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Compilation on Aries
From Esoteric Astrology, by Alice A. Bailey

See Michael Robbins' Tapestry of the Gods, Volume III

Compilation in word.doc

Reversion to the Age of Aries

Christ as the Forerunner of the Aquarian Age

People are very apt to overlook the fact that though Christ recognised His function as Teacher and spiritual Leader of humanity during the age which is so rapidly drawing to a close, He also recognised the work which He would do when that age came to an end and the new astronomical cycle came into existence.

The average Christian is singularly unaware of the times and cycles through which our planet passes, under influence of solar progression. The at present dubious science of astrology has sidetracked the legitimate interest of humanity in the astronomical teaching and its spiritual interpretation of the passage of the Sun through the signs of the zodiac. Yet, in The New Testament, that recognition is clearly revealed and colours the present­ation of the entire Gospel story. It is found also in The Old Testament. What was the sin of the Children of Israel in the desert but a reversion to the old Mithraic worship which distinguished the time when the sun was "in the sign of Taurus, the Bull," as it is technically called. They fell down and worshipped the golden calf and forgot the new teaching of the age of Aries, the Ram, into which they were entering, the teaching of the Scapegoat which colours Jewish history.

This sharing, beginning on the physical plane, will prove equally true of all human relations and this will be the great gift of the Aquarian Age to humanity. This the church has ignored and yet their ecclesiastics cannot explain away the fact that the Jews demonstrated their liking for the Taurian worship of the Bull in the golden calf, that the Jewish dispensation used the symbol of the scapegoat or ram in the age of Aries, the Ram, and that the Christian emphasises the fish in the Piscean era, the Christian era.

Christ came to bring to an end the Jewish dispensation which should have climaxed and passed away as a religion with the movement of the sun out of Aries into Pisces. He, therefore, presented Himself to them as their Messiah, manifesting through the Jewish race. In the rejection of the Christ as the Messiah, the Jewish race has remained symbolically and practically in the sign Aries, the Scapegoat; they have to pass—again speaking symbol­ically —into the sign, Pisces, the Fishes, and recognise their Messiah when He comes again in the sign Aquarius. Otherwise, they will repeat their ancient sin of non-response to the evolution­ary process. They rejected that which was new and spiritual in the desert; they did it again in Palestine two thousand years ago; will they do it again, as opportunity is offered to them? The difficulty with the Jew is that he remains satisfied with the religion of nearly five thousand years ago and shows as yet little desire to change. (RC 79-80)

 

Further reversion into Aries

It is interesting to remember that when the Buddha came, approximately five hundred years before Christ (for the exact date of Christ's birth remains debatable), the first dim influences of the Piscean Age could be felt, impinging upon the powerful quality of the age of Aries, the Scapegoat or the Ram. It was the influence of this age—persisting throughout the Jewish dispensation—which led eventually to the distortion of the simple teaching of the Christ when He came. He was erroneously presented to the world as the living Scapegoat, bearing away the sins of the people, and thus originating the doctrine of the vicarious at-one-ment. It was St. Paul who was responsible for this emphasis. A paralleling instance of a similar distortion was also of Jewish origin and appeared in the early stages of the cycle of Aries, the Ram. We are told that the Children of Israel fell down and worshipped the golden calf, the symbol of Taurus, the Bull; this was the preceding astronomical cycle. These are astronom­ical cycles and not a presented astrology. In the early stages of Aries, the teaching reverted to that of Taurus and in the early stages of Pisces, it reverted to that of Aries and thus set the seal of retrogression upon the teaching which now controls so many orthodox Christians. (RC 106)

 

World Teachers of the Ages

Each age has left a reflection of a modern fivefold development upon it. Four ages have just passed away, astronomically speaking: Gemini, Taurus, Aries, and Pisces. Today Aquarius, the fifth age, is coming into power. In Gemini, its symbolical sign of the two pillars set its seal upon the Masonic Fraternity of the time and the two pillars of Jachin and Boaz—to give them their Jewish names which are, of course, not their real names—came into being approx­i­mately eight thousand years ago. Then came Taurus, the Bull, wherein Mithra came as the world Teacher and instituted the Mysteries of Mithras with an (apparent) worship of the Bull. Next followed Aries the Ram, which saw the start of the Jewish Dispensation which is of importance to the Jews and unfortunately of importance to the Christian religion, but of no importance to the untold millions in the other parts of the world; during this cycle came the Buddha, Shri Krishna and Sankaracharya; finally we have the age of Pisces the Fishes, which brought to us the Christ. The sequence of the Mysteries which each of the signs of the Zodiac embodies will be clarified for us by the Christ, because the public consciousness today demands something more definite and spiritually real than modern astrology, or all the pseudo-occultism so widely extant. (RC 126)

 

Aries and the definition of a Kalpa

One day out of this long life of Brahma is called Kalpa; and a Kalpa is that portion of time which intervenes between one conjunction of all the planets on the horizon of Lanka, at the first point of Aries, and a subsequent similar conjunction.  A Kalpa embraces the reign of fourteen Manus, and their sandhies (intervals); each Manu lying between two sandhies.  Every Manu's rule contains seventy-one Maha Yugas,—each Maha Yuga consists of four Yugas, viz., Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali; and the length of each of these four Yugas is respectively as the numbers, 4, 3, 2 and 1.

The number of sidereal years embraced in the foregoing different periods are as follows:

Mortal years

360 days of mortals make a year                       1

Krita Yuga contains                                          1,728,000

Treta Yuga contains                                         1,296,000

Dwapara Yuga contains                                   864,000

Kali Yuga contains                                            432,000

The total of the said four Yugas constitute a Maha Yuga:  4,320,000

Seventy-one of such Maha Yugas form the period of the reign of one Manu: 306,720,000

The reign of 14 Manus embraces the duration of 994 Maha Yugas, which is equal to     4,294,080,000

Add Sandhis, i.e., intervals between the reign of each Manu, which amount to 6 Maha Yugas, equal to: 25,920,000

The total of these reigns and interregnums of 14 Manus, is 1,000 Maha Yugas, which constitute a Kalpa, i.e., one day of Brahma, equal to: 4,320,000,000

As Brahma's night is of equal duration, one day and night of Brahma will contain: 8,640,000,000

360 of such days and nights make one year of Brahma, equal to: 3,110,400,000,000

100 of such years constitute the whole period of Brahma's age, i.e., Maha Kalpa: 3,110,400,000,000

That these figures are not fanciful, but are founded upon astronomical facts, has been demonstrated by Mr. Davis, in an essay in the Asiatic Researches; and this receives further corroboration from the geological investigations and calculations made by Dr. Hunt, formerly President of the Anthropological Society, and also in some respects from the researches made by Professor Huxley.

Great as the period of the Maha Kalpa seems to be, we are assured that thousands and thousands of millions of such Maha Kalpas have passed, and as many more are yet to come.  (Vide Brahma-Vaivarta and Bhavishyre Puranas; and Linga Purana, ch. 171, verse 107, etc.) and this in plain language means that the Time past is infinite and the Time to come is equally infinite.  The Universe is formed, dissolved, and reproduced, in an indeterminate succession (Bhagavata-gita, VIII, 19).” —The Theosophist, Vol. VII, 115.

 

Reversal of the wheel

The state of mind of the soul during the processes of lower integration can be briefly sum­marised as follows:

That of a complete disinterest during the earlier stages of the cycle of incarnation.  Its "embedded aspect" (as it has been called) is quite adequate to the slow and tedious task of evolving the bodies, developing their characteristics and buying the bitter experience of blindness and ignorance.  This period is by far the longest, and whilst it is proceeding the soul goes forward with its own life interest upon its own level of experience, upon its own ray and under the influence of the Master Who will eventually guide the thinking (through gladly accepted impression) of the developing personality.  Forget not that this kingdom or this aggregate of souls is what the Christian calls the Kingdom of God and the occultist calls the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet.  Remember also that the purpose of its aggregated life is to induce realisation in consciousness of the spiritual polarisation of the planetary LIFE.

As evolution proceeds, the three vehicles—now created and developed—become potent, and their vibration becomes strong enough to attract a measure of attention from the preoccupied soul.  The first reaction is irritation.  Occult irritation is not crossness, as human beings express it, but response to contact—a response which does not please.  In other words, it is friction.  You will, therefore, better understand the meaning of the statement that the last fetter which the Master casts off is irritation.  The personality no longer attracts attention; friction therefore ceases, and there is nothing left but a pure channel through which spiritual energy can pour.  Irritation, as you understand it, takes place when your personal, self-will, self-esteem, ideas and plans are infringed upon by those of another person.  It is not this form of irritation which the Master casts off.

The second reaction is that of a meditation process or the generation of power, later to be used in the three worlds to enhance soul energy within the form and to create the field of knowledge, peopled by the thoughtforms into which the personality will later venture.  The soul is therefore preparing for its own reorientation towards Life and its expression in the three worlds, and not to the gaining of life experience.

When the personality becomes dominant, the soul introduces a new factor into the life of its reflection, the incarnating soul.  It mobilises and focusses the energy of the soul ray, and by an act of the will brings it into direct contact with the ray of the personality.  This has a reflex action on the rays of the threefold lower man, stimulating them, awakening them, and condi­tioning the etheric body so that the centres, through which the personality rays are pouring, and the head centre which is responsive to the soul ray, can become more active.  The ajna centre, through which the personality works, intensifies its activity, and two things occur:

The personality life becomes increasingly potent and the man develops into an intense individual.

The head centre begins to exert an influence upon the ajna centre, and slowly and gradually upon the centre at the base of the spine.  Self-will grows as do all the qualities.

The soul is now in what esotericists call "a process of reversal."  This produces a great interest in its reflection in the three worlds, and three things then happen:

The lower concrete mind becomes subject to illumination from the soul.

The energy of the soul ray increasingly pours into the personality, intensifying its conflict.

The path of the man around the zodiac from Aries via Pisces to Taurus is reversed and he then proceeds anti-clockwise.

All these factors produce violent conflict upon the Probationary Path, which increases as the man steps upon the Path of Discipleship.  The potency of the personality, dominant and being dominated, is that which induces an intense karmic activity.  Events and circumstances pile fast and furiously into the experience of the disciple.  His environment is of the highest quality available in the three worlds; his experience fluctuates between the extremes; he works off his karmic obligations and pays the penalty of past mistakes with great rapidity. (EH 512-514)

 

Aries as a major Full moon period (Linking Spiritual Approaches in the World)

Teaching upon the new world religion, with its emphasis upon the three major Full Moon periods (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, falling usually in April, May and June respectively) and the nine (occasionally ten) minor Full Moons each year.  This leads to a consequent relation being established between the work of the Christ and of the Buddha in the minds of spiritually inclined people everywhere, with the result of a great broadening of the human aspiration.  This work is as yet embryonic, but it should receive increasing attention.  Eventually it will demonstrate as the main linking unit between the East and the West, particularly if Shri Krishna is shown to be an earlier incarnation of the Lord of Love, the Christ.  Thereby three major world religions—the Christian, the Hindu and the Buddhist—will be intimately related, whilst the Mahommedan faith will be found to be linked to the Christian faith because it embodies the work of the Master Jesus as He overshadowed one of His senior disciples, a very advanced initiate, Mahomet. (RI 254)

 

Aries and the Act of Identification

The Act of Identification.  This involves what has been called a "moment of opening-up," during which the initiate sees that which lies within the cosmic intent and begins to function not only as a planetary unit but as a cosmic focal point.  The Buddha of Activity, responsible for this type of planetary activity, works with the Lord of the first ray and functions as an outpost of the consciousness of the informing life of Aries and of Leo.  His work is only now beginning to assume importance. (RI 269)

 

Aries and the Jews

The Masonic Work is an ancient and laudable attempt to preserve in some germinal form the spiritual truth anent initiation.  In spite of distortion, some loss of the Ancient Landmarks and a deplorable crystallisation, the truth is there and at a later date (in the early part of the next century) a group of enlightened Masons will re-arrange the rituals and adapt the present forms and formulas in such a manner that the spiritual possibilities, symbolically indicated, will emerge with greater clarity and a deepened spiritual potency; the coming form of Masonry in the New Age will necessarily rest upon the foundation of a newly interpreted and enlightened Christianity, having no relation to theology and being universal in nature.  Its present form, resting as it does on a Jewish foundation which is nearly five thousand years old, must disappear.  This must take place, not because it is Jewish, but because it is old and reactionary and has not followed the evolutionary passage of the sun through the zodiac. 

