INTRODUCTORY ESOTERIC ASTROLOGY

INTRODUCTORY ESOTERIC ASTROLOGY

SAGITTARIUS 2008

Labor of Hercules
Killing the Stymphalian Birds

Swarms of iron razor birds in swampland must be flushed out; killing, trapping don’t work; crashing cymbals at twilight works;
3 deadly birds – cruel speech, self-referential speech, casting pearls before swine...

Motto: I see the goal. I reach that goal and then I see another.
(Sagittarius, the disciple becomes the Saviour in Pisces)

U.S. Elections: Reorientation to the North Star
Both Sagittarius and Capricorn are ambitious animals. They both must choose between personal ambition and the universal plan and purpose of one-pointed discipleship, a path of persevering discipline. Sagittarius rules three of the Rays —4, 5, 6— and expresses an intense devotion both to material things and to spiritual values. In the beginner, this ambition may communicate as friendliness and kindness, especially in Sagittarius, but perhaps out of a desire for popularity and advancement. Since Sagittarius values sincerity and authenticity, they would be offended if you made this observation. They are focused on the striving side (the inner side) of appearances, but may find it difficult to see themselves and their spectrum of motives clearly.

If Gemini and Sagittarius are devoted or married to an ideal of spiritual goals, forget about ‘reliability’ on a purely personality level. These two signs are both ruled by Earth and condition the nature of the spiritual Path for aspirants and disciples on planet Earth. On the positive side, they give great flexibility in continuous refocusing between soul and personal in spiritual, social and worldly affairs. This can be a great asset.

By now (2008) we should all be aware of the gross and lower form expression of the Ray Six Sagittarian personality aspect of the U.S., where an ignorant and ill-informed public has allowed the degenerate lower Sagittarian gambling-addiction persona to pursue trickle-down automated-market casino capitalism and its human resource devouring machine politics, which has destroyed America’s resource and capital bases in order to curse and spit on youth and human posterity. The irony involved here is the use of youth and celebrity worship to enable feral marketing propaganda to corrupt youthful ideals in order to create a nation of consumers and wasters instead of well-informed and socially thoughtful citizens.

On a slight tangent, humanity can be divided into two major groups — those who long for a paternal external authority to make themselves feel good about being immersed in traditions and conditioning they only half understand — and those who are looking to the divine within and its altruism and determination to overcome external conditioning through selfless service, who look to an ethical and moral authority within the divine nature within themselves. This is the difference between the dying Piscean Age and the arising Aquarian Age, between Saturn karma and conditioning and Uranian deep insight and mastery of conditioning through invoking the higher human values and hidden capabilities within each of us. In the Democratic primary, Barack Obama has Sun in Leo opposite Earth and Ascendant in Aquarius. John McCain has Sun in Virgo opposite Earth and Ascendant in Pisces. The difference could not be clearer (with an adequate mechanism of response)... Obama will have to negotiate America's Sagittarian personality nature, using America's Aquarian and Gemini Soul. America may actually regain its reputation of being a great nation once again, not just because of its history — but because of its benevolent PRESENCE in the Present.

I hope we can see that Sagittarius (in transition from Scorpio or Capricorn) is a sign of endless conflict and warring idealisms when expressing on the personality level. It can be associated with black-and-white thinking that leads to religious and ideological fanaticisms, both equally destructive. This negative side erupts because it has inherited and must work with Scorpio-Taurus issues of self-interested and idealistic desire being transmuted into spiritual aspiration and direction — desire into aspiration/will. Sagittarius is also ruled on the hierarchical or planetary level by Mars, which represents the goal of the perfection of the use of assertion and force through intelligent love-wisdom which serves the basic will-to-good and the will to love-wisdom of deity.

Sagittarius rules the ability to move forward on the Path, spurred on by the use of Thought and clean Purpose superceding Desire and raw attitude ‘negotiation’ — to achieve true conflict resolution and real results.

The distinction between desire and will, associated with Scorpio and Taurus particularly, is brought up again in Sagittarius. Both Taurus and Sagittarius are challenged with control of speech, which is basically an expression of the Psyche or emotional states and kama-manasic attitudes. Often these two signs tend to be ‘thoughtless’ in terms of exercising true empathy, making fine psychological distinctions, and exercising discernment.

The Taurus-Scorpio axis organizes the crises governing the evolution of desire into will, plan and purpose. Sagittarius governs the long period of reiterated tests of vision, perspective and right direction where Mars-Scorpio desire is transmuted and transformed into Mercury-Scorpio will, direction, and purpose. The Taurus arrow of spiritual aspiration returns in Sagittarius as the arrow or shaft of light and of Intuition, lighting the Path ahead. But these arrows must be followed up to “move forward on the Path.” In problem-solving, consistently paying more attention to Intuition than to the chattering and struggling conditioned mind is a challenging task. But this can be Sagittarius’ great strength.

Sound is a creative force and builds the nest of forms within which we have to work, live and make concessions. We create our own circumstances primarily through the quality of our speech and body language. Speech can become a vehicle for thought and spiritual impulses as well as more common tired, emotional, or self-serving attitudes.

This understanding of speech or psychic self-expression is crucial to the Sagittarius in us, because it is a sign of renewed vistas and orientation, followed by the Capricorn cycle of renewed effort. The themes of these two signs are enabled by right speech and presentation.

During the Full Moon, all the signs have unique qualities to contribute to spiritual growth. During the Sagittarius Full Moon it is important to maintain one-pointed direction and consecration to one’s higher nature, goals and projects, to make that extra effort of self-possession and identification with the Plan. It can also be a time of deep reflection on one’s orientation, values, goals and direction — and galvanize a stronger, more constructive re-orientation and sense of direction, plan, and purpose. It is like a re-commitment to marriage — to the Great Work.

Inspiration: Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, and her 24 books on esoteric philosophy.
NY: Lucis Publishing Company – website (http://www.lucistrust.org/en/publications_store).