first time for many of us.(6)

Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds
Capricorn represents the forces of crystallisation, while Pluto is the force of transformation. Putting these two together, it’s like the energies that impact relentlessly on any one treading the path of discipleship. Alice Bailey says that humanity is now the world disciple; that we’re ready for the trials offered by Scorpio who rules this path, and who is in turn governed by Pluto, ruling major separations and of death. ‘The arrow of God pierces the heart and death takes place.” But in this connection it must be remembered that death is definitely brought about by the soul. It is the soul which shoots the arrow of death.’(7)

There are also changes afoot in the world of religion, business, the media and any organised, institutionalised structure based on Piscean-Age, sixth-ray ideals of control of the masses by an elite group. The incoming seventh ray, augmented by Pluto in Capricorn, reveals the dirt on sex, corruption and misuse of power as our collective misdemeanors are being brought to the surface. Along with the diamonds born on the upward drive to reveal and transfigure, comes death and destruction, as Capricorn’s crystallised structures are torn apart in its searing lava flow, making way for new life.
For those watching, meditating, serving, we see the diamond potential of this great change. As we struggle with our own fears, born of being part of the collective human Soul, we also seek to energise and vitalise the diamonds of perfection within ourselves and within humanity.

Despite the increasing turmoil, we can see these diamonds emerging in the work of the New Group of World Servers. One example is a rise in a new era of art and music, as alongside some depraved art-forms, comes experiments in expressing the beauty that lies in the etheric and nature. This was predicted by Alice Bailey suggesting that the fourth-ray of harmony through conflict would usher in a new form of art. ‘The fourth ray being temporarily out of full incarnation at this time is the reason for the relative interlude in the production of human creative art of a very high order. The cycle of suffering is nearing its close, and we shall later see—when the fourth ray again swings into full objective activity—a recurrence of the arts on a turn of the spiral far more exalted than any lately seen.’(8)

It’s been suggested that if Pluto had a bumper sticker it would read ‘You can either let go now or have it ripped from your hands later.’ That same sentiment could be used for the energies of Capricorn in which we’re all bathing during January.

Stairway To Heaven
While the sun is in this sign it’s offering us a light on Pluto which, in turn, is magnifying Capricorn’s qualities of intense materialism, selfishness and cruelty on the one hand, and intense perseverance and determination to undertake whatever is necessary to climb to the top of the mountain, on the other. This climb must be undertaken by each of us if we are to manifest the New Age of order, beauty, love-wisdom and clarity about humanity’s purpose on Earth.

The last three signs of the zodiac: Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces are not directly related to our individual evolution. They govern our role as a world server, having cast off all personality hindrances so that we can fulfil our soul purpose in being here. Each time we enter Capricorn, we’re able to attune ourselves a little more to its demands for greater conformity to that still quiet voice within; to stop rushing; stop making personal plans; stop running in an effort to avoid the void. What’s that? It’s the dweller on the threshold. Bailey says that it’s only once we can truly think that we finally face the Angel of the Presence and the Dweller on the Threshold. That dweller is, for us individually, ‘the evil tendencies, the accumulated limitations and the sum total of the selfish habits and desires which are characteristic of the material nature of the disciple. The Angel of the Presence indicates the future possibility and the divine nature.’(9) For us collectively it represents planetary forces of materialism.

The seed thought for Capricorn is: ‘Lost am I in light supernal, yet on that light I turn my back.’ What is the light supernal? Perhaps it’s the light in the head we sometimes see in meditation; or it could be the radiant light that shines from a perfectly cut diamond; then again it can be the jewel in the lotus: Shamballa, the centre where the Will of God is known. It is defined by Bailey as, ‘.. a point of peace; it pulsates rhythmically as does the heart of man, and from it rays forth eight streams of living fire which extend to the tips of the four love petals and the four sacrifice petals… It is this final raying forth which produces the eventual disintegration of the body of the Ego… Naught is eventually left but the desire to “sacrifice,” and as the vibratory impulse is akin to the nature of the living Jewel, it is synthesised in the central living unit and only the Jewel of fire remains.’ (10)

When we meditate, let us invoke the fiery sacrificial energy of this jewel, as together we climb to the very top of Capricorn’s mountain to stand in light supernal. We then turn and retrace our steps, back into our everyday world, raying forth our light, bringing the love that does not shirk from pain, into the dark recesses of our struggling world.

Sources:
1. http://www.modernghana.com/news/355922/1/ghana-the-worlds-fastest-growing-economy-in-2011.html
2. http://www.conference-board.org/data/globaloutlook.cfm
3. http://blog.beliefnet.com/astrologicalmusings/2008/01/pluto-in-capricorn-a-history-l.html#ixzz1iG83NmcT
4.. http://www.librarising.com/astrology/misc/plutoincap.html
5. http://www.international-economy.com/TIE_W08_Krauss.pdf
6. http://members.bitstream.net/~bunlion/bpi/plutocap.html
7. Alice Bailey, ‘Esoteric Astrology’, p. 500-533
8. Ibid, The Rays and the Initiations p. 225-247
9. Ibid, ‘The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p.285-313
10. Ibid, ‘A Treatise on Cosmic Fire’, p. 1109-1128

The 22 December is the day, in the Southern Hemisphere when we celebrate the Sun’s intensest gaze on our part of the world. This means we’re bathed in light and warmth for the longest time of any day in the year.

On this day, we have the opportunity to most fully embrace what our Sun is really about: what is its purpose in our lives – other than the obvious physical ones of keeping us all alive? With a little insight we can see that there’s another, and equally important relationship we have with our Sun.

