Max Heindel

“ When it has gradually dawned upon us through much sorrow, that selfishness is as a shell around the soul which shuts us off from others, we begin slowly to cultivate the quality of benevolence, and gradually the half-circle of the soul rises above the cross of matter and becomes the symbol of Jupiter, the philanthropist and friend of man. ”

“ Besides the seven planets already mentioned, two others are in our system, Uranus and Neptune, Uranus may be said to be the octave of Venus, having her nature in a much more subtle degree; its attractions are so spiritual that they cannot be felt by the ordinary man in the proper manner, and he therefore, more readily responds to the evil side of Uranus. It is the planet which rules the ether, and when in aspect; to Mercury, or in the Ascendant, or with the Moon, it produces a touch with the force we know as electricity. ”

“ Mercury is neutral however, and it depends upon the indwelling Ego represented by the centrally placed circle whether it will use its divine attributes of choice and free-will to aspire heavenward for soul-growth as symbolized by the signature of the soul, the half-circle, placed above the circle of spirit, or whether it will stoop towards the cross of personality below the circle and wallow in the mire of worldliness. ”

“ When, Mercury is well placed in relation to Jupiter, we have the philosophical and scientific mind, the ruler and the law-giver, both in church and state, who works for the good of all.
When Mercury is well posited with regard to Mars, we have the man of action; the man who aims at the material development of the world’s resources in a small or large way, as a shopkeeper, storekeeper and all other ways wherein others are exploited for personal benefit, for Mars is, as already said, the antithesis of Venus, and the embodiment of selfish desire. ”

“ Therefore Saturn is in essential agreement with Capricorn and Aquarius, the signs occupied by the Sun during the cold months of mid-winter, December and January. When placed in these signs his cold, clammy hand makes itself felt as a powerful force that crushes life and joy, that covers the life with the gloom of death. ”

“ Pisces, which is composed of two half-circles and a band, shows well the dual nature of man that has run its course in the physical world, but has another evolution to be taken up in unseen realms. This house, therefore, denotes the confinement in which the spirit realizes that it is at the end of life, the sorrow it feels and the self-undoing to which it is sometimes prompted. ”

“ Chances are that in a horoscope full of good aspects there lurks the snare of indolence so that the person does not exert himself and becomes driftwood upon the ocean of life, while another who has what we call a very afflicted horoscope is roused by the adverse conditions generated by squares and oppositions, and by sheer force of will conquers his stars and masters his destiny. ”

“ When the Sun is in the Hast and crosses the celestial equator from the south to the north, it enters its martial exaltation sign Aries as a conquering king at the vernal equinox, and all nature wakens to the life, love and labor of another year. Therefore the point where the lesser Light crosses into the north declination is also subject to a benign life-giving influence, such as that ascribed to the Dragon’s Head. It fosters and promotes all matters within its influence. ”

“ In the foregoing, only the essential natures of the planets have been given. Where they are well aspected by another planet these natural characteristics are enhanced so far as the benefice planets are concerned, but when evilly aspected, the nature of Venus, which is wisdom, love and rhythm, will become folly, licentiousness, and sloth; the philosophy, law-abiding tendencies, mercy and lofty aspirations of Jupiter will turn into lawlessness, disregard of others, and low pursuits; the lofty spirituality of the Sun will express itself as just animal spirits and physical health. ”

“ When a New Moon is a solar eclipse it produces first, the usual effect of a lunation during its current month, if in aspect with any of the radical planets, and secondly, similar effects during the months of the following year when aspects of the same nature are formed with the place of the eclipse. That is to say, if the eclipse fell in the twelfth house in Leo, square to Mars in Scorpio, in the third house, then it would produce enmity with brothers and sisters during the month of August when the eclipse was formed. ”

“ When a lunation falls within three degrees of an aspect to any of the planets or other vital points in the radical horoscope it has a marked effect upon affairs during the current month, and will easily take the place of an aspect of the progressed Moon which is needed to fructify the planetary indications then in force. Even apart from primary directions, if a New Moon falls in close conjunction with a malefic, it will produce trouble in minor matters, and conversely, a lunation which falls on the place of Jupiter or Venus will make things pleasant. ”

“ Planets:
The heavenly bodies of God’s Ambassadors which circle about the Sun.
As man is made in the image of God, who is three-fold in manifestation, so astrologically, the higher self in man is represented by a circle with the central point denoting the highest spiritual aspect, the Divine Spirit whose faculty is Will. Therefore, the Sun stands in the horoscope as the highest expression of the individual self. It denotes the positive outgoing influence in man, his character in the highest sense of the word.
The symbol of the planet Venus is a circle above the cross. ”

“ It should never be forgotten, however, that our horoscope shows what we have made of ourselves in past lives, and he who has the configuration that attracts friends must have been kind and obliging, while he who draws out the mean side of human nature and makes enemies is himself selfish and unfriendly. But if he will strive to turn from his ways and make some sacrifice for others, he will also in time overcome the undesirable aspects, for the Star Angels are not maliciously bent upon scourging anyone. They only scourge to subdue and correct our faults and make us better. ”

