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Title: Cosmic symbolism : Being a discussion and exposition of some recondite and obscure points in the art of the Kabalists, the mysteries of sound, form and number, and the basic principles of cosmic symbolism
Author: Sepharial
Language: English
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COSMIC SYMBOLISM
COSMIC SYMBOLISM
BEING A DISCUSSION AND EXPOSITION OF SOME
RECONDITE AND OBSCURE POINTS IN THE ART
OF THE KABALISTS, THE MYSTERIES OF
SOUND, FORM AND NUMBER, AND
THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF
COSMIC SYMBOLISM
BY
SEPHARIAL
AUTHOR OF “A MANUAL OF OCCULTISM,” “THE KABALA OF NUMBERS,”
“KABALISTIC ASTROLOGY,” “A NEW MANUAL OF ASTROLOGY,”
“SECOND SIGHT,” ETC., ETC.
LONDON
WILLIAM RIDER & SON, LIMITED
8 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1912
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
I THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF OCCULTISM 4
II THE PROBLEMS OF SCIENCE 15
III THE MODERN MIRACLE 26
IV THERAPY—ANCIENT AND MODERN 33
V THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 44
VI COSMIC SYMBOLOGY 56
VII READING THE SYMBOLS 65
VIII ANCIENT AND MODERN EXAMPLES 75
IX A TYPICAL CASE 86
X THE LAW OF CYCLES 96
XI THE TIME FACTOR IN KABALISM 109
XII INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION 118
XIII PLANETARY NUMBERS 127
XIV SOME FURTHER KABALAS 139
XV PLANETARY SOUNDS 153
XVI PLANETARY HOURS 161
XVII CELESTIAL MAGNETIC POLARITIES 171
XVIII VULCAN THE CHAIN MAKER 179
XIX ALFRIDARIES 190
XX IN THE LUMBER ROOM 199
XXI THE LAW OF VIBRATIONS 201
XXII THE EQUALIZATION OF EPOCHS 219
XXIII LUNAR INFLUENCE 229
XXIV SOLAR INFLUENCE 241
XXV ASTROLOGY 251
XXVI CHARACTER AND ENVIRONMENT 264
XXVII THE LAW OF SEX 274
XXVIII A TEST OF VALUE 285
INTRODUCTION
“There is no end to the writing of books,” we are told. Certainly it
seems to be the fact that one book leads to another, and the many
demands made upon me for explanations of points, problems and paradoxes,
contained in some of my recent works, have induced me to a comprehensive
effort in the present volume. Whether I shall have succeeded in throwing
more light upon the dark problems of Occultism, or only in making
confusion worse confounded, it is for the reader to judge. “All truth is
paradoxical,” says Laotze, the great philosopher of Quietism. In such
case it were hard indeed to offer any argument which may be regarded as
final and conclusive, and especially is this the case in reference to
the debatable ground of Occultism.
Yet a very wise writer has said that nothing can be accepted as true
which does not submit to a mathematical statement. This is a tacit
confession of faith in the law of numerical ratios, the geometry of the
universe which underlies all revelation. We cannot truly be said to know
a thing until we have reduced it to a mathematical concept.
We may conveniently regard life as manifesting in three stages or
degrees, namely, Principles, Causes and Effects. Our conscious relation
to these three stages of life gives rise to Ethic, Philosophy and
Science.
Science is what we know of the universe; philosophy what we think of it;
ethic, how that thought affects our conduct. Thus the final appeal is to
utility. The virtue of everything is in its use. Science, philosophy and
ethic must eventually submit to the test of utility.
It is not for the sake of the mathematical statement, nor yet for the
pleasure of abstract argument, but chiefly for the sake of utility that
I have attempted this popular exposition of Occultism, for I think it
deserves more attention than has hitherto been given to it.
The idea that Occultism serves any useful end in life may not at once
appeal to the casual reader. The deeper thinker will, however, discern
in any coherent system of thought, in any orderly statement of fact, a
possible means of self-adjustment to the problems of life, howsoever
dimly apprehended. To the categorical imperative of Kant—I must because
I ought, but why ought I?—Occultism offers a very definite answer. It
gives a cogent reason for all action, and may indeed be finally judged
on its ethical value. It will not be found inadequate.
Purposive action has no value without free will in man. That “free will
in man is necessity in play” is true only of those who are not divine
conspirators. We are fated to the extent that we are ignorant of the
cosmical and spiritual laws—the one order is a reflex of the other—by
which the universe is upheld. We are culpable to the extent that we
neglect those laws we know. Science has succeeded in harnessing many of
the forces of Nature to the service of mankind. Philosophy will bring
man into conscious relations with the laws governing his existence, and
ethic will instruct him concerning their employment for the good of the
race.
To the extent that we understand the laws of our being and use them for
our personal benefit, and through ourselves for the good of all mankind,
we become conspirators with the Divine Will, conscious co-operators
towards “that one divine far-off event to which the whole creation
moves,” an apotheosis warranted by the trend of the physical and
spiritual evolution of humanity, and prophetically indicated by the
words: “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, to crown him
with glory and worship.”
As fragments in the fabric of a spiritual upbuilding, as detached
observations of the law of universal harmony, as things of isolated
interest, all conspiring to the founding of a single idea, these
curiosities of Occultism are offered to those who are able to appreciate
them.
SEPHARIAL.
CHAPTER I
THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF OCCULTISM
Before one can enter intelligently into an understanding of Cosmic
Symbolism, which underlies all occult science, it is necessary that he
should have some well-defined conception of the meaning and purpose of
Occultism. Otherwise he will occupy the position of one who moves in the
dark, a slave to formularies and dogmas, following blindly where others
lead and without any definite idea as to his destination.
Misconceptions regarding Occultism are very prevalent and are found to
affect the thought of many who in their own walks are exceedingly
learned. Occultism is a broad and comprehensive system of thought; a
synthetic philosophy aiming at self-realization, and as much concerned
in the practical development of the psychical and spiritual powers
latent in man as in the study of those wider cosmical laws which
hitherto have escaped scientific observation, but which are found to
afford a ready explanation of man’s embodied existence, and the wide and
varied range of his faculties, aptitudes and individual characteristics.
If Occultism were merely a speculative system of thought regarding the
hidden things of Nature, it could never find practical demonstration. If
the occult were merely the “hidden,” then Röntgen rays, wireless
telegraphy and metabolism would have been facts of Occultism at quite a
recent date. In the first case it is confidently affirmed that
Occultism, so far from being speculative, is capable of instant
demonstration; and in the second case it anticipated the discoveries of
Science by analogous psychical processes involved in the exercise of
clairvoyance, psychometry, telepathy and hypnotism. Occultism is not
indeed mainly concerned in the domain of physics, but rather in those
immaterial forces which are at the back of all material forms, of those
universal laws which find their reflection in the constitution and
development of man and the cosmos to which he is immediately related.
Thus while it seeks to demonstrate some unexplored facts in Nature, it
also offers a coherent system of thought in which those facts find
appropriate places, and so in effect it affords an ethical basis for all
action which is more comprehensive than any system which is the outcome
of an insular sociology or a national religion. Its peculiar value as a
body of teaching lies in its inclusiveness and catholicity, its freedom
from dogma, and its wide suggestiveness. While offering a definite
system of cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis, it seeks only to throw new
light on old truths, being entirely constructive and in no sense
controversial. Unlike orthodox Science and Religion, however, Occultism
does not ignore the facts of man’s psychic and spiritual experience.
Rather it makes use of these as links which bring us into relations with
that greater world and that higher life which for Science has no
interest and for Religion no certain meaning. Thus when Science
repudiated the Chaldean account of the Genesis, Religion was left with
no ground upon which it could convict Science of error! The Occultist
remains wholly unaffected by the incident, not because he is either
unscientific or irreligious, but because the Book of Genesis is for him
as true to-day as when it was written. It is the work of Occultists, and
only Occultists can rightly apprehend it.
In the biblical cosmogenesis we are not concerned with ordinary
divisions of time called “day” and “night,” periods of twelve hours
each, more or less, but with vast periods known as _pralayas_ and
_manvantaras_, or periods of manifestation and obscuration, taking place
alternately. These great periods answer to the systole and diastole
motion of the Great Breath, the out-breathing and in-breathing of the
Cosmic Life-force. In each of these great out-breathings the seven
stages of evolution are realized: the Igneous, Gaseous, Fluidic,
Mineral, Vegetable, Animal and Human. But those monads that have reached
any one of these stages do not become involved in the scheme until that
stage is reached to which they attained in the last period of cosmic
activity; but from that stage they resume their evolution.
Now as we have every reason to presume that our present period of
activity is not the first of our solar system, we have reason to place a
special meaning on the words _Berâsit brâ Elohim âth hashemâyim veâth
heâretz_: In the beginning the Elohim compounded the original matter of
the heavens and of the earth. Long periods of cosmic evolution elapsed,
and at the point where the Great Breath again reached our planet we take
up the thread of the Chaldean account _veheâretz tohu vebohu_: “and the
earth was chaotic and barren.” The use of the prefix _vau_ as a
copulative conjunction at the beginning of each separate statement,
links up the various stages of the evolutional scheme without defining
the vast ages, the “days” and “nights” of the cosmos, which intervene.
From the great aqueous development we pass to the amphibians, the
“creeping things,” the avians or “flying things and fowls of the air,”
until by a process of natural evolution and natural selection,
determined entirely by the individual power of adaptation to
environment, we at length arrive at the evolution of the human-animal.
The brief but perfectly scientific statement, “And God (the Elohim) made
men out of the dust of the earth,” is a process which involves an
indefinitely long period of evolution.
But so far we have only the ascending arc of physical evolution, which
in effect found its apotheosis in the production of giant human forms,
fitted to the great struggle for existence with the saurians and
pachyderms and all that mammoth life, both vegetable and animal, by
which it was environed. “There were giants in the earth in those days.”
Nature had done her utmost in the production of colossal forms of animal
life, she had expended all her strength.
It was at this point, where Nature unaided would have failed, and in
process of time died down to her root, as a tree that has put forth leaf
and flower and fruit, that the upward arc of _physical evolution_ was
met by a downward arc of _spiritual involution_. The two processes are
well defined: 1. God made man out of the dust of the earth. 2. And
breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives.
In effect, from this union of spirit and matter we get the genesis of
the psyche or soul: “and man _became_ a living soul.” The process of
becoming is one that was neither immediate nor complete. Most of us are
still in the process of becoming. But a certain number of advanced
monads became living souls, realizing their spiritual consciousness
while in the flesh. These were the “sons of the gods” referred to in the
text. All else were the sons of men. “And the sons of God looked upon
the daughters of men and saw that they were fair.” The self-conscious
souls took to wife the daughters of a less-evolved race, a process that
would seem to be necessary to the further uplifting and spiritual
vitalizing of the inferior grades of human life. During the present
manvantara or period of cosmic activity we have traditional occult
knowledge of four great races of humanity before our own, each of which
attained to a successively higher state of civilization, the Atlantean
transcending the Lemurian, as in process of time the Aryan will
transcend the Atlantean. And as each period of cosmic activity has
afforded means of successively higher human development, it is a
question as to what has become of those very high forms of spiritualized
humanity who were the final product of the material and spiritual
evolution of past manvantaras. Earth-born in their origin, and linked to
this Earth’s humanity by a thousand compatriot ties, by bonds of blood
and heritage, by lives of tireless service, they wait the time when
humanity shall have evolved to that stage when personal intercourse is
compatible with their own spiritual status and the needs of our further
evolution. To them, as pioneers, guardians or masters of the race, we
are indebted for the universal tradition which here and there is
gathered up by Occultists the world over, and which is realized in its
integrity only by those who have fought their way to that place in the
scale of spiritual evolution where detachment is possible. To them is
attributable the founding of the great world religions, and at the
outset these “Sons of God” were the spiritual instructors of the world.
Each race produces its own crop of masters, evolved initiates sworn to
the service of man for ever. As there is a natural selection, so there
is a spiritual selection, and from the moment a human form is invested
with a soul (psyche) that soul continues to progress. There is an
evolution that has come along the natural line to the production of
human lives of great faculty and attainment; and there is an evolution
that has followed the spiritual line. Not all evolved humans are
invested with the breath of _lives_. Thus a man may be an intellectual
giant and yet not be ensouled, for the _psyche_ is one thing and the
_pneuma_ is another. The _psyche_, or _nephesh_ is common to man and the
lower animals and is capable of immense development when investing the
human form, but unless this _nephesh_ is illuminated by the _ruach_ or
_pneuma_ it cannot advance beyond a certain stage in the present cycle
of evolution. Hence the saying, “Work while the day is yet with you, for
the night cometh when no man shall work.”
Specialized humanity is a composite of spirit, mind, soul and body. The
element or principle in man which distinguishes him from the animal
(whether human in form or otherwise), is the Mind. Only in this
possession is he truly man. The word man comes, indeed, from the root
_man_ (Sansk.), to think. The limitations set up by embodiment of this
thinking self is the primary cause of self-realization. All forms of
life are conscious, but only spiritualized humanity is self-conscious,
or individualized.
The criterion of consciousness is response to stimulus. It is to be seen
in chemic action, in vegetation and in animal life. If the Day’s-eye
(daisy) were not conscious of the sunrise it would not open its petals.
You may call it automatism, a reflex of the chemic action of light. You
will be wiser if you call it consciousness of light, and so spare
yourself the trouble of pushing the question back indefinitely, for
somewhere or other you must admit response to stimulus and there you
must posit consciousness.
Thus while the animal soul in man responds to stimulus of every kind
coming to it through the sense-channels, the mind responds also to a
higher and immaterial gamut of vibrations, that is to say, to spiritual
stimulus. As man he continues to evolve while all other forms of life
remain in _statu quo_. The monads investing them have not been caught up
by the Over-soul; they have not reached the stage where their
mass-vibration is capable of responding to the spiritual impact; they
are not attracted.
As the outcome of human evolution through successive ages, cycles and
manvantaras there is evolved the Christ, or perfect man. The mystical
interpretation does not suffice. We require a living individual who
shall stand to us for the “man made perfect” through that same process
of spiritual evolution which is to be our own means of final liberation
from _samsāra_, or cyclic rebirth. The Christ is truly a generic title.
The sons of God are legion, and all of them are invested with the Spirit
of Truth or Christ principle. They are the Children of Light, the Great
White Brotherhood, and at their head is the Lord, the gravitating Centre
of this world’s humanity. He is the manifestation in time and space of
the inscrutable Deity, the revelation of God to man. The mythological
interpretation of the Christ does not suffice any more than the
mystical. The Sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac may well stand as
symbols of the Master and his twelve disciples, but they will not
suffice for the historical fact, for the fact is not limited to a drama
in which thirteen characters were at one time employed. It is a drama
that is playing through all time, in all places and among all peoples.
It is the great work of spiritual selection and co-ordination, and the
twelve signs are the twelve gates through which the elect of all
humanity will enter into the New Jerusalem or Spiritual Kingdom of a
perfected humanity. Neither is the kingdom one that is afar off. Its
denizens are to be found among embodied humanity at this day. The
Fathers and many of the early rulers of the great countries were special
representatives of the Spiritual Hierarchy which at later stages in the
history of the world sent forth its emissaries to become world-teachers,
empire-makers, legislators, warriors and inventors, each speaking the
Word that the world then had need of. Beside them are to be found the
Occultists of the East and West, followers of their respective Gurus,
Sadhus, Yogis and Teachers, aspirants to the heirloom of the ages, the
Gupta-Vidya or Hidden Knowledge; with here and there a messenger under
sealed orders, passing from one country to another; a host of
psychic-researchers and higher-thought lecturers, the aide-de-camps,
sappers and enlisting officers of the vast army of recruits, regulars
and veterans who are enrolled under this standard.
To the Occultist the universe is a symbol and every part of it is
symbolical. Although essentially an Idealist he does not attempt the
rôle of those visionaries who would argue the universe out of existence.
He may call it elusive but not an illusion, for his own existence
depends on his consciousness of the world about him and his well-being
upon the degree to which he understands and observes the laws of that
universe of which he is an integral part. For if it be said that the
world has no existence apart from our consciousness, it may with equal
truth be said that our consciousness has no existence apart from the
world to which it is related. What we understand as the laws of the
universe are formulated in terms of our thought, but inasmuch as the
laws of thought are imposed on us by existence, it is clear that we do
not ourselves impose cosmic laws, but we merely apprehend them. It is
not in the Idealistic sense that the universe is a symbol, but in the
real sense of it being the embodiment or out-realizing of the Supreme
Life and Mind. As symbol the universe is the revelation of all time, of
the past and the future; the repository of all history, the source of
all prophecy, the synthesis of actuality. That Consciousness which is
simultaneously immanent in all the universe is called the Universal
Mind. The Platonic definition of God as “That whose centre is everywhere
and whose circumference is illimitable” comes as nearly to this
conception of the Divine Mind as it is possible for words to compass.
Man is a centre of consciousness in the Divine Mind from the time that
he realizes his spiritual existence, a soul investing a cell in the
Brain of the Grand Man. As such he becomes subject to the higher
spiritual laws of Being and enters into the Divine Conspiracy. The
evolving monads circulate and finally become impounded in one or another
of the various organs of the Grand Man, in agreement with their several
states of evolution, passing from one to another of them during the
successive incarnations of the Deity. In his effort to reach a higher
sphere of consciousness and activity, a wider sphere of influence and a
greater measure of free will, man comes to realize that obedience to the
law of his being is the means of attainment. Thus every man is a law
unto himself, and the truly wise are they who are able to say in all
consciousness: “Thy will be done.” For human safety and happiness are
only assured by devotion to the highest good, and this is the occult
view of the dependence of mankind on an all-seeing and beneficent Spirit
“in whose service is perfect freedom.”
Occultism, therefore, whether consisting in the development and exercise
of one’s individual psychic powers, in systematic and impartial inquiry
as to evidence of these powers in others, or in the pursuit of such
studies as astrology, kabalism, yoga, hypnotism, etc., reaches out from
such vague beginnings into regions of thought and aspiration that
transcend the average mind and are seen to culminate, in specialized
cases, in the attainment of powers which may be called miraculous and of
attributes that are truly godlike.
CHAPTER II
THE PROBLEMS OF SCIENCE
It is quite a popular misconception that credits Science with exact
methods and certain knowledge on all matters concerning which it has
given an opinion. There is, in fact, a slavish reverence for the dicta
of Science which is as inconsistent as formerly was the submission of
the public mind to religious dogmatic teaching. And if, as some writers
assert, there still exists a conflict between Religion and Science it is
at least satisfactory to see that to-day Science appears to be getting
its own back to a creditable extent. If Science makes appeal to the
popular imagination or proves its claim to public recognition and
support on the grounds of utility, Religion has only itself to blame if
it fails to come into line with the established facts of scientific
discovery and lacks the enterprise which is necessary to give it a
modern representation. Instead of mumbling orthodoxies about the saving
of souls, Religion could very profitably concern itself with the task of
proving that man has a soul to save. It could use the argument afforded
by modern experimental psychology. It could observe the scientific
method, and could without loss of dignity employ the facts of Science in
the upbuilding of a scheme of thought which has man’s spiritual welfare
as the end in view. When we recognize the fact that it is our conception
of God and of our relations with Him that is alone effective in the work
of regeneration and reform, and that this altered view-point is largely
due to the widening of the mental horizon by scientific discovery and a
philosophy adapted thereto, then religiously-disposed people do wrongly
to ignore the facts of Science, however much they may appear to conflict
with orthodox notions of the relations of God to man. It is little more
than three centuries ago that the custodians of religious belief burned
Giordano Bruno at the stake for daring to declare that there were more
worlds than one. In his _Della Causa Principio ed Uno_ (Of the First and
Only Cause) Bruno says: “The divine Omnipotence is more aptly expressed
in an infinity of worlds of various dimensions than in the production of
a single world of infinite dimensions.... Infinite variability is the
eternal juvenescence of God.” That which happened to Bruno in the name
of Holy Religion was barely escaped by Copernicus because of his heresy
in declaring the Sun to be the centre of the system and the Earth one of
its satellites moving about it. It was a pagan doctrine and belonged
properly to Pythagoras. The history of Science reveals many such
persecutions of its devotees, and yet in modern times it cannot be said
that Science is without its prejudices. It nearly killed religious
belief in the nineteenth century owing to its recognition of the
Materialistic hypothesis.
Yet when we come to examine the claims of modern Science, or what
popularly goes by that name, we find that it is largely hypothetical and
that sciences which are usually known as “exact” are by no means so.
Science has no certain knowledge of the origin of life and
consciousness. Many distinguished men have sought to define life. Dr.
Alfred R. Wallace in his _World of Life_ points out how inadequate are
all these definitions, and wisely refrains from adding to them.
Consciousness as a by-product of organic matter was quite correct
science fifty years ago. To-day, in the presence of many well-attested
facts which go to prove the possibility of consciousness apart from
organism as we know it, the man of science is not at all sure that
consciousness is anything of the sort. Modern psychology is a new leaf
in the book of Nature which until quite recently had not been
deciphered. We are getting our facts sporadically, a few at a time, and
each new discovery changes our ideas concerning things which had passed
for correct theory. The facts remain; our views of them are changed. We
really have no certain scientific knowledge about the wonderful
conversion of inorganic to organic matter. The alchemy of Nature baffles
us.
Even the cosmic theory is incomplete and full of anomalies. In the
vortex theory there is nothing to show why some swirls of cosmic matter
became suns and others planets. There are two theories regarding the
solar system diametrically opposed to one another. There are similarly
two theories regarding the Moon. The most recent theory is that the Moon
acts as a brake upon the Earth by causing the tides, which run contrary
to the axial rotation of the earth, thereby slowing down its rotation
and causing a longer day than formerly. But the same theory requires
that the Moon is gradually enlarging its own orbit and getting farther
away from the Earth, which is inconsistent with our records of ancient
observations of eclipses, etc., for in order to agree our calculations
with the observed positions of the Moon at these ancient epochs, we have
to augment the _present_ mean motion of the Moon in its orbit by a
quantity equal to about 10´´t₂, which means ten seconds for the first
century and the same quantity multiplied by the square of the centuries
for times anterior. In other words, the Moon was moving quicker in a
smaller orbit in former days. But this supplemental theory is wholly
destructive of the first regarding the Moon’s tidal action. For if the
Moon is getting farther away from us, its tidal influence is also
decreasing, and the “brake” power being lessened, the Earth’s axial
rotation must be increasing in velocity and the day must be getting
shorter than formerly, which is the exact converse of what was argued in
the first place. Hence we see how, in their efforts to explain observed
facts, scientific men can put up two mutually destructive theories. Only
recently, in the Solar eclipse of 17th April, 1912, we had an
illustration of an exact science blundering in practice. The
_Connaissance des Temps_, the official organ of the French astronomers,
gave this eclipse as total, while the _Nautical Almanac_ gave it
correctly as partial, the apparent diameter of the Moon, depending on
its anomaly, being some 20´´ less than that of the Sun.
The theory of what is called the attraction of gravitation is one of the
scientific facts which have recently been abandoned as unsatisfactory.
It is found that the theory of “attraction” does not answer to the facts
as experimentally determined. Theories that are inelastic are apt to be
negatived by the discovery of new facts or modified beyond recognition
by extended observations. The Earth itself is a huge magnet whose radial
influence extends some fourteen feet beyond its surface, and this fact
has to be taken into account in all local magnetic observations.
The permeability of matter was a fact that had been under scrutiny for a
long time before the discovery of the Röntgen rays. Sir David Brewster
notes the passage of carbon through solid wood by means of electric
fluid, and by an electric current an acid may be separated from its
sodium base and passed through dilute syrup of violets without changing
the colour of the vegetable solution. The question then arises, in what
form was the carbon in the one case and the acid in the other when they
passed through the respective media? Obviously their atomic vibrations
were temporarily raised in such degree by electrical action as to change
them from their normal characters. I suggest to psychologists that
something of the same or a similar nature may occur in the case of
individuals when acting under the influence of hypnotism or spiritual
afflatus, ecstasy, etc. The question is whether they can be rendered
permanent effects.
But these are not by any means the whole of the problems confronting
modern Science, which nevertheless has a tendency to become dogmatic in
other matters with which it is not officially concerned, as one may
learn from a reading of Häckel’s _Riddle of the Universe_. In Ernst
Häckel we see probably the last of the old school of materialistic
philosophers. Another problem is that of atomic arrangement. It has been
observed that two chemical bodies composed of exactly the same number of
atoms of the same elements assume entirely different characteristics by
reason of their respective atomic arrangement. This fact, while wholly
unexplained, opens up many interesting psychological issues and serves
by analogy to explain why two human beings compounded of exactly similar
cosmic elements, manifest different characters and faculties. Science
has too long neglected the free use of its own hypothesis of the
solidarity of the system, and while astronomy employs interplanetary
action in all its calculations, it scouts the idea of astro-meteorology
and relegates astrology to the limbo of antiquated superstitions. Yet
both these concepts are necessary and logical dependents of the cosmical
hypothesis.
Up to the present day Science has ignored psychology and opposed the
claims of psycho-therapeutics. Medical science other than that depending
on surgery will soon find that the process of readjustment in the human
organism rendered necessary by the rapidly changing conditions of modern
civilization and the opening-up of new centres of activity in the
mind-sphere of the world, will present a new series of pathological
conditions to which the prescriptions of the Pharmacopoeia are
altogether inadequate. The psychic origin of disease will have to be
admitted and provided against. The x-factor in human pathology which
defies the action of drugs and evades the scalpel, call it by what name
we may, will increasingly assert itself, and medical men will have
perforce to take it into their counsels, make friends with it and get to
understand its vagaries. The plurality of worlds and the habitability of
the other planets in the solar system, taught by Pythagoras in the sixth
century B.C., has received a certain speculative recognition by
astronomers, notably Camille Flammarion, Richard Proctor, Schiaparelli
and Sir Robert Ball, in recent years. It was affirmed as fact by that
remarkable man of science and inspiration, Baron Swedenborg. But in a
contemporary issue of the journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of
Canada, Prof. Aitken, of the Lick Observatory, states, as the result of
his researches, that the Moon is a dead world, with the exception
perhaps of low forms of vegetable life sustained by water vapour exuding
from the Moon’s interior; Mercury gets seven times as much heat as the
Earth and keeps the same face towards the Sun, offering the alternative
of an eternal night or an equally unending tropical heat and daylight,
from which it is not protected by any atmosphere. Venus, having many
characteristics similar to the Earth, is admitted to be problematical,
since it is not yet decided whether its day and year are equal or not.
If they are, then it is uninhabitable. Mars has a rare atmosphere, and
there is not enough water on the planet to fill an American lake. It has
a low temperature, and there may be vegetable and animal life there, but
no beings of intelligence. The “canals” may be natural or artificial
canals or merely earthquake markings. Jupiter is a semi-sun, its
development is in a state of chaos, and it is probably gaseous
throughout with matter distributed as on the Sun, there being no defined
surface or crust. Saturn resembles Jupiter, but probably is not so far
advanced, and it is even less fitted for human habitation than Jupiter.
We see therefore that as between the teaching of Pythagoras and that of
Prof. Aitken there is a great gulf fixed. It will probably be bridged by
a little freer use of the scientific imagination that Prof. Huxley
extolled. The great American astronomer has argued humanity out of
existence in a manner so complete as to warrant the instant dismantling
of the statue of Bruno by the Vatican. But alas for the shortcomings of
dogmatic science, we have not yet been told how or why the Earth alone
is favoured by the presence of humanity. We are left to speculate upon
the question as to what has become of the Moon’s humanity, supposing
this dead orb was once alive and afforded habitable conditions. We are
left wondering why conservative Nature evolved the planets Neptune and
Uranus—which “are so far away from the Sun that its light and heat can
hardly be effective in protecting life upon them, even should life in
any way originate there”—if they are never to come within the life-belt
limit of the solar rays! These vapourings are altogether unworthy of the
name of Science, and are, in their way, as fanciful and speculative as
any of the superstitions of a primitive religion. Who gave the
astronomer to know that man as we see him is the only sort of humanity
or intelligent being that can exist? It is open to him to remark that
even should there be forms of intelligent life on other planets we
should not recognize them as human. That is beside the mark; we do not
recognize the human by its form, we do not confound the man with the
animal part of him; and we may even speak of discarnate humanity. In
every possible way we protest that articulate language, which infers
articulate thought and intelligence, is the criterion of the human, and
in this category we include for sociological reasons all that are of
human generation, whether intelligent and articulate or not. Of the
“infinite variability” of God as expressed in Nature, the astronomer
takes no count. Here on this globe of ours we find the human persisting
in temperatures varying from over + 150° to - 30°, and we have no reason
for suggesting that the power of adaptation to environment is at the
maximum in this world. Violent ophthalmia and even madness would result
in us if “the earth’s green livery” were suddenly and permanently
changed to red. But a very little alteration in the chemical
constitution of the vitreous fluid in the eye would render us immune
from these evils, and we have every reason for thinking that were such a
colour-change to take place, Nature would not be long in adapting
herself to the new conditions. But she would first be sure that they
were likely to be permanent, for although very amicable, the old lady is
extremely cautious and prudent! What we know as solar light and heat
have no existence outside the earth’s atmosphere, and even within it
they only have the values that our sensation-consciousness gives to
them; so that all we can scientifically assume in regard to those
planets that have no atmosphere is that their humanities, if they have
any, must be physiologically different from man as we know him. We
cannot argue that he does not exist or that he cannot exist on them.
The sum of the matter is this, we have need of a Religion that is
scientific, and equally of a Science that is religious. What we do not
positively know we may logically infer, but we have to guard ourselves
against the tendency to take the inference for fact and to dogmatize
about things which are wholly unrelated to our personal experience. The
many curious observations I shall have occasion to make in the course of
these pages are so remote from general experience and so far removed
from scientific scrutiny as to belong to the category of things called
“occult,” and it was therefore expedient that the reader should have a
fairly clear idea that all the statements of orthodox science do not
rest upon the immovable rock of observed fact, and for this reason are
not so well founded as many of the conclusions of occult science. It is
advisable also that the reader should discern between the theoretical
value of a statement and its experimental value. Many things which
appear reasonable will not respond to test, and others that seem
unreasonable are found nevertheless to be true.
CHAPTER III
THE MODERN MIRACLE
It has been said that the medical practice of the future will have to
provide for the interference in ordinary therapeutic methods of an
_x_-factor, which is amenable to hypnotic suggestion and to
auto-suggestion, but which on rare occasions assumes a more positive and
extraordinary form, and acts spontaneously. Indeed, we may have to admit
the possibility of an extraneous healing power acting independently of
medical skill and contrary to all recognized therapeutic agents,
medicinal or clinical.
An instance of this is to be seen in what is called the Modern Miracle.
A miracle, it should be understood, is not supernatural. We have no
reason for prescribing limits to Nature’s powers. A miracle is simply an
abnormal manifestation of those powers, and hence something to be
wondered at. The case in point is that of Miss Dorothy Kerin, who on the
night of Sunday, the 18th February, 1912, being bedridden with advanced
tuberculosis, concomitant disease of the kidneys, and finally suffering
from loss of sight and speech, together with some signs of aphasia, was
suddenly and miraculously cured entirely of all ailments, and when
medically examined was pronounced to be absolutely free from tubercle
bacillus, or any other form of morbid disease, and to be in complete
possession of all her faculties and normal bodily functions. The
evidence is unassailable and the facts beyond dispute. We have to
arrange our thought and modify our therapy to accommodate these facts.
Dorothy Kerin was born on the 28th November, 1890, in London, her father
being Irish. She received an ordinary middle-class education in a
private school, and would have gone on the stage, where her sister,
Norah Kerin, has achieved considerable success, but for the break in her
health.
At the time of her wonderful recovery she had not stood up for five
years, and latterly had suffered from partial loss of memory, sight,
hearing and speech. Yet she was always bright and cheerful, and her
invariable sweetness of disposition, her patience and gentleness,
endeared her to all her friends and relatives, and made her greatly
beloved by those who came in contact with her. She was one of those who
“suffered all things gladly,” and was by nature of a religious
disposition. The following account of her recovery is extracted from the
_Daily Mirror_ report of the 19th February—
“Dorothy Kerin is convinced that her remarkable recovery of apparent
health is literally ‘a miracle.’
“Her account of the angelic vision, which on Sunday night restored her
sight, hearing and strength and left her painless, happy and ‘feeling
better than I ever felt in my life before,’ may be ascribed to hysteria
by sceptics, but, whatever the cause, the facts of her recovery are
beyond dispute.
“Dr. Frederick Norman, of Brixton, her physician, is, of course,
deterred by professional etiquette from public discussion of her case.
“‘But it is no secret that my husband was incredulous,’ said Mrs. Norman
to the _Daily Mirror_ yesterday, ‘when he was informed that Dorothy was
“quite well.”’
“‘He did not consider on Saturday that she could possibly remain alive
more than a day or two. The girl had been in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital,
St. Peter’s Home for Incurables at Kilburn, and other institutions, but
was sent home finally as a hopeless case two years ago.
“‘She has not stood up for five years, and latterly was blind and deaf
and utterly weak, taking only occasional doses of brandy and other
stimulants.’
“Dr. Norman has been compelled to safeguard his patient. No fewer than
sixty people saw her yesterday, but such a reception has now been
stopped. A perfectly healthy girl could not stand the constant
excitement of receiving visitors eager to interrogate her. Three days
ago, it must be remembered, she was in an advanced stage of consumption.
“For breakfast yesterday Miss Kerin ate wheat-meal porridge, bacon and
tomatoes, and drank two cups of coffee. A beefsteak was cooked for her
lunch.
“‘I slept last night more soundly than I ever remember doing,’ Miss
Kerin told the _Daily Mirror_ yesterday. She read the Ten Commandments
printed on the base of a minute toy magnifying glass with perfect ease.
Another doctor who was present said he could not read such tiny print.
“‘A fortnight ago,’ said her mother, ‘Dolly could not call things by
their proper names, and often did not know us. Bread was “soft, white
stuff,” fish was “white stuff with needles in it,” nut-milk chocolate
she asked for as “lumpy sweet.”
“‘Now she can bath herself and is not an invalid at all. Often during
her long illness her temperature went up to 105.’
“Miss Kerin shakes hands firmly, and her palm has a touch that is quite
normal. Scores of doctors have already sought permission to see her. The
history of her case is well known to the profession.
“The Rev. A. J. Waldron, vicar of the adjoining parish of St. Matthew’s,
Brixton, visited her yesterday and is making arrangements to have her
moved at once to a nursing home, where she can have privacy and quiet,
with country air.
“Miss Kerin has no hectic flush, and declared yesterday that she did not
feel a bit tired. But there is little doubt she requires careful
supervision to prevent any relapse.”
I am informed by her brother, Mr. G. Kerin, that during her illness, and
especially during the later stages, when her normal faculties showed
signs of decline, that Miss Kerin developed some super-normal powers.
She was able, for instance, to give an accurate account of incidents
happening in connection with her brother while at a distance from home.
The greatest care had to be observed by those in the house when speaking
of her, as she could always hear what was said in another room, although
she appeared deaf to those who spoke aloud in her presence. There is, in
fact, evidence that she developed the telesthesic sense during the later
stages of her illness, but also that she lost this faculty just before
her recovery.
Dr. Forbes Winslow was of opinion that the cure was due to
auto-suggestion. It appears to me a singular conclusion. One can
understand neurasthenia, paralysis and other nervous disorders being
amenable to auto-suggestion, and in fact these are the cases which most
readily respond to such action. But that a young girl whose mind is
perfectly resigned to what she believes to be a mortal disease, and even
suffering gladly the inscrutable ordinances of a beneficent Providence,
should after five years of such suffering suddenly auto-suggest that
there is no organic disease in her body and that she was never better in
her life, seems to me to invest the term “auto-suggestion” with a
meaning and significance it has never yet held. We have to remember that
here there is the certified presence of a virulent organic disease with
concomitant functional disorders. Can Dr. Winslow advance other
instances of voluntary auto-suggestion which have instantly cured morbid
diseases? Yet we are asked to believe that the girl auto-suggested an
angelic presence, a voice that spoke to her, hands that touched her, and
the surpassing miracle of instant destruction in her body of all disease
germs, the restoration of all functional powers and the entire clearing
of the system of effete tissues. Then why did she not do so five years
earlier, before her forces had been undermined by a wasting disease, and
when the will-to-be was stronger in her than it can possibly have been
at the last hour? We shall soon be asked to believe that Miss Kerin
auto-suggested the disease itself. Another instance of your scientific
mind, which lacks the humility necessary to say: “I do not know,” and
plunges into the most absurd speculations to explain what it does not
understand. The mental attitude of that atheist who bowed his head and
wept in the presence of the Unknown commands our instant respect and
approval, but this foolish theorizing by reputable men of science is
only pitiable. And theories in regard to this particular case are not
lacking, for we have in turn hypnotic suggestion (the hypnotizer being
unnamed because non-existent), collective mental therapeutic action,
answer to prayer, and spirit-healing.
As to collective mental therapy, the same objection is raised as in the
case of auto-suggestion. If operative at all in a case of organic
disease, it would be more readily efficacious in the early stages, when
supported by a reasonable expectancy, than at the last, when all hope
had been abandoned. It is true that for some five years prayer had been
consistently made on behalf of the patient, and we have certainly no
means of proving that this sustained effort was not instrumental in the
recovery. But we do know that no mention was made of it by the angelic
visitor. The Presence did not say: “We have heard the prayers of the
people,” or that it came in answer to prayer. The theory of
spirit-healing is by far the most reasonable explanation. It accounts
for the facts without, however, explaining the means by which the cure
was effected.
That it is a perfect instance of organic metabolism everybody must
admit. Exactly similar cases are difficult to find, and in effect Dr.
Ash, who undertook the study of the case after the cure had been
performed, is thereby able to give us a most interesting account of what
he regards as a unique medical experience. The Lourdes miracles are, as
far as I know, all of a nervous character. They pertain to cases where
functional disorders arise from nervous corrosion without lesion. Even
where there is lesion there may come a time when nervous contact is
complete and an instantaneous cure is possible. But in the present case
we have deep-seated organic disease of a chronic nature, the existence
of morbid tissue and whole tracts of the lungs ruined by the action of
noxious germs. So far as our experience goes it would seem that the term
“miraculous intervention” fits this case as well as any other that can
be offered, and certainly better than many that have been applied to it.
It is an old and well-worn term, of a sort to vex the scoffer, but when
it comes to a matter of sticking on labels to cover our ignorance of
methods, we can at least count upon the willing aid of modern science.
For a categorical statement of this case by an independent medical
observer I refer the reader to _Faith and Suggestion_, by Dr. E. L. Ash,
and to the précis of that book by the editor of the _Occult Review_,
July 1912.
CHAPTER IV
THERAPY—ANCIENT AND MODERN
In old times, when the teachings of Hippocrates were more in vogue than
at this date, when Aristotle and Galen and Ibn Sina and Paracelsus made
their contributions to contemporary medical science, it was the custom
to regard man in terms of the cosmos. They classified all disorders in a
comprehensive manner as accidental or incidental, as acute or chronic,
as functional or organic. The functional powers were governed by the
Moon, the organic constitution by the Sun. Accidental and acute ailments
were ascribed to the action of Mars, incidental and chronic disorders to
Saturn. Mars was responsible for all inflammatory action and fevers,
while Saturn was the cause of all morbid diseases and loss of vitality.
It was only a question of the distribution of the vital principle in
man, and this, originating in the Sun and regulated by the Moon, induced
fevers when in excess and morbid disease when deficient in any organ of
the body. Jupiter was the great healer and arbiter of destiny, and it
was his aid that the physician invoked when at the head of his
prescription he wrote the symbol ℞—Help, O Jupiter!
This ancient custom, together with many of the terms of ancient usage,
is retained by modern physicians, many of whom see no more in it than
the letter R, the initial of the word Recipe. But we still speak of
chronic diseases, while tracing nothing to the action of Kronos
(Saturn). We own to a _solar_ plexus and a _semilunar_ ganglion, and
there are many other terms which have survived the practice of putting
new names to old facts when some new function or structural peculiarity
comes under modern observation. Had the ancients known of the existence
of Uranus they would have had a potent cause for paralysis, nervous
lesion and similar disturbances of the organism, while in Neptune they
would have found the cause of anæmia, consumption and wasting decline,
and possibly of neurasthenia and the various effects of nervous
depletion.
But who shall say, without making trial of the matter, that the ancients
were at fault in regarding man as embodied cosmos, a compound of the
free elements in the universe about him, or wrong in interpreting his
various disorders in terms of the stellar ambient? It is, at all events,
just worth notice that at the birth of Miss Dorothy Kerin, on the 28th
November, 1890, the Sun, Venus and Mercury were in quadrature to Saturn
and in opposition to Neptune, while on the 18th February, 1912, Jupiter
was in the 13th degree of Sagittarius, the very degree of the zodiac
that was rising at her birth. The odds against this coincidence are
4,319 to 1. If it were a solitary example of what is said to be the
beneficent influence of Jupiter in the saving of life it would not be so
significant, but from the array of evidence accumulated by modern
observations and retrogressive calculation, it is quite clear that the
ancients were justified in their ascriptions in the case of Jupiter.
