Author: Paul Johnson

This is the twelfth and final lesson from the series which began with the Cancer lesson shared earlier this year. At the conclusion I will share this one comment based on my narrow expertise as an author whose only book in the 21stc was about the Civil War experiences of ancestors in a small area.

Sarah’s lessons are a valuable record of how the Civil War influenced the spiritual literature of the rest of the 19th century in America.

LESSON VIII.

THE AIRY TRIPLICITY.

♊   ♎  ♒

♊,  OR CARRYING ARMS.

The signs of the Airy Triplicity have especial reference to motion. ♊, more especially, or directly, is concerned with projecting, hurling, etc.; ♎ with balancing, maintaining equilibrium between opposites; ♒ with floating and undulating, as represented by the action of air upon the surface of the water, producing waves.

♊ implies, first, a grasping of the hands, or combining forces (Gemini), the effects of knowledge gained so far on his journey; second, an impulsive force from the will, directed to the muscles of the shoulders and arms, by means of which the object is hurled through the air. Therefore I can be no warrior and hurl my lance until I understand the meaning of these twins and how to train and use them effectually.

First, I discern that these twins are not two of the same kind, but they are opposites, or counterparts, and fit together like two hemispheres of one sphere. The one is right, the other left; the one positive, the other negative.

Ancient mythology allegorized one, the right half, the positive, as Castor, a star of the first magnitude, the Immortal, while the other, the left, the negative, was Pollux, the lesser star in brilliancy, the Mortal; and thus they expressed the fact that it is the positive, active force of the soul which, reaching out, attains immortality; i. e., there must be action before there could be reaction. But, again, as the action itself must have its reaction in order to complete its orbit, as the positive pole of the battery is nothing without its negative pole, just so the immortal Castor is represented in the myth as one-half of the time foregoing his privilege among the Celestials in order to pass the other half of the time with his brother, who was mortal, yet whom he so dearly loved; or, in other words, they were polar opposites, which mutually implied each other, and were utterly meaningless and unthinkable apart.

(And one quite noticeable fact of twins is that, even while of the same sex physically, in temperament and disposition one is more positive, the other more negative. Usually this difference is very marked.)

In regard to the hands, I observe that, while the right is positive to the left, yet the different parts of each hand are relatively positive and negative to each other, Thus the knuckles are positive in relation to the palm, the nails positive in relation to the balls of the fingers, etc. The elbows are aggressive, while the muscles of the inner arm are indrawing and caressive.

The hands are the great avenues of the sense of touch. The hands are the means by which we grasp at treasures, reach out for that which we wish to attain, manipulate, formulate materials about us in order to provide for the necessities, comforts and luxuries of physical life.

And from these two, following the law of correspondences, I discern the esoteric meaning of the hands, and from thence the application of bearing arms. The right hand has been educated almost to the exclusion of the left (or female) in our present generation. Otherwise it would be self-evident to us that sensation is not completely obtained only through the right, and when we examine anything critically we instinctively use both hands. Our right hand gives us more the external, intellectual, positive qualities of an object, the left the interior, intuitional, negative qualities; and thus the first great use of the hands is to teach polar opposites, the Twins. All the infinite variety of weapons or arms the warrior can ever have to deal with can be classed under these two words — Polar Opposites. Every force throughout the boundless universe has its pole, or Divine center, which embraces the positive and negative attributes in one, and in order to correspond to that pole all life is evolved in pairs — twins, male and female. Whenever they appear to be separated it is only in seeming, and because the external eye is blinded to the shadow of illusions.

Again, just as we have neglected the education of the left hand, just so have we lost, through this neglect, that inner consciousness of the esoteric meaning of the thousands of exoteric, or physical, uses with which we daily employ our hands. Our treasures are accumulated only for this world, regardless of the swift-coming subjective state, upon whose borders we may this very instant be drifting.

This, then, is the lesson for the warrior. The arms of warfare are polar opposites. Bearing arms is learning their esoteric uses.

Right here, for the warrior, must come his great renunciation. He must come to care for the external only for the sake of the interior. He must “renounce luxury and be chaste.” But chastity is by no means celibacy nor asceticism. For the true soul love is in very truth the purest chastity.

The word chaste is here, however, used in its true and larger sense. Polar opposites is only another word for sex; hence the word chaste applies to every word and ought.

Let the warrior, then, cleanse his hands and remember that the blessings of the Lord are promised to one who “hath clean hands and a pure heart.”

The force which binds polar opposites together, the point of equilibrium where the two are one, is love, and from love is evolved life, while truth may be defined as knowledge, or understanding, of the relation of polar opposites. The warrior must first comprehend truth, and truth must be in him and he in the truth before he can possibly know anything whatever of life and of love. But he must renounce the things of sense and seeming in order to say: u Oh, Truth! Thy Kingdom Come.”

But it directly follows the fact of the uneducated left hand, and the consequent non-comprehension of polar opposites, that mankind to-day can have no conception whatever of the Law of Unity, or the love by which the two polar opposites are one. And thus the world has utterly lost the esoteric meaning of the love which exists exoterically between man and woman. Marriage is only a name and a form, a legal, conventional and mechanical union, and the empty symbol no longer teaches the spiritual reality.[i] With the Divine element of love lost to our sight, atheism and materialism at once follow. The days of true chivalry are the days of true religious growth.

Man cannot know God without knowing love, for God is love, and if the exoteric symbol of love does not lead to an insight to spiritual truth, to an actual knowledge of truth (which is also God), then that exoteric symbol is the grossest unchastity, and leads to perdition and damnation.

But the warrior, having put aside, or renounced, all the showy and glittering weapons of sense and seeming, arming himself only with truth, as symbolized in his lance, with its two ends, and, balancing this trusty lance in his hands, he discerns the sublime truth of the Twins (II), and knows that somewhere in the vast universe there exists a missing half, from whom his soul, in reality, never has been and never can be separated.

LESSON V.

THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.

♉  ♍   ♑

THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.

♉, OR LISTENING.

The signs of the Earthy Triplicity express the crisis, or fixed point, wherein the shadows seem to come to a crust and harden. They are illusions, reaching their ultimate. And this Earthy Triplicity follows the fiery, just as ashes follow fire, or, as geology tells us, our Earth has resulted from a ball of fire, and all the solids now visible from molten liquids. To the warrior, this Earthy Triplicity (triangle) is the battlefield, a field of three equal sides. Its first side he takes possession of and holds as soon as he comprehends the sounds proceeding from it. He must listen for its strains of martial music, its distant rumbling of artillery and the tramp, tramp of marching troops, its shouts of victory and courage, its groans of anguish, defeat and retreat.

Having learned to watch, he must now learn to listen. The ear must be trained as well as the eye. In order to have both sides of the contradictories we must know the results of things seen, hence must hear the effects through vibration, or motion. Thus listening is essential.

But Taurus ♉ is the sign of the neck and throat as well as the ear, and this is so because of the subtle connection between the ear, neck and throat. In a former analysis I saw the relation of ear to voice (of which the throat is but the instrument), and now, as I listen to the sounds from the battlefield, I discern the relation of ear to neck.

At the first sound of martial music the steed arches his neck, and none the less, as its strains inspire the warrior, does his neck respond to the sounds, drawing up the head and stiffening the entire vertebral column. He pants for prowess, renown, praise, promotion and unending fame and honors. But the true warrior, who from the sentry’s watch-tower discerned the shadows to be delusions, now listens for the bugle-call, the clear note which, cleaving the awful din and confusion of the battlefield, gives out the key-note according to which the discordant sounds are evolved into a majestic symphony. As long as the warrior fights for fame of self and to hear all men speak well of him, instead of striking the keynote he only strikes its exact contradictory.

Therefore, if I am to be a true warrior I must renounce praise and learn true humility. Not only must I renounce praise, but must even rejoice when all men speak evil of me. If I am cast down when I am reviled and persecuted, then I have not yet learned humility. To be cut to the quick by censure is as far from humility as to be stiff-necked with praise; for so long as blame crushes me, just so long will praise elate me. Therefore, in order to renounce praise I must also renounce blame.

