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| Simplified Scientific Christianity |
Government is the "functioning of the Universe in accordance with Cosmic Principles." It is the One Directive which impels the cause of, organizes and harmonizes the effect of, every creative and epigenetic action in the Cosmos. Since it is the expression of the One Will, cosmic government is archetypal Autocracy; it is the root-pattern by which every Logos, microcosmically, orders the life of its manifestation and it is that which, in human terms, we designate as mastery. Rulership, in any octave, is an aspect of the Directive Power symbolized by the Sun; all planetary powers are derivatives of this Unity.
The symbolic design we call the "square aspect" — a square resting on its horizontal base — is the arch-symbol of compressed congestion of potentials. It is made up of two expressions of the dynamic vertical and two expressions of the receptive horizontal; it pictures the juxtaposition of diametric opposites seemingly in contention with each other. A congestion has the effect of gravitational down-pulling, inhibition, suppression of expressive possibilities, slowing up of expressive and responsive action. It pictures an intensification of the tendency-to-inertia which, after a certain point, is death of the form as a vehicle of the Spirit. This pictures the "reign of the Devil," the domination of expression by suppression, the bondage of "on-and-up-going-ness" to "in-and-down-going-ness." The Spirit, Solar Power in its biune expression of Love-Wisdom, seeks always, in human consciousness, to overthrow and disintegrate this "rulership by shadow."
The symbol for government as Cosmic or Archetypal Ordering is the diagonal square. This is the symmetrically balanced square standing on its lower angle. Each of its four lines is a symmetrical diagonal, hence each composites verticality and horizontality. Herein is seen the difference, as symbol of consciousness, between this square and the static square. Therefore rhythmic sequence is pictured by travel around its circumference. When the cross of horizontal and vertical diameters is added within this square, each of the two lines bisects a pair of opposite angles and the polarity of each angle-point is thereby objectified. By this four-fold bisection of angles, the Masculine-Feminine of Male-Female of Immature-Mature of microcosms of any archetype is outpictured. We are concerned with humans as individualizations of the archetype "Humanity," so this diagonal square with its structure cross, pictures macrocosmically the government of this archetype and microcosmically the "government-consciousness," passive and active, of the individual human.
We now transpose this symbol into the octave of astrological symbolism; place the circular symbol of the Sun at the center (the jointure of the two cross-lines) and the symbols for Aries, Capricorn, Libra, and Cancer at the left, upper, right, and lower angle-points, respectively. The result is the Great Mandala without its circumscribing circle — the "skeleton" of Humanity as an evolving — not evolved — archetype and that of the individual human as an epigenetically evolving microcosm. We will discuss the "problems" of "Government of humans by humans" as they specialize in the three basic types of "being governed."
Considering the dynamic essence of Aries-Mars as the "personality" of the incarnated human archetype, we are sensitive to the "controlling agencies" represented by the other three structure-points which are all, generically speaking, more feminine than Aries. The feminine polarity of the Cosmos is that which receives and shapes the dynamic essences. As Aries, through Mars, "blasts forth his energies from the Ascendant-point," Capricorn-Saturn, Libra-Venus, and Cancer-Moon stand as organizers and co-ordinators of the vital expressions. "That which Aries comes from" — as the "thing incarnated" in this mandate — is parentage; by parentage is the individualized form begotten, by parentage is the form sustained, protected, and nurtured. Therefore, Cancer-Capricorn as archetypal parentage is the first coordinator-governor of the individual's expression. The first of these, however, is Cancer — the symbol of Matrix, and the arch-symbol of seed-source. This, in group-terms, is government for the perpetuation and preservation of forces; it is the most primitive form of group-government. The primitive human was subjected entirely to the directive power of the elders of the tribe, and his significance was not as an individual, for himself, but as a factor of the tribal unity. His evaluation to the tribe was physical — his strength, prowess, combative and generative ability were the ear-marks of his value to the life of the tribe. His identity was tribal, his virtue was obedience to the directives of the elders. In relationship to that narrow directive he was "child" and child he remained until he, in time, began to realize an awareness of himself as an individual. To accept external directive unquestioningly, unthinkingly, is to be subject to the parental principle of government, secular or religious. And this applies to people living now as well as those who inhabited the jungles thousands of years ago.
