THE

WORD

THE ZODIAC

II

THE zodiac is the plan according to which universes and men come into existence from the unknown, pass through their periods of development, and return into the unknown. The order of involution is from aries (♈︎) to libra (♎︎ ) by way of cancer (♋︎); the order of evolution is from libra (♎︎ ) to aries (♈︎) by way of capricorn (♑︎).

The zodiac of the heavens is shown to be a circle divided by twelve signs, but when related to man the twelve signs are apportioned to the parts of the body from his head to his feet.

Man was circular before he came into the physical world. To come into the physical world he broke through his circle and now in his present state he is a broken and extended circle—or a circle extended to a straight line. As he now is the line begins with aries (♈︎) at the head and ends at the feet with pisces (♓︎). This shows that that part of the line which was above libra (♎︎ ) and connected with the most god-like part, the head, is now connected with the earth. It also shows that the hinge or turning point of the circle and of the line is libra, and that by the sign of libra (sex) all the signs, from scorpio to pisces, fell below the middle point and balance sign of libra.

Man, as he now is, living in an animal body of sex, has developed and preserves such organs and parts of the body as are necessary to reproduce and preserve the animal body. From long disuse except for locomotion in the physical world the parts of the body which stood for mental and spiritual powers are used for physical needs. This is so with the zodiac of man in its physical aspect.

Man still has within him the circular zodiac, which is the occult spiritual zodiac, and though he does not use it in the occult spiritual sense, still he has it, though it is unused, latent, atrophied, and may use it, through thought, when he earnestly desires to enter the inner and upward path of the zodiac instead of going downward and outward into the world of the senses and desires. This circular, spiritual and occult zodiac descends from the head down the forepart of the body by way of the heart and lungs, alimentary, and reproductive organs of the body to libra, the sex parts, then, instead of going outward, it enters its upward course at the gland of Luschka, then ascends through the terminal filament, spinal cord, medulla, pons, to the soul-centers in the head. This is the path for those who would lead a regenerate and spiritual life. The path is in the body.

From ♈︎ to ♎︎ , by way of ♋︎, is the path and process of the building and formation of vestures until the female or male body is developed and inhabited by the breath or nascent mind. From ♎︎ to ♈︎, by way of the spine, is the way for the building of vestures for the conscious return of the infleshed breath to its original sphere, with the garnered experiences of its incarnations.

The zodiac and its signs are related to and become active in the ideal, in the generative, and in the physical worlds. In connection with the zodiac can be shown its application to the secret processes for the highest spiritual attainments possible for man. It is, therefore, necessary to use certain words which, being simple, will yet be easily understood, be profound and comprehensive, and which at the same time will best characterize the signs of the zodiac and their relation to the parts, processes, and principles of man, and to his powers and possibilities. The words which will best serve this purpose and characterize the twelve signs are: consciousness (or the absolute), motion, substance (or duality), breath (or nascent mind), life, form, sex, desire, thought (or lower mind), individuality (or higher mind, manas), soul, will.

The signs ♈︎, ♉︎, ♊︎, and ♋︎, symbolize consciousness (the absolute), motion, substance (duality), and breath, which are the four archetypal principles of the Kosmos. They are unmanifested. In man, the parts of the body through which these Kosmic principles operate, and through which man reaches and relates his body to the macrocosm, are the head, neck, hands arms and shoulders, and chest. The head is the representative of consciousness, the absolute, because, broadly speaking, in the head is contained the idea and potency of every element, form, force or principle which has been or will be manifested in or through the entire body; because the entire physical body depends on the openings, organs and centers in the head for seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching, which actuate the body; because from the organs and centers in the head the body obtains, holds, and maintains its form throughout life; because the life of the body has its roots in the head, from which life and growth is received and regulated in the body; because from organs and centers in the head the animal functions of the body are regulated, in which centers are also contained the germs of the desires of past lives which become awakened to action through the corresponding organs in the body; because within the ego-centers in the head there awaken the conscious perceptive and reasoning faculties and the conscious recognition and feeling through the body of the self-conscious intelligent principle of I-Am-I which speaks of itself as an individuality (not personality), separate and distinct from other individualities; because through the soul-centers in the head there radiates the light of the soul, which illuminates its universe, gives that illumination to the mind by which the mind knows of the relationship existing between each “I” and “thou,” and by which the human being is transformed into the divine principle, a Christ; and because through the head, when called upon, the will grants to matter the power of change, grants to life the power of growth, to form the power of attraction, to sex the power of procreation, to desire the power of absorption, to mind the power of choice, to the soul the power of love, and to itself the power of will to will itself into and become consciousness.

The head is to the body as consciousness—the absolute principle—is to nature. If the idea or ideal form of an organ or part of the body is imperfectly represented in the head, the corresponding organ or part of the body will be deformed, undeveloped, or absent from the body. The body is incapable of producing any organ or function unless it is contained in ideal form in the head, as a whole. For these reasons the sign ♈︎ is in man represented by the head, and is to be known as the all-container, infinite, absolute—consciousness.

The neck is the representative of motion (not movement) because it is the first (unmanifested) logos, the first line of departure from the sphere of the head; because that which is taken into the body receives its first motion from the pharynx and the desires of the body are expressed by sound through the larynx; because most movements of the body, voluntary or involuntary, are regulated through the neck; because through the neck are transmitted all influences and intelligent action from the head to the trunk and extremities, and because in the neck there is that center which permits the movement of all influences from the head to the body and from the body to the head.

The neck is to the body as the logos is to the world. It is the channel of communication between consciousness and substance.

The shoulders represent substance, which is the basis of, and underlies, duality, duality being the attribute of root-substance. Duality is represented by the arms and hands. These are the positive and negative agents through which matter is changed. The hands are occult electric-magnetic poles by which magical results may be obtained through the action, interaction, and transformation of elementary matter into concrete form and of concrete forms into primeval forces of substance.

The shoulders and hands are to the body as substance is to the manifested universe. As the two opposites springing from a common source, they are the dual agents which enter into all action in the care for and maintenance of the body.

The breasts and lungs represent the breath because the lungs are the organs which receive the elements drawn in by the psychic breath; because the breath stimulates and invigorates the life cells of the blood and causes them to rotate in their orbits as they circulate through the tissues of the body; because into the lungs the breath enters at birth to awaken and individualize the body, and from the lungs the individualizing principle leaves with the last gasp at death; because from the breasts the infant draws its first nourishment; because the breasts are the centers from which flow emotional magnetic currents; and because the lungs are the organs and parts of the body through which the nascent principle of the mind enters, is transformed and purified, and is ever coming and going until individual immortality is attained.

The breath is to the body as the mind is to the universe. It breathes all things into manifestation, preserves them in form, and breathes them back again into the unknown unless they have become self-knowing.

Thus consciousness, motion, substance, breath, the four archetypal principles of the Kosmos, are related to the parts of the body above the diaphragm and through these parts man is influenced from his Kosmos.

(To be continued)