The point of equilibrium between, or indifference to, either praise or blame is the only point I can strike which will give out the true vibration which enables me to detect the key-note.

This is a hard lesson, and one I can never learn until mine eyes have seen the unreality of the shadows, until I have sacrificed to the Divinity within and obtained its responses; or, in other words, if I have not fully and comprehensively encompassed the first syllogism, or triplicity, I cannot intelligently and courageously step upon the next rung of the ladder in my watch-tower. But if I have realized the war-cry of Liberty, Fraternity and Equality, then, in proportion as I realize humility, renouncing alike praise and blame, in just that proportion I shall now be able to see that my war-cry is also my key-note. I now have my key, which is two-sided, one from the first syllogism and the other from the second, Watching and Listening. This is a marvelous key, which unlocks both ways. Turned one way it reveals color symphonies; the other gives out sound harmonies, and as I become skillful in turning this key the visible will be the notes of a musical composition, which my soul at once reads into sound while the audible vibrations round out into forms and colors. But the visible and the audible united form the Orange Ray of my Seven-Point-Star, and the spiritual quality corresponding to orange is the understanding, and when I am armed with this ray-ment of true understanding, then the bow of prismatic colors and the octave of chromatic sounds will interpret to my soul that larger octave of the heavens called the Zodiac, or Wheel of Life. Upon the steps and half-steps of this Zodiacal octave the Sun, Moon and planets go on, giving out now strong major chords, now plaintive minor vibrations, both of which the rightly attuned soul translates into higher symphonies of the purposes and laws of the Infinite Mind, grand oratorios of “Creation” and “Messiah.”

When this spirit of understanding is mine, then these vibrations, struck by the swiftly revolving orbs on the Zodiacal octave, will as surely reach my external ear as they now do my external eye, and my soul will as surely recognize a primary chord from the larger octave as now from the smaller, for the intervals of one correspond exactly to the intervals of the other. All these intervals are expressed by numbers, but as long as numbers represent only dollars and cents, or the shadows exchangeable for money, the results or returns only looked for on the material plane, just so long will the “music of the spheres” remain an unmeaning myth to my soul.

We must ever remember that the effects must correspond to the plane of the cause. Esoteric wisdom cannot be utilized in exoteric gains (the law of contradictory opposites would soon take the place of affinity opposites) and rise in the scale of progress. Harmony is the law of progression. The contest of the ages is upon us.

LESSON IV.

THE FIERY TRIPLICITY.

♈ ♌ ♐

♐, OR JUDGING.

As the victims have been slaughtered and consumed by the flames, the warrior must carefully collect together the ashes, or remnants, into the Sacred Urn of Pure-Heart, and then, placing them before the bar of conscience, await the responses.

These responses are judgments, proceeding from the Divinity within. If the offerings have been good and acceptable, and the rites properly observed, then the replies will surely be auspicious. But if the two former duties have not been properly performed, then am I guilty of the most awful sacrilege in approaching the Divinity profanely.

According to my own actions am I judged; my own conscience is the arbiter. This judge must give the decisions according to the manner in which the sentinel and the sacrificial priest have performed their tasks, for the judgment follows as inevitably as when, having placed two sides of an equilateral triangle together at the proper angle, the third side is the response, depending upon the other two.

Again, this response is the third note in the primary chord. If I have struck the first two, there is only one other which possibly can complete the chord.

Again, this response is the conclusion, or third term, in the perfect syllogism. The sentinel upon the watch-tower, having properly performed his duty, states the major premise; the sacrifice, with its implied suffering, gives out the minor note or premise; the Oracle speaks out the conclusion. Although the conclusion of a syllogism is its third term, yet it expresses the mystery of the trinity, for it is a trinity, and at the same time an organic unity. It combines the major and minor premises into a higher unity, which differs from either of them, just as the molecule of water combines two dissimilar elements into a unity differing from its component parts, and also as H and O combine with a lightning flash of soul which accompanies the combining together of the two premises of a syllogism into their higher unity, and is an intuitive spark from the altar of Divinity.

This altar is my Hearth ♐ of Pure- Heart. Unless this Urn is sufficiently purified by properly accepting (not rejecting) the experiences of life, it cannot receive the ashes of the sacrifice and impart to them the Divine Spark which makes them over into a living, organic unity, on a higher plane than they were before, nor raise in power and might the ashes of actions sown in weakness and watered with tears of suffering. This expresses the mystery of the re-birth, whereby the physical body is raised to the plane of spiritual body while yet in the possession of the physical.

This is that which constitutes the spiritual plane upon which one is born. There is a Divine correspondence, and the latent possibilities of the soul have the corresponding possibilities in the brain, which can be brought forth to usefulness while in the physical body. Bringing about the harmony between the two constitutes re-birth.

There is only one way of being re-born, just as there is only one way to be born into the physical, and this one way is revealed through the fiery syllogism (triplicity), the major premise of which is Truth Realized from the Sentry’s Watch-tower, the minor premise of which is Love Actualized by the Sacrifice of Burnt Offerings, the conclusion of which is Life Immortalized, or lifted from the plane of Time to Eternity. This conclusion is the Immaculate Conception of the re-birth, which is conscious son-ship with the Father.

Truth realized frees from every illusion of sense and casts out every error and all diseases. Truth realized is liberty, for from or by the power born of Knowledge you can be free.

Love actualized, or practiced, recognizes the Divine origin of every soul, and that every form of life and condition is necessary to the unfoldment of the soul in its evolutionary steps of progress, and, comprehending the law of contradictories, knows only universal charity and communion of saints, those who have passed through the fires of purification and learned the lessons therein taught, without prejudice, sentiment or pain. Love actualized is Fraternity. Then are we able to look upon all life as one Divine Whole, recognizing all as one fraternity, each filling the necessary notes in the Anthem of Creative Life.

Life eternalized, making every moment eternity, lifts the soul to a plane above illusion. Realizing the realities of life leaves no room for illusions where, grasping the equality of ratios, it knows only Oneness. But this true equality with God distinguishes between thoughts and thinkers. The recognition of God’s variety of life, form, color, etc., are each equally necessary to the fulfillment of the Divine plan. This is the only law of equality. Life, thus eternalized, is equality.

Liberty, Fraternity and Equality must ever be the war-cry of the true warrior. But if the offerings, or truths, seen from the watch-tower through the first side of the Fiery Triangle are not acceptable, nor the sacrifices of our past ideas and illusions properly observed or parted with, then, instead of liberty, comes renewed bondage to error and disease; instead of fraternity, failures, strife and murder; instead of equality with Divinity, there is a descent to the lower sphere and union with demons and fiends.

On the other hand, the Ascetic who mutilates, denies, the truths realized in the major premise from the sentry’s watch-tower, and destroys the offerings, the knowledge thus revealed, and who refuses the experiences of the sacrifices can never hear the responses nor know the mystery of re-birth. In either case, remorse and repentance, in themselves, are perfectly stupid, and only delay realization.

The suffering implied in remorse is not a true and acceptable sacrifice, for the major premise is still wrong, for truth never brings remorse. Remorse implies a misconception of the nature of reality. If I have struck the wrong note in my chord, and experienced inharmony, I only make the more haste to strike the right note. I waste no time in groaning over the dismal sound.

LESSON XIII.

THE WATERY TRIPLICITY.

♋   ♏ 

♓, OR VANQUISHING.

As the mists and the shadows of the battlefield clear away the warrior pauses, and from his height views the mighty field of conflict and weighs and considers the results from the twelve mansions of his dominion. Each has been penetrated and the fruits gathered and garnered and he has partaken thereof. The illusions and delusions of the battlefield have been perceived and their nothingness realized, and the warrior has now to vanquish them by the laws he has learned in watching, listening, patient and cautious advancement and reconnoitering, aspiring while attacking, and in his engagements in battle.