Governments that encourage such attitudes in their people as blind, unthinking adherence, in whatever form, to such a concept as "Mother Church"; fanatic patriotism; dependency on group-opinion and group- feeling for guidance; racial prejudice and hatred; or habitual addiction to governmental bounty for material sustainment are those that are functioning as external moldings of a very limited consciousness. They have their karmic and evolutionary place, and as such they are good. But no government of this kind was, is, or can be a permanent pattern for any group because its essential function is to coordinate and focus a collective primitivity. Evolution serves to transcend primitivity on any octave. Cancer-Capricorn is archetypal structure; it is the symbol of security to the subconscious of Humanity. It symbolizes "that which was," and primitive (ignorant, fearful) people cling to an established external (parents, home, church, nationality-concept, etc.) to realize security. A government that congests on this function is one which discourages individual effort and thought; and in that way lies the path to dictatorship, which is "parental government" that has been allowed to become the tool for an intensely focused negative power-consciousness (of an individual or a group of allied individuals or nations). In primitive times, people thrived and progressed under the protective administration of men relatively wise, but the same basic type of government, in the hands of unprincipled and heartless persons, turns the parental quality into tyranny — by which the collective residues of hatreds, greeds and cruelties become focused in the power-lusts of the ruler who personifies such a nation. This type of government becomes degenerate the moment the welfare of the people at large is disregarded or when the attributes of individual initiative and expression are weakened through over-giving. Too much protection and bounty are as out of line with governmental principles as are cruel suppression and disregard of human rights. No one evolves who copies, in his personal life, the degenerate example of bad rulers; he simply adds negative power to the "power-for-evil" of the ruler and to the collective, congested evil of his fellows. To accept national or government bounty as a "timely assistance" and use it for its purpose (to "get going again") is in keeping with the principle of the type of government; to make a habit of accepting assistance from "Father-Mother Government" is to traduce one's incentives for growth, fulfillment, and maturity. (Parents — governors of your family circles — do you encourage dependency in your children? Or do you encourage the exercise of reason and ability so that your children may rhythmically develop the maturity of self-reliance?) It is true that some adults are so conditioned that they feel they have no reason for existing unless someone is leaning on them; they would rather "feel strong by comparison" than try to encourage the individual abilities of the weaker one. They are functioning, subconsciously, to try to compensate for a guilt (unfulfilled responsibility) complex . They resent any attempt of the "weaker person" to develop his own potentials and they are, in this respect, not too unlike some politicians who promise to give everything in return for a vote. Think about this in terms of present-day conditions. To be prominent and highly placed, to be called wonderful, great, kind, generous, etc., is the be-all and end-all of what they call happiness; and they are conditioned — and willing — to give anything in payment for this kind of approbation. A family formed by two such parents, a nation directed by such a ruler, will achieve pretty much the same kind of results — a parasitic undependable child on one hand, and a parasitic undependable, irresponsible citizenry on the other.
The polarization of this governmental type is Capricorn, the Saturn vibration, symbol of the aristocratic type of government. Its keyword is Hierarchy — it is the first type extended into much more diffusion of expression by many classes which, congested and unregenerate, results in the infamy of caste. Cultivated, it provides the manifestation of cultivation and refinement (externally at least), the exercise of abundance through wealth for artistic and educational purposes. The vice of this type of government is seen in the emphasis of superficialities (ancestry, family background, money) as standards by which the individual is valued. The policy or slogan: "As long as it looks all right it's good" is typical of the surface-evaluation of this type. Ambition to realize place in the hierarchy takes the place of aspiration to realize self-improvement; adherence to crystallized formal standards of conduct, thought and belief may designate the identity of a "member in good standing" but it hardly can be taken as an identity of a person who is exercising his individual values and capacities. Saturn, the condensation of matrix, characterizes this type through the tendency to resist — stubbornly — needed changes; maintenance of established forms becomes so fixated a purpose that improvements which would benefit all are either ignored or disdained. The practice, over long periods of time, of wealth being congested in specific points of the hierarchy breeds corruption, because it discourages individual exercise. The monetary "fluid" — the life-blood of practical exchange — is a means by which humans can realize certain benefits by use of their individual faculties and intelligence. When it is handed down through generations in a relatively limited scope it becomes a karmic testing of individuals to take it and use it without making effort for themselves and so weaken themselves, or it makes possible a material compensation, of a karmic nature, to those who are conditioned to use it wisely for the improvement, progress, and well-being of themselves and others. However, a true aristocrat does not need family-background, this-and-that of ancestry, so much inherited wealth, and such-and-such a "position" to demonstrate the refinement of his nature and inclinations. He graces and beautifies whatever "station God has seen fit to place him"; his influence is one of refinement on all who know him. The aristocratic government that uses the public, but which has forgotten that it too has a pattern of service to fulfill to the public, traduces the best of its qualities. To have the advantages of education and not use them for a more extended good, to have access to large sums of money and congest on triviality, to disdain one's fellowman because of difference of position is no aristocracy — it is only a shadow of a mask of it. And the mask smiles — cynically and unbeautifully. Aristocracy gives humanity the opportunity to observe its collective consciousness of separativeness in action. The study of aristocratic governments throughout various historical periods and in different nations tells us what ultimately happens when, by an illusionary concept, we seek to separate our common destiny-patterns from our fellows. This concept, diffused through the mechanism of organized religions, Christian or otherwise, has resulted in some of the most terrible karmic causation because, by its very nature it seeks to fight against the very thing that all religion seeks to establish — the ever-clarified sense of (God's and Life's) Unity in the human consciousness. The parent, separated in his consciousness from his child as a fellow-human, says: "Do what I say. I am your parent." There is nothing in such a statement to appeal to the reason or heart of the child. It serves to intensify his feeling of inferiority-difference in subservient relationship to his parent instead of increasing fellowship.
