"It is true that, from a standpoint of karmic
conditionings, the gestation-period of a child's body may be attended by very
difficult vibratory conditions due to the distresses, negative emotions, and
tensions of the parents, particularly of the mother. However, since
incarnation is made by vibratory attraction to specific parents and to
specific environment, these conditions are outpicturings of vibratory
patterns. The conditions are not 'causes' — they are, in fact, specific effects
of causes which the 'child' himself has built from the way that he exercises
his consciousness in the past."
"Child-hood" simply means "being in a state of
involution" — on any octave of experience or unfoldment.
There is not much poetry but there is a great deal of
truth in the statement that "the child is father to the man." The man is the
result of all of the processes of involution which emanate, in sequence, from
the time of conception to fullest incarnated maturity. All involutions are, of
course, phases of the one life-direction: evolution. They are timings for
organization and focus of faculties; they culminate at the "points" when the
faculties can be consciously used and directed. "Conscious directive" is just
another way of saying "Maturity."
Before we can undertake a technical approach to
analyzing the charts of children, we must get a picture of what our various
"childhoods" are; the structure of the Great Mandala will be used for
illustration of the involution — and evolution — of human being-ness. The Law of
Correspondence will be seen, here, to apply in this way: from Virgin Spirit
through incarnations to liberation-from-form corresponds to from Virgin seed
through incarnation to transition. From virginity — or innocence — on any Life-octave — we proceed through a succession of emanations, which we call "child-hoods," to cyclic maturities. A concrete example — the process of education:
students on the first day of kindergarten, the first grade, the ninth grade,
and freshmen in college are "virgin spirits" in relationship to the phase they
are entering; the "most virgin" are, of course, the kindergarten students —
they have no educational experience in this life at all. All of these are
"children" because they are still in the process of becoming educated. The
"childhood of being educated" stops when the person first puts to use that
which he has learned; on entering this phase, he enters into the "childhood"
of his work-experience; as he applies that which he has learned, he "emanates
toward" his maturity as a worker.
So, let us remember that "childhood" is the process
between relative points of maturity on any — or all — octaves of
Life-expression, as — let this be added — unfoldment of potentials is the process between relative points of happiness.
The start of your incarnation was the timing that
determined the end of your necessary experience on the inner planes. From that
point, qualified entirely by your karmic requirements, things began to happen
that served the purpose of removing your consciousness from subjectivity to
objectivity. The seed, nucleus of your vehicle-to-be, was matured within the
maternal body; again, at the exact required timing, that seed received the
effect of the paternal impregnation and the subjective phase of your
incarnation was finished — the objective phase was begun. New childhood.
Now begins the involution, into the composite vehicle,
called the pre-natal period. This is the first of your "objective childhoods."
For illustration draw a large circle, add the horizontal and vertical
diameters; place the symbols of the cardinal signs, as they are in the Great
Mandala: 4th — Cancer, 7th — Libra, 10th — Capricorn, 1st — Aries. From a point on
the Cancer-line, near the center, draw, through comparable points, a line up
through Libra and Capricorn, then down to Aries — three-quarters of a circle.
This is the "line of the gestation period" — nine months of time symbolized by
nine astrological house-signs — three quadrants. This is the gathering and
focalizing of generic consciousness into the etheric matrix and its physical
condensation. The ending of this gestation (prenatal) line at Aries brings
this particular "childhood" to an end by its "maturity" at birth. Now the
composite vehicle is objectified as an individualized expression of the
archetypal idea — "humanity." It is not a "new human being" but "a human being reappearing newly."
From the point on the Aries-line where the "gestation-line" ended, move your pencil-point outward — away from the center — a little.
From that point draw a quarter-circle down to the comparable point on the
Cancer-line. New octave — new dimension. This quadrant is the involution into
conscious use of the physical vehicle — the individualized physical
childhood. Astrologically, this period is represented by the "parallel voyages" of the progressed Moon and transiting Saturn (the form builders) from their natal
positions to the first square. The last time that transiting Saturn, in direct
motion, squares its natal position terminates this quadrant. More of this
later.