He has plenty of time to reflect while the atmosphere is clearing. His journey has led him to the last rung of the exoteric ladder.

The mists of seeming and sense begin to pass away, all preconceptions have vanished, he has climbed the exoteric ladder, and now he is about to face the realms of realities and to place his foot upon the first rung of the esoteric ladder.

Has he been released from all exoteric burdens, his bundles of loves, of hates, of revenge, of false conceptions and conclusions that were drawn from the realm of effects and dropped by the wayside? These are the mists and shadows of the battlefield, that have clung so tenaciously to the warrior’s outward self.

What are the considerations of his reflections?

Knowledge has been his lot and portion, and he is now fitted to proclaim his kingship, his queen by his side, the equilibrium gained, the fight for freedom won.

Having triumphantly conquered all upon the field of warfare and conflict he rests, to behold his victories’ trophies. The law of contradictories and correspondences guides him in judging of results, in drawing conclusions from being able to see both ends of his simple staff that he started out with. Cause rests upon one end and effects upon the other. Both lie within his grasp, and are obedient to all commands.

The last external life of the embodied human soul has been experienced, the lessons learned, the fruits of good and evil partaken of and fully accepted as the Divine Fiat of God; “Man, know thyself, and thus know thy God.”

As the warrior steps from the last rung of the exoteric onto the first rung of the esoteric ladder his works do follow him, and these will constitute the enemies and friends of the new battle ground in another sphere. But when he consciously realizes which are the illusions and delusions, that which is mortal from the immortal, the seeming from the real, then all foes are put to Right and he henceforth dwells in the land of realities.

The mists of the battlefield having passed away, the country lies exposed to the scanning eye of its king. He looks upon his works. It calls forth the resolute courage of a well-trained, unfaltering will to behold and to hold in check the emotions of awe, consternation, sadness and joy that would fill his heart.

His own creations stand at his feet. The children created, born and reared in matter appeal to his care.

Can his soul fly from its own creations, whether of good or evil? No. And while some may be beautiful, encouraging and divinely inspiring, others will prove rebellious, and cling as a millstone about his neck, impeding his progress in his spiral Mazy Wheel of Necessity.

Vanquishing is the next step, the spirals have become large and expansive, taking in a vast domain, for he has not been a slothful warrior. His days of traveling have been filled with an unceasing activity that grew and broadened as he journeyed. He chose to know as he proceeded, and knowledge gained expands the field of vision, investigations and creations.

Now his domains have become a mighty kingdom. His aspirations set his mark high. The Pole-Star of Truth is his goal, and that star stands in the center of his empire, and when each spiral of the exoteric ladder has been traversed with but one motive, and that motive Truth, he can view, from the outward circle, or spiral of his ladder, the center.

This Pole-Star, which illumines the whole field of battle, exposes to the esoteric vision his possessions. Is it as he would wish? If it were so, vanquishing would not be necessary.

We have followed him thus far. The veil is drawn to other eyes than his own.

What his visions are we cannot see; but, taking courage, we can begin to prepare to enter on an investigating tour of our own country, and learn its circumference, the health of its soil and the products that may belong to it.

The Pole-Star of Love is in the center, filled with the radiance that can only be seen by climbing, and thus obtain “the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

LESSON X.

THE AIRY TRIPLICITY.

 ♊   ♎  ♒         

♒, OR PROVIDING RATIONS.

The three duties of Bearing Arms, Obeying Orders and Providing Rations, comprised under the Airy Triplicity, relate more to the special training and individual discipline of the warrior, yet none the less necessary and important to his success, for the properly drilled and thoroughly disciplined warrior, having completed the three sides of the Airy Triplicity, stands forth as the wonder-working magician, able to transform light into the bread of Heaven, or the power to put into use the knowledge gained.

First, if he knows how to bear arms, i. e., to properly formulate with his esoteric hands; second, if he has thoroughly vitalized his purposes from a strict obedience to the laws of polar opposites and equilibrium; third, then he has only to strike the third note of the chord to realize his undertakings completed and actualized, and himself nourished and sustained as are the angels of light themselves.

Properly formulated and vitalized, his thoughts cannot return unto him void. Herein is the awful, the divinely and unspeakably awful force of this law of equilibrium or balance. They cannot return void, and if they have been revengeful, malicious or covetous, and have worked out results of sorrow and suffering to others, then, as he has measured so will it be measured out to him. Sooner or later will they complete their orbit and find him out. Polar opposites, vitalized, are the same things as centrifugal and centripetal forces set in motion. They will describe a circle. Mortal cannot annul Divine law.

The warrior has now reached a point where he must become a breadmaker. First, the loaves must be kneaded and formulated with the hands (♊); second, the loaves must be vitalized, fomented by an understanding of (♎) the equipoise of the two opposite forms of force, in order that, third, he may realize himself nourished and sustained and finally thus self- sustaining (♒).

His bread must be either life-giving or life-destroying, for, once formulated and fomented (vitalized), his loaves cannot return to him void.

It is perfectly possible for him to formulate expressions or images for what is absolutely impossible and unthinkable. It is also possible for him to seemingly vitalize his phantoms, but the awful results of this kind of breadmaking are sure to follow. His phantoms become vampires, which feed upon him, and even upon all who ignorantly come within his mental atmosphere. Yet this possibility must not deter the warrior, for he must be a breadmaker. He must put into practical use that which he has made himself acquainted with; he must let his cup overflow, so as to benefit those who walk with him. Inaction is as fatal as to create vampires for unthinkables and impossibilities. Therefore, let the work rely upon the purity of his motive, which is soul unfoldment and the attainment of his celestial heritage knowing that, sooner or later, the law will be revealed to him from within, how those loaves which turn out failures and abortions can be neutralized and nothingized.

If he is free from covetousness, vainglory and sensuousness, then let him work only to know truth and realize justice, and he will find himself self-sustaining and able to command in emergencies, and finally find within himself an image of that creative force which, in its turn, images the Divine creative will, or center of the universe.

This law of the creative, or bread-making, syllogism is universal in its application, from the most seeming and external life up to the highest symbolic form of our present phase of Earth life, or child creating, in which the human approaches the nearest to the Divine parent.

To a certain extent, the warrior must have a varied and large experience throughout all the worlds of form-making. He must work unceasingly, as does the Great Creator. Herein is the import of the command to be “fruitful, increase and multiply;” not that man and woman are to devote their whole time, thought and energies to populating the globe, as the selfish sensualist proclaims from the house-top in order to procure a license for his own secret sins, but through that equilibrium gained by the harmonious blending and fusing of polar opposites, or twin souls.

His thoughts, truths, or bread, will be his children, who will guide and sustain him as well as those who partake of such royal dainties, born from the union of formulation and vitalization. Thus the bread-winner becomes the bread-distributor, and the loaves of understanding will not be void.

The consciousness of his dual self evolved through his journey on the first side of the Airy Triangle ♊, and where he learns to formulate, and on the second side (♎), where the creative principles are balanced — then, and not until then, does he become capable of breadmaking, or creating self-sustenance; and when he is able and strong enough to walk alone he must support others, for we cannot receive unless we also give. Thenceforward the warrior can enjoy the promise of his Creator: “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath,” and cast forth upon the universal currents the life-sustaining rations of his own winning, not in floods or great downpours, but as the gentle, soothing, rippling waves of (♒).

In bearing arms the warrior is subject to the higher commands of his being, and is, in action, manipulated by the arms — not the arm, but the arms, implying the utter uselessness of one alone. The brave, positive Castor must be balanced by his mate, Pollux; thus the training and culture necessary for bearing arms correctly, as a skilled warrior, every movement known, and at what moment to so execute the laws of his will that they will not conflict with Nature’s laws and bring failure and sorrow for his ignorant disobedience.

Herein self is forgotten, self is lost in the recognition of the two as one, equalized, blended as one.

