Esoteric Astrology

by Alice A Bailey

  Perhaps the simplicity of the following three symbols may serve somewhat to clarify that which I have tried to impart. [560]

  The Mutable Cross of material change and constant movement can be depicted by the swastika.

  The man is unconscious of the nature of the four entering energies and interprets little in terms of the soul. The energies make their impact upon him and drive him into material activity. This Cross of the personality dedicates the man who is crucified thereon to material ends in order that he may learn eventually their divine use. It is in the lower aspect of this Cross that the Nazis chose this symbol as theirs; they were expressing, at the close of the material cycle of human existence, the false and evil use of matter, of which separativeness, cruelty and selfishness is the key. The misuse of substance and the prostitution of matter and form to evil ends is the sin against the Holy Spirit. It might be said that the swastika “drives into danger dire and into evil ways, those whose greed is great and who see no beauty in the dawning light and who know no love of human lives.” To those who respond not to the lower aspects and effects of the whirling Cross (as it is sometimes called) “the swastika flings them from itself and far afield until they come to rest upon the Cross of chosen crucifixion,” the Fixed Cross of the pledged disciple.

  The symbol of the Fixed Cross (as far as humanity is concerned) might be depicted thus:

  Here you have the [561] Cross of Humanity. On this Cross, the man is illumined and conscious of the effects of the completed cycle (indicated by the circle) of the four energies to which he was subjected upon the Mutable Cross.

  The symbol for the Cardinal Cross is more complicated and can be portrayed thus:

  Here you have the triangle of manifested Monad, plus the three cycles of four energies, focussed and blended in unity; you have also the line of evolution (the evolution of consciousness) going down deep into, and becoming inclusive of matter and at the same time reaching out into the “Spaces of Divinity.”

  Much that can be said anent the three Crosses has been already covered in scattered form when dealing separately with each of the twelve signs of the zodiac; it need not here be repeated. This Treatise, like The Secret Doctrine, is designed to instigate research and the power to delve and seek, because that process has a definite effect upon the cells of the brain and leads to a needed stimulation. In the study of the Crosses, the true meaning of their influence will only appear as you begin to think in terms of synthesis or of the relation of the four streams of energy, flowing unitedly upon and through any form of divine manifestation. This is by no means an easy thing to do, for the ability to think synthetically is only just beginning to appear in the foremost minds of the race. It can be illustrated, and then only analytically (which ever negates synthesis) by remarking in connection with the Mutable Cross, for instance, that the [562] synthesis of evolution, its problem and its goal all appear in a united, whole presentation when the influences are viewed as follows:

  1. Gemini—the presentation of duality.

  2. Virgo—the presentation of blending life and form.

  3. Sagittarius—the presentation of focussed energy.

  4. Pisces—the presentation of a blended radiance.

  This culminating radiance is the result of the focus of life, intention, and energy into a “radiant point of power.” You have been told that in connection with the Mutable Cross at this time the sign Pisces is the most potent and when the work of the Mutable Cross has been accomplished, the acquiescing disciple passes onto the Fixed Cross and prepares for the tests and trials of initiation. This is expressed for us in the occult symbology of the Old Commentary as follows:

  “The Light shines forth because the greater light and the lesser light approach and then invoke each other. Their blended lights, though not yet one radiant sun, are merging fast. These blended lights reveal the Lighted Way.

  The man beholds himself taking this other Way, the Way of lighted wholes; this leads from form to soul, from dark to light and thus around the Wheel. Retracing thus his steps and backward moving on the Way (the reversed wheel of the zodiac, A.A.B.) he forward moves.

  A new light enters in. The Seven Sisters play their part (the Pleiades are in Taurus, the first sign of the Fixed Cross) and then three lights shine forth. And thus one radiant sun appears.”

  [563] The theme of all three Crosses is fusion and integration. The fusion of the personality into one functioning whole; the fusion of soul and personality consciously; the fusion of the threefold expression of divinity—Monad, ego and personality—so that there is an appearance of the blended energies. The keynote of their influences is the power to include and the full expression simultaneously, in time and space, of the vertical and the horizontal life.

  It should be noted that there are seven forms of light, related to the substance of the seven planes. These are stimulated and enhanced by the twelve forms of light of the twelve Creative Hierarchies, related each of them to one or other of the twelve signs of the zodiac. On this I may not enlarge as it concerns the mysteries of the higher initiations. I simply make the statement so that it may be appreciated by you as an occult fact to the proof of which you may not yet have access. A paralleling statement would be that the light of the seven centres in man (when enhanced by the light of the seven planetary centres) and the five kingdoms in nature (7+5=12), plus the twelve lights of the zodiac will produce a consummation of “light” effectiveness which will make possible the expression of the whole. This, through the medium of humanity. This is a basic statement which means little to you as yet but which will—in the next century—form a seed thought or “key sound” for the next revelation of the Ageless Wisdom.