Possibly it is not to the planetary orb itself but to the cosmic
synthesis represented by it in our physical and mental constitution that
appeal is made. Be that as it may, and while asserting the fact of
planetary influence in human life without fear of contradiction I am not
in a position to dogmatize as to the _modus operandi_, it is yet evident
that there is a concert of action between the various cosmic centres and
their corresponding principles in ourselves, such as to uphold the
theosophic concept of man as Microcosmos.
I have just been speaking of cancer as a morbid disease. It was known to
the ancients and by them named after that sign of the zodiac which
responds to the zone most frequently affected by the disease, namely,
the breast and stomach. It has already been shown that Saturn was
accounted the chief cause of disease. Napoleon Buonaparte died of
cancer, and at his birth we find Saturn in the sign Cancer in opposition
to the Moon. On the principle that one swallow does not make a summer, I
leave the observation for what it may be worth, but it is satisfactory
if we can recognize a swallow when we see it. We are on the way to
distinguish between martins and swifts, and between house and sand
martins, and thus forefended from building our house upon the sand. For
although Occultism deals with an order of facts outside the normal range
of orthodox science its methods are equally scientific, both analytical
and constructive. If we take the horoscopes of a number of persons whose
fatal illness was of the same nature and compare them, we shall find a
factor that is common to them all. The existence of this factor in the
horoscope of a living person is a presumptive argument for “tendency” to
the same disease. If in event that person develops the particular malady
indicated by the horoscope, we have at once a scientific basis for a
system of astro-therapy and a valid means of prognosis.
Assuming that the astrologers have been as busy in their special
department of research as have the representatives of other branches of
learning in theirs, it may reasonably be expected that with an equal
body of tradition behind them and an equal field of experimental
research before them, they have arrived at conclusions of which they are
as sure as any scientific man can be in regard to any matter. To ignore
their statements or to disparage them without test appears to me to be
wholly prejudicial to the interests of truth and most likely to reflect
upon the scientific integrity of those who pursue either course, for as
the old philosopher says: “Where confidence is lacking it is not met by
trust.”
In regard to the faculty of auto-suggestion in connection with
psychotherapy; it has been suggested that this faculty depends on the
activity of the subconscious sphere of the mind. It is seen that all
action is either purposive or automatic. All purposive action tends to
become habitual, and to the extent that it becomes so, it passes from
the region of mind-control into the subconscious region where it is
capable of itself controlling the mind. We then recognize what is called
the “force of habit.” But it is further suggested that the activity of
the subconscious part of the mind-sphere is at its maximum when we are
asleep, whether natural or hypnotic. Certainly it is a fact that at a
particular stage in hypnosis the subject passes out of the power of the
hypnotist to control and assumes an activity of mental function which is
remarkable both as to range and precision. But the facts seem to suggest
something more than mere automatism, for while the patient remains
subject to suggestion there is evidence of something more than the
discharge of accumulated impressions. The subject is not found to be
blundering about in the lumber-room of the mind, searching for odd bits
of stuff that will answer the purpose in view, but is seen to exhibit
direct perception of things as they are, the power to traverse space and
to annihilate time, and to come into voluntary and conscious relations
with the past and the future as if they coexisted and had a present
reality. Many cases are on record. A single well-attested case would
have sufficed.
These facts have given us grounds for establishing a theory of psychism
very closely akin to the teaching of the Occultists. It is that the
mind-sphere or soul is divided into two hemispheres, one of which is on
the level of normal consciousness and the other below it. The _nous_ or
mind is then seen to be energized from above by the _pneuma_ through
inspiration, and from below by the _psyche_ through instinct. Intuition
and instinct, or inspiration and passion, are thus at opposite poles of
the mind-sphere, and appeal can be made to either by suggestion through
the sphere of the mind. We trace these opposite aspects of the mind in
the Oversoul and the animal soul of the mystical schools, the
_augoeides_ and _antinous_ of the earlier teaching. In the Yoga system
they are the Buddhic and Kamic principles, the centres of spiritual
knowledge and of animal desires respectively, the process of Yoga being
to bring these opposite poles of our nature into active accord.
There are on record a fairly large number of instances in which it
appears that either one’s subliminal consciousness or an extraneous
intelligence affords prescience of things in which one is not
particularly interested and for which there is no special call. Persons
have thus been given the winning numbers in lotteries without, at the
same time, being given the means of participating in the benefits
attaching thereto. An instance quite pertinent to the general accusation
of futility lodged against this class of intelligence came to my notice
on the 2nd of April, 1912. A lady, on awaking that morning, exclaimed,
“Number twenty-nine will win!” Asked as to whether it was a number in a
lottery she at once replied: “No, it’s a horse.” Some cudgelling of
brains failed to suggest any means by which the information could be
applied. The problem was, however, successfully solved by a
twelve-year-old girl who took the morning paper in hand, counted from
the first name of the opening event in the programme for the day,
exhausted the names in that event and continued into the second event
until she arrived at number 29, against which was the name “Primrose
Morn.” Obviously it had no connection with the 2nd of April, but on
reflection it was remembered that the lady was born, on the 29th of the
month and was engaged to be married on Primrose Morn. Immediately below
this name in the list of competitors was “Marie’s Choice,” and the
lady’s name is Marie. The coincidence was completed by the winning of
the Bestwood Park Plate by “Primrose Morn.” Reference to the morning
papers of the 2nd of April last will enable the reader to check this
statement. The rising and bursting of these bubbles of subconscious
activity appear to be quite automatic and in most instances without
purpose or utility. They serve, however, to demonstrate the fact that
there is such a source of inspiration, a submerged selfhood in touch
with the _anima mundi_ or world-soul, upon which we can at all times
call for information and aid. The purpose of Occultism is to put us in
the way of doing this when and as we please. From the point of view of
the world-soul, the future and the past are coexistent. Every race is
already run, every event is historical. This gives a new and a higher
meaning to the old saying: The future is only the past unfolded. As the
old Philosopher says: Tsae yin jo fang—all truth is paradoxical.
Another interesting feature of the psychic principle in us is that of
the projection of the ethereal double or wraith. It is recorded of
Goethe that he had a vision of himself, or rather of his double, on more
than one occasion. It is well known that he had the faculty of
exteriorization of thought, the projecting of visible thought-forms, in
a remarkable degree. This faculty of _Kriyas’akti_ is cultivated by the
yogis of India, and forms an important feature in all occult training.
The poet Shelley frequently effected “exteriorization” and was seen by
Byron and Trelawney and by his wife on more than one occasion to be
visibly present when it was certain that he was some distance away from
the scene. Many such cases are on record and will be found included in
_Real Ghost Stories_, and _More Ghost Stories_, published by the late
William T. Stead. I know a yogi in India who has been certified to be
visibly present in four places at the same time. Even allowing for
slight errors of observation in regard to time, the fact is remarkable,
especially as there had been no suggestion of pre-arrangement. The
theory of “expectancy” would not therefore cover the ground.
A correspondent sends me the following certified experiences of psychic
self-projection—
“I intended visiting a great friend (who is psychic _when_ I am with
her), twenty-five miles away, from Saturday to Monday. On the previous
Tuesday night I could not sleep at all; still wide awake at 3 a.m. I
suddenly thought of Miss H——, and instantly was in her dining-room, in
thought, saw vividly furniture, etc., and felt beside me her dear dead
mother (my friend). I thought we both went upstairs together to the
‘spare room’ I usually occupy when visiting. We went into the room, and
I walked straight to the window, held the curtains back with my hands
and looked out, then, turned and looked at the bed, surprised to find
Miss H—— in it, instead of her own room; turned to the door and came out
of my ‘brown study’ to find myself in my own bed at home.
“When I visited her on Saturday she said: ‘About 3 a.m. last Tuesday I
wished you in your own home; I slept in the spare room that night for a
change, and could not sleep; I felt you and my mother were downstairs,
and distinctly saw you both come into the room. You went straight to the
window, parted the curtains with your hands, and looked out, then turned
your head and looked surprised to see me in the bed and walked out of
the room.’”
Now, I had said nothing about my “psychic visit.” Yet in every detail it
was authenticated at the other end!
One night I dreamed I felt nervous (it was a brilliant moonlit night),
and that I would go into the next room and see if M—— was awake for
company. I went in my nightdress, barefooted, and distinctly shivered
with cold. I found M—— sound asleep, so did not awaken her. Wondering
what time it might be, I walked to the mantelpiece, where she keeps her
little clock; _it was not there_, but on a chair near the bed. I made
out fifteen minutes past something, but the moon was not now so
brilliant I thought. Then feeling very chilly, I dreamed I returned to
my bed. I awoke with a shock (the shock of returning to my body?)
feeling sure I had _been_ there. My watch pointed to 4.15. My body was
perfectly warm, so it could not have been sleep-walking; it was very
frosty. Next morning at breakfast I said: “Where do you keep your little
clock?”
M—— said: “Usually on the mantelpiece, but it is a good way from the bed
these frosty mornings, so last night I put it on a chair near my
bed-head.”
She also said: “I had a curious feeling when I awoke this morning that
your presence had been in my room during the night.”
These experiences undoubtedly show the power of the human mind to take
form and to effect visible self-presentation at a distance. It is
presumptive evidence for the existence of a mind-form or
_karana-sharira_, which if temporarily separable from the physical
centres of consciousness, may be so separated permanently at the moment
of death, and thus assume independent and conscious existence in a world
inhering in its consciousness. While affording _a priori_ argument in
favour of a reasonable belief in post-mortem existence, it does not
prove immortality. The two cases stand upon entirely different grounds
and require distinctive evidence. I know that after the butterfly has
emerged from the chrysalis it has independent existence and that it is
neither grub nor chrysalis, but a potentiality that has become realized
in a new order of being. But I also know that the butterfly comes to an
end. Our problem is concerned with the soul of the butterfly and what
becomes of it thereafter. The case is not identical but merely
analogous. The human evolution is presumably a good many stages beyond
that of the lepidoptera.
Yet I find it quite the usual thing, especially among Spiritualists, to
regard evidence of post-mortem existence as equivalent to evidence for
immortality. Occultism, in common with all the great Religions, teaches
that post-mortem existence is natural and imperative, while immortality
is spiritual and conditional. If the shell of a nut be broken the kernel
will continue to exist as nut for a considerable time. It is thus with
the psychoplasm after separation from the physical body or shell. It is
said of those who have attained: These are they over whom the _second
death_ hath no power. The tendency to regard all that is not physical as
being spiritual in its nature and constitution, is one of the greatest
fallacies to which modern interpreters of psychic phenomena have
contributed. A change in the sphere of activity does not involve change
of character, nor does it determine the degree of spiritual
consciousness of the individual. That is a matter of evolution, of
knowledge and devotion. The confessed ignorance of discarnate
intelligences upon matters mundane and spiritual is sufficient evidence
of this fact.
CHAPTER V
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM
There is one star above all others which periodically sheds its light
upon the world, but about which very little is known, and on the occult
significance of which little or no light has been hitherto shed. I refer
to what is popularly, and as I shall show, correctly known as the Star
of Bethlehem.
I propose to bring the facts into review with the intention of finally
establishing the place of this star in cosmical symbology, and also of
showing its connection with the central fact of the Christian
religion—the Nativity.
The Star is due to make its appearance during the present century, but
at what precise date cannot be determined, owing to lack of data. It was
seen in the year 945, again in 1264, and by Tycho in 1572, and after
becoming visible in the daytime, so great was its lustre, it gradually
faded away and disappeared. Sir J. Herschel thought from these facts,
that it would reappear in 1872, but such was not the case. The
appearance of a large luminous star in Perseus at the beginning of this
century led to the belief that it was the long-expected visitant. The
body, which was named Nova Persei, was eventually considered by
astronomers to be a centre of disruption, on account of its sudden
flaring up and disappearance. It may have been this or a collision of
two telescopic stars. Tycho tells us that the Star gradually grew in
luminosity until it outshone Sirius and even Venus, and as gradually
disappeared. This seems to suggest a star of great eccentricity and vast
orbit, whose major axis is at right angles to the sphere of visibility,
so that it appears to us “end on.” It would thus grow and gradually
disappear, without any sensible alteration of its position in the
heavens, as here depicted—
[Illustration: Figure 1.]
It is of interest to note that mythology connects the Star with
Cassiopeia, Andromeda her daughter, and Perseus the husband of
Andromeda. These three constellations are in close proximity to one
another in the heavens; together with Cepheus, the husband of Cassiopeia
and father of Andromeda.
The Star appeared above “the head of Andromeda,” according to Tycho,
which would give it about 32° of N. declination, and thus make its
appearance vertical to the latitude of Bethlehem in Judea. The sign of
the zodiac coinciding with its longitude would thus be Aries, which
according to Ptolemy rules over Judea. It is the Oriental sign and
stands in relation to the cardinal points thus—
[Illustration: Figure 2.]
This observation satisfies the requirements of that passage where the
Magi are reported to have said: “We have seen his Star in _the East_,
and have come to worship Him.” Then if a geographical quarter was
referred to by “the East,” why should they travel westward from Persia
to Judea? Obviously they referred to the quarter of the Heavens, and,
being Astrologers, would well know that Judea was signified by Aries, in
which sign the Star made its appearance. Its “standing over the house
where the child lay,” indicates its position in the zenith of Bethlehem
at the time of its southing, the latitude of Bethlehem being 31° 43´ N.
in agreement with the observed position of the Star in Tycho’s day.
Now regarding the year of the Nativity, we know that it was in the same
year as the death of Herod. This event can be fixed. Josephus, in his
_Antiquities_, lib. xvii, mentions an eclipse that took place on the
night preceding one of the fasts, and which was immediately followed by
the last illness of Herod. We know from the same source that Herod
reigned thirty-four years after the death of Antipater, and thirty-seven
from the beginning of his reign. The date is further fixed by the
statement that this latter event took place in the 184th Olympiad, and
we hence get the year of Rome 714 or 39 B.C., and the year of the
eclipse would therefore be 3 B.C. The same author says that after
mourning Herod for seven days, the feast of the Passover was
approaching, and as this was always held on the 14th of Abib or Nisan,
which is the first full Moon after the Equinox, we are able to confirm
the date as the 13th March. At this date it is found that there is a
considerable eclipse of the Moon as shown by the following calculation
(see p. 48).
The Sun being 7° 34´ from the Node, the extent of the eclipse would be
nearly five digits, and the Moon would be about two-thirds down the
western sky and in the south-west quarter of the heavens. It is of
interest also to note that the Moon was eclipsed in the sign Virgo,
which the ancients say rules Jerusalem, where Herod the Tetrarch died.
In the R.C. Festes we are told that the death of Herod took place before
the Passover and after the eclipse of 13th March, so that the date
appears to be very well established.
Eclipse of the Moon, March 13, 3 B.C. (astron.)
From Epoch New Moon March 1797
March Sun-Node Moon’s Anom. Sun’s Anom.
D. H. M. s. °. . s. °. ’. s. °. ’.
1797 16 9 12 9 9 10 2 12 39 8 26 26
½ lun. 14 18 22 0 15 20 6 12 54 0 14 33
———————— ——————— ——————— ———————
31 3 34 9 24 30 8 25 33 9 10 59
———————— ——————— ——————— ———————
1800—) 19 0 32 9 18 59 7 17 19 0 1 31
———————— ——————— ——————— ———————
Equats. 12 3 2 0 5 31 1 8 14 9 9 28
a +4 6 +2 3 1 34
——————— ———————
A+a -1 0 7 34 1 9 48
A-a +2
A¹ +6 37
————————
12 13 46
_i.e._, March 13, at 4.46 a.m. G.M.T.
E. long. 2.22 Jerusalem.
————
4. 8 a.m.
Luke also gives confirmatory evidence, and the account is very
circumstantial. The Evangelist mentions Tiberius Cæsar by name, and also
the Governors of the Provinces, as well as many dates. From him we learn
that the Mother had good reason to be in or near Bethlehem at that time,
because there was a registration or census under Augustus which was
fixed for the First of Tishri, when the Jewish civil year commenced. In
the same month was the feast of Tabernacles, an additional reason for
the journey. Bethlehem was their objective, “because they were of the
house and lineage of David,” who was born at Bethlehem. Now the 1st
Tishri would fall in that year on 19th September. At this time there
would be “shepherds abiding in the fields by night,” that being the hot
season. The 25th December is, of course, an impossible date.
I now take my cue from the Apocalypse: “A woman clothed with the Sun and
the Moon under her feet. And she brought forth the Man-child who should
rule the nations with a rod of iron.”
The Sun in the middle of the sign Virgo is the woman clothed with the
Sun. To be “clothed” with the solar rays the luminary must be in the
middle of the sign and neither just entering it nor just leaving it. The
“Moon under its feet” signifies a full Moon, when the lunar orb was in
the opposite point of the zodiac, namely, the middle of Pisces. “A rod
of iron” indicates that the Man-child was born under the planet Mars,
_i. e._ under the rising of the sign ascribed to the government of that
planet. We have to construct a horoscope which, while in actual accord
with astronomical facts, exhibits these features.
We have already seen that the full Moon of March fell on the 13th, and
if to this we add the values for six lunations, we shall have the full
Moon of September in the year 4 B.C., thus—
D. H. M. s. °. . s. °. ’. s. °. ’.
March 12 3 2 0 5 31 1 8 14 9 9 28
6 luns. 177 4 24 6 4 1 5 4 54 5 24 38
———————— ——————— —————— ———————
189 7 26 6 9 32 6 13 8 3 4 6
2 4 -1 35 Sun’s
Anomaly.
——————— ———————
A+a -1 6 11 36 6 11 33
A-A +2 Sun from Moon’s
A’ -1 50 Node. Anomaly.
————————
189 5 37
or Sept. 5, at 5.37 p.m. G.M.T.
This is equal to 7.58 p.m. at Jerusalem, and the position of the Sun
informs us that there was an eclipse of the Moon of about 4½ digits. The
Sun would be in the middle of Virgo, and hence the woman would be
literally “clothed with the Sun.”
Virgo, being the birth-sign, or that which the Sun occupied, it comes to
be associated symbolically with Bethlehem, or Beit-lachm, _i. e._ the
House of Bread, for Virgo is none other than Ceres, the goddess of the
harvest of cereals, and is associated with Isis by the Egyptians, as Leo
with Osiris and Aries with Horus.
This Horus is the Man-child, ruled by Mars or Vulcan, the Roman god of
fire and iron, the husband of Venus or Aphrodite.
Astrologically Mars is associated with the sign Aries, and under the
rising of this sign the Nativity would take place, and with Aries rising
the Sun would be below the western horizon and in opposition to the
eclipsed Moon, the latter being conjoined with Uranus in Pisces, and the
sign Aries with the constellation Andromeda, and the Star of Bethlehem
in the orient. Saturn and Jupiter were then in close conjunction in the
beginning of the sign Taurus, Mars just entered, into Leo, Mercury
towards the end of that sign, Venus setting as an “evening star” in
Libra 22°, and Neptune in the sign Scorpio.
Here we find Mars, the ruling planet in the sign Leo, ruling Judah,
hence Jesus is referred to as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The
prophecy of Jacob was that Judah should be as a lion crouching down. “A
sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a law-giver (Cepheus) from
between his feet, until Shuleh come.” This Shuleh is the name of the
star Cor Scorpio on whose rising Leo declines from the position of
meridian power. It is in accord with the universal symbology that here
in the sign Scorpio we find the planet Neptune in the 8th division of
the heavens, signifying “betrayal unto death.” The Moon, ruler of the
4th House, conjoined with Uranus in the 12th House, in opposition to the
Sun is an additional indication of an untimely end, and that on account
of secret enmity. The sign Scorpio is associated with the principle of
evil and is called the accursed sign. The tribe of Dan, to whose lot
this division fell, substituted the symbol of its antiscion, Aquila, the
eagle, on that account. Among the disciples it was connected with Judas
Iscariot.
The Pascal full Moon of A.D. 33 fell on 3rd April at 2° 55´ G.M.T., the
Sun being about 6½° from the Node. The time at Jerusalem was 5.16
p.m.—“about the sixth hour.” The Sun was then close to the Star in
Aries, known as Alnatha, _i.e._ “the slain lamb.”
The universality of this incarnation has been frequently commented upon.
The cosmical Man has employed the symbolism of the whole of the solar
system as known to the ancients. Thus we have him referred to as—
Saturn—“A man of sorrows.”
Jupiter—“The Sun of Righteousness,” and a “priest after the order of
Melchizedek,” _i. e._ the King of Righteousness.
Mars—The sword bearer, “I came not to bring peace but a sword.”
Sun—“The Day-star from on high.”
Venus—“The Prince of Peace.”
Mercury—“The Word,” “The Messenger.”
Earth—“Son of Man,” _i. e._ Adam—Earth.
Jesus the Prophet and Master of Wisdom is of the order of those “whose
goings forth are from of old.” Some have seen in Him the reincarnation
of the Buddha, whose ethical doctrine is strongly akin to the teachings
of the holy Nazarene.
But there are strong reasons in the astrological scheme here presented,
to warrant all Occultists in accepting the Incarnation in a sense other
than symbolical or mythological. The prophecies and the record agree
with the astronomical facts. Jesus is called especially “the Lamb of
God,” and is born under the rising of the sign Aries. He is called also
the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah,” and Mars, the ruler of the horoscope,
is found in Leo. He is called “the Virgin-born,” and we find the Sun at
the Nativity in the sign of the Virgin. These positions are not
accidental, but are in agreement with the particular state of the
visible heavens at the epoch to which we are impelled by reference to
the facts of the case in conformity with the historical record.
We have, I think, specific evidence of the Incarnation—of what? Of the
Christ, the Logos, the Word. Jesus the man, whose horoscope we have been
tracing, is not to be confounded with the Christ principle investing
that Personality, nor yet with the Spirit of God animating the Christ.
The relationship of these are apparently as Spirit, Soul and Body to one
another, that is—
Spirit = God.
Soul = Christ.
Body = Jesus.
This order seems to be supported by the earliest statements of the
Christian faith. The Master-Soul speaking through the person of Jesus
said: “These things I do not of myself but of the Spirit of God which
dwelleth in me,” and again, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God
and the Spirit of God dwelleth in _you_?” Further, the Master in bidding
farewell to His disciples said, “I go unto my Father and your Father,
unto my God and your God.” It is clear, therefore, in what relations the
incarnate Christ stood to humanity and to God. Other masters have
appeared at various times as manifestations of the Spirit of Truth,
Bodhisattvas as they are called in India, and are seen to be the
founders of schools of religious thought in all parts of the world. They
all answer to the universal paradigm, and consequently we find the same
myths and legends centring in them. Occasionally we get specific record
of the birth of these Great Souls. Thus we know that Confucius
(Kong-fu-tze) was born 550 B.C. on the 27th day of the 10th month, and
died on the 18th day of the 2nd month in the year 477 B.C., at the age
of seventy-three years. The birth of Gautama Sakyamuni is vaguely
indicated as having taken place at the full Moon of Jyestha. So far no
records have been discovered to throw light upon the year of birth, so
that we cannot determine the cosmic relations of this great luminary.
The birth of Sri S’ankarāchārya, however, is specifically indicated in a
stanza of Yidyāranya, where it is said that the Sun, Saturn, Jupiter and
Mars were all in their exaltation signs, that is to say, in Aries,
Libra, Cancer and Capricorn respectively; and in _Kendra_, _i. e._ in
signs that were upon the angles of the horoscope. This is the ideal
horoscope of the successful reformer, and this Confucius of India, who
began his crusade at twenty years of age, has left his mark for all time
upon Indian thought and literature.
Wherever we can obtain the time of the incarnation of these Great Souls,
it is seen that either there are some special celestial portents
attending them or the planetary positions are such as to stamp the
horoscope at once as that of an epoch-making birth. The portents
attending the birth of Romulus, as recited by Dionysius, are no less
striking than those which signalized his death. Something of this sort
was obviously the belief in Shakespeare’s time concerning the death of
great men—
When beggars die there are no comets seen,
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of Princes.
From this we may conclude that the gods are not democratic, but favour
individualism of the most pronounced type; and if, as would seem to be
the case, the whole trend of evolution is the specialization of faculty,
the elaboration of the unit from the mass, we can readily understand why
specially selected cosmical conditions attend the incarnation of
highly-evolved souls.
CHAPTER VI
COSMIC SYMBOLOGY
A consideration of great astronomical epochs naturally leads to the more
comprehensive subject of Periodicity and the Law of Cycles. Some notes
in my former works have raised special points of inquiry which may very
well be dealt with in the present chapter.
What is known as the Great Year of Plato is one of those occult
statements which seem to point to the existence among Initiates of some
degree of special knowledge in cosmical facts. The observation of the
Precession of the Equinoxes is usually ascribed to Hipparchus, who lived
in the Second Century B.C. By comparison of the star positions in his
day with those of Timocharis a century earlier, it was found that while
maintaining their relative distances from one another and from the
ecliptic, the stars had altered their positions in regard to the
equinox, and a rough calculation showed that they were moving at the
rate of about 50´´ per year. Observations of particular stars, while
confirming the fact of their change of longitude, did not yield uniform
results, and this no doubt was due to the imperfection of the
instruments employed. Thus in regard to the star Spica Virginis we have
the following observations of its longitude at various dates by
independent authorities—
Timocharis, B.C. 293, Spica observed in Virgo, 22° 20´
Hipparchus, ” 145, ” ” ” 24° 20´
Menelaus, A.D. 99, ” ” ” 26° 15´
Ptolemy, ” 139, ” ” ” 26° 30´
Copernicus, ” 1515, ” ” Libra, 17° 14´
” ” 1525, ” ” ” 17° 21´
Naut. Al., ” 1820, ” ” ” 21° 20´
Thus while the fact of Precession is very clearly defined by these
observations, the amount of it is not accurately determined. Later
observations with more perfect means of measurement have enabled the
official astronomers to give a true value to the Precession of the
Equinoxes, which is 50·2453´´ plus O·0002225´´ _t_ where _t_ is the
number of years from 1850. Thus while Hipparchus and Ptolemy found it to
be 1° in 100 years, Albatani found it to be only 1° in 66 years, and
modern observations seem to point the fact that it has been accelerated
up to our own time. By taking a mean of all observations during the last
eighteen centuries, the amount appears to be 50·062´´ and by extending
the observations we can work it down to 50´´ nearly. Now if we divide
the circle of the zodiac, or 360° by 50´´ we shall arrive at the figures
25,920 comprised in the Great Year. There are two theories in existence
as to the cause of this Precession. At the point of time when the Sun
crosses the Equator and comes to the first point of Aries, let the Sun
be in line with a star in the heavens. When the Sun returns to the same
position on the Equator it is found not to be in line with that star but
50´´ in advance of it. The first theory is that this is due to the
change in the obliquity of the ecliptic, or, what is the same thing, in
the inclination of the earth’s axis to the plane of the ecliptic, a
change caused by the action of the Moon and Sun on the equatorial bulge.
The whole effect is taken to be about 50´´ as said, and of this 35´´ is
due to the Moon and 15´´ to the Sun. Various observations have shown
this change of axial inclination to be about 50´´ per century, or one
one-hundredth part of the Precession of the Equinoxes. Of this I shall
have something to say later. For the moment we may consider it as part
of the theory of Precession. The other theory is that Precession is
caused by the proper motion of the Sun through space, whereby it
completes an arc of 50´´ of its vast orbit every year. Then the gradual
increase of the Precession already noted would in terms of this theory
be due to the fact that the earth is getting nearer to the Sun and
consequently the angle of parallax would be greater. Here we may leave
the theorists with their own material and turn to the significance of
this Great Year.
As the whole Year consists of 25,920, during which the Equinoxes precess
an entire circle, there will be a period of 2160 occupied in traversing
one sign, that is to say, a twelfth part of the circle. Now this period
is 72 periods of the planet Saturn, otherwise known as Kronos, the god
of Time. From this again we derive the foundation of the great Yugas or
Ages known to the Indians and referred to in the Vishnu Purana as the
Four Ages, Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga. They
correspond with the four ages known as the Gold, Silver, Copper and Iron
ages. Thus—
72 × 6 equals 432 multiplied by 1000 = 432,000 years.
72 × 12 ” 864 ” ” = 864,000 ”
72 × 18 ” 1296 ” ” = 1,296,000 ”
72 × 24 ” 1780 ” ” = 1,728,000 ”
————-
Total number of years in the Maha-yuga, 4,320,000 years.
At present the Vernal Equinox is at the very end of the constellation
Aquarius, and there was a time when the equinox fell in the middle of
Taurus, and the solstices in the middle of Leo and Aquarius
respectively. Thus we find Varaha Mihira, an Indian astronomer of the
fifth century, stating that in his day the solstices fell in Katakam
(Cancer), and Makaram (Capricornus), but that according to former
shastras they were once in the middle of Aslesha (Leo) and Kumbha
(Aquarius) respectively. This tells us that some two thousand years
before Mihira’s time there were Indian observations which determined the
positions of the solstices among the asterisms, and it cannot have
failed to strike Mihira that there was such a fact as Precession, even
supposing that he had no knowledge of it from the Greek and Egyptian
astronomers. It was about this time, namely 2000 B.C., that the
Babylonian empire was at its height, and accordingly we find the
astronomical facts written in all their records and built into their
architecture. We find it in the Assyrian Bull and in the Egyptian
Sphinx, wherein the four constellations which then held the cardinal
points are found to be compounded. They comprise Taurus the Bull, Leo
the Lion, Aquarius the Man, and Scorpio (Aquila) the Eagle.
In connection with the position of the Vernal Equinox in the
constellations, there are a number of very interesting myths and symbols
which form an essential part of Occultism. We find, for instance, that
at the time when the equinox was in the constellation Taurus the worship
of the Bull as a symbol was closely associated with the Spring
festivals. The Egyptians at this time decked a white Bull with garlands
of flowers and set a golden discus between his horns to represent the
entry of the Sun into the constellation of the Bull. Later, when the
signs of the zodiac became confused with the constellations by the fact
of their coincidence, the same myths and ceremonies were transferred to
the signs, and remained associated with them in the popular use. Hence
the May Day festival, which had its origin with the Sun in the
constellation Taurus at the Vernal Equinox, came to be associated with
the entry of the Sun into the sign Taurus in the month of May.
History brings to us a curious confirmation of the astronomical basis of
the Bull ceremonials. The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is stated
to have taken place in 1491 B.C. Now we have already seen that Mihira,
the Indian astronomer, noted the Vernal Equinox at his time to have been
coincident with the first point of the constellation Mesham (Aries),
and, as his date is fixed by calculation to have been A.D. 536, the
interval would consequently be 1491 plus 536, or 2027 years. And if we
multiply this by 50·1´´, the mean precession per year, we shall have as
result 28° 12´ 35´´, which, added to the first point of Aries, takes us
to the end of that constellation on to the verge of the constellation
Taurus. Hence we conclude that about the time of the Exodus the Equinox
was passing out of Taurus into Aries, and consequently we find the
institution of the Jewish Passover (Pasach), to have been inaugurated by
Moses who was “learned in all the lore and language of the Egyptians”
and who, as the adopted son of the Egyptian Princess, would be initiated
by the Priests of Isis into all the mysteries of the cosmos to which at
that time they had access. When, therefore, the Israelites were found to
be perpetuating the worship of the Golden Calf which they had witnessed
in Egypt, the great Lawgiver admonished them, reduced their idol into an
_aurum potabile_ by his alchemical skill and gave it them to drink.
Thereafter the symbol of the Ram became paramount in Israelitish
worship. The Pasach or transit was none other than that of the Vernal
Equinox from the constellation Taurus into Aries. Occultists have
identified the sign Taurus with the age of the Patriarchs, the age of
husbandry and the ascendancy in Egypt of the Hyksoi or Shepherd Kings.
The age of Aries marks the cycle of militarism, extending to Assyria,
Persia, Egypt and Greece, and culminating in the Roman Empire. Pisces
marks the age of Combination, culminating in the federation of the
Anglo-Saxon peoples. The present-day transit into the constellation
Aquarius is held to inaugurate the dawn of the age of Baptism, the
pouring out of the Spirit of Truth upon all flesh, and the age will
therefore be one of spiritual regeneration.
What are called the Four Fixed Signs of the zodiac, those which enter
into the composition of the Sphinx, are found to be in the forefront of
national symbolism among the ancient Chinese. The four cardinal
constellations are associated with the four colours, black, red, white
and blue. The constellation of the Lion was called by them “the Black
Warrior,” Taurus was called “the Azure Dragon,” Scorpio the “White
Tiger” and Aquarius “the Red Bird.” In the time of Wan Wang there was
built a palace whose four walls were of these colours, and we find them
represented in the heraldry of the Yellow Empire.
In both Egypt and Assyria we find the Bull used as a sacred symbol, even
as it is to this day in India. There is a connection of a subtle nature
between the Bull and the Bee—Apis. In the most ancient Mithraic monument
of Assyria there is shown in bas-relief the figure of a lion out of
whose mouth a bee is coming forth. This at once brings to mind the
riddle of Samson, himself associated with the Solar myth. He is made to
say: “Out of the eater came forth meat, out of the strong came forth
sweetness.” And when they gave him the answer: “What is stronger than a
lion, what is sweeter than honey?” the key to the symbology is supplied
in his answering words: “If you had not ploughed with my oxen (Taurus),
you had not found out my riddle.” Here there is an obvious association
of the symbol of the Bull with that of the Bee, and it is here that we
get the affiliation of the two signs Taurus and Leo. A lion trampling on
a snake and a bull in the folds of a snake are to be found among the
symbolical monuments of the past. The lion-headed man, Abraxas, is a
symbol which links the sign Aquarius to that of Leo, and is of great
antiquity: among the Persians we find this word Abraxas or Abracax
engraved on magical stones. It stands for the 365 days of the year and
the virtues corresponding to them.
But this Taurean key to the riddle of Samson is not merely a cosmical
symbolism. It is also a spiritual one. For the four Fixed Signs of the
zodiac stand for the basic elements or what are known as the Four
States, and these in their turn have analogy with human principles.
Thus—
Leo represents Fire, which stands for SPIRIT.
Aquarius ” Air ” ” MIND.
Scorpio ” Water ” ” SOUL.
Taurus ” Earth ” ” BODY.
In this paradigm we have Spirit above and Matter beneath, linked
together by the Human Soul or Mind in relations with Spirit, and the
Animal Soul in relations with Matter. The riddle of Samson therefore may
be read kabalistically thus: Out of Spirit proceeded Matter, as from
Fire the element of Earth was evolved. To which we may add the rider in
corresponding terms: Save by incarnation you could not attain to
spiritual liberation, which is equivalent to the saying: If you had not
ploughed with my oxen, you had not found out my riddle. Here we have the
process of differentiation covertly referred to by the propounder of the
riddle, showing that Matter is the ultimate expression of Spirit, its
negative pole. It stands for the female principle in Nature, and hence
the tradition involves the woman who betrayed Samson’s secret. Thus in
cosmical symbology some of the great secrets of cosmogenesis and
anthropogenesis lie concealed. The ancient wisdom conceived the two
schemes as involved in the complete arc of life, which holds good for
any planet, and for the system to which it belongs.
The Four states of matter and their corresponding evolutes may be thus
figured—
[Illustration: Figure 3.]
In a subsequent section we may profitably consider the analogy existing
between the cosmical and anthropological evolutions, and the consequent
relations of the human soul with the planet to which it is related in
the scheme of things.
CHAPTER VII
READING THE SYMBOLS
The possibility of a scientific foreknowledge of events has long engaged
the minds of speculative thinkers. In properly informed minds it has
assumed an actuality. The learned writer of _The Story of the Heavens_
has given us a most interesting account of the manner in which the law
of the Tides gradually came to be connected with the Moon, and how at
length some astute observer formulated a scheme based on the Moon’s age,
by which the time of high or low tide could be predicted. That was a
case of scientific foreknowledge. When to the laws of Kepler, which gave
a mathematical construction to the whole system of astronomy, Sir Isaac
Newton contributed his great law of Gravitation, the coherence of the
whole cosmical scheme was manifest. Kepler showed that planetary motions
answered to the functions of the ellipse. Newton demonstrated the
necessity of this cosmical fact. Herschel discovered the proper motion
of the Sun in space and upset the whole scheme. Although answering to
the functions of an ellipse, of which the stationary Sun occupied one of
the foci, the necessary fact immediately assumed the less rigid form of
relative fact, and the ellipse gave place to the cycloidal curve. A
cycloidal curve is that described by any point on the tyre of a
revolving wheel whose axle is progressing at the same time in a straight
line. Let the Sun occupy the position of the axle, and let a planet be
situate at the end of one of the spokes of the wheel upon the tyre. If
the wheel be now moved forward it will be found that the Sun-point is
moving in a straight line parallel to the ground on which the wheel
rests, while the planet-point describes a series of arches. It never
gets farther away from the centre to which it is united. The planet
point, in fact, describes a segment of a circle the chord of which is
equal to the circumference of the wheel. We are under no necessity of
supposing that the Sun’s path in space is rectilinear. On the contrary,
we have presumptive evidence that it is itself answering to the
gravitational pull of some body in the remote confines of space and
pursuing an orbital path.
[Illustration: Figure 4. Diagram showing the Cycloidal curve of a planet
on a vector S´-C, where A, C, B are the tropics. Then the straight line
S-S´´ is equal to 2(S´C) × 3·14159.]
We are here dealing with a rigid vector, which is not the case as
regards the planetary bodies. There is a difference in nature between
the spoke of a wheel that holds the tyre to the hub and the force of
gravity that holds a planet to the Sun.
Then our cycloidal curve falls of itself into the region of relativity.
It would only be true if the Sun’s path in space were rectilinear, not
otherwise.
Now we have got to our point where the elements of our system assume
coherence only by their relativity. This fact is so well established
that scientific prediction is a thing assured. Every year there is
issued a volume of astronomical facts which antedate our calendar by
some three or four years. I refer to the _Nautical Almanac_. In this
volume we shall eventually find not only that the tides have been
correctly predicted, but that every phase of the Moon is accurately
stated, its orbit among the stars clearly defined; the times of its
occulting or hiding the various stars that happen to lie in its course;
the time, place and magnitudes of the various eclipses, and a host of
other phenomena, are seen to have been foretold. This knowledge could
not be otherwise derived than from an intelligent study of an
intelligible cosmos, and a clear definition of the laws governing
cosmical relations. Keep that in mind. We live in a world of relativity.
What we call cosmic laws have only a relative value. The Ptolemaic
system of epicycles was relatively true to the view of the universe
which regarded the Earth as the centre of the system. It answered to all
the phenomena. It had an integrity of its own. When the view-point was
shifted so that the Sun came to be regarded as the centre of the system,
then the epicycle no longer held good. But the elliptical theory of
Kepler was only a relative truth. The planets do not really move in
elliptical orbits. They only appear to do so from the point of view of a
_fixed_ central Sun. The theory, like that of Ptolemy, answers to the
phenomena. The same can be shown in regard to the cycloidal system. In
the astronomical text books it will be found that the Precession of the
Equinoxes is ascribed to the change in the inclination of the earth’s
axis caused by the attraction of the Moon and Sun, but principally of
the Moon, on the equatorial bulge of the earth. The same text books will
tell you that the Precession is found to be increasing, that the Moon is
receding from the earth, and that the attraction of gravitation
decreases as the square of the distance! All of which is a contradiction
in terms.
But since we have arrived at the fact of relativity in regard to what we
are used to calling astronomical “facts,” we may as well face the
situation and accept the universe as symbol. Then all facts concerning
it come to be regarded as merely symbolical, and it is our business to
relate this universal symbology to the things of our consciousness and
the facts of daily life.
Such a system was evolved ages ago by the philosophers of the East, in
China, in India and in Chaldea. They called this system by the name of
Astrology, that is, what we reason or discourse concerning the stars.
They regarded the stars, not as bodies having a fixed quantitative
relationship to the cosmos, but as symbols having a significance in our
consciousness and a value in terms of experience. These values were
doubtless assigned from observation. Human nature remaining very much
the same throughout long ages, the symbolism thus instituted would have
a more or less constant value. That is how we find it. What Saturn
signified two thousand years ago it signifies to-day. It is an open
question whether the planets have a causative relationship in regard to
the affairs of human life. Before we can decide this point we have to
prove our theory of gravitation, making of it an absolute instead of
merely a relative fact. Then, if the planets interact one upon another,
as what is called the “solidarity” of the system seems to require, we
cannot very well escape from the logical consequences of our reasoning,
and planetary action in human life must be a fact beyond controversy.
