Hopes —
Wishes — Aspirations
Sorrow and Self-Undoing
Old Age
Death-Regeneration
Sorrow, like Purgatory, may be said to be the process of becoming conscious of the futility of unnecessary earthly desires and activities. What we are, what we have, all our good
qualities, are the result of our own actions in the past. What we lack in physical, moral, or mental excellence, may yet be ours in the future; and, too, whatever trials, tribulations, and sorrows that we may have to contend
with in this life, be assured that they can be canceled and erased from the scroll of future lives, to a great extent, by the way and manner in which we live our daily lives.
All of us have our troubles, our worries, our sorrows; all of us have heavy burdens to bear, no matter what external appearances may indicate to the contrary. Indeed, it is excellent for us that we sometimes have troubles and sorrows, for they bring us back to realities; they foster humility; they defend us from vainglory. Then, too, afflictions and adversities make us understand better the great need we have
of God, without whom we can do nothing that is good.
We advance much more rapidly in the University of Life through sorrows and adversities, because we then struggle and exert ourselves to "Overcome" our defects, and strive to improve our conditions and
environment; whereas, with too much affluence we are so apt to become lazy, indolent, and waste our lives in pleasure, selfishness, and ease.
Whatever we do that is wrong is life must in some way be brought to our attention. Sorrow and pain have been the taskmasters that have guided us aright in the past, and in order that we may continue to
do right, we have the Law of Cause and Effect.
There is in each one of us a spiritual power that has become latent during the time we have been making the pilgrimage through matter, and it is for us to awaken this power. It is now latent because humanity has not fitted itself to receive it. We are too selfish, and we must cultivate unselfishness before we shall be trusted to wield this wonderful force. And, if we continue to travel and travel, take rebirth after rebirth, and do not at some time learn to obey the voice of God, hold His
commands holy, and live the good life, we cannot expect to reach the City of Peace, but must be content to remain in the land of sorrow and suffering.
All of us have this spiritual power within that will bring us into this City of Peace, and enable us to make progress on the Path of God. But the question instantly arises — how are we to unfold our latent
spiritual power? How are we to reach God? What must we do to travel that long, arduous road to perfection? We must make the start sometime — so why not now?
Assuredly, the first step is purification, for without a pure life there can be no spiritual advancement. "Ye can not serve God and mammon," it is said. But mammon is usually interpreted to mean the
gold of the world. Yet a man may remain in his business and take care of it for the good of all, not only striving for his own interests, but endeavoring to do everything possible for others. In consequence, he will
not be serving mammon.
We may love only a few around us, but there is a higher love that flows out to those not in our own circle which must be observed. Every duty must be fulfilled that we may thereby take advantage of the higher opportunities that are ever opening up before us.
And so we must learn our lessons in service:
service to humanity, service to our younger brothers, service to animals, service everywhere. This, and this alone will bring us out of the "wilderness." It is said that those who were highest in the Temple in the
Wilderness were those who served; and the Christ said, "He who would be the greatest among you, let him be the servant of all."
Let us all strive to render service. Let us all endeavor to be helpful, cheerful, valiant, and courageous, always lending a helping hand to those in sorrow and distress — and then our own troubles
will gradually fade into oblivion as the dawn of new understanding begins to light the way to the unbelievable glories of our Father God.
Hopes — Wishes —
Aspirations
(Generally of a
Material Nature)
Shown chiefly by the 11th house, planets therein,
and the ruler of the sign on the cusp.
Sorrow and Self-Undoing
Indicated by the 12th house, planets therein, and
the ruler of the sign on the cusp.
Old Age
Signified by the 4th house, planets located therein,
and the ruler of the sign on the cusp.
Death — Regeneration
Indicated by the 8th house, planets deposited there, and the ruler of the sign on the cusp.
A planet deposited in a house is to be considered first. If no planet is there, consider the ruler of the sign on the cusp. In detailed delineation both are taken into consideration.
In order not to involve the student in too much of a labyrinth of intricate configurations and possibilities, we are simplifying the following questions, and wish them to be answered in the
same manner.
Simplicity, as we have before remarked, in analyzing the prominent points of a horoscope, is an absolutely necessary accomplishment before the detailed delineation is undertaken.
Questions:
(You are welcome to e-mail your answers and/or comments
to us. Please be sure to include the course name and self-study module number in your
e-mail to us. You will find the answers to the questions below in the next Astrology Independent Study Module.)