Since antiquity, we’ve known that our Sun represented the Purpose for our existence; that the Sun somehow harboured a secret about our ultimate raison d’etre. There’s a Hindu mantra called, ‘The Gayatri’, sometimes called the mother of the Vedas because it’s the foremost mantra in Hinduism. Its meaning can be interpreted as, “May the Almighty God illuminate our intellect to lead us along the righteous path”. The mantra is also a prayer to the “giver of light and life” – the Sun (savitur).(1)

O Thou Who givest sustenance to the universe,
From Whom all things proceed,
To Whom all things return,
Unveil to us the face of the true Spiritual Sun
Hidden by a disc of golden Light
That we may know the Truth And do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet.(2)

Today, take a few minutes to re-connect with the source of our life; the giver of bonhomie, of meaning and ultimately, of direction. If we think about it, we’re all travelling onwards and upwards in one way or another. None of us stands still as it’s against the laws of nature – everything is constantly moving and changing.(3)

It’s the Sun that gives us this energy to keep going. Every atom of matter in our bodies, relies on the Sun’s blessing, its prana or solar fire; the energy we need to keep up this constant movement and vibration. In human terms it’s called our evolution, learning, changing, growing, maturing.

So today, let’s rejoice in our Sun’s will-to-live that brings to us so much joy, and of course also conflict, crisis and difficulty. The eternal duality of life on our little planet. It’s the journey we’ve all undertaken, whether we like it or not, by hell, fire or brimstone, by love or simply placing one foot after another. By whatever means, we’re all returning to the sacred feet of ‘Thou Who givest sustenance to the universe’.

Sources:
1. http://www.eaglespace.com/spirit/gayatri.php
2. http://www.lucistrust.org/en/service_activities/e_mantrams/the_gayatri
3. http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=120

Re-Visioning the Goal

Is this turning out to be a month of uncertainty and change for you? Are you re-thinking your goals? Wondering if you’ve been on the right path? Whether it’s time for a new horizon?
If so, then you’re benefitting from this month’s energies coming to us from the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. These energies are fiery, in contrast to last month’s watery sign of Scorpio.

According to the Ageless Wisdom teachings, the mind is composed of fire, and so fire is the basis of consciousness. (1) As a fire sign, Sagittarius channels these fiery energies into our planet, and this sign give us an opportunity to become aware of thought as the fiery power of our mind.

As many of us know, thought is power because all that we say and do starts with what we think. So our direction, goals and actions, are being born every nano-second. Of course, many of them die, or are aborted because, like any baby, if we forget about them, they lack the necessary vitality of love and warmth to keep them alive. It’s so hard to control the versatility of our monkey mind, and often we just let it run, here, there and everywhere, re-hashing old beliefs, situations, fears, and ideas, without being really conscious of what we’re thinking.

It’s no wonder that mediation is hard work – it takes all of our will-power to control our mind, and that’s before we even get to work with our creative visualisation. It also takes all the tenacity and perseverance we gained from our journeys with Scorpio to keep our mind harnessed and working towards our new goals. But as we learn to still our mind, we begin to see that we’re creating new furrows in the rich virgin soil of the etheric substance that surrounds us. This soil is the template into which our thoughts relentlessly carve out our reality.

Seeing the Vision
In Scorpio we glimpsed what could happen when our reasoning, rationalising mind is illumined by the soul. As we searched for and found the nine-heads of the Hydra of our personality, our delusions, deceptions and glamours grew frighteningly near, and loomingly large. It became all we could see. But then we found the spiritual warrior within, and we drew on our sword of light; the light of the soul. Then we used this light to see a way beyond the sordid details of our little personality worries and fears. We found a path that led higher than our monkey mind; the path that leads to illumination and love.

Each year that we traverse the wheel, we follow from Scorpio to Sagittarius, and each time our mind becomes a little more illumined and sensitive to the intuition. Sagittarius is portrayed as an archer on a white horse. In earlier days it was the centaur – half man, half animal. Over human evolution we have merged our animal-self with our soul, and many of us are now the archer astride the horse – we are learning to bridle the restless mind and control the lower nature, represented by the horse.

Rather than scattering our arrows unconsciously, or aiming them for only personal gain, we are setting a new goal. With our intention focussed towards the higher vision, we shoot straighter, our progress is hastened, and we find flashes of light and solutions to world problems. We also find that many of our own personal needs are taken care of, with little effort on our part.

From the valley where we have spent most of our time, we can now see the mountain that we must climb when we enter into Capricorn. The better we become at controlling the squawking monkey, the better can we hear the small but insistent voice of the soul. ‘We no longer walk in the dark and so our progress on the path is quicker as we fly, from point to point, searching for the arrows which we have discharged.’ (2)

The Blueprint
We all have the opportunity in December, to re-vision our goals. In the same way we can see the world-disciple, humanity, re-assessing what we must do from here. We can see the old-age systems and institutions being eroded and gradually swept away by the tidal wave of etheric energy, sweeping in on the impulse of the Aquarian and seventh ray forces. (3) This represents a new quality of energy with which we can work to assist in re-shaping our civilisation and re-defining culture.

But what does this really mean – aside from scaring us further into a gated mentality?

This etheric energy is like a new blueprint for a new era in human history and planetary evolution. It could be compared to an architectural design for a new home; a code embedded into a microchip; or even your plans for the day ahead. From the macrocosm, to the microcosm, we all set goals, and every time we do, we think etheric substance into a form or a structure, which may or may not see the light of day manifested in physical matter. The Aquarian and seventh-ray forces are like a thought, sent forth from the planetary mind – a thought or a creative visualisation being meditated into existence, by the great thinker.

On the world stage, we could say that the planetary Logos, the Mind of God, the Universal Intelligence – whatever you call the planet’s mind – is setting Itself a new goal. And humanity, as part of the physical planetary body, is inevitably caught up in manifesting this new reality. This is Sagittarian goal-visioning in action.

The Intuition
If we’re interested in helping to birth this new civilisation and culture, we’re ready to fully utilise the energies of Sagittarius. We’re ready to raise our consciousness, and as we train our lower, monkey mind, it becomes much more than it was – it realises it can be a receiver of inspiration, illumination and intuition from the soul.

What is the intuition? It’s often not what we claim to be intuitive – ‘I had a feeling she was going to have a boy, must be my intuition’, or ‘the crystal tells me what I need to do’. This is more likely to be our instinct, intellect, or psychic connection by tuning into another person, or people, via the astral thought forms swirling around us all. The intuition can be defined as, the ‘direct apprehension of truth and direct understanding of a knowledge which is so wide and synthetic in its grasp that we cover it by the nebulous term, the Universal Mind.’ (4) In other words, the intuition has nothing to do with individual consciousness, except that our individual mind can be a channel for its expression. Intuitive content is always impersonal.