That passage should and does symbolise human evolution, and just as the sin of the children of Israel in the wilderness was their reverting to a dispensation and religious ritual which had passed and gone (the religion of the people in the time of Taurus, the Bull, symbolised by their falling down and worshipping the golden calf), so today modern Masonry is in line to do the same; and the ancient usages and forms, consistent and right in the Jewish dispensation, are now obsolete and should be abrogated.  It is equally true of the Jewish race that in the rejection of the Christ as the Messiah they have remained, metaphorically and practically, in the sign of Aries, the Ram, or of the Scapegoat; they have yet to pass into the sign (again speaking symbolically) of Pisces, the Fishes, and recognise their Messiah when He again comes in the sign Aquarius.  Otherwise they are repeating their ancient sin of non-response to the evolutionary process. (RI 533-534)

Secondly, He had to bring to an end the Jewish dispensation which should have climaxed and passed away with the movement of the sun out of Aries into Pisces.  He therefore presented Himself to them as their Messiah, which was His reason for manifesting through the Jewish race.  They not only rejected Him, but have succeeded in perpetuating the Jewish dispensation through the medium of its religious presentation throughout the era of the Christian dispensation.  This lies at the root of their trouble and is the cause of their constant emphasis upon the past—a past which is based on their experiences in Aries and not upon their growth in Pisces. (RI 548)

Prior to the Jewish dispensation when Moses was leading the children of Israel out of Egypt the sun was in the sign Taurus.  It was passing through the sign of the Bull.  We then had the appearance on earth of the Mithraic mysteries which centered around the sacrifice of the sacred bull.  The sin of the children of Israel in the wilderness which so aroused the anger of Moses when he descended from the mount of the Lord and found them falling down before the golden calf was that they had reverted to a past and obsolete religion which they should have left behind.  The Jewish dispensation itself was governed by the sign of Aries, the Ram, through which the sun was passing for the next 2,000 years.  Then we have the appearance of the scapegoat in Jewish history.  We have the Bible story of the ram caught in the thicket and all this was due to the influence of the passing of the sun through the sign of the bull and the sign of the ram. (UA 232-233)

 

The Words of Aries on the two Wheels

For the aspirant who progresses from Aries to Pisces and has therefore re-oriented himself we have:

Aries                I come forth, and from the plane of mind I rule.

Taurus              I see, and when the eye is opened, all is illumined.

Gemini              I recognise my other self and in the waning of that self I grow and glow.

Cancer             I build a lighted house and therein dwell.

Leo                  I am That and That am I.

Virgo                I am the Mother and the Child, I God, I matter am.

Libra                I choose the Way that leads between the two great lines of force.

Scorpio            Warrior I am, and from the battle I emerge triumphant.

Sagittarius         I see the goal.  I reach the goal and see another.

Capricorn         Lost am I in light supernal and on that light I turn my back.

Aquarius           Water of life am I, poured forth for thirsty men.

Pisces               I leave the Father's home and turning back, I save.

 

From the standpoint of the form, the life proceeds in a reverse direction, and the work of nature is seen under the following words:

Pisces               And the Word said:  Go forth into matter.

Aquarius           And the Word said:  Let desire in form be ruler.

Capricorn         And the Word said:  Let ambition rule and the door stand wide.

Sagittarius         And the Word said:  Let food be sought.

Scorpio            And the Word said:  Let Maya flourish and deception rule.

Libra                And the Word said:  Let choice be made.

Virgo                And the Word said:  Let matter reign.

Leo                  And the Word said:  Let other forms exist, I rule.

Cancer             And the Word said:  Let isolation be the rule and yet the crowd exists.

Gemini              And the Word said:  Let instability do its work.

Taurus              And the Word said:  Let struggle be undismayed.

Aries                And the Word said:  Let form again be sought. (RI 442)

 

Aries and the "paramount signs of influence"

Through the effect of the energy flowing from the zodiacal signs the man is prepared for the "crisis of orientation" wherein he slowly and gradually reverses his mode of progress upon the wheel of life and begins consciously to travel back to his source. He then goes from Aries to Pisces, via Taurus, Scorpio and Capricorn, instead of moving from Aries to Taurus via Sagittarius, Leo and Cancer. The triplicity of constellations mentioned in these two great routes around the zodiac have a definite and momentous effect and are called "paramount signs of influence." During this process the mental principle, the discrimina­ting mind, is developed and in this specific connection (not in a general connection) the emphasis is laid upon the influence of Aries, Gemini and Libra. Under that influence the man learns to over­come desire through experiment with and experience of every kind of desire and selfish impulse. Thus gradually, and with infinite pain, the human soul learns to function first as a member of the human family, and, secondly as a spiritual entity, the divine soul.

You will see from the above that certain positions taken by the esoteric astrologer reverse the position of the orthodox astrology of today. The reason for this is that in the descent of ideas from the plane of ideas, they become "reversed" upon the astral plane and subject to the great illusion; astrology must eventually free itself from this reversal.

A right understanding of the effect of the various energies and forces will make it apparent that, when the conditioning planetary forces, the expanding energies of the sun sign and the driving energy of the rising sign are all being controlled and directed by the illumined spiritual man, you will then have a soul upon the very verge of liberation.

Eventually the energies of the twelve constellations and—at a final stage of experience and development—of the three great constellations which condition the solar Logos are blended with the innate energies of the seven rays or of the seven planetary Logoi. This marks a point of perfection. These extraneous energies (I refer here to those of the major constellations) are relayed to the Earth via the seven sacred planets and the five non-sacred planets, and when there is the complete fusion of the related energies and, therefore, full expression, a great world period comes to an end. For a long time during this cycle of reincarnations and periods of manifestation, the human being is conditioned almost entirely by the activity of the non-sacred planets. These, as you know, are five in number:

The Sun (veiling a planet)
The Moon (veiling a planet)
The Earth itself
Mars
Pluto

Man—speaking symbolically—is the "five-pointed star and, at the fiery points, the forces of the man pour out and upon each fiery point appears a centre of reception." This is of course pictorially expressed, but the meaning is clear. However, as man nears the Path of Disciple­ship the influence of the sacred planets becomes increasingly effective, until after the final and fifth initiation the non-sacred planets have no effect, though the initiate wields their energies potently as they pour into and through his vehicles of reception, of response and of expression, for all three activities and purposes must be noted. (EA 52-53)

 

Duality and the two horns of the Ram

It is interesting to note also that seven of the symbols which express the twelve signs of the zodiac are dual in their nature, and duality can be inferred from them.

The two horns of the Ram in Aries.

The two horns of the Bull in Taurus.

The figures of the Twins in Gemini (two lines).

The two claws of the Crab in Cancer.

The two scales of the Balance in Libra.

The two Parallel Lines of force in Aquarius.

The two Fishes in Pisces.

These seven constellations are, therefore, closely related to six of the seven sacred planets and to one non-sacred planet. There are two signs which are simple figures and have no significance of duality. They are

The symbol for Leo, which is simply the Lion's tail.

The arrow in the symbol depicting Sagittarius.

They embody the idea of isolated separation and one-pointed desire. Two signs are definitely triple in construction and this has a clear meaning to the esotericist.

Virgo is a triple sign.

Scorpio is also a triple sign, closely resembling the symbol of Virgo.

These two signs are crucial in the experience of the human being, indicating as they do the function of the triple form and the liberation of the man imprisoned in the form, through the tests in Scorpio wherein he proves to himself and to the world the reality of that which Virgo has veiled or hidden.

The symbol for the sign Capricorn is most mysterious. It conceals the mystery of the Crocodiles, or Makara. It is constructed in an inaccurate and definitely misleading manner and should be regarded as a mystery and therefore not to be defined. (EA 56-57)

 

Aries and the Wheel of Life

The wheel of life and the path of man, the human being, as he passes through the signs according to the mode recognised by orthodox astrology. He, as well as the planets, apparently retrogrades through the signs and appears to pass through the constellations from Aries to Taurus. But this is all part of the Great Illusion.

The wheel of life and the path of man, the divine or spiritual soul, as he passes through the signs of the zodiac according to the mode studied by the esoteric astrologer. This is the Path of Reality as the other is the Path of Illusion. This carries the disciple around the path from commencement in Aries to consummation in Pisces. (EA 58)

A third point must here be made, following upon the two earlier emphasised. A great part of our study will be occupied with the relation of the six constellations in the upper half of the zodiacal wheel to the six which are found in the lower half; we shall consider the energy which is a human being (note that phrasing) as it travels clockwise from Aries to Taurus and then—reversing the process—travels from Aries to Pisces. We will consider the dualities provided by one of these constellations and its opposite; we will study, therefore, the great qualities provided by a constellation and its opposite sign. We will take up these points in the following manner:

From the standpoint of commencement in Aries until the man—through many turnings of the wheel of life—reaches the point of reversal and reorientation. The man progresses from the point where, in Cancer, he forms a part of the mass with the mass consciousness, inchoate and unfocussed, and with no recognition of objective (except the satisfaction of instinctual desire) until in Scorpio he becomes the triumphant disciple, having found himself in Leo. Then comes the Crisis of Reorientation which may take a long time and constitute an inter­lude of many lives of struggle. (EA 60-61)

 

Sun is "in Aries" it conveys an esoteric truth but not an exoteric fact.

It is interesting also to note in this connection that—due to the precession of the equinoxes—a fourth type of force is brought to bear upon the planet and man, but one which is seldom recognised and given due place in the horoscope. The month and the sign, or the place of the Sun in the heavens, do not really coincide. When we state, for instance, that the Sun is "in Aries" it conveys an esoteric truth but not an exoteric fact. The Sun was in Aries at the beginning of this great cycle, but it is not in exactly the same position today when it is "found" in that sign. (EA 63)

 

Exoteric, esoteric and hierarchical relations of Aries 
 INSERT AND LINK TO  tables.htm,  the original TABLES V – VII.