The "I am"-ness of Aries as Ascendant of this mandala pictures Humanity as a potential self-ruler because it is, by attribute, an individualized expressor. For the most part, most of us do not have the power-consciousness to rule ourselves, much less to rule others. But, because we are expressors we influence (a microcosmic octave of rulership) others by everything or anything that we think, feel, say, and do. There is only one Ascendant, archetypally or concretely, and since rulership is the ordering of the cosmos we can improve the quality of our influence on other people. It is true, and this is an interesting point, that we cannot rule or influence anyone who is indifferent to us or who is more perfectly organized than we are — we are influenced by those people much more than we affect them. Therefore we have to rule ourselves better if we are going to attract better "rulership-influence" from others. Apply this to the relationship of a nation's citizenry to its hereditary or elected rulers. Look at the story of France's civilization under the reigns of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI. The corruption and cynicism of the first two perfectly outpictured much that was degenerate in the general life-concepts of the people. The ineffectuality of Louis XVI made it possible for the disintegrative forces of revolt — he couldn't even stand up for the class he represented — to decrystallize that particular form of aristocratic government and pave the way for the more democratic form.
If our life-purpose requires that we exercise power in public offices, then we know that we have the opportunity to stand as symbols of good influence or of bad influence; we will symbolize whatever we conceive to be the principles of government. We can remain congested in our ignorances of these principles and so reflect the ignorance of the people we represent or we can be adjustable to learn and so symbolize an ever-improving quality of power-vibration.
In consideration of the Great Mandala we see that the Cancer-Capricorn diameter — as the "parentage-line" — exemplifies the pattern of "government of people by people": the two types of government represented are communal (Cancer) and aristocratic (Capricorn). Now to consider the significance of Aries as individual ruler-ship-expression:
The "I am" quality of this sign symbolizes the sense of individualized beingness. Since it is that from which all expression, as personal individualization, is made possible, it is also that by which all octaves of human-rulership are made possible. A ruler — of whatever kind — cannot at any time be any more than he is as an individual human — his rulership expression is projected through his consciousness of himself as a person. Keep in mind that rulership, in the political sense, is an extension of parentage. The same keywords that apply to different types of rulers apply also, in a more localized sense, to different types of parents. This is so because the matrix-quality of the Cancer-Capricorn diameter designates our citizenship in the family-group and the nation-group into which we incarnate by karmic law and vibratory attraction.