How can we develop our intuition?

There is a very simple technique called Triangles*, that we can use during our day-to-day living, that will not only help develop our intuition, but in the process will perform a vitally important service to the planet and humanity. Triangles uses the etheric or the space around us all, and around the planet, to transmit thoughts of light, love and goodwill. These are the qualities that the planetary intelligence is now seeking to manifest on Earth.

The Etheric
Triangles uses the etheric, which is a form of matter vibrating faster than physical, visible matter. But it’s still substance, and can be manipulated and formed into shapes just as physical matter can. Imagine moulding clay, and you have an analogy for what we do when we think forms in the etheric. We are creating thought forms whenever we think, so why not focus our thoughts to create something really useful and beautiful, filled with light and love?

By joining with two others we can use the fiery power of our mind to visualise a triangle of light, radiating goodwill throughout the planet. We literally draw this image in the etheric substance whenever we visualise ourselves, and our two co-workers, as the three angles of the triangle. Then by saying the Great Invocation, we energise this image of our triangle, networked with other triangles, and under the law that form follows thought, we are creating linked, pulsating lines of light around the planet.(5)

Love -Wisdom
Wisdom is skill in action as the result of developed love and the light of understanding. It is being aware of what’s needed and then the ability to meet it in the most effective way. Triangles is an example of wisdom, or love in action. It’s the most effective way of meeting the need for a better world. As part of the triangles network, we are raising our consciousness, and from there we build the lighted path in etheric substance towards the intuition so that we can gradually tap the Mind of God; the great intelligence behind and within every life form that makes up our planetary life. Eventually we can think with God, and know the planetary Mind.

This path of light is built through service which is essentially a scientific mode of expressing love-wisdom. We serve according to our soul ray,(6) our circumstances, karma and evolutionary status. Alice Bailey suggests that one of the purposes of evolution is to help transform our non-sacred planet Earth, into a sacred planet. (7) This sounds strange when you look at the beauty of nature which is surely already sacred. And it is, in its fiery essence. But according to the Ageless Wisdom, nothing remains the same, and this sacredness is relative. Our job is to help fan the flame of the sacred fiery essence of nature intelligence into an even greater expression of beauty, order and divinity. We do this with love-wisdom.

In Sagittarius, we’re brought a little closer to understanding what this task entails. We can see the vision a little more clearly. We get a better grasp of what our mind is for. We learn to use the versatile, collector’s mind of Gemini which is the polar opposite of Sagittarius. Gemini loves knowledge. Gathering all the golden apples collected during our stay in Gemini, we transmute them into wisdom, by drawing them together in our Sagittarian bow, and focussing our sights on intuitive service so that our aim is straight and clear.

Sagittarius is a great opportunity to realise the power we wield as humans capable of thinking with free will. Do we use our thoughts to hurt, injure, and add to the fear surrounding us all, or thoughts that heal, soothe and add to the love and hope to which many of us aspire. The seed thought for Sagittarius is: ‘I see the goal. I reach that goal, and then I see another.’ As we meditate together, let us focus our minds, harnessing our collective power, helping to manifest a new civilisation and culture of love and light, and assisting our planet to fulfil its sacred mission.

Sources:
1. Alice Bailey, ‘A Treatise on Cosmic Fire’ p. 44
2. Ibid, p.181
3. http://www.esotericastrologer.org/Newsletters/34%20Age%20of%20Aquarius%20ZodiacRayCycles.htm
4. Bailey, ‘From Intellect to Intuition’ p. 159
5. http://www.lucistrust.org/en/service_activities/triangles
6. http://www.lucistrust.org/en/arcane_school/talks_and_articles/the_science_of_the_seven_rays
7. Bailey, ‘Esoteric Astrology’ p. 405-500

*Triangles – also see sidebar of this website for Triangles information.
If you live in Adelaide, I will be presenting a Triangles Information Evening on the New Moon, Wed Feb 22, 2012 from 5.30pm to 6.30pm.
See this website for more details.

Death and Magic

The United Nations (UN) was born on 24 October 1945 under the sign of Scorpio. This was the day when the UN Charter was ratified, and every year we celebrate it as UN Day. The Charter’s preamble starts with the words, ‘We the peoples of the United Nations…’. The United Nations is an international organization with 193 nations, and that’s all the world’s nations, with all its citizens – you and me. The UN is a melting-pot where our collective diversity as individuals, races and nations can meet as a potential unity.

Although the UN seems a long way from our everyday lives, it is actually much closer than we think. Consider our world without the global initiatives to – encourage gender equality, environmental protection, disease prevention, air traffic control, global communications, and its role in protecting refugees, clearing landmines and fighting AIDS. Our world would be an even messier, dangerous and more unjust place to live without this global cooperative body of nations.

If we look at the UN as an individual, we can think of it as a world personality made up of many disparate parts – nations, races, religions. Sometimes its parts work together effectively and sometimes there are squabbles, as different nations and groups try to get their national way at the expense of the global whole. The UN, like us, is made up of many selves, all wanting a piece of the action. And like us, it’s full of contradictions. It makes mistakes; it struggles with issues, and tries to sort out its values. Its journey is full of learning experiences causing pain and suffering. It falls down, only to get up again with renewed hope and aspiration to do better. It’s a very human organisation.

The UN represents the Scorpio journey writ large for all to see. This is the path of discipleship, or our spiritual journey to unite with our soul. When we’re ready to acknowledge our own contradictory complexity – the melting-pot of drives, desires, wishes, fears, hopes and dreams that can make up our personality – then we’re walking this path, and we’re already well acquainted with the tests and trials offered by Scorpio. On this path we learn to unify the diverse selves of our personality with our higher self, our soul. This is the transformative death offered by Scorpio to those ready to face and fight the deadly Hydra.

