Here, the Soul Monad brings into actual practice the knowledge gained on its long voyage. The magical powers of the soul are brought into action to effect these changes in form and function, conquering material forces and planes of life, trans.m.u.ting Nature's elements to its uses and purposes, and writing its history, as it journeys ever onward, step by step.

And further, this house stands in opposition to the Ninth House, symbolized by Leo; longing to expand its (the Ego's) possibilities through trial and suffering; gaining knowledge through bitter experience; yet fearlessly braving all things; guided and sustained by the imperial will of spirit. The recompense promised by that supreme sacrifice has been won in Aquarius--the Man--consecrated now to a higher existence, baptized in the waters of affliction (experience), ready to be trans.m.u.ted into actual knowledge. This is Aquarius, and the Third House.

The Second House, signified as Pisces, the House of Wealth, that which has been acc.u.mulated on the long and toilsome journey--the wealth of experience, acquired through trials and struggles. And now, with higher, greater possibilities, the soul eagerly awaits the hour when it shall be born again, a conscious, responsible human being, to begin the second round of the Cyclic Ladder; on this second round, to externalize the knowledge gained, to evolve the involved attributes and forces of being,--a creature of will and intellect, to work out its destiny, as the lord of material creation.

Observe, the order of the Zodiac is reversed upon the external human plane. But, Aries is always symbolical of the first angle, and Libra of the seventh, being the point of equilibrium, while the tenth, or South, angle becomes Capricorn and the fourth Cancer. The mission of the soul now is to evolve the positive, spiritual attributes.

Aries rules the brain and the fiery, imperial will. It signifies courage, daring, etc., the first qualities necessary for the battle of life. Ruling the head, the sign and house show us the ability of man to view the field of action, to mark his chart, and arm for the war (which will be incessant); responsible for his acts, a creature of unfolding consciousness, an individual, whose measure of free will enables him to wander so far North or South of his celestial equator, within his...o...b..t, or Zodiac.

The South angle, or Tenth House, now ruled by Capricorn, tells of the honor, position, fame, etc. (or the reverse) acquired by patient labor. The crystallized material gains, the concrete result of ambition, skill, and talent, which will, at the close of his earthly career, become liquefied by the universal resolvent; symbolized by Cancer upon the opposite angle, symbolical of the grave, the end of mundane affairs; when they will be mirrored forth in new forms in that great white sea, according to the manner in which he gained his worldly acc.u.mulations and prestige.

The seventh angle is Libra, House of Marriage; that all-important relation which may make or mar a life, the Balance is so easily disturbed in its equilibrium. To preserve its harmony, equality must reign, blending love and wisdom. It is the perfect poise of body, mind, and soul, achieved by loving obedience to the higher laws of our being and the true union of intuition and reason.

The Second House, now represented by Taurus, shows us that personal wealth and possessions must come through patient servitude, steady application, and diligence, in being able to choose and a.s.similate the knowledge, that will enable man to battle with material conditions, and wrest from the abundant sources of Mother Nature his share of treasure and experience. It is the battle-ground to which humanity, armed with brain and will, life and energy, goes forth to battle with material forces for the bread he must earn by the sweat of his brow, and through the silent, subtle forces of mind and soul conquer matter, thus storing up a wealth of knowledge and experience.

The Third House is ruled by Gemini, the Twins, Reason and Intuition, the brethren who aid and guide us on our many journeys in the pursuit of knowledge. As this sign governs the hands and arms and the executive forces of humanity, we see, that, the hands become the magical agents of mind, moulding into outward form the ideas conceived in the mind, projecting these into the field of active life, that he may write a bright record in the Book of Life. The hands should be kept clean, the images pure; and the perfect poise gained by the equal exercise of love and wisdom, intuition and reason, making the basis of education; the evolution of the interior or real self. This is the true meaning of this house upon the external plane. it is Occult, because it means projecting the powers of the soul into conscious life, externalizing the qualities and magical forces of spirit, as shown in the first instance by Aquarius. This can be accomplished only through pure desire and aspiration. Otherwise, the unbalanced scales, with floods and cataclysms, will be the results.

The Fifth House, ruling children, etc., is symbolized by Leo (the Heart). The joys and sorrows that offspring of every kind bring, all belong to this House of the Heart. The sacrifice indicated is too obvious for comment.