The lowest vibratory octave of Mars is seen to be in his office as releaser of Pluto-Scorpio compressions. This is the ruler as autocratic dictator. His "I am" is "I Am a personalized symbol of all the congested ignorances, hates, and greeds of my subjects." The Russian czar, Ivan the Terrible, was a perfect example of this type of ruler; his people were a barbaric, ignorant, and brutish lot and their subservience to his infamously despotic rule was the epitome of slavishness. The next octave — synchronizing with the evolutionary needs of the Russian people — was exemplified in Peter the Great. Every bit as despotic as was "the terrible one," this man functioned on a higher octave of perception and purpose. His will, enormously focused, served to co-ordinate his people, and he worked for years to develop and expand the economic power of his nation and to bring to it at least the vestiges of western European culture. In this type of ruler the characteristics of insensitiveness, forceful brutality, egotism, and lack of compassion arc strongly pronounced. Their egotism does serve, however, a most important purpose — that of welding the nation into a coherent identity and unity. The dormant "I Am" of the national group-vibration is ignited by the personal "I Am" power of the autocratic ruler. The "I Am" of a degenerate aristocratic ruler is exemplified in the character and personality of France's King Louis XV. The vacuity and cynicism of this man, ruler-symbol of one of the most degenerate and corrupt periods in the history of this nation, perfectly out-pictured the crystallized negatives of this type of government — that of hierarchy — the form that provides points of concentration of power within the national edifice. A regenerate example of this type of government — and a remarkable example she was — was the great Queen Elizabeth of England. Cultured, enormously learned, devoted to her country's progress and welfare with every fiber of her being, this brilliant and intrepid woman symbolized the cultural and economic aspirations of her vigorous and enterprising people. She was definitely a cut above many such rulers of class-conscious societies in that her intense patriotic love made warfare and destruction abhorrent to her; she has been considered to be the most humanly motivated and enlightened ruler of her age and one of the outstanding rulers in human history. Her unifying of her country as a world power, under a motivation of intense national pride, emphasized the Capricorn quality of superiority that characterizes this nation — an interesting example of national personality-trait. Further degeneracies of hierarchical concept — and this in a most crystallized form — are seen in the age-old, only recently decrystallized concept of caste in India. This concept (derived from human imagining of Cosmic Hierarchy) provided karmic bondage for millions of humans for many ages.
There have been several remarkable examples of Cancer-government. This is the type of government that is focused on the perpetuity of welfare, material or spiritual. Corruption of this pattern is seen in the giving of money, food, entertainment, etc., to the populace by such individuals as the Roman rulers Nero and Caligula. An outer gesture of concern for the public masked, in these cases, a hideous fear and greed. They exemplified, in their policy of giving, the very worst aspects of this governmental pattern. Regenerate, we see in the government of the humane Quaker religion one of the finest examples of this type in modern times. Their policy of universal pacifism is, of course, a spiritual motivation of tremendous power for good in the world. Their contribution to human welfare has been outstanding. The administration of the Salvation Army is another example. The teaching and healing service performed by certain religious orders represents a fine aspect of this concept of government. Even those who function entirely in what is called "contemplative orders" make, if they are sufficiently evolved, a remarkable redemptive contribution through their work on the inner planes; this service is not perceived or observed by the outer world — it is a vibratory nurture based on renunciation of personality-consciousness. In fact, we may consider that the Jupiter vibration, as significator of the abstract ninth house, is mixed with the Moon-Cancer vibration to designate the essence of rulership by organization of religious authority. You might enjoy a study of biographies of rulers — from the illumined Pharaoh, Akhnaton, down through the ages — and come into a clearer understanding of how rulers, as individual humans, personify the collective unconscious, the collective ignorance and congestion, and the collective evolutionary needs of the populace. It is a fascinating study and one to which every esoteric and philosophical student should give some time and thought.
Now we will undertake to study the principles of government as they are symbolically designated by the exaltation of planets. These represent government by relative mastership — the expression, as rulership, of solar power by highly evolved (kingly) humans which has, as its purpose, the illumination of the consciousness of mankind. This approach to rulership reveals the spiritual attributes inherent in each type as well as the spiritual obligations attendant upon this form of service.
The first of these is the exaltation of the Sun itself in the sign Aries. The identity is "I Am a Begotten Son, or Daughter, of Father-Mother God." This is the identity of spiritual birth and the consciousness of possessing divine attributes. The rulership implied by this vibration is self-mastery which is the source from which all other spiritual government is derived, and from which all expressions of transcendent love and wisdom are emanated. The priest-kings of ancient Egypt, beautifully described by Joan Grant in her lovely book, "The Winged Pharaoh," exemplify this type. These great rulers were spiritually tested for their qualifications to serve as rulers of their people in what was one of the outstanding spiritual epochs in human history. Since specializations are emanated from the One, this exaltation-point of the Sun resources every other type of spiritual government. The ruler of Aries, Mars, is exalted in Capricorn. In this study, Capricorn is seen to symbolize the hierarchical concept of aristocratic government; the specialization of "class" reflects (what should be) the gradations of spiritual evolution. Originally the Brahmanic religion of India was based on this concept; Plato spoke of "the rule by the philosophical elect." The exaltation of Mars in Capricorn, in genetic terms, is the maturity of the male principle in responsibility-fulfillment. Therein is seen the spiritual qualification that designates true rulers in a hierarchical government: the responsibility to keep the spiritual "I Am" alive so that the offices of governing the less-evolved may be carried on with positiveness, courage, and a sense of father-love as the protective love-motivation. To give life is the attribute of parentage; to maintain principles of government that contribute to the general welfare and progress (materially, intellectually, and culturally) is that life which the true aristocratic ruler contributes to his people. His Mars-attribute makes it possible for him to defend himself, and consequently his people, from the crystallizations of prejudice, caste-congestion, and superficial evaluations. It keeps alive in his consciousness — because Mars is the arch-masculine vibration, as a derivative of the Sun — the sense of valuing and appreciating himself as a worker in the world. The vigor, virility, and positiveness of regenerate Mars is health-giving in its effect; exercise of this attribute neutralizes the dangers of congestion on indolence, luxury, and parasitism which seep into a society that is founded on the principle of inherited money, place, and value. Mars in Capricorn is vitalization of the sense of father-love; its exercise demands self-discipline and work.
