The Gate Of Life And Death: Rosicrucian Astrology

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Thus the Zodiac and the planets are as a book in which we may read the history of Humanity during past ages, and they also give a key to the future which is in store for us. In the famous Zodiac in the Temple of Denderah, Cancer is not pictured as we have it in modern days. There it is a beetle, a scarab. This was the emblem of the soul, and Cancer has always been known in ancient times, as well as among modern mystics, to be the sphere of the soul, the gate of life in the Zodiac whence the spirits coming into rebirth, enter our sub-lunary conditions. It is therefore aptly ruled by the Moon which is the planet of fecundation, and it is noteworthy that we find Capricorn, which is its opposite, ruled by Saturn the Planet of Death and Chaos, who is mystically depicted as "the reaper with his scythe and hour glass in hand." These two opposite signs are therefore turning points in the soul's career. Cancer and Capricorn respectively mark the highest ascent of the Sun into the Northern Hemisphere, and its lowest descent into the South. We observe that during the summer when the Sun is in the sphere of Cancer and allied signs, fecundation and growth are the order of the day. But when the Sun is in the South, in Capricorn, we have winter, when nature is dead. The fruits of the summer are then consumed and assimilated by us. As a circle dance of the Sun among the twelve signs determines the seasons of the year when direct, causing the germination of myriads of seeds cast in the earth, also the mating of the fauna, which then makes the world alive with the sights and sounds of manifested life, and at another time leaves the world dumb, dull and drear in winter's gloom, under the sway of Saturn, so by the slower backward movement, known as the Precession of the Equinox, does it produce the great changes which we know as Evolution. In fact, this precessional measure of the sun marks the birth and death of races, nations and their religions, for the pictorial Zodiac is a symbolical presentation of our past, present and future development.

   Capricorn, the goat, is not a goat at all as we know that animal, but part fish and part goat. Its Saturnine rulership, and the fact that it receives the Sun at the dawn of each New Year, naturally by analogy associates it with the beginning of precessional epochs. It represents the stage in evolution covering transition from fish, through amphibia to the mammalian form. The belligerency of the goat is well known, and an apt symbol of the struggle for existence, in which the weak perish unless able to outdistance their foes. This phase of the matter is sometimes expressed in the symbol, when drawn as part fish and part antelope. Jacob, in the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis, pronounces blessings upon his children, which symbolize the twelve signs. There he speaks of Naphtali as a "hind" let loose; thus a very apt symbol of Capricorn, for when the Sun is there at each winter solstice, it is starting a race through the circle of twelve signs, which it must complete in a given time--a year.

   When the Sun leaves Capricorn, by precession, it enters the sign Sagittarius, and this is pictured in the symbolical Zodiac as a Centaur, part horse and part man. Thus it shows aptly, the fact that we have evolved through the animal stage into the human. The centaur is in the act of drawing his bow, showing that there is something for which the human spirit, on its pilgrimage through matter, is seeking, that it aspires to something that lies beyond it, as a lofty ideal, for the bow points upward to the stars.

   The next step in human unfoldment is not so much along the physical lines as along the mental. Its nature is shown by the Sun's passage through the sign Scorpio, which is pictorially represented as a serpent or scorpion, emblems of cunning and subtlety. It is plain from this symbol that the faculty of the mind evolved by infant humanity was cunning, and we still see that that is a characteristic trait among the lower races, the lower classes and the lower natures even among our present-day humanity.

But, when the Sun enters the sign Libra, 'The Scales,' by precession, the balance of reason gives him a new start upon the evolutionary path. Under the care of divine instructors man had at that time advanced to the point where because of this new faculty, reason, he could be made fully responsible to nature's laws, and thus reap what he had sown, that he might learn the lesson of life by actual experience, be able to reason out the connection between cause and effect and in time learn to govern himself so as to progress further upon the path.

   Thus, under the guidance of the spiritual hierarchies, focused through the signs of Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, and Libra, were his physical, moral and mental attributes acquired, and he was equipped and mental attributes acquired, and he was equipped to commence the spiritual side of his evolution. The germ of this progress is hidden in the celestial virgin, the sign Virgo, which is the vehicle of the immaculate conception, the heavenly mother of Christ; not of one Christ only, but of many. This is one of the most sublime signs of the Zodiac and one of the most mystical, so fraught with hidden meaning that its full import cannot be fully understood save when viewed by the internal light of spiritual illumination. Yearly, at the winter solstice, the immaculate Madonna is ascendant at midnight, when the new born Sun commences to rise to the task of growing the grain and grape, to save humanity from the cold and famine, which would inevitably result were he to remain in the southern declination. The Sun is therefore an apt symbol of the Savior, born to feed his flock on the spiritual bread of life. But, as we must have eyes attuned to light to see the sun, so must the Christ be born within before we can perceive spiritual light. As Angelus Silesius says:

• "Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born
  And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn.
  The Cross of Golgotha thou lookest to in vain
  Unless within thyself it be set up again."

