It is a matter of common knowledge among mystics that the evolutionary career of mankind is indissolubly bound up with the divine hierarchies who rule the planets and the signs of the Zodiac, and that passage of the Sun and the planets through the twelve signs of the Zodiac, marks man's progress in time and in space. Therefore it is not to be wondered at, that in the course of their investigations into the spiritual development of mankind, the writers have also encountered much that deals with the Zodiac which is the boundary of our evolutionary sphere at the present time. So much has been perceived in the Memory of Nature that sheds light upon obscure passages of the Bible, that notes have been made from time to time of different points, but how to collect and collage these dissociated writings into a united whole, has been a great problem for a long time. Even now, the writers know and feel that what they are bringing forth is only a very, very weak attempt to set before the students that great body of facts which have come to them through the memory of nature. They feel, however, that this will give a new and more profound meaning to the old symbols, and that by passing on what has been found they put themselves in line to receive more light.

Concerning the future evolution of planets; the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception teaches, on page 256, that "when the beings upon a planet have evolved to a sufficient degree, the planet becomes a Sun, the fixed center of the Solar System. When the beings there have evolved to a still greater degree, and consequently it has reached its maximum of brilliancy, it breaks up into a Zodiac and becomes, so to speak, the womb of a new Solar System. Thus the Great hosts of Divine beings who, until then, were confined upon that Sun gain freedom of actions upon a great number of stars whence they can affect, in different ways, the system which grows up within their sphere of influence. The planets or man-bearing worlds within the Zodiac are constantly being worked upon by these forces but in various ways according to the stage they have reached in evolution. Our Sun could not have become a Sun until it set out from itself all the beings who were not sufficiently evolved to endure the high rate of vibration and the great luminosity of the beings who were qualified for that evolution. All the beings upon the different planets would have been consumed had they remained in the Sun. This visible Sun, however, though it is a place of evolution for beings vastly above man, is not by any means, the Father of other planets, as material science supposes. On the contrary, it is itself an emanation from the central Sun, which is the invisible source of all that is in our solar system."

"Our visible Sun is but the mirror in which are reflected the Rays of energy from the Spiritual Sun, the real Sun is as invisible as the real man."

From this teaching it is apparent that the great spiritual hierarchies which are now guiding our evolution, have had their training for this path in previous schemes of manifestation, also that what they are now doing, we shall some day do for others. Already the foremost among our race are treading the path of initiation, and have thereby advanced into stages, far beyond the general status of our present humanity. It has been learned that those who have gone through the Mercurial School of the lesser Mysteries, and have graduated from the School of the Greater Mysteries are now preparing human evolution for the Jupiter Period. They have entered the planet Jupiter, by way of one of the Moons, which serves as a stepping stone. Others there are, unfortunately, who have gone the other way. We read in the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, that even as the whole population of the earth was at one time expelled from the present Sun because of their inability to keep up with the vibrations of the beings thereon, thus hindering them and being hindered themselves, so also it becomes necessary in the Lemurian Epoch, to expel a number of the stragglers from earth. Thus the Moon was cast out into space to revolve as a Satellite around our present planet. Those unfortunates are gradually degenerating and the time will come when they will all go to the planet Saturn, which is the door to Chaos. Thence they will be expelled to inter-planetary space to await the time when, in a new system, there will be a favorable condition for their further evolution.

Thus the Zodiac and the planets are as a book in which we may read the history of Humanity during past ages, and they also give a key to the future which is in store for us. In the famous Zodiac in the Temple of Denderah, Cancer is not pictured as we have it in modern days. There it is a beetle, a scarab. This was the emblem of the soul, and Cancer has always been known in ancient times, as well as among modern mystics, to be the sphere of the soul, the Gate of Life in the Zodiac whence the spirits coming into rebirth, enter our sub-lunary conditions. It is therefore aptly ruled by the Moon which is the planet of fecundation, and it is noteworthy that we find Capricorn, which is its opposite, ruled by Saturn the planet of death and Chaos, who is mystically depicted as "the reaper with his scythe and hour glass in hand." These two opposite signs are therefore turning points in the soul's career. Cancer and Capricorn respectively mark the highest ascent of the Sun into the Northern Hemisphere, and its lowest descent into the South. We observe that during the summer when the Sun is in the sphere of Cancer and allied signs, fecundation and growth are the order of the day. But when the Sun is in the South, in Capricorn, we have winter, when nature is dead. The fruits of the summer are then consumed and assimilated by us. As a circle dance of the Sun among the twelve signs determines the seasons of the year when direct, causing the germination of myriads of seeds cast in the earth, also the mating of the fauna, which then makes the world alive with the sights and sounds of manifested life, and at another time leaves the world dumb, dull and drear in winter's gloom, under the sway of Saturn, so by the slower backward movement, known as the Precession of the Equinox, does it produce the great changes which we know as Evolution. In fact, this precessional measure of the Sun marks the birth and death of races, nations and their religions, for the pictorial Zodiac is a symbolical presentation of our past, present and future development.

Capricorn, the goat, is not a goat at all as we know that animal, but part fish and part goat. Its Saturnine rulership, and the fact that it receives the Sun at the dawn of each New Year, naturally by analogy associates it with the beginning of precessional epochs. It represents the stage in evolution covering transition from fish, through amphibian to the mammalian form. The belligerency of the goat is well known, and an apt symbol of the struggle for existence, in which the weak perish unless able to outdistance their foes. This phase of the matter is sometimes expressed in the symbol, when drawn as part fish and part antelope. Jacob, in the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis, pronounces blessings upon his children, which symbolize the twelve signs. There he speaks of Naphtali as a "hind" let loose; thus a very apt symbol of Capricorn, for when the Sun is there at each winter solstice, it is starting a race through the circle of twelve signs, which it must complete in a given time — a year.

When the Sun leaves Capricorn, by precession, it enters the sign Sagittarius, and this is pictured in the symbolical Zodiac as a Centaur, part horse and part man. Thus it shows aptly, the fact that we have evolved through the animal stage into the human. The centaur is in the act of drawing his bow, showing that there is something for which the human spirit, on its pilgrimage through matter, is seeking, that it aspires to something that lies beyond it, as a lofty ideal, for the bow points upward to the stars.

The next step in human unfoldment is not so much along the physical lines as along the mental. Its nature is shown by the Sun's passage through the sign Scorpio, which is pictorially represented as a serpent or scorpion, emblems of cunning and subtlety. It is plain from this symbol that the faculty of the mind evolved by infant humanity was cunning, and we still see that that is a characteristic trait among the lower races, the lower classes and the lower natures even among our present-day humanity.

But, when the Sun enters the sign Libra, 'the scales,' by precession, the balance of reason gives him a new start upon the evolutionary path. Under the care of divine instructors man had at that time advanced to the point where because of this new faculty, reason, he could be made fully responsible to nature's laws, and thus reap what he had sown, that he might learn the lesson of life by actual experience, be able to reason out the connection between cause and effect and in time learn to govern himself so as to progress further upon the path.

Thus, under the guidance of the spiritual hierarchies, focused through the signs of Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, and Libra, were his physical, moral and mental attributes acquired, and he was equipped to commence the spiritual side of his evolution. The germ of this progress is hidden in the celestial virgin, the sign Virgo, which is the vehicle of the immaculate conception, the heavenly mother of Christ; not of one Christ only, but of many. This is one of the most sublime signs of the Zodiac and one of the most mystical, so fraught with hidden meaning that its full import cannot be fully understood save when viewed by the internal light of spiritual illumination. Yearly, at the winter solstice, the immaculate Madonna is ascendant at midnight, when the new born Sun commences to rise to the task of growing the grain and grape, to save humanity from the cold and famine, which would inevitably result were he to remain in the southern declination. The Sun is therefore an apt symbol of the Savior, born to feed his flock on the spiritual bread of life. But, as we must have eyes attuned to light to see the sun, so must the Christ be born within before we can perceive spiritual light. As Angelus Silesius says:

"Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born
And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn.
The Cross of Golgotha thou lookest to in vain
Unless within thyself it be set up again."

Therefore, by the precessional passage of the Sun through the sign Virgo, the germinal impulse was given towards the birth of Christ within man. The Mystic Marriage of the lower self to the higher, the Immaculate Conception, and the Divine Motherhood, which nourishes deep in its bosom, unseen by a scoffing world, "the new born Christ," are actual experiences of a growing number of people. And without the celestial prototype, fructified by the solar precession, this would be an impossibility; neither has this ideal been realized in such fullness during the past ages as today. The reason of this will appear when we take up the joint consideration of opposite signs of the Zodiac.

A great future is in store for this offspring of the celestial virgin. Listen to the wonderful prophecy of Isaiah: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end."

Humanity is to rise to a wonderful spiritual height and this is symbolized by the Sun's precessional passage through the royal sign Leo, pictorially represented by the king of beasts, the lion. This is an apt allusion to the King of Creation, who will then embody the three great virtues of the Master Man, Strength, Wisdom and Beauty.

It is wonderful to trace the various phases of the religions given to the Aryo-Semitic Race from the time they were "called out" in the latter third of the Atlantean Epoch, to the end of the Aquarian Age, when a new race will have been definitely born. This aspect of the Zodiac will form the subject of the following pages. It will shed light on many of the most obscure passages of the Bible, as only study of this Cosmic Science can.

When we consider the Zodiac in its religious as well as its evolutionary aspects, by means of the six pair of opposite signs into which the twelve may be divided, we also commence with Cancer and Capricorn, for the reason given in the previous article, namely: that these are the solstitial points where the Sun reaches its highest and lowest declination.

Considered in this manner, we find that there are two sets of three pairs of signs, the first being Cancer and Capricorn, Gemini and Sagittarius, Taurus and Scorpio. In these pairs of signs we may read the history of human evolution and religion, in the early, the middle and the latter third of the Atlantean Epoch. In the other three pairs of signs, Aries and Libra, Pisces and Virgo, Aquarius and Leo, we find the key to man's development during the Fifth Epoch. This is also divisible into three distinct periods, namely: The Arian Age, from Moses to Christ, which comes under Aries-Libra; the Piscean Age, which takes in the last two thousand years under Pisces-Virgo Catholicism; and the two thousand years which are ahead of us, called the Aquarian Age, where the signs Aquarius and Leo will be illuminated and vivified by the solar precession, for the upliftment of the Son of Man (Aquarius), by the Christ within, the Lion of Judah (Leo), to the estate of Superman.

It must not be thought, however, that the Atlantean Epoch only lasted while the Sun by precession went through Cancer, Gemini, and Taurus, a period of only six thousand and a few hundred years; far from it; but there are spirals within spirals and recapitulation takes place in the epochs and races, so that we may know what is the general destiny by looking at the Sun's passage through these signs and therewith taking this import and symbolism into consideration. It may also be said that the further we advance the smaller do the spirals become, the shorter the time in which a given improvement is made, because of the proficiency we attained in former ages, and therefore it is extremely probable that this present is the last lap, that the coming Aquarian Age is the final preparatory school day which will fit us for the new age, the Sixth Epoch, and that this will begin when the Sun by precession enters Capricorn.

This, of course, would mean that the Second Advent must take place just before that time, and though it seems to us that so many signs point that way, still it is a mere surmise and may not have any truth in it at all. Thousands of people have been misled during all the ages that we know of, to think that Christ would soon be here; it is, however, better that we are looking forward to it than if we should say with some, that it will never take place. In that case the Great Day would find us unprepared and we should find ourselves among the stragglers who are unfit to attend the wedding feast of the Higher Self to the lower because lacking the "soul-body," the "wedding garment," necessary to enfold them.