The Moon's exaltation in Taurus, second earth-sign, raises the instinct to feed and protect the immature into the consciousness of stewardship. The weak are to become strong. The immature are to become mature. The negative of the Cancer-vibration is to over-protect and to over-nurture those who are, at a given point, dependent. The stewardship of the development of the weak and immature is the exalted octave of the Moon's power. To protect the development is a contribution to evolutionary progress; to foster the weakness is to contribute to retardation. England's great Elizabeth had Moon in Taurus, fourth house, and certainly no ruler at any time has ever been more respectfully alert and sensitive to the vigorous evolutionary potential of the ruled nation. A most significant psychological factor is seen in this position: Taurus is the Moon's eleventh house-sign; as such it relates to Moon's Cancer as Aquarius-Uranus relates to Aries. This position of the Moon (an eleventh house-sign relationship to its dignity) imposes on the spiritually mature the necessity to decrystallize the sense of possessing the immature or weak ones. To seek maternally (Moonishly) to possess another is to identify Taurus as the polarization of Scorpio; the two together form the diameter of desire-power. Any individual or any ruler who has the responsibility to nurture through the Moon's position in Taurus is warned to abstain from regarding the weaker, more immature person as a personal possession. The nation and the wealth of the nation are not possessions of the ruling agency. A ruler receives recompense for his work as any other worker does; that recompense should be an expression of exchange from the nation's people in return for his service as a coordinative guardian. The "overshadowing influence" of Uranus to be found in this pattern is the decrystallization of congestion-by-desire-and- possessiveness into stewardship of growth and development by respect for the individual's potentials for growth and fulfillment. Apply this instruction personally or nationally — the pattern is archetypal. The evolutionary aspiration of the Solar Logos Itself masses possible epigenetic action on the part of microcosms — thus the respect of Father-Mother God for Its children is pictured. Solar power released through the Moon principle says: "Let the begotten microcosm grow, develop, express, and fulfill its potentials; help it, guide it, instruct it, feed it, nurture it, protect it but let my power flow through it in ever-increasing strength; do not over-protect it from access to my Creative Stimulus. Encourage always the ever-extending radiation of love by the microcosm; set no barriers to this expression by congestive possessiveness.
Saturn's exaltation in Venus' Libra is the spiritual alchemical fusion of justice with mercy. It is the dissolving of over-strictness and crystallization-of-concept by the exercise of humane impulses. It is also (because Libra in this mandala symbolizes the democratic government concept) the balancing of self-expression in government by the consciousness of responsibility of citizens to each other through their fraternal identity as co-nationalities. The exaltation of Saturn in this sign is the astrological symbol of the concept of justice for all — a law applies to poor and rich, learned and ignorant, and it means that true laws are those which counterpart divine laws in the sense that no one is an exception to them. Laws which protect one at the expense of another represent the degeneracies characteristic of corrupted Saturn-aristocracy — the illusion of caste-superiority and injustices by adherence to evaluations by wealth-possession. In this sense, the administration of a certain world-wide religious government is seen to be, at its best, a devotee of this law of justice for all. Its doors are open to all, its corrective measures apply to all, regardless of worldly placement or possession. At its worst, the Saturn in Libra symbol balances wrongs by material payment. In societies where financial possession is considered to be the standard of evaluation, a spiritual transgression against an individual or a group or the nation itself is considered redeemed if a certain financial transaction is made. This congestion-in-ignorance has played an infamous part in human history — it is one of the most blasphemous actions of which man is capable. It is a congestion in such darkness that life-long karma of the ruler may be required to decrystallize and adjust the unbalance. In human consciousness — that is, in the consciousness of individuals who are rulers — this position of Saturn in the mandala displays the White Light of Saturn when the ruler recognizes his fraternity — as a fellow-citizen — with his subjects. This is the balanced justice and equilibrium of the ruler-citizen relationship. Let no ruler forget this principle; upon it depends the resource of spiritual value of governmental service.