The Sixth House governs sickness, disease, etc., and its symbol is Virgo, an Earthy sign, clearly showing us that the material form is the matrix, out of which are born disease and suffering.

But, the perfect a.s.similation of the fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil;" trans.m.u.ting the trials, experiences, sorrows, and suffering of the physical and external life into true wisdom; makes man master of his material universe; and the blind forces of Nature become his servants. Having accomplished the task, and attained the harmonious poise, or balance, in Libra, the individualized soul arrives at the eighth step in the journey.

The Eighth House, or House of Death and Legacies (Scorpio). The old Adam dies. The sensuous has no place in the balanced, harmonious being, but recognizes s.e.x as the law, the door to regeneration now, and that a new legacy is awaiting him.

The Ninth House, Sagittarius. where, with the knowledge acquired, self sits in judgment upon the works of the hands and mind, whether or no they have been well done; the sacrifice of the lower nature properly made, control of the triune being established, the trans.m.u.tations correct and accurate, a.s.similation perfect and free from dross, harmony gained by loving obedience to the higher law of being, and thus becomes ruler of his kingdom; the long journey almost accomplished, so far as Earth is concerned, perceiving and understanding that all sciences, philosophies, and religions, have their origin from one primal source. Having penetrated the depths in reverent obedience to the Divine law of creation, and evolved the attributes of the dual const.i.tution, the forces of his being become crystallized.

He has reached the culmination of his earthly pilgrimage, and stands forth the perfected human reflection of the higher self.

The Eleventh House is represented by Aquarius on the human plane.

Friends surround and welcome him. These friends are the pure thoughts, n.o.ble impulses, lofty ideals, and generous deeds. The bread cast upon the Waters of Life returns to nourish and sustain him in his encounter with the secret foes, symbolized by the Twelfth House and Pisces. The idols, false ideas, and vampires of his own creation, are to be cleansed and washed away by the Waters of Love, the universal solvent that is ever seeking to bring about change and new forms; born again of water to make the round of the astral Zodiac, until, having again reached the equator of the ascending are, where he is reunited to the missing half of his soul, the true friend of the Edenic state; the highest point in the arc of human progress won; the honor and glory of a perfected soul; the Lord and Master, the "I am that I am," to rest in peace in the heart of Infinite Love and Wisdom.

CHAPTER IV. ASTRO-THEOLOGY

There is one species of Divine revelation which has not, and cannot, be tampered with, one great Bible, which forms the starry original of all Bibles.

This sacred Bible is the great Astral Bible of the skies; its chapters are the twelve great signs, its pages are the innumerable glittering constellations of the heavenly vault, and its characters are the personified ideals of the radiant Sun, the silvery moon, and the shining planets, of our solar sphere.

There are three different aspects of this sacred book, and in each aspect the same characters appear, but in different roles, their dress and natural surroundings being suited to the natural play of their symbolical parts. In fact, the whole imagery may be likened unto a play, or, rather, a series of plays, performed by the same company of artists. It may be a comedy, or it may be melodrama, or it may be a tragedy; but the principles behind the scenes are ever the same, and show forth the same Divine Oneness of Nature; demonstrating the eternal axiom. ONE TRUTH, ONE LIFE, ONE PRINCIPLE, AND ONE WORD, and in their fourfold expression, is the four great chapters of the celestial book of the starry heavens.

In this aspect the visible cosmos may be represented as a kaleidoscope. The visible constellations, planets, and other heavenly bodies, are the bits of colored gla.s.s; and Deity the invisible force, which keeps the instrument in motion. Each revolution produces a different pictorial figure, which, complete in its harmony of parts, is perfect in its mathematical proportions, and beautiful in its geometrical designs. And yet each creation, each form, and each combination of forms, are produced by the same little pieces of gla.s.s; and all of them, in reality, are optical illusions; i.e., natural phenomena, which deceive the physical senses. So it is with Cosmic Nature.

It must not, however, be supposed, because of this perfect and continual illusion of Nature's playful phenomena, that all visible creation is purely an illusion of the senses, as some cranky metaphysicians would have it, because this is not so.