The Sun's passage by precession through the sphere of Cancer with its opposite sign Capricorn, designates the early third of the Atlantean period, which was intensely watery as the whole earth was covered by a dense, drenching fog. The Niebelung, or "Children of the Mist," lived then in the basins of the Earth. Cancer was not then represented by the same symbol as today; in ancient times it was pictorially figured as a beetle or scarab. This was the signature of the soul, for then mankind was much less body than soul.

The sign Cancer is watery in its nature, and the fish part of Capricorn, the opposite sign, also helps to symbolize this state of life under water when the Sun went through the watery sign Cancer by precession. The Moon, the planet of fecundation, points mystically to this period of germination, when mankind first commenced to exercise the Creative function at the dictates of desire inculcated by the Lucifer Spirits. Thus mankind opened the Gate of physical Life through Cancer, and strayed into the terrestrial sphere, but opposite stood Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, ready to slay them with his scythe, and usher them through the Gate of Death back into the spiritual realms where they are at home. Capricorn was the opposite of Cancer and embodied the ideal that as the goat climbs the mountains, so man must leave the basins of Atlantis and come up from the mist.

Our condition during the middle third of the Atlantean Epoch is illustrated in the Sun's passage through the sign Gemini, the twins, which aptly represent infant humanity. During this age the division of soul from soul by the veil of flesh, which we call the body, became more noticeable, for the atmosphere had already cleared to a considerable extend, and the faculties of the spirit had become more focused in its physical instrument. With this delusion of the personal self, there came at once the idea of "me" and "thee," "mine" and "thine," our individual interests commenced to clash with those of others, so that a tragedy such as that recorded between Cain and Abel became possible. Nor was the shedding of blood confined to human beings, for we learn from the Bible that "Nimrod was a might hunter". This savage ideal was expressed in the Celestial Centaur, Sagittarius, with his bow and arrow.

But both of these pairs of opposites, Cancer-Capricorn and Gemini-Sagittarius, may be considered prehistoric hieroglyphics of a development accomplished in Sidereal years, long past, though none the less important on that account. Our own times, with the development prescribed for them, are symbolically represented in the two pairs of signs within the fixed cross, the Bull, the Lion, the Serpent and the Man.

For that reason the two pairs of opposites comprising the fixed signs, Taurus-Scorpio and Leo-Aquarius, are mentioned in the Bible, and we shall find that our modern systems of religion are full of allusions to the three pairs of opposites. Aquarius-Leo and the two adjacent pairs of signs, Aries-Libra and Pisces-Virgo. These three pairs of opposites are, as already stated, emblematic of the development in the entire Fifth Epoch. In the early third of this Epoch, the Sun by precession went through the sign Aries, the middle third of its find the Sun in Pisces, by precession, and during the last third the Sun will go through the sign Aquarius. Then the solstitial point Capricorn will see the inauguration of a new cycle or age.

The spiritual preparation for this development commenced about thirteen thousand B.C., when the Sun by precession, was in the sign Libra, the Balance, the last time. Different phases of this germinal impregnation of people then living were carried on during the precessional travel of the Sun through Virgo, Leo, and culminated in Cancer about eight thousand B.C. when the last of Atlantis was destroyed by water, substantially as related by the Egyptian priests to Plato. We shall see presently how the germinal ideals, given to humanity in those far, by-gone days have grown and flowered into factors of human development and spiritual standards of the greatest importance.

In the latter third of Atlantis, egoism had developed to a far greater degree than before, the spiritual sight had been lost by the large majority of the people who then lived entirely on the material plane and gloried particularly in their material possessions.

The Bull was very properly worshiped by them, being an emblem of strength necessary to conquer the material world. It was, on account of its prodigious strength, an invaluable aid in all their work. The proverb about "the flesh pots of Egypt" has remained illustrative to the present day, to show how abundantly that animal supplied their physical need of food, the milk of the female being also an important article of diet. The possession of many cattle was therefore ardently desired by the ancient infant nations, and the worship of the Bull was inaugurated under the solar precession through Taurus during earlier Great Sidereal Years, and continued to the comparatively modern times, when the Sun by precession went through the sign of the Celestial Bull for the last time.

At that point when the Sun entered the sign of the Lamb, Aries, the Fifth Epoch religions were inaugurated. The religion of the Lamb is to hold sway for the next Great Sidereal Year, while the Sun by precession passes around the twelve signs of the Zodiac, as the religion of the Bull has held sway during the previous celestial year from the time the Sun entered Taurus, until it left the same sign on its next passage.

New religions, however, are not revealed in their fullness at the beginning; they are started and go through a period of gestation long before the religion which they are to succeed ends its material existence, and similarly, an ancient religion about to be abrogated survives long after the religion which succeeds it has become the official source of upliftment for humanity. The original Semites, chosen to inaugurate the worship of the Lamb, Aries, during the Fifth Epoch, were taken from "Egypt," the home of the Bull "Taurus." Not our modern Egypt however. The story of Pharaoh, who endeavored to prevent their emigration and was drowned, has reference to Atlantis which was submerged thousands of years before Moses is supposed to have made his escape with the Israelites through the "Red Sea." The facts underlying the story are that a multitude of people left the land where the bull "Taurus" was worshiped, (Atlantis or Egypt) whose inhabitants were then drowned, to seek a "promised land" beyond the water which had engulfed an "ungodly nation." There they were dedicated to the worship of the "Lamb" Aries which had been slain in "Egypt" (Atlantis); through its blood these pioneers had been preserved from death, and it was thus "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the (present) World" which we call the Fifth Epoch. Noah's escape presents another phase of the same occurrence relating that the mists which had enveloped Atlantis condensed to rain, and flooded the basis of the earth, leaving a clear atmosphere in which the Rainbow was seen for the first time at the opening of the New Age, the Fifth Epoch, where a new Covenant was made with the pioneers of the polity then ushered in.

Atlantis was the home of the Bull, Taurus, and when the Sun, by precession, was leaving that sign the last time, the Religion of the Lamb Aries was definitely ushered in. Thenceforth, the worship of the Bull was abrogated and when any of the pioneer race, brought out from the ancient Atlantean dispensation by the blood of the Lamb, Aries, backslid and worshiped the Taurean "Calf," they acted contrary to the law of progress and were therefore "Idolaters".

Apart from the Astrological key, the Bible is truly a closed book, but with this key, the matter is different. In the Old Testament reference is made of two classes of animals: Bulls, which were Taurean, Sheep and Goats, which were Arian. These alone were used as Sacrifices. (Turtle doves were permitted as a concession to poverty). All the principal characters of the Old Dispensation were shepherds (Arian) and Christ also announces Himself as the Great Shepherd.

In the New Testament we find another animal, the Fish, attaining great prominence, and the apostles were called to be "Fishers of Men," for then the Sun by precession was nearing the cusp of Pisces, the Fishes, and Christ spoke of the time when the Son of Man (Aquarius) shall come. Thus our evolutionary journey is mapped out in the hidden astrological allusions of the Bible.

The student now has a line on the march of events, which it is well to keep in mind.

Jesus taught the multitudes in parables but explained the mysteries of the Kingdom to His disciples. Paul gave spiritual meat to the strong, but the milk of doctrine to the multitude, for there has always been an esoteric and an exoteric side to every religion. Taking Taurus, the sign of the Bull, to symbolize the worship of that animal as practiced in Egypt, Persia and other countries at that time, then we shall find that the opposite sign, Scorpio, symbolizes the esoteric doctrine of the priesthood, who were the guardians of the ancient Atlantean Mysteries.

In this connection we will note first that the sign Scorpio is represented in the pictorial Zodiac by a Scorpion or Serpent, and we wish to impress particularly on the student's mind that the Scorpion has its sting in the tail, while the Serpent has the venom in its teeth. This is very significant, as well shall see presently.

On looking up the word "serpent" in the Bible, we shall find that there are about seven words that have thus been translated; but one of them, which was borrowed from Egypt, is Naja. This word is found on the old tablets in the ancient temples of Egypt where Osiris, the Sun God, is hailed when arising from the primordial deep. He was then crowned with glory and has the Uraeus Naja, an emblem of cosmic wisdom. The Uraeus was a part of a serpent's body, with its head depicted as protruding from a point in the forehead just above the nose, where the Human Spirit has its seat; and Christ therefore referred to the ancient Serpent-Initiates, when He said: "Be ye wise as serpents."

In ancient Egypt the King wore a crown adorned by a double serpent, Uraeus or Naja, which seemed to protrude from his forehead when the crown was placed upon his head. This was to symbolize the fact that he held the double office of King and Priest by virtue of his sublime wisdom. In India, also, the guardians of the Mystery Teachings were called Nagas or Serpents. In the Icelandic "Eddas," the Northern Vedas, Siegfried, the truth seeker, slays the serpent, tastes of its blood and them becomes wise. Nor, to elaborate on the statement made above, is it necessary to go outside our own religion for proof that the serpent is the symbol of wisdom, for the Christ Himself said: "Be ye wise as serpents." The serpent is certainly not sufficiently sagacious to warrant a literal meaning of this saying; but when we understand that when the creative fire is drawn upwards through the serpentine spinal cord it vibrates the pituitary body and the pineal gland, connecting the Ego with the invisible worlds by opening up a hidden sense, the allusion is perfectly clear.

There is, however, a lower phase of spiritual development, symbolized in ancient times by placing the Uraeus or serpent at the naval, to show that the mediumistic faculties in the solar plexus had been developed. Mediumship is a negative phase of spiritual sight or hearing possessed by a person who, under the control of an outside intelligence, prophesies. This undesirable phase of seership was represented in the Zodiac by the symbol of the Scorpion, which has the sting in its tail. In the Serpent Initiate the Creative Cosmic Fire was drawn upward through the head to serve as a spiritual end; in the Medium the creative energy is expressed for selfish, sensual ends through the procreative organ ruled by Scorpio.

The point between the eyebrows, whence the serpent of wisdom protrudes, is the Seat of Life, whereas all that opens the womb is subject to the sting of death, contained in the Scorpion's tail.

If we now turn with this information to our Bible, we shall find that a great many things, previously obscure, will become clear. As said, the Egyptian word for this Uraeus or serpent is Naja and it was borrowed by the Israelites who expressed the negative faculty of mediumship by affixing the feminine ending "oth," giving Naioth; while those able to function consciously in the spiritual worlds were given the positive, make plural ending "im," and were called Naim. If we read the nineteenth chapter of first Samuel with this understanding we shall readily see that the incident there narrated was of a mediumistic nature. David had become afraid of Saul and he went with Samuel to "Naioth." This is supposed by Bible translators to be a place, and maybe a village was so named. But if that was the case, it was because the people who lived in that place were Naioth, or mediums. They were called prophets in the section before us, and it is significant that as soon as anyone came within their camp, he commenced to prophesy or speak under control. Even Saul, who came there, anxious to get David away that he might slay him, was seized by the spirits and prophesied, to the amazement of all present.

In the New Testament we are told that the Christ went to the city of Nain and there raised the son of a widow. In the Latin Testament, this city was not called Nain, but Naim. And it is very significant that all three, Naim, Naioth and Endor, where the sorceress that assisted Saul is supposed to have lived, are in the same locality by Mount Tabor.