1. Aries            Mars                6th ray              Scorpio.           Same ruler.

2. Taurus          Venus               5th ray              Libra                "        "

3. Gemini          Mercury           4th ray              Virgo                "        "

4. Cancer         Moon               4th ray              none.

5. Leo              The Sun            2nd ray none.

6. Virgo            Mercury           4th ray              Gemini              "        "

7. Libra            Venus               5th ray              Taurus              "        "

8. Scorpio        Mars                6th ray              Aries                "        "

9. Sagittarius     Jupiter              2nd ray Pisces  "        "

10. Capricorn   Saturn              3rd ray             none.

11. Aquarius     Uranus             7th ray              none.

12. Pisces         Jupiter              2nd ray Sagittarius         "        "

 

Aries and the Paths

We will follow man from sign to sign as he—in travail and pain—forges the equipment and develops painfully the mechanism which will enable him to arrive at a major moment of crisis in his cyclic life wherein he will begin to free himself from the path of the great illusion along which he has travelled for aeons from Aries to Taurus, via Pisces and—reversing himself—will begin to travel the path of light from Aries to Pisces, via Taurus. This changing experience is expressed for us most beautifully in the sixth section of the Old Commentary:

"The Cross of many changes (the Mutable Cross. A.A.B.) continues with its whirling, carrying crucified thereon the form of a man in whom is found the seed of all illusion.

But, from the Cross whereon he has been slain—e'en though he knew it not—the man climbs down and feels his way (with pain and many tears) on to another Cross—a Cross of blinding light, of fiery pain, of bitter woe, and yet the Cross of liberation. It is a stationary Cross, fixed in the Heavens, and guarded by the Angel.

Behind the Cross, another Cross appears, but that he may not reach (the Angel guards the way!) until the Bull has rent and torn the man, and then—the light shines forth; until the Serpent dread has wrestled with the man and brought him to his knees, and then—the lifting up into the light; until the Lion has been tamed, the secret of the Sphinx revealed, and then—the revelation of the inner light; until the man has lifted up his water-pot and joined the ranks of those who are the Water-bearers, and then the flowing of the stream of life will fill his water-pot and drain the rancid pool and cleanse its source and thus reveal the hidden way which leads unto the innermost light, hid by the final Cross. Then, from the Cross of man, the initiate finds his way, passes the Angel and leaves behind the inner torn veil, mounts the major Cross and passes into day, the final day. The wheel for him stands still. The sun and stars, for him, fade out. A great light is seen and..." (EA 81-82)

 

The Rays of Aries

INSERT TABULATION VIII       (EA 86)

 

The man reorients himself and "faces the East”

I am now going to outline to you the spiritual effect of the passage of a soul around the wheel of experience. We will attempt to consider, in the case of each constellation, the general effect upon a soul—undergoing the experience—from the orthodox angle as he travels from Aries to Taurus, via Pisces, and then—as the disciple, coming under other influences—travels from Aries to Pisces, via Taurus. Thus the usual process is reversed and the man reorients himself and "faces the East," as it is esoterically called. He expresses then in the highest possible manner the qualities of his soul ray as, in the first case, he expressed the quality of the personality ray. (EA 90-91)

 

Aries and the first ray

Strictly speaking, what I have to say now concerns the pure first ray type because Aries is the zodiacal sign through which the first Ray of Will or Power reaches our planetary life. Such pure types are rare indeed and at this period of evolution well-nigh unknown. Most people are governed by their personality ray and as the present first ray types are expressing themselves through personalities which are on all the rays, I would simply ask you to consider what I have to say from the angle of character effects, of problems presented and of quality unfolded. It is well-nigh impossible to be more explicit until such time as the Science of the Rays has been further developed; the astrologer must ascertain the ray type before he will be able to cast the adequate horoscope of the soul. (EA 91)

 

Aries and the Cardinal Cross

Aries is one of the constellations of the Cardinal Cross of the heavens. This is the cross of God, the Father, and, therefore, of the incarnating monad. It is the expression of will or power as it expresses itself through the great creative process. (EA 91)

 

Aries initiates

Aries initiates the cycle of manifestation. All souls, as individual entities, come into human incarnation for the first time in the sign of Cancer, emerging as mental entities in the sign Aries, as emotional-desire entities in the sign Taurus and as vital entities in the sign Gemini, taking then physical form in Cancer. This is an involutionary, subjective cycle. Thus they emerge into the ocean of physical plane existence, into the world of matter. Yet the first impulse is awakened in Aries, for Aries is the place where the initial idea to institute activity takes form. It is the birthplace of ideas, and a true idea is in reality a spiritual impulse taking form—subjective and objective. There originates the response of the soul to the highest aspect or quality of deity because there appears the "will to incarnate." The first ray aspect of the Monad, responding to the first aspect of deity, evokes response from the first ray aspect of the soul and the first step towards incarnation is taken on that plane in the system which is the mental plane. Aries "awakens the will to reach the lowest and there control, to know the uttermost and thus to face all experience"—thus runs an ancient statement. (EA 92)

 

The Keynotes of Aries

The keynotes of the sign Aries are four in number, all conveying the same idea. They can be expressed in the following four injunctions which are given, symbolically, to the incarnating soul:

1. Express the will to be and do.
2. Unfold the power to manifest.
3. Enter into battle for the Lord.
4. Arrive at unity through effort.

Creation—Being—Activity—Strife—Synthesis, these are the nature of the Lord of the first constellation and enable Him to influence our planet to these results. (EA 93)

 

Spiritual energy of Aries

And thus the great cycle of struggle towards expression starts and the foundational words of The Secret Doctrine, with which you are all so familiar, expresses the goal and the purpose of the first sign of the Cardinal Cross:

"Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane for the manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity synthesised by life which pervades them all."—S.D. I. 80.

What appears in Aries as spiritual energy enters into the soul stage in Cancer, in which sign the soul incarnates for the first time in form, reaches a point of equilibrium in Libra, in which sign soul and personality achieve a balance of cooperation and, in Capricorn, the will nature arrives at fulfilment and a visioned goal is reached. In Capricorn, the man reaches either the height of personal ambition or he becomes the initiate, attaining his spiritual objective. (EA 93)

 

Aries and the initiation of individualisation

Aries, therefore, starts the process of the "most ancient initiation" which all the human family has already undergone and will undergo. The first great cosmic initiation (as far as humanity is concerned) is initiation into incarnation—the initiation of individualisation. This process culminates aeons later in the reversing of the wheel and the attaining of a definite goal in Capricorn. It culminates in the achievement of transference from off the Fixed Cross on to the Cardinal Cross, which is, in its turn, the logical sequence of the transference from off the Mutable or Common Cross on to the Fixed Cross. Therefore, in its lowest manifestation, Aries is the creator of those activities, conditions and processes which lead to the manifest­ation of soul through the medium of form, and later of those higher creative undertakings which lead in due time to the manifestation of spirit through the soul. These processes eventually demonstrate the true nature of the triplicity to which I introduced you in the earlier pages of this treatise: Life—Quality—Appearance. (EA 94-95)

 

Aries and death

Aries is also the purveyor to our solar system of Fire (Electric Fire) and of the dynamic nature of God which has in it the qualities of fostering and nourishing heat and also of the fire which burns and destroys. From the standpoint of esoteric astrology, there are three major signs in which the "three deaths" are undergone:

Aries, which at different points along the Path of Life forces the soul on to the burning ground and subjects it to a purifying process during incarnation. Through the lesser fire of mind, the "jungles of experience are set on fire and dissolve in flames and then the Path stands clear and unobstructed vision is achieved." — Old Commentary

Through the fiery processes of war and strife, brought to the individual through the influence of the planetary ruler, Mars, the God of War, a needed purification takes place. The same purification, but this time through vision, comes to the developed man through the activity of the subjective ruler of the planet, Mercury, who is the illuminating principle which releases the mind, directs the way of man through life and enables him to become aware of the divine Plan which underlies all his fiery experience. (EA 95-96)

 

Aries and the death by fire

"The fire blazed forth and through that fire I died to life and so was born to death. And then again I died to form (Aries).

The heat of earth, the fiery temper of the mother, destroyed the form, released the soul and so the lesser self was killed (Scorpio).

The waters drowned the man. The fish was made to disappear. It then appeared again only to die or else to die and bring salvation" (Pisces). (EA 97)

 

Aries releases the man into Shamballa

The death by fire or burning in Aries releases man into another centre to which we give the name Shamballa. (EA 98)

 

Aries related to other signs

It is interesting here to note also that through the ruling planet, Mars, the average man born in this sign is related to Scorpio, and thus the Cardinal Cross is related to the Fixed Cross. Points of crisis can thus be noted when the horoscope is considered from this angle. At the same time, Aries is related to birth, through Mercury who rules Aries esoterically, and also Virgo, of which Mercury is the exoteric ruler. Through Uranus also, Aries is related to Aquarius, the sign of world service, leading to death and liberation in Pisces. Uranus is the planet through which zodiacal energy flows, in connection with the Creative Hierarchies upon our planet, from one of the stars of the Great Bear. It is these relationships with which esoteric astrology deals, and from them the universal can be grasped and the particular understood. (EA 98-99)

 

Aries and the function of its ruling planets

In connection with Aries, which expresses or is the agent primarily of the first Ray of Will or Power, the ray of the destroyer, it should be stated that first ray energy comes from the divine Prototype in the Great Bear, that it becomes transmuted into the force and activity of the planetary Logos of the first ray, and works out as His triple activity under the guidance of the three ruling planets—Mars, Mercury and Uranus.

Mars embodies sixth ray force which leads to idealism, destructive fanaticism frequently, struggle, strife, war, effort and evolution. God's idea in Aries becomes the concrete plan in Capricorn whether that objective is the full flower of the planetary life in all its forms, the ambition of a personality working out its own ideas and ambitious worldly projects or the spiritual aspiration (worldly ambition transmuted into its higher aspect) of the initiate, who seeks to work out God's plans and make them his own. In every case, Mars leads to the battle ground of Scorpio.

Mercury, embodying the energy of the fourth ray, eventually carries the man around the wheel of life and through the medium of conflict enables him to achieve harmony. Mercury illumines the mind and mediates between the soul and the personality, being the Messenger of the Gods. This mediatorship, in the first instance, produces an inevitable opposition between the pairs of opposites and a long drawn out conflict. This conflict finally works out into victory and the dispelling of illusion through the illumination of the lower mind. Mercury and the Sun are one, we are frequently told in the occult literature. The Sun is the symbol of the Son of God, Who is the mediator between Father-Spirit and Mother-Matter. Mercury, therefore, leads Aries to Virgo (again speaking symbolically) where the idea or Word of God begins to take form, and consequently the latent life in Aries comes to the "crisis of the birth hour," prior to the birth of the Christ, cosmically considered, though the birth of the individual Christ takes place in Capricorn, at the close of the needed gestation period.