This awful mystery of self, this life-destroying monster, when alone, stalking about as the imperious I. Selfishness of the past must be lost, for now he becomes the man; that selfishness that ruled and regulated the life of the lower forms through which the soul was gaining experience before the plane of reason and intuition had been reached, and then only can perfect obedience and equilibrium be attained.

Bearing arms is wearisome, obeying orders difficult, and demands an indefatigable exercise in Watching, Listening and patient advancement that the balance is not tilted by misjudgements.

Then the warrior can traverse his kingdom and scan the circumference of his ground in so far as he has reached in his watch-tower. More climbing is to be done, hence sustenance is required; therefore he must utilize his balanced forces and provide his own self-sustaining rations. Another’s winnings or knowledge would not sustain and give him the freedom in exploring his universe in search of the object of his journey — Truth.

What constitute the Rations?

The attributes evolved on each side of the four equilateral triangles of Fire, Air, Earth and Water.

Providing Rations is externalizing the twelve manners of fruits, each division of his own kingdom providing the necessary material.

The truths that spring from every side of the triangles in the fourfold elements are food and sustenance to his soul.

His journey is not yet complete. He is now in the realm of Imagery. Knowledge and experience are necessary in this creative realm.

He must bear arms with caution. The Lance of Light and Truth must be borne aloft constantly, that impossible imageries may not be formulated and spring into active expression to impede his progress.

His desires and loyal aspirations make him charitable to all life. Yet the true warrior must not hesitate at sacrifices. He must become master of his own kingdom, hence must make the lives born from his own thoughts subject and useful to his Divine will.

The higher he ascends into the tower the brighter becomes his Ray of Light, the expanse of country broader, and new things appear to his vision, new conditions present themselves. A new stimulus to action is received. Responsibility is increased and more knowledge is required, and ever on and on.

Life is motion, as the Airy Triplicity symbolizes, and motion is eternal.

LESSON VII.

THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.

♉  ♍   ♑

♑, OR ADVANCING.

When the Sun enters the sign of ♑, where lived the framers of the Zodiac, then the Goats advanced up the mountain sides, for the time of grazing was at hand. The fruits of labor were beginning to spring up and be realized by the laborer. So now advances the warrior into the region of winter, toward the point where shadows are congealed or hardened into the substances called matter and solids; where the indigo ray passes almost to black — the exact antipodes of soul and summer, the white light. Here the black of negation mixes with blue to form the indigo of righteousness.

But with his faithful compass (Cross) he advances, undismayed. His knees do not knock together through the weakness of fear; fear belongs to immature natures. The patient waiting acquired as a reconnoiterer has admitted him into the laboratory of Mother Earth, and he has there armed himself with the force which solves solids and transmutes matter into its correlatives of spirit — black to white, death to life.

The Rod and the Knee express the two extremes of Power and Submission. The monarch who sways the rod enforces the homage of the bended knee from his subjects. Never was there such a despot as fear, and the victim swayed by fear is the most craven and knock-kneed object in existence. The one who has not learned to wait is still the slave of fear, and is held bound in the bowels of Earth, and has yet to break the bars of iron and steel which hold him a prisoner of pomp, splendor, honor and dignity, and this also implies its exact opposite. Yet, the one whom the world delights to honor is not the one who advances, a conqueror, into the realm of realities. Ah, no! He is the one most overcome by fear and that grim, monster-shadow called Death. But the true warrior, “compass” in hand, even though despised and rejected by men advances undismayed, knowing before-hand the exact nature of that which he is to explore. He knows the grim monster-shadow, death, to be but Nature’s initiation into the great mysteries of existence, whose realms he, like Virgil and Dante and others before him, have invaded while yet embodied.

He will find it possible to go, and, returning, give a clever and entertaining account of adventures, hairbreadth escapes, etc., to a gaping crowd. He may bring back a lot of curios, to dispose of for money to the highest bidder, for curiosity mongers to “Oh!” and “Ah!” over.

Or he may transform his knowledge into a comfortable “Sale of Indulgences,” proclaim: “There is no such thing as Death; he is only a scarecrow; all is life; there is no such thing as Evil, all is good. Therefore gormandize, cheat and steal to your heart’s content. You are one with God, and your soul can never be lost!” But he strikes a note which grates on the purely trained ear, and he communicates a conclusion which does not accord with, nor follow, the premises. With the major premise of Taurus (humility) and the minor premise of Virgo (patience), sooner or later will he trip in the meshes of his false syllogism and be brought in abject terror before the awful Voice of the Mighty One, whose Ineffable Name he, himself, has attempted to assume, instead of, in true humility, saying ” Hallowed be Thy Name,” and, as a penitent reconnoiterer, he must add, ” Forgive us our trespasses,” and upon his knees confess, “For Thine is the Kingdom.”

But not thus with the warrior who has the first two premises correctly formed. His conclusion is incontrovertible. At the very outset of his advance he learns his immortality, his heritage; also discerns the conditions upon which they are won. He realizes the dignity, grandeur and meaning of life, and knows that he is saved, crowned and Deified in spite of himself; whether he will or no. Neither for the simple wishing on his part, but with the knowledge obtained in Dame Nature’s laboratory he has but to hold up the Mystic Cross, which combines in its significance polar opposites and contradictory opposites, and the most fixed becomes volatile. Baser metals are changed to gold, and gold transmuted to Sunlight, the Water of Soul to the Wine of Spirit, the mask to reality, shadows to substance, error to truth, hate to love, death to life.

He also knows that the direct ray is Truth Absolute, while the oblique ray is Truth Relative, and will be refracted and reflected indefinitely from one plane to another and soon bewilder him in a labyrinth of shadowy reflects unless he sternly adheres to his knowledge and boldly clings to his Cross.

And, while he knows that it is his duty to realize and actualize all that he possibly can of truth absolute, he also knows it is likewise his duty to recognize the different planes of expression, and remember that truths on different planes are relative to each other, but that each is absolute on its own plane, and that, in order to advance from one plane to another, or higher, like water he cannot rise above his level until he find the point of equilibrium of that plane upon which he is, by means of which, like water vaporized, he rises to the plane above him.

But, until he does actually rise to the plane above him, he is ruled by the laws of that plane, and he is its subject until he, by rising to the plane above, becomes ruler of the plane below.

Poison, calumny and malice are absolute monarchs on their own special plane, but to the warrior, armed with the force which solves and transmutes, they become relative, and finally obedient.

Neither do I become ruler by simply repeating, parrot-like, “There is no such thing as malaria; malaria does not rule me, I rule malaria,” etc., but I must have within me the force which, having divined the meanings of things, has made them a part of me, having neutralized (nothing-ized) it by counterbalancing it with its polar opposite.

Thus, from ♑ of the Earthy Triplicity, do I arrive at true Progress, Advancing. The Fiery trip showed the perfect syllogism — the righteous judgment of Sagittarius, deducted from the major premise of Aries and the minor premise of Leo.

The Earthy syllogism, analogous to the Fiery, is symbolized in terms of a chemical compound, in which the sharp and stinging acids of censure and uncharitableness, leading to humility (Taurus), fuse and blend with the alkalies of patience (Virgo) under afflictions, and from this fusing and blending arising to a higher plane, or Capricorn.

From this Earthy syllogism I have learned from Taurus: “Hark!” from Virgo: “Wait!” from Capricorn: “Be Strong!”

Listening in true Humility for Thy hallowed name, I have found that even sorrow and failure, if accepted in patience, although they may seem like the reconnoiterer’s path, too often go back instead of forward, are, after all, accomplished progress, and are but seeming bonds, from which my soul, “like a hind let loose” all the more swiftly advances up the mountain steeps when the time for grazing arrives. Then he has reached that point where he can utilize the power and knowledge gained while passing through the first syllogism, Fire, and the second, Earth.

LESSON IV.

THE FIERY TRIPLICITY.

♈ ♌ ♐

♐, OR JUDGING.

