It is useful to see these relationships. It will also be obvious why the Sun rules Leo, both exoterically and esoterically. The Sun reveals or “lights up” the two stages of the hidden will: the physical sun, lighting up the personality upon the physical plane and the Heart of the Sun revealing the nature of the soul.
3. CAPRICORN. This is the constellation by means of which comes the conquering will which releases from form life and initiates the man into the kingdom wherein the will aspect (not the soul aspect) of divinity expresses itself. You will remember that there is a close connection between [621] the Earth and Capricorn. The reason for this is that the Earth provides ideal conditions for this particular type of achievement because it is in process of transforming from the stage of a “non-sacred planet” into that of a “sacred planet.” This is why Saturn is so powerful a ruler and transmitter to the Earth of the dynamic quality of the first ray of power. This inpouring of first ray energy will be greatly accelerated from now on. These energies and their inflow must be carefully studied in connection with the diagrams given earlier in this treatise, remembering that visualisation is always a directing energy, employed to bring about a specific desired effect.
Aries, the Initiator, Leo, the Self, and Capricorn, the transfiguring Agent—such are some of the implications in relation to the first ray and humanity.
I would point out here that I have given this triangle of constellations in the order of their relationship to the Great Life Who employs them as transmitting agencies for first ray activities. It should also be noted that the reason for this relation is inherent in the nature of the informing Lives of the particular constellations. They are Themselves expressions of the will-to-good and, therefore, constitute the line of least resistance for the dissemination of first ray energy throughout our solar system. From the angle of human relations, this triangle rearranges itself. It becomes Leo, the giver of self-consciousness; Capricorn, the sign wherein initiation can be taken; and Aries, the incentive towards a new beginning. In the understanding of the significance of the distinction between constellations as galaxies of stars, and signs as concentrated influences will come fresh light upon the science of astrology. This is fundamentally connected with the difference between the relation of a ray energy to the triangle of constellations and the human [622] relation. More I may not say but this will give a hint to the intuitive astrologer.
RAY II. Love-Wisdom. Gemini,
Virgo . . . . . working through the medium of the five planets: Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, the Moon, Pluto.
Pisces.
This “line of distribution” (if I may so express it) is related to the will which produces inevitable union, at-one-ment and synthesis, through the power of attraction, based upon power to see the vision. In this solar system and during this world cycle and, therefore, upon our planet and throughout the period wherein our planet moves from the position of a non-sacred to a sacred planet, this is the dominating will aspect of Deity; it is the energy with which our planetary Logos is preoccupied. It is that which has brought the Hierarchy into being, under the impact of the Shamballa or first ray force. It is, however, with hierarchical energy that humanity is, at this time, preoccupied. In my use of the word “preoccupied” in connection both with the planetary Logos and humanity, you will find indication of a growing response between the two centres, Shamballa and Humanity.
Anent this ray energy, the esotericists of the world know much and this for three reasons:
1. The emphasis of all the teaching given out during the past three hundred and fifty years has been upon it.
2. The two great exponents of this ray energy are the two best known world Teachers and Saviours from the human point of view in both the East and the West: the Buddha and the Christ.
3. The two Masters Who have attempted to awaken humanity in the West to a realisation of the Hierarchy [623] are the Masters Morya and K.H., the two working in the closest relation and expressing first and second ray energy.
The keynotes of illumination, of vision, of sight or of spiritual perception and of the fusion of the occidental or the mystic way are dominant in this cycle. The Buddha summed up in Himself all the light of the past as far as humanity was concerned. He was the culminating Messenger, and demonstrated the innate possibilities of mankind, radiating the light of wisdom in relation to the light of substance and producing that dual blaze or flaming light which had been fanned and fostered (though not fully expressed) by humanity up to that time. He came forth as the flower or fruition of the past and as the guarantee of man’s innate capacity. Christ, whilst able also to say “I am the light of the world,” went further in His manifestation and gave a vision of the next step, demonstrating the light of the soul and pointing to the future, thus presenting that which could be because He had released on Earth the cosmic principle of love. Love is an aspect of the will, which is a point very little realised by the mass of men. It is the will to draw into itself or the will to attract into itself, and this will, when exerted toward that which is not material, we, in reaction to the differentiating mind, call Love. But humanity has to see that which must be loved before that power of the will is sufficiently evoked. Then the vision can become a manifestation and a fact in expression.
It is here that the wonder of the work of Christ, the Lord of Love emerges into our consciousness. He makes it very clear that this love which He demonstrated was an aspect of the will, functioning through the medium of the second ray; this powerful love released into the world the [624] cosmic principle of love. Again the three aspects of the divine will can be seen functioning through the second ray:
1. The will-to-initiate or to condition demonstrates in Christ’s work as He inaugurates the era wherein it became possible for the kingdom of God to appear on Earth. In reality, this will be a demonstration of the fusion of the two centres, Humanity and the Hierarchy. By fusion, I mean their complete reciprocal at-one-ment. It will inaugurate an era wherein—through increased capacity to see the vision and increased power to identify oneself with the vision—a race of men will be produced whose life expression will be that of love-wisdom.