1. Hopes —
Wishes — Aspirations.
Sum up, in one short paragraph, the significance of:
Pisces on the cusp of the 11th house, Neptune ruler thereof.
Neptune sextile Venus and the Sun.
Neptune square Mars.
2. Sorrow and Self-Undoing.
Synthesize in one short paragraph:
Uranus in Aries in the 12th house.
Uranus square the Moon.
Uranus trine Jupiter.
3. Old Age.
From the planets and their aspects which are deposited in the 4th house, state the conditions of the boy's later years.
4. Death-Regeneration
(a) What sort of death is indicated when the time for it arrives? (b) What are the possibilities of leading the regenerate life?
1. (a) Gemini rules the arms, hands, lungs, shoulders, thymus gland and the upper ribs.
(b) Gemini is a common sign, and when it is on the Ascendant it it very often signifies a person who is quite careless of his health and habits, and on this account we find more tubercular patients among Gemini people than among those of any one of the other eleven signs.
(c) A person with Gemini rising is subject to nervous troubles, but with the slightest help he can throw off most illnesses. Afflictions in this sign indicate pulmonary troubles, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, pleurisy, consumption and every sort of nervous ailment and disorder.
2. (a) Mars in Gemini on the Ascendant gives energy, a strong constitution, excellent recuperative powers, and much vitality. It has some adverse effects, however, and as it is co-ruler of the 6th house it shows certain tendencies: pneumonia, bronchitis, wounds or fractures of hands, arms, or collar bone; and by reflex action in Sagittarius, fractured femur, sciatica.
(b) Mars trine Saturn sustains the physical body of the boy, gives him great vitality, and promises general good health for long periods.
(c) Mars square Neptune implies potential nervous troubles from impulsive and sensual excesses, fevers, and danger from poisons.
3. Mars rules the iron in the blood, red coloring matter in the blood, genitals, motor nerves, left cerebral hemisphere, muscular movements, motor segment of the spinal cord, rectum, and the Desire Body.
4. (a) Venus in Cancer, co-ruler of the 6th house, shows a proclivity to distended stomach, gastric tumor, and nausea.
(b) Venus parallel Saturn is an adverse
configuration as regards health. It denotes trouble with the opposite sex, and obstruction of the venous circulation.
5. (a) Saturn in Aquarius gives a tendency to weak ankles, easily sprained, and, by reflex action in Leo, curvature of the spine, sclerosis, and afflictions of the heart, back, and arteries. The opposition of Mercury increases these tendencies.
(b) Uranus in Aries reacts upon the head, producing headaches, neuralgia, and diseases of the brain and cerebral hemisphere.
(c) Neptune in Virgo shows a predisposition to hypochondria, and nervous disorders originating in the abdominal region and the large and small intestines. Cholera, appendicitis, and intestinal troubles are indicated by the above placement.
6. Mars on the Ascendant, in the 1st house, in Gemini, strengthens the boy's constitution and gives him much energy and vitality. There is a weakness, however, with regard to bronchial inflammation, pleurisy, and pneumonia, and the weakness is the more pronounced because of Mars square Neptune. This tends to cause trouble through poisons and fevers in the intestines (Neptune in Virgo). Saturn in Aquarius shows varicose veins, and by reflex to Leo, heart trouble. Saturn opposition Mercury not only increases this tendency, but also suggests a nervous condition. Mars trine Saturn and Mars sextile Mercury, however, will offset these tendencies to a great degree. The Sun, Moon, and Venus in Cancer indicate strong desires for rich and sweet foods, and their consumption to excess will cause a congested digestive system and various sorts of digestive disorders. The Moon square Uranus assists in making the native indiscreet in his choice of foods, hence headaches, a clogged system, and stomach complaint. Later in life there might possibly be a rheumatic condition, but with a normal amount of common sense and care the boy will escape many proclivities imposed by past-life indulgences.
Note: It is not intended to be implied by the above that the configurations noted will produce all of the afflictions and diseases cited. The configurations merely show the tendencies which may materialize in one or more afflictions; or these may be largely avoided by "ruling one's stars."