But the planets may very well have a symbolical value as being part of
the universal inscription, a feature in the great physiognomy. We may
argue from this point of view with perfect safety. It is our business to
study this physiognomy of Nature, to read the symbolism of the heavens
in the same intelligent manner as we read the symbolism of the Earth. It
may be said that the whole art of living consists in what the ancients
called the “end-viewing perception,” seeing the end from the beginning,
which is our modern “intelligent anticipation.” The Genesis account
gives a symbolical value to the Sun, Moon and planets, when it says: Let
them be for signs (Othoth), and this othic value was early discovered by
the ancients and has held to this day.
There are various means of foreknowledge, but all cannot be called
scientific, although they may be the subject of scientific scrutiny.
Inspiration or revelation escape our apprehension. What we know as the
gift of the Spirit does not lend itself to scientific empiricism. Direct
perception, as in clairvoyance or seership, is allied to certain
temperamental peculiarities which can be noted but barely accounted for.
Mediumism and obsession may sometimes be the source of foreknowledge of
events, and these are the legitimate subjects of study by psychologists.
To these we may add the various forms of Automatism when applied to
divination, and Numerology or Kabalism. The latter, while depending on
an universal symbolism and the geometrical relations of thought, is
somewhat distinct in that it lends itself to empirical test. Indeed, it
may be said that all the foregoing methods of foreknowledge, except
direct revelation, may be rendered scientific. That they are not yet so
is due to our defect of knowledge concerning the nature and constitution
of man.
In effect we make final reference to Astrology as the only means of
scientific foreknowledge known to man, and in this we must include the
physical phenomena which have direct relation to astronomical facts as
well as anything we may argue concerning the action of the planets upon
the minds of men and the disposition of human affairs. Astrology lends
itself readily to experimental test. It does not necessarily assume a
causative relationship between man and the various bodies of the solar
system, but it is open to show that there is an actual relationship
between the state of the heavens at the moment of a person’s birth into
the world and the character and experience of that person through life.
There is no need in this place to elaborate the argument. The facts are
sufficiently well attested in the experience of all who have taken the
trouble to apply the ordinary tests. As to character, Ptolemy affirms
that Mercury is the indicator of the rational powers, the Moon of the
natural powers. By the rational he means those that are peculiar to man,
by the natural, those that are common to man and the lower animals. The
distribution of the faculties and powers are thus symbolically located—
[Illustration: Figure 5.]
There is an obvious consent here to the principles of modern Phrenology
as enunciated by Dr. Bernard Hollander. It is seen that all the
intellectual faculties, the perceptives, memories, the comparative and
rational faculty, are under the sway of the planet Mercury. Jupiter
governs the sympathetic faculties, intuitive perception, mirthfulness,
wit, benevolence; Saturn the devotional faculties, wonder, sublimity,
veneration; the Sun has rule over the governing group of
faculties—firmness, conscientiousness, love of approbation, stability;
Venus over the social group—friendship, inhabitiveness, constancy, etc.;
the Moon over the natural faculties—vitativeness, amativeness, love of
offspring, etc.; Mars over the faculties of defence and destruction;
Uranus over the psychic faculties, and Neptune over the spiritual.
In Astrology the Sun is considered as the radiating centre of vital
energy, and has relations with the heart and the solar plexus. The Moon
is the distributor of this energy, and represents the element of
variability, being allied to the sympathetic ganglion, and having
relations with the fluidic body; it also is related to the spleen. The
Sun and Moon acting together, as in the production of the tides, may be
regarded as the generator and distributor of all astral influences.
According to the positions of the planets at the moment of birth in
regard to the luminaries, astrologers draw their conclusions regarding
the constitution and functional powers of the individual. But there is
also another most important local factor which plays a very significant
part in the determination of personal powers.
If we take the vertical circle in the centre of which a birth takes
place, we shall find that this prime vertical is divided into two parts
by the meridian which cuts it at right angles, and again by the horizon
at right angles to the meridian circle. These two great circles
represent sensitive planes which are capable of responding to the astral
vibrations in force at any time, the intensity of such vibrations being
in direct proportion to the nearness of the planets to such planes.
Hence it is found that planets which are exactly rising or setting,
culminating or passing the lower meridian, have a very marked effect
upon the character and destiny of the person so born. These are
empirical observations. They can be tested, but, if tested, they must be
so in strict accord with the canons of Astrology, which ascribe certain
influences to each of the planets.
These great circles again constitute planes of direct and transverse
polarity, and they are found to follow the principle of the segmentation
of the cell. They serve a most important part in the determination of
sex. But this is a long and intricate matter, and cannot be fully
discussed in these pages.
Now, by tracing the effects upon health, character and fortunes produced
(or indicated) by the transits of the planets over these sensitive
planes, astrologers have been able to determine exactly what effects are
due to each, that is to say, what they signify in the course of events.
Ptolemy, Tycho and Kepler, Newton, and others among the great
astronomers, have confirmed the ascriptions of the astrologers from
personal observation, but without in any way contributing to the
solution of the problem of their _modus operandi_, presuming them to
have a causative relationship in human affairs, or of their status in a
scheme of universal symbolism. They have just left the problem where
they found it, while confirming the general claim of astrologers that
there is a possible means of a scientific method of prediction.
Astrologers make no claim to any degree of special inspiration. They
merely argue from like causes to like effects, finding illustration of
the law of periodicity in lunations, transits, eclipses and revolutional
ingresses, which, being connected in experience with a certain
succession of events, are found to produce events of a similar nature
whenever they recur. Astronomy gives us the periodic values of these
several factors, while Astrology supplies an interpretation from
experience. Nothing could be more scientific or more satisfactory. I may
now pass to the citation of some remarkable instances of scientific
prediction.
CHAPTER VIII
ANCIENT AND MODERN EXAMPLES
Among the earliest of the great readers of the Symbolism of the universe
was Thales of Miletus, who during the sixth century B.C. formulated a
true theory of the cause of eclipses, and proved his theory by
predicting the eclipse of May 28, 585 B.C. He founded the Ionic sect of
philosophers, which was distinguished for the profundity of its
speculations, to which his successors and pupils, Anaxagoras,
Anaximander, Anaximenes and Archelaus so largely contributed. Archelaus
became the master of Socrates. Anaxagoras proved himself as skilful as
his Master in the use of the sphere and in astronomical studies, for he
predicted the eclipse of the Sun which was seen at Athens in the first
year of the Peloponnesian War. From Thucydides we learn that it happened
after noon in the summer, and that the Sun assumed a crescent shape and
that some of the stars shone out.
Sir J. Herschel has spoken of this eclipse as total, but this cannot be,
as the Moon’s apparent diameter was less than that of the Sun, so that
even where it was central it would be but annular.
Now of Thales it is recorded that he foresaw by his reading of the
symbols that there would be a great dearth of olives in a certain year,
and he accordingly bought up all the stock of olives that was on the
market and chartered all the stalls, so that when the dearth occurred he
was able to sell at his own price, and thereby made a great sum of
money. This was at Alexandria. He then went to Athens and found the
plague raging there. He at once took the matter in hand and was speedily
successful in purging the city, so that the people erected a statue in
his honour to commemorate the event. Seeing his end approaching and
knowing that it would be due to the fall of some heavy body, if indeed
he himself did not receive a fall, he thought to circumvent the evil by
taking necessary precautions. To this end he retired to a field where he
established himself. Being thus far removed from any buildings and
himself in no danger of falling from a height, he thought himself to be
secure, and looked forward to the time when the evil indications should
have passed by. But it happened that an eagle, having secured a
particularly fine tortoise as prey, carried it aloft and sought for
somewhat whereon to break its shell. Seeing the bald head of the
philosopher and mistaking it for a stone, the eagle promptly let the
tortoise fall. Exit Thales!
The general truth of the Hebrew records has been abundantly established
by archaeologists both in regard to the Babylonian and Egyptian
captivities and the sojourn in the wilderness. Their prophets were men
skilled in the reading of the universal symbolism, and they described
events centuries before they happened. Daniel so correctly portrays the
career of Alexander that the early opponents of the Bible sought to
prove, but without success, that the prophet was describing what was
past instead of predicting what was in the future. However this may be,
we cannot get away from the fact that the ruin and desolation of many
cities which were in a high state of prosperity in Daniel’s time and for
some centuries after, such as Moab, Edom, Amalek, Tyre and Sidon, and
Ammon, were undoubtedly predicted. These cities were to be blotted out.
They were in existence in the first centuries of our era, but now they
no longer exist. The subjugation of Egypt was clearly foretold and has
accordingly happened. Nineveh and Babylon were condemned to desolation
and utter ruin when in the height of their prosperity. They were to be
places of eternal solitude, the haunt of wild beasts, and the palaces a
hiding-place for jackals. Daniel’s famous prophecy of the coming of the
Messiah after Seventy Weeks, _i. e._ 490 years from the time of the
going forth of the order to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. The prophet
clearly indicates the source whence he was able to obtain initial light
upon the basis of prophecy, for he informs us that in the first year of
the reign of Darius (521 B.C.) he “understood by books the numbers of
the years,” etc. Thereafter by prayer and fasting he attained great
illumination, but in all his prophecies, where he makes use of the
symbolism of Nature, he uses the day for a year that is still pursued by
the student of Astrology.
Coming to more modern times of which we have closer record, we find in
Michael Nostradamus, Physician to Henry II of France and Catherine de
Medici, something of the same flame that animated the ancient prophets.
He carried his Astrology to a fine art, and among his predictions are
many that deserve notice. The death of the King in a duel is well
pourtrayed by him in a stanza—
Le lion jeun le vieux surmontera
En champ bellique par singulier duel,
Frappe a cage d’or
Deux plaies d’une, et puis un mort cruel.
Henry II was killed by Montmorency on the 10th July, 1547, while engaged
in a tourney at the nuptials of his sister with the Duke of Savoy. The
lance of the Comte de Montmorency struck the gilded vizor of the King
and penetrated to the eye. A tumour subsequently developed and the King
died of it. This is in agreement with the prophecy of Morin, who in his
horoscope of the King gave his death from a hurt to the head.
Nostradamus is also believed to have foreshadowed the Fire of London in
1666 in the following lines—
Le sang de juste à Londres fera faut
Brusler par feu de vingt et trois les six.
The blood of the just (spilled) in London requires that it be burned by
fire in Sixty-six.
This prophecy is in line with that of the famous astrologer, William
Lilly, who was patronized by King Charles I, and whose works were
collected by Sir Elias Ashmole. Lilly so clearly predicted the Plague
and Fire in two hieroglyphics that he was subsequently arraigned before
Parliament concerning his more intimate knowledge of the source whence
he drew his inspiration. His statement contained in _Christian
Astrology_ is that he founded his prediction on the ingress of the
aphelion of Mars into the sign Virgo, which he affirmed was the ruler of
the Monarchy then reigning.
The Aphelion of Mars was on Jan. 1, 5_s_ 2° 23´ 19´´
1800
From this take for 200 years motion 3° 39´ 40´´
_______________
Position for Jan. 1, A.D. 1600 4_s_ 28° 43´ 39´´
Add motion for 66 years 1° 12´ 29´´
______________
Position for Jan. 1, A.D. 1666 4_s_ 29° 56´ 8´´
Therefore in about four years from the time of the Fire the aphelion of
Mars would enter the sign Virgo. Kepler’s Tables, which were current in
Lilly’s time, show the date of entry to be 1654, and a mean of these
shows the year 1662. Therefore, as the hieroglyphic was published some
years before the events to which it refers, I think there can be no
doubt that Lilly has given us a true explanation of his reasons for the
prediction.
Kepler, the great Astronomer, not only affirmed his belief in the
principles of Astrology, but gave illustration of them by his prediction
of the rise and fall of Wallenstein.
Of Jerome Cardan, the astrologer and mathematician, who compiled the
Centiloquia of Ptolemy, and made important contributions to the study of
Algebra, there is a remarkable story on record concerning his prescience
of his own death and the manner of it.
It appears that from a study of his own horoscope he came to the
conclusion that at a certain time he would be in danger of death by
human violence. He therefore took precautions, and, having stored his
larder with sufficient material to see him through the evil period, he
securely bolted and barred all the doors and windows of the house, and
thus thought himself to be in great security. But it happened that a
band of robbers passing that way saw the house closed up, and, finding
it to be very securely protected, they fancied that some great treasure
might lay hidden away in it. They were not long in breaking into the
place, and, meeting Jerome at the foot of the stairway, brutally
murdered him.
John Dryden, the poet, studied Astrology very carefully, and the
excellence of his faculty may be judged from the precision with which he
predicted the career of his own son Charles. Congreve gives us the
account very circumstantially. It is said that when his lady was about
to give birth to this child, Dryden left his watch upon the table,
instructing the attendants to be very careful in noting the time of the
child’s birth. The event having been carefully timed, Dryden computed
the horoscope and made the usual calculations. He was thus able shortly
to inform his lady that at eight years of age the boy would be in danger
of death by a fall. If he survived this he would be again in danger from
a similar accident at twenty-three years of age, but that should he yet
survive then at thirty-three or thirty-four he would certainly succumb
to the malefic influences which then had indication in the horoscope.
In effect it was seen that when the boy arrived at the age of eight
years he nearly met his death. His father, being intent on going to a
hunt, left the lad at home with a Latin exercise, enjoining him strictly
not to leave the house until his return. As fate would have it, however,
the stag in breaking away from the hounds jumped the wall of Dryden’s
garden, and the boy running out to see what the noise was all about,
came by the wall just as the hounds were scaling it. The wall gave way
under the pressure of the pack, and Charles was buried beneath it. After
a long illness he was restored to comparative health. At twenty-three
years of age, when descending the steps of the Vatican, he fell and
received such a severe blow upon the head as to render him unconscious.
From this, however, he recovered, and might have lived to defeat the
sinister predictions of his father, but that at the age of thirty-three
he was tempted one day to indulge in a swimming feat in the Thames.
Having crossed the river twice in succession he essayed to perform the
feat a third time, but being caught with cramp or heart failure he was
soon seen to be in difficulties; and before assistance could be rendered
he sank and was drowned.
Thus we see that among the readers of the Symbols some were able to
admonish others and to give timely warning of the evils which beset
them, while themselves unable to provide against those troubles of which
they had equal prescience. One is indeed tempted to say with Philip
Bailey, “Free will in man is necessity in play.” But we know that the
reading of the symbols is not the same as the understanding of the law,
and it is quite reasonable to affirm that the ability to foresee and
predict a danger does not carry with it the ability to avert it. That
such power lies to the hand of man we may assume from the fact that
successive rulers of ancient China were able to continue in vigorous
life long past the age at which astrological indications extend. Thus
Fuh Hi reigned 115 years, Shin Nung 140 years, while Hwang Ti lived 110
years and reigned 100. Show Hao lived 100 and reigned for 84, and
several others lived over 100 years each, and according to astrological
principles all the “arcs of direction” would be completed in 112 years.
Thus Fuh Hi began the Patriarchal Dynasty in 2943 B.C., and the
obliquity of the Ecliptic was then 24° 7´, and taking the capital of the
Yellow Empire as in latitude 39° 54´ the product of their tangents will
amount to about 22°, which added to 90° will give 112° or about the same
number of years.
But we are also told that these men understood the Tao-tien, or
universal laws, and were in possession of the efficacious Word, so that
by their knowledge, allied to their great virtues and simplicity of
life, they were enabled to withstand the assaults of cosmical forces and
extend their years beyond the low average to which modern civilization
has brought us. It has been suggested by some controversialists that the
age of Methuselah, which is given as 969 years, should be reckoned as
lunar years, that is to say, as nine hundred and sixty-nine lunations.
But this would yield a period of about 78 years and 120 days merely, and
by the same computation he would be just over 15 years of age when he
begat Lamech, for it is said that he was then 187 years of age, and 187
lunations equal 15 years and 47 days. But this would falsify the whole
of the chronology, which, although not established, is found to be
consistent in itself. Thus both the Chinese and the Hebrews agree as to
the date of the Flood, 2348 B.C. At that time Noah was the Patriarchal
ruler in Chaldea and Yaou and Shun were joint riders in the Yellow
Empire. The curious agreement of the Hebrew and Chinese records is
presumptive evidence of something in the nature of a vast and probably
universal cataclysm. The following is the computation from Genesis—
Age of Adam at the birth of Seth, 130 years.
” Seth ” ” Enos, 105 ”
” Enos ” ” Cainan, 90 ”
” Cainan ” ” Mahalaleel, 70 ”
” Mahalaleel ” ” Jared, 65 ”
” Jared ” ” Enoch, 162 ”
” Enoch ” ” Methuselah, 65 ”
” Methuselah ” ” Lamech, 187 ”
” Lamech ” ” Noah, 182 ”
” Noah at the time of Flood, 600 ”
——
Total of years from Epoch 1656 ”
Beginning of the record, B.C. 4004 ”
——
Date of the Flood, B.C. 2348 ”
It is quite clear, therefore, that if we reduce the natural years of
Methuselah to lunar years the result would be to vitiate the whole of
the chronology, and, moreover, if we did so in regard to the years of
Methuselah we must also do so in regard to others of the Patriarchs.
This would mean that Mahalaleel was born to Cainan when the latter was
just over seven year of age; or that Methuselah was born to Enoch in the
sixth year of his age! If there is any improbability in the record at
all, it is rather in the idea of these patriarchal infants than in that
of the extreme longevity of Methuselah. If a mere tortoise can live for
500 years, why not a human? What the simple life is capable of, we of
this age have no knowledge from experience, but I see no reason why
certain souls, fitted by spiritual selection for the performance of some
great work or the up-holding of a holy tradition, should not incarnate
under cosmical conditions which are also so select as to withstand the
concatenation of natural forces which make for dissolution. At all
events we have here a rather interesting problem for the Eugenists, who,
basing their principles on purely physiological grounds, are confronted
and disarmed on every side by these occult forces in Nature which they
have failed to take into account. While they base all their calculations
on physical heredity, the occultist points silently but impressively to
the fact of psychic tradition, and in support of the occult position we
are able to point to a hundred cases of insanity which can be
specifically predicted from the moment of birth and years before the
symptoms of mental disorder begin to manifest. A theory to have a
working value must include all the facts, and so far as human genetics
are concerned not the least among these facts is that of the cyclic
rebirth of souls and the continual importation of new psychic forces
into the line of physical heredity. The study of Eugenics should begin
in the study of psychology. We know, for instance, that progeny
generated during intoxication will probably turn out epileptic, but that
does not answer the question as to why one soul rather than another
should animate that body. Yet out of a dozen horoscopes an astrologer
will unhesitatingly pick out any one that may happen to belong to a body
thus afflicted. This fact should give us pause to re-examine the
foundations of our system of genetics. The secret of health and
longevity is not to be found on this side of the spiritual equator.
CHAPTER IX
A TYPICAL CASE
The ancient secret records embody a tradition of the going down of
Atlantis into the depths of the sea after the perversion of a race of
humanity whose physical culture, civilization and scientific attainments
eclipsed anything of which we have modern example.
The Hebrew records give us the familiar case of Babel, that achievement
of human arrogance which reached to the gates of the Sun. The great
civilizations of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome have gone the
way of all things temporal. In the modern endeavour to “beat the record”
there is an element of danger which is too lightly regarded by those who
have no knowledge whatsoever of the forces with which they are playing.
These are not of the air and wave alone but of the whole universe, as
well spiritual as physical. Let us look at the matter in the light of a
modern example.
I have no record as to when the _Titanic_ was keeled, but there is
certain knowledge that it was launched on the 31st of May, 1911 at
Belfast, the time being Greenwich Mean Time, 12.42 p.m. The ship was
well-named, not only because it was the greatest embodiment of human
engineering and ship-building skill, a veritable monster of a modern
Frankenstein, but also because it was the embodiment of human pride and
daring. The Titans, it will be remembered, were a race of giants, sons
of Heaven and Earth, who were hurled into the abyss for daring to make
war against Zeus. It is the Greek story of the submersion of Atlantis.
Ambitious in design, colossal in form, and inclusive of the very latest
of modern luxury, this floating city took the water for the first time
at a moment when the whole amphitheatre of heaven was witness of
indications of impending disaster. I do not pretend to know what
particular Master of Wisdom it was who set Argo Navis in the heavens as
a symbol of all that maritime prowess with which the world has grown
wonderful. I only know that in whatsoever horoscope a malefic planet
occupies that particular part of the heavens it stands for a symbol of
disaster by navigation. It is associated with Cancer. Neither do I know
who it was gave to Neptune the traditional rule of the ocean, but yet I
find it a prominent and malefic factor in all significations of
shipwreck.
Now we have said that the time of the launching of the _Titanic_ was
effected under portents of disaster. Let us go more closely into the
particulars. At the moment of launching the 19th degree of the sign
Virgo was rising at Belfast with the planet Mars just below the eastern
horizon. The ruler of the horoscope was Mercury, and we find it in the
9th division of the heavens, that part which has significance of
voyages, and in conjunction with Saturn, the significator of delays,
obstacles, obstructions and collapse. Both Saturn and Mercury were
opposed by Jupiter. The Moon was in the “ocean” sign, Cancer going to
the opposition of Uranus, the symbol of sudden catastrophe.
The most striking point is the ruler of the horoscope, Mercury, in the
House of Voyages conjoined with the malefic planet Saturn.
The _Titanic_ set out for Southampton to take up its first commission on
the 2nd of April, 1912, at 9.20 a.m.
At this time Cancer was rising, and the Moon was therefore ruler of the
horoscope. It is found in opposition to the Sun and in square aspect to
Neptune in Cancer just below the horizon. Here again we have the ruler
of the horoscope just separating from eclipse and applying to an evil
aspect with Neptune, the traditional ruler of the ocean.
The leviathan left Southampton on its maiden voyage at noon of the 10th
of April, 1912. At this time we find the sign Leo rising, and the Sun,
ruler of the horoscope, in quadrature to Neptune in the 12th House, an
indication of hidden dangers.
Thus in every case we find the ruler of the horoscope to be
significantly and severely afflicted. But that which was specifically
indicated as regards the _Titanic_ was generally indicated by the
position of Neptune in the 8th House (death) of the Vernal Ingress
preceding the event, whereat the Sun was in quadrature to Neptune, and
this indication was repeated in the horoscope for the sailing from
Southampton on the 10th of April.
[Illustration: Figure 6.]
Among many notable passengers on board the fated vessel, none was better
known or more generally respected than Mr. W. T. Stead. He was born,
according to his own statement, on the 5th of July, 1849, “before
breakfast.” The horoscope which fits the events of his life is one set
for that date at 7 a.m., and the above is the figure of the heavens at
that time.
Here again we find the Sun, ruler of the horoscope, in the significant
sign Cancer afflicted by the opposition of the Moon and the quadrature
of Saturn, the latter malefic being in the 9th House, which has already
been defined as that of “voyages.” The fateful planet Neptune holds the
8th House in the watery sign Pisces.
The indications of a violent and unnatural death are clearly defined by
Ptolemy, who informs us that when both the luminaries are afflicted by
the same malefic, or when each luminary is separately afflicted, there
being no assistance from the benefic planets (Venus and Jupiter) the
native will die an unnatural death. Here we find both the Sun and Moon
in quadrature to Saturn in the 9th House, showing as clearly as anything
can be, that there would be danger of death in a foreign land or while
on a voyage, and that by violence. I have no doubt at all that Mr. Stead
met his death through a blow upon the head, as there are evident signs
of collision, but none of suffocation.
The horoscope is in other ways significant of the main facts of the life
of the great journalist. Five planets in cardinal signs with Mars in the
Mid-heaven testify to the tireless energy, executive ability, courage
and daring for which he was remarkable. This elevated position of the
planet Mars always denotes impulse and impetuosity, and it is similarly
placed in the horoscope of Kaiser Wilhelm, in whom Mr. Stead would
doubtless have found a congenial spirit. It gives that “scorn of
consequence” which attaches to the enthusiast in every phase of life,
and tends greatly to produce the pioneer spirit. With Gladstone, Mr.
Stead shared the view that “psychical research is by far the most
important work that is being done in the world,” but no astrologer would
have recommended him to undertake it, for with Saturn in the 9th
division of the heavens afflicting the luminaries he could hardly hope
for success in that direction, and there is little doubt that he was
very grossly deceived by some in whom he placed great reliance in this
matter. The trine of Neptune to Mercury would, however, impel him to
such subjects. _Borderland_ was not a financial success, nor was it much
more than a ragbag of fragmentary and ill-assorted evidence. Julia’s
Bureau was not a success either from a financial or evidential point of
view. No message of warning came through from “Julia” to save him from
his death voyage. Let us accept the suggestion that has been offered,
namely, that he was wanted elsewhere. It was still open to those who
were aware of the fact to say so, and thus contribute one of the most
striking pieces of evidence for the operation in mundane life of
extraneous intelligences, which would have gone further to uphold the
claims of those who believe in spirit-guidance than all the literature
Mr. Stead lavished on the subject.
At the time of the disaster we find the following arcs of direction
measured in the prime vertical to be in operation—
Moon opposition Uranus,
Sun conjunction Uranus,
Moon parallel Mars,
while the Moon by secondary direction, that is, accounting one day after
birth for each year of life and two hours for every month, was in 26° of
Aries, exactly the longitude of the catastrophic planet Uranus at the
time of birth!
Compare this horoscope with that of the ill-fated Captain of the
_Titanic_. According to the local record Captain Smith was born at
Handley, Staffs., on the 27th of January, 1850. Here again we find the
luminaries in opposition to one another as in the horoscope of Mr.
Stead, and both are afflicted by the aspect of Mars. The time of birth
was probably at about five o’clock in the afternoon, when the planet
Neptune would be in the 8th House and Saturn and Uranus in the 9th
division of the heavens. Sixty-two days after birth the planet Uranus
had reached the Mid-heaven of the horoscope, and on the day of the
disaster Mercury was in transit over the same point, while the great
symbol of death and destruction, an eclipse of the Sun, fell in 27° of
Aries on the 17th of April, close to the Mid-heaven of this horoscope
and on that of Mr. Stead’s horoscope. Further, the Moon at the birth of
Captain Smith was in the 4th degree of Leo and on the day of the
disaster Uranus was transiting the exact opposition in Aquarius 4.
Moreover, at the time of the sailing of the _Titanic_ from Belfast to
undertake her ill-fated maiden voyage, the 5th degree of Cancer was
rising, and on the day of the disaster Mars had reached this exact
degree of the zodiac, being in 4° 56´ of Cancer at Noon.
No case that could be submitted more fully and completely illustrates
the folly of disregarding the symbolism of the heavens, or more forcibly
accentuates the need of human conspiracy in regard to cosmical agencies.
Man has harnessed some of the most potent forces of Nature and has
constrained them to his service, but for some as yet undiscovered reason
he prefers to remain in ignorance of the laws which relate him to his
greater cosmical environment. We have imagined that by controlling these
natural forces we have asserted our mastery over destiny. The heavens
from out the immeasurable depths of space are the silent witnesses of
our folly and arrogance. The same stars that fought against Sisera fight
ever against the man who is ignorant of the laws of the universe which
condition him. We are fated to the extent that we are ignorant of those
laws, and culpable to the degree that we disregard those that we know.
The sea, the vessels that are afloat upon it and all their human
freight, are as nearly touched and as surely disposed by interplanetary
action and cosmical forces as are the molecules of air and water that
constitute the winds and waves. Never a ship was keeled or launched but
into it were compounded the elements that respond to the great
heart-beat of Nature. That man should use all his faculties to the
greatest possible advantage to himself and through himself to the race
at large, that he should put forth all his powers in the effort to
master the forces which appear to be in conflict with him, would appear
to be his supreme duty and his highest guerdon. But there is a more
convenient and less dangerous way. Instead of defying the forces of
Nature he can make use of them, instead, of ignoring the laws of Nature
he can adapt himself to them. This is called the covert agreement. It is
the ancient wisdom, the simple way, and those who anciently observed it
found it to be effectual for good. Those ancient Britains who thought
Canute to be so great that he could set back the ocean tides were of
that order of Titans who would measure their strength with the Almighty.
We, who have understood the laws governing the tides, have gained a
mastery over them by the simple means of adaptation. In this instance we
have adapted ourselves to Nature. It is possible to extend the process
to include the election of times and seasons for any purpose whatsoever.
Solomon, who is regarded by the average man as an inconsequent babbler
of effete doctrine, affirmed that there is a time for every purpose
under the heavens. A closer study of this doctrine of elections—as the
proper choice of time for specific purposes is called in Astrology—would
lead men to take a conscious part in the conspiracy of well-doing, by
the adjustment of action to purpose and of both to astral and cosmical
conditions. This would be infinitely better than “taking one’s chance,”
and certainly more in conformity with the spirit of true religion. But
before we can do this we shall have to instruct ourselves more generally
in the symbolism of the universe and the reading of those symbols which
from the beginning were set and appointed to us for “signs and for
seasons, for days and for years.”
A knowledge of cosmical symbolism and of the facts of planetary
interaction is that to which science will inevitably be compelled, and
which sooner or later it will recognize as essential to a true concept
of the relations of man to his greater environment. And when this system
of Anthrocosmology shall have been established, as assuredly it will be,
then will humanity perceive in all humility that God, and not Britannia,
rules the waves, and that the planets are his agents.
CHAPTER X
THE LAW OF CYCLES
It has already been shown that from most ancient times the Law of
Periodicity was known and expounded. We find reference to it in the
Vishnu Puràna which deals with the great periods of cosmic manifestation
and activity, called Manvantaras, and the corresponding periods of
obscuration and quiescence known as Pralayas. These are shown to have an
astronomical basis and to have been directly related (_a_) to the period
of Precession known as the Great Year of Plato, and (_b_) to the
inclination of the Earth’s axis to the plane of the Ecliptic. For
whereas the Precession, from whatever source arising, is found to be
approximately 50´´ per year, the diminution of the Earth’s axial
inclination is found to be 50´´ per century. Thus the Precessional Year
is 25,920 years, and the other 2,592,000 years in extent.
Now if we multiply this latter period by ten and divide the product by
six, we shall have the dividend 4,320,000, which we have already
identified as the value in years of the Maha-yuga or Great Age. This
means that the entire revolution of the Earth’s axis occupies a period
which is ten-sixths of the whole period of cosmic activity known as the
Manvantara. Hence we have the series 1, 2, 3, 4 equals 10, and the
series 6, 12, 18, 24 equals 60, which we have already shown to be the
basis of the Yugas composing the Maha-yuga. This value of 60 has
therefore a cosmical significance.[1] It is geometrically derived from
the interlacing of two equilateral triangles, commonly known as the Seal
of Solomon, and esoterically invested with the symbolical value of the
universe in manifestation of Spirit (male, positive) and Matter (female,
negative), and also the Out-breathing and In-breathing of the Great
Breath of Life. Water crystallizes at an angle of 60°, and the ancient
teaching of Pythagoras, Plato, Thales and other Initiates, was that
Water was the basic element of Nature. By the elements they did not
understand the chemical elements known to modern Chemistry, but the Four
states of Matter, the Igneous, Gaseous, Fluidic and Mineral, which have
their correspondences in the Four Principles of the human constitution,
Spirit, Mind, Soul and Body, of which the first two are formless or
immaterial, and the last two formative or material. Thus we have the
higher trial of Intelligence, Life and Substance, with their multiplex
manifestations in the lower triad of Consciousness, Force and Matter.
For there is only One Intelligence, One Life and One Substance, and it
is with the manifestations of these in the lower world that Science is
concerned. Wisdom has no other concern than to discern the Unity in
Diversity and to cognize all in terms of the One Being.
[Illustration: Figure 7.]
Another very interesting cosmical cycle is that of the Eclipse Period.
The initial value of this is 18 years 11 days 7 hours 42 mins. 35 secs.,
being the mean interval between an eclipse and its recurrence. In three
cycles the eclipse will have moved through one sign of the zodiac, and
in twelve times three or thirty-six cycles it will have moved through
the entire zodiac and come again to the place of the first occurrence.
Then 18 × 3 × 12 or 648 years, to which add one for the precessional
increment and obtain 649 years as the Eclipse Cycle, after which the
phenomena recur in the same part of the zodiac.
Thus I find an eclipse of the Sun in June, A.D. 1277, and the same
eclipse in June, A.D. 1926, another in June 1295, which recurs in June
1944.
We can hardly escape the inevitable harmony of celestial motions when we
note that the eclipse which recurs every eighteen years, makes
seventy-two appearances during the entire period that it takes to work
across the Earth’s disc from its first appearance in the Arctic Circle
to its disappearance in the Antarctic. Here we have four times 18 equals
72, and 72 times 18 are 1296 years. Thus, again, we have the cyclic
period of 1296 years, which we have already noted in connection with
cosmical symbolism. It is twice the eclipse cycle of 648 years, after
which the eclipses return to the same part of the zodiac. It has not yet
been shown that there is any necessary connection between these two
periods, and it is therefore the more remarkable. The average of
Precession being 1° in seventy-two years, it is, of course, quite easy
to link the eclipse period with the Great Year.
Here, then, we have a veritable Phœnix which renews itself after
incineration in Heliopolis (the City of the Sun), and although Eclipses
may have no cosmical significance, they may very well have a terrestrial
one, both causative and symbolical. Take, for instance, the abscission
of the Sun’s rays which takes place at the time of a solar eclipse. This
affects only a small area of the Earth’s surface, but quite sufficient
to produce very remarkable results when, to the known tidal influence of
the luminaries we add the violent and sudden change in the electrostatic
condition of the atmosphere. Thus at the solar eclipse of 17th April,
1912, I registered a fall of 27° of temperature in the space of one hour
in London. Here the eclipse was not at its maximum, and in no place was
it total but merely annular. If the effects are due to the combined
action of the Sun and Moon, the ratio of influence being in regard to
the Sun 30 per cent., and to the Moon 70 per cent. roughly, then it may
reasonably be supposed that when the Moon is simultaneously in perigee,
that is, nearest to the Earth in its orbit, at the time of an eclipse,
the effects should be proportionately greater, and also that they should
be experienced in that locality which coincides with the zenith position
of the luminaries at conjunction.
Such effects can be traced in the occurrence of great earthquake
disturbances, due, no doubt, to an effort of nature to restore the
balance of magnetic action, the local fall of temperature being met by
an uprush of electrical energy from the interior of the globe. Similar
effects are registered in the human body by the local application of
ice, the blood being finally determined to the affected part. And if the
whole Earth can thus be disturbed by eclipse influence, so also must men
be, since they are compounded of elements which are drawn from the
Earth. Not only the waters, but also all plant- and animal-life, as well
as the solid mass of the Earth itself, respond to this influence of the
luminaries acting in combination, and there is little doubt that there
is a tidal effect in the atmosphere which proceeds from the same cause,
and which affects the course of the weather.
The fact that volcanic eruptions and earthquakes do not follow all
eclipses, merely informs us that they do not always coincide with a
volcanic area, but whenever they do so there are marked disturbances
directly attributable to the action of the luminaries, and similarly the
effects upon the weather will vary in accordance with local conditions,
such as latitude, elevation, mean saturation point of the air, etc.
Those who have failed to trace the connection between lunations and the
weather, have left out of consideration the effects due to (_a_) the
time of the conjunction, and (_b_) the Moon’s position in its orbit at
the time. The Metonic Cycle of 6940 days or nineteen years, is another
cycle of considerable value, which informs us what effects are due to
the combined influence of the Sun and Moon irrespective of their
ecliptic conjunction. The lunations occur in the same degree of the
zodiac every nineteen years. Any effects that may be due to their
influence can best be traced by observing how they fall in regard to the
positions of the planets at an epoch such as the moment of a person’s
birth. For if it is found that the New Moon falling on the place of
Saturn in a horoscope of birth is followed by certain privations in
agreement with the nature of the planet Saturn, and that similar effects
are found to occur nineteen years afterwards, then the influence of the
lunation as a factor in human life is presumably established. And if to
Saturn we add the other planets, and also if we add the other aspects,
such as the opposition, trine, quadrature and sextile, we shall be able
to institute a series of observations which depend for their
significance on the assumed value (causative or symbolic) of the
luminaries. Such effects are easily traceable, and serve to establish
the significance of this cycle.
The cycle of Jupiter which is taken at sixty years, assumes a
significance only when we have proved the fact of interplanetary action.
This fact has been established both astronomically and astrologically.
The planet Jupiter takes twelve years to perform a revolution in the
zodiac, and five times twelve is sixty years. But Saturn has a period of
thirty years, and twice this is also sixty years. Consequently, if the
planets Saturn and Jupiter are acting together from the same part of the
heavens at a given date, they will be together again in the same part of
the heavens at the end of sixty years, with a small variation due to the
actual difference of their periods. This fact has proved of astronomical
value, inasmuch as it has enabled us to estimate the disturbance due to
their mutual action in the orbits of both planets. The period at which
these perturbations would recur has been estimated at 920 years by
Laplace, who discovered it. These perturbations form what are called the
Great Equations of the planets Saturn and Jupiter, when calculation is
made of their longitudes in orbit. It may be useful to note that at the
maximum the disturbance of Saturn due to Jupiter’s action is 49´, and
that of Jupiter due to Saturn’s action is 21´. As the discovery was not
made until 1786, it will naturally follow that all calculations made
from Saturn’s position prior to the eighteenth century, when it was
incorporated as a factor in the _Nautical Almanac_, must be to some
extent at fault. As cosmic symbols these planets, Saturn and Jupiter,
have great significance, and they were highly esteemed in the
astrological thought of the ancients.
Jupiter, as the most bulky of all the planets in the system, early
claimed attention and took a foremost place in the pantheon. We find him
as Jupiter-Ammon, as the Deva-pitar, Deo-pitar, and Jupiter of the
Indian and Roman theogonies. He is found in the Sanskrit writings as
Guru, the spiritual father or God-father, as the name Deo-pitar
signifies, and also as Brihaspati, _i. e._ the Lord of Increase or
Expansion. Similarly, Saturn was S’iva, the Destroyer, whose reputation
for devouring his own offspring is referred to in the classical
mythology of the Greeks. Thus Jupiter is Brahma, the Creator, and Saturn
is S’iva, the Destroyer. Such a significance they are found to hold in
the concept of modern astrologers. When, therefore, Jupiter is found in
that part of the heavens which is empirically determined to have rule
over the destinies of a country or people, there is found to be a period
of expansion and prosperity; but when Saturn is thus placed the country
suffers privations and losses. Let us look at some of these instances,
as they have a direct bearing on the practical side of our occult
studies, and give to the Law of Cycles an economic value.
I have before me an Investment Handbook, giving the dates of the highest
and lowest records of the various prices of Stocks during the last
fifteen years. The figures that I shall quote are taken directly from
this book, and I need hardly assure the reader that the editors have no
associations with Astrology.
From any astrological book dealing with the influence of the zodiac
published prior to the year at which our observations commence, the
reader may extract the following information: Scorpio rules Brazil,
Sagittarius rules Spain, Capricornus rules India, Aquarius rules Russia,
Pisces rules Portugal, Aries rules England, Taurus rules Ireland, etc.
In 1895-6-7 the planet Saturn was in the sign Scorpio, and in 1898
Brazilian Stocks were at the lowest price between 1895 and 1910. In 1898
Saturn was in Sagittarius, and Spanish Fours were then at the lowest
between 1895 and 1910, a period of fifteen years. In 1901 Saturn was in
the sign Capricornus, but Jupiter also was there, and in effect, we do
not find any depreciation of Stocks, but the reverse so far as India was
concerned. In 1903-4-5 Saturn was in Aquarius, and in 1906 Russian 4%
and 5% Stocks were at their lowest during the period under
consideration. During 1906-7-8 Saturn was in Pisces, and in the
following year Portuguese Stocks touched the lowest during a period of
fifteen years.
During 1909-10 Saturn was in the sign Aries, and in 1910 Consols as well
as Annuities were at their lowest for a period of fifteen years. During
1911-12 Saturn was in the sign Taurus, and Irish Land Stock is now
(1912) lower than it has been for the past seventeen years.
These facts speak for themselves, and they show that Saturn is the cause
of depression, destruction of credit and national prosperity, and loss.
The cyclic law and that of periodicity are practically identical. For
what we trace as the periodicity of phenomena, can be shown to bear a
direct relation to planetary cycles. Take, for instance, the periodicity
of Sun-spots. The years of maximum frequency noted have led to the
discovery of a period of 11 years and 40 days. Many years ago I
published a statement to the effect that the rents in the luminous
envelope or photosphere of the Sun would be found to coincide with the
occursions of the planets Mars and Jupiter. Since then I have made
further research, and I find that the mean of the two periods of these
planets is 11 years and 203 days, which is in excess of the observed
period of maximum solar activity by 163 days; but by taking the periods
of Mars, Venus and the Earth into account, we have a period of 11 years
40½ days, which is exactly what we want. The Sun-spot period of 11·11
years is, therefore, attributable to the combined action of the planets
Venus, the Earth and Mars, the mean of whose cycles yields a period so
exactly in conformity with it. Probably the introduction of Jupiter and
Saturn to the equation would yield a climacteric every fifth period. It
is, however, of extreme interest to note that the years of the maximum
Sun-spot appearance, 1871, 1882, 1904, 1916, 1927, are found to be
associated with important configurations of the major planets: 1871,
Saturn opposition Jupiter; 1882, Saturn conjunct Neptune; 1904, Jupiter
opposition Uranus; 1916, Saturn conjunct Neptune; 1927, Jupiter conjunct
Uranus. From this we might conclude that the luminous envelope of the
Sun is acted upon by the planetary bodies when they are on the same
solar meridian. An ingenious student of planetary influence, Prof.