Scorpio and Death
In the Labours of Hercules, we’re told that, in his eighth labour, Hercules sets out to find a monstrous beast with nine-heads – the Hydra – living in, ‘stench-drenched bog’, and, ‘a cavern of perpetual night..’.(1) This is a massive task and Hercules realises he must do three things: First he must acknowledge that the Hydra exists, then he has to search for it, and finally destroy it. The Hydra is a symbol of our nine-headed personality, called by Bailey, the Dweller on the Threshold. ‘This Dweller is the sumtotal of all the personality characteristics which have remained unconquered and unsubdued and which must be finally overcome before initiation can be taken.’ In the legend, Hercules tries to kill the Hydra by chopping off its heads, but they just grow back. Finally he overcomes the Hydra or serpent of desire, by kneeling, ‘and from that position of humility lifts up the serpent into the air, and then deliverance comes’. (2)

Next year, 2012, is being declared as the International Year of Cooperatives. At the tender age of 67, the UN – we the people – are ready to, ‘raise public awareness of the invaluable contributions of cooperative enterprises to poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. The Year will also highlight the strengths of the cooperative business model as an alternative means of doing business and furthering socioeconomic development’.

Whether motivated by sheer practical necessity like, global destruction, or naked opportunism like scratching each other’s back, the desire to share and cooperate, to form partnerships, is always going to be a better option than competition if we want to maximise efficiency and get things done. So when cooperation is declared a global initiative to further socioeconomic development, the soul of us all is involved. The act of sharing a heavy load may seem like only one small step for man, but, on the level of consciousness, the UNs declaration of the Year of Cooperatives, is one giant leap for humanity.

With the tenacity of Scorpio, humanity is now treading the spiritual path, and we’re finding heads everywhere. So we keep ourselves busy chopping them off – an organisation to stop child trafficking here, and another one to eliminate world poverty there – but the heads just keep growing back. Like Hercules, we can’t kill the Hydra, our collective Dweller, until we lift it into the light of the soul.

That’s why the UN, the world personality, is so important. And that’s why the 2012 International Year of Cooperatives is a great opportunity for each of us. And that’s why our individual effort to raise our own Hydra is of value to not just ourselves, but to human evolution. Each effort we make, to look, search and raise ourselves, contributes to lifting the Hydra of humanity into the light. Many of us are now willing to kneel in humility realising that the old ways are no longer useful to the demands of a new age.

Scorpio and Magic
Taurus is the polar opposite of Scorpio. As with all signs, we need to work with the energies of both polarities to find the best in both of them, merging them into one. The key to Scorpio is death and transformation. We burn up the desires of our lower self, the desire for things represented by the lower aspect of Taurus. The desires of our personality prevent us from fully participating in life, because we’re shutting our ears and eyes to the higher opportunities.

When we’re spending all our time thinking about sex, food, comfort, and money; when we make choices based on fear, hatred and ambition; and when we separate ourselves from others through pride, or feed cruel gossip, we’re not living up to our potential. This potential is our soul’s purpose. Scorpio offers us the opportunity to transform our personal experiences into something more beautiful and worthy. Within every negative lies a positive. In every lower desire lies nestled the potential jewel of a learning experience. With nine heads, every time we learn the lessons offered by the Hydra of our personality, we add another jewel to our collection.

In the month of November, Scorpio offers us the gift of magic. But to win this gift we must offer up the nine-headed hydra, our whole personality with its divisive selves, to the magical realm of the soul. With nine heads that’s a massive task.

Scorpio leads to Capricorn
The keynote of Scorpio is: ‘Warrior I am and from the battle I emerge triumphant’. When Hercules triumphantly raised the Hydra off the ground into the light, he may have shouted these words, for this is a moment of glory. We know that feeling when a gruelling time has been endured; when we’ve been forced to our knees in humility at the sheer weight of the darkness and slimy stench we’ve endured. We also know that wonderful moment when we can see the jewels of wisdom that all the pain and suffering has brought us. In that moment we’re filled with joy. This is the joy of the soul.

Scorpio’s gift of tenacity, the ability to die a thousand deaths, and still endure, leads us on in our quest for spiritual truth. Then we are rewarded, on a higher turn of the spiral, by the gift of illumination in Taurus.
The knees are governed by Saturn, who guards the gateway; the portal between the dweller and the magical gifts of the soul which are really the Christ consciousness. This consciousness sees no separation – between humans, between kingdoms, between the seen and the occult – hence what was unknown becomes known, and all is understood as one great relationship of forces and energies. Knowing this and how to work in this new reality is all that magic really is. Saturn commands us to kneel, and relinquish all that holds us back from receiving what is rightfully ours – spiritual insight into what we must do to create a better world, and the tools of white magic to assist us.

Saturn rules Capricorn, and when we have learned the lessons of Scorpio, and gained the secrets of the soul’s magic, we then pass through Sagittarius, before entering Capricorn where we again kneel, but now it’s on the top of the mountain. There we offer our heart and soul to human service. Then we are permitted to pass through the door of initiation and we’re entrusted with the secrets of life. (3)

Cycling round and round, higher and higher on the spiral of evolution, we gradually build the nine-jewelled magical and immortal head hidden deep within the hydra of our personality. These nine-jewels are the gifts given to us from each of the nine tests in Scorpio. When put together, like jigsaw pieces, they reveal our individual soul’s purpose in this incarnation. We’re now ready to climb to the mountain top in Capricorn, where we gain knowledge of the purpose, not just for our own life, but for all Life on our planet and beyond.

1. Bailey, A., ‘The Labours of Hercules’, p. 140-154
2. Ibid
3. Bailey, A., Esoteric Astrology. p. 93-226.

The Art of Living
If you’ve been feeling like beautifying your home, having a make-over, improving your relationship or getting a better work-life balance, then you’re enjoying the gifts of Libra. In this month of October, we celebrate the Venusian drive to perfect the art of living by bringing more beauty, harmony, grace and love into our lives.

Libra is ruled by the planet Venus which on the lower level governs desire, attraction of the sexes, sensuality and how we shape our personal values and relationships. It’s the drive in us to find complete relatedness with another through sex or love, or through an object or experience that can transform us. On an esoteric level, Venus channels the soul manifesting as pure love-reason.

Venus shows us the other opportunity that love offers – not just for the physical desires , borne of the demands for excitation of our mind and emotions – but for service and sacrifice to something greater than our personal self, when emotions transform into love, and the mind reacts to illumination and inspiration from the soul .