“ Thus he is the planet of death, and moves in an orbit on the outskirts of the solar system, which is the boundary of Chaos, where all things are dissolved and transmuted by spiritual alchemy to finer and finer textures. ”

“ If Saturn is in the Mercurial signs Gemini or Virgo, and Mercury in the Saturnine none Capricorn or Aquarius, the restraining hand of Saturn is laid upon the flighty Mercury with the result that the mind gains in depth and power of concentration, but whether this mental capacity will be used for good or ill, depends on the aspects the same as in the case of Mars. When Venus and Jupiter are in ‘mutual reception’ and well aspected, it smooths the path of life most wonderfully. ”

“ The earth’s equator is an imaginary line in a plane at right angles to the axis of the earth, and midway between the North and South poles. It divides the earth into two hemispheres, the Northern and Southern. If a pole hundreds of millions of miles in length were thrust through the earth from the equator to the center of the earth, the outer end would inscribe a line on the firmament, when the earth rotates on its axis, and this imaginary line is called the celestial equator, or equinoctial. ”

“ Neptune is the octave of Mercury. As Mercury is the light-bearer for the physical Sun, so is Neptune the light-bearer of the spiritual Sun, called Vulcan among occultists, which is soon back of the visible Sun. Naturally, therefore, still fewer among humanity are capable at all of being affected by it, save that it produces a chaotic state of mind when: placed in evil aspect. ”

“ In Astronomy, the Longitude of the planets is measured on the ecliptic or Sun’s path starting with the first point of Aries at the vernal equinox. When the distance is reckoned on the equinoctial, or celestial equator it is called Right Ascension.
Lord:
A planet is said to be ‘Lord’ of the signs it rules; e. g. Mars is Lord of Aries and Scorpio; Venus is ‘Lady’ of Taurus and Libra. ”

“ Elevation is very important, for it adds considerably to the influence of a planet for good or ill. If Mars, the planet of dynamic energy, is elevated and in its own sign Aries, it endows the person with an almost inexhaustible fund of energy and an indomitable courage, which will be found lacking if he is placed in a weak sign and position like Virgo and the Sixth House. Similarly with the other signs and planets. ”

“ The signs of the Zodiac are variously grouped to show certain of their qualities. One method segregates them into four groups of three signs each, each group having affinity for one of the elements: Thus Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are fiery. Taurus Virgo and Capricorn are earthy. Gemini, Libra and Aquarius are airy, and Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces are watery. These four groups constitute the four Triplicities.
The fiery triplicity has its apex in the Eastern angle, Aries, where the creative fire commences to produce a body for the spirit to function in in the material world. ”

“ As the Lord of life and heat, the Sun, is always opposed by Saturn in the rulership of their signs, Leo and Aquarius, so also the cold and deathly Saturn opposes the Sun from its exaltation-sign Libra. Venus and Mars are the planets of attraction from the point of sex, and as all that is generated by sex is under the sway of death, Mars has thus a right to rule Scorpio, the eighth-house sign denoting death ”

“ As it is the antithesis of Jupiter, it will be readily seen that as Jupiter, well aspected, denotes the high-minded philosopher, the worthy law-giver, the sincere and ardent priest, in fact, all who have high and lofty aspirations, so Saturn, when evilly aspected, denotes the narrow-minded, creed-bound sectarian, the materialist, the anarchist, and the enemy of society, whether of the church or state. As Jupiter gives the lofty, expansive and benevolent mind, so Saturn, evilly aspected, gives the sarcastic, concrete and narrow tendencies. ”

“ Any planet within three degrees of the Sun is said to be combust, or burned up by the Sun’s rays. If Mercury or the Moon are so placed, it weakens the mind; if Venus or Jupiter, it takes away their help; and if one of the malefics (Mars, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune) is so placed, it is evil. ”

“ Or, if it becomes necessary to stir someone who has fallen into habits of idleness wherefrom others are made to suffer, if it seems almost necessary to build a fire under him to make him move, compound the fire and energy of Mars as a day-ruler with his influence as an hour-ruler, by talking to him on Tuesday, He will heed then if it is at all possible to get him started. ”

“ Primary directions are formed between the progressed planets and their positions at birth. If, for instance, the Sun was in no degrees of Aries and Jupiter in 25 degrees of Leo at the birth of an individual, then, as the Sun moves forward in the Zodiac at about one degree a day, it will be trine with Jupiter about twenty-five days after birth. The system of time measurement of the planetary progression in general use reckons each day after birth equal to a year of life. ”

“ The watery triplicity takes its rise in the northern angle occupied by the cardinal sign Cancer, which is the house of mystery, denoting the latter part of life, the point where the spirit is getting ready to withdraw itself from material existence to take up the activity of the spiritual worlds. ”