Corrigan, has suggested that by regarding the solar disc as a plane, and
setting off the orbits of the planets from the centre, the parallels of
solar latitude tangent to the orbits of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, are
those along which the greatest Sun-spot activity is shown. Thus he shows
that at the latitude of 5° North and South of the Sun’s equator, spots
are produced by the action of the planet Mercury on the Sun: at latitude
6° those produced by Venus’s action are seen; at 7° those due to the
action of the Earth and its satellite; at 13° those frequent spots due
to Mars; and at 48° those due to Saturn; while the band corresponding to
the orbit of Jupiter is attended by the largest and most frequent
display of Sunspots. Hence the Professor is quite in agreement with my
original statement that Sun-spots are principally caused by Mars and
Jupiter. This certainly upholds the original observation that Sunspots
are connected with the occursions of the planets Jupiter and Mars, but
it would extend the period to 11 years and 203 days. The whole subject
is, however, in its infancy.
The cycle of 265 years arising out of the periodic conjunctions of
Saturn and Mars, and marking epochs of great political disturbance in
those areas of the world associated with the signs of the zodiac wherein
the conjunctions occur, has already received treatment in my former
works, so that nothing need be added in this place. For the benefit of
those who have not hitherto touched the subject, however, I may give a
single instance. Saturn and Mars form their conjunction every two years,
during which period they move forward one sign, the whole circle
embracing about 29½ years, so that they complete nine cycles and come to
a conjunction in the same part of the zodiac about the same time of the
year after a period of 265 years. The last conjunction of Saturn in
Aries was in 1910, and 265 years before this date takes us back to the
year 1645, when the insurrection under Cromwell took place, and 265
years earlier, in 1380, we have the insurrection under Wat Tyler.
Similar effects can be traced in the history of other countries from the
same cause.
The old astrologers gave certain periods as the Least Years of the
planets, the Sun and Moon. In the scheme of Ptolemy, which differs in
some respects from this enumeration, most of these periods are
represented and evidently have reference to the orbital periods of the
bodies referred to. Thus the Moon has a period of 4 years, Mercury 10
years, Venus 8 years, Mars 15 years, Sun 19 years, Jupiter 12 years,
Saturn 30 years, following upon which modern astrologers have added
Uranus 84 years, and Neptune 164 years. But by taking the periods of the
ancient planets only it is found that they are all contained in a period
of 120 years, and that the periods of those planets which rule opposite
signs, as Moon and Saturn, Mars and Venus, Jupiter and Mercury, when
multiplied together produce 120, which is one-third of the degrees in a
circle, and is the basis of the Vims’ottaradasa periods of the Hindu
system, about which something may be said in a subsequent section of
this work.
Footnote 1:
The value 10 × 60 as here derived = 600, which is the Messianic or
Naronic cycle, called Naros.
CHAPTER XI
THE TIME FACTOR IN KABALISM
Every system of Kabalism employs numbers in a symbolical sense, and
attributes to them a significance as if they were causative factors.
This is legitimate from the point of view of a philosophy that regards
the Universe as Symbol. In such a scheme every cosmical factor assumes a
symbolical value, according to its ratio in the sum of things, and each
of the planets may thus be symbolized either as deities invested with
attributes and virtues of a distinctly human nature, or yet may be
expressed in terms of numerical values, quantities, colours, forms, and
sounds.
But in all such systems the symbolism employed must finally submit to a
mathematical expression, which, indeed, is the test of its truth, for as
has been very wisely said, we have reason to suspect all statements of
fact which are not capable of a mathematical expression. In this
connection the Time factor becomes of the highest importance in
Kabalism, and since the matter lies in the region of debate, something
may be said in this place that may prove of value.
In my Kabala of Numbers and elsewhere I have repeatedly pointed out the
fallacy of those systems which ignore the cosmic factors, which alone
give symbolism its coherence. Nobody can reasonably ascribe any specific
sound or numerical value to a planet, or any influence to any part of
the heavens or to any period of time without having regard to some
cosmical factor as the basis of the system to which these planetary or
time significations belong.
Yet I find that such systems are all too prevalent, and that in some
glaring instances they assume a factor as the basis of the system, and
straightway set about to argue it out of existence. Thus it is stated in
one small manual intended for the use of those studying the mysteries of
sound and number, that it is “essential to have _an accurate knowledge
of the time of the rising of the sun_ at places on particular days,” and
the “simple method” of doing this, according to its author, is to “take
the sunrise from any reliable almanac ... and add to it for western
longitude at the rate of four minutes per degree, and subtract for
eastern longitude at the same rate, and _you have the mean local time of
sunrise_.”
How far this is from the truth any tyro in astronomy will readily
perceive. Yet when the error was pointed out to this would-be exponent
of the “Mysteries,” instead of being gratefully accepted as a piece of
good information which could be utilized in future publications, the
unlucky critic was most thoroughly abused, and the matter being finally
referred to the authorities at the Greenwich Observatory, it was clearly
shown that the critic was right and the author of the “simple method”
wrong in every case. The repetition of these errors in subsequent
publications leaves one with no alternative but to conclude that either
the intricacies of apparent local sunrise are beyond him, or that their
introduction into his simple method of expounding the mysteries would
undermine his market by rendering the truth too difficult for popular
consumption.
Having already given the correct method of finding the local sunrise by
reference to ascensional differences, a process which involves nothing
more complex than adding two logarithms together, (tang. of Sun’s
declination, × tang. of the latitude of place), from which we derive the
ascensional difference (sine log.), and comparing the result with that
due to the latitude of Greenwich. I need not waste space on the matter
in these pages. But it may be pointed out for the benefit of those who
wish to base their calculations of the planetary periods and sub-periods
on the correct value of apparent sunrise, that the equation of time at
the rate of four minutes for every degree applies only to meridian
transit in Right Ascension, and has no connection with the equation by
ascensional difference due to the latitude of the place. In fact, to
find local sunrise it is absolutely necessary to take notice of “seasons
and latitudes of places,” and so long as these are ignored so long will
the mysteries of sound and number which depend on calculations made from
time of sunrise remain “hidden mysteries” in fact as well as name.
By way of illustrating the inaccuracy and futility of the “simple
method” of finding sunrise, I may take an illustration that is actually
given by its inventor.
“For instance, the sun rises at Greenwich at 4.50 on the 23rd April,
1912, and we want to know the local sunrise at Epsom. All we have to do
is to add the equivalent of 0° 17´ (which is nearly one fourth of a
degree), 1 minute to that amount. The local sunrise at Epsom is,
therefore, 4.51,” which for all practical purposes it is, since Epsom is
on the same, or approximate, latitude as Greenwich. But when it is
further said that the local time of sunrise is 4.48 at Newmarket on the
same day, in the name of holy Science we must demur.
The sun’s declination at 4.50 on April 23rd is 12° 24´, which, referred
to the latitude of Greenwich, gives an ascensional difference of 1 hr. 4
min. 12 sec., and to the latitude of Newmarket 1 hr. 6 min. 0 sec., the
difference of these being 1 min. 48 sec., so that if the two places were
on the same meridian the sun would rise on Newmarket at this time of the
year nearly two minutes before it rises on Greenwich. But Newmarket is
0° 24´ east of Greenwich, and therefore it would further advance the
time by 1 min. 36 sec., and taking the two factors into account we have
for latitude and longitude combined 3 min. 24 sec. by which the sun
rises on April 23rd sooner than at Greenwich, the mean time being some
seconds before 4.47 a.m. Had a more northerly place been taken it could
be shown that the discrepancy is proportionately greater, and in fact at
the summer solstice the sun rises on Liverpool only 1 minute after it
rises on Greenwich, although the former place is 11 min. 52 sec. west
longitude, or 2° 58´, while at York it actually rises before it does at
Greenwich.
Therefore I would urge that a kabalism that has reference to the cosmic
factor of the sun’s rising would be more effectually serviceable than it
is known to be if regard were had to the truth. A system that is based
on error cannot be true in its structure, and this fact will account for
the constant falling of bricks upon the hapless heads of those who enter
the portals of this pseudo-scientific structure, where everything is at
sixes and sevens, making unlucky thirteens, and where you have
difficulty in distinguishing Hermes from Aphrodite, on account of their
exchange of clothes.
Similarly, it is no use instituting a system of Kabalism that depends on
the position of the sun at the birth of a person, and forthwith giving
illustration of the system by means of births that are recorded in Old
Style, which involves a difference of ten degrees in the sun’s
longitude. Yet I have seen this done by sober-minded Kabalists, and
illustrations of it exist in current works on the subject of Numerology.
A system, of whatever nature, must be consistent in itself and must
depend for its integrity upon a cosmical factor, otherwise it can only
be described as a conglomerate of detached observations, which, being
brought together cannot by any chance lay claim to the title of a
system. In another section of this work I shall be able to show what was
the origin of the various sounds attributed to the planets, and how the
Mantravidya of the Brahmins of India has passed into the hands of
Mohammedans and others, who have exploited it for their own purposes
without reference to its origin. I shall also be able to show the
astronomical basis of the various periods and sub-periods of the
planets, including the famous trims’amsha, or “four minute period” which
has played such an egregious part in the furtherance of a popular
delusion.
Let me here say that a Kabalism is not a mere play upon figures, nor is
it a system which arises by necessity from our system of enumeration as
some have sought to prove. It is fundamentally an expression of some
cosmical law, whether it be that of planetary periods, or other
divisions of time instituted by us from observation of certain cosmic
factors, or yet the laws of crystallization, which involve the fact of
form in relation to sound vibrations. Thus we may have a lunar kabalism
depending on the numbers 4, 7 and 28, another of the same nature
depending on the numbers 3, 9, and 27: another solar kabala which arises
from the numbers 18, 54, and 72. If those who seek to show that the
decimal system was originated by the use of the ten fingers, called
“digits,” would only have the patience to examine their theory, they
would find that the facts are entirely against them. For if counting on
the fingers reduced men to the decimal system, this system should be
prevalent among the aboriginal peoples. It is, however, an ugly fact for
the theorists that the very first system of enumeration that we come
across is the duodecimal system of the Chinese and the Hebrews.
In the first place we find that the Chinese had twelve signs or months,
each of thirty days, which was the antediluvian value of the year,
afterwards rectified (2355 B.C.) by the intercalation of seven months in
the course of nineteen years. The cycle of years was twice 60, or 120,
arising out of the employment of ten roots and twelve branches. They
appointed four chiefs to command the four gates or cardinal points and
elected Twelve Patriarchs to govern local affairs. The duodecimal
standard was instituted very early in the civilization of the Yellow
Empire, as is evident from the Canon of Shun, wherein weights and
measures were regulated by the Yellow Tube standard. This yellow tube
was nine-tenths of a Chinese inch in bore circumference, and nine inches
in length. It contained twelve hundred grains of millet which weighed
twelve pennyweights, two pennyweights going to the ounce, sixteen ounces
to the pound, thirty pounds to the quarter, and four quarters to the
hundredweight. Thus the basis of the whole system of weights was
regulated by sound, for there were twelve tubes, each of the same
circumference but of different lengths, and these being struck gave the
twelve notes of the Chinese musical gamut. The measures of length and
capacity were also regulated by these tubes, and thus sound was at the
root of all the Chinese mensuration. The fact that there were twelve
sounds in the scale shows that the whole system was duodecimal.
The Hebrew system was also duodecimal, for we find that they had twelve
months in the year answering to the twelve Gates of the Sun, such as
those of Gaza (Capricorn) and Hebron (Cancer), which are mentioned in
connection with the feats of Samson, the original of the Greek Hercules
and obviously a Sun-god. The twelve tribes were formed upon the basis of
the zodiacal circle, and are so referred to in Jacob’s last prophetic
blessing, where the sons of the Patriarch are distinctly associated with
the astrological portents of the twelve Signs.
Reuben—Taurus, the first sign of the Hebrew zodiac, connected with the
constellation Orion and the letter Aleph (Bull). This tribe has often
been associated with Aquarius, despite the fact that astrologically
speaking it is not a watery sign, but belongs to the airy trigon.
“Unstable as water,” is a figure of speech that has no reference to the
astrological functions of the sign Aquarius.
Simeon and Levi—Gemini and Cancer. The Levitical sign Cancer.
Judah—Leo, “the old lion,” couchant. The regal sign Leo.
Zebulon—Virgo associated with Argos, the ship.
Issachar—Libra, “servant of tribute.”
Dan—Scorpio, associated with Serpentarius, “an adder in the path.”
Gad—Sagittarius, the trooper. The sign of Jupiter or “Gad.”
Asher—Capricornus.
Napthali—Aquarius, associated with the Tree, “who yieldeth goodly
branches.” Here the “hind let loose” should be “the spreading oak.”
Joseph—Pisces, “the fruitful vine by the well.”
Benjamin—Aries, “the wolf,” connected with Anubis of the Egyptian
symbology.
Thus the Hebraic system is found to be duodecimal also, and we follow
suit in keeping our standards on this basis, counting twelve inches to
the foot, and twelve pence to the shilling. Indeed, there can be little
doubt that the ancients modelled their conceptions and established their
standards “after the pattern of things in the heavens.” By common
consent they instituted the Four Quarters arising out of the apparent
motion of the Sun, in its daily rising, culminating, setting and
decumbiture, and its apparent transit of the equinoxes and solstices. By
common consent also they had regard to the twelve signs of the zodiac,
and their corresponding months, the lunar asterisms or stations arising
out of the mean diurnal motion of the moon, and other points and
divisions of time, such as the syzyges and quadratures of the moon. All
these became standards from which all calculations were made, and hence
all kabalism, as derived from these cosmic phenomena, has a basis in
fact which can only be appreciated when the cosmical factors employed
are fully understood and appreciated. Hence I say that the time factor,
in Kabalism is of the utmost importance.
CHAPTER XII
INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION
The symbolism of astronomy lends itself in a most interesting manner to
the great problem of human evolution. In my opening chapter it was shown
that evolution is the natural reaction to the process of involution.
Logically we cannot speak of evolution without taking into consideration
the fact of a preceding involution. _Ex nihilo nihil fit._ The potential
of matter is measured by its latent energy, and this latency is static
Spirit Force. Matter is the ultimate expression of Spirit, as form is
that of force. The material forms of the visible universe are therefore
nothing but concrete spiritual forces.
But it would appear that there are two processes going on simultaneously
in any cycle of cosmic life, and these are a downward spiritual
involution and an upward physical evolution. The two processes are
complementary, and possibly may be regarded as taking place
simultaneously, although in the Chaldean account they are spoken of as
distinct in point of time. Jacob’s vision of the Ladder of Life depicted
angels ascending and descending simultaneously, and these are the
spiritual forces that are in continual play between pure spirit and
gross matter. The great tidal influx of spirit towards the plane of
materiality admits of a constant ebb and flow of the life-wave, so that,
although at the present stage of the Great Cycle the tide has set back
and is at its ebb, carrying its burden of detached souls along with it
towards the region of spirituality, may yet mark periodic incursions of
the spirit towards the material plane, such incursions being in the
nature of abnormal phenomena.
Thus we have from the beginning of the Great Cycle a double influx
involving an interplay of Spirit and Matter. In the process of
manifestation by means of differentiation, Spirit (the positive or male
potency) may be regarded as taking a downward plunge on the left-hand
side, while Substance (the negative or female potency) will in the same
scheme take the right-hand side in its progress towards manifestation on
the material plane. The Paramatma or Universal Spirit first appears as
Purusha, while Mulaprakriti or Root Substance manifests as Prakriti. The
ultimate expression of Purusha is Prana (Life force) while that of
Prakriti is Prithivi (Matter). We thus have the Father Spirit on the one
hand, and the Mother Substance on the other, manifesting eventually in
the multitude of forms of Living Matter. Spirit Substance thus invests
and is at the root of all physical life, Force and Matter standing
always in the same undivided relations as do Spirit and Substance in the
Archetypal World.
Such mysteries concerning the origin of things can be read in the
astronomical disposition of the signs of the zodiac, where Leo is the
symbol of the Father Spirit and Cancer that of the Mother Substance.
These descend along their own arcs of involution through the planes of
Buddhi and Manas, which are the higher and lower aspects of Mind, and in
combination represent the potential and evolved Hermaphrodites, denoted
by the planets Mercury and Venus, which are set over these signs in the
astrological scheme, and have relation to the signs Virgo and Libra on
the one hand and Gemini and Taurus on the other. Thence the Great Breath
descends to the Kamic plane, manifesting in the Body of Desire. This is
represented on either hand by the signs Scorpio and Aries. Next the
Spirit-Substance manifests on the Astral or Psycho-Physical plane, which
is symbolized by the planet Jupiter with its signs Sagittarius and
Pisces, and finally precipitates in the material world denoted by the
planet Saturn and its corresponding signs Capricornus and Aquarius, the
symbols of matter in the concrete and in a state of flux.
The scheme may be reduced to a diagram as on page 121.
In view of this statement of the occult doctrine of the origin of the
phenomenal world, we are led to expect in the course of physical
evolution, which is another name for the process of spiritual
unfoldment, that matter will yield continually new characteristics,
which now lie _in obscuro_ or latency. For spirit is now shaking itself
free of the trammels of matter, organisms are becoming more and more
subject and responsive to the impulses of the mind, and matter is
everywhere giving way to the effort of a spiritual expression. The world
has passed the zero point of greatest materiality and darkness, and
though the mass of mankind are as yet only on the plane of Kama,
actuated solely by the force of their desires and material appetites,
yet quite a large section of the world’s population is coming under the
direct influence of the Manasic forces, and the demand for knowledge is
being met upon every side. Some few of the more advanced pioneers of the
race are functioning in the light of the Buddhic plane and are
overshadowed by the spirit. At the head of all this Earth’s humanity is
the supreme Arhat, the Adam Kadmon of the Kabalists, the Iswara of the
Hindus, the Jehovah of the Hebrews.
[Illustration: Figure 8.]
What is going on in this world is happening also in others of the solar
system, and over all is the Supreme Logos, Brahma-Vach, the Ancient of
Days, whom we call the Lord. These are co-ordinating Centres of
Intelligence and Power functioning in their respective spheres and on
their several planes as the various nervous ganglia in the body of man,
all being finally linked up to one Centre in whom resides the
consciousness of the I AM, as planets are united to their central Sun.
And what we argue in regard to the constitution of the Universe we also
affirm to be true regarding man, the Microcosm and epitome of the
Universe. He is one of those angels “ascending and descending” on the
Ladder of Life. For the purposes of illustration we may borrow a symbol
from the astronomer, that of the elliptical orbit of the Earth. Let the
Earth represent the spiritual monad which in process of involution has
become associated with material conditions of life, and is now an
imprisoned soul.
It answers to the gravitational pull of the material sun and revolves
around it, chained by its material desires, yet enlarging its orbit as
it advances in its evolution. The point where the planet passes its
quadrature, corresponds to the event of incarnation, its lower apsis
being the point of greatest physical vitality. It passes out of the
physical at the next quadrature and for the remainder of its orbit
continues in the psychic or intermediate state between the higher and
lower worlds. At its higher apsis the soul is in its supreme state of
elevation, mingling freely with other discarnate souls and those radiant
denizens of the higher spiritual world who are there to minister to
their spiritual needs. But when the reaction follows and the desire for
earth-life again asserts itself, the soul responds to the gravitational
pull of the material sun and falls again into incarnation.
There comes a time, however, when by its peregrinations in the sphere of
the lower world, the soul gains knowledge of real values, and the
awakening spirit, shaking free from the bonds of the flesh, answers to
the gravitational pull of a higher or more interior Spiritual Sun which
occupies the kenofocus of the great ellipse. Such a soul passes directly
through the intermediate world into the World of Spirit, and thereafter
revolves around the Spiritual Sun, descending only at the lowest point
of its orbit into the intermediate world for the purpose of spiritual
ministration, its only intercourse with the material world being
normally through the world of discarnate souls who are subject to
incarnation. The diagram presented on page 124, may assist the reader in
following out the scheme.
I am not here laying down any final teaching or creed regarding the
peregrinations of the Soul, though during a life of inward experience
one gets some definite idea of the general plan of these things, but I
am taking the position of a symbologist who employs cosmical facts to
convey spiritual ideas, as one may use a figure of speech to suggest an
analogy or convey an idea pertinent to the theme of conversation.
Everything is symbolical, and things have no other meaning than that
which we confer upon them, as letters or figures which are used to
signal a meaning from one mind to another as by a code agreed upon
beforehand, although in themselves these symbols bear no such
significance.
So in the Dhammapada it is said: “Mind it is which gives to things their
quality, their foundation and their being,” to which Epictetus
subscribes when he says: “Men are disturbed by their view of things and
not by the things themselves,” and these two views are at the base of
Idealism and Quietism, as we may learn from Plato and Laotze.
[Illustration: Figure 9.]
It would therefore have been equally true in a symbolical sense had the
Higher, Middle and Lower Worlds been called the Sun, Moon and Earth
Worlds, for these answer to the Spirit, Soul and Body of man, and
therefore to the worlds or states of being in which they function. Also
by the same symbolism they may be called the worlds of Light, Twilight
and Darkness, answering to the three Gunas or qualities of the Soul in
the Hindu philosophy, namely, Sattva, Rajasa, and Tamas. But the
employment of a purely cosmical symbolism gains point from the fact that
whatever may be our views regarding these ultimate problems of life,
they must necessarily take form from the things of our experience and
find expression in terms of natural phenomena, or so much of the Great
Handwriting as we may have mastered and can employ as symbols.
The argument from analogy is indeed strongly in favour of the view that
all spiritual truths have their counterpart and illustration in the
phenomenal world, that there is a natural law in the spiritual world,
and that this law can only be interpreted in terms of natural phenomena.
But it is also permissible to take the opposite view and to affirm that
there is a spiritual law in the natural world and that this can only be
understood and interpreted in the light of the Spirit. Indeed philosophy
tends ultimately to the view that the mind of man is but a centre of
consciousness in the Universal Mind, that it reflects the Ideas of that
Mind, and that things have no real existence except as products of mind.
We all recognize the fact that the idea precedes and outlasts the form
that embodies it, and that there is no constant relation between the
thing and the thought of which it is an expression.
This idea, applied to the subject of Involution and Evolution, gives
rise to the momentous thought that the Archetypal Mind that holds the
idea of this universe and is its Creator, is under no contract to
complete the scheme of things. God is under no necessity to finish His
work. The Great Artificer may at any time destroy his moulds! But
long-suffering Nature comforts us with the idea of an infinite patience,
and the human mind suggests something indefinitely more steadfast than
its own caprice.
Meanwhile by the dim light of our minds we grope our way among the
scattered symbols, seeking in them for some intelligible answer to our
questionings, hoping to find in them, when all are understood, a
solution of the problem of the human soul. Science, philosophy and
religion all assure us that we have reasonable hope, if not indeed the
definite promise of eventual success.
CHAPTER XIII
PLANETARY NUMBERS
In a section of my work on the Kabala of Numbers I gave the planetary
numbers as they have been handed down to us, and my authority in that
case was John Heydon, who in his _Holy Guide_ has delivered the
traditional values of the planets, showing their correspondence with
certain numbers.
I am now able to cite another authority in the person of Godfridus, who
in the year 1650 published a book called _Things Unknown_. Those who
read the book, should they be fortunate enough to obtain a copy of this
scarce old volume, will probably agree with me that most of the
information he has collected is really not worth knowing, being in many
instances fanciful and misleading.
But among other things he quotes the Numbers of the planets and the
signs of the zodiac. The numbers as given by him are the same as those
given by Heydon, and for convenience may be repeated here—
Sun, 1 or 4; Moon, 7 or 2; Saturn, 8; Jupiter, 3; Mars, 9; Venus, 6;
Mercury, 5.
Godfridus does not distinguish between the numbers 1 and 4 attributed to
the Sun, or those of the Moon 7 and 2. It is important to know that 1 is
the positive number of the Sun, and 7 that of the Moon, while 4 is the
negative number of the Sun as 2 is that of the Moon. That is to say, if
the Sun is in an even sign at any epoch, or enumeration is made
concerning a male entity, whether man or animal, the number 1 must be
used, while if the Sun be in a female sign, or enumeration has respect
to a female, then the number 4 is used. Similarly in regard to the
numbers of the Moon.
These numbers have been exploited in several books recently as if
original with the author, who indeed has gone so far as to claim for
them the authority of a Guru from whom he professes to have received
them. It is a fact, however, that they have no representation in the
East, neither among the Shemitic people nor the Aryans, and they are, as
I have plainly stated elsewhere, traditional among the Kabalists. The
fact that Heydon printed them and Godfridus also, and that these books
are to be found in the British Museum Library, clearly indicates the
source of inspiration, and locates the Guru in this case as residing
solely in the fertile imagination of the author of _The Mysteries_.
Godfridus gives also the numbers attaching to the signs of the zodiac as
follows—
Aries, 7; Taurus, 6; Gemini, 12; Cancer, 5; Leo, 1; Virgo, 10; Libra, 8;
Scorpio, 9; Sagittarius, 4; Capricornus, 3; Aquarius, 2; Pisces, 11.
There is a special significance attaching to the order in which, these
numbers are given, and it will repay the astute reader to give the
matter a little study. I may here say that they were originally attached
to the Twelve Houses, and became associated with the signs of the zodiac
corresponding with these Houses at a later date. They should be studied
in their prime significance.
Leaving this point for the time being, I would point out here that these
numbers have been used in connection with the Signs by the author of
_Natural Law Versus Chance_, who shows considerable faculty for
painstaking research. Without referring to the source of his
information, he clearly shows that the names of competitors may be
enumerated by means of this zodiacal gamut, and brought under the unit
value of one or other of the planets, which, if ruling at the time, is
capable of conferring success.
That which appears to vitiate the scheme presented by him is the fact of
his using the artificial instead of the natural Hours, for if it be
allowed that the planets are associated with the days of the week and
that the quadrants mark the natural divisions of the day, as from
sunrise to noon, noon to sunset, sunset to midnight, and midnight to
sunrise, then the Planetary Hours must be in terms of these natural
divisions, and, irrespective of the season of the year and the
consequent variation of the diurnal and nocturnal arcs, there will be
six such “hours” from sunrise to noon, six from noon to sunset, and six
in each of the other quarters of the circle. In fact, if “natural law”
is to rule in the matter at all, it must be consistently carried out,
and artificial divisions of the day will continue to befog the student
of these arcana and prevent him from getting at the truth of the matter
so long as they are employed. This putting of “new wine into old
bottles” has effectually vitiated both the _Natural Law_ system and that
propounded in _The Mysteries_. If any student cares to work out the
percentages of results derived from a strict following of the rules as
given in either of those works, there will remain no shadow of doubt
that a good thing has just been missed, for lack of a little regard to
traditional usage.
But the climax of inconsistency is reached in the suggestion contained
in _The Mysteries_, where it is said that the planets Mercury and Venus
are misnamed, that Mercury is the antithesis of Mars and Venus that of
Jupiter, and that their numbers are interchangeable! It is, in fact,
calmly suggested that at some remote period of history not named by the
author, the name-plates of Venus and Mercury became detached, and as a
result the one planet was thereafter mistaken for the other! I can
imagine sober astrologers directing the planet Mercury to a conjunction
with the Sun for the event of marriage, or predicting travels from the
conjunction of the Ascendant with Venus. In effect we are asked to
regard the signs Libra and Taurus as the signs of Mercury, while Venus
in exchange takes Gemini and Virgo. This may not appear so terribly
inconsistent to such as are ignorant of the disposition of the signs and
planets as to others, but I think that any one would jib at the idea of
Venus as the significatrix of travel and trade. And when I speak of
Venus in this connection I mean Venus and not Mercury in disguise. Yet
one would have supposed that the very order of the days of the week and
the planetary sequence from which it is derived would have given the
author pause to think. So far from that, however, it seems to be set up
as an unique discovery of the utmost importance. It is time, therefore,
that the matter should be set straight, and the need for this seems the
more urgent since I have actually known persons, intelligent and
conservative of the truth in these matters, but keen to follow up any
new clue, actually transposing the planets Mercury and Venus in their
horoscopes and willing to believe, on the authority of an Occultist of
some distinction who in a weak moment was induced to write a preface to
the book, that the astronomers have all been wrong for many ages, and
that in following the course of the planet Venus they were unwittingly
pursuing that of Mercury! The position would be incredible were it not a
fact in cold print.
Let us proceed with the justification of the old tradition. I have
elsewhere shown that the planetary periods bear a direct relationship to
their sign rulerships as determined by the ancients. It is seen that six
bodies, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, embrace
between them the circle of 360, each pair being divisors of one-third,
or 120° or years.
The pairs are as follows—
Moon rules for 4 years, which divided into 120 equals 30. Saturn rules
for 30 years, which divided into 120 equals 4. These two are opposites,
Saturn ruling Capricorn and the Moon ruling Cancer.
Jupiter rules for 12 years, which divided into 120 gives 10. Mercury
rules for 10 years, which divided into 120 gives 12. These two are
opposites, for whereas Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Pisces, Mercury
rules Gemini and Virgo, which are the opposite signs.
Venus rules for 8 years, which divided into 120 gives 15. Mars rules for
15 years, which divided into 120 gives 8. Venus rules the signs Taurus
and Libra, whereas Mars rules the opposite signs Scorpio and Aries.
This may be allowed as a basis for what follows. The values and
dominions are those traditionally received through Ptolemy. The periodic
values of all the bodies of the ancient system are twice the square of
seven. The square of seven is 49, and twice this is the value of the
periods, namely 98 years. Students of numerology may pursue the subject
to its legitimate conclusion. I may now proceed to establish this scheme
by a series of numerical tests which have been communicated to me from
India, and which I have remodelled for the purpose of this
demonstration.
The harmony of the allotment of the numbers to the planets and signs is
shown in the following scale, which, as will be seen, bear the numbers
already ascribed to them by Godfridus and others.
[Illustration: Figure 10.]
This arrangement is traditional among astrologers, and in very old works
on the subject of planetary dominions we find the following suggestive
glyph, which indicates that the mystery of the Pyramid may be solved by
reference to the elements of the solar system.
[Illustration: Figure 11.]
It is stated that the perpendicular of the Pyramid is the radius of a
circle whose area exactly equals the area of the square base. If this be
the fact, then we may conclude that the ancients successfully negotiated
the problem of “squaring the circle.”
The cyclic order of the planets according to the ancients was thus:
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. This order is not
haphazard, as one might suppose who only knew the order of the days of
the week bearing the Planets’ names, or the apparent order of the
planetary orbits as seen from the Earth. There is nevertheless a very
good reason for this order, and it consists in the orbital periods of
the several bodies, that is, the times in which they appear to traverse
the zodiac. Thus Saturn’s apparent period is about 30 years, Jupiter 12,
Mars 2 years save forty-three days, the Sun one year, Venus about 7½
months, Mercury about 3 months, and the Moon one month. Applying the
numerical test to this order, and retaining as before the same numbers
for each of the planets, we have—
[Illustration: Figure 12.]
If we begin the cycle with the Sun and follow with Venus, Mercury, etc.,
we shall have a resolution in terms of the Moon, thus—
[Illustration: Figure 13.]
Again, if we take the positive Sun number and the negative Moon number,
we have Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, 1295, equals 17 or 8, Jupiter, Venus,
Saturn 368, equals 17 or 8, and 8 plus 8 equals 16, which is of unit
value 7.
But the Kabalism of the numbers attaching to signs of the zodiac clearly
shows that the planets Mars and Venus are natural opposites, and not
Mercury and Mars, as erroneously stated. The following scheme will show
that this is so.
Scorpio 9 opposed to Taurus 6
Libra 8 ” Aries 7
Virgo 10 1 ” Pisces 11 2
Leo 1 ” Aquarius 2
Cancer 5 ” Capricorn 3
Gemini 12 3 ” Sagittary 4
— —
27 24
Equals 9 Mars Equals 6 Venus.
The series begins with the signs of Mars and Venus and concludes under
those of Mercury and Jupiter, the numbers attached to the various signs
being reduced to their unit values and added together, thus yielding the
sum of 27 for Mars and 24 for Venus, which again are reduced to the unit
values of 9 and 6, the numbers of the planets under consideration.
Exactly the same result is produced if we begin the series with the
other signs of Mars and Venus, namely, Aries and Libra.
Libra 8 opposed to Aries 7
Virgo 1 ” Pisces 2
Leo 1 ” Aquarius 2
Cancer 5 ” Capricorn 3
Gemini 3 ” Sagittary 4
Taurus 6 ” Scorpio 9
— —
24 27
Equals 6 Venus Equals 9 Mars.
By making a sum of the values of the signs according to their mutual
oppositions, we have for—
Aries and Scorpio, the signs of Mars, values 7 and 9 equals 16
Sagittarius and Pisces, signs of Jupiter, 4 and 11 ” 15
Capricornus and Aquarius, signs of Saturn, 3 and 2 ” 5
—
Total 36
These are opposed to the signs—
Libra and Taurus, signs of Venus, values 6 and 8 equal 14
Gemini and Virgo, signs of Mercury ” 12 and 10 ” 22
Cancer and Leo, signs of Moon and Sun values 5 and 1 ” 6
—
Total 42
Thus we have again 36, unit value 9, for Mars; and 42, unit value 6, for
Venus. This scheme may be reduced to a diagram, as on the following
page.
Thus we see that 9, the number of Mars, is opposed to 6, the number of
Venus, in whatever direction we look, and the old legends of Venus and
Adonis, of Vulcan and Aphrodite, of Vishnu and Lakshmi, most clearly
point to this association of the planets Venus and Mars in the minds of
the writers of the mythology. As myths or veils they were intended
doubtless to hide something from the popular mind, and initiation into
the Mysteries consisted in the interpretation of these myths in terms of
cosmical laws.
[Illustration: Figure 14.]
CHAPTER XIV
SOME FURTHER KABALAS
Although it will be evident from the foregoing illustrations that a very
definite design lies at the root of the allotment of numbers to the
planets and the signs of the zodiac, yet the study of the subject would
hardly be complete without some reference to some other methods that I
have evolved or that are to be found hinted at but not expounded in the
writings of others. If, for instance, I were required to demonstrate the
fact that a certain method underlies the planetary numbers, I could do
so by reference to the Kabala of the number 9, and although in the
process I might have to concede the point that Jupiter and Venus are
interchangeable, I should still be warranted by my Kabala in affirming
that Mercury is not interchangeable with Mars, but that it is polarized
by the Sun, and that Mars is the alternative or opposite of the Moon.
Now this little Kabala, while itself very suggestive and capable of many
applications, has no cosmical basis, and therefore may be the occasion
of much disturbance, if carried beyond its legitimate domain.
It is only necessary to take the numerical sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9, and centralize that number which answers to the planet whose
opposite you require.
Thus for Saturn, whose number is 8, we have the sequence—
Saturn
4567 8 9123
22 15
4 10 6
or 1
Sun (+)
For Jupiter the resolution is as follows—
Jupiter
8912 3 4567
20 22
2 4
6
Venus
For the Sun, whose positive number is 1, we have—
Sun
6789 1 2345
30 14
3 5
8
Saturn
For Venus, whose number is 6, the resolution is—
Venus
2345 6 7891
14 25
5 7
12
or 3
Jupiter
For the Moon, whose number is 7 positive, we get—
Moon
3456 7 8912
18 20
9 2
11
or 2
Moon
So that having found the alternate of Saturn 8 to be Sun 1, and that of
Venus 6 to be Jupiter 3, of the Moon 7 to be 2, it is quite easy to jump
to the conclusion that the alternate of Mars 9 must be Mercury 5, and
yet to get side-tracked on the very first trip. For observe what happens
in the resolution of Mars, number 9,
Mars
5678 9 1234
26 10
8 1
9
Mars
which, seems to inform us that, whereas all things may be reduced and
converted by Fire or the Will, neither consents to be converted. Herein
is the spirit of freedom that characterizes the fiery planet and those
that are born under its sway. We may now try Mercury, the universal
resolvent.
Mercury
1234 5 6789
10 30
1 3
4
Sun (-)
In antithesis we may set the number of the Sun negative 4.
Sun
9123 4 5678
15 26
6 8
14
or 5
Mercury
Here, by a curious refractoriness of disposition, Mercury is seen to be
resolvable only in terms of a negative Sun, the number 5 being set in
apposition to 4. The obvious suggestion to those who are engaged in the
hermetic art, should they happen upon this little kabalism, is that
Mercury is the one thing that we are able to convert into gold.
Now if we collect these resolutions we shall find that they are all in
terms of Mars or the number 9, whose position at the head of the scheme
indicates, as clearly as figures can tell us, that the Will is the
dominant factor in all human affairs.
Mars
9
Sun 4 5 Mercury
Jupiter 3 6 Venus
Saturn 8 1 Sun
2
Moon
7
Here we have Mars 9, Sun and Mercury 9, Jupiter and Venus 9, Saturn and
Sun 9, Moon (positive and negative) 9. Moreover, it is seen that the sum
of Sun, Jupiter and Saturn, 4 plus 3 plus 8, is 15, and that of Mercury,
Venus and Sun, 5 plus 6 plus 1, is 12. Then 15 plus 12 are 27, and the
unit value of this is again 9. It is further of interest to observe that
the only planets that are not convertible are Mars and the Moon, and
that at the head and foot of the scheme represent Fire and Water,
symbols of Spirit and Matter, the Will and the element of Variability,
one fixed and the other mutable. The numbers of the Moon are 2 and 7,
and these are equal in sum to 9.
To argue thence that we are justified in transposing Mercury with Mars
or Jupiter with Venus in any system that has a cosmical factor for its
basis is to argue from cosmos into chaos. The planetary numbers and
those of the zodiac were affixed by those who instituted the scheme, not
from any considerations of a fanciful nature, but on certain cosmical
principles which those who have thoroughly mastered the subject of
Numerology will find working out in all astrological practice. It is, of
course, allowable to use numbers in a symbolical manner after any order
that may suit our purpose, but to proceed from the time of sunrise by
progression through the planetary hours, and to violate the established
order of those hours by the introduction of a fictitious interchange of
factors, is an affront to the intelligence of every astrological student
and a violation of the principles of cosmic symbology that can only find
its karmic effects in a condition of mental chaos.
Another kabalism which employs the planetary factors has been in use for
some time by certain well-known students of interpretation, and is
principally applied to the predictive art. In this system the planets
hold the same numbers as those traditionally allotted to them.
The signs of the zodiac, however, do not follow the same rule, but take
the values that belong to their planetary rulers, as follows—
Aries 9, Taurus 6, Gemini 5, Cancer 7 or 2, Leo 1 or 4, Virgo 5, Libra
6, Scorpio 9, Sagittarius 3, Capricornus 8, Aquarius 8, Pisces 3.
These numbers are combined with those of the days of the week ruled by
the planets. Thus in the case of a person born on a Tuesday in the month
of November, the numbers are both 9, for Tuesday is ruled by Mars, whose
number is 9, and in November the Sun is in Scorpio, which again gives
the number 9. Hence those years in which the number 9 figures are
regarded as important in the production of great events.
The months and signs corresponding are thus valued:—January 8, February
8, March 3, April 9, May 6, June 5, July 7 and 2, August 1 and 4,
September 5, October 6, November 9 and December 3. But it should be
observed that, in order to keep in touch with the cosmical order, these
numbers are only to attach to the first 21 days of each month, the
number for the succeeding month being used for the last 10 or 11 days.
Similarly, the day counts from sunrise to sunrise according to some
authors, but cosmically it counts from noon to noon, that period from
noon to midnight being “the evening” and from midnight to noon “the
morning,” as it is said in Genesis, _Veyahi oreb veyahi beqer yom
echad_—“And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Perhaps one of the most interesting Kabalas is that which has reference
to the values of the signs and planets when taken in combination. Each
of the months in the annual circle has a number attaching to it
according to the planet ruling the sign in which the Sun is, as already
shown above. This is multiplied into the number allotted to the sign
itself apart from its ruler. Thus—
Month Sign No. Ruler No. Product Unit
January Capricorn 3 Saturn 8 24 6
February Aquarius 2 Saturn 8 16 7
March Pisces 11 Jupiter 3 33 6
April Aries 7 Mars 9 63 9
May Taurus 6 Venus 6 36 9
June Gemini 12 Mercury 5 60 6
July Cancer 3 Moon 2 10 1
August Leo 1 Sun 1 1 1
September Virgo 10 Mercury 5 50 5
October Libra 8 Venus 6 48 3
November Scorpio 9 Mars 9 81 9
December Sagittary 4 Jupiter 3 12 3
It is then seen that the total value of the planets’ numbers is 65,
while the total of the unit values of the products is also 65. It is
satisfactory to find that wherever we are consistent and hold to the
traditional values and positions of the several factors, we obtain
results that are wonderfully harmonious and suggestive.
