Leo is a part of the Sphinx,
and upon this I need not enlarge as we have touched upon this elsewhere. This
is a great mystery. Virgo and Leo together stand for the whole man, for the
God-man as well as for spirit-matter. It is important to have this in mind, for
when the nature of the world is revealed, then the mystery of the Sphinx will
no longer exist.
This sign, Leo, is the fifth
sign of the zodiac which indicates that it is part of the mysterious number,
ten—the number of perfection, a relative perfection, prior to entering into a
new cycle of progress. This links Leo consequently with Capricorn, the tenth
sign of the zodiac, for it is the processes of initiation which make the
self-conscious person the group conscious individual. I am choosing these words
with care and forethought. Upon the reversed wheel, this is the eighth sign,
the sign of the Christ and of the indwelling Reality; it therefore marks—in
this manner—a new cycle. When self-consciousness is born (as at the moment of
individualisation) a new cycle begins. This numerical significance links Leo
with Scorpio (the eighth sign of the Zodiac) in an effective manner and you
have, therefore, the triangle of Leo-Scorpio-Capricorn involving [Page 287] humanity and indicating the three important
crisis points in man's career:
1. Self-consciousness or human
awareness. Unity—Leo.
2. Consciousness of warring
dualities. Discipleship—Scorpio.
3. Group consciousness as an
initiate. Unity—Capricorn.
This sign is a fire sign, and
it is the pre-eminent fire sign at this time. The Sons of Mind, the
self-conscious Sons of God, are above everything else the Sons of Fire, for our
"God is a consuming Fire." There is in them that peculiar quality
which can burn and destroy and so eradicate all that hinders their essentially
divine expression. I would have you bear in mind the purificatory nature of
fire. There are two elements in nature which are connected in the public
consciousness with the thought of purification—one is water and the other is
fire. It is in this connection that the water signs, Cancer—Scorpio—Pisces, are
interesting, and the fire signs, Aries—Leo—Sagittarius, warrant study. Fire
always carries forward esoterically that which water has begun.
Upon the wheel reversed, the
fire takes the place of water and burns away all dross. Purification of the
entire nature is thus achieved gradually, and the man becomes sensitive to the
influences which can be brought to bear upon him when the fiery triplicity
plays its part and the influence of Aries-Leo-Sagittarius begins to re-orient
him towards universality, self-consciousness and one-pointed attitudes. As we
go on with our study, the significance of this statement will increasingly
appear. I am hinting at matters of spiritual and esoteric importance because
this sign, Leo, is of paramount control in the life of the aspirant. He has to
know himself through true self-awareness before he can know that divine spirit
which is his true Self and know also his fellowmen.
The keynotes of this sign are exceedingly well
known. They sound out the note of individuality and of true self-consciousness.
Many people are convinced that they are self-conscious when they are only
swayed by desire and are oriented towards the satisfaction of that desire or
when they recognize themselves as the dramatic center of their universe. Yet
the only truly self-conscious person is the man who is aware of purpose, of a
self-directed life and of a developed and definite life plan and program. Where
[289] these are present, the inference is that there
is mental perception and some measure of integration. To be motivated only by
emotion and actuated by desire is no indication of true self-consciousness. In
the undeveloped man, it is far more instinctual than is self-awareness. In the
truly developed self-conscious man not only is direction, purpose and plan
present, but also a consciousness of the active agent of the plan and action. Ponder on this.
There are two subsidiary yet potent keynotes of the Leo person upon
which I should touch at this point if the nature of the influences wielded by
Leo are to be clearly perceived. These are the will-to-illumine, which
constitutes the driving urge towards self-knowledge, self-perception and intellectual positivity,
and also the will-to-rule and to dominate, which is of such a controlling
nature in this sign and such a subtle potency in the Leo type. It is this
will-to-rule which leads a person born in this sign eventually to achieve
self-mastery and the control of the personality (for either a good motive or a
selfish one), and it is also the same tendency which leads him finally to the
control by the personality, ruled by Leo, of groups and large or small bodies
of people. This—at an advanced stage—is an expression of the fusion of Leo
energy and Aquarian potency. It is inevitable in the long run for men and
races; for this all experience in Leo is preparatory. The will-to-illumine is
that which drives all Leo people on to experiment and so to gain knowledge; it
is this which links them with Taurus, which "carries the fair jewel which
gives light upon its forehead." In the relationship of
Taurus-Leo-Aquarius, you have a significant and important zodiacal triangle as
far as man is concerned and it is peculiarly significant to the fourth Creative
Hierarchy, the human Hierarchy. You have, therefore:
[Page 290]
1. Taurus.—The
incentive towards experience in order to gain knowledge.