Every Freemason knows that the brethren of that Order are called "Sons of the Widow." And it is stated in the Bible that Hiram Abiff, the Master Builder of Solomon's Temple, was the Son of a Widow, a cunning craftsman. We cannot in the present article repeat the Masonic Legend which tells the reason why. This we have given the book on "Freemasonry and Catholicism" and also in our books on the Rosicrucian Philosophy. But suffice it to say that in the Bible story to which reference has been made, we have one of the Naim, a Widow's Son or initiate of the old Serpent School, for the priests of Egypt were "Phree Messen", children of light. Each had within, the ancient Serpent Wisdom. But a new religion was being inaugurated, and it was necessary to raise the ancient Initiates to the Mysteries of the Coming Age. Therefore the Christ, the Lion of Judah, Lord of the New Kingdom, went to the widow's Son of Naim and raised him up by the strong grip of the Lion's paw. And we may here emphasize that the first Initiate under the new system was Hiram Abiff, the highest Initiate of the old system, who by this new initiation given him by the Christ, became a Christian, pledged to bear the rose and the cross, which were the symbols of the New Mystery Teachings of the Western World and he was then given the symbolical name, Christian Rosenkreuz.

Thus from the time when the Sun entered the sign Aries by precession, it became a crime for the chosen people to worship the bull exoterically, or to partake of the esoteric Serpent wisdom. And for a similar reason it is idolatry when people of the west take up the eastern religions. Hinduism, Buddhism and kindred teachings. For in the Fifth Epoch, only the post-Atlantean Religions, the religions of the Lamb, have the proper effect on the human evolution. All previous systems are detrimental to the Western people; and in time those also who are now in the East, will be forced to embrace this religion, or be left far behind in evolution.

The Fifth Epoch may be divided into three eras; but they are all served by the religion of the Lamb. The first division covers the time when the Sun, by precession, went through the sign Aries, the Lamb. Jesus was born when the Vernal equinox was in about seven degrees of Aries; so the twenty-three degrees which lie on the other side belong to the Old Testament period, when the chosen people were in captivity and lost in the wilderness of the world; the new religion had not then found its place. Then the Christ came and inaugurated this new teaching definitely. He came not to destroy the old prophecies and the law, but to give us something higher when they shall have been fulfilled. The sign opposite Aries is Libra, the scales or balance of Justice; and therefore we are told in the new religion that there will come a day of judgment, when Christ shall appear to give to every man according to the deeds done in the body.

Christ was the Great Shepherd, but He called His disciples to be "fishers of men," for the Sun by precession was then leaving the sign of the Lamb and entering Pisces, the sign of the fishes. Therefore a new phase of the Fifth Epoch religions was opening up. The Bishop's mitre is also in the form of a fish's head.

The New Testament, therefore, does not mention the Bull or the Lamb, but references to the fishes are numerous. We also found the celestial virgin prominent and the wheat ear of Virgo is the Bread of Life, to be gained only through immaculate purity. Thus Christ fed the multitude of fish (Pisces) and loaves (Virgo).

Before the time of Christ, the new religion of the Lamb (Aries), could get no foothold. Moses, the erstwhile leader, could not bring the chosen people to the "promised land." That was reserved for Joshua, the son of Nun. Joshua is the Hebraic for "Jesus" and the Hebrew word for "Nun" means "fish" (Pisces). It was thus foretold that the religion of the Lamb would attain prominence during the precessional passage of the Sun through the sign Pisces, the fishes.

This prophecy has been fulfilled, for during the two thousand years which have elapsed since the birth of Jesus, the Western religion has been taught by a celibate priesthood, worshiping an immaculate virgin, symbolized by the celestial sign Virgo, which is the opposite of Pisces. This same priesthood has also enjoined the eating of fish and forbidden the use of flesh on certain days. When the children of Israel left the flesh pots of Egypt, where the Bull was slain, they left it by the blood of the Lamb. But in the Piscean dispensation no shedding of blood is enjoined and flesh eating is condemned as a sin at certain times, for man is now taught to forsake the lusts of the flesh and also lusting after the flesh.

This ideal was tried under the post-Atlantean dispensation, when the chosen people were yet in the Wilderness, so called, but without success; they would not have the heavenly manna. Now, however, man is being weaned from the cannibalistic practice, and in the seven hundred years which remain before the Aquarian age is definitely ushered in, we will, in all probability, have made great strides, both in overcoming the lust of the flesh and the lust after the flesh. For Virgo, the immaculate celestial virgin, and the ears of wheat contained in the sign, show both these ideals as profitable to soul growth at the present time. Jupiter, the planet of benevolence and philanthropy, which rules Pisces, has been a prominent factor in promoting altruism during the past two millenniums.

It is often said, and rightly so, that the boy is father of the man. And on the same principle we may say that the Son of Man is the Super-Man; therefore, when the Sun by precession enters the celestial sign Aquarius, the water-bearer we shall have a new phase of the religion of the Lamb, exoterically; and the ideal to be striven for is shown in the opposite sign, Leo.

The Moon, which is the habitat of the autocratic Race Ruler and Lawgiver, Jehovah, is exalted in Taurus, the sign of the Bull, and all Race religions, even the Mosaic phase of the Fith Epoch religion of the Lamb, demanded a sacrificial victim for every transgression of that law. But the Sun is exalted in Aries, and when the great Sun spirit, Christ, came as High Priest of the Fifth Epoch religion, He abrogated sacrifice of others by offering up Himself as a perpetual sacrifice for sin.

By looking to the mother ideal of Virgo during the Piscean Age, and following the Christ's example of sacrificial service, the immaculate conception becomes an actual experience to each of us, and Christ, the Son of Man, Aquarius, is born within us. Thus, gradually, the third phase of the Fifth Epoch religion will be ushered in and a new ideal will be found in the Lion of Judah, Leo. Courage of conviction, strength of character and kindred virtues will then make man truly the King of Creation, worthy of the trust and the confidence of the lower orders of life as well as the love of the Divine Hierarchs above.

This, the mystic message of Man's evolution, is marked in flaming characters upon the field of Heaven, where he who runs may read. And when we study the revealed purpose of God, we shall in turn learn to conform intelligently to that design, thereby hastening the day of emancipation from our present cramped environment to the perfect liberty of free Spirits, risen superior to the law of Sin and Death, through Christ, the Lord of Love and Life.

It is for us to decipher this message, and solve the Riddle of the Universe.

It is a mystic maxim that the lower in the scale of evolution a being is placed the more certainly it responds to the planetary rays, and conversely the higher we ascend in the scale of attainment the more the man conquers and rules his stars, freeing himself from the leading strings of the Divine Hierarchies. This yoke was not, however, placed upon man in order to restrain him needlessly; but just as we in our ordinary life restrain a child from doing things in ignorance, which would hurt it, and maybe cripple it for life, so also we are restrained by the Divine Hierarchies through the planetary aspects in such a manner that we do not hurt ourselves beyond recovery in the experiences of life.

But coupled with this guidance there is of course the measure of Free Will, which grows as we evolve. The child in our midst has really very little free will, being the subject not only to its parents but to the servants, if such there be in the household, and to everybody with whom it is associated, all exercising control over it for its own good. As the child grows, this measure of restraint is by degrees relaxed, and in the course of years the child will learn to exercise its free will. This method has been followed by the Divine Hierarchies in the case of man. Infant humanity was absolutely guided by Divine rules without having any Will at all; "Thus shalt thou do, or not do," were injunctions laid upon them which must be implicitly obeyed, otherwise the Divine displeasure was at once shown by such strenuous manifestations as appealed to infant humanity's mind, namely, lightning, thunder, earth-quakes and great visitations of plagues. This was for their collective guidance, for individual restraint there were strict laws, commandments and ordinances. Tribute must be paid continually to the Divine Leader and offered up on the altar as sacrifices, and for every offense against the law a certain sacrifice of material goods must be made. Fear was the dominant keynote of that dispensation: for "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of righteousness." This regime was carried on under the planetary conditions of Mars and the Moon. Mars, being the home of the dominant Lucifer Spirits, gave to mankind the energy necessary that evolution may be accomplished; this martial energy was of the very greatest importance, particularly of course in the earlier stages. The Moon, which is the home of the Angels, under their Divine Leader Jehovah, gave to infant humanity that child-like brain-mind which is amenable to rulership, and bends itself readily before authority.

These with Saturn were the only planetary rays which affected mankind as a whole during the Lemurian Epoch, and if a horoscope were erected for any of the people who lived then, it would be unnecessary to enter the places of the other planets, because they could not respond to their rays. Even today a great part of mankind has not evolved very far beyond that point, a large class, particularly among those we speak of as the lower races, and many individuals in the western world being dominated principally by these planetary rays. Under their impulses they act with automatic certainty in a specific manner, and it is possible to predict exactly what they will do under a certain aspect of these planets, because they live entirely in their emotions and are scarcely, if at all, responsive to the intellectual vibrations of Mercury. Neither can they appreciate such emotions as signified by Venus or its octave Uranus; they respond solely to the lower nature, the animal passions. They move under the impulses of Mars and the Moon respecting sex and sustenance. Their pleasures are of the lowest and most sensual nature, they live like animals altogether in the physical, and their creed is "eat, drink and be merry." Their desires run chiefly to "wine and women," for they have not as yet awakened to the charm of song; Neither has beauty had a chance to enchant the savage heart at this stage of development for that comes from the Venus rays which are beyond such people. Woman is to the man of that stage only a beast of burden and a convenience.

Meanwhile "Father Time" represented by the planet Saturn, keeps the score, and wields over them the whiplash of necessity to drive them forward on this evolutionary path, meting out to each the fruits of his labor at the harvest time between lives. When the man has cultivated the savage virtues of bravery, physical endurance, etc., he dreams in the post-mortem existence of new field to conquer, and sees where he was lacking and why his desires were frustrated because of lack of implements. Gradually the constructive martial ray and the Saturn cunning fertilize the lunar brain which he is building, so that in time he learns to make the crude implements necessary for the attainment of his primitive ambitions. Even today we see the same cunning traits of character, the same crude crafts displayed in and by the lower races for the purpose of irrigating land, mining ores or milling grain. All those earliest implements were the result of the planetary rays of Saturn, Moon and Mars, impinging on the primitive brain of infant humanity.

A little further along the path of evolution, in the Atlantean epoch, the Lords of Venus and the Lords of Mercury came to the earth for the purpose of giving a further impulse to the mental and emotional development. It was the task of Venus to combat the lower emotions and raise the brutish animal passion of Mars to the softer and more beautiful Venus-love. She was to add beauty to strength, and to attain that ideal the Lords of Venus fostered the plastic arts, painting and sculpture. These were not taught men of the general public at that time; the ideals which are to be developed in a race are always first taught to the most advanced ones in a mystery temple, and at that time initiation included no spiritual instruction, but consisted of an education in the liberal arts. Sculpture taught how the beautiful may be incorporated in physical form. It called attention to the body and idealized the softly curved lines. The result is now incorporated in an entire race, for it should be thoroughly understood that in an mystery school an ideal is not taught today simply to be forgotten tomorrow or in the next generation, but ideals are inculcated so that in time they may become a part of the very life, soul and body of the race.

It may be objected that we are degenerating compared with what is shown in the Hellenic Arts, but that is positively not so; it is rather that we have not yet attained to that highest ideal. In ancient Greece the mystery temples occupied a much more prominent position than today; the beautiful form was idolized to the detriment of the mind notwithstanding the fact that Greece had a Plato and a Socrates. The Lords of Mercury who had charge of the development of mind, at the time when the Lords of Venus exercised their great influence on the emotions, had not then been able to make a universally strong impression on the early humanity. We are well aware even today that it hurts to think, but it is easy to follow the emotions. At the present time the middle class of the West is much further advanced than the ancient Greeks because of the influence of these two planetary rays in our lives. Woman naturally excels in the highly imaginative Venus faculty, because of her part in the creative function which aids in molding the body of the race. On that account her figure has the graceful curves which naturally express beauty, while man has the worldly-wise intellect fostered by the Lords of Mercury, and is the exponent of reason, the creative agency of physical progress in the world's work.

