DESKTOP »

  rosicrucianU
mobile

Simplified Scientific
Christianity

Astrological
Encyclopedia

 Core Concepts »


The Sun Sign
"The houses and signs of the upper semi-circle of the astrological mandala represent the 'daylight part' of the Sun's seeming travel around the Earth each day; esoterically, these signs and houses refer to the soul-consciousness of humanity; the lower six houses and signs refer to the 'night-time part' of consciousness — that of the individual seemingly separated from his fellows."
This discourse is presented as an attempt to give answer to often-propounded questions by astrological students such as: Why, in astrology, is the Sun considered and treated as a planet? What is really meant by "afflictions" to the Sun? Of what significance is the Sun in the astrological consideration of psychological problems? How can the Sun — the Creative Source of our system — be taken as a symbol of "bad karma?"

Looking at a diagram of the astrological wheel without its cusp lines, we are impressed with its exact resemblance to the symbol we use for the Sun — a central dot circumscribed by a perfect circle. As the power-radius of the Sun enfolds the entirety of the solar system so the total symbol of the astrological mandala parallels the Sun symbol. Adding the cusps' lines by drawing them as radiations from the center, we recognize that the Law of Correspondences is being pictured in action: the Sun or the human is seen to vitalize every factor which is the reflection of the consciousness of each. In other words, the solar system of the Sun and the body of the human are objectifications of the potentials inherent in the attributes of each. Before there was vitalization as "energy" there was vitalization as "Light." Light is the archetypal creative fiat throughout the Cosmos on all creative octaves. Creativity expresses Light; Light is that which is revealed by Epigenesis; in Light all manifestation is; by Light it lives. God is Light, and in astrology, the Sun symbolizes man's consciousness of his divine source. The unity that is depicted in the symbol for the Sun — it is the most undiffused of astrological symbols — pictures the focused consciousness which exists to express. The unity of a Master's consciousness is the result of his having transcended darknesses, congestions, and ignorances through epigenetic action in many incarnations in such a way that he has conditioned himself to become relatively perceptive of the One Light. The diffusion of an unevolved person's consciousness is "un-Mastership;" the darknessess of congestion serve to scatter and diffuse the expression of potentials, and the resultant "clouds and storms" obscure his perception of Light. He is at the mercy of his tendency to react to the clouds and darknesses of others — out-picturings of his own darknesses; the Master abides serenely in his perception of the Unity of Life that is Light and Love.

For your consideration — an example of manifestive symbolism originated by the author, which pertains to the subject at hand: an upward semicircle, the end of which rests on a horizontal which extends a little beyond on either side. As a picture, this figure represents a half-circle of the rising Sun above the horizon; as a symbol it is one-half (the upper part) of the circle of both the Sun symbol and the horoscopical wheel. The placement of the traditional circular Sun symbol at the center of the human horoscope, and the use of this new symbol in the horoscope as the ruler, Leo, could clarify to students the differences between the Sun as the creative source of our planetary system and the consciousness of evolving humanity regarding the principle inherent in the sign Leo. In other words, we think of the Sun as the focalizer of the sign Leo, the Love attribute of Father-Mother God, but the new symbol ("half the Sun") could much more easily convey the relative realization of the Central Principle that is held by the individual evolving human. It is placed in the human chart not (horary) just as you would place the traditional symbol of the Sun, aspected by other planets just as though it were a planet.

Actually, the planets, as focalizers of the sign principles, symbolize in their positions and groupings the consciousness of life principles held by the evolving human, but the Central Sun abides as the emanative Source of everything pictured inside the wheel. The houses and signs of the upper semi-circle of the astrological mandala represent the "daylight part" of the Sun's seeming travel around the Earth each day; esoterically, these signs and houses refer to the soul-consciousness of humanity; the lower six houses and signs refer to the "night-time part" of consciousness — that of the individual seemingly separated from his fellows.

It is through the vibratory powers of the upper six signs (begun by Venus's Libra) that we enter into the consciousness of unity through the life of relationship; when the "tour" through the zodiac has been completed at Pisces the result is a completed circle — the microcosm of that which is represented by the circle of the Central Sun. The essence of your horoscope, in toto, is your perception of unity in diversity; to the degree that you become focused in consciousness of the one light, will your horoscope dissolve its "separate bits" and emerge — closer and closer — to its essential representation — the one perfect undifferentiated circle: one love, one wisdom as the expressions of the power which is Light. The new Sun Symbol (the picture of Light-radiation of each sunrise) conveys in a practical way the truth that each regenerative expression of a human is a "sunrise in his consciousness" and one revelation of the Light to all who contact him. The radiance, beauty, and truth of our identity as children of Father-Mother-God becomes evident with each evolutionary step.