Move your pencil-point down the Cancer-line a little
and draw a quarter-circle to the comparable point on the Libra-line. This
quadrant is the childhood of mental exercise — the training represents the
schooling that is obtained by the child in the grades of grammar school. He
takes his first steps in learning to understand the symbols we call letters
and numbers which is for the (basic) purpose of coordinating and organizing
his mental faculties. Then, a new and most vital "child-hood." This point on
the Libra-line symbolizes the dawn of adolescence, the emanation of sex-
consciousness and the awareness of polarity. On the gestation-line, this point
represents the timing in the pre-natal period when the sex-characteristics of
the incarnation to-be were objectified and those of the opposite sex were
subjectified. At adolescence the physical body manifests the chemicalization
of sex-consciousness; the subjective sex-consciousness is manifested by the
vibratory response of the person to persons, for the most part, of opposite
physical sex. (More of this in the following article.) This subconscious
"emanation" of polarity-consciousness represents the "childhood of mate-love."
The basic astrological pattern is: Progressed Moon opposition its natal
position and Saturn transiting to the opposition of its natal position. Now
move the pencil-point out a little on the Libra-line and draw a quarter-circle
to the Capricorn line; three quadrants of the wheel and the second square of
progressed Moon and transiting Saturn to their natal positions.
At this point — the second on the Capricorn-line — the
first maturity after birth is reached. The person has evolved the use of his
physical body, his conscious mentality and his erogenous, generative powers.
He is now qualified, as far as equipment is
concerned, to leave the status of life-taker and emerge into the status of
life-giver. In other words, he can now become a parent. He not only can
provide body-substance for another's incarnation but he should be qualified to
assume and fulfill the responsibilities attendant on that expression. Anyone
with physical equipment, desire-power, and a partner can become a parent, but
being a parent involves the exercise of love-power and wisdom-power, as well
as desire-power. Therefore, in the fourth quadrant after birth, the person
enters the childhood of culminating maturity. This "childhood" is pictured by
moving the pencil-point upward a little on the Capricorn-line and drawing the
remaining quarter-circle downward to the Aries-line, completing one circle
from birth. This period is the psychological-spiritual "childhood" — fusion of
all of the personality-elements — physical, generic, and mental. On the wheel
it encloses the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth houses. Since the twelfth house
abstractly symbolizes unfulfilled ideality, it symbolizes here the
testing-time of the 28th, 29th, and 30th years. This period marks the end of the first
cycle: progressed Moon and transiting Saturn (direct) conjunct their natal
positions. During this "super-birth" time the essentials of the entire
horoscope are brought into intense focus. On its octave, it is analogous to
the struggle of the infant to emerge from the maternal body. Only this is
emergence of consciousness from the gravitational pull of psychological
(psychic-emotional-mental negatives, rather than the struggle of one physical
body against another. The aspects made by the first solar-eclipse after the
progressed Moon's conjunction of its own place are very important to indicate
the focus of testing until Saturn has completed its cycle.
It is true that, from a standpoint of karmic
conditionings, the gestation-period of a child's body may be attended by very
difficult vibratory conditions due to the distresses, negative emotions, and
tensions of the parents, particularly of the mother. However, since
incarnation is made by vibratory attraction to specific parents and to
specific environment, these conditions are outpicturings of vibratory
patterns. The conditions are not "causes" — they are, in fact, specific effects
of causes which the "child" himself has built from the way that he exercises
his consciousness in the past. When we recognize that parentage and
environment are effects, not causes, we recognize that we can
redeem the quality of our relationship with our parents and the quality of our
memory-pictures of our early environment by decrystallizing tension-thoughts
and tension-feelings in substituting thought-patterns and feeling-patterns
based on Love-Wisdom. Is this not, in essence, one of the principal meanings
of the phrase "the Art of living"?
At the end of the period marked by the conjunction of
the progressed Moon and transiting Saturn to their natal positions — which is
coincidental to the trine, by direct transit, of Uranus to its natal
position — the man emerges from the "emanations" of his six "childhoods" — one subjective
and five objective. To sum up: (subjective): preparation, on the inner planes,
for incarnation; (objective): (1) The prenatal period, involution into
physical and etheric vehicles, culminating at birth; (2) birth to seven years;
involution into use of physical vehicle; (3) seven to fourteen years:
involution of use of mental faculties; (4) fourteen to twenty-one years:
involution of polarity-consciousness, sex-awareness and emergence of the
erogenous nature; (5) twenty-one to twenty-eight years: completion of the
first cycle of the progressed Moon, culminated by the transit — in last direct
motion — of Saturn to the conjunction of its natal position and the trine of
Uranus to its own natal position; the latter two take place in the
twenty-ninth and thirtieth years. This period is "summing up" of total childhood of
the incarnation, the testings which serve to solidify the consciousness for
mature years, the inner struggles by which we prove how much has been learned
of Life-Principles so far, and then the action of Uranus provides a measure of
liberation for progressive emanation.