We always long for, admire, and aspire to what we lack. In days of savagery when kicks and cuffs were her daily fare woman longed for a caress from her lord. The Venus ray gave her beauty and made her an adept in the feminine arts which have conquered the masculine heart, so that now man plays the role of protector on the plea that woman is not mentally competent meanwhile he is becoming that which he admires in her; he is more gentle and kind, Venus is conquering Mars, but the Mercury delusion of intellectual superiority needs another influence to conquer it. And this, woman is now supplying by her aspiration. As she mastered martial brutality by Venus beauty, so also, will she free herself from Mercurial bondage by Uranian intuition.

To primitive man, driven by the whip-lash of Saturnine necessity, when not by the animal lust and passions of Mars and the Moon, the world looks gloomy. Fear is the key-note of his existence: fear of animals; fear of other men; fear of the nature forces; fear of everything around him. He must ever be watchful and on the alert, vigilance is eternally the price of safety. But when evolution makes him amenable to the influences of Venus and Mercury; they will soften his emotions and brighten the mentality; he begins to regard love and reason as factors in life. The Sun also begins to brighten his outlook upon life, and sunshine in the nature of man during this phase of his evolution partly dispels the gloom of Saturn. Thus, by degrees, as man evolves and becomes responsive to the music of the spheres, one string after another in the celestial harp strikes the kindred chord in the human soul and makes him amenable to its vibrations, so that as a tuning fork which is struck, awakens the music in other tuning forks of even pitch within reasonable distance, so the planets in our solar system have in evolutionary succession struck various chords that have found an echo in the human heart.

But the strings on the celestial Lyre of Apollo are not all in harmony, some are in actual discord, and while man responds to some he must necessarily remain, at least partially, unresponsive to others. In fact, before it is possible to respond perfectly to the rays of Venus it is necessary for man to conquer Mars to a considerable degree, and bring him under control so that certain undesirable martial traits in his nature will be kept in the background, while others, which may be valuable, are retained. The Venus love which is willing to give all for the loved ones cannot dwell side by side in the heart with the Mars ray which demands all for self. Therefore the savage must learn to conquer himself in a certain measure before he may become the more civilized family man of modern times. Under the unrestrained passionate rays of Mars and the Moon, parents bring children into the world and leave them to take care of themselves almost as animals do, for they are products of animal passion. The females are brought and sold as a horse or cow or else taken by force and carried away. Even so late as the medieval dark ages, the knight often carried away his bride by force of arms, practically in the same manner that the male animals battle for the possession of the female at mating time.

Thus we see that the first step toward civilization requires that a man conquer one or more of the planets to a certain degree at least. Unbridled passion such as generated by the primitive Mars rays is no more permissible under the regime of modern civilization, neither is the tenet that "might is right" any longer admissible, save in wars when we return to barbarism. The Mars quality of physical prowess, that at one time made it a virtue to attack others and take away property, is no longer admired in the individual. It is punished by various means, according to law, though it is still effective as far as nations are concerned, who go to war under this primitive impulse for purposes of territorial aggrandizement. However, as said, Mars has been conquered to a great degree in civil and social life in order that the Venus love might take the place of the Mars passion.

As previously noted, the children of primitive man were left to their own resources, as soon as they had been taught to defend themselves in physical warfare. With the advent of Mercury another method is observable. The battle of life nowadays, is no longer fought with physical weapons alone. Brain, rather than brawn determines success. Therefore the period of education has been lengthened as mankind advanced, and it aims principally at mental accomplishments because of the Mercurial rays which accompany the Venus development of modern civilization. Thus man sees nature from a more sunny side when he has learned to respond to the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Moon and Saturn, even if only in a very slight measure.

But although these various stages of evolution have gradually brought man under the dominance of a number of planetary rays, the development has been one-sided, for it has aimed to foster interest solely in things over which he has a proprietary right: His business, his house, his family, his cattle, farm, etc., are all vitally important, and must be taken care of. His possessions must be increased, if possible, no matter what happens to the possessions, family, etc., belonging to anyone else, that not being his concern. But before he can reach to a higher stage of evolution it is necessary that this desire to appropriate the earth, and retain it for himself if possible, must give way to a desire to benefit his fellowmen. In other words, Egoism must give way to Altruism, and just as Saturn by yielding the whip lash of necessity over him in his primitive days brought him up to his present point of civilization, so also Jupiter, the planet of altruism, is destined to raise him from the state of man to superman where he will come under the Uranian ray in respect to his emotional nature, where passion generated by Mars will be replaced by Compassion, and where the childlike consciousness of Lunar origin will be replaced by a Cosmic consciousness of the Neptunian ray. Therefore the advent into our lives of the Jupiterian ray marks a very distinct advance in the human development. As taught in the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, we are to advance from our present Earth period into the Jupiter period, and therefore the Jupiterian ray marks that high stage of altruism which will then be a prominent factor in our relations, one with the other, and it will be readily understood that before we can really respond to the rays of Jupiter we must in a measure cultivate altruism, and conquer the egoism that comes through the Mercurial reasoning power. We have learned to conquer some of the phases of Mars and the Moon, we may have also learned to conquer some of the lower phases of Mercury and Venus; the more we have overcome these the better we shall be able to respond to the highest vibratory forces emanating from these planets; yes, if we strive earnestly we shall some day be able to overcome even the highest stage of the Venus love, that always attaches itself to an object which is owned by us. We love our children because they are ours; we love our husbands and wives because they belong to us; we take pride, Venusian pride, in their moral characteristics or Mercurial pride in their accomplishments; but Christ set a higher standard: "Unless a man leave his father and mother he can not be my disciple." The idea that we should neglect our fathers and mothers or that we must hate them in order to follow Him was far from His mind, of course, but father and mother are only bodies; the soul that inhabits this body of the father and mother is to be loved, not the mere physical garment. Our love should be the same whether the person is old or young, ugly or beautiful. We should look for the beauty of the soul, for the universal relationship of all souls and not mind so much the relationship of the bodies. "Who are my mother and my brothers," said the Christ, and pointed to his disciples, those who were at one with Him in His great work. They were closer to Him than any brother could be on account of mere physical relationship. This attitude constitutes an upward step from the Venus love which places the emphasis on the physical garments of the love ones and leaves out of consideration the soul that is within. The Jupiterian love on the other hand takes cognizance only of the soul, regardless of the body it wears. The Mercurial or reasoning phase of mentality is also changed by response to the altruistic Jupiter. Cold calculation is out of the question. One who feels the expansive ray of Jupiter is big hearted where his emotions are concerned, his love; big hearted where all things of the world are concerned. "A jovial fellow," is an apt expression. He is welcomed and love by everyone he meets because he radiates not the common selfishness, but a desire to benefit others that breeds in us a feeling of trust, diametrically opposed to the sense of distrust we instinctively feel when we come in contact with a Saturn-Mercury man.

It is a matter of actual experience to astrologers endowed with spiritual sight that every man's planetary rays produce certain colors in his aura, in addition to the basic color which is the stamp of the race to which the man belongs. The man with the thin, sickly blues of a commingled Saturn and Mercury, is to be pitied rather than censured for the avarice and gloom which are his constant attitude of mind; he sees everything in the world through the auric mirror which he has created around himself; he feels that the world is cold, hard and selfish, that therefore it is necessary for him to be more selfish and more cold in order that he may protect himself. On the other hand, when we see the divine blue ray of Jupiter tinted with perhaps the fine gold of the Uranian nature we realize how differently such an exalted individual must view the world from the other's sordid way of seeing things. Even those who have the faintest Jupiterian tinge are in a world filled with sunshine, flowers blooming, everything in nature gay and glad. Any by looking at the world through such an atmosphere they call forth from other sources a similar response, as the tuning fork previously mentioned generates a vibration in another of an even pitch.

After what has been said it will not be difficult to understand that the Uranian characteristics, where love becomes compassion, give wisdom that is not dependent upon reasoning, a love that is not fixed upon one object alone, but includes all that "lives and moves and has its being" being similar to the characteristics that are to be evolved by humanity during the Venus period when perfect love shall have cast out all fear, when man shall have conquered all the lower phases of his nature and love shall be as pure as it is universally inclusive.

When these Uranian vibrations are felt by advance in the higher life through aspiration, there is great danger that we may throw away the fetters of law and convention before we are really ready to govern ourselves by the law of Love divine, that we may disregard the laws that are in the world, that we may not render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, whether in obedience or coin, that we may not be careful of avoiding the appearance of evil, that we may think that we have so far transcended the ordinary stage of humanity that we can live as super-humans, that the passion of Mars has in our cases been changed to Uranian compassion, which is sexless. Under such misapprehensions, many people who endeavor to tread the path disregard the laws of marriage and enter into relationships as soulmates and affinities. They feel the Uranian ray, but cannot quite respond to its sublime purity, therefore they experience a counterfeit Venusian sensation which usually ends in adultery and sex-perversion, so that instead of the natural animal passion of Mars having been transmuted to the compassion of Uranus it has as a matter of fact, degenerated into something that is far worse than the fullest sex expression of the martial rays committed in a frank and proper manner. This is a danger that cannot be too strictly guarded against and it behooves every one who endeavors to live the higher life not to try to aspire to the Uranian rays until he at first becomes thoroughly imbued with the altruistic vibrations of Jupiter, for more misery is brought into the world by those who have aspired too high and fallen low, than by those who are not sufficiently aspiring. "Pride goeth before a fall," is an ancient and very true proverb, which it behooves every one of us to take to heart. The Christ took part in the marriage at Cana. Marriage is a regular Christian institution, and must exist until abolished in the kingdom to come; there the bodies we have will not wear out and therefore there will be no need of marriage to generate new ones.

Let it also be understood that the minister who marries cannot truly mate people, therefore the presence of the basic harmony for true marriage should be determined before the marriage ceremony.

As we have seen in the foregoing, Mars, Venus and Uranus mark three stages in the emotional development of man. During the stage where he is only amenable to Mars, animal passion reigns supreme and he seeks unrestricted gratification of all his lower desires in the intercourse with his fellowman but particularly with the opposite sex; during the stage where he becomes amenable to the rays of Venus, love softens the brutality of his desires and the animal passions are somewhat held in leash, he is even, under the higher phases of this planet, ready to sacrifice himself and his desires for the benefit and comfort of the loved ones. When he has evolved to the point where he can feel the rays of Uranus, the passion of Mars gradually turns to compassion; there the love of Venus which is only for one particular person, becomes all inclusive so that it embraces all humankind regardless of sex or any other distinction, for it is the divine love of soul for soul which is above all material considerations of whatever nature.

The mentality also evolves through three stages according to the amenability of the person to the vibrations of the Moon, Mercury and Neptune. While man is only amenable to the lunar influence, he is childlike and easily guided by the higher powers, which have led him through the various stages mentioned in our previous sections. Under the stellar ray of Mercury he gradually develops his intellectual powers and becomes a reasoning being. As such, he is placed under the law of cause and effect, made responsible for his own actions, so that he may reap what he has sown and learn thereby the lessons that human life has to teach him under the present regime. Being inexperienced, he makes mistakes in whatever direction indicated by the afflictions to Mercury in his horoscope and consequently he suffers a corresponding penalty of sorrow and trouble. If he has not the mentality to reason on the connection between this mistakes and the sad experiences growing from them, during his life times, the panorama of life, which unfolds in the post-mortem state, makes this clear,and leaves with him an essence of "right feeling" which we know as "conscience."