Uranus embodies the energy of the seventh ray and its work is analogous to that of Mercury, for the seventh ray is the ray which relates spirit and matter and brings together electric fire and fire by friction, thus producing manifestation. Uranus leads the soul to the burning ground during the final stages of the Path, when the fire of Aries and the fires engendered through the potency of Uranus produce the flaming heat of the final burning ground. Through this burning ground, the initiate has finally to pass. Uranus rules the occult Way and is, in an esoteric sense, connected with the Hierophant of the Mysteries of Initiation. (EA 99-100)

 

Aries, Libra and the burning ground

The crisis of the burning ground, which is brought about through the activity of Uranus. This is entered through the free choice of the initiate who makes his choice in Libra, the point of balance where—usually—the moment for the reversal of the wheel takes place. There the man has to decide whether to proceed as usual and according to custom or, reversing the wheel, to pass through the burning ground to liberation. Libra is the polar opposite to Aries and therefore closely related. (EA 101)

 

Aries, the rays, and the birthplace of ideas

You will note that the rays which are related to or expressing themselves through Aries are curiously balanced, Rays 1 and 7 are the highest and the lowest, and therefore demand a point of balance upon the wheel which is provided in Libra. Rays 6 and 4 bring to this balancing process the energy of the second ray, the major building ray which enables the man to build anew and provide himself with a spiritual body of manifestation.

I would also call your attention to the fact that through Uranus, Aries is related to Aquarius. The vague beginnings in Aries, the faint emergence of the latent embodied ideas have—after the turning of the wheel in two directions—brought release in Capricorn and produced the world server in Aquarius, who voluntarily stays upon the great wheel (using the Cardinal Cross as his conditioning signs) and thus staying within the sphere of influence in order to help humanity to find liberation from the Fixed Cross.

In the sweep of the zodiac there are four signs which are signs of birth, of beginning and of renewed cyclic realisation.

Aries, the "birthplace of divine Ideas," whether these ideas are souls brought into incarnation and controlled by Mars until they reach the point of reorientation and become sensitive to the influence of Mercury, or whether they are the birth of the ideas of God in the form of the hierarchical plans to which the initiate becomes sensitive. (EA 101-102)

 

Planetary dignities of Aries

The Sun is exalted in Aries. Here the Sun stands for the life of the spirit which comes to full expression as the result of the great evolutionary process, initiated in Aries. The life of God which in this sign is "swung into activity" eventually achieves consummation. Latency becomes potency and midnight merges into midday. God, the Father, rules.

The power of Venus is lessened in this sign. It is a detrimental sign to Venus. The reason for this is that when the Sun is exalted and blazes forth in all its glory, the other lesser luminaries fade out. Just as the personality is lost sight of in the light of the soul, the solar Angel, so the soul itself disappears and its power and radiance fade out when the Presence, which it has hitherto veiled, appears and dominates the scene at the end of the greater world cycle. We are told that the incarnating Minds, human beings, the solar Angels, came originally from Venus, but they in turn give place to the monad, the One. Mind gives place to intuition and reason to pure perception.

Saturn "falls" in Aries. This has two meanings, for this is a dual sign. First: Saturn is the Lord of Karma, the imposer of retribution and the one who demands full payment of all debts and who therefore condemns us to the struggle for existence, both from the form side and from the soul side. Saturn, therefore, "fell" when man fell into generation. He "followed the sons of men down into their low place." Second: Saturn's power is completely ended and his work accomplished when man (the spiritual man) has freed himself from Karma and from the power of the two Crosses—the Common and the Fixed. Esoterically, Saturn cannot follow man on to the Cardinal Cross. (EA 104-105)

 

The decanates of Aries

The decanates can also be dealt with in two ways, according to the direction in which man is travelling upon the wheel and therefore entering the sign, speaking in symbols. If he enters Aries when on the Common Cross he will come under the influence of Mars, the Sun and Jupiter, according to Sepharial. This means conflict, revelation and the successful satisfaction of desire and ambition as the aeons pass away. When he reorients himself and mounts the Fixed Cross, he comes under the influence of Jupiter, the Sun and Mars, for the initiate and the disciple culminates his career in any of the signs with a final and dominant struggle and fight. I would remark here that Alan Leo had a glimpse of the inner significance of the decanates when he assigned Mars, the Sun and Venus to the three decanates. He touched the truth of the inner subjective reversal upon the wheel which brings in other energies and influences when he substituted Venus for Jupiter. Mind and heart must be coordinated and brought into play when the great reversal takes place. (EA 105-106)

 

The subjective impulses and motives of Aries

We have seen that Aries is the sign of beginnings—the beginning of the creative process, the first step of the soul (the microcosm of the already initiated Macrocosm) towards incarnation, the beginning of recurring and constant cycles of experience, the beginning of the period wherein the soul changes its direction, its purpose and its method, and finally enters upon that definitely defined process which we call spiritual regeneration and initiation. There are four words of vital importance upon which we shall ring the changes, as we study the path of evolution, or the progress of the soul around the great wheel, both as a personality and as a disciple, headed towards the final liberating process. These four words express the subjective impulses and motives and, in reality, introduce four different cycles of progress upon the Path in its various stages of individualisation to initiation. They are:

Ø      Re-creation in which the influence of Cancer, combined with that of Aries, produces the pull into incarnation upon the physical plane.

Ø      Regeneration in which the growing influence of the Fixed Cross, playing upon the Mutable Cross, produces those interior changes which eventually lead to:

Ø      Reorientation or the great cycle of repolarisation which takes place through the influence of Libra (the Cardinal Cross) and the "swerving of the Bull in mid-career," as it is called in the ancient books. This process of reorientation leads to a passage around the wheel in which, steadily and persistently, the inner subjective man comes into outer manifested expression and the personality recedes into the background. Finally, there come twelve lives wherein the final stage of

Ø      Renunciation is experienced and the disciple or initiate renounces all for the love of humanity and its service, and lays himself upon the altar of sacrifice. He achieves, as a result, the final liberation. (EA 106-107)

 

Re-creation and the Word of Aries

Going through the great cycle from Aries to Taurus, the man reenters the sign Aries again under the potent impression of Taurus, which at this stage of development feeds his ardent desire for the many material advantages of physical incarnation and of constant worldly undertakings; thus after a period of re-creation, he passes out into incarnation in Pisces and begins again the great round of manifested life, for Pisces is the ocean wherein he is "the fish," controlled by the laws of substance or material existence. In the second great stage, he passes from Aries to Taurus, because desire has at last been transmuted into aspiration. After proving his steadfastness to the ideal of the spiritual life in the intervening signs, he passes again into Pisces, from the opposite direction to his usual procedure, having earned the right to mount the Cardinal Cross of the Heavens, the power to take a final planetary initiation and the privilege of passing on to one of the seven paths to which I have made reference in my other books; these eventually give him "the freedom of the seven solar systems," as it is called in contradistinction to "the freedom of the seven planetary spheres," which the experience of initiation has guaranteed him, after a process of intensive training in one or other of the planetary schools (according to his ray type) and the path of service chosen.

 

You will see, therefore, the significance of the two keywords of the sign Aries:

"And the Word said: Let form again be sought" ; The Man

"I come forth and from the plane of mind, I rule" ; The Initiate

Experience leads to rulership and in this sign the man who is embodied first ray force develops the power of organisation, of control over forces, particularly over the energy of death, over the power of destruction applied with love, of dominance over multitudes, of cooperation with the plan and the practice of the Will in rightly and correctly guiding and directing planetary affairs. (EA 107-108)

 

Aries and the passage of Anima Mundi

It is rather difficult for you also to grasp that the involutionary process for all the kingdoms of nature is related to the passage of the soul (this time the anima mundi or world soul) from Aries to Pisces, via Taurus and not vice versa. The anima mundi on the involutionary arc proceeds this way and not as the personality proceeds. The anima mundi passes to Pisces at the close of every great cycle and not to Taurus. It emerges into outer manifestation in Cancer, the sign of mass or group life, of mass or group activity; its diffused consciousness has not yet been individualised as has the consciousness of man. When the world soul after having progressed around the Great Wheel, reached Cancer and the time came for the fourth Creative Hierarchy to manifest through the fourth kingdom in nature, a reversal took place and then proceeded as now. (EA 112-113)

 

Aries a dual sign

This sign is also dual. In Aries we have the duality which is attached to the bringing together of spirit and matter in the great creative activity of manifestation at the beginning of the evolutionary cycle, whilst in Pisces we have the fusion or blending of soul and form as far as man is concerned, producing the manifestation of the Incarnated Christ, the perfected indivi­dual soul, the completed manifestation of the microcosm. Thus the greater and the lesser polar opposites—the human being and God, the microcosm and the Macrocosm—are brought to their destined expression and manifestation. (EA 115)

 

Aries and the "word of destruction."

The experience upon the Mutable Cross lasts a long time, and carries the man always back again and again into the sphere of influence of Aries which, through the ruling activity of the first ray, both strengthens the will of the man (no matter what his ray) and ends cycle after cycle with the "word of destruction." (EA 119)

 

Aries in relation to consciousness

In connection with the question of consciousness, students would find it illuminating to study the subject along the following lines:

1. Subjective latent consciousness .............In Aries

2. The consciousness of duality ...................In Gemini

3. Mass consciousness ................................In Cancer

4. Individual self-consciousness................... In Leo

5. Equilibrised consciousness ...................  In Libra

6. Group consciousness ............................... In Aquarius

The distinction between exoteric and esoteric astrology lies in just such recognitions as listed above. Exoteric astrology deals with the characteristics and qualities of the personality and of the form aspects, and also with the events, happenings, circumstances and the conditioning environment which appear in the personal horoscope, indicative of planetary control and not of solar control. Esoteric astrology concerns itself primarily with the unfoldment of con­scious­ness, with the impacts which awaken it to the peculiar "gifts" of any particular sign and ray endowment and with the reaction of the man and his consequent enrichment through his response to the influence of a sign, working through the esoteric planets from the angle of humanitarian awareness, of discipleship and of initiation. (EA 145-146)

 

Aries and the different wheels

We shall be able now to cover our present thesis anent the philosophical implications of the Great Wheel of the Zodiac far more rapidly, as I can now leave what else remains to be said in connection with the three Crosses until I come to that part of our Section VI.  There I shall have much of interest to point out. I have dealt with these three Crosses at some length whilst we were covering these first three signs of the zodiacal wheel as it revolves from Aries, through Pisces, to Taurus. Each of these three is found on one of the Crosses and thus in themselves and in their relationship they constitute a complete unit. It is interesting to note how these three signs are either those of commencement (upon the Mutable Cross) or of consummation (upon the Fixed Cross). In the case where they stand for beginning we have:

Aries. . . . . . 1st Aspect. . . . . . . . . . Movement outward into incarnation.

The Will latent.

 to manifest.

Experience upon the Cardinal Cross.

Pisces. . . . . .2nd Aspect. . . . . . . . . .Desire for form existence.

The Love or desire latent.

 for material things. Constant mutation.

Experience upon the Mutable or Common Cross.

Aquarius. . . . 3rd Aspect. . . . . . . . . .Consecration to the service of the lower self.

latent.

Selfishness.

Experience upon the fixed Cross.

 

When these three signs form the end of the cycle of expression upon the reversed wheel, then you have:

Aquarius. . . .3rd Aspect. . . . . . . . . Consecration to the service of the Whole.

The expressed.

death or negation of all personality selfishness.

Culmination of experience upon the Fixed Cross.

Pisces. . . . . .2nd Aspect. . . . . . . . . Emergence of a world saviour.

Death of all expressed.

separative desire and love, even spiritual longing and aspiration.

Culmination of experience upon the Mutable Cross.

Aries. . . . . . 1st Aspect. . . . . . . . . . Appearance of the will to cooperate

with the expressed. Plan.