As the victims have been slaughtered and consumed by the flames, the warrior must carefully collect together the ashes, or remnants, into the Sacred Urn of Pure-Heart, and then, placing them before the bar of conscience, await the responses.

These responses are judgments, proceeding from the Divinity within. If the offerings have been good and acceptable, and the rites properly observed, then the replies will surely be auspicious. But if the two former duties have not been properly performed, then am I guilty of the most awful sacrilege in approaching the Divinity profanely.

According to my own actions am I judged; my own conscience is the arbiter. This judge must give the decisions according to the manner in which the sentinel and the sacrificial priest have performed their tasks, for the judgment follows as inevitably as when, having placed two sides of an equilateral triangle together at the proper angle, the third side is the response, depending upon the other two.

Again, this response is the third note in the primary chord. If I have struck the first two, there is only one other which possibly can complete the chord.

Again, this response is the conclusion, or third term, in the perfect syllogism. The sentinel upon the watch-tower, having properly performed his duty, states the major premise; the sacrifice, with its implied suffering, gives out the minor note or premise; the Oracle speaks out the conclusion. Although the conclusion of a syllogism is its third term, yet it expresses the mystery of the trinity, for it is a trinity, and at the same time an organic unity. It combines the major and minor premises into a higher unity, which differs from either of them, just as the molecule of water combines two dissimilar elements into a unity differing from its component parts, and also as H and O combine with a lightning flash of soul which accompanies the combining together of the two premises of a syllogism into their higher unity, and is an intuitive spark from the altar of Divinity.

This altar is my Hearth ♐ of Pure- Heart. Unless this Urn is sufficiently purified by properly accepting (not rejecting) the experiences of life, it cannot receive the ashes of the sacrifice and impart to them the Divine Spark which makes them over into a living, organic unity, on a higher plane than they were before, nor raise in power and might the ashes of actions sown in weakness and watered with tears of suffering. This expresses the mystery of the re-birth, whereby the physical body is raised to the plane of spiritual body while yet in the possession of the physical.

This is that which constitutes the spiritual plane upon which one is born. There is a Divine correspondence, and the latent possibilities of the soul have the corresponding possibilities in the brain, which can be brought forth to usefulness while in the physical body. Bringing about the harmony between the two constitutes re-birth.

There is only one way of being re-born, just as there is only one way to be born into the physical, and this one way is revealed through the fiery syllogism (triplicity), the major premise of which is Truth Realized from the Sentry’s Watch-tower, the minor premise of which is Love Actualized by the Sacrifice of Burnt Offerings, the conclusion of which is Life Immortalized, or lifted from the plane of Time to Eternity. This conclusion is the Immaculate Conception of the re-birth, which is conscious son-ship with the Father.

Truth realized frees from every illusion of sense and casts out every error and all diseases. Truth realized is liberty, for from or by the power born of Knowledge you can be free.

Love actualized, or practiced, recognizes the Divine origin of every soul, and that every form of life and condition is necessary to the unfoldment of the soul in its evolutionary steps of progress, and, comprehending the law of contradictories, knows only universal charity and communion of saints, those who have passed through the fires of purification and learned the lessons therein taught, without prejudice, sentiment or pain. Love actualized is Fraternity. Then are we able to look upon all life as one Divine Whole, recognizing all as one fraternity, each filling the necessary notes in the Anthem of Creative Life.

Life eternalized, making every moment eternity, lifts the soul to a plane above illusion. Realizing the realities of life leaves no room for illusions where, grasping the equality of ratios, it knows only Oneness. But this true equality with God distinguishes between thoughts and thinkers. The recognition of God’s variety of life, form, color, etc., are each equally necessary to the fulfillment of the Divine plan. This is the only law of equality. Life, thus eternalized, is equality.

Liberty, Fraternity and Equality must ever be the war-cry of the true warrior. But if the offerings, or truths, seen from the watch-tower through the first side of the Fiery Triangle are not acceptable, nor the sacrifices of our past ideas and illusions properly observed or parted with, then, instead of liberty, comes renewed bondage to error and disease; instead of fraternity, failures, strife and murder; instead of equality with Divinity, there is a descent to the lower sphere and union with demons and fiends.

On the other hand, the Ascetic who mutilates, denies, the truths realized in the major premise from the sentry’s watch-tower, and destroys the offerings, the knowledge thus revealed, and who refuses the experiences of the sacrifices can never hear the responses nor know the mystery of re-birth. In either case, remorse and repentance, in themselves, are perfectly stupid, and only delay realization.

The suffering implied in remorse is not a true and acceptable sacrifice, for the major premise is still wrong, for truth never brings remorse. Remorse implies a misconception of the nature of reality. If I have struck the wrong note in my chord, and experienced inharmony, I only make the more haste to strike the right note. I waste no time in groaning over the dismal sound.

LESSON XII.

THE WATERY TRIPLICITY.

♋   ♏  ♓

♏ OR ATTACKING.

The early morning of the great day has at length arrived. The hour so long awaited and so carefully prepared for has come, and the warrior now descends from the heights of his watch-tower, armed with the Ray-of-Light of Lance and Knowledge to meet the enemies of the battle ground. The war-cry is sounded, and echoed from center to circumference.

He has descended into matter, into the shadows of nothingness, but from this plane they are real as long as the shadow lasts.

He steps forward, well armed, and the first phantom to conquer and put to flight is Self. Fear is the shadow of the real man. He must be fearless, for “he who hesitates is lost.” Caution guides his steps, and his lamp, or Divine Ray, illumines his path. Step by step he progresses; foes, real and unreal, are met with unyielding will, and a determination to return home the Master, the King, the Lord and Ruler of his own Kingdom. All must be brought to obedience and service of his Divine will.

Not forgetting the possibility of slipping too far on either side of the point of balance and becoming a tyrant on the one hand or a slave on the other, he keeps keenly alive to all conditions and wide-awake to all temptations that might prove pitfalls or unconquerable obstacles, and thus losing the freedom he seeks.

He is now traversing and experiencing another angle of the Watery Triangle — the realm of creative forms. On this side of the triangle is the fierce struggle for life going on. Life is sweet to the lowest forms of existence, and the battle to defend and preserve it is a battle to the death. This the warrior seeks to avoid — the premature cutting off of life, for that would rob him of their service and his rule.

Utilization is the secret of success, not waste nor abandon.

The greatest wisdom must be displayed in this realm of creation, where man imitates or obeys the command of his God: “Increase, multiply and replenish the Earth” — not with false images, that will eventually take form and become the shadows on the plane of matter, but truths, that will be solid stepping stones to higher rounds of being, and be of that nature where he can set them up as mile-stones to guide correctly the travelers who may follow him in adjoining countries.

The life-giving force that is generated on this side of the triangle is threefold in its influence and power of utilization.

Does the warrior want all his creations in material forms? Does he want only the fruits of matter, that so soon perish? Does he want to be buried in nothingness, from which eternal things cannot be born? No!

Allurements of the shadows are great, and he must constantly pray: “Lead us not into temptation.” The Balance must be brought into constant use, the Magic Lance ever borne aloft, so that in an unguarded moment he may not lose his way and be overcome by the snares ever lurking on this side of the triangle.

His first formulations, or conceptions, are here to take form and become active, living realities upon or in his kingdom.

Here comes the test of his work in the realms visible. The mystical sign of this Triplicity is revealed to the warrior as he enters its sphere. Unknown and undreamed-of trials and temptations, real and apparent obstacles will spring up at every step as he goes forth to attack, subdue, conquer and master.

To master is the watchword of the true warrior, knowing that in the sacrifice of forms new lives spring into existence, more formidable than those he sacrifices.

It is man’s duty to evolve, not destroy, and his creations must have the wings of the eagle, to bear them aloft above the illusions of matter.