This conscience keeps him from repeating past mistakes, when the feeling generated has become sufficiently strong to overbalance the tendency to yield to the particular temptation which caused him suffering. Thus he gradually develops a spiritual consciousness which is above and beyond human reason, but which nevertheless is also connected with reason in such a manner that when the result has been reached, the man who has this Cosmic Consciousness knows the reason why such and such a thing is and must be, or why he ought to take a certain action. This Cosmic Consciousness is developed under the ray of Neptune and differs from that intuitional right feeling developed under the ray of Uranus in the very important fact that while the person who has developed the Uranian quality of intuition arrives at the truth instantaneously without the necessity of thinking over the matter or reasoning, he is unable to give anything but the result; he cannot connect the various steps of logical sequence whereby the final result was reached. The man or woman, however, who develops the Neptunian faculty, also has the answer of any question immediately and is able to tell the reason why that answer is the proper and right one.

The faculty of intuition built up from the Martial base of passion, through the Venusian stage of love, and the Uranian rays of compassion, depends upon the ability of the person involved to feel very intensely. By love and devotion, the heart is attuned to every other heart in the universe and in this way it knows and feels all that may be known and felt by any other heart in the universe, thus sharing the divine omniscience that binds Our Father in Heaven to His children and through the direct heart to heart touch with that omniscience the person obtains the answers to whatever problem is placed before him.

The noblest men of all ages, Christian saints of the most transcendent spirituality, have attained their wonderful development through the spiritual rays of this planet because of the intense feeling of Oneness with the divine and with all that lives and breathes in the universe.

But there are others who are not thus constituted and they are not able to walk that path. These, through the Moon, Mercury and Neptune have developed their intellect and attained the same results plus the Neptunian power of idealization.

This is a very important point and it is only brought out in the Mystic Christian Teachings, for while it was formally taught that the spirit involves itself in matter and thereby crystallizes itself into form which then evolves, the Mystic Christian Teachings tell us that there is in addition a third factor in universal advancement, namely, Epigenesis; the faculty whereby the spirit may choose a course that is altogether new and independent of what has gone before.

We see the expression of this in all kingdoms relative to form, but in the human kingdom, epigenesis expresses itself as genius, a creative instinct, which makes man more akin to the divine than any other of his accomplishments. This is developed under the Neptune ray when that planet is well placed in the horoscope. There is of course also such a thing as an evil genius, a destructive faculty developed under an afflicted Neptune.

Only the most sensitive people in the world feel the rays of Uranus and Neptune at the present time. To feel these vibrations the connection between the dense physical body and the vital body, which is made of ether must be rather loose for where these two vehicles are firmly interlocked the person is always of a materialistic turn, and cannot respond to the higher and more subtle vibrations from the spiritual world. But when the stellar rays from these two planets impinge upon a person whose vital body is loosely connected with the physical, we have what is called a sensitive. The direction and quality of this faculty depends upon the placement and the aspects of the two planets mentioned, however. Those who are particularly under the domination of an adverse aspect of the Uranian ray, usually develop the more undesirable phases of clairvoyance and mediumship. They easily become the prey of entities from the invisible world who have no regard for their victims' desire, even if in a weak manner these should protest. Such mediums are generally used in simple trance communications and in a few cases known to the writer have lived very beautiful and happy lives because of implicit belief in the spirits that dominated them. In these cases the spirit-controls were of a better class than usually met with. But as this Uranian faculty is built up through Mars and Venus, passion is prominent in such natures and under the influence of obsessing spirits many of these people are driven into gross immorality. Vampirism and kindred disreputable practices are also engendered by the perverse use of the Uranian ray in mediums.

Neptune may be said to represent the invisible worlds in more positive aspects and those who come under the evil rays of this planet are therefore brought in touch with the most undesirable occupants of the invisible worlds. Actual obsession whereby the owner of a body is deprived of his vehicle takes place under the ray of Neptune and no materializing séance could ever be held if it were not for this stellar vibration. Magic, white or black can never be put to practical use save under and because of this Neptunian vibration. Apart from this ray it will remain theory, speculation and book learning. Therefore the Initiates of every Mystery School, Spiritual Seers who have full control of their faculty, and Astrologers are amenable in varying degrees to the ray of Neptune. The Black Magician and the Hypnotist, who is a twin brother to him, are also dependent upon the power of this stellar ray for use in their nefarious practices.

The highest human development at the present time, namely, the soul unfoldment which is undertaken in the mystery temples through initiation, is directly the result of the Neptune ray, for just as evil configurations lay men liable to assault by invisible entities, so the good configurations of Neptune are particularly required to enable a man to unfold by initiation his whole soul powers and become a conscience agent in the invisible worlds. Let us remember, however, that good or evil configurations are not the result of chance or luck, but are the product of our own past acts; the horoscope shows what we have earned by our past living and therefore what we are entitled to in the present life.

Moreover it should always be kept in mind that the stars impel but do not compel; because a man or woman has an evil configuration of Neptune or Uranus it is not unavoidable that they should go into active evil Mediumship and Black Magic and thereby makes life harder for themselves in the future. Their opportunity to do so and the temptation will come at certain times when the heavenly time markers point to the right hour on the clock of destiny. Then it is time to stand firm for the good and for the right; being forewarned through a knowledge of Astrology one is also forearmed and may the easier overcome when such an aspect culminates.

Thus we have seen that man is amenable to the planetary rays in an increasing measure as he advances through evolution, but the more highly he becomes developed spiritually the less he will allow the planets to dominate him, while the younger soul is driven unresistingly along the tide of life in whatever direction of the planetary vibrations impel him. It is the mark of the advanced soul that he keeps the true course regardless of the planetary vibrations. Between these two extremes there are naturally all graduations, some amenable to the rays of one planet, some to another. The bark of life of men and women is often driven upon the rocks of sorrow and suffering, that they may learn to evolve within themselves the will power that finally frees them from all domination by the ruling stars. As Goethe, the great mystic, said,

"From every power that holds the world in chains,
Man frees himself when self-control he gains."

And it may be asked, have we run the gamut of vibrations when we have learned to respond to all the seven planets which are mythically represented as the seven strings on Apollo's Lyre? In other words is Neptune the highest vibration to which we shall yet respond? The Mystic Christian Teachings tell us that there are two more planets in the universe which will be known in future ages and that these will have an influence in developing qualities of so transcendent a nature that we cannot now understand them. The number of Adam, man or humanity, is nine, and there are nine rungs upon the stellar ladder by which he is ascending to God; up to the present time he has climbed only five of these rungs; Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and not even the vibration of these has he by any means learned; Uranus and Neptune are slowly coming into our lives; they will not become active in the same manner and to the same degree that for instance, the Moon and Mars are at the present time until many ages have passed. But even when we have learned to respond to them there are two more which we shall know something later on; it is the opinion of the writers that these are probably not felt by any except those who have graduated from the Greater Mystery School and by the Hierophants of that sublime institution.

In conclusion to this article on the Amenability of Man to Planetary Vibrations we quote from the Rosicrucian Mysteries the article on Light, Color and Consciousness.

"Truly, God Is One and Undivided. He enfolds within His Being all that is, as the white light embraces all colors. But He appears three-fold in manifestation, as the white light is refracted in three primary colors, Blue, Yellow and Red. Wherever we see these colors they are emblematical of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three primary rays of Divine Life are diffused or radiated through the Sun and produce Life, Consciousness and Form upon each of the seven light bearers, the planets, which are called the 'Seven Spirits before the Throne.' Their names are, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. Bode's law proves that Neptune does not yet belong to our solar system and the reader is referred to 'Simplified, Scientific Astrology' by the present writer, for mathematical demonstration of this condition.

"Each of the seven planets receives the light of the Sun in a different measure, according to its proximity to the central orb and the constitution of its atmosphere, and the beings on each, according to their stage of development have affinity for some of the solar rays. The planets absorb the color or colors congruous to them, and reflect the rest upon the other planets. This reflected ray bears with it an impulse of the nature of the beings with which it has been in contact.

"Thus the divine Light and Life comes to each planet, either directly from the Sun, or reflected from its six sister planets, and as the summer breeze which has been wafted over blooming fields carries upon its silent, invisible wings the blended fragrance of a multitude of flowers, so also the subtle influences from the Garden of God bring to us the commingled impulses of all the Planetary Spirits and in that vari-colored light we live and move and have our being.

"The rays which come directly from the Sun are productive of spiritual illumination; the reflected rays from other planets make for added consciousness and moral development and the rays reflected by way of the Moon give physical growth.

"But as each planet can only absorb a certain quantity of one or more colors according to the general stage of evolution there, so each being upon earth, mineral, plant, animal and man can only absorb and thrive upon a certain quantity of the various rays projected upon the earth. The remainder do not affect it or produce sensation any more than the blind are conscience of the light and color which exist everywhere around them. Therefore each being is differently affected by the stellar rays, and the science of Astrology, a fundamental truth in nature is of enormous benefit in the attainment of spiritual growth."

Have you ever looked through a kaleidoscope at the patterns formed there by the many little pieces of varicolored glass, and noticed how the slightest disturbance of the position changes the pattern? Also, do you realize that it would be impossible, or almost so, to duplicate any pattern, no matter how much you were to turn; there is such a variety of effect. Similarly when you look into the heavens night after night you will notice changes among the planets, in fact such is the variety of changes that occur among them that it would be impossible to duplicate the position which they hold relatively to one another while you are reading this, for almost twenty-six thousand years. Thus in the planetary kaleidoscope there is, we might say, an infinity of patterns. When we realize that human beings are entering the world constantly and that each being is stamped at the first complete breath with the planetary pattern then in the sky, everyone must necessarily be different from everyone else. Nor should this statement about stellar influence create doubt when we consider that wireless waves of different lengths and different pitch sent out from a tiny man-made contrivance can make themselves felt and can register by mechanical operations involving expenditure of energy thousands of miles from their source. The planetary vibrations from those great orbs in the heavens make themselves felt millions of miles away as surely, as easily, and with equal certainty. We know that the angle of the solar ray determines whether it is winter or summer. We also know the effect of the Moon upon the waters, and it is within the experience of all that we feel more buoyant when the atmosphere is clear and dry than when it is moist and murky. And what determines these atmospheric conditions but the planets, the circling stars?

When we look up at this planetary kaleidoscope from time to time we see in the heavens various configurations which are pronounced lucky or unlucky according to whether they are formed between so-called benefics alone, such as Venus, Jupiter and the Sun, or planets said to be malefic such as Saturn, Mars or Uranus. When Jupiter and Venus are in close conjunction near the mid-heaven, it is a foregone conclusion that those who come into the world under this configuration will enjoy a measure of good fortune far above the average, and such persons would therefore be considered "lucky" in the extreme. On the other hand there are times when Saturn and Mars occupy the zenith position for souls that are born to suffer.

But why should one suffer and another be born under a lucky star? Why do the stars give good fortune to one and misfortune to others, and if we are born to "luck": whether good or bad, what is the use or where is the incentive to individual effort? If there is a law of nature which is established beyond doubt it is surely the law of Cause and Effect. Every cause must produce an adequate effect and nothing which we see as an effect can be without a pre-existent cause. Moreover, if this is a universal law it must apply to the conditions of birth as well as to subsequent life. Following up this idea the next question is: If our birth under a lucky or unlucky star is the effect of some prior cause, what may that be, or where and how was that cause generated? To that there can be only one answer; that we must have made the causes in some previous existence which now result in our birth under a lucky or an unlucky star. Thus by induction a belief in Astrology requires also a belief in a previous existence as well as in future lives, for while we are now reaping in our horoscopes the effects of our past lives we are also by out acts laying the foundations for a new horoscope which can only be worked out in a future life.