Going back again to our kaleidoscope, we can clearly see that without it, and its tinted beads, no such optical illusion is possible. There is, then, a basis of spiritual reality to all visible physical phenomena; but this basis lies concealed, because of the perfect illusion which the reflected image produces upon the material plane of the physical senses. The beads themselves are real. These are the basis, and the different pictures are the result, not of the beads, but of the angle from which they are reflected to our earthly vision. In other words, THE PLANE FROM WHICH WE BEHOLD THE PHENOMENA.

Hence, the nearer we approach the Divine center of our being, the less complicated Nature's original designs become, and the farther we are removed from that central source, the more weird, mysterious, complicated, and incomprehensible, does Mother Nature appear, to the finite human mind. And this is especially so, to man's theological instinct, his religiosity, that const.i.tutes one of the fundamental factors of his being.

Nature is ever one in her original truths and their duplicate reflections; but ever conflicting and contradictory in her multiplied refractions through the minds of men. Therefore, we will present the primary concept of that grand Astro-Theology formulated by man's great progenitors; and view the simple machinery, by which they typified to the primitive mind a general outline of Nature's Divine providence.

All sacred books begin with an account of physical creation, the culmination of which, is the appearance of man and woman, as the parents of the race; and, while they will differ considerably in detail and make-up, the basic ideas embodied are essentially the same in all cosmo-genesis; so that in the Jewish Bible, accessible to all, one can read the primitive story of creation from a Jewish point of view, and, when read, rest satisfied that he has read the revelation vouchsafed to man in every age and in every clime. The only difference is one of mental peculiarity and national custom, along with climatic conditions. Hindoo, Chaldean, Chinese, Persian, Egyptian, Scandinavian, Druidic and ancient Mexican are all the same--different names and drapery, to suit the people only, but essentially the same in the fundamental ideas conveyed.

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

The simple story of creation begins at midnight, when the Sun has reached the lowest point in the arc--Capricorn. All Nature then is in a state of coma in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter time, solar light and heat are at their lowest ebb; and the various appearances of motion, etc., are the Sun's pa.s.sage from Capricorn to Pisces, 60 degrees, and from Pisces to Aries, 30 degrees, making 90 degrees, or one quadrant of the circle. Then begin in real earnest the creative powers, it is spring time. The six days are the six signs of the northern arc, beginning with the disruptive fires of Aries. Then, in their order, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo; then Libra, the seventh day and the seventh sign, whose first point is opposite Aries and is the opposite point of the sphere, the point of equilibrium, equal day and equal night, it is autumn. It is the sixth sign from Aries, the first creative action, and so the sixth day following the fiery force, wherein G.o.d created the bi-s.e.xual man. See Genesis, 1:5-27: "So G.o.d created man in His own image; in the image of G.o.d created He him, male and female created He them."

It is the seventh, or day of the Lord (man), the climax of material creation and Lord of all living things, and be rests in the blissful Garden of Eden. This seventh day and seventh sign is the concealed sacred Libra the perfect union of the s.e.xes. Then comes the fall from Libra, through Scorpio, and banishment from the Garden of Eden. That is the victory of Satan, or Winter, over Summer, etc. It is useless to repeat the same old, old story. The yearly journey of the Sun around the constellated dial of Deity is the Astro basis of all primitive cosmology.

THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION

In addition to the creation of the world and the fall of man through sin, we find all people in possession of a grand scheme of redemption, and, like the former, we shall find them all essentially the same. They all require a mediator between the angry G.o.d and disobedient man, and they all require that this mediator shall be Divine, or semi-Divine. Nothing less can satisfy Deity's demands; or, rather, let us say man's own carnal imagination. It is simply another turn of our cosmic kaleidoscope, and behold! the actors have changed. Capricorn becomes the stable of the Goat, in the manger of which the young Savior of the world is born. As a type of all, we will take the Gospel Savior. It is again midnight. The Sun enters the sign Capricorn on the twenty- first of December. This is the lowest point of the arc, South, and for three days he is stationary, or in darkness. And now it is Christmas Eve. He (the Sun or Savior) begins to move, and at midnight is born as the celestial Virgo is rising upon the Eastern quadrant of the skies; hence the Sun-G.o.d is born of a Virgin. Then comes the flight to escape Kronos, or Saturn (ruling Capricorn), who kills the young babes. There is a period of silence in the G.o.d's history while the Sun is in transit through the signs Capricorn and part of Aquarius. That is, he is hidden or obscured by the clouded skies of this period.