  Until the significance of the three Crosses is understood more fully and synthetically by astrologers and astrological investigators, it is almost impossible to find the needed words which will convey clearly the intended meaning. There has been no real attempt as yet on the part of astrologers (even the most advanced) to arrive at a general or synthetic understanding of the effect of the Crosses [564] upon humanity. All that has as yet been conveyed is the effect of one arm of the Cross upon the subject born in a particular sign. But there is a fusion of energies to be noted when, esoterically speaking, man “stands at the midway point where the four energies meet.” The man whose Sun sign is in Gemini, for instance, is subjected to the forces flowing through the Cross as whole, unless he is a very low grade human being; he will be sensitive to the influences of the other three signs when they sweep into power as the lesser zodiac of the year plays its part. Later, when the practical value of esoteric astrology is better understood, men will avail themselves of the three energies of the three other signs of the Cross in which the Sun sign finds a place. This is a future development of the science of esoteric astrology. Putting it into the simplest terms and thereby necessarily limiting significances, a man will endeavour, when in Sagittarius, to practise one-pointedness along some one line; when in Virgo, he will know that opportunity to bring the form more under the influence of the hidden Christ is possible and that, in Pisces, sensitivity to the higher impression is his right and privilege. All these four possibilities, in regard to the advanced initiate are beautifully demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus, the Master on the sixth ray.

  The Gemini aspect of His life is shown in the perfect fusion of the basic duality found in humanity: the human and the divine.

  The Virgo aspect came into expression in His twelfth year when He said: “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business,” thereby indicating the subordination of the form life to the will of the indwelling Christ; this was consummated when “divinity descended upon Him” at the Baptism.

  [565] The Sagittarian energy enabled Him to say, when confronted with full knowledge of the imminent sacrifice which He would have to make: “I must go up to Jerusalem,” and, we read, He then “set His face” and trod the Path of the Saviour, leading to the liberation of humanity.

  The Piscean aspec
t in its highest expression is demonstrated by His sensitivity to immediate and unbroken contact with His “Father in Heaven”; He was in constant communication with the Monad, thereby proving to the world that He was initiated into states of consciousness of which the third initiation is but the beginning.

  All the three Crosses are shown as functioning simultaneously in His life—a thing hitherto unknown in the perfection which He displayed—a perfection of perfect responsiveness and perfect demonstration of result as well, giving us a manifestation and an example of the fusion of the twelve energies in one divine Personality (expressing Individuality) on the physical plane. Let me briefly complete the demonstration of this truth—the truth that in the initiate of the higher degrees, all the twelve zodiacal energies can focus simultaneously and produce a complete exhibition of divinity, as it is intended eventually to express itself through humanity on this planet. I have given you the expression of the Mutable Cross. We will take the other two, in connection with the Christ and with the Cosmic Christ.

  THE FIXED CROSS

  Taurus.—Christ said (as have all the Sons of God Who know the true significance of the Fixed Cross), “I am the Light of the world,” and he added, “if thine eye be single thy whole body shall he full of light.” Taurus is, as you have heard, the Mother of Illumination, and [566] the “eye of the Bull” is the symbol of the eye to which Christ made reference.

  Leo.—This is the sign of self-conscious identity. This is testified to by Christ in the words He spoke to His disciples: “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?” or his own centre of self-consciousness—that significant point of attainment which must precede all the more inclusive states of consciousness.

  Scorpio.—The significance of this sign in the life of Christ has been deleted from The New Testament, but has been preserved for us in the ancient Christian legend that—in the cradle itself—Christ killed or strangled two serpents, thus referring to the pairs of opposites which could no longer control Him.

  Aquarius.—The expression of this influence has been beautifully given to us in the story of the Last Supper. Christ sent His disciples into the city to find the man “bearing a pitcher of water” upon his shoulder. This is the symbol of the sign Aquarius—the sign in which the universality of the water of life will become a factor in human consciousness; then we shall indeed all sit down eventually to the communion of bread and wine. He referred indirectly to the same idea when He spoke of Himself as the “water of life,” assuaging the thirst of humanity.

  Thus, through the use of the energies of these four signs of the Fixed Cross, Christ demonstrated perfection. [567]

  THE CARDINAL CROSS

  In the four signs of this Cross we find Him also manifesting their energies in their highest forms (from the angle of human understanding), though these are more by implication than by direct statement.