Libra, as a significator of the democratic governmental principle, is the fusion of the principles of marriage with the principles of contributive self-government. In a democracy males and females are privileged to express and this governmental concept is one which, probably more than any other group-pattern, has most served to decrystallize the illusion of superiority and inferiority of the sexes, relative to each other. Marriage is a two-pointed citizenship of mutual exchange, mutual development, and mutual fulfillment. Democracy is a multi-pointed citizenship of mutual exchange, mutual development, and mutual fulfillment. One married couple is microcosm of all males and females in a particular nation; the polarity of the nation is the extension of the polarity of the couple. To incarnate in a democratic government is to realize a result from many incarnations of regenerative effort as an individual; as with the trine-aspect, such realization imposes the responsibility (Saturn) to contribute for mutual good and justice of all.
The exaltation of Venus in Pisces (as ruler of Libra) is the consciousness of spiritual powers as the governing agencies of the affairs of mankind. To perceive the truths that are behind the placement of rulers, the experiences of nations, and the spiritual alchemy which is continually at work to realize the ideal of Humanity makes possible the realization of inter-fraternity between mankind and other earth-life.
The essential nature of Citizenship is "Fraternity localized." As inhabitants of this solar system, our first citizenship- identity is that of (what we will call) "solarians." This identity is derived from the fact that all life-expressions on this planet and all life- expressions on the other planets of this system are microcosms of a common source — our Solar-Logos. If there were some way of identifying our system in its relationship with the other solar systems of our galaxy, we could further qualify our identity as "galactic citizens," then "arch-galactic citizens," then the final identity which we have with all other life-expressions as "Universarians" or "Cosmosians." However, our immediate localization in the Cosmos is by identity with our immediate Creative Source, the Manifestor and Governor of this system. We could designate this Source by a personalized name, for example, "Helios." This could specify the identity of our Source in the interfraternity of other Solar-Logoi of our galaxy. Then our citizenship-identity could be, as members of this system, "Heliosolarians" to differentiate our citizenship-status from other "Solarians" of our galaxy. As an American citizen of Spanish ancestry is a "Spanish American" (the background — derivative — qualifies the localized identity), so we would be designated as "Heliosolarian Earthians" to specify our immediate citizenship on planet Earth of the solar system of "Helios." In our horoscopes the circular traditional symbol for the Sun placed in the center of the wheel is the astrological symbol of "Helios" as our Creative Source; the suggested symbol of "semi-circle on horizontal line" (a symbol-picture of the rising Sun) is our personalized consciousness of the existence and nature of "Helios"; we designate this new symbol simply as "Sun" because it represents a relative comprehension of the nature of "Helios."
The archetypal astrological symbol of democratic citizenship (as the principle of fraternity manifesting in a governmental form) is the sign Libra, seventh house-sign of the Great Mandala and cardinal initiator of the air-trine from which all specifications of fraternity are derived. Because the four cardinal signs indicate the basic specifications of our polaric-generic Being, the mandala with Libra as Ascendant will now be considered as the root of our democratic citizenship consciousness.
As "Cosmosians," the Libra mandala pictures our attribute as "Reactors and Reflectors" — we react to the stimulus of other people's expressions. The esoteric mystery of the positive aspect of the vibratory power of Venus, as ruler of a cardinal sign, is seen in the fact that the action that we express subsequent to a reaction to another person's negative expression can be an expression of transmutative alchemy; we may react with pain but we do not have to re-project according to the pain-reaction; we can re-project in such a way that the friction, disharmony, or negative condition in general is neutralized. Thus, in this mandala, Libra (one of the signs which are focalized by Venus) is the expressor, but its expression, because Libra is the reflective polarity of Aries, is that of counter-active or transmutative alchemy. In this mandala, the "transcendencies" of the signs Libra through Pisces focalize the elements of soul-consciousness in those archetypal experience-chapters which usually pertain to the consciousness of the "separative self." To react and express by transmutative alchemy is to raise the consciousness of separative self into a degree of the octave of the "inclusive self." To the degree that regenerate action follows reaction will the combined vibratory forces of two, or many, people magnetized in relationship be transmuted.