Here the mind rises superior to the lower self; the lower must and will become the servant of the higher. Terrible will be the attack; not a moment must he rest; looking back will be fatal. In no part of the warfare must one stand so resolute, so steadfast, so courageous. No other part of the field is so boggy. The creations of sense and seeming are his enemies. No part of the journey is so full of rebellion, warring incessantly, until the whole circumference encircling his dominions is encompassed.

The vantage is not great in the realm ruled by Scorpio. The spark of light at the point of his lance will not pierce the darkness far, but each advancing step drives back to humble submission the lurking forms of the shadows.

At last what transpires? Instead of the creeping, slimy serpent, the aspirations have given it wings. The Scorpion has been transformed. It is now the eagle, able to soar in the water of the Infinite Waters of Life instead of creeping upon the battle ground of matter.

The work is done. The innocent, ignorant warrior returns the conqueror. He is bid to come up higher, and again he ascends to the top of his watch-tower and awaits his heritage.

[Having already shared the profiles of Libran and Scorpio US politicians, this follows up with profiles of the signs as described by SSG.]

THE AIRY TRIPLICITY.

♊   ♎  ♒

♎, OR OBEYING ORDERS.

The spirit of mortal, alas, is proud. Not realizing itself as nothing but a shadowy reflect, it arrogates to itself, while yet a minor, its birthright of Divinity and heritage of immortality, as if it had already attained its majority and come into possession of its estate.

Obedience is a difficult attainment, perhaps the most difficult of all, and yet all the boasted free will of a mortal ends in his obedience, in spite of himself, for one grand command comprises all the lesser orders. The others are but copies, or reprints, of the original.

This One Supreme is that Divine love principle which binds polar opposites into one. And true is the command: “What God hath joined together let no man put asunder,” for mortal cannot put it asunder. He cannot accomplish the impossible and unthinkable, and there is but one punishment for attempted disobedience. He does not alter the law, but, as far as he himself is concerned, he realizes the results in accordance with his disregard of the law, whether intentional or not.

To fulfill this great law of love is peace, equilibrium, harmony and life; to ignore or defy it is strife, confusion, discord and death.

And thus the mortal obeys the law in spite of himself, for death is not a change preparatory to another state or condition of life, in which the mortal, or reflect, is given another chance to obey the order which comprises all orders.

THE EQUILIBRIUM OR EQUALITY OF RATIOS.

                                    Love.

                                    ♎

                                    Justice.

In walking, which is propelling the body through the air, the process of locomotion is threefold, or triune; i. e., there are three great centers of locomotion. First, the arms and shoulders; second, the legs, especially the muscles of the calves, and the third is that portion of the body which is the point of equilibrium between the two, and this portion perfectly describes an old-fashioned balance, or pair of scales, ♎. It includes the reins, or kidneys, and extends to the loins, or hips. Now, in walking, as the weight of the body is thrown on one leg the opposite hip, like one end of the beam of the scales, comes up and the other hip goes down, then vice versa, and so on. This is so in true, natural walking; but alas! the fine, true, harmonious, stately gait is very rare in this degenerate age. Yet if this perfect equipoise of the body were maintained at every step, walking could be continued indefinitely without fatigue.

But to one who understands the esoteric meaning of symbols there can be no more significant and saddening sight than to watch for a moment the hurrying, swaying, shuffling throng of a crowded street.

Truly is the world blind to the knowledge of soul poise, and disobedient to the law which binds polar opposites into a unity.

On the reflected and phenomenal plane this law has special reference to the forms of union called marriage and partnership. The same law which governs marriage governs partnership, no matter whether the parties are composed of nations or only two individuals, and looking out into the world to-day, with its teeming millions, a very serious state of affairs is presented to the eyes of the warrior.

Inharmony, discord, strife everywhere. No marriage, all lust; no partnership, all monopoly. And nowhere is this more apparent than among those who profess to have found Truth — to know the real from the unreal.

However, as the warrior rises to a higher plane, and regards the present condition of humanity in a larger sense, he only sees them with pitying and tender eyes, as infants learning to walk, tottering, and in constant danger of losing their balance; swayed first by one strong passion and then another, and then he knows just how far it is possible for one soul to help another — only in so far as a child can be helped to walk. But the child must walk for itself; no one can walk for it. I can, by my understanding of truth, influence another person to do a virtuous deed. This deed would be the result of an action on my part; so, unless there is also a reaction on the part of the person performing the deed, there has been no equilibrium established whereby any inner purity has been evolved on his part, and he has not, consciously, taken a single step for himself toward truth. I have only lifted him up and carried him, and perhaps delayed him in the process of walking. He will look for some one else walking for himself. The soul cannot grow vicariously, anymore than the child can so walk.

Now this belief in the possibility of a vicarious union of polar opposites, or At-one-ment, is the great delusion of the age. Truly there is but one way under the Sun whereby men can be saved. It is by obedience to the law of equilibrium. Not a stupid, passive obedience, for, like everything else under the Sun, obedience is dual — active and passive, positive and negative. Therefore, while I accept the fact that every soul must walk for itself, yet at the same time I remember that it must have its seeming props and helps, while learning to walk, until it attains its majority. So I must help all about me. Thus, for the time being, I seem to hinder, but only in order to help. This is that awful law of contradictories, so bewildering to the child soul, wherein we seemingly disobey in order to obey. Herein consists the duality of obedience. In order to realize absolute good I must, for the time being, accept relative, or seeming, evil; but it is only in accordance with the higher law, which evolves the perfect harmony out of seeming discord, whereby I gain my spiritual insight and read aright the esoteric meaning from the exoteric symbol. If I accept seeming evil for any other purpose, I am at once bound in chains of sense and seeming and sink deeper and deeper in the shadows, until that which should be a symbol for the very highest, following the law of contradictories, becomes the very lowest and foulest, as is now so generally the case with symbolic marriages.

In the particular phase of soul unfoldment through which humanity is at present passing, the last and highest symbol for mortal to comprehend is marriage — the union of man and woman. The very fact that there is a symbol proves there is a reality. The fact of a shadow proves there must be a substance. Just so the exoteric form we know as marriage proves, of necessity, a true soul marriage, and further, for the warrior this is a most significant fact and means another lesson, which cannot be omitted. The reason this At-one-ment is seldom or never realized is, as we have just seen, humanity has not yet developed to the point of soul equilibrium. It cannot yet walk; therefore this soul union can only take place in the next phase or condition of development. Man can no more realize soul marriage than our domestic animals could live our present family life.

But right here, at this point, the warrior who has mastered the former lessons, stands forth in the strength of his God-given heritage, scorning the shadow symbols, determined to know only the real; he foregoes all the sensuous and seeming and becomes the true celibate. He sees that one of the factors in the attainment of his celestial heritage is the union with his polar opposite. The immortality of his soul is an utter unthinkability without this At-one-ment. He can never come into possession of his Kingdom until he places a Queen upon the Throne by his side. He cannot be knighted until he has found and won his lady. Thus is he justified in putting aside earthly ties, only in order to realize the celestial union which follows obedience to the love which binds together polar opposites.

(This continues the series of excerpts from the Sarah Stanley Grimke Collected Works. Having already shared posts on Henry Wallace and Theodore Roosevelt as examples of Libran and Scorpio politicians, I will comment on Elbert Benjamine’s Sagittarian perspective in December. But have another Scorpio esotericist to feature next month, Alexandra David-Neel. SSG’s Tour of the Zodiac resumes in October with her Scorpio chapter. The “dauntless, intrepid explorer of dangerous territory” and “author of travel narratives” theme fits this woman as well as it does Theodore Roosevelt.)

LESSON VI.
THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.
♉ ♍ ♑
♍, OR RECONNOITERING.
(PATIENCE — WAIT.)

LESSON VI.

THE EARTHY TRIPLICITY.

♉  ♍   ♑

♍, OR RECONNOITERING.

(PATIENCE — WAIT.)