Libra is love- reason
All things are dual, and pure reason is really Venus’ vibration uniting the duality of our heart and mind so that they now function as one organ of invocation, reception and communication. Then we have a unity of heart-love, which is pure love; and mind, or reason. Desire is now love for transcendence beyond the physical into the etheric realms of matter, where we can experience transformative union with our soul.

The heart invokes the mind-reason to receive illumination from the soul, which is then transferred to our brain. This organ, acting now as an agent for the soul, works out the practical steps we must take; the way of spiritual compromise, demonstrating as inspired activity on the physical plane.

The Libran energy, governed by Venus helps us to express this transcendent love-reason into practical avenues that will benefit our fellow humans and the three kingdoms of nature. Libra shows us the art of ‘spiritual compromise’, as Alice Bailey puts it, and this is love-reason in action. (1)

This means, ‘a recognition of time and evolution, not involving any treachery to the goal’. Dane Rudhyar says that compromise requires the, ‘difficult task of discrimination. To be adaptable, yet to retain the purity and total integrity of one’s vision and one’s ideal; to accept detours, yet not lose the direction of the goal; to be understandable and acceptable to those who need the spiritual arousal, yet not destroy or lower the character of the message; to use the values born of the past, yet not sell short the future to the uncertain present; to be kind to men, yet uncompromisingly true to the spirit.’ When we are able to live in such a harmonious way, we are demonstrating the art of dynamic tension.

The power of the opposites
Dane Rudhyar says that Venus works through Libra in the, ‘Natural growth of inherent potentialities, ease and logic of development, elegance of unfoldment; these are the jewels of the art of living; these are the tests of mastery’. (2) This mastery is only achieved by balancing the opposites in our selves. Aries is the polar opposite to Libra, and it’s the dynamic tension, between these two, that helps us understand the equilibrium at the centre. It’s that place of constant movement demonstrating through us as inner peace and harmony. It’s the paradox and the art of the Zen master – the sound of one hand clapping – unity in duality; silence. Aries is the act of mental creation; of forming plans; of initiating our purpose created from this balanced point of tension, in Libra.

Alice Bailey suggests that in Christ’s life, there is a period of silent interlude, between the ages of 12 and 30, when we hear little about him. He spent this time with the Essenes in Egypt, and working as a humble carpenter. This is the time that Christ was practicing the art of living; learning the gifts of Libra. This was in preparation for the next stage; his out-breathing, when he entered public life to minister to the masses as God incarnate. (3)

We can see this same opportunity for interludes in our own life. There are cycles for going out into the world which are like the out-breath – working, talking, creating, and giving. Then there are times for going within – the in-breath. Then we metaphorically breathe in and hold this breath during the interlude, as we contemplate, regenerate, receive, learn, develop, and work on bettering ourselves. If done with awareness of the Libra/Aries polarity, we can utilise these interludes of silence in Libra to regenerate for the Arian out-breathing into the world. We are refining matter so that we can master ourselves and fulfil our life’s purpose.

The keynote for Libra is, “I choose the way which leads between the two great lines of force”. (4) Libra has been called, ‘the master of no-man’s land’ because its energy urges us to strive for balance. We learn to stand steady at the centre of our lives, being swung neither into decadent materialism, nor mystical transcendence, both of which are self-focussed pursuits. We learn to live a useful life of humble, simple and practical service with all the awesome power of living in that place of dynamic tension, and silent mastery, that this entails.

References:
1. Dane Rudhyar quoted in Bailey, A., ‘The Labours of Hercules’, p. 137
2. Ibid p. 136
3. Ibid p. 138-139
4. Bailey, A. ‘Esoteric Astrology’, p. 251

Libido is Sacred
Sex is an energy which is under our control to use according to our freewill. That’s the beauty of being human. It’s also the tripwire that can send us into the chasm of darkness, disease, suffering and despair. The difference between freewill, used to create a beautiful or chaotic life, depends on how and why we use our mind to direct this powerful force. What’s sex got to do with the Full Moon in Virgo? In September we have the opportunity to learn more about our sacredness, and the sacred in all matter.

We also understand how we can use our thoughts to shape this sacred potential. As science has shown us, all is energy. Or to quote Paracelsus, ‘Everything is the product of one universal creative effort…There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.’(1) So sexual energy is part of this one universal creative effort. It’s a divine, sacred force powerfully driving us on to be, to know and to create.

Virgo teaches us about the essential livingness in all matter – that spirit is in matter, and matter is in spirit – so there’s really no separation between the two. Last month, we became more conscious of Leo’s gift of creative self-expression. We learned about this creative force in its drive to form our identity.

Sexual energy is our libido; our vital force; pranic energy from the sun flowing through us. If we deny it free flow, we’re denying our creative contribution to the world. If the Virgoan energy is used constructively, we can learn to sublimate and transform our sexual energy into a one-pointed focus; an unobstructed commitment and dedication to work and service. If we just let this energy of our libido free flow, without direction or positive intention, we may experience its dark side: sexual inadequacy, denial, fear of intimacy and commitment, celibacy, barrenness, promiscuity and ill-health resulting from the repression of natural instincts.

Deep Transformation
During September, in Virgo, we’re offered the opportunity to delve further into this powerful drive to create. In fact, the word ‘human’ could be replaced with ‘creative’. Little as we often realise, the Law of Manifestation ensures that we create with every thought – and everyone thinks something. Fortunately, our thoughts are often so chaotic, so disorganised and hazy, that they die a natural death for lack of interest, warmth and vitality. But if we know how to truly think, we can be like God; the divine Intelligence, the planetary Logos, able to co-create a new reality on earth.

In pre-Christian times, Virgo was also knows as Vesta, goddess of the eternal flame. Unlike the love goddess Aphrodite, or the fertility goddess Ceres, Vesta was a virgin. This means that, ‘she was whole and complete – self-contained, self-possessed, and self-fulfilled. A virgin…was not barren, but especially fertile as in a virgin forest that has not been violated or depleted.’(2) How can we be virginal and also sexual?