There is an ancient symbol known as the “Golden Candlestick” which is in
the nature of a candelabrum with seven arms. Each of the seven lights
answers to one of the seven celestial bodies known to the ancients, and
the order of them is that known as the Chaldean, in use among
astrologers. Here is the symbol—
[Illustration: Figure 15.]
It will be seen at once that the interchange of the planets is
confirmatory of the astrological method derived from the sign
rulerships. Saturn interchanges with the Moon, Jupiter with Mercury,
Mars with Venus, while the Sun stands in the centre of the system giving
light to all. These lights answer to the seven Rays, the seven Spirits
before the Throne, the seven Archangels, Cassiel, the keeper of
secrets—Saturn; Zadkiel, the spirit of Justice—Jupiter; Madimial, the
spirit of those who make Red—Mars; Michael, who is “like unto God”—Sun;
Haniel, the spirit of Splendour—Venus; Raphael, the spirit of
Healing—Mercury; and Gabriel, the spirit of Strength—Moon.
In connection with this symbol there is another which affords several
glyphs in combination. It is called the Seven-pointed Star and Star of
the Universe. A star of seven points being drawn, the planetary bodies,
the Sun and Moon, are placed round it in the Chaldean order, the Sun
being at the highest point, thus—
[Illustration: Figure 16.]
It is then found that the Sun holds the unique position of supreme
elevation, while the “pairs of opposites,” Venus and Mars, Mercury and
Jupiter, Moon and Saturn, are functioning on successively lower planes.
By starting with the first day of the week, Sunday, at the point of the
Sun and following the lines of the Star, we shall derive the days of the
week in their order, namely, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus
and Saturn. By reading from Mars and taking every alternate planet, we
get the order of the atomic weights of the metals to which the ancients
ascribed these planets; namely, Iron, Copper, Silver, Tin, Gold, Mercury
and Lead. This fact seems strongly to support the view that there is a
very real connection between the planets and the metals referred to them
by the ancients, for while it is fairly certain that they did not know
anything about atomic weights, they very clearly associated the
celestial bodies with the primary metals, and the fact that they are
brought into line through the apparent velocities of the several bodies
of the solar system seems to afford a suggestive basis for further
inquiry. We all are used to speaking of the “golden” sun and the
“silver” moon, and we also speak in terms of cosmic symbolism when we
refer to an “iron” will, or of “steeling” oneself against a danger, for
Mars is the astrological index of the Will, and the uses of steel and
iron are for defence and offence. In the name of Mercury we have
actually retained the ancient name associated with the metal, although
the root of it is _merx_, trade, and has no direct associations with
quicksilver. But we pick up the link of connection through the known
association of Mercury with trade and shipping, and when we see the
winged messengers or trading vessels carrying their burden of foreign
goods from one country to another, we understand why Mercury was called
the Interpreter, for in astrology the planet Mercury is the symbol of
commerce, and it “confers the gift of tongues.” Pliny says that copper
was first discovered in Cyprus, from which it gets its name, and,
according to astrologers from the time of Ptolemy until now, the sign
Taurus, one of the signs of Venus, rules Cyprus. This sidelight is of
interest, displaying as it does the universality of planetary dominions.
Copper, of course, was in use before Cyprus had been named or exploited,
but it is of interest to observe that a copper-bearing territory, which
has given the metal a name in the West, should be found both
traditionally and experimentally to be under the dominion of the planet
Venus, which the ancients associated with that metal. Lead, which is
named in connection with Saturn, the Lunar alternative, has been spoken
of by some of the old Hermetists as a disease of the Moon, and it is
suggested that the “sick Lady” took a bad turn at a certain point in her
career, and instead of appearing in shining silver robes, put on those
of leaden grey. It is worthy of note that silver ore is frequently found
in lead, and silver has been successfully extracted from lead since
1829, when Pattinson developed his useful process.
Before leaving this subject of Kabalas connected with planetary numbers,
it may be well to point out that the Kabala displayed in the beginning
of this chapter may also be applied to the Chaldean order of the planets
and their numbers, yielding the same results.
Chaldean Order of Planets and their Numbers
Saturn 8, Jupiter 3, Mars 9, Sun 1-4, Venus 6, Mercury 5, Moon 7-2. From
these we get the following resolutions—
Sun
839 1 6572
20 20 ☉
2 2
4
Sun
Saturn
6572 8 3914
20 17 ♄
2 8
10
1
Sun
Jupiter
5728 3 9146
22 20 ♃
4 2
8
Venus
Mars
7283 9 1465
20 16 ♂
2 7
9
Mars
Venus
3914 6 5728
17 22 ♀
8 4
12
3
Jupiter
Mercury
9146 5 7283
20 20 ☿
2 2
4
Sun
Moon
1465 7-2 839
16 20 ☽
7 2
9
Mars
In the above resolutions we have, as before, Mercury in apposition to
the Sun (negative), and the Moon in apposition to Mars. Now, to find a
cosmical basis for this order of things, we shall have to refer to the
“exaltations” of the planets as defined by astrology. Thus, beside the
particular Signs ruled by the planets, there are others in which the
planets are said to be exalted.
The exaltation of the Sun is in Aries, while that of Saturn is in Libra.
These two bodies are seen to be interchangeable. The exaltation of Venus
is in Pisces, which is the Sign of Jupiter. But Jupiter’s exaltation is
in Cancer, which is the Sign of the Moon, and the Moon has its
exaltation in Taurus, which is the Sign of Venus. Thus Jupiter and Venus
are rendered interchangeable through, and in the period of, the Moon.
The three planets, Moon, Jupiter and Venus, have their exaltations in
Taurus, Cancer and Pisces, and these are ruled by Venus, Jupiter and the
Moon respectively. Mercury, whose exaltation is Aquarius, a Sign of
Saturn, is thereby linked up with the Sun through the opposite Sign Leo,
which the Sun rules. A short study of the following Table of Exaltations
will make these interchanges plain.
Planetary Exaltations
Saturn exalted in Aries, a sign ruled by Mars.
Jupiter exalted in Cancer, ruled by the Moon.
Mars exalted in Capricorn, ruled by Saturn.
Sun, exalted in Aries, ruled by Mars.
Venus exalted in Pisces, ruled by Jupiter.
Mercury, exalted in Aquarius, ruled by Saturn.
The planet Mars, therefore, is linked up with the Moon through Saturn,
which rules the sign in which Mars is exalted. Much else might be said
regarding planetary numbers and Kabalas depending thereon, but it is,
perhaps, advisable that some margin should be left for the exercise of
the reader’s ingenuity, should he wish to pursue the subject further. I
will therefore turn to the consideration of another aspect of the same
subject.
CHAPTER XV
PLANETARY SOUNDS
Having dealt with the subject of planetary numbers we may now consider
that of Planetary Sounds, these being an obvious connection between
Number, Form, Sound and Colour. Number underlies all forms, all sounds
and all colours, for modes of vibration in the same universal medium
give rise to all of these. Thus it is said that the Logos or Word gave
existence to all living forms. Those who have constructed Sound-forms by
means of the Eidophone will readily understand how all forms may be
derived from simple or complex sounds. Sound is also related to colour,
and there are those who are sensitive enough to see sounds and to hear
colours.
The seven notes of the gamut are related to the seven celestial bodies,
thus—
C D E F G A B
Sun Saturn Mercury Moon Mars Venus Jupiter
The colours answering to these are—
Orange Indigo Blue Green Red Yellow Violet
The numbers following the order of the gamut bring us once more into
touch with the inevitable apposition of the fire and water elements,
represented by Mars and the Moon, to which reference has already been
made in the preceding chapter. The numbers thus arranged are—
Sun Saturn Mercury Moon Mars Venus Jupiter
1-4 8 5 7-2 9 6 3
18 18
9 9 9
Mars
If we multiply this number 9 into the number of the signs of the zodiac
we shall obtain 108, which gives us the key to the Ashtottaravàk or 108
sounds of the Mantrasara. Let us look at the origin of these, 108
sounds, since they have been much exploited without any specific
explanation of their origin.
In Indian Astrology there are 27 lunar asterisms or Moon-stations which
are each of 13° 20´ in extent. It has already been said that the whole
period of man’s life is taken at 120 years, or an arc of 120°, which is
one-third of the circle, and by dividing this by 9 we obtain an arc of
13° 20´, which is the extent of a lunar asterism or Moon-station. These
Moon-stations were in great repute among the Arabian astrologers, who
attached specific influences to them, but in the West they have been
entirely neglected. They still continue to form the basis of all Indian
calculations, and, as will be shown, are at the root of the planetary
sounds.
Each asterism of 13° 20´ is again divided into four padams or quarters
each of 3° 20´, which is the value of the Navamsha or one-ninth part of
a sign of 30°. Now since there are four amshas in each asterism and 27
asterisms in the circle, there are 108 amshas, and these correspond with
the 108 sounds.
There are five primary vowel sounds, and each of these lasts for 24
minutes, or one Indian hour, which is equal to 6° of the zodiac or
one-fifth of a Sign. Therefore the 5 vowels are distributed through the
5 parts of the Sign. The vowels are—
ah ee oo ae oh
â î û é ô
They are all long and pure vowel sounds. The compounds such as _oi_ in
“oil,” _ow_ as in “now,” etc., are produced from a combination of these.
These five primary vowels range through the several Signs and are taken
up by successive consonants attached to each of the Signs. These
consonants extend throughout the Signs to which they are attached, as L
through Aries, V through Taurus, etc., so that the five Indian hours or
120 minutes during which Aries is in evidence, are related to the five
vowels in connection with the consonant L, as Lah, Lee, Loo, Lae, Loh,
and these are succeeded by Taurus with the sounds Vah, Vee, Voo, Vae,
Voh.
By taking into account the five vowel sounds, the consonants attaching
to the various Signs, and the relative positions of the planets at any
given time, a mantram may be formed which is in exact harmony with the
astral vibrations obtaining at that particular time. Mantrams are also
formed from the positions of the planets at the time of a person’s
birth. Some of these mantrams are traditional with Hindu families and
others have been adopted. At one time they were delivered with the
horoscope immediately after a birth had taken place, but many of these
ancient practices have fallen into disuse among the moderns.
Here follows a complete table of the sounds showing the Signs and parts
of Signs to which they are attached.
Table of Planetary Sounds.
0-6 ah 6-12 ee 12-18 oo 18-24 ae 24-30 oh
Aries Lah Lee Loo Lae Loh
Taur. Vah Vee Voo Vae Voh
Gemini Kah Kee Koo Kae Koh
Cancer Hah Hee Hoo Hae Hoh
” Ḍah Ḍee Ḍoo Ḍae Ḍoh
(hard
Dh)
Leo Mah Mee Moo Mae Moh
” Ṭah Ṭee Ṭoo Ṭae Ṭoh
(Hard T)
Virgo Pah Pee Poo Pae Poh
Libra Rah Ree Roo Rae Roh
” Tah Tee Too Tae Toh
(soft)
Scorpio Nah Nee Noo Nae Noh
Sagit. Yah Yee Yoo Yae Yoh
” Bah Bee Boo Bae Boh
Capri. Jah Jee Joo Jae Joh
” Gah Gee Goo Gae Goh
Aquar. Sah See Soo Sae Soh
” Dah Dee Doo Dae Doh
(soft)
Pisces Chah Chee Choo Chae D Choh
From this table we are able to extract the Planetary Sounds, and for
this reason I have called it a Table of Planetary Sounds, for in the
thought of all astrologers a Sign infers a planet and a planet infers a
Sign. Hence as Mars rules the signs Aries and Scorpio, we have the
consonants L and N and the five vowels, when sounded in conjunction with
the initial consonant.
But it should here be remarked that the five vowels are not all
attributable to Mars, although they are set at the head of the Table
under the sign Aries. They merely characterize the five divisions of the
Signs, and are seen to range through the whole zodiac from Aries to
Pisces. They are associated with the five disposers, or moderators as
they are called, namely, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.
We are now able to construct a Table employing all the Consonants, which
we may call the
Table of Initial Sounds.
Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon
J Y L M V W K Q H
U O O
G B N Th R P Dh
S Z X Ch A T
D Sh I
It will be observed that I have eliminated some sounds contained in the
Sanskrit alphabet which have no English equivalents, and also that in
the Table of Initial Sounds I have added some that are allied to those
found in the original, as for instance Q and C (hard) under K, Z and X
under S, etc.
An attempt has been made to fix the vowels under the planets, but they
are not found to be consistent, and indeed it is not to be expected that
they should be, since the swara, which is constantly changing,
determines the vowel sound in force.
As initial sounds the vowels U and O, having affinity with the consonant
W, may be classed under Venus, A under Mars, since both are initial
factors in the scheme, and long I or Ee under Jupiter as related to Y.
But as I have said, when in combination with the consonants, that is to
say, when not initial, they are in a constant state of flux owing to the
change of swara. Subject to this consideration they may be added to the
Table of Initial Sounds, where they will be seen in the above scheme.
The application of this scheme of Planetary Sounds would appear
originally to have been in the direction of determining what sounds
should be employed at specific times in the construction of mantras
appropriate to the nature of the planet then ruling. They were not
originally associated with the signs of the zodiac, nor yet with the
planets ruling those signs, but solely and specifically with the
navamshas, of which there are 108 in the entire circle, and as these are
connected with the asterisms through the Moon’s motion, there can be no
doubt that they had originally a lunar basis.
Each of the signs is divided into 9 parts of 3° 20´ each, the order
being as follows—
Aries 0°-3° 20´ is under the influence of Aries navamsha, 3° 20´-6° 40´
under the influence of Taurus navamsha, 6° 40´-10° under Gemini
navamsha, and so on, the last 3° 20’ of this sign Aries being under
Sagittarius navamsha. The sign Taurus then commences with Capricorn
navamsha, and continues on to Virgo navamsha, when Gemini sign commences
with Libra and ends with Gemini navamsha, and is followed by Cancer sign
which begins with Cancer navamsha and ends with Pisces navamsha. Leo
then commences again with Aries navamsha and follows the same course as
the sign Aries. Thus nine successive signs are used to designate the
navamshas of each 30 degrees of the zodiac, and so we obtain the 108
navamshas, thus—
[Illustration: Figure 17.]
But we have already seen that the lunar asterisms, each of 13° 20´, are
divided into four padams or quarters each of 3° 20´, and as there are 27
asterisms we have again the 108 amshas or subdivisions of the ecliptic,
which undoubtedly were originally associated with the 108 sounds. The
fact that these sounds have come to be connected with the signs of the
zodiac is due to the affinity which exists between the asterisms and the
signs through their respective planetary rulers. For it will be shown
that the Ashtottaradasha system of Planetary Periods (which see)
recognizes the procession of planetary influence through the 108 padams
in the course of 108 years, so that each year comes under the influence
of one of these sections of the ecliptic, and the count in each case is
made from the position held by the Moon at the time of birth.
This subject of Planetary Sounds is of immense interest, but inasmuch as
it has been developed solely along Oriental lines and has its basis in a
system which did not recognize the Vernal Equinox as a starting-point,
but found its yogatara in the first point of As’wini (_Zeta Piscium_), I
advise my readers to accept with extreme caution the statement that
specific sounds are identified with particular planets or signs of the
zodiac, and more particularly would I caution the reader not to rely
upon the application of these Initial Sounds to the problems of
speculation. I have merely shown in this place how they are derived, and
thus have no doubt satisfied the curiosity of those who have seen them
in other books where they are given without explanation, authority or
warning, and stated as if they had been experimentally proved.
CHAPTER XVI
PLANETARY HOURS
No records that are available to us serve to determine at what period in
the course of social evolution the need for a week of seven days first
made itself felt, nor can we discover who it was first invented it.
Newton believed that Chiron was the first to define the constellations
of the heavens, and this also was the opinion of the Greeks. But that is
to give to the mythical centaur a personal reality. It is true that we
may find him, along with his contemporary Hercules, by whose arrow he
met his death, among the constellations, and if it be the fact that the
Greeks exalted their heroes to the stars and shaped the constellations
so as to record their fame for ever, then we can only conclude that
Chiron did not define the constellations of either Sagittarius or
Hercules, whatever may have been his part in the matter so far as the
rest are concerned.
It is further to be observed that long before the period ascribed to the
famous centaur we have mention of the constellations in the Book of Job,
where Arcturus, the Pleiades, Orion and the Mazzaroth are mentioned.
Both Homer and Hesiod mention some of the constellations, but it is
known that Hipparchus, about 150 B.C., defined the limits of forty-eight
of the asterisms, while Ptolemy gave us a complete catalogue. Some
constellations have since been added by Tycho, Helvetius and others. But
from what has already been said on this subject it will be evident that
the mythology and astronomy of the Greeks was closely connected, but
this does not of necessity prove a Greek origin, for we have yet to
determine the origin of the myths. That many of these are shared by the
Assyfians, Aryans, Persians and Egyptians, seems to show that they had a
Chaldean origin. The Chinese have an astronomy which appears to be
unique and without parallel among other nations.
If we go back to the earliest record, the Chinese, we shall find that
they had no week of days, but a cycle of sixty days, and also one of
sixty years. But the days of the month were reckoned from the Moon’s
age, the day of the New Moon being called the first day. Thus we find in
the earliest record such expressions as “the first day of the first moon
he brought things to a conclusion in the temple of his ancestors,” and
“on the first day of the twelfth moon,” etc. Even the great Confucius
gives no hint of any week of seven days. In his Chun-Tsiu he makes such
entries as the following: “In the fifty-eighth year of the cycle and the
third year of the reign of Prince Yiu Kung, in the Spring, on the first
day of the Second Moon, the day being the sixth of the cycle (of sixty
days), the sun was eclipsed.” All his entries are of the same careful
and explicit nature, and expressed in the same terms, that is to say, in
reference to the Cyclic year, the number of the month, the year of the
reigning Prince of Lu, and the day of the cycle of sixty days.
The earliest divisions of time among the Aryans also follow the
Sixty-year period, and the use of the Tithi or Moon day is also to be
found in the earliest astronomical records. Nothing more, indeed, is
needed for an accurate record of time than an Epoch, a cycle of years
counted from that epoch, the number of the last lunation, and the day of
the month counted from that lunation. The introduction of a week of days
is an adjunct that has no special value in a time sense, and could only
have been the invention of a state of civilization in which ceremonies
and institutions of a weekly recurrence were required to be indicated
and fixed. We find mention of the week, however, in Sanskrit writings,
as Somavar (Monday), Kujavar (Tuesday), Buddhavar (Wednesday),
Brihaspativar (Thursday), Sukravar (Friday), Sanivar (Saturday) and
Suryavar (Sunday), but there do not appear to be sufficient grounds for
fixing an epoch at which they came into use.
The days of the week as we have them appear to be of Hebrew origin, and
probably were derived from the Chaldeans, for in the first place the
appointment of specific duties for the several days of the week,
culminating in the day of divine worship on the seventh or Sabbath day,
requires such a division of time, and in the second place it can be
shown that the order of the days of the week can only be accounted for
by reference to the Chaldean order of the planets, which, as has been
shown, has reference to their apparent velocities.
The Septenary division of days, etc., is distinctly Shemitic in its
origin, and we find accordingly that the system was extended by the
Hebrews to a period of seven years, and to a further period of seven
times seven years which was celebrated as the Jubilee. The cycle of
seven is not elsewhere found. Western nations have done what they can to
break down this old institution by associating the Sabbath with Sunday
instead of Saturday, and by celebrating the Jubilee at the end of fifty
years instead of at the end of forty-nine. But the teachings of the
astrologers and tenacity of the Jewish faith have served to keep the
astronomical and religious aspects of this institution intact.
But whereas we find difficulty in tracing the origin of the week-days
through any authentic records, we have still more difficulty in
ascertaining the principles by which the first day was allotted to the
Sun, the second to the Moon, and so forth. One cannot tell the day of
the week by looking at the sky or by taking into account any known
astronomical factor. But whatever may have been the reason for fixing on
a particular day as the Sun-day and beginning the week with it, it has
been adhered to ever since, and, so far as we astrologers and Kabalists
are concerned, it is satisfactory to know that it works out on empirical
test.
What are known as the Planetary Hours are derived from the succession of
the days of the week, commencing with the planet ruling and giving its
name to the day, and following the Chaldean cyclic order. Thus on a
Sunday the first hour is governed by the Sun, to which follow in
succession, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. On a
Saturday the first hour is ruled by Saturn, to which succeed in order,
Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. Then as there are twenty-four
hours in the day and seven hours in the planetary cycle, the latter will
be contained three times, making twenty-one hours, and there will be
three hours still to run. So if we begin with Sun on Sunday and follow
with the cycle through the day, we shall complete the third cycle with
Mars, and the twenty-second hour will be the beginning of the next cycle
under the rule of the Sun, to which succeeds twenty-third Venus,
twenty-fourth Mercury, and the first hour of the next day will be under
the rule of the Moon, which will accordingly be Monday, as shown in the
following tabular form, which may be extended at pleasure. The planetary
hours differ from the statute hours inasmuch as they are divisions of
the natural day and night. The day is counted from sunrise to sunset,
and the night from sunset to the next sunrise. From sunrise to noon is
the space of six planetary hours, and from noon to sunset six. Hence if
the day is fourteen hours long, each planetary hour will be equal to one
statute hour of sixty minutes and twenty minutes beside, making 1 hr. 20
min. of civil time.
The seventh hour will commence at noon and will last for eighty minutes,
and the eighth hour will begin at 1.20 and will also last for eighty
minutes. The foregoing table shows the afternoon or second quadrant of
six planetary hours on the 5th of July, when the day is found to be 16
hrs. 28 min. in duration, one-half of which is 8 hrs. 14 min. One-sixth
of this is 1 hr. 22 min. 20 sec., which is successively added to Noon to
find the beginnings of the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth
hours. The last hour thus begins at 6.52 and ends at 8.14. The
subdivisions of the hour are one-seventh of 1 hr. 22 min. 20 sec., which
amounts to about 11 min. 46 sec., say 12 min. This being continually
added, from noon onwards, gives the beginnings of the subdivisions of
the Hour, as shown in the table. In my _Kabala_ I have shown the
practical working of these hours and Periods of the day so that there is
no need to repeat the process in this place.
[Illustration: Figure 18. Planetary Hours.]
The Kabalists and Thaumaturgists have always had recourse to the
Planetary Hours for the purpose of performing their operations under
specific influences, and anybody who will take the trouble to note the
time of an event happening and compare it with the nature of the planet
ruling in that hour will find ample reason for confirming the scheme as
we have it from the ancient Hebrews. But this, perhaps, involves a more
intimate knowledge of astrology than is professed by the average man.
[Illustration: Figure 19.]
It may, therefore, be of use to the student if the general
significations of the planets are here given.
The SUN signifies the father, ruler, or person in authority, gold,
health, life, matters relating to government, preferment, honours,
inaugurations and constitutions, male life generally, the daytime.
The MOON relates to the mother, public bodies, silver, white fabrics
such as linen; changes, matters relating to public affairs, women, the
night, and female life generally.
MARS refers to all youths and marriageable men, fire, iron and steel,
anger, strife, muscular force, cuts, burns and wounds, blood, death,
things that are scarlet or red, fevers, enterprises, operations,
incisions, soldiers and pioneers.
MERCURY has reference to boys and scholars, writings, papers, short
journeys, buying and selling, deeds of writing, food, clothing,
furniture and personal equipment, trade, profession, speech, quotations.
JUPITER has relation to affairs of justice, gain, increase, expansion;
to lawyers, insurance, religion, philosophy; affairs of grandeur and
display; hopes and fears, wishes, expectations, money and success.
VENUS refers to young women of a marriageable age, to engagements,
births, weddings, social functions, pleasures, theatres, music, art,
peace, rest and happiness.
SATURN is related to privation, darkness, solitude, coldness, hatred,
jealousy, heavy weights, gravity, soberness, gloom, doubts,
difficulties, falling, loss, sickness, aged people, old associations,
memories, black and sombre colours, mourning, death.
In a word, the characteristics of a letter or event will be: In the hour
of the Sun—Honours; that of the Moon—Changes; that of Mars—Strife; that
of Mercury—Business; that of Jupiter—Gain; that of Venus—Pleasure; that
of Saturn—Loss.
It is to be observed that the use of the statute hour in connection with
planetary action has arisen from the consideration of their
universality, and an equatorial scheme in which the Sun rises at six
o’clock approximately would thus yield a day of twelve hours, and each
quadrant would embrace six hours of little more or less than sixty
minutes each in duration. But the application of the statute hour to
sunrise in high northern latitudes would appear to be without adequate
foundation, and in effect we find that the results depending thereon are
not consistent. It is these inconsistencies, arising from the
introduction of new elements into the ancient scheme, and the general
neglect into which the whole subject has fallen, that has given the
impression that the ascriptions are fanciful and the matter not worth
investigation. I know enough of the matter, however, to warrant my
calling attention to these Planetary Hours as most worthy of close study
by students of celestial influence.
A considerable field of research lies open to the diligent student. It
has to be finally determined, for instance, whether apparent sunrise is
to be taken as the basis of the calculations or the true Sun’s centre
rising. The latter is not subject to corrections for parallax, nutation,
and aberration, but depends on the rising of the Sun’s longitude on the
celestial horizon, the false horizon being ignored. The celestial
horizon, it should be observed, is always 90° from the Zenith. The
formula for this calculation is: Log. tang. latitude of place + log.
tang. Sun’s declination = log. sine of Sun’s ascensional difference. For
North declination add to 90° and for South declination subtract from
90°. The result is the semiarc diurnal of the Sun, and twice this is the
diurnal arc or the time the Sun remains above the horizon. Convert to
time at the rate of four minutes for every degree and four seconds for
every minute of arc.
We have then to determine whether sunrise is the correct starting point,
or whether it should not be noon, as in agreement with the original
Chaldean conception of the division of the circle into “evening” and
“morning.”
I may say that in my experience the count should be made from sunrise,
that the true Sun’s centre rising should be taken, and that the Chaldean
order of the Hours should be preserved. I have also found that the
subdivisions play quite a minor part in the determination of results,
and that all events falling within the limits of the Planetary Hour
should be found subject to the ruler of that Hour, and only in a
subsidiary degree to the ruler of the subdivision of the Hour. I may now
pass to a consideration of another aspect of this interesting subject.
CHAPTER XVII
CELESTIAL MAGNETIC POLARITIES
It has already been shown by one of our Kabalas that there is a certain
polarity existing between the planets of the system by which they become
natural antitheses and thus stand in certain relations of polarity.
Hence it is that the numbers attaching to them are interchangeable. Thus
it was shown that Mars and the Moon, the one having its exaltation sign
in Capricorn and the other its rulership in Cancer, the opposite sign,
were numerical resolvants. Also that Mercury, having its exaltation sign
in Aquarius, was resolved into terms of the Sun, whose rulership is
vested in the opposite sign Leo. Further, that the Moon, having its
exaltation in the sign Taurus, was interchangeable with Mars, whose sign
is Scorpio, in opposition to Taurus.
The scheme of Planetary Hours involved the whole of this question of
Planetary Numbers, and it was shown that the matter was open to
considerable controversy, necessitating prolonged observation and
research.
There is another point in connection with the interchange of Planetary
Numbers which requires consideration. It is that of polarity.
Astrologers everywhere recognize the fact that the signs of the zodiac
are alternately active and passive, or positive and negative, male and
female, and the Houses or twelve divisions of the visible heavens are
said to have the same polarity as the signs with which they are
associated, as Aries with the 1st House, Taurus with the 2nd House, and
so on.
Now, at a mean rate of motion, which is attained at the equinoxes, the
apparent transit of the Sun through the Houses or divisions of the Prime
Vertical is at the rate of 30°, or the space of one House in two hours.
Therefore, if the Houses are to be regarded as having the same polarity
as the signs they are associated with, then the first 30° of the Sun’s
diurnal arc will be negative in action and the next positive, and so on
alternately. But it has already been empirically proved that the
quadrant from sunrise to noon is positive, that from noon to sunset
negative, from sunset to midnight positive, and from midnight to sunrise
negative.
For a demonstration of this principle I refer my readers to “The Law of
Sex” developed in my _Manual of Astrology_. This law requires that the
majority of influence exerted from the S.E. quarter of the heavens,
which extends from the Sun’s rising to its culmination, shall be
positive and tending to male generation, while that from the S.W.
quarter shall be negative and tending to female generation.
But it can also be shown that the Planetary Hours, each of which
occupies the time of the Sun’s passage through one-half of a House, or
15°, are alternately positive and negative. We then derive the following
useful diagram of the
[Illustration: Figure 20. Polarity of the Houses.]
In this diagram the inner circle shows the polarity of the Houses,
whether positive or negative, the next circle outward shows the polarity
of the Hours, and the outside circle shows that of the Quadrants, which
is summative of the Houses and Hours.
Applying this to the subject of planetary action, it will be seen that a
planet occupying the S.E. quadrant of the heavens will exert a positive
influence, but that its influence will be largely negatived when it
occupies the second half of the 11th House in the course of its rising,
and similarly, that a planet in the S.W. quadrant will exercise a
negative influence, which will be rendered more positive when the planet
comes to the first half of the 8th House in the course of its setting.
The fact that male horoscopes are generated from the S.E. and N.W.
quadrants and female from the S.W. and N.E., goes to show that these
ascriptions are valid, and when we further consider that human vitality
is lowest at the two points that are occupied by the negative influence,
and highest at those that are here shown to be positive, should, in my
opinion, go a long way towards establishing this order in our
astrological scheme of things.
Now, if we consider the whole earth to be surrounded with etheric
vibrations and interpenetrated by them, we may also legitimately refer
these vibrations to colours and sounds since all the forces of Nature
are interchangeable and convertible. Such a conception lends itself at
once to experimental proof, and, as the result of researches carried on
during successive years by Carl von Reichenbach, we have a definite
scheme of colour attributable to the different sections of the heavens.
It is shown that there is a form of electricity visible to persons of a
highly sensitive nature when placed in the dark. In _The Sensitive Man_
Reichenbach has given a mass of experiments which show that the Od fluid
undergoes a variety of changes according to the magnetic relations of
the subject or object from which they proceed. In the second volume
there is a description of the Earth-Aura. This is not, as one might
suppose, a composite of the various auras of its geological
constituents, but a thing apart and independent of human, animal,
vegetable and other emanations. Every body has its own aura, and these
blend upon contact or within auric distance, producing changes in the
magnetic relations of the bodies concerned. The human aura is like that
of the crystal and has an obvious polarity. Thus the auric colour at the
head is blue while that at the feet is dark red; the right side is
grey-blue and the left side yellow. Now this answers exactly to the
polarity of the visible heavens, for it is observed that Blue, the most
magnetic colour, is associated with the North or midnight point; Red,
the most electric, with the South and mid-day; the neutral to the East
and the dawn; and the Yellow to the West and sunset.
When the body is laid horizontally, with the head to the North, the
colours were seen at their greatest brilliancy, passing from blue at the
head through blue green to dark green, light green and yellow, golden
yellow, and orange to deep red at the feet. But the most remarkable
effect is that if the body be gradually revolved so as to pass through
the successive points of the compass, a series of remarkable changes
take place in the colours of the aura, and the original colours are no
longer seen, but the blue at the head undergoes successive changes by
the admixture of other colours according to the angle of deflection, and
in effect we have the—
COLOURS OF THE TWELVE HOUSES.
1st, Grey; 2nd, Blue-grey; 3rd, Blue with red rays, Violet; 4th,
Blue; 5th, Dark Green; 6th, Light Green; 7th, Yellow; 8th, Golden;
9th, Orange; 10th, Red; 11th, Violet-red, Purple; 12th, Grey-red or
dull Red.
Now the presence of a planet or of a group of stars, such as enter into
the composition of a constellation, may reasonably be held to effect
some magnetic change in the radical nature of the vibrations emanating
from that quarter. The planets are found to exert an influence on the
magnetic needle, and both Venus and Jupiter, as affecting the earth in
its orbit, may be regarded as instances of the interplay of cosmical
factors. The medium by which the magnetic needle is affected by these
planets is doubtless the magnetic aura of the earth.
The planets could, indeed, affect us through their light rays if by no
other means, for experiments have shown that by directing the rays of
Jupiter and some of the fixed stars through a telescope on to a selenium
screen at a distance of ten feet, the comparative effect was, of a
candle light 1, of Procyon 0·261, of Cygnus O·262, of Aldebaran O·279,
of Orion O·685 and of Jupiter 3·272!
Astrologically we are able to distinguish the psychically gifted by the
presence of the planets in the lower meridian, but especially Sun and
Mercury, Saturn and the Moon. This answers to the point of magnetic
intensity at the maximum which is registered about midnight, and this
observation leads to the conclusion that the planets do not of necessity
influence us by their direct rays, but by the changes that they cause in
the earth’s magnetic aura at various points in the circle of the visible
heavens. Primarily the Sun must be the cause of the normal magnetic aura
of the earth, and the planets would in this sense be moderators, which
is the old name applied to them by Ptolemy. Thus the presence of several
planets or the luminaries in the lower meridian at the time of a
person’s birth will render that person particularly negative or
sensitive to the changes taking place in the auric consensus of
environment, and those who are in the habit of classifying and collating
horoscopes will have abundant proof at hand that this is the case. On
the other hand, we find extremely positive people to be produced by the
presence of planets in the 10th House, near the South Meridian, and
especially such as have Mars (colour, red) reinforcing the natural auric
colour of that part of the heavens. Two examples come readily to my
mind, that of Kaiser Wilhelm, in whose horoscope both Neptune and Mars
are in the Mid-heaven, and that of the late William T. Stead, in whose
horoscope Mars and Uranus are close to the Mid-heaven.
In effect we have the earth as the centre of a vast kaleidoscope,
undergoing changes of colour from hour to hour by reason of the Sun’s
passage from one rising to the next. Obviously there can be no universal
red or blue since the Mid-heaven of one place is the horizon of another
that is 90° East or West of it. Consequently there must be some factor
that produces local colouring, which at the zenith produces vibrations
which manifest as red and at the nadir as blue. This factor must be the
Sun, since it is the only cosmic factor that has a constant relation to
any part of the earth at the same hour each day. The planets in their
courses will then intervene to bring about modifications of the colours
or vibrations instituted by the Sun, and of these the Moon, as the
quickest moving in its orbit, will be the chief. Mercury will come next,
and then Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, so that in effect we have the
Chaldean order of interpretation once more.
The question then arises as to whether that part of the earth’s aura
where the Sun is at any moment should not always be taken as the
positive maximum answering to noon and the colour red. If so, then it
follows that the time of birth becomes a very important factor in the
constitution of what may be called the magnetic constitution of a
person. The whole subject is full of suggestions of the utmost
significance, but hardly at this date in a condition to admit of
dogmatic statement. The subject is therefore better left for future
consideration.
CHAPTER XVIII
VULCAN THE CHAIN MAKER
There is an aspect of Mars which has an interest for us as prisoners in
this house of flesh. Vulcan or Hephæstus, son of Jupiter and Juno, is
the artificer of human bonds. By some he is thought to be allied to
Pluto, the god of the Infernos, and in the Kabalistic conception,
Malcuth, or the Earth, is the lowest of the heavens and the highest of
the hells, being in fact in a state of equilibrium between the Superior
and Inferior worlds and therefore, as Swedenborg suggests, it is in a
state of freedom from that circumstance. But can so much be said of
those that dwell therein? I doubt it. The Oriental doctrine of Samsara
pictures man as a mere “Butterfly on the Wheel,” bound by the chains of
his own desires to the wheel of cyclic rebirth into a world of
suffering.
“Ye suffer from yourselves, none else compels,
None other holds you that ye lag and stay,
And whirl upon the wheel, and hug and kiss
Its spokes of agony, its tyre of tears,
Its nave of nothingness!”
The law of moral causation, as well as that of affinity, impels man to
rebirth while there are any unexhausted desires in him. These
unexhausted tendencies are called _skandhas_. It does not matter what we
call them, we are all conscious of their existence and of the terrible
strife they cause in us. These desires are in the Adamic nature, they
are in the human blood, and Mars is their cosmic symbol. They are the
chains of Vulcan.
The number of Mars is nine and the magic of the number nine haunts us
from our birth to the very last day of our existence in this world. In
the Kabala of Numbers I have shown the connection between the Adamic
race and the number nine. This is the Iron Age, the Kali Yuga, and the
horoscope of the world shows the sign Aries, ruled by Mars, in the
ascendant. In the age of Saturn men sought virtue and distinction in
obscurity. Now there is but one way to recognition and success, Force
and Self-assertion. Let those take it who will. What is said of those
who willingly take to the sword may be applied to the slaves of every
other form of human passion. Mars will lay them by the heel and bring
them back to retribution.
The cycle of nine is at the root of almost all the mysteries of human
life. It crops up in all the astronomical cycles as if it were at the
root of them, and as representing cosmic energy (Fohat) and the human
will (Ichcha) it manifests in all purpose and all action, cosmical and
human. For Mars (nine) is desire (kama) and desire is that which
underlies both will and action.
There is a period of cosmic activity which runs in a nine-year cycle. It
has even been shown that meteorology cannot shake free of it. The year
1893 was a year of drought, rain being unknown from April to October of
that year, and the summer was exceptionally hot. The same may be said of
1902 and 1911, which are years falling in the nine-year cycle. But 1894,
1903 and 1912 were wet summers, and the temperature also abnormally low.
Dr. Goad, who studied meteorology from the same standpoint of cosmic
interplay, considered that Mars was of chief importance in weather
predictions. Some people appear to think that the icebergs on which the
_Titanic_ foundered are responsible for the wet summer of 1912. I dare
venture the opinion that it was something many degrees warmer than an
iceberg. That icebergs in the temperate zone have a tendency to condense
the air and so to produce rain seems reasonable, but who loosed the
chains that bind the icebergs to the poles. Undoubtedly it was our
Vulcan.
In a scheme of thought that regards the whole world as a symbol, and
that is the standpoint we are taking in this study of the cosmos,
planets are not necessarily causative but they are necessarily symbolic.
The symbol of humanity is the number Nine, and this is the number of the
planet Mars. Hence we may say that for the present and during the whole
course of this age of the world’s evolution or unfoldment, we are under
the dominion of Mars. The sooner we get into wireless communication with
him and understand some of his ways the better it will be for us. For he
is not only the maker of chains but the breaker of them, inasmuch as he
represents both the Desire that fashions them and the Will that looses
them.
Nine is also the cosmic factor. We have already seen that the precession
of the equinoxes is at the rate of 1° in seventy-two years, and 30° or
one sign in 2,160 years, the whole circle being completed in 25,920
years. All these numbers are multiples of nine. Twice nine gives us the
solar cycle, three times nine the number of the asterisms, in six times
nine years the eclipses move through one sign of the zodiac, and in 648
through the entire circle. But this is nine times seventy-two, and so we
find ourselves again and again enmeshed by the network of a nonal
necessity. As the Old Philosopher truly says: “Heaven’s net has large
meshes, yet nothing escapes it!”
Applying this magic of the number nine to some of the deeper problems of
human experience, we may profitably examine the symbolism of the
asterisms, which are twenty-seven in number, or three nines. The Hindus
have a period which they regard as the sum of life, extending to 108
years, which is twelve times nine. From this we may draw the conclusion
that the Moon remains in one sign for nine years and that this sign
reflects nine others. The system is connected with the Ashtottaradasha
system to which reference has already been made, and of course, with the
navamshas or ninefold divisions of the signs of the zodiac.
We have already seen that the ninth part of a sign of 30° is 3° 20´, and
that each such part corresponds to a particular sign of the zodiac. This
may be seen in the Navamsha Table already given.
Let us suppose, for instance, that the Moon was in the sign Leo 22° 43´
at the birth of a person. By our Table it is seen that this corresponds
with the sign Libra, which navamsha extends from 20° 0´ to 23° 20´ of
the sign Leo. Then in order to find at what age Libra navamsha expires
we say—
As 3° 20´ is to twelve months so is (23° 20´-22° 43´) 37´ to the answer.
Now 3° 20´ is equal to 200´, so that if we multiply 37´ by twelve and
divide by 200, we shall have the months required, namely, 2·22 months or
two months seven days nearly. Therefore we know that the Moon is under
the influence of Venus during the first two months of the life, and from
Libra it passes to Scorpio, when it comes under the influence of Mars,
and then to Sagittarius navamsha, where it is under the influence of
Jupiter. With this navamsha the limits of the sign are reached, and the
Moon in passing into the sign Virgo comes first under the navamsha of
Capricorn which is ruled by Saturn, and from Capricorn it goes into
Aquarius navamsha and is still under the influence of Saturn. And each
navamsha is one year, so that we know that the period from two years and
two months to four years two months is evil, for Saturn is privation,
loss, darkness and death, and by the cyclic order of things this will
recur every twelve years, since nine goes into 108 twelve times. Now it
is a fact that in the case cited the cyclic recurrence of this influence
of Saturn brought about at four years the death of the father, at
fifteen the death of the grandfather, at twenty-seven the death of the
mother, at thirty-nine the loss of all property. Similarly by this
system of the cycle of nine twelves, at the Moon’s occursion into the
navamsha of Cancer, which is the lunar influence disposing to changes,
and which occurred at 8, 20, 32, and 44, there were radical changes in
life and surroundings.
