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The Zodiac is the path of the soul from the unknown through the known and into the infinite within and beyond. The Zodiac to be studied, and which is all this, is in its twelve signs represented in man.

—The Zodiac.

THE

WORD

Vol. 3 JUNE 1906 No. 3

Copyright 1906 by H. W. PERCIVAL

THE ZODIAC

III

ONE must become familiar with the names, location and relative positions of the signs of the zodiac, if he would comprehend the plan by which all things come from the beyond into existence, pass through their periods of development, reach final attainment and pass into the beyond.

The plan of the zodiac is simple and easy to comprehend, but the following of this plan through all its ramifications into all its details and variations involves the art of living, and the science of life. The first essential is to see the plan, the next is to follow it.

In figure 1, we see all the signs of the zodiac with their well known names: ♈︎ aries; ♉︎ taurus; ♊︎ gemini; ♋︎ cancer; ♌︎ leo; ♍︎ virgo; ♎︎ libra; ♏︎ scorpio; ♐︎ sagittarius; ♑︎ capricornus; ♒︎ aquarius; ♓︎, pisces.

We have the same in figure 2, but with additional words which designate the meaning of the signs as abstract principles, and the meaning of their position as related to the parts of the body.

Figure 3 shows the quaternaries arranged as we have mentioned them. Each point of the triangle points to the sign which begins its quaternary; with ♈︎ begins the archetypal quaternary; with ♌︎ begins the natural; and with ♐︎ the lower mundane or the divine quarternary (as determined by use).

The signs ♌︎, ♍︎, ♎︎ , ♏︎ symbolize life, form, sex, desire; and compose the natural, or generative, or procreative, or reproductive quaternary. In man the parts of the body through which these principles operate and through which man relates his body to the earth, are the heart and solar plexus (♌︎), the womb (♍︎), the parts of sex (♎︎ ), and the masculine symbol (♏︎).

♈︎ ♉︎ ♊︎ ♋︎ ♌︎ ♍︎ ♎︎ ♏︎ ♐︎ ♑︎ ♒︎ ♓︎ Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Capricornus Aquarius Pisces
Figure 1

The heart and the solar plexus are the representatives of life. They are the generators and reservoirs of physical and psychic life in the body. The heart sends out through the body the blood after it has been purified in the lungs. The blood from the heart infuses new life throughout the body, builds up new tissue, and causes the body to grow and to develop. The solar plexus acts towards the nervous system as the heart acts for the circulatory system. The heart and solar plexus are to the body as the sun is to the earth. They contain the germs and seeds of life by and with which all forms are built up, replenished, and reproduced.

The womb is the representative of form. There the germs of life enter and develop form. The womb is the place into which life is precipitated and drawn, and where it is moulded and elaborated after the form of the parents. The germs enter and are transformed into the new body according to the design of the entity for whom the bodily form is being elaborated. The womb is to man as the earth is to the sun. It is the matrix where life is moulded into form, the matrix in which form is clothed in visible matter, and in which bodies are prepared for existence in the outer or physical world.

♈︎ ♉︎ ♊︎ ♋︎ ♌︎ ♍︎ ♎︎ ♏︎ ♐︎ ♑︎ ♒︎ ♓︎ Consciousness Head Motion Neck Substance Shoulders Breath Breasts Life Heart Form Womb Sex Crotch Desire Gland of Luschka Thought Terminal filament Individuality Spine, opposite heart Soul Spine between shoulders Will Cervical Vertebrae
Figure 2

The sex part of the body is the representative of sex. At this part the sex is made evident. At this part it is determined whether the life, form, and desire shall pass downward—outward into the world—and so make of the zodiac an extended line, or whether they shall turn the gate of balance (♎︎ ) and pass inward and upward along the path of the spine, and so complete the circle of the zodiac. Through the part of sex all bodies enter the physical world. Sex is the medium through which bodies and entities are related and adjusted to each other. Sex is the point from which one rises when he travels inward and upward to the divine. Sex is to the ego as birth and death are to all bodies. It is the hall and gateway in which invisible beings clothe their forms into physical bodies and enter this physical world. It is the initiatory trial gate where one is tempered. To sex he must die before he may enter and consciously live in the inner immortal world.

The masculine symbol is the representative of desire; it is moved to action by desire. Without desire it ceases to function. It is that part of the body through which the most intense desire, the desire of sex, is represented. The reproduction of physical forms is due to this desire and its symbol. The masculine symbol is to the body as the sun’s ray is to the earth. It conveys and transmits the germs and seeds of life which grow and develop into form.

Thus life, form, sex, and desire, which are the procreative or reproductive quaternary in nature, are represented in and related to the lower part of the trunk of the body of man. Nature reaches, influences, and stimulates man to action through those parts of his body which correspond to her procreative quaternary.

♈︎ ♉︎ ♊︎ ♋︎ ♌︎ ♍︎ ♎︎ ♏︎ ♐︎ ♑︎ ♒︎ ♓︎ Consciousness Head Aries Motion Neck Taurus Substance Shoulders Gemini Breath Breasts Cancer Life Heart Leo Form Womb Virgo Sex Crotch Libra Desire Gland of Luschka Scorpio Thought Terminal filament Sagittarius Individuality Spine, opposite heart Capricornus Soul Spine between shoulders Aquarius Will Cervical Vertebrae Pisces
Figure 3

In the exoteric zodiac the signs ♐︎, ♑︎, ♒︎, ♓︎, as related to man, are assigned to the thighs, knees, legs and feet respectively. In this sense these signs are the lower mundane or elemental quaternary. These parts of the body have neither the reasoning nor intuitive faculties of the parts representing the archetypal quaternary, nor the procreative and formative functions of the parts of the reproductive quaternary. They are only the supports and servants of the body to carry it from place to place in the exterior world, and are moved by the senses and desires or directed by the reason. But esoterically, although they are at present lowly parts of the body they serve a subtle occult purpose in drawing into the body the subtle magnetic influences from the earth.

Where the magnetism of the earth contacts the feet it is exceedingly fine, subtle and ethereal. As it rises above the ankles and into the legs it assumes an undulating or vortex-like movement and appears as nebulous matter which, at the knees, then takes on more definite cloud-like shapes or moves as flame-like currents. These magnetic currents, cloud shapes or flame currents, ascend the thighs and assume there the forms of lower animals, such as reptiles. Then in the form of snakes or serpents the elemental earth forces enter the trunk of the body through the sex organs and are transformed into animal, and, if the one whom these elemental forces enter into is strong enough to overcome and transform them, into higher forms and desires.

This is no less strange than many of the processes of nature in her efforts at elemental reproduction and transformation; no less strange than the change of a lump of earth and a ray of sunlight into a rose. It is also one of the means by which man may raise elemental matter and at the same time assist elemental beings in their transmigrations. But this can only be done properly when it is done consciously, intelligently and willingly; that is by changing the signs of the mundane lower quaternary. These signs: ♑︎, ♐︎, ♒︎, ♓︎, now symbolize fire, air, water, and earth, as the lower mundane elemental quaternary. When these are changed to the divine quaternary they become: thought, individuality, soul, and will.

(To be continued)