Like a piece of the new world just discovered by an explorer, Virgo and Vesta energies offer us endless possibilities. We can enjoy the forest in its pristine virginity, or clear a little to seed new life – to impregnate the fertile womb. We can choose to use our mind to violate and deplete this virginal beauty with ideas of greed and ugliness, or to develop its potential with thoughts of love and beauty.

Imagine you are a spiritual warrior, searching for life’s meaning, on a quest to reveal the mysteries hidden behind the veil. Landing your boat on an uncharted piece of coast, you step out, carrying only what you know. You walk up the endless expanse of empty beach towards a line of trees. They beckon you, as your heart beats in rhythm with some unseen force. You stand beside a giant trunk and follow its course upwards, stretching its arms in open exhaltation towards the bright, blue sky. Your eyes scan across the apparently impenetrable length and breadth of trees, set in lines of perfect geometry, and then back down towards the ground. You notice the way the limbs seem to touch lightly, with green, leafy fingers, delivering a blessing to the rich, dark soil. You realise that soil and sky; tree and earth, are one, in a sacred dance of loving relationship. With a premonition that this is the place of possibility for which you’ve been searching. You step between the trees and enter the forest.

With such a consciousness of the relationship between heaven and earth; of the sacredness of matter and the luminous presence of nature, we can now transform our life. We can each reveal the possibility held in the virginal forest. But as with all mysteries there’s a pause, a task which the warrior, the seeker must perform, before being permitted access to the deeper mysteries. Anyone can enter the forest, but only those who know where the key is to be found, can know the magic held here, and unlock its fertile potential.

Work and Service
Virgo is about work. In essence work is how we fit ourselves into society with others. How do we form relationships with others – all types of relationships? How do we work within these relationships to make our contribution to society – share and express the skills, talents and creativity that we developed in the previous sign Leo – to bring about personal integration and wholeness? Virgo teaches us that work isn’t primarily about earning a living, making money; it’s about making our soul grow. Work is the structuring of energies so that we have a framework within which we can unfold our spiritual potential.

On a higher turn of the ever-turning spiral of evolution, Virgo represents service: of anything from the tiniest atom of matter to world government. What are we serving? First we serve ourselves. We learn about our relationship with the whole, with God, and with nature through work and through our own body. We learn that our body is our vehicle of power in this earth life. We are more powerful with a healthy body, than with a body in ill health. Our body makes us almost invincible in our capacity to manifest whatever we want to. Fortunately most of us don’t realise this because our intentions are still selfish, and not yet for the good of the whole.

So first Virgo helps us, often through ill health and little nuisance problems, to become aware of our body. We learn to care for it with diet, supplements, sunshine, exercise, relaxation, meditation, and leisure. Like the trees in the forest, our body represents our communication vehicle between heaven and earth. It is like an antenna reaching into the highest places our mind can take us, channelling and transferring this energy through ourselves, into the depths of matter, the earth, the natural world. This is humanity’s prime purpose for being here, little as we may realise the magnificence of our ordained task.

Christ Consciousness
Through work and service, Virgo leads us along the winding paths, through the crises, to find the key that will unlock the mysteries held in the fertile forest. Like Hercules’ labour in Aries, we must battle the wild horses of our mind, running hither and thither drawing us on a search for meaning in the physical, sensory world. Finally, after many lifetimes we’ve exhausted the thrill of using matter, or forms for our own selfish purposes. We now truly understand what Paracelsus told us: that all life is alive and part of the one universe.

In one lifetime, perhaps this one, we find ourselves wearied from our search, yet still seeking for that elusive key. We finally see a light ahead and enter a clearing. A figure comes forward, hands outstretched. We know it’s our soul; the love within. This is the Christ consciousness for which we’ve been searching. The figure hands us a key. Our search has ended, yet is has also just begun. Now, with loving awareness of the sacredness in all things, we can unlock the potential of our mind and release our full creative force.

Alice Bailey tells us that humanity’s task is, “To transmit spiritual forces to the ‘prisoners of the planet’ – the kingdoms of nature.”(3) In Virgo we are given the opportunity to find the love and light, or the wisdom of the Christ consciousness, for which we have been searching. Like the delicate leaves on the uppermost tips of the trees in the forest, our minds become like a finely tuned instrument, vibrating with the never ceasing cosmic dance; the heart-beat of the heavens. We have a vision for a better world. Now we can fulfil our task and transmit this vision as love and light to all forms on Earth. We can participate in the redemption of matter.

Our task, which we begin in Virgo, is nothing more, nor less, than to be conscious of the divine, which is the gift of Pisces, Virgo’s polar opposite. Virgo and Pisces assist us to bring spirit into matter. To understand that spirit isn’t out there. That it is prana, the energy of libido, that flows through us all, and through all nature. Pisces is sometimes called the sign of the saviour. It’s associated with Jesus Christ. But now, as we enter the new age, it’s not just one person who will save us; it’s all of us. As the seventh ray of the white magician and the Aquarian Age, flows into the planet, and the sixth ray of the Piscean Age begins to wane, we see the martyr and the saviour complex being transformed into the group work of healing through the conscious use of our mind.

This is the promise of the near future. It will be a time when the creativity used in excited conversation and the endless information in books will be superseded by the quieter forms of communication: meditation, telepathy, intuition and creative visualisation as the new tools of insight, understanding and creation.(4) It will be the age, where beauty, order and ritual will organise and redeem matter, so that the forms we create with our thoughts will be for the good of all.

As we enter the dark forest of our mind during meditation, let us work together as one soul, quietly invoking light and love and then manifesting it into the world as part of the great redemptive work.

Keynote for Virgo is: ‘I am the Mother and the child. I God, I matter am.’

1. Paracelsus quoted in Helena Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Vol I, 281.
2. Demetra George, Asteroid Goddesses. p. 128
3. Alice Bailey, Treatise on White Magic. p. 527-529
4. Lucis Trust, retrieved 7.9.11, http://www.lucistrust.org/en/service_activities/world_goodwill/newsletter/recent_issues/2006_1_patterns_of_meaning/the_goal_of_information

Meditation at the time of the full moon is one important form of service. The full moon each month is a time of intensified energy and of heightened spiritual activity; a time of inspiration, of vision and insight, and of increased opportunity to serve.