   Therefore, by the precessional passage of the Sun through the sign Virgo, the germinal impulse was given towards the birth of Christ within man. The mystic marriage of the lower self to the higher, the immaculate conception, and the divine motherhood, which nourishes deep in its bosom, unseen by a scoffing world, "the new born Christ," are actual experiences of a growing number of people. And without the celestial prototype, fructified by the solar precession, this would be an impossibility; neither has this ideal been realized in such fullness during the past ages as today. The reason of this will appear when we take up the joint consideration of opposite signs of the Zodiac.

   A great future is in store for this offspring of the celestial virgin. Listen to the wonderful prophecy of Isaiah: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end."

   Humanity is to rise to a wonderful spiritual height and this is symbolized by the Sun's precessional passage through the royal sign Leo, pictorially represented by the king of beasts, the lion. this is an apt allusion to the King of Creation, who will then embody the three great virtues of the Master Man, Strength, Wisdom and Beauty.

   It is wonderful to trace the various phases of the religions given to the Great Aryo-Semitic Race from the time they were "called out" in the latter third of the Atlantean Epoch, to the end of the Aquarian Age, when a new race will have been definitely born. This aspect of the Zodiac will form the subject of the following pages. It will shed light on many of the most obscure passages of the Bible, as only study of this Cosmic Science can.

   When we consider the Zodiac in its religious as well as its evolutionary aspects, by means of the six pair of opposite signs into which the twelve may be divided, we also commence with Cancer and Capricorn, for the reason given in the previous article, namely: that these are the solstitial points where the Sun reaches its highest and lowest declination.

   Considered in this manner, we find that there are two sets of three pairs of signs, the first being Cancer and Capricorn, Gemini and Sagittarius, Taurus and Scorpio. In these pairs of signs we may read the history of human evolution and religion, in the early, the middle and the latter third of the Atlantean Epoch. This is also divisible into three distinct periods, namely: the Aryan Age, from Moses to Christ, which comes under Aries-Libra; the Piscean Age, which takes in the last two thousand years under Pisces-Virgo Catholicism; and the two thousand years which are ahead of us, called the Aquarian Age, where the signs Aquarius and Leo will be illuminated and vivified by the solar precession, for the upliftment of the Son of Man (Aquarius), by the Christ within, the Lion of Judah (Leo), to the estate of Superman.

   It must not be thought, however, that the Atlantean Epoch only lasted while the Sun by precession went through Cancer, Gemini, and Taurus, a period of only six thousand and a few hundred years; far from it; but there are spirals within spirals and recapitulation takes place in the epochs and races, so that we may know what is the general destiny by looking at the Sun's passage through these signs and therewith taking this import and symbolism into consideration. It may also be said that the further we advance the smaller do the spirals become, the shorter the time in which a given improvement is made, because of the proficiency we attained in former ages, and therefore it is extremely probable that this present is the last lap, that the coming Aquarian Age is the final preparatory school day which will fit us for the new age, the Sixth Epoch, and that this will begin when the Sun by precession enters Capricorn.

   This, of course, would mean that the Second Advent must take place just before that time, and though it seems to us that so many signs point that way, still it is a mere surmise and may not have any truth in it at all. Thousands of people have been misled during all the ages that we know of, to think that Christ would soon be here; it is, however, better that we are looking forward to it than if we should say with some, that it will never take place. In that case the Great Day would find us unprepared and we should find ourselves among the stragglers who are unfit to attend the wedding feast of the Higher Self to the lower because lacking the "soul- body," the "wedding garment," necessary to enfold them.

   The Sun's passage by precession through the sphere of Cancer with its opposite sign Capricorn, designates the early third of the Atlantean period, which was intensely watery as the whole earth was covered by a dense, drenching fog. The Niebelung, or "Children of the Mist," lived then in the basins of the Earth. Cancer was not then represented by the same symbol as today; in ancient times it was pictorially figured as a beetle or scarab. This was the signature of the soul, for then mankind was much less body than soul.