We hear of him but once again until he, the Sun-G.o.d, or Savior, is thirty years old, or has transited thirty degrees of s.p.a.ce. He has entered the sign Aquarius (symbolical of the Man.) Now begins the period of miracles.

Let us digress for a s.p.a.ce, and refer to our chapter on the constellations. We shall find a perfect a.n.a.logy between this miracle- working period and the constellations Aquarius and Pisces, as therein given. The first miracle we read of is turning water into wine. This may be seen in a threefold aspect. The Sun-G.o.d changes by his life- forces the waters of winter into the rich vintage of the harvest, where the Virgin (Virgo) Mother again appears. Again, the wine becomes the blood--the life offered up on the vernal cross to strengthen, renew and make merry with new life our Earth and its people. The devil (or winter), with his powers of darkness, is defeated and man saved.

The final triumph is the crucifixion in Aries, the vernal equinox, about the twenty-first of March, quickly followed by the resurrection, or renewal of life. Then the G.o.d rises into heaven, to sit upon the throne at the summer solstice, to bless his people. We read, that, the Savior of mankind was crucified between two thieves. Very good. The equinoctial point is the dividing line between light and darkness, winter and summer. In other words, the Sun is resuming his northern arc, to replenish the Earth with his solar force and preserve his people from death in the coming winter. The life of a Buddha, a Krishna or a Christ, are all found in their completeness in the life of Horus; while the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are Isis, Horus and Osirus.

The same trinity, under different names, are found in all nations. It is the Sun, Moon and Human Soul, which is the only true mediator of Man.

There is another version of this celestial crucifixion, wherein the Sun-G.o.d-Savior, after the supper of the harvest in Virgo, is crucified at the autumnal equinox upon the equator. We read that he was dying from the sixth to the ninth hours--three hours, three signs, or from the 21st of September to the 21st of December, when he is laid in the tomb. This is the lowest point of the Sun's journey in the southern hemisphere, and darkness holds the balance in our northern hemisphere. The three days in the tomb are the three months, or three signs, before the vernal equinox, or the resurrection, the rising out of the South to bring salvation to the northern portion of our Earth.

We have now only to glance over various diverging lines of the same cosmology and the same redemption. All these allegories typified TRUTHS. They all teach the Initiate the mysteries of creation, of man's destiny and his necessary Cycle of Material Probation. Some of the most beautiful parables may be read in this light. Abraham, and the story of his wanderings in the deserts of Asia Minor; of Lot and his unfaithful wife, are to be seen still written in the heavens. Hagar and Ishmael are still there; so also are Esau and his brother Jacob; the story of Joseph and his brethren; of Sampson and his twelve labors. This is the same beautiful story. The Sun, shorn of his glory, or solar force, at the autumnal equinox, stands upon the equator between the two pillars of the temple (or light and darkness), and pulls down the temple (or signs) into the southern hemisphere. And behind this we have the eternal truth of the soul, when, giving way to the allurements of matter (Delilah), the soul is shorn of its spiritual covering, or conscience, and sinks into matter and death. And the story of David and Goliath can be read to-day as clearly as of yore.

They are eternal, spiritual verities of human nature, and record, not only the history of the human race, its mutations and trans.m.u.tations, but of the individual man and the suffering and delusive joys of his material life. Aye, more! It is the record of all his past existence and a type of his eternal destiny in the future.

Another turn of our cosmic kaleidoscope, and lo! the scene changes --the play extended, the angles greater, caused by the revolution of our solar parent through his celestial Zodiac. As the Sun pa.s.ses out of one sign into another, or, in other words, forms a different angle to his own center of force, a new dispensation is born to the world; or, rather, re-born under a new guise. The great Sun-G.o.d appears to change his nature and manifests an entirely different set of attributes. That is the way man personified this play of Nature, through his imperfect conception of the cause of this change. But to him it was, and is, a truth, and man's effort to externalize these attributes in a Divine personality was, and is, strictly from the plane of his mental development and spiritual unfoldment.

