第14章

The celestial state is now forever lost as a realm of angelic innocence.It can only be regained amid trial, sorrow, suffering, and experience, and, when regained, it is as Lord and Master, not as the innocent cherub.But when, having gained or reached the equator of the upward arc of its progress, and, united once more to its missing half, gives expression to that deathless force with which it started from the opposite point, Aries: "I AM THAT I AM;" no longer an embryo, but being within the UNIVERSAL SOUL of being.Before closing this symbolic constellation, we must reveal the mystery of its BI-SEXUAL NATURE.In the higher or first portion of the sign it is {}, positive to some extent, and masculine.The soul is still within the Garden of Eden and pure, clad in the raiment of God, and is represented by the Chaldean statues of "The Bearded Venus," or Venus, the Angel of Libra, as a morning star, bright Lucifer.But in the latter half, after the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (positive and negative, you see) has been partaken of, bright Lucifer falls.The Sun of the Morning, shorn of his glory, becomes the symbol of night, or Vesper, the evening star, and the symbol is thus {}, and the soul loses its heavenly raiment, or spiritual consciousness, and becomes clothed with matter, the symbol of night.

The sign Libra in the Zodiac, in its astrological aspect, is a very external correspondence of all the foregoing.

VIII.Scorpio

"And, longer grown, the heavier scale inclines, And draws bright Scorpio from the winter signs."We now behold the gates of Paradise guarded by the FLAMING SWORD which points to the four quarters of the world.This sword is,according to Genesis, "to guard the way of the tree of life," and such, esoterically, it really is.

The soul is no longer dual, but separated into male and female personalities; "and behold they see that they are naked." Stripped of their spiritual raiment, they feel the chill of matter and the lusts of an animal nature.They need clothing, "so God made them coats of skin." Sex is the symbolism herein typified, and the evolution of the animal passions of procreation, of multiplication and evolution.It is the complete entry of the soul into elemental conditions, and the flaming sword guarding the four quarters of the Earth to the way of life are the four great realms of the astral world; the way to physical life in concrete forms; and the way to life eternal through the realms of the Sylphs, Gnomes, Undines and Salamanders.They are the basis of all matter, known as Air, Earth, Water and Fire.Here we see that, through the evolution of sex and its accompanying desire for procreation, these blind forces of Nature find their avenue of expression.Spiritual consciousness almost lost, and without reason, the soul becomes the prey, so to say, of these forces of the astral world, which is the realm of design.The soul's creations must be met and vanquished upon the upward arc of the Cycle of Progress.They guard or oppose the way to eternal life.Here the soul, having gained the victory, stripped forever of its earthy raiment and the lusts of the flesh, arrayed once more in its spiritual raiment, purified and sanctified, it will stand once more at the gates of Paradise, where, reunited with its missing half, it will partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life and become as Gods.Astrologically the correspondence is perfect, and so thinly disguised as to need no explanation.

IX.Sagittarius

"Him Centaur follows with an aiming eye, His bow full-drawn, and ready to let fly."Deeper and deeper sinks the soul into material forms.The evolution of sex has produced the necessary avenues for the entrance of countless forces, and the soul is now rapidly losing the last vestiges of its spiritual conscience.In other words, Sagittarius symbolizes that state of the soul wherein it is descending to its polarizing point, and is, therefore, thevortex of innumerable opposing forces, seeking expression in different forms.

"It is the bow (strength or force of the soul), FULL-drawn and ready to let fly" its arrows (of energy) in any direction that may afford proper opportunity.Here we see the expression of that deathless, fiery force, and imperious daring and courage, within more material states; the primal fire reflected from another angle.

But everything is unsettled.It is a masculine force, and restless, and is represented under the allegory of the "Tower of Babel" and the utter dispersion of the people (entities) to the four corners of the Earth, and finally becomes involved in dense matter, and its migrations are at an end on this side of the Cycle of Necessity.

Upon the astrological plane, the zodiacal sign Sagittarius rules the motive forces and the pedestrian instinct, the thighs, or basis of locomotion; hence, we see, even here, a most perfect analogy.This sign symbolizes, also, the governing forces of humanity, which see the necessity of law and order; hence government.In this expression, we find the bow (strength or force) ready to let fly its arrows of energy in any direction the opportunity may afford; when refracted upon the human organism and reflected upon the external plane, these forces manifest as the restless spirit, that ever impels onward, seeking new fields of expression, out of which develops a sense of order, restraining and training, or the governing of self and control of others.When we reflect upon these symbols of starry truths the mind bows in reverence before the wisdom that created them.

X.Capricorn

"Next narrow horns the twisted Caper shows."The Goat, and in the realms of spirit, the crystallized mineral is the reaction of the former, and shows to us death, inertia and rest; hence Kronos, or Saturn, the symbol of death, is lord of this state and condition.It is the polarizing point of the soul's evolution in matter, and therefore, forms the lowest are in the Cycle of Necessity.