2. Leo.—The
expression of experience in order to justify knowledge.
3. Aquarius.—The use of
experience in order to make the gained knowledge a factor in service.
This triangle expresses the
life of humanity and it demonstrates finally the perfection or consummation of
the human way. Another triangle is of a somewhat similar nature,
Leo-Virgo-Pisces, but these three produce a still more subtle expression of
consciousness.
1. Leo.—The
self-conscious man. Personality. Lower unity.
2. Virgo.—The
latent Christ life or principle. Duality.
3. Pisces.—The group conscious
soul. The world Saviour. Unity.
The understanding and the
reasoning powers of the soul are complete and developed. But souls—oriented
towards incarnation and the will-to-sacrifice—have not, as yet, the necessary
forms in the three worlds which are adequate for the expression of the
knowledge which the soul has on its own plane and level of awareness. If the
inner meanings of the outer symbolic forms of existence were registered by an
unprepared form (the response apparatus of the soul in the three worlds and, in
the case of man, involving an unprepared and undeveloped nervous system,
glandular system and brain) the destruction of the form by soul energy would
naturally supervene and a shattering of the lower expression would take place.
It is here that the significance and purpose of time can be noted and
intelligently employed, but this involves a most definite development of the
esoteric sense. There are other reasons, but this one will suffice. In the
evolutionary process there is, therefore, first the form, gradually prepared,
adjusted, aligned and oriented during many aeons of time; behind this active
form, as it steadily improves and becomes more responsive to environment and [Page 292] contact, stands the slowly awakening
consciousness. This is the thinking, intuiting, loving soul, which tightens its
hold over its response apparatus, avails itself upon every possible occasion of
every advance made by the form, and employs every influence for the perfecting
of the great work which it undertook under the Law of Sacrifice.
A little thought will make it
apparent to you why the Sun is the ruler of all the three conditions of
Leo—exoteric, esoteric and hierarchical. It is a correct surmise that the
purpose of this solar system is the unfoldment of consciousness, and if for the
strictly human being self-consciousness is the goal, then the Sun must
obviously rule, for it is the source of physical consciousness (exoteric and
symbolic of the personality), of soul awareness (esoteric), and of spiritual
life (hierarchical). I am reiterating the necessity to recognise the
stimulation of consciousness as the objective of all the astrological
influences because the outstanding theme of Leo is the activity of the
self-conscious unit in relation to its environment or the development of
sensitive response to surrounding impacts by the one who stands—as the Sun
stands—at the centre of its little universe. The whole story and function of
Leo and its influences can be summed up in the word "sensitivity,"
and this sensitivity can be studied in four stages:
1. Sensitivity to conditioning
impacts from the environment, i.e., to the impacts of the world of human
evolution, the three worlds or planes, through the medium of the three aspects
of the response apparatus of the soul;
2. Sensitivity to the will,
wishes and desires of the personality, [Page 295]
the integrated self-conscious man, the lower self;
3. Sensitivity to the soul as
the conditioning factor instead of sensitivity to the environing world as the
conditioning factor;
4. The spiritual sensitivity
of the God-Man (the soul and personality fused) to the environment. At this
stage of unfoldment, the liberated man is not conditioned by his environment
but begins the arduous task of conditioning it in relation to the divine plan
and purpose and at the same time to cultivating sensitivity to the higher
impacts of those worlds which lead to the final goal.
I want you to have this innate
spiritual sensitivity and this outer material sensitivity most carefully in
mind if you want truly to understand the influences of Leo upon human beings
and especially upon the person born in this sign or who has this sign rising,
as well as its influences upon the planet. Throughout the universe, it is the
soul which is the conscious, sensitive theme of the divine plan—the soul as the
anima mundi, or the soul of the world, animating all forms of life below the
animal kingdom; the soul as the animal soul and the extension of this to the
bodies of all animals, including the human physical body; the soul as the human
soul, which is a still further expansion of the same sensitive factor but
augmented or stimulated by the principle of self-awareness or of focussed
personal sensitivity to all sub-human soul expression, plus awareness
(conscious or unconscious) of the immortal or divine soul; the soul as the ego
or spiritual soul on its own plane—the source of consciousness as far as the
three worlds of evolution are concerned, and the goal of all present
evolutionary processes.