"How closely luck is linked to merit
Does never to the fool occur;
Had he the wise man's stone, I swear it,
The stone had no philosopher,"

said Mephisto sarcastically in "Faust" and it is true. If we are born under a lucky star it shows that we have earned good fortune thereby indicated, by forethought, kindness, and our other virtues expressed in previous lives, for we cannot have friends unless we are friendly ourselves. If we happen to have Saturn and Mars instead of Venus and Jupiter near zenith, it shows that in the past we ourselves have not been kindly and friendly or we could not now express the opposite traits. But this is just the point where the study of Astrology should help us. It shows our limitations for the present and it points out the obvious remedies and how to build for the future. Can the leopard change its skin? No. Can the lion cease to prey? Absolutely impossible. Can the flower cease to bloom or the mineral to crystallize? Certainly not; because they are under laws which are as unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians. They have neither choice nor prerogative but must obey the dictates of the group spirit which guides them along their path of evolution. But in this respect we differ radically from those lower kingdoms, we have both choice and prerogative. We may do whatsoever we will and that is a factor which is never shown in the horoscope, a factor that may be made to play an all important role in every life. It is not enough to be born under a lucky star to have a lucky life, for the horoscope shows only the tendencies and the person who is so well endowed will without questions have an abundance of opportunities to make his life fortunate in the very highest degree. But only in so far as he exerts himself to grasp opportunity on the wing, will that which is foreshadowed in his horoscope come to pass. And similarly with the person who is afflicted by the conjunction of two malefics in the mid-heaven or anywhere else in the horoscope. By his will, and the exercise of choice, which are his divine birthrights, he may rule his stars and make of the unlucky horoscope a fruitful life from a far higher standpoint than the other. The bark that has been tossed by the tempest harbors a joy when the haven of safety is reached that is not equaled on the ship that has always sailed on smiling seas.

"Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
Who never passed the midnight hours
Weeping, waiting for the morrow,
He knows not yet ye heavenly powers."

From the higher standpoint those who are living in the lap of luxury are to be pitied when their lucky stars give them all the good things of this world and cause them to forget that they are stewards and that the day is coming when their souls shall be required of them with an accounts of their stewardship. They shall then be forced to confess that they have failed to use the substance entrusted to them in the proper manner; while others under the strain and stress of life, expressed by the horoscopical squares and oppositions, have wrung from their unlucky stars a measure of victory. What wonder then if the king's messengers, the circling stars, take from the unfaithful steward that which he had and give to the other, changing the latter's adversity to prosperity in later lives. Thus the pendulum of luck and loss, success and failure swings through many lives till we learn to make our own "luck" by ruling our stars.

"A god can love without cessation,
But under laws of alteration
We mortals need, in changing measure,
Our share of pain as well as pleasure."

And it is this necessity for change that is ministered unto us by the circling stars which form configurations that we call good or evil, though they are neither from a higher standpoint; for no matter how good the horoscope, by progression of the stars evil configurations are sure to come and no matter how evil, there are always new opportunities for good given by aspects of the Sun, Venus, and Jupiter to our planets at birth. All that we have to do is to grasp the opportunity, and help our stars, that our stars may help us.

In the windows of jeweler's shops and in cheap, ready made horoscopes one may often read that it is "lucky" for people born in a certain month to wear a particular stone or color. It means business to the jeweler and the astrological prestidigitator who produced "your horoscope" by a turn of the wrist from a box when you tell him in what month you were born. Both buy their instructive (?) literature at a nominal price per thousand, the principal cost being paper and printers' ink; there are no furrows in their foreheads from deep and earnest study of the problem.

But as the counterfeit coin argues the existence of the genuine, so also the fallacious information flippantly dispensed by people who cater to the sense of mystery and wonder which is deeply imbedded in human nature argues the existence of a genuine science of mineralogical correspondences with the stellar rays impinging upon all who inhabit our sub-lunar sphere; and when this is rightly understood and used, that which is loosely termed luck results; but then it is not really luck in the sense understood by the majority of people, for then it is the result of accurate knowledge scientifically used, and therefore the outcome is as inevitable as that water runs down hill.

The philosophy of planetary colors and mineralogy is that each of the Creative Hierarchies which is active in evolution works with the various classes of beings from mineral to man, and is responsible for the progress made by them. In the course of this work each Hierarchy naturally imparts to the beings with whom it labors some of its own nature and vibration. Thus each group of minerals, each species of plant and animal, vibrates to a certain keynote which blends with the vibration of the Group Spirit, and the particular sign and planet with which he is most nearly attuned.

It has been taught by the Elder Brothers in the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, that:

The Archangels, who were humans in the Sun Period when the present animals started their evolution with a mineral-like existence, are now the Group Spirits of the animals.

The Angels, who were human in the Moon Period when the present plants commenced their evolution with a similar mineral constitution are now the Group Spirits of the planets. Man, who reached the human stage in the Earth Period, is now working with the new life-wave which started its evolution on the Earth as minerals. He is not far enough advanced to assume the role of Group Spirit, that being reserved for the future. In the Jupiter Period he will give them life as plants have, in the Venus Period he will bring out their desires and emotions as animals, and in the Vulcan Period he will give them a mind and make them human. That, however, is all in the future. At present he is working with them to the best of his ability, smelting them into iron bridges, ships and skeleton skyscrapers; he is pulling them into wires which wind around the world; he is grinding from them gems that glitter and grace the great in our social structure, and thus he is gradually establishing an intimate relationship with them and preparing to take charge of their evolution as a Group Spirit at some future time.

It is well known to students of Astrology that an astrological reading based upon the month in which an individual is born is worth little, for all the people born in the same month do not have the same experiences by any means, but if we consider the day, the year and the place we get a horoscope that is absolutely individual and totally different in detail from the horoscope of anyone else — and this is the point which concerns us for the present argument — the ruler is not the lord of the sign the Sun is in, except for children born at Sunrise, when the Sun is on the Ascendant. It is the ruler of the rising sign, that is the determinator with regard to our mineralogical affinity, because at the moment of conception when the seed-atom of our present mineral body was deposited the Moon was in that particular sign and degree, (or its opposite), and acted then as a focus of forces which have since crystallized into the vehicle we now wear.

The following table shows the affinity of each of the twelve signs with certain gems, metals and colors, and in that chart there are the elements for making an effective talisman by any individual who has the knowledge of how to cast a horoscope and blend the ingredients according to the requirements of the case. We have no scruples about telling how this is done, for it may help some to help themselves and others. The only harm it can do is that it might induce some unscrupulous person to make talisman for money and even then, if he is conscientious about the work, whoever obtains them will not be cheated, the reaction being upon the one who prostitutes the spiritual science for material gain.

To forestall a question we may say that ancient astrologers who have studied this aspect of the science have tabulated several hundred minerals of which the planetary affinities had been noted, but these works have been mutilated in the course of time, and are now not available. Paracelsus and also Agrippa, made considerable study of this subject, and with very important results; but its extensive consideration is outside the scope of this work, so the authors will confine their remarks to the essentials, indicating the way which others may pursue if they feel so inclined.

To illustrate how the mineral elements may be used to advantage let us take the following example: Suppose that in a certain horoscope we find Sagittarius rising with its lord Jupiter on the Ascendant. Jupiter is then the ruling planet and so, according to our chart turquoise is the person's birthstone, tin, the metal with which he has affinity, and blue, his color. That means that it will help him express himself if he wears turquoise, an amulet of tin, and dresses in blue whenever consistent with custom. That is true to a certain extent, but it is only a small part of the truth, and it is by no means the best use that may be made of this knowledge.

To indicate the better way, let us suppose that this person's figure shows severe afflictions by Mars and Saturn. Mars afflicts three planets; his metal is iron, Venus is the opposite of Mars; her metal is copper, and consequently copper is an antidote for the martial vibrations.

Saturn afflicts one planet; his metal is lead. Jupiter is his opposite and therefore the Jupiter metal, tin, is an antidote for the Saturnian vibrations.

With this in mind an amulet may be compounded of tin and copper not exactly in the ratio of three to one, but with a mind on the bulk of the various planets, their destiny and the strength of the aspects it is desired to overcome, a matter which involves further study. The work itself should be done under auspicious planetary conditions. A Mars amulet, designed to give energy to one with a weak figure would be most successful if made in a Mars-hour on a Tuesday when both the Sun and Moon are in martial signs as happened in April and November. The same with amulets made for other planets. (See the Tables of Planetary Hours, in our Simplified Scientific Astrology.)

A gem or an amulet made on these principles is a focus of the stellar rays of the planets it represents and infuses vibrations of their nature into our auras all the while we are wearing it, just as surely as the wireless receiver attuned to a certain pitch catches the waves within its range; and we may blend the colors in the same manner to obtain help from them. As a matter of fact, it is the complementary color which is seen in the desire world that produces the effect of the physical colors. If it is desired to restrain one whose Mars is too prominent, the gems, colors and metals of Saturn will help, and such a person should have as little to do with iron (tools, machinery, etc..) as possible, but if we want to help someone who is moody and taciturn, we may use the gems, colors and metals of Mars to advantage. In the final analysis the matter resolves itself into a question of judgment and common sense. With these, the knowledge concerning the essentials here given may be used by anyone to advantage.

In the light of occult investigation of the subject it appears that birth is an advent we are powerless to control; therefore when we seem to control it in a slight degree we are really the agents of Destiny to precipitate or delay it till the proper moment has arrived. This view is also justified by the author's experience in Horary Astrology. The philosophy of Horary Astrology is that at the time one is impelled to ask a question concerning an important matter the heavens contain also the answer and a figure set for that time will contain the solution to the problem. But it should be particularly noted that the time to set the figure is when the inquirer asks the question of the astrologer, if this is done in person; when it is done by mail the astrologer sets the figure for the time he reads the question in the letter.

On a number of occasions we have received letters containing questions which bore marks of having been delayed by flood or fire, but the figure cast for the moment of reading gave the answer, showing that the delay had a part in the plan, nor should it surprise us that the great Intelligences which are the ministers of Destiny foresee and make allowance for contingencies beyond the grasp of the human mind. When the Infinite Mind bestows equal care upon the design of the anatomy of a fly, a mouse and a lion, may we not conclude that a similar attention to the minutiae prevails in all departments of life and that when we seem to delay or precipitate birth we are really aiding nature to takes its predetermined course as said in the opening sentence of this article.

Nevertheless people often ask the astrologer when is the best time to be born; young astrologers also frequently want to know this, not that they have any idea of controlling birth but so that on seeing a horoscope or being told a person's time of birth they may make a quick mental calculation as to whether the horoscope is good or bad. Such a judgment would of course, be founded only on the position of the Sun by sign and approximate house, hence general in the extreme. It may be said however that other planetary positions being equal, it is better to be born when the Moon is increasing in light from the new to the full than when she is decreasing from the full to the new for the growing Moon always increases vitality and furthers our affairs.

It is best to be born in April or August when the life-giving Sun is in its exaltation sign Aries or Leo, its home, for then we enter the sea of life on the crest-wave and are backed in the battle of existence by an abundant fund of vim and energy.

It is also good to be born in May or July when the life-light of the Sun is focused thought the exaltation sign or home of the Moon, Taurus or Cancer, especially, as said, when the lesser light is increasing for those conditions, also furnish an abundance of vitality which is such a great asset in physical life.