The green ray is formed by the union of yellow and blue, so the spiritual quality corresponding to green is the blending of the yellow flame, from off the altar of trial and sacrifice, together with the blue of knowledge. The spiritual green resulting from this blending is that peculiar, burning, zealous knowledge which makes the warrior powerful and strong, or, in other words, “mighty in battle.”

But the warrior can never be mighty in battle in the midst of wholly unknown country. He must know the mountain passes, the location of bogs and quicksands, rivers and springs. He must understand all the physical and natural advantages and disadvantages of the enemy’s position and strongholds, or fortifications. And all this can be accomplished only by the union of skill (knowledge, blue) with daring (sacrifice, yellow). The union of these two results in green of power, a kind of knowing by which the whole vast field of warfare stands out, illuminated, to the mind’s eye of the warrior. Now the work of mixing together skill and daring, by means of which the country becomes known, is the work of reconnoitering.

Reconnoitering is therefore the subject of this lesson and the second side of my triangle. In planning for the work in hand I must first draw upon the knowledge already obtained of this perilous region of shadows and illusions.

Virgo is the symbol for the process of assimilation, which takes place in the intestines, or bowels, and if this process be incomplete or inharmonious, loss of strength is the immediate result. I become weak-kneed, unable to walk or even stand. Just so our Mother Earth (the Green Planet) has stored away for the use of her children, down in the caverns and spacious recesses of her bowels, a vast and complete laboratory, with all materials and chemical appliances at hand where daring reconnoiterers become the daring alchemists. Knowledge has been gained, and power obtained through assimilation to put that knowledge into practical use.

But where are those who do not assimilate the food provided by Mother Nature, who are indifferent to conditions, and fail to see and hear, who lack that burning zeal to reconnoiter so that they may make themselves acquainted with the various aspects of the country, hence fall into the refuse bogs and morasses and lose what strength they do have, become unable to walk, or even stand, and are finally cast out into the outer darkness of nothingness? Our Mother Earth is a just planet, and no goodie-goodie, stuffing obedient and disobedient alike with confectionery. Each attracts to himself the just compensation for the energy put forth, whether that be much or little, good or evil.

If I am deceived by the will-o’-the-wisps, or follow wandering doctrines, not only must I ask to be forgiven for my trespasses, but I am also sure to suffer some punishment or reprimand for my mistakes. Yet, if I am wise, I accept them thankfully and cheerfully, without repining, for thus are accomplished two things: First, the suffering is the healing remedy, which repairs the mischief; second, just as the mother takes more closely to her heart than ever before the truly penitent child, just so Mother Earth reveals her most precious secrets to her right-minded offspring, those who are patient under suffering and affliction and learn the lessons of remorse, suffering and humility, knowing that Nature is only asking, or demanding, a just retribution for violation of her laws.  Ignorance excuses not. Nothing but knowledge can enable one to escape the bogs and morasses of ignorance.

And thus right here, I see, comes the application of my lesson on the discipline of the ear. Reconnoitering puts to the test listening, or true humility. If the first and the second sides of this Earthy triangle are rightly constructed, then the second note of the chord will harmonize with the first, and I know that so far my work is well done.

But if I find discord, then it is an absolute certainty that the third side of my triangle will not fit, and if I undertake to advance upon the enemy’s territory, swift and sure defeat is before me. Therefore in all humility I set diligently to work to construct a map of the country I am about to invade, and procure a compass, so that I may not lose my way amidst the false doctrines which encompass me on every hand, at every turn, and the dense forests of “isms,” which bewilder and perplex.

This compass is but a simple Cross, which always points to the Pole-Star of Truth, arid indicates the four cardinal points of the Universe, and the fourfold division of both Macrocosm and Microcosm.

Aries, the Fiery, rules the Eastern terminus of this Rosy-Cross; Libra, the Airy, the Western; Capricorn, the Earthy (the most fixed and material), the Southern, while Cancer, the Watery, pure desire, forever aspires to the North of Truth and Freedom.

Thus the four points of the compass also express the four elements. Each element also expresses the fourfold constitution of man: Earth, Body; Fire, Finite Mind, or Fiery Body; Water, Soul; Air, Spirit.

There is nothing so penetrating as air, and no element so essential to life. In every form of life air is the potent, animating principle, and without the air (spirit) the other four elements would be useless. The spirit is one and indivisible, but the other three divisions of man are each dual, and thus results the sevenfold division of the Microcosm, or, going back to the four elements, I can regard each as triune, and from this division map out the Zodiac, this mazy wheel of life, and thus completing the reconnoiter of my great field of battle I boldly advance, clinging to my simple Solar Cross.

[Through May 2025 a chapter of A Tour Through the Zodiac will be published at the middle of each month and an astrological profile of a native of each sign– most found in the Brotherhood of Light Lessons– will be published at the beginning of the following month; next up is Herbert Hoover for August.]

LESSON III.

THE FIERY TRIPLICITY.

♈ ♌ ♐

♌, OR SACRIFICING.

Fire is the great purifier. So action is that form of the Fiery Triplicity (yellow-ray side) which is the great purifier. According to the former analysis, all action is sacrifice, passion and oblation, and it is through this trial by fire, and the sacrifice and suffering implied in it, that I gain my spiritual sight (insight) . And it is a delusion that my eyes can ever be opened to the nature of fire, except by experiencing it; for how can I ever know that illusion is illusion unless I experience its nothingness?

I may stand up before the enemy and repeat the words: “There is only one Mind; there is no illusion of finite personality,” but, as far as vain repetition goes, I would better take some other creed, for herein is a great mystery. This awful law of contradictories works (when actually evoked) in spite of my unbelief, and even when I, in my blindness, do not see the results. This is the true creed of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and of the Tree of Life; and to partake of the fruit of this tree, tempted by the serpent of the lower nature, or self-mask, is to surely die.

If the lower self stumbles upon this true creed, or is entrusted with it unpurified by the trial of fire and suffering, the lie of personality is only accentuated. The mask thinks it has become as the Gods, and its fall is inevitable. It has taken exactly the opposite road for truth, and instead of realizing its oneness with the Divine Spirit it will fall to the very depths of the shadows of nothingness, even while mumbling the true creed. Yet this seeming and so-called fall is but the first form of action, without which there could be no reaction, and inaction is as fatal to insight as personality, accentuated to nothingness.

Since, in order to rise, there must be a seeming fall, so, in order to realize there is no such thing as illusion, I accept it as an hypothesis to get rid of it, just as it is necessary to demonstrate certain propositions in geometry to be untrue by assuming them to be true, for thus only can their untruth become self-evident; and in order to realize the Infinite One I am forced to postulate the finite personalities.

And yet I also know that to even momentarily accept illusion chains me to it (for the time being); for I am where I locate myself, as One with the All, or as seemingly projected outside the All, where, like a soap-bubble, I shall speedily realize the lie of self-mask; the harder I blow this bubble the quicker it bursts into nothingness. Like a child, I can keep on blowing personality bubbles, only to see these finite Egos burst, one after another; or I can put away the childish things, resolving to be no longer deceived by them, and blow them only to understand the law according to which they come and go. Therefore I accept finite personalities solely to demonstrate their utter impossibility, and when I know that time is also an illusion, I rise to the plane where even the Sun itself will stand silent upon Gibeon, and the Moon stay in the valley of Ajalon until I avenge myself upon all my enemies.

Hereafter let me act, or refrain from acting, simply to know truth, and no longer conform to finite and worldly codes of morality or mere social traditions and usages.

Just as in a former lesson I accepted the visible Universe in its unity and in its infinity as a grand universal language, its sentences, letters and punctuation marks all symbols for thought and traced with the finger of God, so now I accept all terrestrial action as purely symbolic action, possessing no moral quality in itself, but simply descriptive of spiritual acts, which I cannot possibly comprehend until I have faithfully performed all the symbolic acts. To refrain from these symbolic acts before I grasp the real acts is to deliberately bar and bolt the only door by which I can enter the temple, expecting thus to gain admittance. To refrain from flesh eating, from wine drinking and from social and family life, simply for the sake of abstinence, is to play the part of a stupid tyrant and not of the King. On the other hand, to debauch myself in all these acts, simply because they satisfy my senses, is to become the slave of suffering and death. The mob must not rule, yet the tyrant who devastates his kingdom and puts all the inhabitants to death by fire, torture, or slow starvation, ends by having no kingdom to rule. If I destroy the mob because I fear it, I do not overcome fear by the process nor obtain wisdom.