Supplemental
Student Material:
Light As Communication
From an esoteric standpoint, as we usually use the
word, "communicate" means a process by which knowledge or information is
transmitted from one mind to another. However, a study and synthesis of its
derivative roots reveals its esoteric meaning which makes it possible for us
more truthfully to understand the real significance and right use of this
function of sensory, intellectual, and spiritual transmission. Its direct
derivation is from the Latin word communicare which means to
share. In it are found two basic root-words: "com" referring to "with" or
"together," and "un" referring to "one-ness" or "unity." Thus we see that
"communication" is a means by which diversity of minds and consciousness are,
in degree, unified through the process of sharing. This sharing
is a polarized process: the positive pole is revealed in actions of radiation,
expressing, informing, telling, writing, projective telepathy, and
inspirational projection; the negative pole is revealed in actions of
perception, reaction to vibratory stimuli, all sense-perception, learning,
understanding, and realization. All that is established in divine mind
can be transmitted to — or shared with — diversified, individualized mind or
consciousness. The over-all evolutionary goal is the realized unity of
diversified minds with the One Mind of our Creator.
Before undertaking a consideration of the esoteric,
karmic, and evolutionary significances of communication between humans, we
must first consider the basic or primordial or absolute communication
between Divine Consciousness and human consciousness — the "creative sharing of
Light." Divine Mind makes Itself known to us — "speaks to us" — by manifesting
Itself as infinitely varying states of objectified vibration — the natural,
physical world. It has also creatively provided us with centers and organs
of sense-perception in the development and exercise of which we may learn
of our source by observation of manifestation. Through sight, we
perceive and know God's manifestation as color; through hearing,
we perceive and know God's manifestation as tone; through touch,
we perceive and know God's manifestation as texture and density;
through taste, we perceive and know God's manifestation as chemical
mixture; through smell, we perceive and know God's manifestation as
invisible and silent chemical emanation or radiation. Extended,
"transcendental" forms of sense-perception are included in clairvoyance,
intuition, clairaudience, claircognition, telepathy, and inspiration. By
these faculties, Man's internal apperceptions are revealed in realms
that transcend the "limitations of Time-Space." All of these sensory and
super-sensory faculties and powers make possible the many variations of
communicative action and rapport between the Divine and Its sub-human,
human, and super-human microcosms as well as between humans amongst each other
and their sub-human and super-human "brothers and sisters." He who knows
more (has evolved more conscious-ness) shares with him who knows
less (is less evolved in consciousness and knowledge); he who knows
less (is less evolved in consciousness and knowledge) receives from,
and learns from, him who knows more and is more evolved in consciousness.
The magnetic attraction of relative differences in consciousness and
similarity of cosmic urge to realize unity is the communicative
relationship between all living things. Communication is fraternity in
action; Truth-full, constructive, and serviceable communication is
fraternal love in action. Now, to astrology:
Before a human can express to another mind in a
communicative way, he must go through a "process inside himself" by which he
formulates that which he desires to convey. In a subtle but
imperishable way, this formulation is an inter-action of the subconscious mind
with the conscious perceptions. Before any fact or realization can be
conveyed, it has first to be learned and the particular faculty for
learning was exercised prior to the present moment. It is the
subconscious mind — symbolized astrologically by the Moon-which acts as the
storehouse of memories — which are residual impressions established by past
exercises of consciousness. It is the conscious mind — symbolized
astrologically by Mercury — which cognizes and expresses according to the
present need. By the adhesive, retentive quality of the subconscious mind,
Man remains linked to that which he has been and has expressed in the
past and his cognitions and interpretations of his present are established on
what he recalls as memory or feeling-memory of his past. Therefore, we see
that an individual always communicates within himself before he transmits
or expresses his consciousness to another. A simple example: someone asks
you what time it is — he needs that factor of information; before you
can answer him, you have to "receive communication — by visual means — from what
your watch tells you." Formulating a cognition, you are then able to transmit
that fact as a communicative action to the other person. But, even before
that, you had to learn how to read a watch to tell time; your
subconscious mind retained memory of your having learned to read the watch
from some time in the past. So — you "drew on your past" to fulfill the
present communicative need for your friend. And so it goes, eternally: the
past is the "pabulum" upon which the present draws to build the future. In the
individual horoscope, the correlation of Moon and Mercury shows the alchemical
"mixture" of feeling-memory, established by exercises of consciousness
in the past, with perception by sense and intellect being exercised by
the consciousness in the present. Also, the correlation of Moon-Mercury with
Jupiter shows the alchemical process by which the individual is distilling
apperception of truth — a cognition of fact which is above, and
cleared from, all personal subconscious biases of interpretation by pain,
pleasure, prejudice, antipathy, or favoritism. The correlation of Moon-Mercury
with Uranus shows the alchemical evolution of such faculties as intuition
and prevision; with Neptune, it shows the "gestation" of clairvoyant and
clairaudient faculties (the evidence of things unseen and unheard) as well as
the evolutionary establishment of the power of faith and the power to
communicate by prayer.