Any case can be worked out with perfect ease from the Table of
Navamshas, and will serve to show that there is a veritable law of
periodicity at work in the lives of men. Not that all events or periods
recur at the end of twelve years as might be thought by the impatient
student from the examples here given. On the contrary, it will be seen
upon closer study that Jupiter has a period of three years, followed by
one of nine years; Mars, one of five years, followed by one of seven;
Venus one of seven, followed by one of five; Mercury one of nine years,
followed by one of three; and so on. But all the planets recur eighteen
times in the course of the cycle of 108 years, and the Sun and Moon nine
times each. Then as there are five planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus
and Mercury, they will amount in all their periods to ninety years, and
the Sun and Moon will amount together to eighteen years, thus making the
complete cycle.
In the Brihat-Paras’arahora there are many systems of planetary cycles,
employing the same factors variously, and all of them symbolically,
since they do not depend on the true motions of the planets in their
orbits. Indeed, the ancient writers appear to have devoted themselves
very closely to the interpretation of cosmic symbology, and there are
grounds which lead me to think that some of their famous Nadigranthams
or Books of Destiny are built up entirely on a symbolical basis.
One of the most famous of these is the S’ukranadi in which the
horoscopes are written out for every 6´ of the ecliptic rising, making
some 21,600 different delineations. But in addition to this there are
purva and uttara, or first half and latter half, subdivisions of each of
the periods dealt with. The planets are distributed after a certain
order beginning with the ruler of the rising sign, and this order
differs according to the consideration whether the sign is cardinal,
fixed or mutable.
By this means a complete interpretation of the permutations of the
cosmical kaleidoscope is effected, and from various of the readings that
have been submitted to me I am persuaded that there is without doubt a
great deal of truth in them. One such grantham applies to all those who,
whether European or Hindu, were born between the Vindhyas and the
Himavats, but unfortunately, having other engagements of a karmic
nature, I find myself among the large number whose horoscopes are not
contained in the kadjan. These monumental works have hardly received the
attention they deserve and I am therefore collecting information with a
view to their analysis and study.
Another very important subdivision of the ecliptic circle is that of the
Das’amsha or tenfold division of the sign into amshas of 3° each.
Applied to the twelve signs we have as a result 120 divisions in the
circle, answering to the Vimshottaradasha system of Planetary periods,
notice of which has already been made. In this system the amshas do not
run consecutively in the order of the signs of the zodiac through the
various signs, but follow the order of the triplicities, known as the
four “Elements,” Fire, Earth, Air, Water.
Thus the Fiery Triplicity comprises Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. The
Das’amshas begin with Aries, and the first 3° or amsha of Aries is ruled
by Aries, the first of Taurus by Leo, and the first of Gemini by
Sagittarius. The first amsha of Cancer is ruled by Taurus, the first of
Leo by Virgo, and the first of Virgo by Capricorn, these being the
Earthy Triplicity. The first amshas of Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius
are ruled by Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius, these being of the Airy
Triplicity, and the first amshas of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces are
ruled by the Watery Triplicity comprising the signs Cancer, Scorpio and
Pisces. The second amshas of Aries, Taurus and Gemini are ruled by the
Earthy Triplicity, the third by the Airy and the fourth by the Watery,
the triplicities then recurring again in their order. A study of the
following Table of Das’amshas will make the arrangement quite clear.
The twelve signs of the zodiac which occupy the first column are seen to
be divided into four groups answering to the four “Elements,” and the
first divisions of these groups are occupied by the four Triplicities.
These serve as entries or indices, and from them the signs run on in
their natural order.
Those who uphold the Vimshottaradasha system, in which the circle is
divided into 120 parts answering to 120 years of life, will find their
interpretations from the occursions of the Moon into these amshas, each
of which answers to one year of life. Thus the Moon remains in one sign
for ten years, during which it successively passes through ten sub-signs
or amshas, reflecting the nature of the planets governing those amshas.
It then passes into the next sign and takes up ten influences
successively, and so passes to the next sign. Thus in one complete
circle of the zodiac it will take up 120 different influences exerted by
the several planets in the various signs.
[Illustration: Figure 21. Table of Das’amshas.]
But each das’amsha or division of 3° is reflected in an entire sign.
Therefore each degree embraces 10° of the reflected sign. Thus the first
3° of the sign Aries correspond with the whole of the asterism Aries,
using that term for purposes of distinction only, and each of these 3°
will therefore correspond with 10° of the asterism, and every 6´ will
correspond with 1°. Thus, if we take the first 3° of the sign Aries, we
shall find that they correspond with the 30° of the asterism Aries, and
the next 3° of the sign with the whole of the asterism Taurus, and so
on. Here are the first 3° of the sign Aries reflected in the asterism
Aries—
Sign Aster
0° ♈ 6´ 1°
0 2
12
0 3
18
0 4
24
0 5
30
0 6
36
0 7
42
0 8
48
0 9
54
1 10
0
1 11
6
1 12
12
1 13
18
1 14
24
1 15
30
1 16
36
1 17
42
1 18
48
1 19
54
2 20
0
2 21
6
2 22
12
2 23
18
2 24
24
2 25
30
2 26
36
2 27
42
2 28
48
2 29
54
3 30
0
It is to be observed that in all these systems the Moon’s place at the
moment of birth or other epoch is the basis of the calculation. The
first of these I have been expounding bears the sign manual of Mars,
inasmuch as it is a ninefold division of the sign, and the latter system
is accordingly one that belongs to the Sun. The Hindus, who have many
methods of subdividing the signs, from two to thirty divisions for each
sign, have various uses also for the different methods, but the object
of them all is towards an intelligent anticipation of the course of
mundane events. In this direction the West has also developed some
methods, which, on account of their simplicity, have found a certain
vogue among the Arabs, and are even at this day exercising the ingenuity
of reputable exponents of the predictive art. They are called by the
Arabs, Alfridaries, and some examples of them are to be found in _The
Manual of Occultism_. Let us look at some of the later evolved examples
of the Alfridary.
CHAPTER XIX
ALFRIDARIES
Perhaps the simplest example of the Alfridary that we have received is
that in which the Sun takes precedence in all Day births and the Moon in
all Night births, the planets following the Sun in, the usual Chaldean
order, and the Moon in the reversed order.
The oldest that is known to us in the West is that invented by Claudius
Ptolemy in the second century. It is developed in the _Tetrabiblos_ or
Four Books on the Influence of the Stars, translations of which are
easily obtained, the best being that by Ashmand. Under the head of
Chronocrators, the Seven Ages of Man, so graphically described by the
bard in _As You Like It_, are for the first time mentioned and placed
under the dominion of the seven planets of the ancient solar system.
Ptolemy’s invention consists in ascribing to these ages the number of
years they extend, and applying to them certain periods of the planets
and luminaries. Thus he makes the Moon to rule the first four years of
life, the infant “mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms”; the next ten
years are under Mercury, and denote the “schoolboy, with ... shining
morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school.” The next eight
years are under Venus, and represent “the lover, sighing like furnace,
with a woeful ballad made to his mistress’ eyebrow.” The next nineteen
are under the influence of the Sun, according to Ptolemy. The next
fifteen under that of Mars, denoting the “soldier ... bearded like a
pard ... sudden and quick in quarrel.” Jupiter rules the next twelve
years and represents “the justice ... full of wise saws and modern
instances.” Saturn, ruling the next thirty years, figures “the lean and
slippered pantaloon.” Here the system of Ptolemy ends, and to this the
poet, with that prophetic apprehension of ulterior need, adds a truly
Uranian picture of that “second childishness and mere oblivion” which
characterizes paralytic dotage. Astrologers have sought to apply this
system of Chronocrators to the horoscopes of persons by taking into
consideration the aspects held by these planets at the time of birth and
judging of the period under consideration accordingly. Thus a person at
whose birth Mars is an afflicting planet, as may be seen by its aspects
to the Sun, Moon and other significant points of the horoscope, would
suffer many troubles and misfortunes during the period from forty-one to
fifty-six years of his age. One in whose horoscope Jupiter is a
beneficent planet, as judged by its aspects, would similarly have good
fortune and experience many benefits during the period of Jupiter from
fifty-six to sixty-eight years of age. So in regard to the other
Chronocrators. The scheme is set out in the following table—
Table of Chronocrators
_By Ptolemy._
Moon 4 years. From 1 to 4
inclusive.
Mercury 10 ” ” 5 ” 14 ”
Venus 8 ” ” 15 ” 22 ”
Sun 19 ” ” 23 ” 41 ”
Mars 15 ” ” 42 ” 56 ”
Jupiter 12 ” ” 57 ” 68 ”
Saturn 30 ” ” 69 ” 98 ”
This may be taken as the foundation of a number of ambitious attempts to
read light into the somewhat misty generalizations of the Alfridary. One
of these has regard to the Moon’s position at birth, and employs the
twenty-seven lunar mansions, so much in repute among the Orientals, the
periods ascribed to the planets in this scheme being: Sun 10 years, Moon
9 years, Mars 7 years, Mercury 13 years, Jupiter 12 years, Venus 8
years, Saturn 11 years, making 70 in all, the planets following the
order of the days of the week.
An extension of Ptolemy’s system of Chronocrators seems to be a very
feasible scheme, but to give it more particular application to the needs
of the practical astrologer it is found necessary to subdivide the
periods allotted to each of the planets.
For various reasons I should be disposed to adhere to the period of 108
years, as being so uniformly reflected in the cosmical order of things,
and there appears no reason why one planet should have a longer period
than another, seeing that in some horoscopes the Moon may have the major
influence and in others Saturn or another planet, and hence would
dominate the life more particularly. While it rules its influence is
paramount, and that is all that we can logically say of it. The attempt
to ascribe periods which are partly astronomical and partly symbolical
is at all events inconsistent, and only invariable experience of their
validity would warrant us in accepting them.
I propose, therefore, to employ all the known operative factors of the
cosmos, and to give to each of them a period of twelve years, and since
there are nine factors, there will be 108 years in the circle of life
represented by this scheme. The Chaldean order is adhered to, and the
Period is ruled first of all by the planet which heads it, and is
followed by the others in succession, or rather in rotation, for that
which rules the first subdivision of one Period will be last in the
sub-periods of the next Period, as the following table will show.
The Moon is seen to rule from 0 to 12, Mercury from 12 to 24, Venus from
24 to 36, Sun from 36 to 48, Mars from 48 to 60, Jupiter from 60 to 72,
Saturn from 72 to 84, Uranus from 84 to 96, and Neptune from 96 to 108.
Taking into consideration the known characteristics of the several
planets (all the bodies are regarded as planets from the point of view
of a stationary earth), these periods will, I venture to think, appear
as satisfactory as those of the Ptolemaic method, while the inclusion of
Uranus and Neptune should render the system complete.
[Illustration: Figure 22-a. Planetary Periods by Sepharial.]
[Illustration: Figure 22-b. Planetary Periods by Sepharial.]
[Illustration: Figure 22-c. Planetary Periods by Sepharial.]
An objection which has been raised against the Ptolemaic system of
Planetary Periods, and which on the same grounds may be raised against
this one, deserves consideration. It is said that it is extremely
unlikely that all persons are under the same planetary influence at the
same age. In this I should concur were it intended that a single planet
entered into the equation. Such, however, is not the case. For although
all persons are under the influence of the Moon at a certain period of
their life, and all of the same age are under the same periodic
influence at the same time, yet it must be remembered that in the large
variety of horoscopes which arise out of astronomical changes during
even a single month, it is extremely unlikely that any number of persons
of the same age were born under the same conditions, and in one
horoscope we shall find the Moon afflicted, in another well aspected,
and so on.
Consequently, the Moon Period in these horoscopes will be variously
interpreted. For if the planet governing the Period in force at any age
is well placed and aspected at birth, then the period will be a
fortunate one, and _vice versa_. Moreover, the sub-periods involving the
introduction of a subsidiary influence into the Period will be
interpreted in terms of the aspect the sub-period planet bears to the
Period planet at the moment of birth, and thus an infinite variety of
interpretations are afforded by the consideration of the various houses,
signs and aspects held by the planets in the radical or birth horoscope.
Each planet then will rule in succession for a Period of twelve years,
during which it will bring into play the conditions indicated by its
position and aspects at birth. The same planet will rule for the first
sub-period of that Period, and will be followed by the other planets in
Chaldean order. Each sub-period will extend over one year and four
months, and will import an influence agreeable to the nature of the
planet ruling it, as well as an influence in terms of its radical
relations to the Ruler of the Period.
Thus if at birth the Moon were badly aspected, then during the first
twelve years of life there would be poor fortunes and changes adverse to
the interests of the subject. If Venus were in bad aspect there would be
sickness and family trouble at from two years eight months to four years
of age, which is the Venusian sub-period of the Moon Period. Any planet
in the eighth sign from the Moon would import danger of death in the
family, and would threaten the life of the subject himself during the
sub-period of such planet. Similarly a planet in the second from the
Period planet shows gain; in the third journeys; in the fourth change of
residence, adversity to the parents; in the fifth benefits; in the sixth
sickness of the nature of the sub-period planet; in the seventh
adversity, rivalries, hurts; in the eighth loss and death; in the ninth
voyages and foreign affairs; in the tenth honours; in the eleventh new
associations and allies; in the twelfth bondage, restraint, anxieties,
etc.
It would appear that all the Alfridaries in existence are modelled upon
the das’a systems of the Hindus. In some of these the order of the
periods and sub-periods is regulated by considerations of precedence
established in the horoscope of birth, but I have been unable to obtain
any definite information which will guide one surely to a correct
disposition of the various factors, and I have therefore abandoned them
in favour of one that appears to me to have regard to cosmical
symbolism, and at the same time to include the application of
considerations of an individual and radical nature, such as those
obtaining in the horoscope of birth.
Thus every person born into the world is regarded as a variant of the
cosmical elements, a concrete symbol in himself, born under horoscopical
conditions which are part of his greater environment and related to a
world of life in which, for good or ill, he is required to function in
terms of his own nature. Hence the statement, which I hold to be
inviolable, that the planets affect us only in terms of ourselves. The
superman will have to be content to take incarnation as he finds it.
Without lying idle on the shelf for some ages he cannot wait for the
stars in their courses to wheel into position for the striking of the
perfect die. In all ages and nations there are such things as
horoscopical misfits, where the individual finds insuperable difficulty
in the way of perfect expression of character. But if we all try to do
our best in the circumstances allotted to us, we shall give to the
personal symbol a new and a better value than it has hitherto possessed.
It is this fact of human perfectibility that gives to astrological
interpretations an ever increasing interest. We see how the anciently
destructive forces of the planet Mars are converted by human evolution
into the executive ability of the man of action. How the ostentation of
the Jovian plutocrat is changed to the benevolence of the true
philanthropist, and how even the mean sordidness of the ancient Saturn
becomes the constructive carefulness of the social economist. And from
the remnants of this old universe of ours, maintaining its cosmic
integrity for ever, there shall at length be evolved “a new heaven and a
new earth.” For as the expression of divine Ideation, the universe is
the revelation of God to man, and this His handwriting in the heavens
means more than all the wisdom of all the ages has yet deciphered.
Cosmic Symbolism, of which here we are only dealing with the crudest
elements, will hereafter come to be regarded as the subject of man’s
highest intuitions, the embodiment of a perfected wisdom. Only when the
last word of the last chapter of the Gospel of Nature has been read and
understood will the heavens be rolled away as a scroll and the Word be
fulfilled which said: “Behold I make all things new!” For our God is in
the making.
CHAPTER XX
IN THE LUMBER ROOM
Almost every home has a lumber-room, a place where all the out-of-date
articles, derelict furniture, oddments of all sorts, are stored. Nobody
ever goes there except the man who wants a bit of stuff to fit
something, one of those quaint little notions that inventive men with
time on their hands are always at work upon. And almost every mind has
its lumber-room. The world has a huge depository of this sort. Into this
lumber-room of forgotten things I would have you come with me, you who
are interested in odd ideas.
Time was when the world believed that there was an inherent relativity
in things, and that nothing existed for itself alone. That is one of the
notions that we have thrown into the lumber-room. But as it fits my
needs I will bring it out into the daylight and have a look at it. The
belief that is now current in the world regarding the universe is that
it is a congeries of detached bodies, each existing for itself alone,
inhabited, maybe, or not inhabited, but capable of sustaining life of
some sort. There they are, out yonder, but what has that to do with us?
Well, the old-world notion was that by taking a dozen or so of pieces of
wood of various shapes and sizes and fitting them together you could
make what they called a chair. But nobody ever thought either that the
chair could make itself, or that the shapes, as they called them,
constituted a chair without being fitted together. The fitting was the
most important part of the business. A man picking up a shape would call
it a chair leg or whatever it might be, a back, thwart, side or seat.
None of them could be called a chair, but each of them suggested it.
Their use was in their relativity, their interdependence, their
connectedness. So it is with the throne of God, which is the universe.
That ancient notion of relativity—you will find it in the Mahabharata or
that section of it which they call the Sacred Song—was a good one.
This earth of ours is a comparatively small planet in a system of
worlds. It does not exist for itself alone, nor do those others which
surround it. Crude thinkers, without perspective, believed the earth to
be very big because it filled the eye. A threepenny-piece will cover the
Moon at arm’s length. It is all a matter of proportion. But the deeper
thinkers knew better, and if they were foolish enough to suppose that
the planets existed for this earth they also believed that the earth
existed for the planets, and they for one another. Interplanetary action
was believed in before Ptolemy wrote his book on the Influence of the
Stars, or Kepler had framed his cosmic laws, or Newton had found the
glue to hold the pieces together. The Carpenter had been at work before
ever man opened his blinking eyes to the morning sun, and what I have
called the Throne of God was made by Him for His own use. It is ours to
look and marvel.
This notion of planetary interaction, the idea that planets act and
react upon one another, involves that other which Science has not yet
condescended to observe, namely, planetary action in human life. Tycho
and Kepler, who argued things to their logical conclusion, believed in
it. Well, there are books enough on the subject already for those who
would learn about it, and I do not intend to add another to the number.
But I would like to revive an odd notion or two which even the dealers
in antiques, I mean the astrologers, especially the modern ones, have
relegated to the lumber-room.
One may even be excused for believing that planets, so nearly linked up
with the destinies of our earth, may have a direct action of a subtle
kind upon our lives and thought. But the idea that the Moon’s Nodes may
have such an influence is beyond all saving, at least so think our
modern astrologers. Yet this was an ancient belief, and it survives at
this day in India and other parts of the world. But then, you will
argue, they are not bodies at all but mere points. So is the actual
centre of the Sun on which the universe revolves. Your point is
nothing—or everything, as you will. I am not looking at the bodies
themselves but what they signify to us. I am looking at the Universe as
Symbol, I am trying to get at its meaning. If the planets may be
regarded as symbols, so may the Moon’s Nodes. They tried to give them a
real existence as the head and tail of the Dragon, the devourer of the
Sun and Moon. But this was for the popular fancy, as one might put off a
child with a fairy tale rather than afflict him with a lecture on
astronomy. They who calculated the positions of the Sun and Moon and
predicted eclipses, knew how to bring the Dragon to heel, and they knew
his feeding times. They used that knowledge to enslave a whole people,
and haply the same knowledge may help to set them free. Nevertheless,
they ascribed to the Moon’s Nodes a specific influence in human life, or
more correctly a special signification. One could have affirmed from a
mere knowledge of this significance that astronomy was first studied in
northern latitudes, for we see that the ascending node, that point at
which the Moon crosses the ecliptic in its upward course, was regarded
as fortunate, while the descending node was unfortunate. And what they
knew of the southern climes was evidently not much, for they called them
Patala and Avitchi, and figured the descent of the soul into the depths
of a great despair from the circumstance of the Moon’s southern course.
But all this was a symbolism not invented by man, for he regulates
neither the Moon’s orbit nor its Nodes, and had no hand in the making of
eclipses. It was there for him to read, and that is how he read it. Some
astrologers say that they were wrong. Others are more cautious. They
seem to have observed that certain periods in their lives coincided with
the transits of these Nodes over the places of the luminaries, the
Mid-heaven and the Ascendant of their horoscopes, and they have made due
note of the fact, leaving the uninitiated to decide for themselves by
experience as to which is the right way to hang up a horse-shoe for
luck. Yet among those who say it should be one way and those who say the
other, there are few indeed who are aware of the fact that they are
using the ancient symbol of the Moon’s Nodes ☊ and ☋.
But if the Moon’s Nodes have any symbolical meaning and can be used for
purposes of prediction, so surely should the Nodes of the other planets,
whose influence, gravitation excepted, is quite as great as hers. It is
at all events just as well that we should have them under observation,
and so I give them here.
NODES OF THE PLANETS FOR 1900, WITH THEIR MEAN MOTIONS FOR ONE
CENTURY.
Ascending Descending Motion
Neptune Leo 9° 43´ Aquarius 9° 43´ 1° 6´
Uranus Gemini 13 17 Sagittary 13 17 26
Saturn Cancer 22 5 Capricorn 22 5 53
Jupiter Cancer 9 24 Capricorn 9 24 1 0
Mars Taurus 18 2 Scorpio 18 2 46
Venus Gemini 15 44 Sagittary 15 44 52
Mercury Taurus 17 9 Scorpio 17 9 1 12
The Moon’s Node retrogresses through the entire zodiac in 18 years 225
days, which is at the rate of 19° 20´ per annum, and about 3´ per day.
The Nodes of all the other bodies are direct in motion.
Out of this same lumber-room I can bring another piece of neglected
furniture, which possibly may suit somebody’s convenience, for some men
build shanties out of old timber and others build theories out of
anything. Mr. William Lilly, whose patrons were King Charles and the
Great Reformer, Sir Elias Ashmole, and others of great fame, gave us the
secret of one of his most alarming and successful predictions. Not that
these latter are intended to alarm, but to forewarn and admonish. He
says that his prophecy of the Great Plague and the Fire of London,
1665-6, was effected by means of the Aphelion of the planet Mars, which
he noticed was due to ingress to the sign Virgo, that ruling the
monarchy of England in his day, about that time. Astronomy was not a
neat science in the time of Lilly, and he wisely refrained from giving a
date for the fulfilling of his Prophetic Hieroglyphs, but he published
them so well in advance of the double event as to secure himself against
a possible margin of error in the calculations. In a preceding chapter
the reader will find the calculation referred to. In effect Master Lilly
was called before the Committee of the House of Parliament and there
interrogated as to the founding of his prediction, and what light he
could throw upon the matter. It is reported that he acquitted himself
creditably and was thanked for his services. But mark you, Lilly said
nothing about the Horoscope of the Monarchy nor the Aphelion of Mars,
because doubtless he knew himself to be in the presence of learned men
who made laws and not horoscopes, and whose business it was to prevent
plagues and fires, not to predict them. But to the student of astrology
he has very candidly delivered his whole mind on the matter.
Now I have thought that if one man finds the Aphelion of a planet to be
effectual in producing or indicating certain events in agreement with
the nature of the planet concerned, others may be able to do the same
with other planets, regard being had to their Aphelia. Of course the
whole thing may be a bogey, and Lilly may be hiding his light in a
bushel. Commander Morrison, who was a clever man and a good astronomer,
sought to prove that the Fire was due to the precession of the Bull’s
North Horn to the ascendant of the City of London. The reader knows that
since this entry of the Bull into the City the herd has greatly
increased, and there are so many of them as to constitute another
Plague, were it not that they have let loose a host of Bears to demolish
them. Morrison’s idea is ingenious, and works out to a fraction, but
unfortunately he did not predict the Fire and the Plague, while Lilly
did. Therefore I am bound to accept Lilly’s explanation of his
performance; and his reason appears a good one, is in agreement with the
facts, and employs the astrology of the planet Mars in a consistent and
satisfactory manner. Further, I am bound by that performance and that
reasoning to examine the effects likely to be produced by the Aphelia of
the other planets. Here is a statement of their positions.
APHELIA OF PLANETS FOR 1900, WITH MOTIONS FOR 100 YEARS.
Neptune Scorpio 13° 47´ 1° 25´ per century.
Uranus Pisces 18 49 1 28 ”
Saturn Capric. 0 54 1 50 ”
Jupiter Libra 12 43 1 35 ”
Mars Virgo 4 15 1 52 ”
Venus Aquar. 9 57 1 21 ”
Mercury Sagit. 15 55 1 34 ”
Looking over these positions of the Nodes I find one from which I can
strike an Epoch at once. It is that of Saturn’s Aphelion ingress to the
sign Capricornus, which is found to have taken place in the year 1850.
There are four countries which are ruled by the sign Capricornus in
which at this time there were great upheavals, namely, India, Greece,
Mexico and New Zealand. India was engaged in the Sikh War against the
forces of the Moolraj, a whole Bengali regiment was disbanded for
mutiny, and Sir Charles Napier shortly resigned the command. Eight years
of unrest followed, culminating in the great Mutiny, and the rule of the
East India Company came to an end. Meanwhile Mexico was engaged in a
fierce war with the United States, and the political convulsions ended
in the resignation of President Arista. Four Presidents succeeded one
another in the space of three years, and the country eventually
established a new Constitution under General Comonfort in 1857. Greece
at this time came into conflict with the British and other European
governments because of its oppressions and its non-payment of debts to
foreign subjects. Insurrections and blockades continued for some years
and a change of the Ministry eventually brought about an agreement of
neutrality under the royal seal. New Zealand at the same time was acting
under the Charter granted to Sir George Grey and founding new townships.
In 1850, the year of Saturn’s Aphelion ingress, the New Zealand Company
relinquished its Charter and a new Constitution was formed, which was in
force from 1852 to 1857, when it was modified.
In every case the effects of such changes as took place in these several
Constitutions at this period were, I think, exceedingly beneficial, and
this is what might be expected from the circumstance of Saturn coming
into his own territory, for Capricornus is one of the cardinal or
political signs, and is ruled by Saturn.
But the motions of the Aphelia are so slow that many centuries have to
elapse before a new ingress is made, and this is hardly the way in which
one would seek to prove or disprove the symbolism of such phenomena. One
would rather consider that the influence of the several planets is
vested in their Aphelia, and then observe what effects follow the
transits of other planets over those places, and what effects are due to
the direction of the Significators, Sun, Moon, Mid-heaven and Ascendant,
to the places of these Aphelia in the prime vertical. But I find myself
talking the jargon of the astrologers, as Lytton would say, whereas I am
supposed to be talking about Cosmic Symbolism.
[Illustration: Figure 23.]
What are these Aphelia of the planets, and how does their symbolism
attach to us as humans? The Aphelion of a planet is that point in its
orbit, or imaginary orbit—for we have already disposed of the elliptical
theory—where it is at its greatest distance from the Sun. And if these
planets severally correspond with certain principles of our human
constitution, they may be said to have greater play and to be in a
condition to exert more of their own natures at such times than at
others, and proportionately less at other points in their orbits, and
least when in perihelion. For then those principles and planets are
enslaved to the Sun and answer most fully to his all-embracing and
compelling influence. A soul that is in its most perfect condition of
physical manifestation may be said to be in its perihelion, whereas one
that has shaken free to some extent from the gravitational pull of the
sun of this nether world, and has winged its way into the outer regions
of space, is to that extent in a condition of temporary liberation. One
is almost tempted by this analogy to revert to the symbolism of the
elliptical orbit, and to place in its empty focus another luminary or
Spiritual Sun, such as that conceived by Swedenborg, and to say that
these liberated souls are answering to the gravitational pull of that
luminary. The idea is fascinating, both astronomically and symbolically,
and since the kenofocus of the ellipse is not under lease to any of our
scientific theorists, I will place my Spiritual Sun in that centre of
the empyrean and complete my figure, as already exhibited in a preceding
chapter.
Now we see what comes of rummaging in a lumber-room. All sorts of
suggestions and possibilities, yet nothing perhaps that anybody would be
willing to bring back into daily use. These musty, time-worn and
out-of-date notions that nobody takes much note of may some day claim
the attention of a Ben Hassam or somebody with a nose for things of
value, and a scramble for priority will be the result. But alas! they
have no market value. Planets, principles, orbits, aphelia, and nodes,
they are all merely symbols in the everlasting Book of Life.
CHAPTER XXI
THE LAW OF VIBRATIONS
In my _Kabala_ I have shown that in the contest between Chance of the
haphazard sort which is merely speculative, and that because it is
grounded in ignorance, and Law which proceeds by method because it is
based on cosmic principles, the latter wins an easy victory, not once
but always. I showed that the divisions of the day and night that we
call Planetary Hours, whether they be artificial or not, have a certain
security from the fact that they are founded on the cosmic order of
planetary velocities. It was also shown that certain numbers answered to
the several planets, and that these numbers bore a definite relationship
to sound vibrations.
I have received such a lot of correspondence asking for further
instruction along those lines that I feel constrained, if only to gain
some little respite from my tormentors, to add a few pages here on the
subject of Chance reduced to Law.
Without at all departing from the phonetic evaluation of sounds as given
in the Universal Alphabet (_Kabala_, p. 30), it is possible to evolve a
number of methods by which the same results may be reached, but I find
none more satisfactory than that of the Law of Number and Vibration as
related to Planetary Hours.
It has already been explained that Planetary Hours depend on the length
of the day, or the time that the Sun is above the horizon, in any
locality. Take, for instance, the 18th October, when the Sun is above
the horizon for some 10½ hours. On that day the Sun sets in these
latitudes at five o’clock, and these five hours are divided into six
Planetary Hours, each of fifty minutes’ duration.
These Hours, again, are divided into seven Periods, each of which is
governed by or related to a planet, and these Periods will therefore be
about seven minutes in duration, since fifty divided by seven yields
seven and a fraction. Then for this day we have the Planetary Hour equal
to fifty minutes and the Planetary Period to seven minutes.
The usual mistake of those who have dealt with the use of the Planetary
Hour is that they divide the whole time of the Sun’s diurnal arc by
twelve, and apply these Hours to the time of sunrise. This must not be
done. The quarters of the day must be dealt with separately, the quarter
from sunrise to noon by itself, and that from noon to sunset by itself.
Six Planetary Hours are always completed at noon. Thus on the 18th
October aforesaid, the Sun rises at about 6.25, and consequently the
time from sunrise to noon will be 5 hrs. 35 min. and this is equal to
335 minutes, which being divided by six yields the Planetary Hour for
the first quarter of the day, namely, fifty-six minutes. Then, again, we
find that the time of sunset is 5 p.m. and this is equal to 300 minutes,
which, divided by six gives the Planetary Hour for the second quarter of
the day as equal to fifty minutes.
This is very different to taking an average of fifty-three minutes for
the Hour and applying it to sunrise, as the following comparative table
will show.
False Hours, True Hours,
begin begin
6.25 sunrise. 6.25 sunrise.
7.18 a.m. 7.21 a.m.
8.11 ” 8.17 ”
9.4 ” 9.13 ”
9.57 ” 10.9 ”
10.50 ” 11.5 ”
11.43 ” 12.0 noon.
Having found that the afternoon Hours are each equal to fifty minutes in
duration, we have to add this amount successively to noon to get the
beginnings of the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Hours. These may be
set out in a single line—
7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
12.0 12.50 1.40 2.30 3.20 4.10
And if to these beginnings of Hours we add successively seven minutes,
being one-seventh of the Hour of fifty minutes, we shall have the times
at which the various sub-periods begin. But it is also necessary to
affix the signature of the Planet ruling the Hours and Periods, and for
this purpose we may note that the 8th Hour is _always_ ruled by the
planet that gives the day its name, as Mercury on a Wednesday, etc. The
18th October, 1911, was a Wednesday. Also note that the first Period of
each Hour is ruled by the planet that gives its name to the Hour, the
rest following in the usual Chaldean order.
The table when fully set out will therefore present the following
appearance:—
[Illustration: Figure 24. Wednesday 18th October, 1911. Afternoon.
Planetary Hours.]
The reader will observe that in the periodic succession the 8th planet
syncopates, and the next Hour commences with the succeeding planet. This
is not so exceptional as at first it may appear, for we have analogies
throughout nature of the syncopation of the octave. If you take a wire
and stretch it across a bridge, as is done in the construction of a
stringed musical instrument, you will find that it answers to a certain
note when vibrated. At first sight you may be disposed to think that the
vibration extends over the whole length of the wire. This, however, is
not the case, for on closer observation you will find that at certain
points along its length the wire is quite stationary, while the rest of
it is vibrating. By placing the finger upon these neutral points or
nodes and again vibrating the wire, you will find that they are the
octaves of the open note produced by the wire when in free vibration.
The following sketch shows the principle of these neutral points or
nodes. They correspond to the 8th planet in the series.
[Illustration: Figure 25.]
The vibration being the cause of what we sense as sound, non-vibration
must correspond with silence, and so we know that the sound falls into
silence and re-emerges again in the higher octave of vibration. This
fact has an interesting application, which I cannot develop in this
place, but which the student will take due note of.
Having now got our Planetary Hours into array, we are at once able to
prove one or two of the occult axioms, the first being that composites
of sound are reducible to numbers, and the second is that these numbers
when reduced to their unit values correspond to one or other of the
planets.
By the use of the universal alphabet of sound, known as the Phonetic
Values, and which apply to all languages the world over, we may take the
name of any person, animal or thing which is in evidence at a particular
time and prove that its name value corresponds with the planet ruling
the Period in force at the time. Let us put it to the test once more.
I do not know and should have difficulty in finding the names of persons
who met with some distinction on the 18th October in the year 1911, but
I do know that certain animals bearing distinctive names gained
distinction by winning races at Gatwick on that particular day, and
_faute de mieux_ I will make use of them.
The first race was at 1.49. This was the Hour of the Moon and the Period
of Saturn. Therefore we must look for the numbers 1 or 8. It was won by
Tucker—4222-10-1.
The second event took place at 2.18, which is the same Hour of the Moon
and the Period of Venus. We must therefore look for 3 or 6. The race was
won by Acsu—1266-15-6.
The third event was at 2.48, in the Hour of Saturn and the Period of
Mars. We look, therefore, for 5 or 9. The event was won by
Lespedesa—316814171-32-5.
The fourth event took place at 3.15, which is the Hour of Saturn and the
Period of Moon. We must look for a 2 or 7. It was won by
Peristyle—8126413-25-7.
The fifth event was at 3.46, which is the Hour of Jupiter and the Period
of Venus. We must therefore look for 3 or 6. The event was won by
Wilfrid—63824—23—5. This does not harmonize, but we may note that Venus
was in the sign Virgo, ruled by Mercury—5.
The last event was at 4.16, in the Hour of Mars and the end of the
Period of Mars or the beginning of that of Sun. The latter gives us the
number 4 or 1. The event was won by Gadfly—214831—19—10—1.
Here we see that without the slightest equivocation or deviation from
the principle of evaluation of sounds already laid down, we obtain five
direct responses out of six tests.
Let us go on to the next day at Sandown, when the day being Thursday,
and the sunset about the same time, the 8th Hour will be ruled by
Jupiter and the beginnings of the Hours will be—
Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury
12.50 1.40 2.30 3.20 4.10
The Periods can be filled in as occasion requires.
The first event was at 1.30, and in the Hour of Jupiter and Period of
Saturn. We therefore look for distinction to fall to one whose name is
of value 1 or 8. The winner was Wild Duck—63422-17—8.
The second event, at 2.5, was in the Hour of Mars and the Period of
Mercury. The number will therefore be 9 or 5. The winner was
Myriad—41214-12—3. This is irregular, but it is seen that Mercury was
then in the sign Libra, ruled by Venus, negative 3.
The third event was at 2.30, in the Hour of Sun and Period of Sun. We
must expect 4 or 1 to win. The event was won by Runnymede—2251414-19-1.
The fourth event was at 3.7, in the Hour of Sun and the Period of
Jupiter. We look therefore, for 6 or 3. The event was won by
Sobieski—6621621-24-6.
The fifth event was at 3.38, and fell in the Hour of Jupiter and the
Period of Moon, but verging on that of Saturn. The numbers of Moon are 2
and 7. The event was won by Jessica—31621-13-4. This may be regarded as
an exception.
The last event was at 4.2, in the Hour of Venus and the Period of Sun.
The event should fall to 4 or 1. It was won by Pretiva—821461-22-4.
Here again we have four out of six results in strict conformity with the
rules of the Kabala of Numbers. It is not necessary to go further in
this demonstration. Taking all the factors into account, the odds
against nine out of twelve events coinciding with the requirements of
the Law of Vibrations are enormous.
The practical use to which we could put such information as this law
affords, is in the regulation of our efforts by the time factor. A
person whose name is of value 8 must not look for success in the hour
that is governed by Mars. He is sure to be cut out by one whose number
is 9 if it is between sunrise and noon, or by one whose number is 5 if
it is between noon and sunset. Similarly at other times. The putting
forth of our highest powers is of little effect in this sublunary world
unless we do so intelligently and in agreement with the Law of Astral
Vibration. Moreover, a Mars man should not concern himself with things
that belong to Jupiter, nor one under Saturn with those that are
governed by Mars. An aviator or motorist who puts a number on his
machine and sets it going in a Planetary Period that is at variance with
the vibrations of that number, is asking for trouble. Where there is
danger of accident the Periods of Mars and Saturn should be avoided,
while those of Venus, Jupiter, and either the Sun or Moon when well
aspected, should be chosen. By bringing ourselves into accord with
natural operations we share in Nature’s power and efficiency. It is what
the ancients called the “Covert Agreement.” The fact of your having
penetrated the secret of the gods enables you to claim their protection.
The Masters of Wisdom are in league with Nature for the protection and
benefit of mankind. This is what I have elsewhere referred to as the
Divine Conspiracy.
CHAPTER XXII
THE EQUALIZATION OF EPOCHS
A considerable importance attaches to the proper understanding of
Epochs, so that when a statement is made in terms of one Epoch we should
be able to refer it at once to another with which we are familiar. There
are several astronomical Epochs of this nature which are frequently used
and ought to be known. Those who are interested in tracing the astral
cause of events often find themselves debarred from research through
ignorance regarding the data employed. Much of this trouble can be
overcome by the determination and equalization of Epochs.
Ptolemy, to whom we are indebted for a great number of scientific
statements in addition to his astronomical observations and those of
Hipparchus which he has preserved to us, makes use of two important
Epochs. The first is that of Nabonasser. The first year of his reign was
in the year 747 B.C., and the month Thoth began on the 26th February in
that year. Hence Nab. 1, Thoth 1 constitutes an Epoch equivalent to Feb.
26, 747 B.C. But this latter is the secular date and the astronomical is
one less, namely, 746 B.C. The reason for this is that the secular date
A.D. 1 passes directly to the year 1 B.C., when counting backwards,
whereas the astronomical account makes A.D. 1 refer back to A.D. 0, and
then to 1 B.C. Hence all dates _before_ the Christian Era are given in
secular accounts as one year more than the astronomical. Now as to the
Egyptian months used by Ptolemy. These were—
1. Thoth February.
2. Paophi March.
3. Athyr April.
4. Choiac May.
5. Tybi June.
6. Mechir July.
7. Phamenoth August.
8. Pharmuthi September.
9. Pachon October.
10. Payni November.
11. Epiphi December.
12. Mesori January.
Each month contained thirty days, and there were five days at the end of
the year which they called the Epagomene. The year began at noon on the
first of Thoth.
Another Epoch used by Ptolemy, and frequently referred to by the Greeks,
is that of Calippus. The Calippic Period was invented by the man whose
name it bears and dates to the year 330 B.C. It is a period of 76 years,
which is four times 19, and was designed to bring the new and full moons
to the same date of the solar year.
The Olympiads were in use among the Greeks, and began in the year 776
B.C., on the 1st July (O.S.). Each Olympiad consists of four years, and
in marking a date the number of the Olympiad and the year of that
Olympiad are given. Thus the first of Calippus would fall in the third
year of the 112th Olympiad. The astronomical years equivalent to these
are, for the Olympiads 775 B.C., and for the Calippic Period 329 B.C.
The Kali Yuga is an Indian Epoch which began at the New Moon of February
3102 B.C.—Feb. 5th. The Epoch of Salivahana in use among the Dravidians
of India is the year A.D. 78.
The Chinese Cycle of years began in the year 2696 B.C. (astronomical),
at the New Moon of February, the Sun being then half-way between the
Solstice and the Equinox.
But even when we have the Epochs equalized there are difficulties
depending from this determination of Epoch. This is particularly the
case with the Indian calendarics. They have in India a solar year
divided into solar months, and a lunar year which is divided into lunar
months. Thus the first of Mesham is that point of time when the Sun
enters the first point of the constellation Mesham. This is about the
12th April. But the first of As’wini is the day of New Moon in the
constellation As’wini, and this, of course, is a variable date,
depending on the position of the New Moon in relation to the first point
of Mesham.