Meditation at the time of the full moon is a technique for effective contact with the light and love needed today in human affairs. At the time of the full moon festivals, the moon stands on the far side of the earth, away from the sun. This leaves a full, direct and unimpeded relationship between the earth and the sun, the source of our life, energy and consciousness, symbolic of the relationship between the human personality and the soul.

The time of the full moon is the high tide of spiritual energies both in the planet and in the world of human thinking. Those who choose to serve this way undertake the mental work of redemption and renewal, transforming and illuminating the inner atmosphere of human consciousness. A subjective alignment with the planetary group of meditators is necessary, in order both to carry forward scientific work of this scope, and to protect the individual from possible overstimulation.

The participation of people in many nations increases the effectiveness of this service work through meditation; the group is greater than the sum of its parts. The pouring in of spiritual energy at the time of the full moon is augmented by the focussed thought of cooperating meditators. This has several effects: it strengthens the subjective relationship among all members of the human kingdom; it also influences the relationship between humanity and all other kingdoms coexisting on this planet.

Right human relationships are an indication of right relations between man and man, and between man and God this in turn, clears the way for the emergence of a higher quality of life. Each month during the full moon the sun is aligned with one of the twelve zodiacal signs. The signs indicate the quality of the subjective energies available for transmission during that month. In the annual cycles humanity as a whole is exposed to the full range of experience. These energies and qualities stimulate the evolution of human consciousness; all zodiacal energies can be used by all individuals.

Conscious work with these various types of spiritual energy brings inspiration and ideas into the reach of human minds and hearts. Meditation, especially in subjective group formation, stimulates a new factor in human awareness–a growing spiritual maturity. This vast, planetary work of world service contributes to the task of spiritually civilising planet Earth.

From ‘The Science of Meditation’ Lucis Trust, http://www.lucistrust.org/en/arcane_school/meditation/the_science_of_meditation

Leo is like the Sun: it commands our attention. Often people born with a Leo Sun sign, or ascendant act as though they believe they are the centre of the universe – like the Sun – with everyone else revolving around them.

The Sun’s gifts are there for us all, not just for those born in Leo. This sign symbolises the qualities of the Sun – light, warmth, joy, love, growth, and creativity. This is the higher manifestation of Leo. To live like the Sun, which gives constantly, reliably and unconditionally, so that others may grow and thrive.

Another of Leo’s gifts is trust. Trust in ourselves, in others, in nature, in our bodies, and in the universe.
‘You are a child of the universe’, says a well known verse written in the 1920s by Max Ehrmann. It continues: ‘No less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here’.(1)
This poem touches on the essence of Leo; to truly express what it means to be a human. When we are really being human, we are shining and warming, like the sun; we know ourselves to be a child of the universe, equal to the trees and the stars, with an equal right to be here.

The ancient poem called The Gayatri also sums up Leo. It is an invocation to the Sun, which can be said in the morning at sunrise:
‘O Thou Who givest sustenance to the universe
From Whom all things proceed
To Whom all things return…’
When the Sun travels on its annual pilgrimage round the zodiac, it passes, in August, through Leo. During this month we are given the opportunity to touch more deeply, the sun’s qualities. We can also get closer to the Sun: the heart of the sun, via its outer manifestation, the hot, shining ball in the sky.
When we say The Gayatri, we are invoking the inner qualities of the sun, by honouring its outer form:
‘Unveil to us the face of the true Spiritual Sun
Hidden by a disc of golden light
That we may know the Truth
And do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet.’(2)

August is the month before spring in the southern hemisphere. We see and feel the beginnings of new life: budding trees, flowering bulbs and blossom all tell us that in the deep, inner world, the earth is warming. The vital forces of the planet are rising towards the heart of our Solar System, the heart of the Sun.
The Sun’s heart is like our human heart: it beats and warms its outer body, the disc of golden light. We need this physical body to function and manifest our purpose in the world, but we need to remember that our body is not our consciousness, just as the Sun’s disc of golden light is not its true consciousness. The heart of the Sun is like our soul. The ‘Spiritual Sun’ referred to in the Gayatri, is like our human mind – the divine Idea or Great Intelligence of our Solar System – akin to our intelligence that enables us to think and create. Leo is associated with self-consciousness; our sense of identity, our ‘I am’. When we say ‘I’, we know ourselves to be the conscious creator of our universe and our lives.

As the sun moves through Leo, it lights up the qualities of that sign. It also shines a reflected light on Aquarius which is its polar opposite sign. The Aquarian energy gives us the gift of ‘I am That’. The ‘That’ referred to is group consciousness. The self conscious Leo becomes conscious of himself as more than the individual; as part of something bigger – the collective, humanity and the world. Aquarius is symbolised by the man carrying a pitcher of water: the water bearer.

Water symbolises cleansing, rejuvenation, quenching thirst, giving life, the emotions and the intuition. The water bearer carries a bottomless jug of life-giving water which he pours forth for all, regardless of colour, creed, likes or dislikes. He does this because he has raised the lower, self-centred emotions of the Leo energy, to the intuition which is in contact with the universe. The Aquarian knows that he is one with everything in the universe. By combining the best of Aquarius and Leo, we can live like the sun, pouring forth our water, filled with light and love, to all.

When the Sun is in Leo, we can learn more about the power of our minds – to create either beauty or ugliness; to add to the problems of the world, or to help solve them. With each thought we create we release a form of thought-matter, or etheric substance. This thought energy is sent forth from us like a bullet from a gun. It is given a mission which it tries to fulfil. The stronger the will and emotion behind the though, the more powerful it is. If we’ve sent out a negative, harmful or hurtful thought, we have imprinted a memory on the Akashic records, like pressing the ‘burn’ button to copy material onto a CD. That memory adds to the negative karma which we will carry with us into our next life. Similarily, positive, loving, harmlessness, builds positive karma, and helps to offset negative thoughts. It’s very logical – cause and effect – each of us is responsible for the use we make of the tremendous creative power given by Leo to humans.