August, which is ruled by Leo,
is the month of the Dog-star, or of Sirius, which thus brings Sirius into close
relation to Leo. Leo, in the cosmic sense (and apart from our solar system
altogether) is ruled by Sirius. Sirius is the home of that greater Lodge to
which our fifth initiation admits a man and to which it brings him, as a humble
disciple. Later, when the new world religion is founded and is working, we
shall find that the major, monthly festival in August, held at the time of the
full moon, will be dedicated to the task of making contact, via the Hierarchy,
with Sirian force.
Because of its position upon
the Fixed Cross, Leo comes under the influence, direct or indirect, of six
planets: The Sun; Neptune; Uranus; Jupiter; Venus; Mars. All of these are
potent in expression in this sign, achieving a determined point of revelation and
producing, through their united activity and interplay, the six-pointed star of
humanity. They condition the man's consciousness but not events, except in so
far as his consciousness assumes control at a certain point in his evolution.
I would also call your
attention to another interesting fact in connection with this sign. No planet
falls in Leo and no planet is exalted in this sign, whilst the power of both
Uranus and Saturn is somewhat lessened, except in the case of the initiate who
responds powerfully to the esoteric influence of Uranus. The same basic
teaching is here conveyed as was taught by the Sun ruling exoterically,
esoterically and hierarchically. Leo in its consciousness is the dominant
self-aware agent and has therefore the control and can—because of this—remain
uninfluenced. This fact will be increasingly understood as the advanced Leo
subject makes his appearance. He will be distinguished by his personal freedom
from outside control. He knows innately that he is king of himself, the ruler
of his own life and, therefore, no planet is exalted and likewise no planet
falls. The power of the mind, as symbolised by Uranus, is lessened, for it is
not the mind which in reality controls but the Self, or Soul, using and
controlling the mind. The man is not then conditioned by his surroundings or
life events but rules them with deliberation, bringing out of circumstances and
environment that which he requires. Saturn, therefore, the Lord of Karma, has
his power lessened in [Page 311] this sign.
(Alice Bailey, Esoteric
Astrology, pp. 287-311)
THE ENTERING OF THE TWO DOORS OF INITIATION
It is of course obvious to you that the use of the word "door" is purely symbolic; the interpretation given to the word by the ordinary esoteric student and the orthodox Theosophist is that of a point of entry, and the significance of it to him is that it offers an opportunity to pass to new experience and fresh revelation—much of which is regarded by him as due reward for discipline and aspiration. That is largely an interpretation based on wishful thinking and is of quite secondary importance.
The Door of Initiation
The real meaning underlying the phrase "door of initiation" is
that of obstruction, of something which bars the way, of that which must be
opened, or of that which hides or stands between the aspirant and his
objective. This is a much more exact
significance and one much more useful for [Page 348]
the aspirant to grasp. The picture of a
man moving along the Path of Evolution until suddenly one day he stands before
an open door through which he may joyously pass has no faintest resemblance to
the truth; the idea that a man of a nice disposition and possessing certain
character developments such as those portrayed in such books (by Annie Besant)
as The Open Court and the Path of Discipleship, which condition the
theosophical aspirants, is exceedingly misleading. These books are very useful and should be
carefully studied by the man upon the Path of Probation, but are not so useful
to the disciple, for they lead him to put the emphasis in the wrong direction
and to focus upon that which should already have been developed. Naturally, the character development must be
present and assumed to be stable in the man's equipment; these characteristics
have, however, little bearing on initiation and passing through the
"door" on the Path. They are
indicative of the point reached upon the Path of Evolution, as a result of
experiment, experience and continuous expression, and should be common to all
aspirants who have reached the point of facing discipleship; they are
unavoidable developments and connote simply the reaction of the personality to
time and experience. It is eternally
true that no one may pass through this door unless these character indications
are developed, but that is due to the fact that the aspirant has progressed to
a certain stage of unfoldment and automatically now has a measure of
self-control, of mental understanding and of purity.
I would point out also that even the black magician possesses these
qualities, for they are the sine qua non of all magical art, both black and
white; the black magician passes through the door of initiation as it opens
twice for the first two initiations. He
passes through on the strength of his will and his character accomplishments
and because the group-conscious aspect of the soul is active in him as in his
brother seeking affiliation with the Great White Lodge. The love aspect is, however, lacking in the
black magician. Forget not that all is
energy and there is nothing else. The
energy which [Page 349] is an aspect of the soul
and which we call magnetic attraction (the group-building quality) he shares
with the spiritual aspirant. He is
essentially group conscious, and though his motives are separative, his methods
are those of the group, and these he can get only from the soul.