   The sign Cancer is watery in its nature, and the fish part of Capricorn, the opposite sign, also helps to symbolize this state of life under water when the Sun went through the watery sign Cancer by precession. The Moon, the planet of fecundation, points mystically to this period of germination, when mankind first commenced to exercise the Creative function at the dictates of desire inculcated by the Lucifer Spirits. Thus mankind opened the Gate of physical Life through Cancer, and strayed into the terrestrial sphere, but opposite stood Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, ready to slay them with his scythe, and usher them through the Gate of Death back into the spiritual realms where they are at home.

   Capricorn was the opposite of Cancer and embodied the ideal that as the goat climbs the mountains, so man must leave the basins of Atlantis and come up from the mist.

   Our condition during the middle third of the Atlantean Epoch is illustrated in the Sun's passage through the sign Gemini, the twins, which aptly represent infant humanity. During this age the division of soul from soul by the veil of flesh, which we call the body, became more noticeable, for the atmosphere had already cleared to a considerable extend, and the faculties of the spirit had become more focused in its physical instrument. With this delusion of the personal self, there came at once the idea of "me" and "thee," "mine" and "thine," our individual interests commenced to clash with those of others, so that a tragedy such as that recorded between Cain and Abel became possible. Nor was the shedding of blood confined to human beings, for we learn from the Bible that "Nimrod was a might hunter". This savage ideal was expressed in the Celestial Centaur, Sagittarius, with his bow and arrow.

   But both of these pairs of opposites, Cancer-Capricorn and Gemini-Sagittarius, may be considered pre-historic hieroglyphics of a development accomplished in Sidereal years, long past, though none the less important on that account. Our own times, with the development prescribed for them, are symbolically represented in the two pairs of signs within the fixed cross, the Bull, the Lion, the Serpent and the Man.

   For that reason the two pairs of opposites comprising the fixed signs, Taurus-Scorpio and Leo-Aquarius, are mentioned in the Bible, and we shall find that our modern systems of religion are full of allusions to the three pairs of opposites. Aquarius-Leo and the two adjacent pairs of signs, Aries-Libra and Pisces-Virgo. These three pairs of opposites are, as already stated, emblematic of the development in the entire Aryan Epoch. In the early third of this Epoch, the Sun by precession went through the sign Aries, the middle third of its find the Sun in Pisces, by precession, and during the last third the Sun will go through the sign Aquarius. Then the solstitial point Capricorn will see the inauguration of a new cycle or age.

   The spiritual preparation for this development commenced about thirteen thousand B.C., when the Sun by precession, was in the sign Libra, the Balance, the last time. Different phases of this germinal impregnation of people then living were carried on during the precessional travel of the Sun through Virgo, Leo, and culminated in Cancer about eight thousand B.C. when the last of Atlantis was destroyed by water, substantially as related by the Egyptian priests to Plato. We shall see presently how the germinal ideals, given to humanity in those far. by-gone days have grown and flowered into factors of human development and spiritual standards of the greatest importance.

   In the latter third of Atlantis, egoism had developed to a far greater degree than before, the spiritual sight had been lost by the large majority of the people who then lived entirely on the material plane and gloried particularly in their material possessions.

   The Bull was very properly worshiped by them, being an emblem of strength necessary to conquer the material world. It was, on account of its prodigious strength, an invaluable aid in all their work. The proverb about "the flesh pots of Egypt" has remained illustrative to the present day, to show how abundantly that animal supplied their physical need of food, the milk of the female being also an important article of diet. The possession of many cattle was therefore ardently desired by the ancient infant nations, and the worship of the Bull was inaugurated under the solar precession through Taurus during earlier Great Sidereal Years, and continued to the comparatively modern times, when the Sun by precession went through the sign of Celestial Bull for the last time.

   At that point when the Sun entered the sign of the Lamb, Aries, the Aryan religions were inaugurated. The religion of the Lamb is to hold sway for the next Great Sidereal Year, while the Sun by precession passes around the twelve signs of the Zodiac, as the religion of the Bull has held sway during the previous celestial year from the time the Sun entered Taurus, until it left the same sign on its next passage.