But whatever may be the date given in terms of the Indian Calendar,
before we can apply it we have to know in what relations our zodiac
stand to theirs. They have a fixed point from which they make their
calculations. This is _Zeta Piscium_, which marks the beginning of the
constellations, and it corresponds with the first of Mesham, or the
Sun’s ingress to the constellation Aries. We, on the other hand, count
from the Vernal Equinox, the point at which the Sun crosses the Equator
in the spring. This point, in relation to the fixed constellations, is
continually shifting westward at the rate of about 50´´ per year, and
this is what is known as the precession of the Equinoxes.
The point we have to make is the relation of the Equinox to the first
point of Mesham. The difference is what is called Ayanámsha. The
difficulty in the matter of calculation has been—(_a_) the exact rate of
precession during past centuries, which has only been determined in
comparatively recent years, and (_b_) the unsatisfactory condition of
Indian astronomical data. But these latter, with the advance of more
exact methods in modern centres of Indian learning, have been
considerably improved, and it is now justifiably possible to attempt an
equalization of the two astronomical Epochs.
Very much depends on this, for it is quite impossible to study the
Indian astrological literature without being able to refer their
quantities to terms of our modern Western ephemerides or astronomical
tables. When, for instance, the Indian books say that a certain yoga or
conjunctions of planets in Kumbha means a particular thing, or has a
particular signification, they mean the constellation Aquarius, and it
will depend on the relations of this constellation to our corresponding
sign Aquarius, as to what we are to understand. Also in the
determination of the various periods depending on the Moon’s longitude
at an Epoch, such as that of birth, we have to convert the Moon’s
longitude into terms of our zodiac before we can apply their
interpretations, or synchronize the periods with our own calendar. I
have therefore agitated for a long time past for a thorough examination
of the matter, and in despair of collaboration in other directions I
applied to Dr. V. V. Ramanan of Madras, one of the most distinguished
pandits of Southern India, and found in him a most useful and able
exponent of ancient Indian learning.
The first attempt at a determination of the Epoch or point of time when
the Equinox coincided with the first point of Mesham was from a
comparison of the length of the solar year as given in the
_Suryasiddhanta_ and the value given in the best European works. It is
seen that the Indian year is longer than the European estimate by 3 min.
20·4 sec.
Now it is said that the Sun entered the sign Mesham in the year 1900 at
30 ghatikas 50 vighatikas after sunrise at Ujjain, on the 12th April.
This equals 12th April, at 1 hr. 31 min. 28 sec. p.m., Greenwich mean
time. The Sun’s longitude was then 22° 11´ 4´´ from the Vernal Equinox,
and this divided by the mean rate of precession yields 1594 years, which
taken from 1900 gives A.D. 306 as the Epoch. Let us check this result.
We have seen that the Indian year is estimated at 3 min. 20·4 sec. more
than the European. If then we multiply this amount by 1594, the number
of years since the Epoch, we shall have 3 days 16 hrs. 45 min. 37·6 sec.
as the total increment. The Sun in this time moves at a mean rate 3° 38´
43´´, and as this amount represents the excess of the Indian solar year
over the European during 1594 years, we should take it from 22° 11´ 4´´
in order to obtain the true difference in longitude between the Vernal
Equinox and Mesham 0° in the year 1900. This leaves 18° 33´ 21´´, which,
being divided by the mean rate of precession 50·1´´, gives 1335 years.
Allowing for the difference of the Sun’s anomaly and the consequent
increase of longitude, we should make the longitude 19° 4´ 7´´ and the
Epoch 1372 years, which would give the year A.D. 528, as compared with
A.D. 306 by the former calculation.
This clearly shows that there is some miscalculation in the Ujjain
estimate of the Sun’s ingress, and I am confirmed in this by a note from
Dr. Ramanan in which he says that “According to Bhaskaracharya in his
_Graha-ganitádhyáya_, the Vernal Equinox of Kali Yuga 3628 (A.D. 527),
coincided with the starting-point of the Hindu ecliptic.” He adds that
“the so-called fixed Indian Zodiac is not thought to be really fixed,
but is subject to a slow motion of about 8´´ per year eastwards. The
zero point of Indian longitude is thus subject to a slight annual
displacement, and this motion is a practical postulate of Hindu
Siddhántas.”
But so far we have based all our calculations on estimates made from the
Hindu Siddhánta and not from modern observations. Necessarily correct
evaluations made from the same source would work out to the same
figures, and it is therefore important that we should again check the
results by reference to modern sources.
In the Panchángam for Kumbakonam 1912 it is stated that the Sun enters
Vrishabham (constellation Taurus) on 13th May at 36 gh. 5 vigh. after
sunrise.
Sunrise at Kumbakonam, Lat. 11° North, on this date—
Tan. log. of 11 degs. 9·28865 For lat. 51° 30´ 0·09939
Sun’s decl. 6 a.m., 18.18 9·51946 9·51946
———————— ———————
Sine log., 3° 41´ 18·80811 Sine log., 24° 34´ 9·61885
less 3° 41´
———————
20° 53´
4
—————————
83m. 32s.—1h. 23m. 32s.
This represents the difference of sunrise due to latitude. That is to
say, a place in 11° North latitude, and on the same meridian as
Greenwich, would have its sunrise 1 hr. 24 min. later than Greenwich on
the 13th May, 1912. Now the sunrise on this date at Greenwich was at 4
hrs. 13 min. a.m., and therefore at Kumbakonam the sunrise would be at 5
hrs. 37 min. a.m.
The longitude of Kumbakonam is 5 hrs. 18 min. east of Greenwich, and the
equivalent Greenwich time of sunrise at Kumbakonam will be G.M.T., 0 hr.
19 min. a.m.
The Sun’s longitude at this time according to the Greenwich ephemeris is
1s. 21° 51´ 57´´, which we may call Taurus 21° 52´. This, therefore,
represents the Indian estimate of the present value of Ayanámsha.
The mean rate of Equinoctial Precession for the past eighteen centuries
being 50·1´´ per year, we must divide 21° 52´ by this amount of
precession to obtain the year of coincidence. The result is 1571 years,
which, being taken from the present year 1912, gives the year A.D. 341
as that in which the two zodiacs coincided. But by taking the actual
precession for 1912 and the increment for _t_ years where _t_ equals
1571 - 62, or 1509 years, we have the actual precession as equal to 50´´
per year nearly, and 21° 52´ divided by 50´´ is 1574, the years to be
taken from 1912, which gives the year A.D. 338. According to our
estimate of the rate of precession, therefore, the Epoch will vary
between A.D. 338 and 341. In round numbers, therefore, we may regard the
year A.D. 340 as that of the coincidence of the zodiacs, and the number
of years since elapsed multiplied by the mean rate of 50·1´´ will give
the increment known as Ayanámsha for any date since the Epoch.
But I find an entry in the Ephemeris of Kumbakonam to this effect.
“Mean amount of precession at commencement of K.Y. 5014 (A.D. 1912), 22°
27´ 20´´. Rate of precession, 50·26´´.”
Now if we divide the above amount of precession by the rate we shall get
1612 years, which would give the Epoch A.D. 300, whereas, as we have
seen, other data in the Ephemeris lead us to the year A.D. 340. Now I
have checked the Kumbakonam Ephemeris, and find that so far as the Solar
ingresses are concerned they agree with the Nautical Almanac, and there
would therefore appear to be no reasonable doubt that if the true amount
of precession is here given, the true Epoch for the coincidence of the
zodiacs has been found. But I am advised by Dr. V. V. Ramanan that there
is an increment not generally recognized by either the Indian or
European astronomers, but which is nevertheless an essential part of the
calculation. It is that of the progression of the asterisms or
constellations from west to east, along the order of the signs at the
rate of 8´´ per year, to which I have already referred in an extract
from one of his valuable letters. If, therefore, we add this 8´´ to the
annual precession 50·1´´, we shall have 58·1´´ as the total precession
of the Equinoxes on the first point of As’wini, and then if we further
divide the amount of precession for the year 1912 as given in the
Panchángam, namely, 22° 27´ 20´´ by 58·1´´, we shall get 1390 years,
which taken from 1912 yields the year of coincidence A.D. 521.
From various sources, therefore, we have the years A.D. 300, 306, 338,
527, 528 and 521. The former dates take account only of the precession
of the Equinoxes on a fixed zodiac, whereas the latter take into account
also a direct motion of this so-called “fixed” zodiac which amounts to
8´´ per year, and which has to be applied to the precession. It is
further to be observed that the Epochs 338 and 306, variously derived
above, are unified by the adoption of 58·1´´ as the total annual
precession of the Equinoxes on the first point of As’wini. It needs but
quotation of authority for this increment of 8´´ in order to establish
the date of zodiacal coincidence beyond disputation, at all events
within the limits of a very few years.
The above questions have an historical interest. Varahamihira, who
mentions the coincidence of the solstices with the cardinal
constellations Makaram and Katakam as having taken place in his day, has
not been finally placed by the chronologists. Astronomical notes made by
him have chiefly been used for this purpose, and the writing of his book
the _Brihat-samhita_, in which the above note occurs, is on these
grounds fixed at A.D. 505.
But then we have to remember that Mihira speaks only in general terms
when he refers to the coincidence of the zodiacs. He had no instruments
which would have enabled him to make a close observation, but he could
make certain approximations from the meridian transit of some of the
chief stars in the constellations. We have no reason, therefore, to
expect more than an approximate agreement of the date of Mihira with
that of the true coincidence of the zodiacs. The _Graha Laghava_, which
is in general use in India, gives this latter as A.D. 522 or 444 Shaka.
The Shaka Epoch is known to be A.D. 78. Dr. V. V. Ramanan gives reasons
for accepting the year A.D. 525. In the present state of the controversy
I see no reason against this Epoch.
CHAPTER XXIII
LUNAR INFLUENCE
The average notion of the Moon’s action is that it affects the tides and
lunatics. Beyond this the popular encyclopedia does not go, and the
average man himself is not observant of anything in Nature except the
way of his fellow-man.
A little study, however, will show that the Moon, while influencing the
tides, affects also all fluidic life on the globe. It appreciably
affects the sap-cells of plants and trees. It exerts a direct influence
on blood pressure in the animal body, and consequently affects the brain
and nervous system of human beings, and excites a variety of passions
and impulses which are but remotely connected with the lunar orb itself.
It may even be a fact that on account of the observed influence of the
Moon upon the physical system of man, the ancients said that it ruled
“the populace,” and made of it a common significator of public affairs.
For it must be remembered that the belief in lunar influence in mundane
affairs, ordinarily presumed to be of human origination and under human
control, was prevalent before the days of printing and encyclopædic
knowledge, possibly before the art of writing was invented, and men then
depended entirely on their powers of observation for whatever knowledge
they had. As many of the ancient astronomical statements will show,
their powers of observation were almost the equal of our scientific
instruments. Thus Dr. Pouchet rightly says: “Hipparchus and Ptolemy had
no instruments to scrutinize the heavens with. The astronomers of the
Renaissance, such as Regiomontanus, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler,
were scarcely more favoured, and yet how many immortal discoveries do we
owe to them! They seem with their lynx eyes to have seen or divined
everything!”
They observed not only the courses of the stars and planets as well as
those of the luminaries, but what is of more human interest, they
watched the effects that these bodies had upon the course of human
events and upon nations and persons. That the Moon influenced the
weather was the logical deduction from the fact of its influence upon
the waters of the earth. For obviously the Moon must not only be
water-lifter, but also a cloud-lifter, and its effects upon the
atmosphere itself must be in proportion to the saturation point of the
air from hour to hour according to the incidence of its rays. Only when
all meteorological methods have failed to indicate the kind of weather
we are likely to have, to predict the kind of summer we shall have, or
even to explain such as we have, then men throw about for new ideas, and
frequently manage to seize upon old ones. This of the Moon’s influence
on the weather is one such.
I have this following note of intelligence from the _Daily Mail_ of the
14th August last: “The tides follow the Moon; local weather conditions
are indisputably affected by the tides. Scientific meteorologists no
doubt laugh the belief to scorn, but observers who are not scientific
can produce sufficient data to prove that a change of weather coinciding
with a change of the Moon is usually lasting.” The _Daily Mail_ is
right. But unfortunately the theory of the Moon’s influence on the
weather has been badly distorted since the learned and observant Dr.
Clark took the matter in hand and formulated a theory based on
observations conducted over a very long period.
His theory goes to show that the Moon does not act directly upon the
weather, but by a tidal action upon the Earth’s atmospheric envelope,
which accordingly depends upon the time of the Moon’s syzygies and
quadratures. It is this time-factor that has been overlooked and
neglected. Reduced to a single sentence, the lunar theory may be stated
as follows:—The nearer to midnight any phase of the Moon may occur, the
finer will be the weather during the ensuing week, and consequently the
nearer to midday it may occur, the more humid will be the weather. The
barometer which shows the atmospheric pressure at a mean altitude will
consequently be affected in terms of the above statements, and as it
ranges from 28° to 30° over these islands, we may also indicate the
state of the barometer from the Moon’s phases. For it will be seen that,
so long as there is but moderate wind, the barometer will answer to the
Moon’s phases in harmony with the weather. Very strong winds without
rainfall will affect the barometer and register a fall. I have
endeavoured to embody the whole of this theory of the Moon’s action on
the weather in a single diagram.
[Illustration: Figure 26.]
In attempting to account for a very wet summer in the year 1912, and a
record downfall of rain in the month of August, I shall have to refer to
the times of the phases of the Moon since the solstice. Here are the
dates and times, taken from the Ephemeris of Greenwich.
June 21. First Quarter 8.39 p.m. Fair.
” 29. Full Moon 1.34 p.m. Wet. Stormy.
July 7. Last Quarter 4.47 p.m. Unsettled.
” 14. New Moon 1.13 p.m. Wet. Stormy.
” 21. First Quarter 5.18 a.m. Change.
” 29. Full Moon 4.28 a.m. Change.
Aug. 6. Last Quarter 4.18 a.m. Change.
” 12. New Moon 7.58 p.m. Change to Fair.
” 19. First Quarter 4.57 p.m. Unsettled.
” 29. Full Moon 7.59 p.m. Change to Fair.
Here there are indications of plenty of variable and changeable weather,
with splashes of very wet and stormy weather, and just a suspicion of
fair in the whole period.
But this class of observation does not help us much, for there are other
factors in the cosmos beside the Moon, which, although nearest the earth
and exerting much influence of its own kind upon mundane things, is not
a very considerable factor when regarded in its cosmic relations to
other great bodies in the system. The idea that the Moon is the only
body capable of affecting the weather is hardly to be sustained by
reference to the facts. It is thoroughly well established that the
phases of any of the planets, that is to say, their conjunctions,
oppositions and quadratures with the Sun, as seen from the Earth, are
accompanied by marked effects upon the weather. Dr. Clark’s theory seems
to suggest that fine weather follows the Moon, or at all events that the
weather will be finest in those places whereat the Moon is nearest the
meridian at the time of one of its phases. There is a great deal to be
said for this theory if we distinguish between the syzygies and
quadratures.
But if the Moon has any action on the Earth’s atmosphere, the planets
also must exert an appreciable effect, and it may lead to some
well-established theory if we include the positions of certain of the
planets at the quadratures and syzygies. In such case it is reasonable
to presume that those planets which are near the meridian and horizon at
the times of the equinoxes and solstices are likely to give us some
indication of the probable weather during the following season, and
similarly, such as are near these angles at the syzygy may show the
modifications likely to occur during the ensuing month. A series of
observations such as these would probably lead to the association of
certain features of the weather with the various planets. Astrologers
have already completed their observations, but that should not prevent
an independent series of observations being made by those who wish to
come to independent conclusions in the matter, and the subject is one
that deserves attention at the hands of scientific men.
But lunar action does not begin and end with its effects on the weather.
There are other and even more important effects to be noted, and
although they are more recondite in their nature, and not so well
grounded in reasons which would appeal to any but Occultists, they
nevertheless deserve attention. One of these is the effect of the Moon
in human affairs. We can all appreciate the effects that the Moon has on
the waters, for we can see the rise and fall of the tides, but that more
subtle influence that the luminary has upon the finer states of matter
in and about the earth is not so readily appreciated. But it will be
found none the less a fact if put to the test.
What we may call the tidal point is that point midway between the Sun
and Moon at any time. Suppose it to be a new moon to-day, at the hour of
noon. The Sun and Moon will then come to the meridian at the same time
that they are conjoined in the same longitude. To-morrow they will be
about 12° apart when they come to the meridian, and the next day they
will be 24° apart. Now as one degree passes the meridian every four
minutes, the daily difference of Tide-time will be (12 × 4)/2, or 24
minutes. Local conditions affect the time at which high tide occurs, and
also the effect of the joint action of the Sun and Moon will take time
to produce. Consequently we do not see that the tides exactly
synchronize with the transit of the Tide-point.
But there is a great difference between ether and water, and between
mind and matter. What we know as the Astral Tide occurs exactly at the
time of the transit of the Tide-point, and this fact is of the highest
importance to those who would avail themselves of celestial influences
and take that tide at the flood which “leads to fortune.” There is an
old adage which says: Who takes the Tide takes all. If, therefore, we
take the difference in longitude between the Sun and Moon at any time,
which distance is called the Moon’s elongation, and divide this by two,
we shall obtain a point which passes the meridian at a time represented
by this quantity multiplied by four minutes, before or after the Sun’s
transit of the meridian, according as the Moon is increasing or
decreasing in light. Thus, I would find the time of the Astral Tide on
the 21st August, 1912.
Moon increasing in light, _i. e._ going to the Full.
Sun’s longitude at noon, Leo 28° 2´.
Moon’s longitude at noon, Sagittarius, 18° 33´.
Distance between them, 110° 33´.
Half this equals 55° 15½´.
Multiply by four—221m. 2s., or 2h. 41m. 2s.
Diurnal elongation of Moon, 11° 8´, or 28´ per hour.
This for 3 hrs. 41 min. 2 sec. amounts to about 1° 42´, which multiplied
by four gives 6 min. 48 sec., and this added to the above first time of
Tide, brings us to 3 hrs. 47 min. 50 sec., which is the time after the
meridian transit of the Sun at which the Astral Tide will occur.
Reference to the almanac will show that on the 21st August the Sun
passes the meridian at about four minutes after noon, and therefore the
Greenwich mean time of the Astral Tide will be 3.52 p.m.
Now if you would float an idea, of whatever nature, let it go out upon
the full tide, not when the tide is flowing in, and not when it is going
out, but at the point of time when the tide is at the full and about to
turn. But reflect that what you send out will come back to you laden
with its burden of consequence. It is important, therefore, that the
nature of your flotation should be scrutinized.
Astrologers the world over have always considered that the Moon exerts a
great influence over human generation. We know that it plays a most
important part in the normal functions of the human body, more
especially as affecting the blood pressure. This may be the reason for
its marked influence upon persons in certain forms of insanity. In my
_Manual of Astrology_ I have shown beyond all doubt that it exerts a
powerful influence in the matter of sex, and also that there is an
astronomical relation between the Moon’s motion and the process of
generation culminating in birth. The ancients have said that the various
months of parturition are under the successive influence of the planets,
Saturn, Jupiter, etc., thus—
1st month under Saturn: Plasmic basis.
2nd month under Jupiter: Amnionic development.
3rd month under Mars: Limbal growth.
4th month under Sun: Quickening.
5th month under Venus: Sex distinction.
6th month under Mercury: Brain development.
7th month under Moon: Precocious birth.
8th month under Saturn: Abortive birth.
9th month under Jupiter: Normal birth.
Swedenborg has said that all children come from the Moon. There is a
Greek legend which associates Selene and Selinon, confounding the Moon
with the parsley plant, and old women to-day tell their inquisitive
grandchildren that they were brought from the parsley bed. In the Greek
Mysteries the soul passes through the sphere of the Moon in its descent
to the Earth, taking upon itself a silver vestment, which is the astral
or lunar body, as distinguished from the imperishable solar body proper
to the incarnating ego.
The Hindus, as has been shown elsewhere, make all their astrological
calculations from the place of the Moon, and the horoscope of birth is
converted into terms of the Moon’s position at the moment of that event.
Also they reckon the periodic effects from the same position. It is
therefore obvious that the astrologer at all events has not overlooked
the enormous influence that this orb is believed to exert upon mundane
affairs and human life. As we have seen, the ancients, with whom these
beliefs arose, were keen observers of natural operations, and depended
entirely on their unaided and unprejudiced observations for whatever
knowledge they possessed. They regarded the Moon as the purveyor or
carrier of astral influence. Life and energy were generated from the
Sun, the vital centre of our system. This life was modified by
reflection of rays from the various planets, which transmitted the Sun’s
rays to this Earth in altered electrical and magnetic conditions, and
the Moon, circling round the Earth at great velocity, collected and
distributed these influences upon our nether sphere. The notion is at
least cosmical and coherent. If it also be true it is of the utmost
importance to us as terrestrials.
The Moon, then, in Cosmic Symbolism represents the element of functional
variability, and is the symbol of Change, of ebb and flow, of increase
and decrease, of rise and fall. It is associated with the human soul
subject to _samsara_, or the law of cyclic rebirth. It is the Mercabah
or vehicle by which the light and heat of the Sun is distributed, the
Great Conveyancer and the Universal Purveyor of celestial influences.
Like the human soul it is subject to phases, now waxing and now waning,
and sometimes suffering eclipse, having no light of its own but deriving
all from the Universal Sun.
It has two aspects, a nether and a higher. That which is above
represents the side that, at the time of conjunction, is turned towards
the Sun, and the lower is that which is always towards the Earth. When
the Moon-Soul is between the Sun and Earth it is in correct cosmic
relations, but when the Earth interposes its dark orb, there is an
ascendancy of the material over the human, and the spiritual light is in
danger of being shut out. The Moon-body suffers death, like the physical
body, but it persists after the death of the physical, and may endure
for upwards of one hundred and twenty years, according to its inherent
vitality.
It may be regarded as the Purgatorial vestment in which the Human Soul
manifests until its liberation to the Spiritual world. One of the
initiations teaches that this same Moon-Body may, without suffering
dissolution, be again carried to earth and incarnated. But this is not
the normal case, as those who have witnessed the dissolution of the
Moon-Body well know. As a cosmic symbol the Moon is replete with the
deepest mysteries concerning the birth, evolution, and dissolution of
all that is commonly called human. Its influence in mundane affairs
gains an additional signification from this fact.
CHAPTER XXIV
SOLAR INFLUENCE
The Sun as the centre of the universe is the gravitational focus of all
the forces of the cosmos. It stands to us as the symbol of Deity, or of
that Logos which is the manifestation to us of the Inscrutable and
Omnipresent. So far as we are concerned it is the source of Light and
Heat to the world, and these two properties are the ultimate expressions
of the Wisdom and Love of the Creator. When we speak of light and heat
we mean those forces which, when they impinge on the Earth’s atmosphere
and are sensed by us, produce the sensations of light and heat. The Sun
is thus rather the source of the cause of heat and light than of heat
and light themselves. It is we who are the interpreters. Even so is it
with regard to the Divine principles of Wisdom and Love. These in
expression are manifest as Truth and Charity, as Knowledge and
Affection, as Thought and Feeling, as Speech and Action. This gives us
the following gradient of differentiation—
Wisdom Divine Love
Truth Spiritual Charity
Knowledge Intellectual Affection
Thought Psychic Feeling
Speech Physical Action
Thus we see how through the various planes of life the Divine principles
filtrate, as do the forces we know as Light and Heat through the various
ethers, until they manifest in our physical life. For the Spirit of
Truth is the manifestation of the Hidden Wisdom of the Father, and its
Bride is the Spirit of Charity. Manifesting in the human they are seen
as Knowledge and Affection on the Intellectual plane, and on the Psychic
or emotional plane as Thought and Feeling, these being derived from the
former, and ultimately finding expression as Speech and Action. Thus all
the life of man is linked up with the Divine, as all the universe is
with its cosmic centre the Sun.
The Sun shines upon all and illumines all when there are no clouds of
doubt interposing themselves between us and the open canopy of heaven.
These clouds arise by evaporation from the ferment of the lower nature.
As the cosmic centre, the Sun represents the Heart or seat of vitality
in the Microcosm. Astrologically it has its seat in the sign Leo which
corresponds with the Cardiac zone, including the heart and solar plexus.
It is thus related to the vital principle in man. Its position and
aspects in a horoscope will determine the stability of the Constitution
and hence the natural duration of life. Its sign, position and aspects
in the world are the chief cause of the variations of season and the
nature of the weather. These season changes are, of course, related to
the climate in different zones. The effects that are due in the British
Isles to solar aspects with the various planets have already been
scheduled. Saturn and Uranus are found to be magnetic and cold
producing, while Jupiter and Mars are electric and heat producing. Venus
acts to produce condensation resulting in drizzle or fine rain. Mercury
brings fresh winds; Neptune fine weather. Saturn in the same way brings
northerly and easterly winds, Venus westerly winds, Jupiter
south-westerly and Mars south-easterly winds. Uranus brings winds from
the north-west, and generally frequent showers with intermittent spells
of sunshine.
Thus we may set the compass as follows—
[Illustration: Figure 27.]
These observations apply only to the British Isles, and more
particularly to England, where the observations were made. Everybody
will recollect that the Coronation Day of King George V was a wet day.
At that time the Sun was in semisquare aspect to both Venus and Saturn.
Those resident in England will also recall the exceptionally hot days
during the end of July and the beginning of August. The Sun was then
passing from the quartile of Jupiter to the quartile of Mars, both
heat-producing planets. The positions are necessarily geocentric, as we
are considering the effects of the planetary modifications of solar
energy so far as this Earth is concerned.
In just similar manner as the solar conditions act upon the Earth so
they act upon the physical constitution of man. For if at his birth the
Sun is affected by the rays of negative planets there will be less
vitality and force, while positive heat-producing planets, such as
Jupiter and Mars, will give great vitality, strong muscular development,
a great fund of energy and a sound constitution.
The Sun represents the organic constitution in the same way that the
Moon represents the functional powers. Hence it is that the Sun, when
afflicted by malefic aspects of the planets at a birth, gives warning of
organic disorders of an inherent or hereditary nature, while the Moon
similarly afflicted denotes functional disorders of an acquired nature.
For many reasons we may regard man as in the same relations with his
cosmic environment as is the Earth itself. Compounded as he is of cosmic
elements, he responds at all points to changes that are continually
taking place in the system. But he does so in terms of his radical
constitution or root nature, which, of course, varies as the individual
concerned. For all sidereal and planetary forces, while possessing their
respective properties and expressing their own several natures, are
differently received and transmuted according to the constitution of the
recipient body. Hence the planets only affect us in terms of ourselves.
The same white solar ray falling upon an emerald and a ruby will be
differently reflected by each of them, appearing as green in the one
case and red in the other. So it is with men. They each reflect the
Wisdom and Love of the Universal Being in a variety of forms of
knowledge and affection, expressed in speech and action, which is the
common life. This fact should save us all from the error of bigotry and
dogmatism. It is only the Diamond Heart that can reflect the pure ray of
the Divine. It is comforting to know that the diamond is the mature
carbo-hydrate. Given the conditions and the time, the soul that is as
black as coal can become, by evolutional processes, as clear and
pellucid as the diamond. We begin as fragments of gross earth and end as
suns in the galaxy of heaven.
It is customary for astrologers to refer to the various planets as good,
evil and neutral. Thus Saturn, Uranus and Mars are regarded as malefic,
while Jupiter and Venus are called Benefics. This is not the truth,
however convenient it may be to retain these ascriptions for purposes of
delineation. Every planet has two aspects, and these aspects are
referred to the higher and lower natures of our being. Mars, for
instance, is merely Energy, the focussed or specialized vitality of the
Sun. It answers to the red ray. Operating in a person of low mental and
moral calibre, it will produce a Free-thinker, a Firebrand and
Anarchist, and a man of violence and lawlessness. The same planet, when
expressing itself through a highly evolved nature, will manifest as
zeal, fervour, intensity, enthusiasm, enterprise, ambition and moral
courage. Venus in the same way may indicate self-indulgence, idleness,
pleasure-seeking, vanity, frailty and licence in a person of low nature,
while in one of greater moral fibre and higher standard of life, the
same planet will manifest as gentleness, kindness, charity, pure
affection, orderliness and refinement. There is a whole cycle of
evolution between the sordid, money-grubbing propensities of “the man
with the muck-rake” and the provident carefulness and circumspection of
the man who is under the influence of the higher Saturnine ray. It is
all a question of personal colouring. It is not that the planets rule us
and compel us to be that which we are, but that we transmute and corrupt
the natures of the planets and abuse the energies and powers which they
confer on us. We can never hope to be lords of the Universe, but we can
be rulers of ourselves. Self-government is at the root of the matter. We
attain to it through experience and suffering. It is not born with any
man, but there are those among us who remember their lessons well and
speedily get themselves into touch with their environment, and their
faculties and powers under control. It is not altogether a truth that
“The wise man rules his stars and the fool obeys them.” It is rather the
fact that the wise man rules _himself_, all else the stars compel. True,
a number of oppositions and squares in a horoscope of birth will
certainly give a man a full share of experience, but the uses of
adversity are sweet. Evolution does not wholly consist in getting all we
can out of life, but also of reading into it as much as we can. We all
know how much we are affected by our environment. Our business is to
find out how much our environment can be affected by us. And by
environment we have to include that which presses us most nearly in the
form of our own personality. To get this under our control is very
largely to annihilate the adverse aspects of the planets.
All this is possible, because all planetary influences are modes of the
One life, and that which animates the physical body is the solar ray,
while that which animates the mind of man is the Spiritual Sun.
Life has no qualities of its own, it gets them by use or function. The
same energy that is expended in rioting and bloodshed could as readily
be used for purposes of constructive enterprise. Extravagance is only a
morbid generosity, a philanthropy gone astray. The Sun that shines alike
on the just and the unjust cannot be credited with all the abuses to
which we submit our vital powers. Why, then, should we ascribe to the
planets all those evil influences which in truth have no existence
except in ourselves, who are both receivers and transmitters of their
influence? This truth has been finally stated by the great Interpreter,
who said: The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth
forth that which is good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure
brings forth that which is evil.
So far as their cosmic functions are concerned the planets are organic
interpreters, the Sun being the source of Vitality or Life. The Sun,
therefore, holds chief place in the consideration of astrologers and is
the foundation principle of the horoscope, all calculations and all
measures of time having regard to the Sun’s position and to its
postnatal motion.
No wonder that the ancients gave to the Sun a place in Cosmic Symbolism
which embraced a whole mythology and gave rise to the use of its symbol
in all religious services, seeing that it is the source of all physical
life and illumination. The ancient Aryans and the Persians regarded it
as the physical presentation of the Supreme Being, and even at this day
it is retained as a divine symbol in the ordinances of the Catholic
Church. Some idea of the divine attributes ascribed to the Day-star may
be gathered from the Vedic Hymns, one of which I have endeavoured to
represent in the following lines—
INVOCATION TO THE VERNAL SUN.
O quickening Fount of life,
Sun-soul supernal;
Impenetrating stream
Of light, whose every beam
Instinctive is and rife
With Love eternal:
Lord of the Stars and Skies,
King of the Earth and Sea,
List while our anthems rise
In praise of Thee!
Greatest of all great gods in all seven spheres,
Regent of Space and Lord of countless years,
Who first did spring from out eternal night,
Piercing its ebon veil with thy swift light;
Thou who didst live when Time was yet unborn,
The spirit, soul and substance of primeval morn,
That roused the gods from out their lengthen’d sleep,
What time thy Spirit self had brooded o’er the deep:
Then, from thy heart, ethereal, unalloyed,
The seven great worlds sevenfold refulgent sprang,
The gods did shout, the heavens were overjoyed,
And all the stars of heaven together sang!
Thy living beams, infilling all the scene,
Burned in each orb and knit the space between
To ether vault and circumambient air,
That breathed thy life and shed it everywhere;
Whose power, pervading all, attracts, unites,
Binds with a lasting link, sustains, enhances,
And adds to all a beauty that invites
The liquid light of thy love-lingering glances!
Come! glorious Power! and from thy golden tresses
Shake down on us the blossoms of the Spring;
Lo! how the earth responds to thy caresses,
And how in praise of thee the wild birds sing!
Look down on us from thy so lofty sphere,
Wrap and enfold us in thine ardent rays:
Yea, glorious God, we hail thy presence here,
Soul of the Sun, we yield thee thanks and praise!
Lord of the Stars and Skies,
King of the Earth and Sea,
List while our anthems rise,
In praise of Thee!
The Sun and Moon are universally regarded as the symbols of the
Male-female unity of Nature. The Sun is the father, the Moon the mother,
of all mundane events. Astrologers refer these orbs to the organs of
sight, giving the Sun dominion over the right eye and the Moon over the
left. When the Sun and Moon are afflicted, especially in certain parts
of the zodiac, they indicate blindness or defective vision. It has been
stated by Dr. Fearon that there is an affinity between the right eye and
the male line of heredity, and between the left eye and the female line,
and that defects inherited from one line or the other are incidental to
the corresponding organ. That there is a great connection with the state
of the eye and the general health is a proved fact of which medical men
frequently avail themselves in their diagnosis. We have already
considered the Sun and Moon as the luminaries of the day and night, and
we find this idea associated with the visual power in the _Sayings of
Jesus_: “If thine eye be good thy whole body shall be full of light, but
if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” In
effect we find that when the iris of the eye is firm and clear and of a
single unbroken colour, the health is good. But when it is split up and
discoloured by green streaks the health is imperfect, while red spots in
the iris, giving a patchy appearance, are a sure sign of some organic
disease, and most likely of a growth. It is only when we come to admit
the psychic origin of disease that we can fully apprehend the value of
the Scripture statement. It is an inductive argument which regards the
eye as the index of the general health of the body, itself standing as a
symbol of intelligence. Conformity with the spiritual law of being would
undoubtedly result in perfect integrity of soul and body. The natural
has no life apart from the spiritual. The basis of all things is Spirit,
and matter as we know it is its ultimate expression. The Sun, which is
the most active form of matter, is thus the concrete symbol of Spirit.
Among all symbolical forms of worship, that of the Sun-worshippers is
the most rational. Human science may avail much to institute artificial
conditions of life, but it will never succeed in dethroning the Sun.
CHAPTER XXV
ASTROLOGY
It could hardly be expected that one in my position, having the
reputation of being one of those modern fools who go searching after
ancient wisdom, could write a book on Cosmic Symbolism and successfully
avoid the subject of Astrology. I admit to have trespassed on its
preserves more or less in every chapter of this book. Now I may as well
take a gun and make a day of it.
It is safe to say that no considerable argument has ever been
successfully raised against the claims of Astrology to a place among the
sciences. No valid reason can be given for disputing its principles, and
its facts have never been overset. It is true that Pico della Mirandola,
called Flagellum Astrologiæ because of his avowed hatred of the subject,
attempted to expel it from among the Latins and was an ardent
pamphleteer in the cause of its suppression. But he justified its claims
and practically unsaid all that he had written by dying at the time
predicted by the astrologers. Dr. John Butler, Chaplain to James Duke of
Ormonde, had a mind to inveigh against its teachings, which by some
misconception he fancied to be pagan and subversive of Christianity. He
studied the subject the more effectively to assail the assertions of the
astrologers, and ended his campaign by writing a book in support of its
teachings. It is a book rather well known to students of the subject and
can be seen at the British Museum.
But perhaps the most sounding rebuke that was ever given to such as
foolishly repudiate the whole thing without taking the trouble to
examine its principles and methods, was given by Sir Isaac Newton to Mr.
Halley of comet fame when he ventured to dispute the subject with the
great philosopher. The latter heard him to a finish and then quietly
remarked: “I have studied the subject, Mr. Halley, you have not.” I do
not know what was Halley’s perspective and therefore I cannot say in
what regard he held the author of the _Principia_, but personally I
would rather be swallowed by an earthquake than have such a rebuke from
the same source. There was always that about Newton which inspired
confidence in his utterances, for a more fearless and at the same time
humble-minded investigator of Nature never breathed God’s air. He spoke
of what he knew.
In the presentation of astrological evidence we are not called upon to
display the _modus operandi_ of planetary action in human life. We can
observe facts without references to their causes. We may legitimately
theorize as to the means whereby a universe is brought into existence,
but none can say why. One is relieved of the necessity from the fact
that he is not the Creator of it.
But there are many suggestions afforded by modern scientific discoveries
which lead us to the idea that planetary influence, apart from the
attraction of gravitation, may be due to the functions of subtle states
of matter such as we posit as properties of spatial ether. And since we
know nothing of force apart from matter it is reasonable to presume that
whatever forces are at play in the cosmos have their appropriate
material vehicles. Spectrum analysis does not lead us to suppose that
there is any material difference in the chemical constituents of the
various bodies of the system, and what you find in the planets you find
also in the Sun.
Certain considerations regarding the nature of matter lead us, however,
to the conclusion that, apart from its properties, it has
characteristics which depend not so much upon its atomic constituents as
upon their arrangement. From this we may argue that inasmuch as we are
all compounded of the same cosmic elements, differences of character and
temperament are due to the ascendancy of one over other of those
elements in individuals. This, so far as the personality is concerned,
may well be true, but because material atoms have no emotions,
aspirations, hopes and fears, and no moral sense, they cannot be said to
acquire such by mere conglomeration. To carry the argument further,
therefore, we should have to derive our atoms from something rather more
spiritual than the hydrogen base, the “happy hunting-ground” of the
physicists.
So far as the planets’ action on our organisms is concerned, it may be
that the brain cells, infilled as they are with a nervous pabulum, are
capable of responding to the more subtle vibrations of the ether. But
the immaterial parts of us must respond to immaterial stimuli, and we
know that there are other than merely physical effects due to planetary
influence. And whereas matter is continuous of matter throughout the
entire universe, mind is continuous of mind, and spirit of spirit. Thus
it is that “Soul to soul strikes through a finer element of its own.”
We must therefore recognize that there may be a supra-cosmical as well
as an intra-cosmical planetary action, and this follows from the
argument that, matter being the ultimate expression of Spirit, the
material planets have their spiritual counterparts.
However, to come to the practical side of the argument for and against
the subject, I may deal with some of the more weighty objections which
have been lodged against it.
First, there is the argument of coincidence which is used to explain
away the fact of successful prediction. This in cool logic is no
argument at all, for the only coincidence that is shown is that of the
prediction and the subsequent course of events. Now if there were a
single prediction which in human judgment could not have been otherwise
foretold but by the application of some commonly-called “occult”
knowledge, this would suffice to confirm the claim that foreknowledge is
scientifically possible. But what do we mean by coincidence. If apples
falling from a tree pursued different directions, some falling direct to
the earth and some in the contrary direction towards the sky, while
others went off at a tangent, it may be called a coincidence that one
should fall in the direction previously determined upon and named. But
if all the apples tend in the same direction and fall along the lines of
the earth’s radial magnetism direct towards its centre, then we may
posit a law of attraction.
Now if we can show a definite direction of all planetary influence—that
is to say, show that the same planet always maintains the same
significance in the astrological scheme, that its effects are always of
the same general character, and that these effects synchronize with the
arc by which the planet is separated from the position of any of the
prescribed Significators, then we may claim to have established the law
of planetary influence—or, if you will, of cosmic symbolism. We are not
now concerned with the question of the causative or symbolic relations
of our greater environment. This connection between planet and event we
can certainly show.
Another argument is that the discovery of the heliocentric system by
Copernicus invalidated the conclusions of the astrologers which were
based on the geocentric positions of the planets. We cannot allow this
for the following reasons. The Suryasiddhanta of India antedates the
system of Copernicus by many hundreds of years and it is heliocentric.
India is nevertheless the schoolhouse if not the nursery of Astrology,
and planetary influence in human life is practically an article of faith
with the Hindus. The conclusions of Copernicus were confirmed and
demonstrated by Tycho and Kepler. Tycho practised astrology while Kepler
confirmed its principles and added to its credentials by successful
prediction. In a universe of relativity, every planet is the centre of
its own system, as every man is the centre of his own world, and the
Astrologer who studies the action of the planets on this earth and its
inhabitants, rightly regards the latter as the passive centre of such
action. As the fortunes of a country centre in its Ruler, so those of
the individual centre in himself.
A further argument urged against the Science is that the discovery of
the planets Neptune and Uranus must vitiate conclusions drawn from an
incomplete cosmical system. The argument has really very little value.
The discovery of Argon as a constituent of the earth’s atmosphere does
not involve any change in our ideas about oxygen, hydrogen, or nitrogen.
What was argued in regard to the nature of Saturn a thousand years ago
is maintained by all modern Astrologers. It is the same with all the
other planets. Only we have the added knowledge of the nature and
influence of the two planets Neptune and Uranus to supplement what the
ancients knew about the rest of the solar system. In former days when
they could not discover adequate reasons for death, a man was said to
have died by “the visitation of God.” To-day with our extended knowledge
of the solar system it is found that Uranus or Neptune has been the
agent of the Lord of Life and Death.