The death of Self-will.

Culmination of experience upon the Cardinal Cross.

 

The same basic mode of considering the three Crosses can be carried out with Gemini, Taurus, Aries or the reverse: Aries, Taurus and Gemini, remembering always that the Mutable Cross governs the wheel in ordinary progress and the Fixed Cross governs it on the reversed progress during discipleship. The Cardinal Cross in reality governs both processes but this is only understood when initiation has taken place.

Aries—Governs the Path of Discipleship. The Will to return to the Source. Determination to achieve liberation. The emanating cause of the changes upon the Mutable and Fixed Crosses.

Taurus—The desire to overcome desire. The longing for liberation. Transmutation of desire into Love.

Gemini—The fusion of the opposites; the intelligent work of at-one-ment; synthesis.

 

Upon the ordinary wheel, these signs bring about:

Gemini—Experience of the pairs of opposites. Pronounced and separative duality. The interplay between the Twins: Soul and form natures.

Taurus—The refocussing of the lower desires prior to another circling of the Great Wheel in search of personality satisfaction. The Prodigal Son journeys into a far country.

Aries—Again the beginning as well as the end.

It should be remembered that Aries is definitely that divine manifestation to which Christ referred when He said "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." (EA 150-152)

 

The horns of the ram

It is interesting to study the three signs in which the animals have horns: Aries, the downturned horns of the ram, signifying the coming into manifestation, the involutionary cycle and the experience of the Cardinal Cross as it expresses the Will-to-manifest of God. (EA 154)

 

Aries and the Father aspect

It might also be pointed out here that it is the will of the Father aspect, manifesting through Aries, that governs Shamballa; the loving desire of the Son which attracts to the Hierarchy; and the permeating, intelligent activity of the Holy Spirit which animates that centre of divine life which we call humanity. Therefore we have:

Shamballa         Hierarchy         Humanity

Will                  Love                Intelligence

Aries                Taurus              Capricorn

In both their higher and their lower aspects these signs hold the secret of the "horns of strife and the horn of plenty subjected to and guarded by the horn of life." Again, an ancient proverb runs: "The Ram—when it has become the Scapegoat, has sought illumination as the Bull of God and has climbed the mountain top in the semblance of the Goat—changes its shape into the Unicorn. Great is the hidden key." If the symbolism is carried a little further, it might be stated that:

The Ram leads us into the creative life of Earth and into the darkness of matter. This is the blue of midnight.

The Bull leads into the places of desire in search of "wrathful satisfaction." This is the red of greed and anger, changing eventually into the golden light of illumination.

The Goat leads us into arid ways in search of food and water. This is the "need for green," but the Goat is equal also to climbing to the mountain top. (EA 156-157)

 

Aries a catalyst

Aries, Taurus, and Capricorn are the great transformers under the great creative plan. They are in the nature of catalysts. Each of them opens a door into one of the three divine centres of expression which are the symbols in the body of the planetary Logos of the three higher centres in man: the head, the heart and the throat.

Aries opens the door into Shamballa, when the experience of Taurus and Capricorn has been undergone. (EA 157)

 

Aries and the zodiac of ten

In Lemurian days, during the early period of animal man and before humanity appeared on earth, in the interim period of development, eight signs influenced the planet and the kingdoms of nature found upon it. There was no response to the influences of Leo and Virgo. The mystery of the Sphinx did not exist and these two signs were not then part of the zodiacal wheel. Then individualisation took place and the seed of Christhood was planted in man and these two signs began to influence humanity, and gradually that influence was recognised and the zodiac was then known to have ten signs. The Mutable Cross dominated, but it was then the Tau, for Pisces was lacking and only Gemini, Virgo and Sagittarius were evidenced. Aries to Capricorn marked the circle of experience. (EA 160)

 

Aries and the Path of Evolution

Path                 Rays                      Planets                    Constellations

Evolution          6 and 4 Mars.   Mercury           Aries.   Gemini. Cancer.

Virgo. Scorpio

Discipleship      3 and 5 Venus. Saturn               Gemini. Sagittarius. Capricorn.

Initiation           1 and 7 Vulcan. Uranus.            Taurus. Libra. Pisces.

Pluto.                                                               (EA 166)

 

Aries, Libra and Shamballa

The polar opposite to Capricorn is Cancer and, as you have been taught, these two signs are the two great Gates of the zodiac—one opening the door into incarnation, into mass life, and into human experience, whilst the other opens the door into the life of the spirit, into the life of the Kingdom of God, the life and purposes of the Hierarchy of our planet. Cancer admits the soul into the world centre which we call Humanity. Capricorn admits the soul into conscious participation in the life of that world centre which we call the Hierarchy. Libra admits the soul into the world centre which we call Shamballa, for it is the polar opposite of Aries which is the place of beginnings. Libra demonstrates the perfect balance of spirit and matter which first came together in Aries. This balance and this relation of the great opposites, spirit and matter, is symbolised for us in the personality situation of balancing the pairs of opposites on the astral plane, and finding between them the "narrow razor-edged path" which leads the man into the kingdom of the soul. (EA 168)

 

Aries related to one of the Pointers

The four signs—Aries, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius—are related to the following stars which are not numbered in the twelve signs of the zodiac; they constitute another field of relationships:

Aries to one of the two stars, found in the constellation, the Great Bear, which are called the two Pointers.

Leo to Polaris, the Pole Star, found in the Little Bear.

Scorpio to Sirius, the Dog Star.

Aquarius to Alcyone, one of the seven Pleiades. ...

Aries is, as might be expected, closely connected with the Great Bear but peculiarly so with one of the stars called The Pointers; these point to the Pole star which is at this time a major "star of direction." Direction, will, purpose and plan are all connected with the solar Logos and with His evolutionary undertakings in connection with the many lives manifesting in the vehicle of expression which we call the solar system. All these respond to the influences of the first ray which is, to all intents and purposes, the energy of divine embodied will, which has been esoterically described as "unavoidable directed purpose." Within our solar system, Vulcan and Pluto are expressions or custodians of this first ray energy and are, as I have told you, esoteric planets. The first indication of the true spiritual will only begins to manifest upon the Path of Discipleship—hence the late discovery of these two planets (late in point of time and from the angle of human knowledge) for it is only in this Aryan race period that humanity is to any large extent beginning to manifest evidence (and as yet it is no more) of a reaction or a response to the spiritual will of deity as it comes to our planet and hence to us via Aries, Vulcan and Pluto. You have, therefore, the following direct line of will energy:

The Pointer furthest from the Pole Star in the constellation of the Great Bear. This is, esoterically speaking, a great reservoir or focal point for divine energy, carrying out God's purpose. The Pointer nearest to the Pole Star is expressive of a lower aspect of the will, which—in speaking of humanity—we call self-will.

Aries, in which the will to create or to manifest makes its appearance and the great divine experiment is initiated.

Vulcan and Pluto are related to the two Pointers and are only now beginning, in any definite and clear manner, to affect human response. Their effect has been planetary in its nature up to date and has not hitherto been at all effective in either the fourth or the second kingdoms in nature.

Leo is the sign wherein the consciousness of individuality is developed, utilised and finally consecrated to divine purpose. It is related to Polaris, the Pole Star (found in the Little Bear) and it is also peculiarly susceptible to the influence of that Pointer in the Great Bear which is the nearest to the Pole Star. Esoterically speaking, the Pole Star is regarded as the "star of re-orientation" whereby the art of "refacing and recovering that which is lost" is developed. This eventually brings a man back to his originating source. It might, therefore, be correctly infer­red that this Pointer and the energy emanating from it guides humanity upon the involu­tion­ary path, and is constantly active in its influence upon the man who is still upon the Mutable Cross. Then the energy of the Pointer furthest from the Pole Star begins to make its presence felt and a sense of right direction or guidance is registered by the disciple upon the Path, and such guidance (when followed) leads man nearer to the Hierarchy. It is here that the divine necessity of achieving alignment is portrayed for us in the symbolism of the sky and when it has been achieved then there is a direct inflow of divine energy and man is linked up in a new and creative manner to sources of divine supply.

Astrologers will do well (in connection with the horoscopes of disciples and particularly of initiates) to consider the two Pointers and the Pole Star. They are mysteriously connected with the three aspects of incarnated man—Spirit, soul and body. More than this it is not permitted to me to convey to you. I may, however, give you another hint. These three stars are embodiments of the three aspects of divine will. It is the three aspects of all expressions of divinity in manifestation which underlie the Science of Triangles. This I will later elaborate.

Another triangle of energy also appears: Aries, Leo and Polaris, and they are doubly connected through the medium of the Pointers. (EA 195-197)

 

Aries and the activity of Mars

First, Mars is definitely the planet which rules and controls the physical vehicle. Mars appears first of all as the orthodox ruler in Aries, the sign in which the first move is made towards bringing about objective manifestation, or physical incarnation. In Scorpio, the result of all the struggles carried forward during the seemingly endless pilgrimage around the zodiac or wheel of life is brought to a point of climax, again through the activity of Mars which has not appeared actively in the intervening signs between Aries and Scorpio as far as the reversed wheel is concerned. The disciple has now to demonstrate the strength, character and quality which he has unfolded and developed within himself during his long pilgrimage. He started in Aries with Mars ruling, and the great war between the dualities which constitute the man began. The pairs of opposites were thus brought into relation with each other. In Scorpio, with the same planet ruling his interior life, the war is on and in this case Mars rules not only the physical body but the entire form vehicle, which we call the personality in the three worlds. All aspects of the lower nature are involved in this crisis, for Mars is the esoteric ruler in Scorpio and the tests applied involve the form nature—gross and subtle, integrated and potent.

Mars, therefore, rules Aries from the orthodox angle and Scorpio esoterically, and does not again appear in the life of the individual except as that individual responds to mass vibration in Sagittarius, where Mars appears as ruling the sixth Creative Hierarchy, the lunar lords of the form nature who must eventually be sacrificed to the higher spiritual aspect and brought under the control of the solar Angel. The effect of Mars is, therefore, largely mass effect and group results, producing great struggles but leading finally to great revelation. In Aries, it is the final revelation of the nature of knowledge and the purpose of incarnation; in Scorpio, it is the revelation of the vision of liberation and service; in Sagittarius, it is the revelation of the purpose of soul control over the lower kingdoms in nature, via the human centre of energy. It must consequently never be forgotten that Mars establishes relations between the opposites and is a beneficent and not a malefic factor, as is so often supposed. (EA 210-211)

 

Aries and the initiating impulse

1. Aries            Cardinal Cross             Initiating impulse           Life.

2. Cancer         Cardinal Cross             Focussed impulse         Incarnation.

3. Scorpio        Fixed Cross                  Reversing impulse         Return.

4. Aquarius       Fixed Cross                  Group impulse              Service.

These are signs 1-4-8-11. These numbers in themselves are most significant for they are the signs of will-desire, of human expression, of the Christ principle and of initiation. There is no need for me to enlarge upon this fourfold theme and the truth of its implied teaching, for it is obvious and clear and the history of the soul is sealed up in these numbers. (EA 221)

 

Aries and the different zodiacs

This sign is sometimes called "the place of judgment" for it is here that the decision is made and the die is cast which separate the "sheep from the goats" or those constellations ruled by Aries (the Ram or Lamb) and those ruled by Capricorn, the Goat. It really marks the distinction between the ordinary wheel of life and the reversed wheel. In the days before Leo-Virgo were divided into two signs, Libra was literally the midway point. The situation was then as follows:

Aries.               Taurus. Gemini. Cancer.            Leo-Virgo.      