   New religions, however, are not revealed in their fullness at the beginning; they are started and go through a period of gestation long before the religion which they are to succeed ends its material existence, and similarly, and ancient religion about to be abrogated survives along after the religion which succeeds it has become the official source of upliftment for humanity. The original Semites, chosen to inaugurate the worship of the Lamb, Aries, during the Aryan Epoch, were taken from "Egypt," the home of the Bull "Taurus." Not our modern Egypt however. The story of Pharaoh, who endeavored to prevent their emigration and was drowned, has reference to Atlantis which was submerged thousands of years before Moses is supposed to have made his escape with the Israelites through the "Red Sea." The facts underlying the story are that a multitude of people left the land where the bull "Taurus" was worshiped, (Atlantis or Egypt) whose inhabitants were then drowned, to seek a :promised land" beyond the water which had engulfed an "ungodly nation." There they were dedicated to the worship of the "Lamb" Aries which had been slain in "Egypt" (Atlantis); through its blood these pioneers had been preserved from death, and it was thus "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the (present) World" which we call the Aryan Epoch. Noah's escape presents another phase of the same occurrence relating that the mists which had enveloped Atlantis condensed to rain, and flooded the basis of the earth, leaving a clear atmosphere in which the Rainbow was seen for the first time at the opening of the New Age, the Aryan Epoch, where a new Covenant was made with the pioneers of the polity then ushered in.

   Atlantis was the home of the Bull, Taurus, and when the Sun, by precession, was leaving that sign the last time, the Religion of the Lamb Aries was definitely ushered in. Thenceforth, the worship of the Bull was abrogated and when any of the pioneer race, brought out from the ancient Atlantean dispensation by the blood of the Lamb, Aries, backslid and worshiped the Taurean "Calf," they acted contrary to the law of progress and were therefore "Idolaters," and an abomination to the divine hierarchs whose task it was to guide them during the ages preceding the advent of Christ. On account of repeated transgressions many were "lost," and they are the Jews of today who still retain their Atlantean traits (see Cosmo- Conception).

   Apart from the Astrological key, the Bible is truly a closed book, but with this key, the matter is different. In the Old Testament reference is made of two classes of animals: Bulls, which were Taurean, Sheep and Goats, which were Arian. These alone were used as Sacrifices. (Turtle doves were permitted as a concession to poverty). All the principal characters of the Old Dispensation were shepherds (Arian) and Christ also announces Himself as the Great Shepherd.

   In the New Testament we find another animal, the Fish, attaining great prominence, and the apostles were called to be "Fishers of Men," for then the sun by precession was nearing the cusp of Pisces, the Fishes, and Christ spoke of the time when the Son of Man (Aquarius) shall come. Thus our evolutionary journey is mapped out in the hidden astrological allusions of the Bible.

   The student now has a line on the march of events, which it is well to keep in mind.

   Jesus taught the multitudes in parables but explained the mysteries of the Kingdom to His disciples. Paul gave spiritual meat to the strong, but the milk of doctrine to the multitude, for there has always been an esoteric and an esoteric side to every religion. Taking Taurus, the sign of the Bull, to symbolize the worship of that animal as practiced in Egypt, Persia and other countries at that time, then we shall find that the opposite sign, Scorpio, symbolizes the esoteric doctrine if the priesthood, who were the guardians of the ancient Atlantean Mysteries.

   In this connection we will note first that the sign Scorpio is represented in the pictorial Zodiac by a Scorpion or Serpent, and we wish to impress particularly on the student's mind that the Scorpion has its sting in the tail, while the Serpent has the venom in its teeth. This is very significant, as well shall see presently.

   On looking up the word "serpent" in the Bible, we shall find that there are about seven words that have thus been translated; but one of them, which was borrowed from Egypt, is Naja. This word is found on the old tablets in the ancient temples of Egypt where Osiris, the Sun God, is hailed when arising from the primordial deep. He was then crowned with glory and has the Uraeus Naja, an emblem of cosmic wisdom. The Uraeus was a part of a serpent's body, with its head depicted as protruding from a point in the forehead just above the nose, where the human spirit has its seat; and Christ therefore referred to the ancient Serpent-Initiates, when He said: "Be ye wise as serpents."

   In ancient Egypt the King wore a crown adorned by a double serpent, Uraeus or Naja, which seemed to protrude from his forehead when the crown was placed upon his head. This was to symbolize the fact that he held the double office of King and Priest by virtue of his sublime wisdom. In India, also, the guardians of the Mystery Teachings were called Nagas or Serpents. In the Icelandic "Eddas," the Northern Vedas, Siegfried, the truth seeker, slays the serpent, tastes of its blood and them becomes wise. Nor, to elaborate on the statement made above, is it necessary to go outside our own religion for proof that the serpent is the symbol of wisdom, for the Christ Himself said: "Be ye wise as serpents." The serpent is certainly not sufficiently sagacious to warrant a literal meaning of this saying; but when we understand that when the creative fire is drawn upwards through the serpentine spinal cord it vibrates the pituitary body and the pineal gland, connecting the Ego with the invisible worlds by opening up a hidden sense, the allusion is perfectly clear.