Since recapitulation is a principle in evolutionary
emanations, the next period, ending with the third square of the progressed
Moon and transiting Saturn to their natal positions (first square of the
second cycle) in about the thirty-sixth year, is a recapitulative period in
which life gives us the opportunity to learn from the results of the
testing-time of the 28th to 30th years, and to redeem, at least in part, whatever
needs to be redeemed. Life does not want us to go from one octave to another
all slogged down by burdens of accumulated congestions — the vibration of
Uranus is Nature's provision to insure some degree of inner freedom — and that
freedom is a direct derivative from whatever we have learned by our testing.
After all, the congestion we call "ignorance" is decrystallized only by wisdom
"and the truth shall make ye free." This is the period to "fix what needs to
be fixed" from the first thirty years and then we emerge, after the
thirty-sixth year — having learned things we needed to learn — into the next phase
(comparable to the erogenous-sexual period of adolescence), which is the
period of greatest creativity so far. Our polarity-powers — higher octave of
sexual powers — now dawn for a blaze of expression through the maturities of
physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual equipment.
At the end of this period, the sixth quadrant, we come to the modulation into the fullest maturity of the incarnation; a
threefold vibratory action takes place from forty-two to about forty-five;
progressed Moon and transiting Saturn make the second opposition to their
natal positions and transiting Uranus opposes its natal position. This period
is another "birth struggle" — of great esoteric significance: it is the struggle,
in consciousness, between the "slowing-up crystallization" of Saturn and the
"progressive decrystallization of Uranus — Dying vs. Living. It is a conviction
of the author that this "struggle" and its outcome have much to say about the
"psychological foundation" and the "evolutionary status" of the next
incarnation. At this time we, by our reactions and expressions, prove whether
we intend to become inertial or to remain dynamic. Whatever in our
consciousness tends to congest and to impede progress is shaken to its roots
at this time. If we — in fear — cling to the old and no-longer-needed we build in inertia; if we adjust to needed changes we build in progress which results in a radiant new birth of spiritual consciousness. After this period we climb to the summit of our life-mountain — the fullest maturity of our later years.
Now, a little technical study. Six sets of accurate calculations:
1. The months in which the progressed Moon makes its
first square, first opposition, second square, conjunction, third square, and
second opposition to its natal position.
2. Correlate to each of the above the timing of the
solar eclipse which falls (after the progressed Moon aspect) conjunct square
or opposition the natal Moon. (The succeeding solar eclipse "opens up" the
Moon-patterns.)
3. The dates on which Saturn, by last direct transit,
makes its first square, opposition, second square, conjunction, third square,
and second opposition.
4. To each of the above (Number 3), correlate the
lunation nearest the aspect-time which conjuncts, squares or opposes the natal
Saturn. These lunations "ignite" the Saturn-aspects in correlation to the
solar-eclipses in their relationship to the progressed-Moon aspects. (If your
ephemeris provides.)
5. The period when Uranus, by first and last direct
transit, opposes its natal position. Find the timing of the solar-eclipses
that conjunct, square, or oppose the natal Uranus in this period. This is the
apex of the "shaking up" time — Uranus rumbles and roars at everything he
dislikes about Moon-Saturn.
6. A composite list of everything in the
above-mentioned two-point period of Uranus-opposition-Uranus that ignites the natal
Uranus by sextile or trine. That is, the progressed Moon itself, solar
eclipses and their full-Moons, lunation-patterns and their full Moons, and
majority planetary transits that represent stimulation of Uranus according to
his powers for establishing inner liberations and progressiveness. Also, the
study of the Uranus-opposition-Uranus requires a careful synthesis of the
contrast of natal Uranus with natal Saturn to evaluate the relative powers of
gravity and progress in the individual chart.
It is also suggested that special attention be given to the progressed Moon aspects in this way: Make a list of the months when
progressed Moon, in sequence, makes aspect to every planet which makes
legitimate aspect to the natal Moon in the horoscope. Each of the "quadrant
turning points" is focalized by the aspects of progressed Moon and transiting
Saturn to their natal positions, but Moon-aspects in the natal chart are
personal specializations of the Moon-principles and all of these aspects have
important bearing on the "turning-points."
When you are reading the chart of anyone, keep in mind what "childhood" he or she is in; analyze the chart for its basic values
but keep in mind the "equipment" that is presented for the time of the
experience you are studying.
In conclusion: the astrologer's "first quadrant" is in "learning the calculation" — the body of astrological study. All of his other "childhoods" — as an interpreter-artist — are coincidental with his various stages of spiritual unfoldment.
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