Another objection raised against the idea of planetary influence is that
the bodies are so remote and insignificant as to be incapable of
producing any marked effects in mundane affairs. The objection is
grounded in ignorance. The distance of the planets bears no relation to
their influence or power to affect us. This will be obvious to those who
have reflected on the fact that etheric vibration becomes “light” only
when it impinges on the earth’s atmosphere, and the fact also that the
attraction of gravitation operates irrespective of distance and
maintains the solidarity of the system. Planetary perturbations due to
the mutual attraction of the several bodies is an adequate reply to the
objection of Cicero. Sir David Brewster argues that if light could reach
us from the distant stars and planets, other influences may also reach
us from the same sources. Cicero, on the other hand, while possessed of
magnificent ideas of the solar system and fully admitting its
solidarity, asks with evident lack of argument, “What contagion can
reach us from the planets whose distances are almost infinite?” We have
gone beyond the “infinite” of Cicero since that question was asked, and
modern astronomers are able to demonstrate the fact that the Sun, while
acting as the centre of attraction in its own system, is answering to
the gravitational pull of some star in the confines of space, and that
it has a proper motion of its own in a vast orbit about that centre. I
have already expressed the view that Plato knew of this and that it was
the basis of his Great Year. What hinders that our Sun may receive
influences from its own lode-star, and that these may be transmitted to
us in common with the other planets of our system? There is no harm in
using the scientific imagination providing that we have some fact from
which to proceed.
In connection with the teachings of astrology there is the scientific
fact of natural selection to be considered. What is it that determines
birth under particular astral conditions. We say that it is innate
tendency. Locke, who in his _Human Understanding_ argued for “no innate
ideas” had a faulty perspective. He failed to account for genius through
sense-impressions, as others have later failed to account for it through
cumulative heredity. We have instances before us where it is obvious
that there was nothing to accumulate so far as special forms of genius
were concerned.
If, on the other hand, we accept the human being as an evolving Monad
passing through a succession of incarnations for the purposes of
experience and ultimate specialization of faculty, we shall at once
understand how it is that certain persons are endowed with precocious
tendencies of a definite order from infancy, and indeed birth. Given the
time necessary to get into touch with the physical instrument and to
“tune up,” as it were, the appearance of unusual faculty can in no way
be hindered, because it is innate. In this connection Astrology affirms
that persons are born with particular horoscopes because when the
heavens are so disposed as to admit of, and indeed to favour, the
expression of certain forms of genius and faculty, the Soul requiring
those conditions is borne into earth-life. The doctrine involves the
suggestion that there is a purpose in human existence and that such
purpose is neither begun nor fulfilled in any one incarnation. Then, as
there is a Spiritual Law in the Natural World, and a supra-cosmic law of
planetary action, we can see how the line of least resistance is
determined by innate tendency. In the Wisdom of Solomon it is said: “I
am not good because I was born into an undefiled body, but being good I
was born into a body undefiled.” There is therefore an ancient belief in
the determination of birth conditions to innate character.
Colourless and purposeless individuals are found to be responsive to
general or group influences and to be moved by the feelings and thoughts
that animate the crowd. They have not yet attained that power of
self-direction which characterizes the highly evolved Monad. Accentuated
and purposeful characters, on the other hand, require specific
influences under which to be born, and these influences must be
conformable to the purpose in view. What that purpose is may be seen
from their life and actions, and indeed it is written all over them for
those who understand the physiognomy of Nature. Occasionally we have the
incarnation of special Messengers who are responsive to the collective
spirit of the superior world. These are found to voice the needs of the
soul rather than of the body of man and their minds answer to a higher
law than that which controls the average individual.
Very many factors conspire to the production of those astral conditions
which favour the expression of individual character of a high order.
Much depends on the sphere of life in which the purpose of evolution
requires that they shall function. We have such examples of marked men
in all spheres of life. But wherever they appear they are easily
discernible by their horoscopes. Nature is not so profligate as some
people imagine, for in the long run it is seen that her ways and means
are those which invariably secure the end in view. If she is apparently
careless of the mass she is at all events jealously careful in regard to
such as have specialized, and we find by practical experience that she
adapts environment to purpose with infinite care and foresight.
If we take the astral conditions obtaining over any particular period of
a year and consider them in relation to the number of births occurring
in any particular area, we shall find that so far as the cosmic
relations of the planets are concerned they will remain practically
undisturbed for a considerable time. Thus Neptune will be in the same
sign for about 14 years, Uranus for 7 years, Saturn for 2½ years,
Jupiter for one year, and Mars for nearly two months, Venus and Mercury
changing signs within the month. So that, from a cosmical point of view,
quite a large number of births will take place under similar conditions,
for even the Moon, which represents the element of variability, will
continue in the same sign for about 2½ days, and in a thickly populated
area such as the City of London, where the average birth-rate is 14 per
hour, we may have as many as 840 births under exactly the same zodiacal
conditions.
But it happens that the ancient astrologers thought out this problem
somewhat fully, and consequently they directed their attention to the
conditions obtaining in regard to a given locality. In other words, they
paid more attention to the rising, culmination and setting of the
planets than to their zodiacal positions. Now a simple calculation will
show that as 1° of the zodiac passes the meridian every four minutes,
and 15° every hour, there is enough and to spare for the fourteen births
which take place on an average in the most densely populated centre of
the world, so that each of them may be born under a separate degree. But
the fact probably is, and necessarily I am theorizing on the point, that
people are born in batches, for where special conditions are not
required the common experiences of life will serve for all the
evolutional needs of a large majority of those born into the world.
Moreover, as I have already said, the planets affect us in terms of
ourselves, so that the same planetary conditions will be variously
interpreted by individuals born at the same time, according to their
degree of evolution. Consequently I do not see any astrological
objection to any number of persons being born under the same stellar
conditions, and it is indeed probable that the horoscopes of all our
kings and leaders will find duplicates all over the country. All that we
note in such circumstances is that the events of their lives have a
certain set parallelism from birth until death, while so long as these
individual souls are under the sway of those stellar conditions, they
interpret them according to their own natures and in terms of their
sphere of life. A notable case, but by no means the only one that could
be cited is that of John Hemmings and King George III. Both were born on
the same day and at the same hour in the same parish of St.
Martins-le-Fields, in London. When George II died John Hemmings’ father
died. George III succeeded to the throne and John Hemmings to his
father’s business, which was that of an ironmonger. They were married on
the same day, had the same number of children of the same sexes, and
died on the same day and at nearly the same hour. The Webbs, the Cloughs
and the Morells are famous cases of twins whose lives were at all points
similar, and this, not because they were born of the same parents but
because they were born under exactly the same astral conditions.
The mundane factor as distinguished from the zodiacal, that is to say,
the positions of the planets in the prime vertical as distinguished from
their positions in the zodiac, is that which makes for individual
expression. Three hundred and sixty persons could be born in a single
day in any one locality and each of these could have a horoscope that is
distinct and individual. The highest record does not reach this number.
With this factor of variation in the expression of human character and
destiny, it is possible to understand how the Arch-arbiter of our
destinies may, for the ultimate purposes of our spiritual evolution,
determine the application of the individual psychoplasm to the physical
centres of life at times when the cosmical and mundane conditions are
harmonious to the end designed. From an astrological point of view there
is room and to spare for the expression of every phase of human
character and development, and that is the same as saying that the One
Life is capable of an infinite variety of manifestations in the process
of time. This doubtless was the thought animating Shelley’s oft-quoted
phrase—
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity.
CHAPTER XXVI
CHARACTER AND ENVIRONMENT
SIR FRANCIS GALTON in his _Enquiry into Human Faculty_ has laid it down
as an axiom for the study of Eugenists that “Nature is stronger than
Nurture.” His researches and tabulated statistics undoubtedly point this
conclusion. We have therefore to regard life in terms of this fact.
In the making of destiny Character is the prime factor, and the
modifying factor is Environment. Reform that has an eye only to
externals will never be finally effective. Only that which makes for the
upbuilding of individual character will secure permanent results.
Without doubt character demands for its full expression the most
effective instrument that can be placed at its disposal, and this is the
whole case for Eugenics. How that efficiency of instrument is to be
secured for the majority is another matter. Certainly it will never be
found along the lines of stock. We have before us hundreds of examples
of thoroughly fit persons of both sexes whose children are weaklings or
mentally defective. I have cited two cases of women simultaneously
bearing children in the same hospital. One child dies and the other
lives. Why? They were born under the same stellar conditions. They had
equal care from their births onwards. The reason is that in one instance
the mother’s horoscope shows success in progeny from the presence of
Jupiter in the 5th House, and the other shows no success at all from the
presence of Saturn in that part of the heavens. Both mothers were
perfectly fit in themselves and in the same station of life. Obviously
there is here imported a factor that is of immense importance to those
who have a mind for improving the race. Seed, Season and Soil are all
essential to the production of healthy offspring. Our Eugenists leave
out of consideration the factor of Season. They imagine that, given
healthy parents, you are bound to have healthy children. Nothing is
further from the truth, if we regard children as composite beings and
not merely as animals. We may frankly admit that the personality
determines the final _expression_ of character as the coloured glass
through which the ray of intelligence finally strikes upon us, but to
confound character with environment—and there is no environment which
presses a man more nearly than his physical body—would be to negative
the whole effort of reform. Character is inherent and is imported to the
physical environment. It is not derived from it. It is no by-product,
but a thing as essential to Soul as shape is to matter. Beyond the fact
of physical heredity, which counts for a great deal where bodies are
concerned, there is the yet more important factor of psychic tradition.
The importation of this factor into the problem is of the utmost
significance, and I venture to say that apart from a thorough sounding
of modern Psychology and Occultism, and a due consideration of all the
factors that go to the making of a man, there will be no satisfactory
solution of the problem modern Eugenists have before them.
In the analysis of personal efficiency we find three factors in
co-operation: faculty, function and instrument. All faculty is
strengthened and increased by use or function. Function it is that
adapts environment to its needs, as a force pressing towards expression
in matter. For the expression of faculty, therefore, we need functional
integrity, adaptation of environment, and efficiency of instrument. It
has been said that, given an instrument that is out of tune there would
not be much difference in expression of faculty between an impresario
and a man entirely ignorant of music. This is true only in time and as
regards the immediate effort of each. But one can very well see that
there are essential differences which will very soon be made manifest.
The musician would know that the instrument was defective, while the
other would not. In a short while the musician would get that instrument
into tune so that he could express his faculty. The man ignorant of
music could not attempt the business. Character counts for more than
environment, and faculty than instrument.
Now in our Occultism we distinguish between that which is incidental, as
faculty and character; and that which is accidental, as instrument and
environment. It is recognized that the horoscope of birth is accidental
in this sense, and represents the cosmical and mundane environment in
which the character is required to express itself. It represents a
composite of cosmic forces energizing through two great streams of
heredity. But it is not essential to the man, as is character. It is not
going to damn him for ever or confer on him the guerdon of a blessed
immortality. It is merely an environment, and that but a temporary one.
Astrologers classify characters into three primary groups, representing
stability, flexibility and incisiveness, or again, originality and
independence, adaptability, and executiveness. These answer to the
grouping of the planets in the several signs of the zodiac, namely, the
Fixed, Common and Cardinal signs, otherwise known as the grave,
circumflex and acute. These may be tabularized in the following manner—
_Sign._ _Character._ _Faculty._
Aries, Libra, Incisive. Executiveness.
Capricorn, Cancer.
Cardinal or Acute.
Taurus, Scorpio,
Leo, Aquarius. Stable. Originality.
Fixed or Grave.
Gemini, Sagittary,
Virgo, Pisces. Flexible. Adaptability.
Common or
Circumflex.
From this grouping we know at once what is the predominant mould of
character and hence what environment is most suitable for the exercise
and expression of that character. And as applied to eugenics, we are
able thereby to make selection of suitable partners in life, setting off
the stability of the one by the flexibility of the other, and so on.
Take, for instance, the man who shows a predominant flexibility of
character, wide sympathies, versatility, prolixity and diffuseness. He
is apt to become a dabbler, never thorough, and _aliquid in omnibus_.
Obviously his ambitions need pointing, his faculties concentrating, and
his natural powers conserving. Bring him into relations with a woman who
has a majority of the planets in cardinal signs, and he will find one
who can be of the greatest use to him in the shaping of character and
the directing of his ambitions and powers.
We might ring the changes and derive from these three types seven
distinct characters, all mutually interdependent and capable of
fulfilling some special function in the economy of life, but never
wholly of service when working alone. It is from the interplay of human
character in the ordinary course of life that the main purpose of human
evolution is served.
It has already been shown that the lunar sphere is the last of those
through which the incarnating entity passes when it proceeds towards
mundane existence. It has been shown also that the Moon exercises a most
important influence in human generation. It is to the Moon, therefore,
that we look for the final determination of that personal colouring
which is the prime environment of the Soul. Accordingly we find that the
Moon’s position in a horoscope of birth is of the greatest importance.
Not only does the Sign occupied by the Moon give to the character a
special colouring, but the decanate and even the degree that is held by
it play their part in the final determination of the personal colouring.
But inasmuch as there is an adaptation of means to end and of character
to environment, we may go further and infer character as indicated by
the lunar position. In this way the whole phenomenal world may be
regarded as the reflex of the noumenal. The person, as phenomenon,
assumes a cosmic and spiritual significance. He is one of the divine
symbols.
To take a concrete instance. The Kaiser Wilhelm II was born with the
Moon in the 28th degree of the sign Scorpio, which is ruled by the Sun,
the sign being under the dominion of the planet Mars. The Moon is
opposed by Uranus, which disposes to a wayward and autocratic
disposition, some degree of eccentricity, a nature subject to impulses
and precipitate actions. The Moon therefore takes the prime colouring of
the planet Mars, because it is in the sign of Mars, Scorpio, and we
accordingly find that Mars is a very prominent planet in the horoscope,
being in the Mid-heaven and near the conjunction with Neptune. It is
not, therefore, surprising that the Kaiser Wilhelm has received the name
of “War Lord.” He represents the fighting principle which makes for
conquest and freedom. Zeal, courage, enthusiasm, enterprise and
frankness are among the martial attributes. To these attributes, the
solar degrees held by the Moon will contribute a degree of pride, love
of fame, glory and display.
Take another instance. Napoleon I was born with the Moon in the 28th
degree of the sign Capricornus. The sign is ruled by Saturn, and we find
Saturn in the most prominent position in the horoscope, being in the
Mid-heaven in opposition to the Moon. Saturn is in the sign Cancer, and
he died from the disease associated with this sign. The degree is ruled
by the Sun. Here we have the Moon in the cardinal sign Capricorn, ruled
by Saturn, the most powerful planet in the horoscope. It is altogether
suitable to the “Man of Destiny.” The degree held by the Moon is ruled
by the Sun, and this gives the desire for fame, honour, glory and
rulership. The decanate of the sign occupied by the Moon is related to
the sign Aries ruled by Mars, and here we have the military instinct.
But the presiding influence in the horoscope is undoubtedly that of the
planet Saturn, in whose sign the Moon is found at the moment of birth.
Saturn had an ancient reputation of devouring his own children, which
means that those whom he raises in the world he eventually despoils. It
was thus in the case of Napoleons I and III, both of whom had the planet
in the Mid-heaven of their horoscopes. But the tally of its victims is a
lengthy one, and includes all grades of life. What sphere is likely to
be occupied by the subject of this or any other horoscopical influence
coming through the Moon, depends most of all upon the position of the
planet governing the Moon-sign, that is, the Sign in which the Moon is
placed at the birth. Thus I find that Rudyard Kipling has the Moon in
Gemini, and this is ruled by Mercury, who is in the sign Sagittarius in
conjunction with Venus. Mercury is pre-eminently the representative of
literature and Venus that of poesy. But the Moon is also in the degree
of Gemini that is ruled by Venus, and in that part of the sign which
reflects the sign Aries, so that we have direct evidence of the military
associations of his poetical genius. The poet Shelley was born with the
Moon in Pisces, which is ruled by Jupiter, a powerful planet in his
horoscope, and, conjoined with the planets Mars and Neptune, denoting
the fearless and zealous nature allied to mysticism and inspiration. The
Moon being in a degree that is ruled by itself, denotes that love of
change and that restless inconsequence which characterized his life,
while the Moon, being in the decanate which reflects the sign Cancer,
adds that abiding love of maritime pursuits which eventually brought
about his death, and once more accentuated the import of the phrase:
“the ruling passion strong in death!”
Nelson was born with the Sun in the sign Leo, and the Sun, its ruler, in
elevation. Shakespeare was born with the Moon in Taurus, with Venus its
ruler in elevation. Thus we see that all those who have distinguished
themselves in their sphere of life have the ruler of the Moon-sign in a
prominent position in their horoscopes, and further that the exact
position of the Moon as to decanate and degree gives us the particular
setting of the character and the special faculty by which they are
distinguished.
Yet while the study of character and environment from the point of view
of Astrology is in every way satisfactory to those who take it seriously
in hand, it does not in itself afford that degree of evidence that is
looked for by people newly acquainted with its claims and teachings. For
human character is a very complex thing, and universally shows the
admixture of elements that are common to all in a greater or less
degree. It is rather in the specialization of some one characteristic
that persons become distinguished. It is sometimes in the suppression of
some prevailing characteristic that others attain distinction. Thus we
see that the selfless devotion of one man to the needs of others draws
him away from the mass of commonly selfish people. Accentuation and
abnegation may thus both claim their hold upon the public esteem, yet
always it is thoroughness that makes its mark in the world, and by that
I mean the steadfast adherence to a plan of life which wins its way
through in the end. So then, we see that the evolution of the unit from
the mass, the specialization of faculty in the individual, is the law of
Nature, and it hardly needed the philosophy of Nietzsche or the cult of
the Superman to enforce the fact upon our minds. And yet, after all,
there is no individual evolution possible for man apart from the race to
which he belongs, and when all is done that self-effort can accomplish,
when we have specialized and perfected to the highest possible degree,
what remains but that we must perforce acknowledge our indebtedness to
the world and find our whole destiny to consist in the service of
mankind. Thus Bulwer Lytton makes Zanoni to say: After all I perceive
that the common lot of mankind is its greatest and its sweetest
blessing! Astrology at all events has no higher doctrine than this:
Study how best to serve.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE LAW OF SEX
Synthetic Philosophy and Comparative Theology have sought wisely to
establish a common basis for human thought and aspiration. From the
complex of life and thought they have argued to fundamental unity. It
has been well said that the foolish and superficial look for differences
in things about them, but the wise seek for the underlying identity. In
the last analysis of things animate and inanimate, we are faced by the
insoluble fact of sex distinction.
When we speak of chemical affinity, of magnetism, of polarity, we are
really speaking in terms of sex. However far we push back our
investigations along the lines of evolution we come at length to the
distinction which separates one-half of nature from the other, and which
is seen to be at the root of all natural attractions and to be the
source of generation. Sex, as considered by itself and apart from
function and organism, may be the result of a mode of vibration. We
cannot say. We may go right back to the first principles of our
conception of Life and we find the active and passive principles of
Force and Matter, Heat and Moisture, Fire and Water, penetrating through
the various philosophies and schools of thought, but always a duality.
Even in the Theological conception we have the divine principles of
Wisdom and Love in apposition, but united for the purpose of Creation
and Preservation of the Universe. It is a mystery that cannot be solved.
We cannot in fact, determine whether sex distinction is temporary or
eternal. We have reason to regard it as radical and not accidental. For
whereas in the process of evolution it appears from time to time to
merge in various forms and to become hermaphroditic, we find it
continually emerging again, persistent and irrepressible.
From the occult point of view it appears to be impounded in the very
elements of our being. It has been shown in these pages that the
Microcosmic Man is an epitome of the universe, compounded of universal
elements, and responsive at all points to the laws controlling the
cosmos. It has also been shown that the Moon, so far as this earth is
concerned, is the cosmic factor which represents variability. It has
also been shown that it exercises first influence in the process of
generation, and, therefore we may expect to find it intimately connected
with the question of sex. It is, in fact, found to be the factor which
determines the astral forces towards the evolution of sex function and
organism.
By an empiricism based on an occult law and proved by the application of
this law to hundreds of cases of well-authenticated births, it has been
established that the determination of sex follows a definite course from
a certain point of time bearing a mathematical and astronomical
relationship to the moment of birth. Thus, given the moment at which a
birth took place in any locality, it is possible to at once indicate the
sex without the fact being communicated. By this I do not mean that sex
production is voluntary in human or animal generation. That is a problem
which the Eugenists should consider in the light of the law of sex I am
now concerned with.
The four cardinal points of the zodiac, Aries 0°, Libra 0, Capricorn 0
and Cancer 0, are the generating points of the circle or Wheel of Life.
These points are not artificial. They are natural. They mark the stages
at which the Sun in its apparent course about the earth cross the
equator, and attain the maximum and minimum degrees of elevation. By
analogy they are related to the Dawn, Noon, Sunset and Midnight of the
daily circle; to the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter of the year; and
to the periods of Childhood, Manhood, Maturity and Senility in the life
of man. It is this consent of Nature to the universal paradigm that
enables us to trace the course of mundane events from astral conditions
in force at these several points of the year, as Kepler allowed from his
own experience, and as Astrologers find continually to be the case.
Taking these four points of the zodiac, then, as the starting-points for
the determination of cosmic forces ultimating as sex, we find that Aries
0 is female, Capricornus 0 male, Libra 0 male and Cancer 0 female. They
follow the lines of the segmentation of the cell in the animal organism.
Thus—
[Illustration: Figure 28.]
From each of these points there are six others generated, which are
alternately male and female in potentiality.
Here it is necessary to introduce the lunar factor, since it is the
means of the distribution of the “sex degrees” as we may call them,
which are generated from the four cardinal points. For this purpose we
have to regard the moon in relation to the number 7, which is the number
of days in which it forms its successive phases. From one phase to
another is a quadrant of 90° and this divided by seven will give the
mean acceleration of 12-6/7°. If we divide the circle into seven parts
we shall get 51-3/7° and further dividing this into four parts, in order
to get the twenty-eight days of the Moon’s passage, we shall have again
12-6/7°.
It is the septenate division of the circle which enables us to get the
sex degrees that are generated from the four cardinal points. Thus, from
Aries 0 we arrive at Taurus 21-3/7, Cancer 12-6/7, Virgo 4-2/7, Libra
25-5/7, Sagittarius 17-1/7, and Aquarius 8-4/7. These are found to be
male and female in alternation. From Libra 0 we derive the same degrees
of the opposite signs, but the sex is reversed in each case. From
Capricornus we derive Leo 21, Libra 13, Sagittarius 4, Capricorn 26,
Pisces 17, and Taurus 8, the sex of each being the same as the
corresponding degrees of the zodiac generated from Libra. From Cancer we
derive the same degrees of the opposite signs to those derived from
Capricornus, but the sex is reversed in each case.
There are thus four sets of degrees alternately male and female in
tendency which are generated from the four cardinal points, and these
may be set out in order as derived, thus—
[Illustration: Figure 29.]
It will be observed that the fractions are omitted and the nearest
complete degree inserted. Then if we arrange these four sets of degrees
into their groups under the radical generator, we shall have a central
generating point with a six-pointed star or interlaced triangle around
it, the upright triangle being male and the reversed triangle female at
the radials. Each of these stars will occupy one of the four cardinal
points of the Cosmic Cross.
[Illustration: Figure 30. Diagram of the Cosmic Star. Showing the
generation of the Sex Degrees of the Zodiac from the Four Cardinal
Points.]
The application of the Law of Sex requires some little astronomical
practice. It is first of all necessary to find the place of the Moon at
the time of birth. If the moon is found in a sex degree or within three
degrees of one, it will retain the sex of that degree. Otherwise, it is
necessary to observe whether the Moon is increasing or decreasing at the
time, and if increasing, the Moon’s place must be put on the East
horizon, but if decreasing, it will be on the West horizon. This
position is found to answer to the Moon’s place at the Prenatal Epoch,
concerning which some explanation is necessary.
The normal period of human gestation is nine solar or ten lunar months.
It will be found that the moon makes ten revolutions while the Sun
passes through nine signs of the zodiac. But this normal period may be
increased or decreased, and that quite normally, by the relative
positions of the luminaries at the time of inception. I use this word to
distinguish it from conception, which term connotes certain
physiological processes and facts. The astral factor should not be
identified in point of time with the physiological processes of coitus
and impregnation.
Now it is found that when at birth the Moon is increasing in light, that
is, going towards the full, and above the horizon, or conversely,
decreasing in light and below the horizon, the period from birth to
inception is _less_ than ten lunar months by a quantity determined by
the Moon’s distance from the horizon. But when the Moon at birth is
found to be decreasing and above the horizon, or increasing and below
the horizon, the period of time from birth to inception is found to be
_more_ than ten lunar months by a quantity determined by the Moon’s
distance from the horizon.
The measure of this plus or minus quantity is thus computed. The Moon’s
distance is taken from the horizon East or West, according as it is
increasing or decreasing in light. If increasing, it is taken from the
East, and if decreasing from the West. The number of zodiacal degrees
between the Moon and the horizon thus indicated has then to be divided
by the Moon’s mean diurnal motion, which is 13° 11´ roughly, and this
will be the number of days more or less than ten lunar revolutions by
which the birth is separated from the inception.
This calculation from the Moon’s position in the zodiac and prime
vertical enables us certainly to fix the day of the inception. The next
step is to find the time of day at which the Moon is in exact
horoscopical relations with the moment of birth.
This is done by a single observation. In all normal cases it is found
that if the Moon is increasing in light at the time of birth, that is to
say, going from the new to the full, its longitude at the moment of
birth will be the ascendant at the inception, and if decreasing at birth
its longitude will be the descendant at the moment of the inception.
Then universally it is found that the Moon is, at that moment, in the
exact longitude which was rising or setting at the birth. Now having the
moon’s acceleration as a variable factor, ranging from 11° 50´ to 15°
17´ per day, the chances are millions to one against the Moon being in
the exact degree and minute that was on the horizon at birth at the same
time that the Moon’s place at birth was rising or setting on a local
horizon. Yet this is found to be the fact! What other conclusion can we
come to, having regard to all the factors employed, and the wonderful
harmony that is observed to result, than that “God geometrizes,” as
Plato wisely said. Things do not happen by chance, but by law. Law is
the expression of intelligence inhering in action. The universe is
rendered intelligible by its laws. Whatever is intelligible expresses
Intelligence.
But we have yet to consider the variation of the law that is conformable
to the Law of Sex. This Law of Lunar Appulsion in the matter of human
generation would work out exactly as stated above in every case were it
not for the fact that Sex is the dominant and controlling factor, and
that by reason of it a birth may be delayed or advanced by a period
ranging from a fortnight to as much as two months. For, whatever may be
the other factors involved in the horoscopical conditions of a birth,
sex must be satisfied first and foremost. It is the controlling factor.
Observe, then, that if the birth is male and the Moon occupies a female
degree, as indicated above, should the Moon be increasing in light, the
Law of Lunar Appulsion already detailed will require that the Moon’s
place should rise at the Epoch of inception or, as it is called, the
“Prenatal Epoch,” and consequently a female degree would be rising at
such Epoch. This would be contrary to the sex, and consequently we know
that the Moon’s place at birth must be setting at the Epoch, so that a
male degree may be rising. This is the case, _mutatus mutandis_, when
the Moon is in a male degree and the sex is female. Then, this
adjustment being duly made, it is found that the horoscope resulting
will find the Moon in the exact degree that was rising at birth. Exactly
similar considerations hold in the case of a Moon that is decreasing at
birth. This is the first establishment of the Law of Sex as controlling
the time of birth.
The next is when the Moon does not occupy a sex degree but is more than
three degrees removed from either male or female degrees. In such case
we have to consider whether the degree on the horizon at the moment of
birth pertains to either sex. For if it be so, and the degree is of the
sex of the child born, then we know that the Moon was in that degree at
the Epoch, whether it was increasing or decreasing in light at the
birth. This will control the day of birth in the same way that the first
rule controlled the moment of it. Only when neither the Moon nor the
horizon are occupied by sex degrees the Law of Lunar Appulsion operates
without restriction. This clearly shows that the Law of Sex is
paramount, and that it can and does control the Law of Lunar Appulsion.
By appulsion we mean that outbreathing from the moon-sphere towards the
earth which corresponds to the diastole of respiration, by which the
vital forces of the cosmos focussed by the Moon are carried towards the
earth for the production and sustentation of the species.
If this Law were a matter of chance it will be seen by any one
acquainted with the astronomical facts, that the chances are dead
against it working out in practice. Yet the facts are in daily test by
astrologers the world over, and we may hence conclude that the Law of
Sex has absolutely been discovered, or at all events the rules by which
we may recognize its cosmic relations.
With a closer knowledge of the initial stages of generation, it will be
possible, by a reversal of the factors here employed, to argue from the
inception to the birth, instead of as now from the birth backwards to
the Epoch of inception. In such case we shall have obtained the secret
of how to determine the sex of offspring at will. That the Prenatal
Epoch here established answers to some incipient stage of the process of
generation there can be no reasonable doubt whatever, for wherever the
time of birth is accurately taken by a medical man it answers exactly to
the astronomical considerations required by the Law as formulated.
Elsewhere I have delivered a diagram showing the Moon’s position for
each month from the inception to the birth, from which we see that there
is a definite law of pulsation marking a spiral descent of the Monad
along the line of energy instituted between the Moon’s place at the
Epoch and the point of the zodiac on the horizon at the moment of birth.
This I have called the Descent of the Monad, and it affords a study of
the greatest psychological value. Very many attempts have been made on
the part of gynecologists to ascertain the law controlling Sex, and I
have introduced this section in the hope that such as may have a
practical interest in this question will avail themselves of the facts
so far derived from the study of occultism.
CHAPTER XXVIII
A TEST OF VALUE
The Old Philosopher of China has said that the virtue of everything is
in its use. If Cosmic Symbolism cannot be applied to the practical ends
of life it will not succeed in appealing to the average intellect, which
sets for its standard the single test of utility. In these pages I have
endeavoured to show that the Universe as Symbol is best studied in
relation to its bearing on the common needs of humanity. I have also
shown that Astrology is the only system of thought and practice that
attempts the application. I propose now to examine the educational value
of this study and its practical use in daily life, and thus to place it
among the list of those subjects that have a serious claim to the
consideration of enlightened people.
Tracing our way through the Encyclopædia of knowledge we find that most
of the deeper studies that engage the powers of men are valuable, not so
much for the ends they lead to, as for the mental training obtained in
their pursuit. It is one of the outstanding features of modern
scientific methods that we are required to bring our theories into
agreement with known facts. The facts themselves are often uninteresting
and of small practical value, but they serve as landmarks by which to
direct our course towards conclusions which in themselves are often
valuable. It is thus with astronomy. The application of the _Principia_
or of the Laws of Kepler to the cosmos as we know it is an exercise
requiring the greatest possible care, considerable mathematical ability,
and the patience of a Prometheus. The bare facts of astronomy are not
generally interesting. We are not solicitous of knowing in exactly how
many days, hours, minutes and seconds the planet Jupiter completes its
course about the Sun. What is of more practical interest to us as
terrestrials is to know Jupiter’s relations to this world of ours, what
it stands for in the economy of life, and what influence, if any, it
exerts over us.
Now Astrology, while employing all the elements of astronomy that have
any certain foundation in fact, is calculated as a study to engage all
the highest faculties of the human mind, while it brings to the results
obtained the added virtue of utility.
The late Professor Max Müller once paid Astrology a great tribute when
he said that many of our most distinguished men of intellect were at
this day practiced astrologers, but that “few cared to let their studies
be known, so great was the ignorance which confounded a science
requiring the highest education with that of the ordinary gipsy
fortune-teller.” Possibly he had in mind the late Lord Chief Justice, or
Dr. Richard Garnett, or indeed any one of the host of intelligent
students who have secretly avowed their adherence to the science. That
which held the admiration of Claudius Ptolemy, and received the
imprimatur of Tycho and Kepler, which attracted Lord Verulam, Francis
Bacon, and was held in the highest esteem by that trained scientific
observer and profound thinker, Sir Isaac Newton, and which in all ages
and nations has included the highest intellects among its votaries, is
affirmed by the great Orientalist to have a real value in the estimation
of modern students whose attainments have placed them in a position to
judge in the matter.
Let us, therefore, look soberly and carefully at this science of
Astrology and see if its study is likely to be at all profitable from
the point of view of education.
Astrology is both a science and a philosophy. As science it is concerned
with the facts of astronomy and as philosophy with the application of
those facts to the problems of life and mind. The astronomical facts are
of first interest. Before we can say anything at all about the interplay
of planetary action in human life we have to be able to set a map of the
heavens for any time and place at which a person may have birth. For
this purpose one can avail himself of the Ephemerides of the _Nautical
Almanac_, the _Connaissance des Temps_, or any of those cheaper
publications which are extracted from them. From various handbooks
written by astrological authors he may then learn how to erect a
horoscope or map of the heavens for any time and place. Such practical
knowledge is not to be found in any exposition of astronomy that I have
yet come across. It enables the student to observe with perfect accuracy
in what relations the various heavenly bodies were at the given time and
exactly where they were situated as seen from a particular locality on
the earth’s surface. The student finds considerable satisfaction in this
piece of practical work. But it is only preliminary to the further study
of the subject. For it will be seen that whereas the positions of the
planets at the moment of birth have a symbolical value as regards the
whole tenor and course of the life, the particular times at which events
prefigured are likely to take place can only be known from a study of
the subsequent motions of the heavenly bodies after the date of birth.
For it is from the constant changes taking place in the kaleidoscope of
the greater world about us that we draw our conclusions as to the time
and nature of events. The planets are continually altering their
relative positions owing to their different velocities and they thus
form aspects or certain angular distances in regard to the places of the
planets in the horoscope of birth and also among themselves in the
heavens. The process of bringing a planet to the place of another in the
horoscope of birth is called “directing” and involves a knowledge of
spherical trigonometry. This brings me to an interesting fact. It is
that the whole science of astronomy and the art of making ephemerides of
the planets’ positions was kept alive solely by the personal labours and
special knowledge of a handful of practical astrologers.
The Alphonsine Tables which were composed by the Arabian and Spanish
astrologers and which were collected under the command of Alphonso X of
Castile at a cost of four hundred thousand crowns, and published with a
royal preface in the year 1252, are among the earliest examples of their
great devotion. The Almagest of Ptolemy was completed about A.D. 148 and
was inscribed in the Temple of Serapis. The Rudolphine Tables composed
by Tycho and completed by Kepler were digested and recomposed by
Morinus, Mathematical Professor to the King of France, and printed at
Paris in the year 1650. Ptolemy, Tycho, Kepler and Morin were all
practiced astrologers. The _Nautical Almanac_ was first published in
1767 by Dr. Neville Maskelyne, and afterwards greatly improved in 1834.
The _Connaissance des Temps_ was published in 1699. Whence, think you,
did the astrologers obtain their information regarding the positions of
the planets prior to these years of authorized publication? They
calculated them for themselves. Without astronomy there could be no
Astrology. They kept astronomy alive.
Very few people understand what labour there is attaching to the
production of the various elements that one finds in the common almanac.
How many of my readers are prepared to calculate for themselves the time
at which the Sun will rise or set upon the horizon of a particular
locality? How many could say with any certainty at what time the Moon
would south, or cross the upper meridian? What percentage of people
could say when and where an eclipse of the Sun or Moon would occur,
where it would be visible, its extent and duration? The modern
astrologer has a remarkably easy time compared with the labours of his
predecessors. He can refer to his official guide, or consult the popular
almanac for all his elements. But for the working out of a horoscope and
its subsequent directions, he must certainly have a practical knowledge
of the use of an astronomical ephemeris.
From astronomy his attention is turned at once to Geography. He has to
determine the exact longitude and latitude of a place, the name only of
which is given, for he has to make his map of the heavens as seen from
the place of birth. Here he gets a practical knowledge of localities and
of the orientation of horoscopes. In his pursuit of Astrology the
student will find himself tracking back through the biographies of great
men and women in order to find data from which to test the various
ascriptions of the astrologers. He will turn up cases of dementia and
insanity in persons of repute and compare the data afforded by their
horoscopes with the rules of Ptolemy, Morinus and Cardan. He will
incidentally acquire a considerable knowledge of men and things which
else had been to him an unwritten book.
Further, testing the theory of eclipse influences he will inevitably
find his way back to the ruined cities of Nineveh and Babylon and the
three historical eclipses which preceded the downfall of the great
Empire, which eclipses we have received from Hipparchus through the
Syntaxis of Ptolemy. As to the latter there are the Greek, Latin and
English editions of the work open to his study.
The student will not proceed far before he comes up against the problem
of Calendarics. He will find it impossible to understand and follow the
works of the ancients without some notion of the equilization of Eras,
and it will become imperative, if he would check the statements made in
their works, as he should do, that he undertake the task of converting
ancient into modern calendars. He may even find it necessary to know the
names of the Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Indian and Chinese months. It is
all involved in the process of his study. He will certainly require to
know what are the Eras of the Hegira, the Salivahana, the Olympiads, and
the Kali Yuga.
Keen on the track of this ancient lore he may elect to study the
primitive Chinese language, and the noble Sanskrit of India, the more
perfectly to acquaint himself with the traditions of these peoples and
to study their ancient presentment of the science of Astrology. He may
conveniently follow up the record through the Greeks and Latins.
Assuredly he will need to acquaint himself, at least superficially, with
the anatomy of the human body, its physiology, pathology and hygiene. In
the allocation of faculty to environment he will come into touch with
sociology and will discriminate between the planetary occupations cited
by Ptolemy and those that enter into the complex of modern life. In
connection with the questions of marriage and progeny, the study of
eugenics and gynecology will claim his attention. The study of character
as revealed by the planetary dispositions at the moment of birth will
bring him into touch with the profound and as yet only partially
developed science of Psychology.
Cosmogony will inevitably hold his attention while studying the effects
of planetary action in the world at large, and seismology and
meteorology are branches of mundane astrology that cannot be overlooked
by any thorough student. For the argument comes easily to hand that if
the planets do not affect the world at large they cannot affect us as
denizens of the world.
From this by no means exhaustive category of subjects directly connected
with the study of Astrology, it will be seen that it entails a liberal
education and one, moreover, that cannot be matched by the curriculum of
any of our schools or colleges. So that, whether we regard Astrology as
a science, a philosophy or an occult art, it is certain that its
pursuit, if carried out consistently, cannot fail to improve the mind of
all who engage in it.
But as Laotze has said, the virtue of everything is in its use. If
Astrology has no practical advantages to offer us it will at best only
secure a place of academical repute. Those who have followed it out into
the broad issues of life will, however, be able to affirm that in
infancy, youth, adolescence and old age, Astrology is adequate to the
needs of all as a source of guidance and information. From the very
outset of life we are faced by considerations of health, questions
regarding the continuance of life, matters connected with education, the
development of special faculty, and all those problems that vex the
parental mind. Then later on we have to decide upon the choice of
occupation, and later still on the all-important question of marriage.
Then come the host of considerations hedging the welfare of the average
man, questions regarding business affairs, travelling, partnerships,
alliances, and the final disposition of one’s affairs. There are also
the financial problems to be dealt with, matters of investment and of
speculation—for it is never wise to speculate unless you know—and on the
domestic side of life we have a multitude of problems which can easily
be imagined but are difficult to recite.
In all these matters Astrology is found to be consistently useful as a
guide and system of foreknowledge. Let me take some practical
illustrations of the value of foreknowledge. The Russo-Japanese War and
its outbreak in the Korea was foreseen and specifically predicted by me
from the Eclipses of 1893. The fact that thousands of persons are
directly or indirectly concerned in the appreciation or depreciation of
the commercial interests and Government securities of those countries
will point the practical value of this piece of intelligent
anticipation.
The Hispano-American War of 1898 was predicted and the corner in wheat
coinciding with the outbreak of that event was foreseen. Was this of any
value to those whose business it is to anticipate the price of
commodities and to arrange their shipments accordingly? Was the fall in
Consols in 1899 on the outbreak of the Boer War of no consequence to
trustees and financiers? Consols were then at 112 and they fell to 88.
My statement to the _Daily Mail_ twelve months before the event was that
Consols next year would, on account of war, be as much below par as they
were then above it. These are not isolated predictions carrying with
them a fictitious value as spasmodic evidences, but they form part of a
coherent and consistent system of forecast which has been available to
the public for many years and of which many have taken advantage.
Judged by the test of fact and utility it will be seen that Cosmic
Symbolism as developed in the science of Astrology is everywhere and in
all directions abundantly justified in its claim to a patient and
dispassionate investigation at the hands of competent critics, and
universally it will be found to answer the common problems of life and
to throw a flood of light upon some of the more recondite mysteries of
our being.
In this work I have sought to be rather suggestional than informing, to
stimulate rather than to satisfy curiosity, and to entice the reader to
a consideration of some few ideas which arise out of the study of the
Universe as Symbol. In this I trust I have been successful.
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● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
○ Footnotes have been moved to follow the chapters in which they are
referenced.
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