You see again another reason why the first and second initiations are
not regarded by the Lodge of Masters as major initiations. Only the third is so regarded, because at
that initiation the entire personality life is flooded with energy coming from
the Spiritual Triad, via the "sacrifice petals" of the will and
purpose aspect of the soul. To this type
of energy the black magician is not responsive.
He can and does respond to the knowledge—most ancient and hardly
won—stored up in the "knowledge petals" of the souls he can
appropriate and utilise the energy of attraction (erroneously called love by
some students) stored up in the "love petals" of the soul, but he
cannot respond to and use the energy of divine love, working out in the divine
Plan which controls all knowledge and converts it into wisdom, and which
actuates and clarifies the motive which brings loving magnetic attraction into
action and which we call true group consciousness and group cohesion. It is at this point that the two ways—of
darkness and of light—become widely divergent.
Until the third initiation is taken, glamour may condition the attitude
of those seeking to understand the life of a man upon the Path, and they may
mistake the spurious for the real. The
black magician leads a disciplined life, analogous to that of the spiritual
aspirant; he practices purity for his own safeguarding and not in order that he
may become a channel for the energy of light; he works with power (the power of
magnetic attraction) with and in groups, but he does this for his own selfish
ends and for the fulfillment of his own ambitious purposes. But at the third initiation there comes to
the true spiritual initiate the revelation which is the reward of perseverance
and purity rightly motivated—the revelation of the divine purpose, as the soul records
it in terms of the hierarchical plan, though not yet in terms of the
Monad. To this purpose and [Page 350] to the loving Will of God (to use a trite
Christian phrase) the black brother cannot respond; his aims are
different. You have here the true
meaning of the oft-used and misunderstood phrase, "the parting of the
ways."
But both groups of aspirants (the black and the white) stand before the
door of initiation and take the needed steps to open it on two similar
occasions. Both overcome glamour after
the second initiation, and see their way clearly ahead; but their goals emerge
as widely different; one treads the broad way which leads ever deeper into
matter and materialism, into darkness and "black power"; the other
leads to the straight and narrow way, to the razor-edged path which leads into
light and life. One group has never
freed itself from the principles which governed the first solar system. They were principles entirely related to
matter and substance, and were at that time and in that period (so remote that
the number of years of distance can be stated only in super-astronomical
figures) the conditioning factors for the initiation of the time. Certain units of humanity—then existent—were
so completely conditioned by these material principles and so deliberately
unready for moving on to the comprehension of another set of principles (more
expressive of the divine nature) that they remained of "fixed and selfish
material purpose" and a planned distortion of the divine will was
intelligently created by them. You have
here a hint as to the nature of evil and a clue to a part (though only a part)
of the mystery to be noted in the statement that evil and good are reverse
aspects of the same one reality, and evil is that good which we should have
left behind, passing on to greater and more inclusive good. Forget not that the black magicians of today
were the initiates of a previous solar system.
When the door of initiation is ready to open for the third time, the
parting of the ways takes place. Some
follow selfish intention and the fixed determination to remain with the
separative condition of matter; and to others, the divine will is clearly
impressed upon them and becomes the motivating power in their lives. It was under instructions from the Great
White Lodge on Sirius that the door remains [Page 351]
closed the third time to the dark brothers.
Evil, as we understand it, has absolutely no place on Sirius.
To the black magician, at this third opportunity, the door of initiation
presents an insuperable barrier and obstacle; to the true spiritual neophyte,
the door connotes "overcoming."
We shall not consider further the approach of the black brothers to that
door, but shall confine ourselves to a consideration of the initiations of the Great
White Lodge.
This door of initiation is connected with the great problem of what
H.P.B. calls the "mystery of electricity"; the door is itself an
electrical phenomenon essentially.
Having said this, even if you do not understand my meaning, you can,
however, grasp the possibility that (being electrical in nature) it can easily
present an obstructing force, a repelling energy to the approach of the
aspirant; this is the correct way to look at it. It is only when the electrical energy of
which the door is constituted and that of which the man is constructed at any
particular time synchronise and vibrate in unison that the aspirant can pass
through to greater light. This gives you
a somewhat new and rather abstruse definition of initiation. Nevertheless, as science arrives at a better
understanding of the human being as an electrical unit of power and light, and
of his triple mechanism as created of three aspects of electricity, a truer
comprehension of the significance of initiation will eventuate. The three fires of which all things are made
are electrical in nature and—speaking symbolically—it is only when "fire
by friction" is dominated by "solar fire" that the first four
initiations can be taken, culminating in the fifth initiation in which these
two fires are subordinated to "electric fire" emanating from the
monad and giving a new revelation. This
monadic process begins at the third initiation.