.............................................LIBRA................................................

Scorpio.           Sagittarius.        Capricorn.        Aquarius.          Pisces.

and in this round of the zodiac (as far as humanity is concerned) you have depicted the entire history of the race. This involves its mental beginnings in Aries (the will to manifest) and the start of the outgoing life; you have its directed desire in Taurus, producing manifestation; then emerges its dual consciousness in Gemini or the soul-body realisation; the processes of physical incarnation go forward in Cancer, followed by the dual development of the soul-body, or the subjective and objective consciousness, and the God-man in Leo-Virgo. Next comes Libra, wherein the point of balance is eventually reached between spiritual man and personal man and the stage is laid for the final fivefold process which is, in reality, the subjective correspondence to the outer externalisation upon the Path of Outgoing and which is carried forward upon the Path of Ingoing, or the Path of Return. Then takes place the reversal of the wheel and the beginning of the new orientation and of discipleship in Scorpio, the directed, controlled life of the disciple in Sagittarius, initiation in Capricorn, followed by service in Aquarius and the work of a world saviour in Pisces and final liberation.

In this world period we have the division of the sign of the Sphinx into two signs (the Lion and the Virgin, soul and form) because the state of human evolution and conscious realisation is that of a recognised duality; it is only at what is called the "final judgment" that another fusion will take place and Virgo-Libra will form one sign, for then man's sense of antagonistic dualism will be ended and the scales will have been turned finally in favour of that which the Virgin-Mother has hidden from expression for aeons.

This final judgment, as far as this planetary cycle is concerned, will take place in the next great world cycle and by that time two-thirds of the human race will have unfolded the Christ principle in one or other of the various stages of unfoldment and be upon one of the final stages of the path of evolution; they will be either probationary or accepted disciples or upon the Path of Initiation.

Eventually, in some mysterious way, there will be only ten signs of the zodiac again; Aries and Pisces will form one sign, for "the end is as the beginning." This dual and blended sign is called in some of the ancient books "the sign of the Fish with the head of the Ram." We shall then have

1. Aries-Pisces             6. Virgo-Libra

2. Taurus                      7. Scorpio

3. Gemini                      8. Sagittarius

4. Cancer                     9. Capricorn

5. Leo                          10. Aquarius

Fire and water will then blend, veiling the past which has gone instead of the future as is now the case. Earth and air will then fuse and in this way the old prophecy, repeated in the Bible, that "there shall be no more sea" will be proved correct. Air (heaven) will then have "come down to Earth" and fusion will be established. (EA 229-231)

 

Aries and the Cardinal Cross

As you already know, Libra is one of the four arms of the Cardinal Cross. This accounts for our difficulty in understanding the real nature of its influence. The significance of the energies working out into our solar system through the medium of the four arms of this Cross, or from the four constellations, Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, can be summed up in the four words: Creation, Manifestation, Legislation and Initiation. Having given you these words, their very scope and meaning make it hard for you to understand.

Cosmically, they mean the activity of Deity when spirit and matter are brought into a definite relationship and, under divine purpose, produce that fusion of living energies which will be adequately potent in time and space to bring that purpose to its desired consummation. This is Creation, or Aries in activity. They mean also the objective appearing of the thoughtform which God has thus created and in which is embodied His desire, His will, His purpose and His plan. This is Manifestation, or Cancer in activity. They mean again the working out of the plan under spiritual and natural law which is evolutionary in expression; this is the goal of evolution and its expression and is steadily revealing the nature of God, for the laws under which this solar system of ours is governed are expressions of God's quality and character. This is Legislation, or Libra in activity. They mean, finally, the processes of initiation wherein, step by step and stage by stage, under law and through the method of gained experi­ence whilst in manifestation, the creative plan is realised in consciousness. The unfoldment of the plan is thus carried forward through a progressed series of beginnings, of manifestations, and of consummations—all relative in nature but leading to an absolute consummation. This is Initiation, or activity in Capricorn. All this is on a somewhat vast and incomprehensible scale as far as the human understanding is concerned.

But consciousness and understanding of the larger purpose which lies behind the more exo­teric intent of the unfoldment of the consciousness in this solar system, in the planet and in man, has to be grasped eventually towards the final stages of the evolutionary process. When this understanding unfolds, then man becomes an initiate, vacates his position upon the Fixed Cross and begins the relatively slow process of mounting the Cardinal Cross. Then he becomes a cooperator in the great creative process and purpose. He begins to create his own body of expression upon the Cardinal Cross and the impulse of Aries begins to appear to him. As yet he understands it not. He manifests consciously in the world that which he intends to carry forward and Cancer then reveals to him its secret. He becomes his own legislator, ruling his conduct wisely, controlling his impulses intellectually and then Libra enables him to balance the material and the spiritual law. When he has done all this, he discovers himself ready to enter into new and deeper experiments (should I call them experiences?) and as a participator in the divine plan and as a cooperator in the divine purpose, he then becomes his own initiator and is thus ready to take initiation. Such are the paradoxes of the spiritual life. But the secret of the Cardinal Cross is revealed only to the man who has mounted the Fixed Cross and gone through its fourfold experience. It is not possible to say more than what I have said. (EA 239-241)

 

Aries, the Cosmic Christ and the zodiac of ten

It is interesting that in the note to Tabulation V both Libra and Gemini are omitted from the list. This is not an oversight but a point of true significance and an omission warranting recognition. This omission is based on two facts: First, that there was a time, as you have heard, when there were only ten signs, and in those ancient days as in the present time, there was a divergence of opinion among the astrological scientists; they differed as to which the ten signs might be and in this connection there were several schools of thought, but mainly two of importance. One group fused or made one sign out of Leo-Virgo and perpetuated their belief in the Sphinx; the other omitted Gemini and Libra altogether. They were of an earlier date than the latter who in reality had a zodiac of eleven signs. This is a fact of importance to you today. The other point of note and of a relative importance is that Gemini and Libra are the two strictly human signs; they are the signs of the ordinary man. Gemini upon the Mutable Cross stands for man's humanity, whilst Libra upon the Cardinal Cross rules man's subjective and spiritual life. The other signs in their consummation carry man beyond the stage of ordinary humanity and produce the following states of consciousness:

Aries and Virgo.—The Cosmic Christ. Universal and individual.

Taurus and Pisces.—The world Saviours; i.e., Buddha and Christ.

Leo and Aquarius.—The world Servers; i.e., Hercules.

Sagittarius and Capricorn.—The world Initiates; i.e., Masters.

Cancer and Scorpio.—The triumphant Disciples.

The emphasis, however, on Gemini and Libra as far as humanity is concerned is on human attainment and achieving the point of balance before the other attainments become possible. (EA 242-243)

 

Aries, Libra and Uranus

Through this planet, Uranus, Libra is related also to Aries and Aquarius and it is through Uranus that the great pair of opposites, Aries-Libra, are brought into touch with each other in a very deep sense. Through its activity, an intense interplay takes place, making for the attainment of equilibrium in Libra of that which had its beginning in Aries. Aries, Libra and Aquarius constitute therefore another triangle of power which must later be considered; these triangles will, as I have earlier hinted, dominate the new astrology in a most interesting manner and condition the charts of those whose horoscopes are being considered. (EA 247)

 

Aries and the silence before creation

But in Libra there is no such point of crisis any more than there is in Aries. There is only the interlude of balance as a prelude to a more effective and sensitive progress upon the path. It is the same in Aries. As it is esoterically said: "Before creation, silence and the stillness of a focussed point." This applies to both Aries and Libra—the one in a cosmic and creative sense and the other in an individual and progressive evolutionary sense. (EA 248)

 

Aries and the passage around the zodiac

I would like to pause here and make one point somewhat clearer in connection with the passage of human life around the zodiac. This progress or passage falls into three major divisions:

The passage or progress of humanity around and around the zodiac from Aries to Pisces, via Taurus, until in Virgo-Leo (for these two signs are regarded esoterically as inseparable) the mass movement releases the individual to a life of self-conscious progress and a changed mode of progression around the wheel of life. This lies far in the past.

The passage or progress of the individual man which runs counter to the mass advance; the individual at this stage proceeds clockwise from Aries to Taurus, via Pisces. His life is then and for long ages predominantly anti-social in the spiritual sense; he is selfish and self-centred. His efforts are for himself and for his own satisfaction and personality enterprises, and this becomes steadily stronger and stronger. This is the present situation for the masses.

The passage or progress of the re-oriented man from Aries to Pisces, via Taurus. In this final stage, he returns to the same directed method, rhythm and measure of the earlier mass movement but this time with changed and changing attitudes of selfless service, a personality dedicated to the service of humanity and with a voluntary re-orientation of his energies so that they are directed towards the production of synthesis and understanding. This will be the situation in the future for the masses.

The astrologer of the future will have to bear these three modes of progression carefully in mind. Such is God's plan as we at present can sense it. In this plan Virgo, the Virgin, stands for the womb of time and passes the personality-soul (Leo-Virgo) through the three above stages or cycles. (EA 261-262)

 

Aries and Scorpio mark the beginning and the end

The relation existing between Virgo and Pisces (between the Virgin Mother and the Fish God­desses) is well known, for they are polar opposites and their functions are inter­change­able in a peculiar manner. In the revolution of the ordinary wheel, Aries and Scorpio mark the beginning and the end, and consummate in the rounded out and equipped personality. They are, exoterically, Alpha and Omega. In the life of the disciple, Virgo and Pisces stand in the same relation. Pisces consummates the work carried forward in this major world cycle. Some idea of the creative story above indicated can be gained if the tabulation of the nine constellations with their signs is studied.

1. Aries            Beginning          Cardinal Cross.

2. Gemini          Relation            Mutable Cross.

3. Taurus          Desire              Fixed Cross.

4. Cancer         Movement        Cardinal Cross.

5. Scorpio        Test—Trial       Fixed Cross.

6. Sagittarius     Direction          Mutable Cross.

7. Aquarius       Service             Fixed Cross.

8. Pisces           Salvation          Mutable Cross.

9. VIRGO        MOTHER        MUTABLE CROSS.

One point of interest emerges: All the four arms of the Mutable Cross are represented in this interrelation, indicating the completed activity of the Mutable Cross or of the preparatory stage of evolution which has successfully prepared the man for mounting the Fixed Cross. The personality is prepared to be the mother of the Christ. (EA 278-279)

 

Aries a fire sign

There are two elements in nature which are connected in the public consciousness with the thought of purification—one is water and the other is fire. It is in this connection that the water signs, Cancer—Scorpio—Pisces, are interesting, and the fire signs, Aries—Leo—Sagittarius, warrant study. Fire always carries forward esoterically that which water has begun. In Cancer, the purificatory waters of experience begin their beneficent work. This is begun upon the Cardinal Cross because that cross deals only with wholes and, therefore, with mass experience.

In Scorpio, the purificatory waters of testing and trials are applied. This takes place upon the Fixed Cross and their effect is drastic in the extreme.