In physical terms, this mandala portrays woman as expressor, man as reactor; it portrays, in a more abstract sense, the expressiveness of soul-consciousness, the reactiveness of self-consciousness. Dynamic expressions of negative selfishness are the things which bombard the receptivity of the Venus-vibration; the reactive expression of Venus is to neutralize the destructive element and thereby establish a greater degree of unified good. In the democratic fraternity of marriage, this Libra-Ascendant pictures not only woman; it pictures the composite soul-conscious-ness of both people; it symbolizes the beauties and perfections which each person sees in the other; it symbolizes the beauties and perfections of each that are ignited in consciousness by the dynamic essence of the other. This is the "raising in love" (not "falling in love") by which two humans, citizens in the world of an intensely focused relationship, are enabled to perceive their soul-elements through mutual ignition of idealities. The transmutative alchemy that takes place in a love-relationship (and all love-relationship is marriage in the realms of consciousness) is Libra as initiator of new life-consciousness and as epigenitor of a new world of experience. Husband and wife — twofold manifestations of lover-beloved — are fraternal citizens in the "democratic country of the union which they establish;" the epigenetic development of each, through physical, mental, emotional, and vibratory inter-fusion, is the purpose of the union; individualized expression of both, mutual respect of individualities, and cooperative action in the love-service of child-begetting and child-stewardship composite the democratic quality of true love-union. Consequently we see that a government based on democratic principles is, of all governments, the one most highly charged with the essence of love-consciousness. Only people who had evolved a high degree of awareness of the unity of love-power were qualified to promulgate democratic governmental principles. They were people who had, to a degree, realized the ideal of interfraternity of humans as Earthians and as citizens of a localized national group. The respect for the individual rights of males and females and the provision of opportunity for individual expression picture the spiritual love-principles of marriage transposed into the extended octave of the "togetherness" of males and females on this planet or in a specific racial type or in a particular national form. The individual human, in the localization of his or her personal family life, proves the type of his ruler-ship-consciousness; as he is in his consciousness, so is he in his family and so is he in his relationship with fellow-nationals.
Now to consider the "childhood of attainment." We refer to the sign Gemini in the Great Mandala as the immaturity of the citizenship-consciousness of Humanity. This is the third house-sign; as a root-sign it is the twelfth house-sign of the matrix-sign Cancer — it is that which "lies behind all parental expression." In this respect, Gemini's relationship to Cancer (and its polarity, Capricorn) is that which impels parentage; it is the physical sons and daughters to a specific couple of husband and wife; it is the karmic sons and daughters born to a specific polarization of national ancestral background. Cancer-Capricorn, in relationship to Aries-Libra, is "that from which Form (manifestation) is derived." We do not inherit national traits; we are magnetized to parents of specific ancestry by the quality of our consciousness. "National trait" is just another way of saying "vibratory quality concentrated in a large number of people." We have words like "Scandinavian," "Spanish," "Polish," etc., to designate the citizenship of our physical birth or the national background of our parents, but there are many people who are not similar in nationalistic quality to their parentage; in fact they can be unsympathetic to the traditions and nationalistic viewpoints of their parentage. These people prove that, in consciousness, they are citizens of a different ideality — they find their affinity with people whose interests, ideals, and aspirations parallel their own. However, born in the localization known as "The United States of America," all children, by karmic magnetization are brought in contact with the ideals and aspirations expressed by the spiritually-minded founders of this nation; the essence of democratic citizenship is the cornerstone of the national edifice which they established. As Gemini, then, our children are "young, immature, growing Americans."
