THE CONSTELLATIONS
The twelve great constellations of the zodiacal belt which forms the Earth's orbit and the Sun's shining pathway around the celestial universe have been considered as mere imaginary figures, or emblems, invented by an early, primitive people to distinguish the monthly progress of the Sun and mark out, in a convenient manner, the twelve great divisions, or spaces, of the solar year.To this end, IT IS THOUGHT, the various star groups, termed constellations, were fancifully imagined to represent the various physical aspects of the month, under, or into, which they were consecrated by the Sun's passage during the annual journey, so that, in some sense, the, twelve signs or constellations were symbolical, not only of the seasons, but also of the labors of the year.
That such a system seems perfectly natural to the learned mythologist, and that granting the ancients so much is a very great concession toward this CHILDISH KNOWLEDGE is, of course, quite excusable when we are constantly told, or reminded, that actual science--that is to say, "EXACT SCIENCE," does not date backward more than a couple of centuries at most.
Even the modern astrologer, much as be descants upon the influence of the twelve signs, has but little, if any, real knowledge of this matter above and beyond the purely physical symbolism above mentioned.And perhaps it is as well that such a benighted condition prevails, and that the Divine, heavenly goddess is unsought and comparatively unknown.The celestial Urania, at least, in such isolation remains pure and undefiled.She is free from the desecrating influence of polluted minds.
Such, in brief outline, is the general conception of mankind regarding the shining constellations that bedeck, like fiery jewels, their Maker's crown, and illumine with their celestial splendor the wondrous canopy of our midnight skies.Is there no more than a symbol of rural work in the bright radiance of the starry Andromeda, the harbinger of gentle spring? Nothing, think you, but the fruit harvest and the vintage is in the fiery,flushing luster of Antares and the ominous Scorpion? Are men so spiritually blind that they can perceive nothing but the symbol of maturing vegetation and the long summer's day in the glorious splendor of Castor and his starry mate and brother, Pollux? It would, indeed, seem so, so dead is the heart and callous the spiritual understanding of our own benighted day.To the initiate of Urania's mysteries, however, these dead, symbolic pictures become endowed with life; these emblems of rural labor or rustic art transform themselves from the hard, chrysolitic shell and expand into the fully developed spiritual flowers of spiritual entities, revealing in their bright, radiating lines the awful mystery of the soul's genesis, its evolution and eternal progressive destiny amid the mighty, inconceivable creations yet to come; pointing out each step and cycle in the soul's involution from its differentiation as a pure spiritual entity, a ray of Divine intelligence, to the crystallization of its spiritual forces in the realms of matter and its evolution of progressive life; the same eternal symbols of the springtime, the glorious summer, the autumn and winter of its eternal being.
In ****** this attempt, probably the very first within the era, to convey in plain and undisguised terms the interior mysteries of the twelve constellations, the reader and student is advised to ponder deeply upon the outlines presented.The subject is too vast to present in one or two chapters.Therefore we hope that this revelation may incite the student to further research.The real significance, the true, spiritual importance of such mysteries, can only be realized and fully appreciated after prolonged meditation and careful study.
With this brief digression, which we consider needed advice, we will resume our task, and attempt to usher our student into the weird labyrinth of Solomon's starry temple--"the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."1.Aries
"First Aries, in his golden wool."
This constellation represents the first Divine idea, the "word" of the Kabbalist, and the first active manifestation of the glorious En Soph.In other words, it is MIND IN ACTION, the first pulsation of Deity in the dual aspects of "Lord and Creator." To the human soul it is, and alwaystypifies, the unknown, invisible power which we term INTELLIGENCE; THAT WHICH KNOWS, and gives unto each Deific atom of life that distinguishing, universal, yet deathless force which not only constitutes its spiritual identity and physical individuality, but enables it to pronounce, in the presence of its Creator, those mystic words: "I am that I am." In other words, this beautiful constellation symbolizes the first pulsation of that ray of pure intelligence which constitutes the Divine Ego of the human soul.It is the force that impels ever onward the life atom in its evolutionary progress, and reveals to us the beginning, or first manifestation, of the Divine Ego as an active, self-existing atom of Infinite spirit, within angelic spheres.
Seeing the actual, spiritual reality symbolized in Aries, how easy it is to note its full significance upon the external plane when refracted and reflected into the planes below through the complex action of the human organism, conveying the same radical influx in the first astrological month and the first sign of the Zodiac.We can read a perfect parallel in the astral influx upon the human body, as set forth in the "Light of Egypt," vol.I, which says Aries symbolizes the sacrifice and represents the springtime, the beginning of a new year.The first action of pure intelligence brought forth the first expression of form, and led to the sacrifice of its angelic state, and, having gained the victory over the lower realms of matter, once more the springtime of a new life, with the promise of life, light and love.