   There is, however, a lower phase of spiritual development, symbolized in ancient times by placing the Uraeus or serpent at the naval, to show that the mediumistic faculties in the solar plexus had been developed. Mediumship is a negative phase of spiritual sight or hearing possessed by a person who, under the control of an outside intelligence, prophesies. This undesirable phase of seership was represented in the Zodiac by the symbol of the Scorpion, which has the sting in its tail. In the Serpent, Initiate the Creative Cosmic Fire was drawn upward through the head to serve as a spiritual end; in the Medium the creative energy is expressed for selfish, sensual ends through the procreative organ ruled by Scorpio.

   The point between the eyebrows, whence the serpent of wisdom protrudes, is the seat of life, whereas all that opens the womb is subject to the sting of death, contained in the Scorpion's tail.

   If we now turn with this information to our Bible, we shall find that a great many things, previously obscure, will become clear. As said, the Egyptian word for this Uraeus or serpent is Naja and it was borrowed by the Israelites who expressed the negative faculty of mediumship by affixing the feminine ending "oth," giving Naioth; while those able to function consciously in the spiritual worlds were given the positive, make plural ending "im," and were called Naim. If we read the nineteenth chapter of first Samuel with this understanding we shall readily see that the incident there narrated was of a mediumistic nature. David had become afraid of Saul and he went with Samuel to "Naioth." This is supposed by Bible translators to be a place, and maybe a village was so named. But if that was the case, it was because the people who lived in that place were Naioth, or mediums. They were called prophets in the chapter before us, and it is significant that as soon as anyone came within their camp, he commenced to prophesy or speak under control. Even Saul, who came there, anxious to get David away that he might slay him, was seized by the spirits and prophesied, to the amazement of all present.

   In the New Testament we are told that the Christ went to the city of Nain and there raised the Son of a Widow. In the Latin Testament, this city was not called Nain, but Naim. And it is very significant that all three, Naim, Naioth and Endor, where the sorceress that assisted Saul is supposed to have lived, are in the same locality by Mount Tabor.

   Every Freemason knows that the brethren of that Order are called "Sons of the Widow." And it is stated in the Bible that Hiram Abiff, the Master Builder of Solomon's Temple, was the Son of a Widow, a cunning craftsman. We cannot in the present article repeat the Masonic Legend which tells the reason why. This we have given the book on "Freemasonry and Catholicism" and also in our books on the Rosicrucian Philosophy. But suffice it to say that in the Bible story to which reference has been made, we have one of the Naim, a Widow's Son or initiate of the old Serpent School, for the priests of Egypt were "phree messen," children of light. Each had within, the ancient Serpent Wisdom. But a new religion was being inaugurated, and it was necessary to raise the ancient Initiates to the Mysteries of the Coming Age. Therefore the Christ, the Lion of Judah, Lord of the New Kingdom, went to the Widow's Son of Nain and raised him up by the strong grip of the Lion's paw. And we may here emphasize that the first Initiate under the new system was Hiram Abiff, the highest Initiate of the old system, who by this new initiation given him by the Christ, became a Christian, pledged to bear the Rose and the Cross, which were the symbols of the New Mystery Teachings of the Western World and he was then given the symbolical name, Christian Rosenkreuz.

   Thus from the time when the Sun entered the sign Aries by precession, it became a crime for the chosen people to worship the bull exoterically, or to partake of the esoteric Serpent wisdom. And for a similar reason it is idolatry when people of the West take up the Eastern religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and kindred teachings. For in the Aryan Epoch, only the Aryan Religions, the religions of the Lamb, have the proper effect on the human evolution. All previous systems are detrimental to the Western people; and in time those also who are now in the East, the Orientals, will be forced to embrace this religion, or be left far behind in evolution.