The two pictures of this Astro-Theology, as set forth in the two divisions of the Jewish Bible, will ill.u.s.trate our meaning. The Sun had entered the sign Aries some time prior to the exodus from Egypt. Aries is the constellation of Mars, the fiery, destructive and warrior element, or force, in Nature, and we find the Jewish conception of G.o.d a perfect embodiment of these attributes: The Lord of Hosts, a G.o.d mighty in battle, delighting in the shedding of blood and the smell of burnt offerings, ever marshalling the people to battle and destroying their foes and the works of his own hands; a G.o.d imbued with jealousy, anger, and revenge. This was the type set up by the Jewish savior and lawgiver, Moses.

After a period of 2,160 years, we find the Christian cosmology ushered in. The Sun has entered the sign Pisces, which is ruled by Jupiter, the beneficent father. The Christ, or mediator, of the Christian Gospel was an embodiment of the joint qualities of the sign and ruling planet. Gentle, loving and merciful, His words were messages of love and peace; His work was with the poor, oppressed and fallen; he eschewed sacrifices and burnt offerings; a contrite heart was the best offering; He taught the people that G.o.d was their Father, loving all, just, yet merciful.

But a strong taint of the old conception has remained with the human race, hiding, at times, the beauty of the latter concept.

These are, again, the refractions of eternal truths, viewed by man from his material plane. The elements are here presented, the alphabet and its key clearly defined. Therefore, let each one explore this tangled labyrinth of Astro-Theology for him or herself, and work out the various correspondencies at leisure. It is enough to indicate the starry originals of all this seemingly confused ma.s.s of so-called Divine revelation in sacred books.

They, one and all, pertain to the same celestial phenomena, and the various Bibles are the outcome of man's serious attempt to tabulate and externalize this heavenly order, to record his conceptions of these starry aspects and movements with their corresponding effects upon the Earth.

Probably the purest system to us is that which may yet be derived from Chaldean sources. This sacerdotal caste were the most perfect in their astral conceptions and complete in their symbolic system of recording, and if the great work found in King Sargon's library in seventy tablets is ever translated, it will prove of priceless value to the student of these weird, but sublime, astrological mysteries.

In conclusion, as we reflect upon the fourfold aspect of the subject that we have presented in outline in these pages, the whole imagery pa.s.ses in review before the mental vision. We see that the radiant constellations of the heavenly vault, with the beautiful reflection and counterpart, the shining Zodiac, are the two halves of the great Cycle of Necessity, the spiral of eternal, universal life, which binds the whole into unity, and unity into infinity. It is the grand scheme of creative life. The seven principles of Nature, or Divine Activities, are the forces producing the phenomena within seven angelic states, seven kingdoms, and, by seven planets, upon the external plane; the planets being the pa.s.sive mediums of the positive spiritual forces. Upon this dual spiral, which reflects the seven rays of the solar spectrum is produced seven musical notes; one half of the spiral in sound and color being the complementary of the other half. Man, the Earth, and our solar system, are revolving, each orb in its own key, and its own peculiar ray, meeting and blending with other spirals, and the whole blending into one mighty spiral Cycle of Progressive Life, revolving around the Eternal, Infinite Ego-G.o.d, ever involving and evolving the attributes, powers and possibilities of the One great central source of Being.

It is a grand orchestra, pealing out in richest melody and sublime HARMONY, the grand Anthem of Creation: "We Praise Thee, O G.o.d."

CHAPTER V. ASTRO-MYTHOLOGY

The Astro-Mythological system of the ancients, though forming the last section, so to say, of the mysteries of the Divine Urania, is, perhaps, the most beautiful of its general features, and perfect in the complete fulfillment of the purpose for which it was intended, viz.:-- to convey to the human mind a lesson, a moral, a truth in Nature; and last, but not the least, to serve as a basis upon which its inner aspirations and its more external faith might rest in security.

When we come to examine the deep, philosophical principles of such a wise system, we are almost astounded at the result of our researches and the wisdom of human nature displayed in formulating such perfect a.n.a.logies of truth, semi-truth, and of falsehood, according to the plane occupied by the individual.

Let us take one instance, which will clearly explain all the rest, for they are built and formulated after the same model.

Aeneas, of Greek myths and fables, is reputed to be the son of Venus by a MORTAL father, upon the plane of reality. As that of actual PARENT and CHILD, of course this is an utter falsehood. To the rural population of long, long ago, and their simple, rustic conceptions, IT WAS A TRUTH.