In Pisces, the waters of purification are applied through daily life and the processes of incarnation; they apply to the "fish swimming in the waters of matter and finding there its sustenance." This is upon the Mutable Cross of ordinary material existence and experience. Thus the influence of the three crosses is brought to bear upon the incarnated Son of God upon the wheel of ordinary life and in the usual order. Upon the wheel reversed, the fire takes the place of water and burns away all dross. Purification of the entire nature is thus achieved gradually, and the man becomes sensitive to the influences which can be brought to bear upon him when the fiery triplicity plays its part and the influence of Aries-Leo-Sagittarius begins to re-orient him towards universality, self-consciousness and one-pointed attitudes. As we go on with our study, the significance of this statement will increasingly appear. I am hinting at matters of spiritual and esoteric importance because this sign, Leo, is of paramount control in the life of the aspirant. He has to know himself through true self-awareness before he can know that divine spirit which is his true Self and know also his fellowmen. (EA 287-288)

 

From Aries comes cosmic fire

The Fixed Cross is the cross of light. And playing through this Cross all the time, and emanating from Leo, are the "fires of God"—cosmic, solar and planetary—producing purification, the intensification of the light and eventual revelation to the purified man who stands in light. From Aries comes cosmic fire; from Sagittarius comes planetary fire; and from Leo comes solar fire; and each of these fires "clears the way by burning" for the expres­sion of the three divine aspects: spirit (Aries), soul (Leo) and body (Sagittarius). Such is the scientific basis for the yoga of fire, applied by the fully self-conscious man to the reflection of the three divine aspects in the three worlds; these are the three modes of divine expression in these three worlds. Such is the significance of the fact that it will be found that before the Door of Initiation lies the burning ground which all disciples and initiates must tread. (EA 293-294)

 

Aries and soul intention

Through Uranus, Leo is related to three other signs of the zodiac: Aries, Libra and Aquarius, and these three constellations, with Leo, form what has been called "the subjective quaternary of the reincarnating soul" because they are related to the permanent atoms which persist from life to life and which form—during the cycle of reincarnation—the repositories or the storing houses of the experiences undergone during life in the three worlds.

Aries—is connected with soul intention, the vibratory activity of which (under impulse from the Monad) initiates the successive involutionary periods which produce appearance upon the physical plane.

Libra—is related to the mental unit and, as we saw when studying the sign Libra, produces eventually a balance between the pairs of opposites. This is brought about upon the astral plane. It is the attainment of this balance which produces the reversal of the mode of passing around the zodiacal wheel and it takes place when integration has occurred, and the man is focussed upon the mental plane. He can, then, through right use of the mind, discriminate between the pairs of opposites and find the narrow razor-edged path which passes between them and keep his balance upon it.

Leo—is connected with the astral permanent atom, for the reason that desire or the power to go forth and occultly touch that which is desired is the basis of all sense of awareness or responsiveness and the underlying cause of progress or evolutionary movement forward; it is the keynote of the man who has achieved that true "self-centred" attitude which makes him an individual. Later, as responsiveness grows and the world of small affairs is converted into the world of ever larger values and reality, the desires change into aspiration and finally into spiritual will, purpose and intent.

Aquarius—is eventually connected with the physical permanent atom which is, as you know, upon the etheric level. It is this individual web which is the medium of relationship to the whole. The universal consciousness of Aquarius becomes expressive just in so far as the individual etheric body is in conscious relation with the etheric body of humanity, the solar system and—of course—the planet. (EA 302-303)

 

Aries and the Initiator of the Mysteries

Aries begins the process and is the "initiator of the process which leads to progress" and—at the end of the age (as it is now at the final or seventh initiation)—the Initiator of the Myster­ies will work under instructions and with energies which emanate from the Lord of the Con­stellation Aries. In the last analysis and esoterically speaking, fire is the great liberator and Aries is the leading fire sign which will eventually "fuse the beginning and the end, blend the opposites and dispel both time and space." At present, the Initiator of the Mysteries acts under inspiration and with energies emanating from Capricorn—an earth sign—because humanity is, as yet, earth-bound. The forces of initiation produce their major effects upon the physical plane, for it is there that the initiate has to demonstrate his liberation, his understanding and his divinity. (EA 304)

 

Renewed activity in Aries

I state a basic truth—vaguely acknowledged by you—that in Aries the essential substance of manifestation awoke to renewed activity under the impact of divine desire, impelled by the divine Breath, by divine Life or Spirit. In Cancer this living substance assumed a triple differentiated relationship to which we give the names of Life (Aries) of Consciousness (Taurus, the next sign to Aries) and manifested duality (Gemini, the sign preceding Cancer) and these three, blended together, came into outer manifestation in Cancer, thus completing an esoteric quaternary of great importance. Here the first major fusion, inchoate and unreal­ised, took place. In Libra, these reach a point of balance and of a somewhat static equilibrium (later to be disturbed in Scorpio), so that this essential triplicity appears clearly in relation to each other. In Capricorn, the sign of initiation, this basic triplicity begins to return to the earlier state of the "breath of spirit" but, this time, with full awareness and properly fulfilled organisation, so that form is a perfect expres­sion of the soul and the soul is sensitive and responsive to the pulsations of the One Life, as that Life reveals, through its activity, the perfect will of the Logos. (EA 313-314)

 

Aries corresponding to Logoic plane and the mental vehicle

You will note the interesting fact that you have here nine signs which carry a man from the stage of imprisonment in form to the freedom of the kingdom of God, from the state of embryonic consciousness to the full flower of divine knowledge, from the condition of human awareness to the conscious wisdom of the initiated disciple. These nine signs are strictly expressive of human unfoldment—conscious and superconscious, though beginning with the mass awareness of Cancer. There are three signs, preceding these, which provide the subtle or subjective realities of the will-to-be (Aries), the desire-to-know (Taurus) and the establishment of relationship (Gemini), and these constitute the triple incentive to the mani­festation of man and of the human kingdom. They correspond cosmically to the logoic, the monadic and spiritual planes to which the higher initiate has access or when dealing with the entire concept on a lower turn of the spiral and in connection with ordinary man, they corres­pond to the mental, the astral and the etheric vehicles of man. They are, therefore, related to the highest and the lowest expression of human life. I have in the above ideas given you several hints of vital importance. (EA 320)

 

The Light of Aries

Aries.—The Light of Life Itself. This is the dim point of light found at the centre of the cycle of manifestation, faint and flickering. It is the "searchlight of the Logos, seeking that which can be used" for divine expression. (EA 329)

The Keynotes of Aries

Sign                  Undeveloped Man        Advanced Man Disciple Initiate

1. Aries            Blind, undirected experience.   

Directed Personality Effort.      

Recognition and work with the Plan.

Instinctual reaction.       Desire.                         Will.

Keynote: Aries turns towards Capricorn.                       (EA 332)

 

Aries and the Cardinal Cross

Simple as it sounds when stated, the most fundamental point for astrologers to grasp today is the need for them to know—prior to interpretation—where, upon the path of evolution, the subject under consideration stands. One other hint I will give. It will be from a study of those people who are born in the Cardinal Signs that the clearest information will emerge in this connection. It might be useful to point out here that:

Through a study of the Cardinal Cross—Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn—the astrologer can arrive at a clearer understanding:

Of ordinary, individual, human beings.

Of group beginnings.

Of the significance of the first initiation.

Through a study of the Fixed Cross—Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius—he will arrive at a right interpretation of the lives:

Of initiates.

Of group absorption into synthesis.

Of the significance of the third initiation.

Through a study of the Mutable Cross—Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces—he can arrive at the significance:

Of disciples.

Of group activity.

Of the second initiation.

The above indications may not conform to the ideas generally held, and appear to reverse also some of the points which I have earlier made, but a careful study of the suggested implica­tions may make the point clearer. Every Cross has its exoteric significance and with this all astrologers are somewhat familiar; it has also its esoteric meaning and import and this is as yet an untried field of investigation; and it has its spiritual importance, and this of course is only revealed at the major initiations. It should be remembered that these are the threefold differentiations of the One Life and that Capricorn, for instance, marks not only the point of the deepest concretion and therefore of death but also the point of highest initiation and of entrance into the life aspect of deity. (EA 335-336)

 

Aries-Libra meanings in two directions of the Wheel

(Aries to Taurus, via Pisces)

For ordinary humanity.

Aries-Libra.—Unstable embryonic beginnings leading to the balancing of the lower psychic nature and its expression through form. Embryonic desire for expression consummates in the passion of satisfaction. Lower love controls. ...

(Aries to Pisces, via Taurus)

The Disciple and Initiate.

Libra-Aries.—The achieved equilibrium, at the point of rest, provides the mental impetus for soul control. Passion is transmuted into love and the initial desire of Aries becomes the full expression of love-wisdom. Desire to manifest becomes the aspiration to be. (EA 338)

 

Aries a conditioning sign lying behind manifestation

In this world cycle, Gemini, Taurus and Aries are three subjective energies or the three con­ditioning signs which lie behind manifestation. They lie behind the form-taking experience in Cancer and they also lie behind manifestation in Pisces. Pisces is the sign with which the modern world (and by that I refer to an immense long period of time) is primarily concerned, for Pisces is the starting point on the clockwise wheel at this time for the greater zodiacal round of approximately 25,000 years—the date of which beginning is not yet revealed to the modern astrologer or subject to revelation through his science. As we study Gemini and Taurus (Aries we have already considered) let us bear in mind their cause-initiating nature and the fact that they have a more specifically psychic effect and subjective influence than their strictly phenomenal and physical effects would lead one to imagine. (EA 344)

 

Aries, Gemini and Mercury producing initial beginnings

The potencies of Gemini-Aries, instilled into our planetary life via Mercury, focus the energy of the conditioning will-to-be upon the Earth, producing initial beginnings as in incarnation, or initiation, or the start of organisation as well as organisms. It should be remembered that there is the will-to-be in form and the will-to-be free from form, but all these aspects of will are achieved through conflict and interplay of which energy both Gemini and Mercury are the eternal symbols. (EA 358-59)

 

Aries, Gemini and Mercury

The influence of Mercury, as it relates Aries and Gemini to our Earth, establishes in time and space a unique situation, for it incites to trial efforts or initiates a series of beginnings in order to relate opposing forces and produce certain planned and definite effects upon our planet, thus influencing the kingdoms in nature or an individual soul-in-form. A conflict is thus initiated which leads finally to balance. (EA 360)

 

The secret of Aries

Three signs are also closely connected with initiation. The hidden secret of Aries, Taurus and Gemini is revealed at three successive initiations:

The secret of Aries is the secret of beginnings, of cycles and of emerging opportunity. At the third initiation, the initiate begins to understand the life of the spirit or the highest aspect; until that time, he has expressed first the life of the form and then the life of the soul within that form. This experience is of so high a nature that only those who have passed through it could in any way comprehend anything I might say.

The secret of Taurus is revealed at the second initiation by the sudden removal or disappear­ance of world glamour in the blinding energy of light. This constitutes the final radiant activity which consummates the play of the Taurian force upon humanity during the long and cyclic journey to which man is committed. The individual enacts on a tiny scale what humanity—as a whole—will enact when it takes initiation in Taurus.