Since humans, being humans, are not creative but epigenetic, this new Sun symbol could represent the essence of perfect epigenesis — the octave of Creative Power which, in our archetype, corresponds to (not "is parallel to") the power of the Solar Logos. The new symbol is, in the individual horoscope, the Spark of Solar Light; the traditional symbol, placed in the center of the horoscope, is the Divine Source of all Light Sparks, or Power focalizers, of the human archetype of this planet. Every time you look at this new symbol in your horoscope you will impress your subconscious mind with the truth that you are an evolving being, you are revealing your inner light, you are rising to a higher octave of perception of your divine source and your divine identity.

The disorganized, incoherent, stumbling, congested, fearful, hateful, ignorant human is so because he is focused on the diffusion of his planetary patterns; he sees himself separate from all other humans, he sees no common denominator in his experience-patterns, the manifestations of life are, in his reactions and feelings, outside of (and against) him; therefore, living in his inner microcosms he expresses the lesser of his potentials and all of their possible congestions.

The Sun is Master of this system. A human Master is so because he is focused, co-ordinated, harmonized, simplified, refined, and centered in his perception of identity as "begotten of Father-Mother-God." (Herein is seen the explanation for the exaltation of the Sun in the first zodiacal sign, Aries, ninth house-sign of Leo and fifth house-sign of Sagittarius. For reference consult your Great Mandala.) He is clearly aware that he is a focalizer of solar power and he knows that his purpose in existing on this plane is to express that power according to the highest of his epigenetic capacities. His consciousness is fused, his actions are harmonious and efficient, his Love transcends all of the self-created barriers in the natures of less evolved persons. The secret of all mastery is (correspondent to the essence of the Solar Source) unification.

In this respect, study the Sun in your chart and recognize that (even if you have to decrystallize a mental habit of many years) the Sun cannot be afflicted. There it abides in the center of your chart, macrocosm of every factor in the chart; it radiates its divine blessings throughout the contents of the wheel. But, your "personal Sun" (like any planet) can be "squared" or "opposed" and it means that, in such cases. your consciousness of Light-Power as Love and Wisdom tends, to a degree, to be limited, dull and ineffectual. The cusp of your chart carrying the sign Leo (as "matrix" of Light in your consciousness) will tell the story of persons, who serve to alert you to the existence of your Light; the placement of the "personal Sun" by sign-position points to the microcosmic planetary vibration (unless the Sun is in Leo) from which you tend to distill your Light consciousness; the house-placement of your personal Sun is the command from the Most High (within yourself) to express light in that particular experience-chapter or relationship-chapter during this incarnation.

In this part of your life, if your personal Sun has squares or oppositions, you will be challenged (depend on this!) by the vibratory powers of other people in order to stimulate your attention to focus on the existence of your Divine Attributes. Some of these people may be tyrannical by nature. You must learn to keep your Light alive and radiant in spite of everything they — seemingly — try to do to you. Others may be inclined to take advantage of your weaknesses in order to use you for their own purposes. You must study yourself and learn how to transmute your energies from disorganization and weakness to strength. (Persons you may know who have no squares or oppositions to their personal Suns will prove to be the best objects for study and the best teachers to help you learn how to unify and focus your potentials.) If you deflect from what you know to be your life-purpose, then you default on Divine Command. If your personal Sun has no squares or oppositions, then the congestions of the planet which disposits it are the focalizations for "Sun-exercise." Through increasing unification and focusing of positive powers, discipline of expression, purification of desire-urges and clarification of your awareness of Spiritual Identity, you are to deal with the problems represented by these "planetary afflictions." Frictional aspects involving planets in the sign Leo are to be redeemed by transmutations of egotistical congestion through expressions of radiative Love — through our Leo-points we must become contributors of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful for the ongoing of Life. Transcendence of diffused separativeness is the action of Mastership; radiation of focused Power as Love and Wisdom is the service of Mastership.

The "first grade" of expression of Power is "power over things and people." The lust to dominate other people, to circumscribe their actions and thoughts is an exercise of power but it is based on ignorance of what power really is. We have the attribute — because we are causers — to influence people if they respond to us, but we cannot influence anyone who is either indifferent to us or who is more perfectly focused and organized than we are. To say "I have power" is to congest the consciousness of the personal-Sun with the urgings of the desire nature. This is an illusion which has made possible innumerable perpetrations of injustice and cruelty, by man toward man. "I have power" implies "I have the right to exercise my power in any way that I want (desire) to." The truth of the matter is "I am Power" or "I am a focalizer of Solar Power;" the responsibility attendant on this identity is to be the best focalizer of Solar Power that is possible. Power is not a possession — it is a Divine Attribute and its expressions (radiations) as Love and Wisdom through individualized human consciousness testify to the omnipresence of the Divine on this plane. Release "I have" from your astrological approach to the personal Sun; substitute "I am." Remember that the "I have power" approach is Leo as the fire-sign initiator of the fixed cross — the four signs that symbolize the utmost compression and congestion of the desire-potentials. "I am power" is Leo as the fixed (centered, focalized, organized resource) sign of the fire trine of Divine Attributes; as such it is the creative Love aspect of Father-Mother God and the resource of every aspirational effort of humanity to realize the ideal of Love as the truth of all relationships. We cannot have something that is not, by its nature, a possession; we can only aspire to be that which our Divine Source ordains that we are. Perfected radiation (epigenetic action) is the livingness of this True Identity in human terms.