  Aries.—This sign, which is the sign of beginnings, provided the impulse and energy which enabled Him to inaugurate the Christian era; it initiated, through Him, the “age of Love” which is only now beginning to take form, and its potency is now so great that it has brought about (paradoxically) the present world cleavage.

  Cancer.—The potency of this sign is expressed for us by Christ in the oft misinterpreted words: “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring.” This refers to the mass consciousness in contradistinction to the initiate consciousness of His disciples. Cancer is a mass sign.

  Libra.—Christ stood at the point of balance in human evolution; He stood between the old world and the new, between the East and the West. In the Christian era comes a “point of balance” or that “crisis of equilibrium” in the human kingdom.

  Capricorn.—This sign marks the point of concretion and of crystallisation which results eventually in the death of the form. This we see happening today. In His triumph over death and in His resurrection into life, Christ indicated the deep mystery of Capricorn.

  [568] A study of these few suggestions anent the life of Christ will bring to light and livingness this whole subject of the three Crosses. It is needless for me to remind you at this point that on Mount Golgotha, these three Crosses are portrayed:

  1. The Mutable Cross—the unrepentant thief. Humanity.

  2. The Fixed Cross—the repentant thief. Hierarchy.

  3. The Cardinal Cross—the Cross of Christ. Shamballa.

  2. The Cross of the Crucified Christ.

  For those who read this treatise, the Cross which is of prime importance is the Fixed Cross of the Heavens. Aspirants to the Mysteries are steadily increasing in numbers at this time and this involves their re-orientation towards the Light, their conscious reversal upon the wheel of the zodiac, and their comprehension of the objectives of the processes to which they have given themselves upon the Fixed Cross. Disciples are apt to think that the fact of their taking their place upon that Cross and demonstrating their willingness to be tested and to show unalterable stability is the major factor involved. This is by no means so in reality. Each of these Crosses makes its presence felt as a fourfold sphere of influence or a potent centre of energy through the medium of an “invoking sound.” This sound goes up from each of the Crosses and produces a result and a response from some source. It is this new fact anent the Crosses which is of importance and upon which I seek briefly to touch. Only when the influence of all the four arms of each Cross has produced an effect in the subject is a transition in consciousness made from one Cross to another—each transition marking a point of crisis, both in [569] the individual and in the larger whole. Then a process of invocation is instituted—at first unconsciously, in which case it is in the nature of a diffused call, and, later, consciously, when it takes the form of a focussed appeal.

  When the time of transition from the Mutable Cross on to the Fixed Cross arrives, three things occur:

  1. The influence of the four energies of the Mutable Cross have brought about a vast experience of life in form.

  2. There is now a gradually growing and profound dissatisfaction awakening in the consciousness of the man making the transition. He has exhausted material desire to a very great extent and is no longer attracted by the Path of outgoing into matter; the needs of the physical nature no longer dominate him; he is afraid of the impulses, emanating from the astral plane; he is awake and active mentally and as a functioning personality. But he remains unsatisfied and is uncomfortably aware of it.

  3. He turns to invocation. This process of invocation falls into two stages:

  a. The stage of aspiration, irregular and vague but gradually assuming power.

  b. The stage of mysticism, merging into occultism (the study of that which is hidden). Duality is now consciously and uncomfortably recognised and the higher way and the spiritual vision is contacted. Desire gives place to the vague promptings of what might be called love. This is the movement in the personality of that divine emerging aspect. It is this that he seeks to invoke. When this is adequately strong then true evocation [570] takes place and the disciple (for such the man now is) mounts the Fixed Cross.

  The above is true of the individual disciple and also today of humanity as a whole, and—as I have oft told you—it is this process of invocation which is taking place in the human family. This produces the present dire crisis. The two stages above outlined are present today in a general and potent sense in mankind.

  It was the recognition of these two stages in humanity which led me, under instruction from the Hierarchy, to give out—at widely separated points in time—two stanzas of a great occult mantram. The first stanza, used in 1936, referred to the vague general aspiration of the mass of the people in the world, which is today more pronounced than ever before and becoming more focussed towards true well-being.

  THE GREAT INVOCATION

  Let the Forces of Light bring illumination to mankind.

  Let the Spirit of Peace be spread abroad.

  May men of goodwill everywhere meet in
a spirit of cooperation.

  May forgiveness on the part of all men be the keynote at this time.

  Let power attend the efforts of the Great Ones.

  So let it be, and help us to do our part.

  The use of this first stanza was immediately successful and met with a full response from those good and well-meaning people whose focus is predominantly astral and aspirational, and whose aim is peace and quiet. This peace and quiet provides the “area of consciousness” in which aspiration can flourish, physical and emotional comfort can be attained and the recognition of the mystical vision becomes possible.