With respect to the time of day most favorable for birth it may be said that children born about sunrise, or during the forenoon from 8 to 12 while the Sun is traversing the houses of friends and social prestige are the "luckiest" for they are helped on every hand. Children born between noon and midnight are less "lucky" the nearer the Sun comes to the Nadir, and then the "luck" turns again in favor of those born in the early morning while the Daystar is ascending towards the eastern horizon. They will have to carve their own way in the world, but opportunities will be given them in abundance.

We may therefore sum up our conclusions by saying that it is best to be born at Sunrise or in the forenoon, preferably in April or August when the Moon is increasing in light.

Finally it should always be borne in mind that there is no "luck," in the commonly accepted sense, for that which we have or lack in any respect is due to our own actions in the past, and in the future we may by proper application have what we now lack.

When the student of Astrology has learned to cast the horoscope correctly by the study of our "Simplified Scientific Astrology," or another reliable textbook, the next and most important part is to read its message. Astrology means "Star Logic" and we must seriously advise the student not to depend too much on authorities but to try to understand the basic nature of each planet, the influence of signs, houses and aspects: then by a process of reasoning to combine these and thus develop his own intuition which will serve him far better than the ability to quote like a poll parrot what some one else has said.

We would also advise the younger astrologer not to bother too much with the descriptions of physical appearance indicated in the horoscope. It is foolish to spend hours in studying over a phase of the subject which is of limited value. We give descriptions of the different physical types, but do so for the purpose of aiding the student to determine at sight the probable sign and planet rising when a person comes who does not know his birth hour.

There are people for instance, who have a face perfectly resembling that of a sheep. If such a one were in doubt about the birth hour, we would at once look to Aries and experimentally try how Aries rising would fit with the other characteristics of that person; if we did so we should probably find our guess to be correct. Thus also the other signs and planets in signs exhibit distinguishing characteristics of valuable aid to the student in the direction mentioned.

The student should also endeavor to cultivate perfect confidence in the science of Astrology. There is nothing empirical about character reading and diagnosis. In those respects it is plain as a b c. Predictions may fail because the Astrologer is unable to determine the strength of will of the person for whom he predicts, but the latent tendencies are always accurately foreshown. The writers have found that where they do not personally know the people whose characteristics they read, their delineations are much deeper and more accurate than otherwise because then personal impressions and bias are absent and the mystic scroll of the heavens is more easily read.

There are three factors which bring to us the mystic message of the stars; the houses, the signs and the planets.

Each house represents a department of life; the signs are divisions of the heavens which by their placement relative to the houses indicate our basic temperament and attitude towards life; and the planets are the messengers of God which by their motion through the houses and signs bring to us the opportunities for soul growth which we need for our individual development. It is therefore necessary for one who wishes to learn to read a horoscope to become thoroughly acquainted with these three factors both separately and in their various combinations. The following descriptions may help to convey this knowledge:

The houses are called "Mundane Houses," to differentiate between them and the "Celestial Houses" namely the twelve signs of the Zodiac; but generally they are designated as "houses" only.

It is the angle of the stellar ray which determines its effect in our lives, planets which are in the East affect our physical constitution, planets in the South near the zenith are factors for good or ill where our social position is concerned. If a planet is setting in the West at the time of our birth its ray strikes us in such a manner as to draw us to a certain type of marriage partner, and the planets under the earth, in the North, have an effect upon our condition in the latter part of life. Let us suppose for illustration of the point that someone is born at sunrise on a day when the Sun and Jupiter are in conjunction. Then they strike him from the eastern angle and give him splendid vitality. Another born on the same day at noon when Jupiter and the Sun are in the zenith position may have a very poor, weak body if other planets in the East are adverse, but the ray of the Sun and Jupiter falling on his birth figure from the South will certainly attract to him attention in his social sphere and make him the recipient of public favor and honor. Another born on the same day, when the Sun and Jupiter are setting in the West may be an outcast if planets in the East and South so decree, but the benefic ray of the Sun and Jupiter from the Western angle will make him beloved of his mate and successful in partnerships. These facts have been ascertained by observation and tabulation. Therefore the twelve sections of the circle of observation as seen from the birthplace are truly said to rule or govern various departments of life and thus people born on the same day may have the most diverse experiences.

The houses may be variously grouped according to the influence they exercise in our lives; there are "angular," "succedent" and "cadent" houses, also personal, spiritual, material, social and mystical houses.

Of the angles, the first house governs our personal self, and its opposite the seventh house, rules the one who is nearest and dearest to us, namely, the marriage partner. The fourth house determines conditions in our home and its opposite angle, the tenth house, shows our social standing in the community where we live. Thus the angles show collectively the sphere of our activities in life.

Of the succedent houses the second shows our financial status with regard to that which we acquire by our own efforts and the opposite succedent house, the eight, shows whatever we may receive from others as legacies, etc. The other succedent houses, the fifth and eleventh, show how our income may be spent, for the fifth house indicates the children of our body who have a legitimate claim to a share of our income, and the eleventh house shows the children of our brains, our hopes, wishes and aspirations which also draw upon our resources.

Of the two pairs of cadent houses the sixth is the house of voluntary service which we perform as our share of the world's work for an equivalent share in the world's wealth, and the twelfth house shows how we may be compelled to labor without remuneration under prison restraint if we do not work willingly. The sixth house shows also the state of our health and the twelfth tells if hospital treatment is necessary.

The other pair of cadent houses, the third and ninth show whether our life and work will confine us to one place or require travel and changes of residence. In this respect the third house shows short journeys and the ninth house long travels.

The personal houses comprise the first, fifth and ninth. The first house rules the constitution and peculiarities of the physical body. Planets and signs in that house put their stamp on it to make or mar according to the nature of its self-generated destiny. Our fifth house shows the quality of love-nature of the soul and the line of its expression if it follows the line of least resistance; and the ninth house shows as much of the spirit as we can apprehend in our present limited state.

The material trinity of houses consists of the second, sixth and tenth and shows the worldly possessions of man, his means of obtaining them and the enjoyment they bring him. Wealth, or its reverse, is shown by the second house, health, without which there can be no joy in any worldly possession, is shown by the sixth house; and the public prestige which is the chief source of gratification to the average human being, is shown by the tenth house.

The social houses are the third, seventh, and eleventh houses and in them is shown the nature of our relations and various classes of souls we meet in life. Brothers and sisters to whom we are bound by the tie of blood are shown by the third house, the companion of our heart with whom our blood blends in another way, is shown by the seventh house, and the friends, more precious than pearls to whoever has earned friendship, are designated by the eleventh house.

The fourth and last trinity of houses is composed of the fourth, eighth and twelfth. If them are hidden mysteries of the ante-natal life of the spirit, and the post mortem experiences immediately to follow the terminus vitae. On the material plane the fourth house signifies our condition in the latter part of life, the twelfth shows the sorrow which impresses us with the worthlessness of material things and the eighth indicates the nature of our exit from the world's stage.

An illustration may further help the student to understand how the heavens influence our life through the twelve houses. Suppose we are out driving and our road follows the seacoast, but a mile or so inland. A breeze is blowing from the ocean and as it passes over the country separating us from the sea, it brings upon invisible wings messages from that land, which evoke pleasure or aversion according to their nature. In one place, an aroma of new mown hay fills us with delight; perhaps we are nauseated by the noxious smell of jasmine on the next stretch of our journey; and later become really ill from the stench of stagnant marsh-water. But then we enter a forest, and soon its grateful pine balm restores the normal health and spirits.

In our journey from the cradle to the grave we carry the twelve houses with us in the auric atmosphere surrounding us, as the air envelops the flying earth. Each house mirrors part of the life; each holds some of our life lessons; each represents how we have worked or shirked before in a given department of life's tasks. At the appropriate time of life we reap from each house what we have sown in past lives, that is, unless we forestall the harvest in time. Is our eleventh house afflicted, do friends betray and forsake us, do they leave us heartsick, or nauseate us like the scent of jasmine and stagnant marsh-water? Then let us examine the horoscope for it reveals what is hidden in our auric atmosphere. The friends sensed us, and we them, through the eleventh angle, and something ill-smelling must be there. It may be, we long to be befriended, more than to befriend others. Let us cease to be like the sickly, debilitating jasmine, and seek to manifest the sturdy strength of the invigorating pine tree; then we shall find friend flocking around, admiring our strength. Not all have such sturdy natures, but we can attract equally by kindness, as soothing to sorrowing hearts as perfume of new mown hay to the sense, and thus we may rid the house of friends of affliction.

After the foregoing explanations, the houses may now be said to influence the affairs of life as follows:

First House — rules the physical body and its constitution and appearance;it determines conditions in the childhood home while the person is under control of the parents.

Second House — rules money, the financial fortunes; it shows what the person acquires by individual effort and to a certain extent what use he will make of it.

Third House — rules brothers and sisters, neighbors, the instinctual mind, writings, short journeys and conveyances of travel.

Fourth House — That one of the parents who exercises the lesser influence in the person's life, conditions in the latter part of life, Houses, lands, mines; everything pertaining to the earth.

Fifth House — Love, courtship and licentiousness, the legitimate and illegitimate attraction and social intercourse between the sexes prior to wedlock; children, education institutions, books and newspapers, sports and amusements, stocks and speculations.

Sixth House — Health, service to be rendered by the person and also the condition and faithfulness of those who serve him.

Seventh House — The marriage partner, the public in general, competitors, partners, opponents in litigations, rivals.

Eighth House — Death, legacies, the marriage partner's finances, occult abilities and faculties latent but nearly ready for manifestation.

Ninth House — Religion, spiritual experiences and aspirations, dreams and visions, long travels and law.

Tenth House — The parent who exercises most influence in the person's life, the honor and social standing of the person, his employer or judge, and the government.

Eleventh House — Friends, companions and well-wishers, hopes, wishes and aspirations, generally of a material nature, also stepchildren.

Twelfth House — Confinement in hospitals or prison, secret enemies and plots; sorrow and self undoing.

On either side of the Sun's path there are a number of fixed stars which are so grouped that they may be conceived as forming twelve constellations, and as they have certain characteristic influences ancient sages named them for the animals which express similar traits. These constellations are called the Natural Zodiac and for all practical purposes it may be said that they occupy permanent positions relative to the other fixed stars of the firmament. This circle is divided into twelve sections starting at the first degree of Aries, which is occupied by the Sun at the vernal equinox.

On account of the precession of the equinox the Sun does not cross the equator at the same point each year, but it has been found that the first 30 degrees from the point where the Sun does cross the equator at the equinox have an effect similar to that ascribed to the constellation Aries; the next thirty degrees radiate a Taurean influence and so on with the other ten sections of thirty degrees each. Therefore the twelve sections measured from the vernal equinox are used exclusively in Astrology and called Signs of the Zodiac, to differentiate them from the Constellations. (For a thorough elucidation of the subject see Simplified Scientific Astrology, under the caption "Intellectual Zodiac.")

These twelve signs of the Zodiac are variously divided according to their effect on humanity into Cardinal, Fixed and Common signs, also into Fiery, Earthy, Airy and Watery signs. What their influences are we shall endeavor to elucidate in the following sections.