2. The will which brings fulfilment demonstrates through the second ray by the means of that driving force which enables the second ray soul steadily to achieve its goal, relentlessly pushing forward, permitting itself no let-up or leeway until the desired goal is reached. This is a different expression to the will of the first ray which is dynamic and which crashes forward in spite of all obstacles; the latter does not require the slower methods of the steady drive.
3. It is also the will which conquers death because of its intense love of reality and of that “persistent One” who exists behind all phenomena.
In the Old Commentary this type of will—the will-to-love—is spoken of in the following terms:
“The Transcendent One said: I am alone. I must arise and seek with ceaseless urge, that which produces completion, round out my circle whole, intensity My life and make Me truly One, and this because I recognise the Two. I must have union with my other self, the self I dimly sense. [625]
Unto My heart I drew that other One and drawing thus I gave enlightenment; I dowered with enrichments; I freely gave.”
This embodies not the mystical vision of the other one but the will aspect of the planetary Logos, the incentive behind the life of Shamballa. It is the Lord of Sacrifice Who speaks. The keynote of sacrifice or the “process of making whole” runs through all that concerns the will aspect as it functions through the medium of the seven rays; this becomes beautifully apparent in the activity of the second ray as it is the channel for the will of God.
It knows itself as the transcending will because behind its expression of cosmic love (attracting, fusing and producing cohesion) lies a synthetic vision of divine Intention. It differentiates between process and goal, between initiation and that which is revealed by the initiatory process and that is something which as yet is unknown to initiates below the third degree. Herein lies
the distinction between the Christ and the Buddha. The latter revealed the process, but the Christ embodied in Himself both goal and process. He revealed the cosmic principle of love and by its means—embodied in Himself—He produced effects also and momentous changes in the world through those presented to Him for initiation.
The second ray knows itself as the transmitting will because through its means something passes between the pair of opposites (spirit-matter) which draws them together until eventually they form one blended whole. This is a basic mystery—the basic mystery of initiation and concerns the at-oning will which functions through love. Its lowest expression and its most material symbol is the love between the sexes.
[626] It knows itself likewise as the transforming will because the entire evolutionary process (which is, in the last analysis, the working out of the inter-relation between God and His world, between cause and effect and between Life and form) is based upon the transformation brought about by divine attraction. This enables “spirit to mount upon the shoulders of matter,” as H.P.B. expresses it, and forces matter to achieve the purification which will lead it eventually to act as a transparent medium for the revelation of divinity.
It knows itself finally as the will which transfigures. It was this transfiguration which Christ manifested when He emerged before the startled eyes of His disciples as Light Incarnate and “was transfigured before them.”
The entire process of transcendence, resulting in transfiguration, is worked out in relation to the second ray by the combined influences of the three constellations through which this ray chooses by an “act of its sufficient will to act in time and space.” Let us look at them for a moment:
1. GEMINI. This is the great symbolic constellation of the Two Brothers, expressing the interplay between the dualities. Because it is governed by Mercury and Venus, you have the light of the intuition and of the mind blended together into one illuminated whole, typical of the fusion of spirit-matter and the demonstration of their essential oneness. Gemini, as you know, is the sign of divine interplay and it is the life of the Father (of spirit and of will) which flows through the Two Brothers, through the polar opposites, making them one in reality though two in manifestation. Their real nature as the “elder brother and the prodigal son” is revealed by the intuition when it takes hold of the mind. But it is the will to love which governs the relationship and which finally brings about divine synthesis. [627]
2. VIRGO is the constellation which is symbolic of the second stage of the relation between the pair of opposites. Here we have, as you know, the Mother of the Christ Child and the fostering process of interchange which brings about life, love and their united manifestation in one form. This second ray is, therefore, closely related to Virgo and its lowest aspect is mother love with its instinctual care of that which must be nourished and guarded. Its highest aspect is the incarnated, manifested Christ. Then instinct is transmuted into wisdom and with that the will-to-manifest and bring into the light of day the hitherto Hidden Christ. This sign and this second ray Will have a mysterious relation to Time, to process and to the sustaining life of the Mother (matter) which, throughout the gestation period, nourishes and cares for the rapidly developing Christ Child. The Moon has also a peculiar function which can only be expressed in the idea of death—the death of the relationships between the Mother and the Child because the moment comes when the Christ Child will emerge from the womb of time and of matter and stand free in the light. This will have been due, necessarily, to many inherent factors but primarily to the sustaining will of the Mother, plus the dynamic will of the Christ Child. Here again is an aspect of the curious and mysterious relation between the first and the second rays.