The Leo Mandala: a twelve-housed wheel, Leo as Ascendant and the signs in sequence; the traditional circular Sun symbol at the center, the new "personal Sun" symbol in the first house. This is the abstract astrological portrait of humanity as epigenitors — radiators of focalized Solar Power and expressors of this Power as Love. The desire-diameter of Taurus-Scorpio appears as the parentage-diameter in this mandala — the sexuality of male and female parents provides reincarnation for a human focalization of Solar Power. The polarity of this focalization (the Uranian air sign Aquarius) is liberation. All regenerate epigenetic action is liberation from the no-longer-needed. The caterpillar needs his cocoon but only when he emerges from its confines does he establish his identity as "butterfly." The mother human nurtures and then liberates the body of her child; both parents fulfill their experience in relationship to their children and then, with respect for the individuality of the children as fellow-human, they liberate them to their own experiences. Does this mandala not show us that parentage-default is rooted in possessiveness? Leo is "married to" Aquarius (Love that does not liberate for greater growth of development, and expression is not love — it is desire to express power on others by holding them static with constraint) physically, mentally, and emotionally; it should be the aspiration to express Love-power for others.

The individualized Leo-Love of each parent for the other expressed through intense fusion by Taurus-Scorpio made possible a liberation from the inner planes of another Ego so that that Ego might progress in his evolution by reincarnation. He, in his turn, is further liberated when his epigenetic radiation is fused with that of another. So we see in this mandala that the "possessiveness aspect" of Taurus-Scorpio is the congestion of human progress; its regeneration is the impersonalized aspect of stewardship. Spiritualized (self determined) parentage is intelligent, loving stewardship of the individual growth of the begotten and respect for the begotten's right to realize the best of his individuality.

The house-sign patterns of the personal Sun as indicated in this Leo mandala are: Leo, 1; Virgo, 2; Libra, 3; Scorpio, 4; Sagittarius, 5; Capricorn, 6; Aquarius, 7; Pisces, 8; Aries, 9; Taurus, 10; Gemini,11; Cancer, 12. (Correlate for clarification with a copy of the Great Mandala (Aries Ascendant) to perceive how the archetype sign-principles are expressed when Leo is Ascendant of the horoscope. For example, the personal Sun in Virgo is practical, not just because Mercury is ruler of Virgo, but because in Virgo the personal Sun is in its own second house-sign, stewardship principle, correspondent to the Taurus-Aries relationship of the Great Mandala. And so forth.

Exoterically, the personal Sun involved in square and opposition patterns pictures karma resultant from ignorance of the true meaning of Power. "Planets are people" — and the squared or opposed personal Sun represents the challenges to your integrity from people who outpicture your past ignorance of this principle. By the very meaning of the personal Sun as an astrological symbol you are to decrystallize all "enmity-reactions" to such persons by (1) learning from their negative example what not to do, and (2) transmute your negatively-colored relationship to them by a strengthening of your inner purposes, your personal integrity and your love-consciousness and radiate that higher octave of consciousness to them. This is astrology's way of saving: "Love your enemies." The converse of a previous statement about Leo is appropriate here: We do not have enemies; we (by congestion of potentials) are enemies to our own best and highest good. The Light that is symbolized by the Central Sun is microcosmically reflected in the personal Sun of the individual human; it and its polarity, Aquarius-Uranus, is the arch-decrystallizer of all "enmities."

In the above statement is seen an answer to inquiries by students concerning the psychological value of the Sun symbol in astrology: To the degree that you remain unfocused will your weaknesses be challenged by the desire-power-authority urges of others; to the degree that you unfold awareness of your true identity as a focalizer of solar power and express that awareness through love in which no shadows can exist will you epigenetically improve the quality of your entire psychological base. The therapy of the Sun is JOY — the house-position of your personal Sun in this incarnation is where you have chosen to banish shadows by the radiance of your purified love nature. You created the shadows in the first place — the squares and oppositions to your personal Sun; only you, as a focalizer of solar power, can redeem those congested energies and transform their expression by constructive epigenesis. With reverence and joy identify yourself with your source — know that Its Power transcends that of any seeming outer negative. This is the therapy that has been given to us by every teaching-Master and in your horoscope (sooner or later) if you knock, the secret of your solar identity will be "opened unto you." Your purpose is not to "be submerged;" it is to love, to express, to radiate, to be a living testimonial to the divine in the human archetype.
The Kabbalah »




Next article in this series »

Table of Contents »

Reference: Studies In Astrology, by Elman Bacher

Browse by Category »

This web page has been edited and/or excerpted from reference material, has been modified from it's original version, and is in conformance with the web host's Members Terms & Conditions. This website is offered to the public by students of The Rosicrucian Teachings, and has no official affiliation with any organization.
 DESKTOP »