The foregoing must be understood to be a general basic
survey of the nature of communication. Now, for practical astro-psychological
purposes, we will concentrate on the basic arch-symbol of communication and
communicative faculty — the planet Mercury, ruler of Gemini and Virgo.
Create a copy of the "Gemini mandala:" the zodiacal
sequence placed around a circle with Gemini as Ascendant-sign. Note that
Taurus-Scorpio, the diameter of desire-power and generative power, forms the
diameter of the twelfth and sixth cusps. Taurus refers to the throat-center,
the mechanism by which vocal creatures create tone; remember that
everything which we hear is perceived as an aspect of tonal vibration.
Scorpio refers to that faculty for generating, or "evoking," material for
another physical body. Through Taurus, we generate or "evoke" tonal material
for the embodiment, the perceptible manifestation, of ideas, thoughts,
feelings, emotions, knowledge, understanding, and realization; on the
plane of physical sense-perception it is the power and faculty to generate
tone that "overshadows" (twelfth house relationship to Ascendant) all
communicative action. It is the Mercury-power to formulate tones as
spoken words or sung words by the interaction of breath from the lungs and the
mobility of tongue and lips; it is also the Mercury-power to use the hands to
write and draw symbolic picture-imitations of the spoken word as written words
or diagrams, and of tones as musical notation. In the Gemini mandala the Moon-
sign, Cancer, is on the second cusp. Herein is seen that Man's consciousness
of nationality "stewards" the evolution of his faculty to express and
communicate by language. crystallized adherence to one
nationality provokes limited knowledge and use of systematized language —
such a person can communicate, in speech and writing (or reading) only with
those who know his particular language. But on the plane of present use of
the intellect, that adherence can be decrystallized by the learning
of another language, or of other languages. By such decrystallizing extension,
the person can communicate with a correspondingly greater number of people,
his "field of human rapport" is enlarged, his appreciation of the thought and
way-of-life of others is deepened and, consequently, on the plane of spiritual
recognitions he finds himself experiencing a greater degree of at-one-
ment with other humans. The differences of languages provide
communicative barriers only to those who do not step out of the crystallizing
adherences to one language; to those who do "step out," the barriers
disintegrate in degree. In this we see, again, a concrete illustration of the
fact that communication is fraternity expressed; to the degree that
more and more means of communication are learned will the
spiritualization of fraternal rapport and sympathy be realized, enjoyed, and
expressed.
In this age which witnesses the appearance of radio,
television, supersonic aircraft, and all such mechanisms by which the
limitations of time-space are being scientifically transcended, a parallel is
seen in the field of human spiritual endeavors. Many people, of all nations
around the world, are also seeking to explore the causations of impediments
in individual human functioning. These are people who are giving a
powerful regenerative impetus to human evolution by dedicated service to
humane measures, redeeming much negative karma built in their individual past
lives and devoting themselves to "helping other people to help themselves" out
of states of karmic abnormality, subnormality, and deflection from normal
healthy functions. In keeping with this subject of communication, it is hoped
that the following observations will serve to further a deeper "inner"
understanding of the karmic causations which undermine communicative faculties
in the human body; the first point to be considered is epigenesis:
Epigenesis refers to the faculty of the human to build
the quality of his vehicle in correspondence to the quality and states of his
consciousness. ("Epi-gene-sis" comes from two root-words which mean "to build
upon.") It is the one creative faculty possessed and — unconsciously or
consciously — exercised by all humans from the dawn of their evolutionary
procedure as humans. By epigenesis, Man reveals his creative likeness to
his own Creator; it is the "root" which underlies the flowering, in ages
to come, of his true creative activity as God-consciousness. The
principle, or law, of cause and effect operating on the faculty of
epigenesis in humans explains all conditioned quality of physical,
emotional, and mental manifestation in the human vehicle — congested,
deflected, crippled, or harmonized, potent, and efficient. In the present
consideration of communicative faculty and purpose, we find that the Gemini
mandala has much to tell us about the karmic causation of speech defects
and impediments which register in the bodies of humans at birth or which
"appear" during the incarnation as a result of a congested vibratory potential
being stimulated by the action of timing. Such conditions as congenital