   The Aryan Epoch may be divided into three eras; but they are all served by the religion of the Lamb. The first division covers the time when the Sun, by precession, went through the sign Aries, the Lamb. Jesus was born when the Vernal equinox was in about seven degrees of Aries; so the twenty-three degrees which lie on the other side belong to the Old Testament period, when the chosen people were in captivity and lost in the wilderness of the world; the new religion had not then found its place. Then the Christ came and inaugurated this new teaching definitely. He came not to destroy the old prophecies and the law, but to give us something higher when they shall have been fulfilled. The sign opposite Aries is Libra, the scales or balance of Justice; and therefore we are told in the new religion that there will come a day of judgment, when Christ shall appear to give to every man according to the deeds done in the body.

   Christ was the Great Shepherd, but He called His disciples to be "fishers of men," for the Sun by precession was then leaving the sign of the Lamb and entering Pisces, the sign of the fishes. Therefore a new phase of the Aryan religions was opening up. The Bishop's miter is also in the form of a fish's head.

   The New Testament, therefore, does not mention the Bull or the Lamb, but references to the fishes are numerous. We also found the celestial virgin prominent and the wheat ear of Virgo is the Bread of Life, to be gained only through immaculate purity. Thus Christ fed the multitude of fish (Pisces) and loaves (Virgo).

   Before the time of Christ, the new religion of the Lamb (Aries), could get no foothold. Moses, the erstwhile leader, could not bring the chosen people to the "promised land." That was reserved for Joshua, the son of Nun. Joshua is the Hebraic for "Jesus" and the Hebrew word for "Nun" means "fish" (Pisces). It was thus foretold that the religion of the Lamb would attain prominence during the precessional passage of the Sun through the sign Pisces, the fishes.

   This prophecy has been fulfilled, for during the two thousand years which have elapsed since the birth of Jesus, the Western religion has been taught by a celibate priesthood, worshiping an immaculate virgin, symbolized by the celestial sign Virgo, which is the opposite of Pisces. This same priesthood has also enjoined the eating of fish and forbidden the use of flesh on certain days. When the children of Israel left the flesh pots of Egypt, where the Bull was slain, they left it by the blood of the Lamb. But in the Piscean dispensation no shedding of blood is enjoined and flesh eating is condemned as a sin at certain times, for man is now taught to forsake the lusts of the flesh and also lusting after the flesh.

   This ideal was tried under the Aryan dispensation, when the chosen people were yet in the Wilderness, so called, but without success; they would not have the heavenly manna. Now, however, man is being weaned from the cannibalistic practice, and in the seven hundred years which remain before the Aquarian age is definitely ushered in, we will, in all probability, have made great strides, both in overcoming the lust of the flesh and the lust after the flesh. For Virgo, the immaculate celestial virgin, and the ears of wheat contained in the sign, show both these ideals as profitable to soul growth at the present time. Jupiter, the planet of benevolence and philanthropy, which rules Pisces, has been a prominent factor in promoting altruism during the past two millenniums.

   It is often said, and rightly so, that the boy is father of the man. And on the same principle we may say that the Son of Man is the Super-Man; therefore, when the Sun by precession enters the celestial sign Aquarius, the water-bearer we shall have a new phase of the religion of the Lamb, exoterically; and the ideal to be striven for is shown in the opposite sign, Leo.

   The Moon, which is the habitat of the autocratic Race Ruler and Lawgiver, Jehovah, is exalted in Taurus, the sign of the Bull, and all Race religions, even the Mosaic phase of the Aryan religion of the Lamb, demanded a sacrificial victim for every transgression of that law. But the Sun is exalted in Aries, and when the great Sun spirit, Christ, came as High Priest of the Aryan religion, He abrogated sacrifice of others by offering up Himself as a perpetual sacrifice for sin.

   By looking to the mother ideal of Virgo during the Piscean Age, and following the Christ's example of sacrificial service, the immaculate conception becomes an actual experience to each of us, and Christ, the Son of Man, Aquarius, is born within us. Thus, gradually, the third phase of the Aryan religion will be ushered in and a new ideal will be found in the Lion of Judah, Leo. Courage of conviction, strength of character and kindred virtues will then make man truly the King of Creation, worthy of the trust and the confidence of the lower orders of life as well as the love of the Divine Hierarchs above.

   This, the mystic message of Man's evolution, is marked in flaming characters upon the field of Heave, where he who runs may read. And when we study the revealed purpose of God, we shall in turn learn to conform intelligently to that design, thereby hastening the day of emancipation from our present cramped environment to the perfect liberty of free Spirits, risen superior to the law of Sin and Death, through Christ, the Lord of Love and Life.

   It is for us to decipher this message, and solve the Riddle of the Universe.

Max Heindel

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