3. PISCES. In this sign the work is consummated and the will of the Father works out through the second ray will as the will-to-save. In Gemini, therefore, you have the two, the pair of opposites and the will-to-relate; in Virgo, you have their work in cooperation, the nurturing of the life of that second ray phenomenon, a Christ, the consummation of the task of matter and its elevation into heaven. In Pisces, you have the consummation of the work of that [628] which the matter aspect has made possible, and the Christ emerges as the world saviour. All this has taken place through the will aspect of the second ray, focussed in Shamballa, expressing itself through humanity and consummated in the Hierarchy. Here you have the whole story of unity, brought about by the life and the will of the second ray, producing the emergence of the Christ consciousness and the appearing in objectivity of the Christ principle.
In time and space and from the angle of humanity, the triangle of constellations is Virgo, Gemini and Pisces and not the order as here given, which is Gemini, Virgo, Pisces; the latter is the angle from the standpoint of Shamballa.
RAY III. Active Cancer,
Intelligence. Libra . . . . . . . . . . . . working through five planets:
The Moon, Venus, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus.
Capricorn.
In this divine expression of ray energy is to be found the key or clue to what is commonly called evolution. The emphasis, is necessarily from the angle of the form nature and upon the phenomenal side. Today, however, the evolutionary process can be considered from the two aspects of the evolution of form and the evolution of consciousness; science and psychology contribute to this a gradually developing whole or picture. But that which I deal with here is the evolution of That which is both consciousness and form but which is more than either, i.e. the One Who wills to manifest and to know or to become aware. It is this which lies behind and which is greater than the Identity in time and space to which we give the name Logos. I seek to deal, therefore, with the Creative Will which is dynamically manifesting, consciously establishing contact and persistently focussed in the form whilst time and space endure.
[629] This third aspect of the divine expression is the result or outcome of the activity of the other two major rays. You must, with care, distinguish in your minds between matter or the Mother and substance or the “Holy Spirit overshadowing the Mother”; it is with this latter we are concerned, for we are regarding all these rays in terms of will, of spirit, and of life. This whole treatise, therefore, deals with an idea which lies beyond or behind the entire content of modern knowledge and is consequently inexplicable to the finite mind. All that is possible is to indicate That which exists prior to manifestation and which persists after the cycle of manifestation is over—unprovable, unknowable and intangible. This inherent Reality is to the manifested Logos what the sensed, immortal Self is to the man in incarnation. As the abstract mind of man develops, these subjective themes, leading to the central Theme of manifestation, will become clearer and the density of the mystery will lighten. With this promise you must be content for you are not yet initiate. The initiate will sense whereof I speak.
This evolving Reality which is focussed in the third Ray of Active Intelligence during the “period of appearance” has—in this solar system—undertaken the task of developing conscious “awareness of Itself in that which it is not.” This is carried forward in three stages—all of them the result of process, of progress, of activity and of mind or intelligent perception. These three stages are:
1. The stage wherein sensory perception is transmuted into knowledge. This is the stage in which the form gradually and steadily adapts itself to the requirements of the perceiving Self.
2. The stage wherein knowledge is transmuted into wisdom, [630] or consciousness utilises the gradually acquired knowledge to achieve detachment from the form, the organ of perception.
3. The stage wherein wisdom is transmuted into omniscience and both consciousness and form are superseded by the One Who exists, Who is conscious, but Who remains as greater than either of these two phases of divine life. This One wills to incarnate, wills to know, wills to be conscious, but is none of these phases essentially, having realised them, prior to manifestation.
This third ray will is the producer of external synthesis in successive stages, carri
ed forward from temporary syntheses until there is complete unification between consciousness and form and later complete atonement realised between That which is neither consciousness nor form but the Creator of both and the relating Principle of spirit-matter. It will be seen how the above definition shows the function of the third ray to be the will-to-initiate on the physical plane that which will express divinity; that it defines not only appearance but the revelation of that quality of which the appearance is the effect or result, and that inherent in these two propositions lies the third which states that this creative will is not only the cause of manifestation and the guarantee of achievement, but is also the proof of the potency of that Life which ever defeats and annihilates death. So, we come back to our initial proposition of that divine trinity of Life-Quality-Appearance (considered in the opening pages of Volume I); thus also to the creativity of the three major rays; thus to their basic relation and thus to their enduring and persistent synthesis. The circle of revelation is rounded out; the cycle is completed; the serpent of matter, the serpent of wisdom and the serpent of life are seen to be one [631] whole and behind the three “stands the Eternal Dragon for ever spawning forth the triple serpent, for ever saying: Go forth and come thou back.” Thus speaks the Old Commentary in reference to this matter.
Three words are concerned with this triple manifestation: Attraction, Subtraction, Abstraction and these three are related (as far as man is concerned) to the first three initiations, but only from the will aspect and in relation definitely to the third ray upon the physical plane, or rather on the plane of the etheric body or the vital effective activity. It is this which must be borne in mind when considering the active work of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This Trinity in manifestation knows Itself as the Transcending Reality and utters ever the word: “Having pervaded this whole universe with a fragment of Myself, I remain.”
Esoteric Astrology Page 56