It may safely be said at this point that incarnation as "American citizen" means that every child (regardless of his karmic or ancestral background) is timed to learn more of the spiritual ideal of democratic living. There have been many great democratically-minded individuals in human history. Democracy does not mean "political party"; it is a state of spiritual consciousness. The immortal Akhnaton, Pharaoh of Egypt almost six thousand years ago, has been called the first democratic ruler in human history; as sovereign of his people he sought to establish the principles of religious freedom, legal equality of the sexes and spiritual education as integral parts of the life of his subjects. He was, by the transcendent quality of his mind, heart, and spirit, a true "Son of Helios": his concepts of rulership included a sense of his basic fraternity with his subjects and that of his subjects to each other. If modern education in this country can teach, or vitalize, an awareness of fraternity in the minds of today's children, it will have fulfilled its esoteric purpose. If modern education can teach the Law of Cause and Effect it will have fulfilled its principal exoteric purpose because understanding of this law is the root of all education. The education of the factual intellect is important, of course, but brilliantly-endowed intellects can, and some do, live in a world which they interpret as chaotic, incoherent, confused, and unintelligible because they themselves are chaotic, incoherent, confused, and unintelligible in their relationship to themselves and to other people. They do not know that they themselves cause the conditions which register as effects in their lives. Gemini natives, then, as specific children born of specific parents in a specific locality, are citizens in the world of learning, the world of home and school. In a democratic governmental administration, the recognition is given to the right of every child to learn, to organize and coordinate his mental faculties, to extend his knowledge (brought over from past incarnations) of the objective world, to unfold his talents and potentialities for work-service and to become more spiritually informed. This recognition is given by virtue of respect for the child's individualized existence on this planet and respect for the good which he, potentially, may do as an adult. The generic essence of Gemini, in such designation, is feminine; the boy-student and girl-student function through the years of their learning-experience as in-takers; they function as receptors of and reactors to educational stimuli which are projected by the dynamic essence of Gemini's planetary polarity, Jupiter (ruler of Sagittarius). The Jupiterian polarization of Mercury's Gemini states that all true education is spiritual — knowledge of principles is macrocosm to knowledge of effects; knowledge of cause-and-effect clears the channelings for all other knowledge. The evolutionary instinct to spiritualize the concept of life-service is shown by the Virgo-Pisces vertical diameter of the Gemini mandala; the ideal of perfect personal and impersonal service is that which "gestates" the aspiration to learn. Knowledge (or understanding) that is not used for contributive improvement of human life is, relatively, "dead material." Therefore, as members of family-groups and of school groups, children are citizens in the state of mental maturing. The stewardship principle of this identity is the Cancer-Capricorn diameter on the second and eighth cusps — the "possession of group or national or family citizenship" is to be transposed into the octave of stewardship of the human group by exercise of that which is intellectually and spiritually learned. As long as we incarnate in the human archetype, we have citizenship only as "Earthians"; to congest on possession of American citizenship is to inhibit and constrict the sense of identity as Earth-citizenship. The human archetype is our family, it is the "society" to which we belong, it is the specification of our identity in relationship to our solar logos, "Helios," of whose power we are the highest epigenetic manifestation on this planet. Gemini is ninth house-sign of the Libra mandala — the sense of fraternity distilled from past incarnations represents the wisdom aspect of our focused complementary relationship- consciousness in the present incarnation. Injustices of viewpoint regarding the principles of polarity in human relationship serve to congest the flowering of love-relationship, marital experience, and fraternal citizenship with compatriots and fellow-students-in-life generally.
Aquarius, fixed air-sign, is eleventh house-sign of the Great Mandala and fifth house-sign of the Libra mandala. As the latter, it is the transcendent essence of love-power in human relationships. It is "personal love that knows no barriers of external qualification," it is love that perceives the inner value and the inner reality of human individuality. It is the decrystallization of congested, egoistic aspects of personal Leo-love; it is love as the "heart-aspect" of the Master-ship-consciousness.
The Aquarius mandala shows Capricorn at the twelfth cusp; that which is to be redeemed is crystallization of concept of separative human group-identity. Nations separate and different from each other, competitive against each other in fear and insecurity, are to he, by the Uranus vibration as ruler of Aquarius, re-identified as structure points in the edifice of the total of human society. This mandala, and the placement of Capricorn-Cancer, definitely pictures the influence of the Masters as those who serve by recharging the crystallized concepts of "separate nation- families" by the scope and power of their love-perceptions into a clearer realization of the one nation and the one family. The national placement of a Master — or of one who loves with a degree of Master-love — is the vibratory form into which he incarnates to fulfill his spiritual service; Joan of Arc for France, Queen Elizabeth for England, Kahlil Gibran for the people of Syria, etc. In all of these cases a service of inspired regeneration was performed for specified human groups but the entire race ultimately benefited by that service. If for example, Gibran thought of himself, in a congested way, only as a Syrian, the power of his poetry and painting would have been correspondingly depleted. He was a Syrian only by localized national identity; he was, and he knew it, in reality an Earthian and a "Solarian." The fraternal citizenship symbolized by Aquarius is the most complete picture of democratic principle in action because the scope of its power and influence includes all humans, regardless of outer aspects, background,or parentage. Aquarius, as ninth house-sign from Gemini, is fraternity universalized; as fifth house-sign from Libra it is love-radiation impersonalized and love-exchange spiritualized. All who learn are fellow-citizens and all who love are members of the heart's democracy.
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Contemporary Mystic Christianity |
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