I therefore sacrifice to idols, or shadowy images, simply to eliminate melody out of discord, to realize the “Octave of Purification,” whereby the fire, which on the lower plane is destructive to life, is raised from the key-note C to the chemical, life-giving C of the scale.

From out this fiery furnace of trial this right action, knowledge and wisdom are born. The Christ-Truth must be born of this Tribe of the Lion (si). It can only come from this Royal Action, and is itself the highest and supreme sacrifice, whereby the Son of Man becomes the Son of God.

But I can never comprehend this last sacrifice until I have learned the meaning of all the other sacrifices, and how to make them. I must learn the meaning of eating, whereby the plant life and animal life are sacrificed, before I can comprehend the awful mystery of the sacrifice of human life, called death, even up to that sublime death on the Cross. But sacrificing is not destroying, and to comprehend the meaning of eating, or sacrificing, or action, is to realize the absolute unthinkability of the illusion called death. Therefore, let me never take a morsel of food into my mouth without reflecting that I am performing the ceremonials of sacrifice within the temple of my body, just as the rites of public temple worship were formerly observed.

And let me study the meanings of all the correspondences of these temple rites.

And, also, let me engage in all the acts of finite life; of trade, politics and social life, etc., until I learn the reality which makes the shadow, and thus burn every idol upon the altar of truth.

LESSON XI.

THE WATERY TRIPLICITY.

♋   ♏  ♓

♋, OR ASPIRING.

The signs of the Watery Triplicity are pre-eminently fruitful signs, and, just as all physical germination, growth, prosperity, maternity and fruition depend for their existence on water, so must the germ seeds of aspiration be moistened by the waters of spiritual life before they will germinate and bear us outward fruit; and we may go further, and say that the very first primordial germ of organic life itself, in the first faint blush of the dawn of God’s creation, had its origin in the element known as water. So, on the higher planes of living there must be the Water of Life, the springs and fountains of which sustain soul fruition.

Desire is the first side of the fruitful triangle, that which the soul ardently longs for, that which the soul will fight for until all obstacles are vanquished, but when there is no desire the soul seed will attract no moisture to enable it to send forth its tiny shoots up toward the Sunlight of Truth. Yet, to the truly aspiring soul this Water of Life is not anything external to the soul itself. On the contrary, it is the very element which, self-generating, flows like an ocean of Infinite love from the celestial, Deific center of its birthplace onward and downward through myriads of solar centers and starry systems until it reaches its perihelion point upon some earth, the external battle ground of matter, whereon it enters the good fight against the blind force of lower nature, to return at the ebb of its own celestial tide, triumphant, through countless spiritual states and spheres of glorious, pulsating life.

Aspiring is breathing, and true breathing creates an atmosphere about the soul germ which will in itself collect together moisture and generate the seed. The seed that is planted at the proper cyclic period can, through desire and aspiration, be watered from time to time until the harvest is most bountiful. Born in water, nourished with water, dissolved again in water, to be born upon higher planes of life. Existence is eternal, but spheres and planes are eternally changing. Promotion is the law of God, and the warrior can, by his own efforts, shorten his warfare upon the battle ground of materiality by becoming familiar with his own country, and, through the knowledge of its layout, the points of vantage and disadvantage, he can soon rise to the apex of the Watery Triangle.

Cancer represents on the Earth the oceans and their correspondences, the broad expanse of the spiritual Water of Life on the spiritual plane. Here the soul is nearing the Divine center of its being. True inspiration here takes place, that Divine respiration, where each inhalation and exhalation is in harmony with the ebb and flow of the tides of spiritual life. Hence inspiration naturally belongs to the signs of the Watery Triplicity. The natural moisture that will bring forth to external life the latent possibilities, or seeds of the soul, is desire, aspirations and creations from material (knowledge) accumulated while traversing the battle ground up to the present plane of warfare.

Through the Water of Life knowledge has been born on the journey, so that his bread is the knowledge of good and evil, of polar opposites, and when his eyes take the observations of the flights of the birds the law of contradictories will direct his judgments and his movements.He has learned the law governing the blind forces of Nature, and now, instead of obeying their orders, he, himself, has become the triumphant master of these forces, and the elements, as well, as the elementals, of each realm are now his servants and slaves, moving and obeying is kingly commands.Another step is taken in the watchtower, and so cautiously has he moved over his ground, and so thoroughly mastered every condition as he proceeded, that now he is monarch of all he surveys from the point of observation that he has reached, and rightly earned, in his fearless march through the field of battle. He now knows the extent of his immediate battle ground, the force of the enemy, the obstacles to surmount, the fortifications to throw up; but, being armed with the Lance of Truth and Knowledge and his path illuminated by his Ray-of- Light, he prepares to descend from his tower and take full possession of his country, or his own individual universe, and, with his queen.

The natural moisture that will bring forth to external life the latent possibilities, or seeds of the soul, is desire, aspirations and creations from material (knowledge) accumulated while traversing the battle ground up to the present plane of warfare.Through the Water of Life knowledge has been born on the journey, so that his bread is the knowledge of good and evil, of polar opposites, and when his eyes take the observations of the flights of the birds the law of contradictories will direct his judgments and his movements.

He has learned the law governing the blind forces of Nature, and now, instead of obeying their orders, he, himself, has become the triumphant master of these forces, and the elements, as well, as the elementals, of each realm are now his servants and slaves, moving and obeying his kingly commands. Another step is taken in the watch-tower, and so cautiously he moved over his ground, and so thoroughly mastered every condition as he proceeded, that now he is monarch of all he surveys from the point of observation that he has reached, and rightly earned, in his fearless march through the field of battle.He now knows the extent of his immediate battle ground, the force of the enemy, the obstacles to surmount, the fortifications to throw up; but, being armed with the Lance of Truth and Knowledge and his path illuminated by his Ray-of- Light, he prepares to descend from his tower and take full possession of his country, or his own individual universe, and, with his queen, reign supreme. “Give us this day our daily food” is herein signified, and it must be drawn by the Divine Center of our being from the infinite ocean of spiritual life.Man can draw, through respiration, all the moisture he wishes to nourish the seeds of immortal life.The breathing known by all true warriors, that breathing of soul to soul, of God to Man, of Man to Woman, of Infinite to Finite, of Great to Small, is the harmonious relationship of polar opposites, and soul affinities will bring the requisite harmony and union of the finite to the infinite.The perfect response of the body to mind, when the interior and exterior breathing is going on alternately, will set the soul free to soar aloft amidst its own special sphere of life, to grow and gain knowledge of its own in the realm of realities, that he may learn their laws, and thus become the master of their reflections on the battlefield of matter.

The wielding of the scepter of aspiration calls forth inspiration, and sets in motion the creative power of thought. Here, again, the warrior is cautioned, in his work of creation, that he create not impossibilities and unthinkabilities, lest they become unconquerable foes on other planes, or rounds, of the esoteric ladder. Is the warrior to create new forms of life, that will prove willing slaves or rebellious tyrants in his kingdom? This is a portion of his breadmaking. This is a generous realm, where the vibrations are set up by the soul’s ardent desires and aspirations, and the creations are limited only by the will.If he has not learned how to watch and wait, listen, and obey the God within, stumbling blocks will surely arise at an unguarded moment, and be as fungi in his kingdom when taking form on the second side of the triangle of this triplicity.In no realm is the reconnoiterer to be more guarded in his movements, for creation follows every action. The Lance is here needed to put to instant flight the false imaginings of the soul before being vitalized and taking on form.