It might be added that the third initiation (culminating in the
Transfiguration) is taken on the three higher levels of the mental plane, and
that it is therefore upon the fourth level of the mental plane that the
aspirant first of all stands before the door, seeking initiation. That electrical unit or phenomenon of
electricity [Page 352] which we call the fourth
kingdom in nature, on this fourth subplane of the mental plane esoterically
"ejects" the unit of electricity which is ready to be absorbed by the
higher form of electricity. Fire by
friction dies out and solar fire takes its place, and the relationship between
the two higher forms of electricity becomes established.
It is solar fire which forms and likewise guards the door of initiation
for the first four initiations. It is
the electrical fire which forms the door of initiation for those initiations
which guard the Way to the Higher Evolution.
There are four types of fire by friction which create the
"obstructing door" in unison with solar fire, of which it is
essentially created. These are as
follows:
1. Electrical energy, composed of two forces of electricity: the innate, inert and latent force of the
physical plane atoms of the dense physical vehicle, and the force which we call
prana which is an aspect of the energy composing the etheric body. These two blend, combine and form the
"door" through which the spiritual man must pass then he undergoes
the first initiation. This provocative
energy tests out every part of his physical equipment and—as he passes the
test—the door opens, the opposing energies symbolically "die out,"
and he can pass on to the Path of Initiation, free from that type of
obstruction. The physical body no longer
rules him, either through its limitations and faults or through the physical
disciplines which have been hitherto needed but are no longer required.
2. The electrical energy of the astral or emotional body next confronts
him as he prepares to take the second initiation. You can call this energy, if you so choose,
the sum total of all the glamours; a glamour is essentially a bewildering,
deceiving and illusory energy-form which seeks to sidetrack and mislead the
neophyte and which is attracted to him by ancient habit and old controls. He is therefore responsible for the impact of
this energy. This type of energy takes
form, and the massed forms of these glamours constitute the opposing door and
oppose the passing of the [Page 353] aspirant on
to the next phase of the Path. With this
electrical energy he must deal before he takes the second initiation. These particular energies are not
thoughtforms; they are drifting, undefined and exceedingly fluid. Of this type of energy water is the symbol,
and this is one reason why this second initiation is called the Baptism
initiation, or the initiation of "entering the stream."
3. The electrical energy of the mind now creates the door for the third
initiation, and the obstruction which confronts the initiate is that of the
electrical figments of his own thinking, shining with a light which is all
their own (for they are of the highest order and type), but veiling the pure
light which shines behind them. They
constitute the sumtotal of illusion.
This "door" is formed by the coming together of the three
types of energy: fire by friction, solar
fire (playing in full force at this third initiation), and electrical fire from
the Spiritual Triad, making its first impact on the other two fires, for all
three are in full activity at this initiatory crisis. All are localised and concentrated in that
symbol of progress, the "door of initiation."
It should be becoming increasingly clear to you why the initiate is ever
portrayed as one who works with the forces and energies of the planet and the
system. To him, there is naught else.
4. The fourth type of "fire by friction" which confronts the
initiate as he stands prepared for that initiation which we call the Great
Renunciation is the electric energy of the entire integrated personality. That which is the product of every
incarnation—the highly developed, powerful and "clear-eyed"
personality (as it is called)—is the final event and presents the final great
obstruction.
In the Gospel story there are two major episodes in the life of the
Master Jesus which throw some light upon this fourth entrance through the door
of initiation: the Transfiguration and
the Crucifixion. In both of them the
three aspects of the personality are symbolised. In the first case, they are symbolised by the
three apostles who in bewilderment and profound humility took part in the third
initiation, [Page 354] the Transfiguration; in
the second case, the three were depicted by the three Crosses—the two thieves
and the central Master. The difference
in the fourth initiation is definite; it lies in the fact that the four aspects
of the personality (counting the dense physical body as one aspect and the
etheric vehicle as a second aspect of the physical body) are involved, for this
fourth emanation of fire by friction has a potent and destructive effect upon
the dense physical body. The Great
Renunciation involves the rejection of the physical life at any cost, and that
cost frequently involves its physical death.
(Alice Bailey, The Rays and The Initiations, pp. 347-354)
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