Leo symbolises the quality of trust. The poet William Blake wrote:
‘If the sun and moon should doubt
They’d immediately go out’.(3)
Trust is needed by us all, because without it we doubt. What do we doubt: our inherent, inalienable connection to and relationship with our Father’s Home; our Spiritual heritage. To trust means we know that we are part of the greater whole, the Solar System, and that our heart is linked to the heart of the Sun by a golden thread called Life. That’s why suicide is understood as such a negative act by most in our society – we intuitively know that to suicide is a break in trust. It is an attempt to cut the golden thread of Life that holds us all together as one Soul with the great heart of the Sun.

When the Sun travels through Leo we are given the opportunity to touch and express our uniqueness, our sacredness, and the fact of our brotherhood with all things. We can use our self-conscious ‘I’ to direct all our thoughts and actions to be water bearers, serving humanity and the lower kingdoms, by pouring out our life-giving water for all. We know, without a doubt, that we are divine and a child of the Universe.

The keynote of Leo is: ‘I am That, and That am I.’

References
1. ‘Desiderata’ by Max Ehrmann, http://www.fleurdelis.com/desidera.htm
2. The Gayatri, http://lucistrust.org/en/service_activities/e_mantrams/the_gayatri
3. ‘Auguries of Innocence’, William Blake, http://www.artofeurope.com/blake/bla3.htm

Cancer is a sign of coming and going; of the rhythmic movement of the watery realm as it encompasses all in its eternal mystery.

In ancient mythology Cancer is referred to as the lesser gate into incarnation, while its polar opposite, Capricorn, is called the greater gate into the spiritual mysteries. We all pass through these two gateways, symbolically, as we move into and out of incarnation. At first the Capricorn gate reveals the mysteries only after physical death, to be forgotten when we again enter incarnation. But for those who travel the path of the spiritual seeker, this portal opens and the mysteries are revealed while we are incarnate.

Cancer is the sign that inaugurates the seeker onto the path after we have completed our journey through the first three signs: Aries, Taurus and Gemini. These are preparatory, refining the seeker’s desire to learn to use the mind and emotions in service to the whole rather than only to the self. In Cancer we first discover the limits of the mind and intellect. We know there’s more and so we begin the disciplined task of meditation, building the rainbow bridge which will give us access to the light of the soul, which is the intuition.

Cancer and Capricorn are related to the birth myth of the sun god Jesus Christ.(1) This mythology tells us that the infant Jesus was born at the Summer solstice of Cancer which is 22 June in the Northern hemisphere, and that the Christ was born at the Winter solstice of Capricorn 22 December. The Cancer solstice is said to be the gate of the Sun through which souls descend from their heavenly home to Earth. The Winter solstice of Capricorn in December is the gate of the Sun from which sun gods were said to be born, ready to serve humanity and the divine Plan.

The sign of Cancer is the symbol of two donkey’s tails going in opposite directions. They represent the two donkeys on which Mary rode; one into Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus, and the other which she rode out of Bethlehem, after the birth on her journey to Egypt. The donkey symbolises patience and humility, the crown jewels of greatness, and ones we often overlook in our busy, self-centred world. The hard working donkey often knows no rest. Those of us who are disciples on the spiritual path, are a bit like the donkey, often overlooked, struggling, sometimes with the world, often with ourselves, trying to bring together our soul and personality in a bid to find out who we really are, and why we are here. We need a lot of patience and humility if we’re to make it to the portal of initiation in Capricorn.

Each time we incarnate, we symbolically enter through the gate of Cancer into the entombment of a physical body to again take up the task. Humanity collectively enters this gate as a baby when we first demonstrate our instinct for survival, a recapitulation of the first stage in our evolution from animal consciousness. Gradually we develop our intellect or self-consciousness as we mirror the stage of early adult human consciousness, and then on the final stages of the spiritual path, we become fully developed adult humans with intuitive or group consciousness.

In the month of July the energies from the sign of Cancer offers us the opportunity to tap into our divine heritage through the development of our intuition. But what is the intuition? Sometimes we can believe we’re tapping our intuition when it’s really information from another part of ourselves. When we say we have an intuition it’s really our instinct or the lower astral plane bringing something to our attention that our intellect is not attuned to, like the parental instinct of knowing when our child needs us, or a close friend is about to phone.

Alice Bailey says that the spiritual intuition is a highly developed sense awareness which is group conscious. This means that information from the intuition is only related to group service, not to the welfare of individuals. The instinct prompts us to care for ourselves and our immediate loved ones, while our intellect helps us define our ‘I’, and gives us our capacity to become aware of the world of human ideas and research. The intuition is our super-conscious, which gives us awareness of spiritual realms and higher truths held in the Universal Mind.

In her book, ‘From Intellect to Intuition’, Bailey says that access to Truth is the ultimate destiny of all humans, and that someday we will view intellect in the same way as we now view instinct – an instantaneous reaction when needed for self-consciousness. By contrast, intuition is an extra conscious mental process, an infallible knowing of some truth or beauty that was never before sensed.

Often the nice platitudes we hear or read couched in spiritual sounding phrases are the result of someone’s well developed mental ability, but not intuition.(2) We need to use our discriminative abilities to decide for ourselves the quality of the plethora of information available at this time.

As we develop our intuition we gain more insight into what Capricorn also offers – that which the intuition reveals. In Capricorn we can reap the benefit of the work started in Cancer; we can be initiated into the spiritual mysteries waiting for us on the mountaintop; the end of our spiritual quest. Although a long way off for most of us, when this place is reached we will know a unity of purpose between our soul and personality. We will no longer be plagued by the dual pull of our personal desires, fears and survival issues on the one hand, and the aspirational pull of the soul to be something more than just the little self, and to do something for the greater good on the other.

On the mountain top of Capricorn we’re rewarded for our struggle and conflict. We can now serve the masses with direct knowledge, rather than being lost in the mass of incoherent thought-forms. In Capricorn we find the answer to the question that has driven us forward on our spiritual quest: ‘What is my purpose?’ With this question answered we can now turn back towards the gate in Cancer, shining our light on the path for others to follow.

The keynote for Cancer is: I build a lighted house and therein dwell.

References:
1. Alice Bailey, ‘The Labours of Hercules’, Lucis Press, NY (1974).
2. Ibid ‘From Intellect to Intuition’ p. 166