muteness, cleft palate, abnormally thick tongue, stuttering and stammering,
traumatic conditions which injure the vocal mechanism, tongue or lips, etc.,
are the principal ones which outwardly reveal that the afflicted persons
caused communication to be impeded in the past. The subconscious
retained memory of the destructive or congestive action influences, and
the present physical body reproduces, by epigenesis, the negative
potential as "karmic return" so that the person may explore the negative
aspect of consciousness from "the other side of the fence" and so learn a
little more about the truths of communicative faculty and their right
usage for future development and evolution. Many, many kinds of action and
influence in the past may cause communicative defect in the present life, but
the Gemini mandala gives us the basic esoteric clues to the causation of
most of these defective conditions — and painful experiences:
The position of the Taurus-Scorpio diameter,
coinciding as it does with the cusps of the twelfth and sixth houses, is the
first point to consider. This is the diameter of consciousness of power as
"desire" or, to put it another way, the individualized consciousness of
desire. Keeping in mind that desire is a potency of consciousness
that can range, in quality, from the most inhumane lusts, greeds and
retaliations to the most sublime forms of spiritualized aspirations, we
realize that the right use of this potency — as shown in this mandala —
is a form of contributive service (Scorpio on cusp of sixth house) and a
builder of the consciousness of health. One such example is the
expression of mutual love through exercise of the sexual mechanism; another is
the disciplined conservation of vital and magnetic energies for use in
constructive endeavors and work. So much for Scorpio at the sixth cusp; its
higher polarization in the physical is the opposite sign Taurus, at the
twelfth cusp of this mandala, which is the symbol of the creativity of
tones released through the spoken word — the audible embodiment of
feelings, thoughts, ideas, opinions, and realizations.
Think about this: one small word — a "yes" or a
"no" — spoken in a certain tone of voice, communicating to another a
specific decision or feeling or realization or recognition, can change the
course of a human life if the person to whom the communication is made reacts
to what he hears in the word. One small word, pronounced as a judgment to
affect another's life or destiny, may be spoken in such a way that the
subconscious mind of the speaker "grasps and holds" an impression of malice or
destructiveness to so strong a degree that the karmic return from that
expression may objectify in painful experience several lives later. Through
fear a needed word may be withheld; the power inherent in the unspoken word
will be retained as a potential for blockage at a later time; the content of
pain attending the needed subsequent decrystallization will be proportionate
to the good that could have resulted if the original good word had been
spoken.
In order to unfold realizations or cognitions of
karmic causes to communication difficulties or impediments, we have to be
willing to elasticize our viewpoint and recognize that causation of these
effects, manifested in the present by epigenesis, may have been long
established in the sufferer's subconscious. To use the creative power of
the spoken word to give channeling to forces of destructive and untruthful
consciousness is to insure future experience with communicative
impediment. In much repetition of extreme forms, the mental vehicle is
disintegrated to a degree and in such wise that conditions identified as
"imbecility" and "idiocy" result as karmic return, especially when deliberate
cruelty has been the original emotional motivation. The present experience of
many such sufferers is being helped by the power of love expressed in the care
and consideration given by those who are seeking to assist them — and this love
is also a karmic return, established from actions of good intent and
kindliness in the past. So, in these times, we see — by observation of the
fact that humans are seeking to help and rehabilitate even the most
tragic cases of darkness, impediment, and relative disintegration — that the
only barriers to communication are those which man himself sets up; the
Creator has endowed us with potentials of mind and spirit and faculty to
insure our eventual communicativeness with all planes of life. In the
universal or absolute sense, there are no barriers to communication.
All individualized minds function under law and by releasement and refinement
of potentials within the inclusive scope of the one mind — which is the
one light, the one consciousness — the ever-unfolding lines of
communication of "each with all and of all with the One" are perpetually and
perfectly held. By the right usages of our Mercury-factors, we
reproduce the ever-open-ness of our lines of communication with
fellow-humans on this plane.
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.