The secret of Gemini has to be grasped at the first initiation because it is the mystery of the relation of Father, Mother and Child. The birth of the Christ-child upon the physical plane is the consummating glory of the Gemini force. (EA 388)

 

The subjectivity of Aries

This digression was necessary at this point because it is essential that esoteric astrologers should realise that these three signs, Aries, Taurus and Gemini are (from the standpoint of the disciple and initiate) purely subjective in their effects within the life of these signs. They can only find outward expression in the life of the subject and be consciously directed and controlled in Cancer, thus leading to the great liberation which takes place in the polar opposite to Cancer, Capricorn and also in Aquarius and Pisces. This of course refers to effects upon man upon the reversed wheel. In a certain sense these six signs constitute two major triangles of force. (EA 389)

 

Aries is the "sign of institution"

This cycle of moves constitutes (with the greater cycle) a rhythm of experience of tremen­dous moment. These seven signs are pre-eminently life-experience signs. The preceding sign of Aries is the "sign of institution" whilst the four which come after Scorpio prove to be signs of discipleship and initiation. This is on the reversed wheel and the implications along the same line on the ordinary wheel can easily be applied by you. (EA 388-389)

 

Aries, Great Bear and Pluto

First Triangle:

The Pleiades . . . Cancer . . . Venus.

Humanity.

Second Triangle:

The Great Bear . . . Aries . . . Pluto.

Shamballa.

Third Triangle:

Sirius . . . Leo . . . Jupiter.

Hierarchy.

I wonder if you can grasp at least partially and symbolically the fact that these triangles must not be thought of as placed, static and eternally the same, or even as three dimensional. They must be regarded as in rapid movement, revolving eternally in space and ceaselessly moving onward and as of fourth and fifth dimensional extension. There is no way of depicting them or of bringing them visually to your attention, for only the inner eye of vision can imagine their progression, position or appearance.

These three major triangles are only partially as yet in expression as far as our solar system is concerned and only one point of the great triangle—as for instance one point of the Great Bear—constitutes with Aries a related line of force; only one point of Aries—within itself or within its own range of interplay with Leo and Capricorn (see Tabulation VIII) is related to Pluto. Therefore the entire cosmic web and solar system is an intricate, constantly moving, interwoven series of triangles wherein each point of a triangle emanates three lines or streams of energy (nine in all); it is likewise responsive to and receptive of the energies—likewise triple in nature—which lie within its periphery or sphere of influence and vibratory activity. (EA 416-417)

 

Aries, Libra and the Sun

Aries—Libra—The Sun (which are an expression of the Great Bear) bring about that focussing of energy in the life of the disciple which makes it possible for him to function consciously and with intention upon the Path of Initiation. He enters the realm of the formless worlds because Aries, the sign of beginnings makes this possible; through the potency of Libra, he has succeeded in achieving that point of balance which makes the final escape from the pairs of opposites possible. He now knows, through transcended feeling and from identification with the seen Vision, the true meaning of being.

This threefold process can also be covered by the three words: Sensitivity, Illumination and Inspiration. (EA 466-467)

 

THE CRISES OF THE SOUL

Crisis                                              Quality                         Constellation     Cross

1. Crisis of Incarnation        Individualisation            Cancer             Cardinal

2. Crisis of Orientation        Reversal                       Aries                Cardinal

3. Crisis of Initiation                        Expansion                     Capricorn         Cardinal

4. Crisis of Renunciation     Crucifixion                    Gemini              Mutable

5. Crisis of the Battlefield    Conflict                        Scorpio            Fixed

6. Crisis of the Birthplace    Initiation                       Virgo                Mutable

7. Crisis of Burning ground  Liberation                     Leo                  Fixed    (EA 472)

 

Aries and the five energies of the will-to-be

Aries, the initiator of impulses (either the impulse to incarnate or the impulse to return to the originating source) is closely in touch with one of the stars in the Great Bear to which we give the name "Pointer" in common parlance. This Pointer is a "major star of direction" because through it (in this world cycle) flows the will to unify and to bring about synthesis. This is the force which brings about the fusion or integration of the personality, the at-one-ment of personality and soul, the unification of humanity or the Great Approach of the Hierarchy to Humanity. It will produce also the integration of our Earth into the body of the "sacred planets" and the consequent establishing of a triangle of force composed of the Pointer, Aries and our Earth. This triangular relationship will have a potent effect upon the solar system as well as upon the planet itself and is also one of the factors producing the shift in the Earth's axis. Related to this triangle is a secondary one within our sun's orbit, composed of Vulcan, Pluto and the Earth. In the Archives of the Great Lodge this is referred to symbolically as:

INSERT picture 

This is one of the most interesting and informing astrological symbols I have given you and indicates a most momentous relationship. You have here two major and three minor energies brought into close relation; this is analogous to the two major rays and the three minor rays which condition a human being in manifestation. These are the five energies which concern the informing life of our planet. They produce, in humanity, conscious evolution, direction and the founding of Shamballa upon the Earth. They are the five energies connected with the will-to-be, but from the consciousness angle and not the material expression of manifestation. Their activity and united influence in the realm of consciousness produced the appearance of another triangle: Leo, Polaris and another of the Pointers and these two groups form an interlocking directorate, potently effective in the evolution of consciousness.  (EA 482-483)

 

Aries and the New Age

The potency of Aries, as it initiates those happenings which will set in motion the causes that will produce the New Age, can be seen today in the trend of all the new movements, in the formulation of the various world orders, in the discoveries of science and in the emergence of the new types in the different kingdoms in nature. This activity has only been felt since 1835; the potency of Leo can be traced since then in the vast number of people who are achieving the integration of the personality and becoming self-conscious, as well as in the emergence of thousands of self-conscious world aspirants who are subordinating gradually their integrated personalities to the good of the group. (EA 486)

Ray I.—Aries: This constellation, as might be expected, is the source of the initial energy, producing the New Age. (EA 491)

 

Aries, Mars and the first house

I might again point out that Mars is the transmitter of sixth ray force and it is this which makes the first house of action in the physical body that of the devotee who fights for that which he desires or for that to which he aspires. The warrior, devoted to a cause, comes into being upon the field of action, the Earth, which is itself an expression of the third Ray of Intelligent Activity. Aries, the first house, and Mars and the Earth initiate conflict, focussed in a form. (EA 508)

 

Aries and its relations via Uranus and Mercury

Uranus. This planet is the exoteric ruler of Aquarius; it is also the esoteric ruler of Libra and the hierarchical ruler of Aries. It is peculiarly active at this time and brings in the energy of the seventh ray. The circulating of its energies can be portrayed by the following symbol or diagram:

INSERT DIAGRAM

This triple inflow of seventh ray energy, coloured by the force of three great constellations, is potent to effect major changes in our little planet. It is interesting to realise that Aries, the Inaugurator, is rendered effective on the Earth through the organising potency of Uranus. Aries is the source, the beginning and the initiator of the New Age and its coming civili­sa­tions, of the appearance of the kingdom of God on earth and also of the individual initiate into the Mysteries. Aquarius is the present Determiner of the future. That which is now initiated in Aries will become manifested in Aquarius, and Libra will enforce the achieve­ment of a point of balance or (esoterically speaking) of the "escape from opposing forces at the midway point between the source and the goal."

Mercury is the expression of fourth ray energy and this is, as you know, peculiarly related to the fourth kingdom in nature, the human kingdom. It is the esoteric ruler of Aries (hence it "leads into the mysteries") and is also the exoteric ruler of Gemini, which is the sign of the major opposites as far as humanity is concerned, because it signifies soul and personality, consciousness and form; it is also the exoteric ruler of Virgo, the Mother of the Christ-Child, or the form and that which indwells the form. It is, finally, the hierarchical ruler of Scorpio, which is the sign of discipleship.

This, therefore, brings into a close relation four great constellations, each of which has a peculiar relation to the dualities with which man has a definite evolutionary concern. These are expressed in a unique manner for humanity through Aries, Gemini, Virgo, and Scorpio and the following diagram is descriptive of the nature of that relation:

DIAGRAM:

When visualising these diagrams, the symbol should be seen in rapid revolution. Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, carries to humanity a certain type of force and this precipitates a point of crisis; it brings about the next great revolution which will lead mankind on to new experience, and to the revelation of the divinity which it is the destiny of man to reveal. (EA 548-549)

 

Aries and the inauguration of the Christian era

Aries.—This sign, which is the sign of beginnings, provided the impulse and energy which enabled Him to inaugurate the Christian era; it initiated, through Him, the "age of Love" which is only now beginning to take form, and its potency is now so great that it has brought about (paradoxically) the present world cleavage.

Cancer.—The potency of this sign is expressed for us by Christ in the oft misinterpreted words: "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring." This refers to the mass consciousness in contradistinction to the initiate consciousness of His disciples. Cancer is a mass sign.

Libra.—Christ stood at the point of balance in human evolution; He stood between the old world and the new, between the East and the West. In the Christian era comes a "point of balance" or that "crisis of equilibrium" in the human kingdom.

Capricorn.—This sign marks the point of concretion and of crystallisation which results eventually in the death of the form. This we see happening today. In His triumph over death and in His resurrection into life, Christ indicated the deep mystery of Capricorn. (EA 567)

 

Aries and Ray 1

Aries,

RAY I. Will or Power.                    Leo     

Capricorn.

working through the medium of the four planets:  Mars, Mercury, the Sun, Saturn.

This is the will which lies behind all initiatory activity, that is,

The initiation of the previous stages of creation.

The initiation of the urge to evolve, proceed, progress.

The initiation of the differentiating process in order to produce.

These are all expressions or effects of the activity of the ray energy and all can be best sum­med up in the thought of a dynamic "entering into"—by an act of the focussed will—a new state of consciousness. This leads inevitably to a new realisation of being. In this state­ment, you have one of the basic definitions of initiation as far as the initiation of a human being is concerned. These are dim reflections of the dynamic processes to which the One Life subjects Itself as it enters into the dualistic condition of spirit-matter. The will here referred to lies behind the dualism and is analogous to the reception and focussing of an initial idea as it enters into the mind of a creative, advanced human being, his thought processes and his achieve­­ments. Some understanding of this will come if the disciple will consider what fixed aspiration, a vision of the goal and a determination to follow the will-to-good has effected in his life. Beyond this realisation, he cannot go, but it holds for him the cosmic seed of understanding. (EA 613)

 

Aries and the initiating conditions

ARIES is the constellation through which initiating conditions will stream into our solar system. It embodies the will-to-create that which will express the will-to-good. It is the monadic ray of our planetary Logos, Whose Soul ray is the second and the personality ray the third. You can note here, therefore, how the transmitting ray of our planetary Logos is the first; and hence the place which the will plays in our human evolutionary process; His transforming ray is the second and that eventually brings transfiguration through the medium of the third and in this combination you have the reason why, in the evolution of the will aspect, you have the influence of Mars and Mercury—the one bringing conflict and the death of the form and the other bringing illumination and the development of the intuition as a result of that conflict and death. New cycles of Being and of consciousness are initiated by conflict. Such seems as yet to be the law of life and the governing factor in evolution. If, however, the result of this initiating, energising will is to produce such beneficent effects of intuitive understanding and the activity of Mercury as the messenger of the Gods, it can be seen how truly through conflict the will-to-good can be wrought out. (EA 619)

 

[VSK: check other Aries references, if needed]