The Cardinal Signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. These signs are called Cardinal because when the Sun is in them he is in one of the four corners of the heavens; at a turning-point, where he is forced to take another direction. In Aries he is as far East as he can go; Cancer is the tropical point of the North where he gives the perpendicular ray at the Summer Solstice, and consequently the greatest heat. Libra is the extreme Western point of his path, where he turns away from the Northern Hemisphere, and in midwinter, at Christmas, he is in Capricorn at the farthest point South, where his horizontal ray leaves the people of the North in winter's icy grip. The effect of the angels, the first, fourth, seventh and tenth houses, is similar to the effect of the cardinal signs because these houses are at the East, North, West and South points of the horoscope. The nature and effect of cardinal signs and angles may be summed up in the words "Action" and "Initiative" (though each acts differently from the others,) therefore planets placed in cardinal signs and angles give zest to life according to the nature of the particular planet, sign and angle.

"Zodiac" means a circle of animals. The symbols of three of the cardinal signs are animalistic: Aries, the Ram; Cancer, the Crab; and Capricorn, the Goat. The fourth , Libra, the Scales, represents the ideal towards which this class must strive. None need poise so much as those under the impulsive influence of the cardinal ray; therefore the Balance was set in the heavens to direct their aspirations.

The Fixed Signs are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. Three symbols of the fixed signs are also bestial, violent and virulent; Taurus, the Bull; Leo, the Lion; and Scorpio, the Scorpion. The human figure of Aquarius, the Waterbearer, shows us the ideal towards which this class must strive. Instead of fighting, preying upon, or poisoning others in the struggle for existence they must learn to become humane, to be friends to all instead of foes.

The influence of the fixed signs rouses the desire nature, giving stamina and persistence in action.

When fixed signs are on the angles (the first, fourth, seventh and tenth houses), they exert a well nigh irresistible force, impelling the individual along a certain line. He may be slow and plodding, but is sure to be persistent in whatever he undertakes, and whatever talent he may possess in a certain direction will be exploited to its fullest extent. Setbacks which would take the courage from a person with cardinal signs do not daunt the man with fixed signs on the angels, he knows no defeat, and therefore he usually gains his goal in the end and achieves success by Concentration upon one point, and Persistence in following his chosen path. On the other hand such people are conservative to the last degree. They may see and desire improvements in various lines, but are exceedingly slow to adopt measures to accomplish the desired end; they never do this until thoroughly satisfied that a certain method will meet the requirements. In other words, people with fixed signs on the angels "look before they leap;" they look a long time and very, very carefully, but on the other hand, when they have once been won over to a certain cause they are faithful unto death, and no more ardent advocates can be found; their zeal is almost fanatical. On the whole, people with fixed signs may be said to be the most reliable people in the world, either for good or bad.

Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo and Pisces are called common signs, their intrinsic nature being best expressed by the keyword, Flexibility.

The forces working through the Cardinal signs impinge upon the dense body and stir it to action.

The power of the Common signs is Mental and Spiritual, giving purpose to action and incentive to nobility of life.

Therefore people influenced by stellar forces focused principally through Cardinal signs are the workers of the world, not the toilers, but executives, who accomplish things industrially, and who bring into concrete existence schemes, great or small, of value in the world's work. The Common signs are all double; two of them are human: Gemini, the Twins, and Virgo, the Virgin; the third, Sagittarius, the Centaur, is partly human; and only the fourth symbol, Pisces, the Fishes, is taken from the lower kingdom. None are violent, however, but intensely moral, intellectual and spiritual symbols.

Unstable as reeds they are swayed hither and thither; nothing appeals to them permanently, they desire nothing as much as change. No matter how well placed, they can seldom resist the lure of an opening in another city, the farther away, the better. Therefore the old maxim: "a rolling stone gathers no moss," applies particularly to this class, for their roving habits usually keep them poor. They spend as fast as they earn, or faster. Thus these people drift upon the sea of life propelled by the currents of circumstances. Outside conditions dominate them as they lack stamina to assert their own individuality.

The foregoing is true of the great majority who are under the rule and influence of common signs; they respond to the lower phase simply because the higher side is too high for all but a very few at our present stage of development. Those who make a success in the world because prodded by the cardinal and fixed influences, call them indolent and good-for-nothing, but were the former bereft of the cardinal or fixed energy which goads them to action, and placed under the common ray, they would soon realize its lack of power and learn compassion for those who must so live all their lives. What then is the lesson these people have to learn?

While the nature of the cardinal signs is such that their rays stir our latent forces into action and promote change, the most prominent quality of the fixed signs is Stability; but the student must beware of confounding stability with inertia. The action induced by the rays of cardinal signs may be changed into other channels with considerable facility, all they want being expression; the direction in which they express themselves is a secondary consideration. Not so with the fixed signs, when their ray impels to action in a certain direction it is next to impossible to stay the force or change it. On the other hand, if they deny expression in certain lines, the obstruction is almost insurmountable.

People of the fixed class lack ability to make their inventions commercially usable, a task for which the cardinal class is eminently fitted. Thus these two classes work hand in hand and between them they have transformed the wilderness of the world to a condition of comparative comfort, their efforts toward improvement are continually carried on, and in time the desert will be made to bloom like a rose.

As material success depends on ability to cope with material conditions, the cardinal class is particularly fortunate, for it is the chief executive factor in the world's work, and reaps ready reward therefrom. The fixed class is not so prominently before the public, labors in laboratories and works experimentally to complete the processes and perfect the models which are later used in manufacture. Therefore this class also is a potent factor in life, and shares the material and financial success of the cardinal class.

The common class is a sharp contrast. Forces focused through Common signs are Mental, therefore people ruled by them are averse to strenuous physical action which is the forte of the cardinal class; they labor only when lashed by the whip of necessity. They are also incapable of the slow but sustained effort put forth by the fixed class and are easily discourage by obstacles. Thus they are leaners not lifters. Toilers who do the bidding of the inventive and executive classes are recruited from people ruled by Common signs. There is one sphere, however, where they shine, according to their ability to think. Being averse to work they have created a vantage-ground whence they may reap the benefits of the toil of others, of their inventive faculties and executive skill. To do this they become promoters who bring inventor and manufacturer together, agents who mediate between buyer and seller, peddlers, vendors and all other middlemen who go between producer and consumer and live on a commission; also literary men who devote their talent to purposeless fiction belong to the class actuated by the lower phases of the force in the common signs.

The cardinal class is active, the common is restless, the fixed class is rigid, the common is flexible.

The effect of the "Triplicities" is most marked in the rising sign and when the majority of the planets are grouped in one of them. A fiery sign (Aries, Leo or Sagittarius), on the ascendant, gives much vitality, but it also makes the person prone to fevers and inflammatory disorders; and when the majority of the planets are in fiery signs they make it very difficult for the person to "keep cool" physically or mentally.

A watery sign (Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces) rising, gives much less stamina and predisposes to digestive, urinary and catarrhal troubles. If a person has many planets in watery signs his problem is to generate enough energy to keep warm, for this grouping gives a listless, indifferent disposition, except when Scorpio is rising or when many planets are in that sign.

Airy signs rising (Gemini, Libra and Aquarius) give a nervous temperament and make the person liable to disorders of the lungs, heart and kidneys. Many planets in these signs give people literary and artistic inclinations.

Earthy signs rising (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn), give fair vitality but a secret fear of disease arrests the vital processes in the body and poisons these people so that they become victims of chronic ailments oftener than those of the other groupings. The throat, stomach and intestines are specially threatened; rheumatism and gout are also frequently experienced. When a person has many planets in earthy signs it favors the acquisition of material wealth.

We stated in our opening paragraph that there are Three Great Factors which convey to us the Mystic Message of the stars in general, namely, the "houses," the "signs" and the "planets." There are also three factors which play a specially important part in the individual horoscope, namely the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant, which may be said to represent the spirit, the soul and the body.

Properly viewed the Sun, Moon and Ascendant are not really three separate horoscopical principles but represent two composite parts which when united constitute the human being. The "rising sign" and the "first house" together form an avenue for the fecundating influences of the Moon which there crystallize and form the etheric matrix that molds the physical particles from the maternal body into a new vehicle; hence the astrological maxim, that the ascendant at birth (or its opposite) is the Moon's place at conception. This composite body is the part of the human being which is born and dies after a relatively evanescent period of existence.

The other and immortal part of composite man which consists of the Ego and its finer vehicles is represented in the horoscope by the Sun and the Moon. The specific influence of these planets will be described when we have considered the rising sign.

As taught in "Simplified Scientific Astrology" it is the angle of the stellar ray which determines in what department of life it will be most prominently active; and it has been found by observations that the sign rising or ascending on the eastern horizon when a child is born is the principal factor in determining the basic constitution and form of the physical body. Further investigations have shown that the reason for this fact is that at the time of conception when the seed-atom was planted in the ovum the Moon, which is the Cosmic agent of fecundation, projected its fertilizing ray through the sign and degree which later rises at the moment of birth, (or its opposite). For that reason the rising sign and degree continue to be the avenue of ingress of the life-forces which build the body of the babe until the severance of the umbilical cord, and the nature of the rising sign is thus indelibly stamped upon the new vehicle and retained all through life.

In this connection it should be noted that conception is not necessarily coincident with the physical union of the parents, sometimes two weeks or even more elapsing before the auspicious moment awaited by the Recording Angels or their agents strike. At that time cosmic conditions are such that they will form a body which will facilitate the expression of the Ego seeking re-embodiment and aid it to work out its self-generated destiny. It should also be remembered by students that the moment of delivery is not the time of birth from the astrological point of view. The inhalation of the first complete breath usually accompanied by a cry, is the moment when the incoming Ego receives its stellar baptism. This renders it ever susceptible to the influence of the particular configuration of the stars existing at that moment, and therefore the stars affect each individual differently from all others, not even the horoscope of twins being alike. It is also strongly emphasized that according to this explanation we do not have a certain "fate" because we were born at a particular time, but we are born at a particular time because we have a certain self-generated destiny to work out. That is a very important distinction for it substitutes divine law for divine caprice, it eliminates the element of "luck" and inspires man to mastery of "fate: by working with the Law. If we have made our present horoscope by our past actions in a past life, logically we are now preparing for future embodiment and may make it what we choose. If we strive to strengthen our body now, to overcome our faults, to cultivate new virtues, the Sun of our next life will rise under much more auspicious conditions than those under which we now live and thus we may truly rule our stars and master our fate.

When the last three degrees of a sign are rising or when the first three degrees ascend at the time of birth the person is said to be born "on the cusp" between two signs and then the basic nature of the signs involved are blended in his or her body. Thus a person born when the three last degrees of Aries or the first degrees of Taurus were ascending would be neither purely Aries nor Taurus but a mixture of the qualities of the two signs.

The nature of the rising sign is also modified by the presence of planets. The Sun and Mars increase vitality if well aspected but if afflicted they incline to fever and inflammatory disorders but they also favor rapid recuperation, and make the nature alert and energetic. A well-aspected Jupiter rising also increases vitality but inclines to corpulence, if the planet is afflicted that makes the circulation sluggish and thus gives a tendency to disorders of the blood. The foregoing remarks about Jupiter apply to Venus in a lesser degree. Saturn rising lowers the vitality and favors chronic ill-health in later life, but at the same time he gives such a tenacious hold on life that though the person may pray to be released he cannot die. Mercury, Moon, Uranus and Neptune make the body more high-strung and nervous than the average, usable specially for pioneers in music, literature, higher thought, science and the electrical arts.

Planets placed in the twelfth house are considered as being on the ascendant if within six degrees thereof, also all planets in the first house no matter how far from the rising degree; but if a sign be intercepted in the first house, planets placed therein will not have as strong an influence in the life as though the sign occupy the cusp.

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• Reference: Message of the Stars, by Augusta Foss Heindel and Max Heindel
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