Full Moon of Aquarius
by a Student
With the new snow blanketing the ground and covering the trees, I stepped out into the calm but cold winter evening to observe the February 12, 2014, full moon. The moon hung low in the Western sky like a large street lamp framed by two evergreens. Muted colors of the sunset spread across the lower horizon. It was a beautiful scene that neither a painting or photograph could capture. The light was iridescent. The scene on the winter night became my focus. The trees (pillars) signaled the narrow middle road between the pairs of opposites, indicating a need for balance and steadfastness as one traverses the long and arduous path of unfolding the divine within. The reflective light of the moon guides the traveler through the shadowy world of the unknown called “the dark night of the soul.” Upon the path the moon foreshadows the accumulated past, the unreal, the glamour and illusions that have blinded the traveler through eons. Yet, behind the reflected light of the moon is the light of the sun that transforms the unreal to the real—the “I am that, I am.”
The cyclic rhythm of the night and day are continual, for in the journey the darkness of matter hides the light that when once ignited burns ever brighter as one walks the path through what we call Time, or the spiral of evolution, revelation, and transformation.
What applies to the individual applies to the group, to a nation, and to humanity as a whole. It is a journey of all life—subhuman, human, planetary, solar, and beyond, for we are all our brother’s keeper.
The Aquarian full moon of February 14, 2014, fell on Valentine’s Day—a symbol of the heart and the expression of love. The moon on February 14 was in the sign of Leo whose ruler is the sun. The sun “is the source of physical consciousness … of soul awareness … and of spiritual life.” (Esoteric Psychology I, p. 294)
“Humanity will turn to the heart and will apprehend the essence of Brotherhood.” (Agni Yoga Society, Brotherhood, p. 10)
We are told that groups and nations reincarnate. In the process of evolving, the Law of Cause and Effect plays its role. One cannot bury one’s head in the sand to the positive or negative events transpiring around the world. The mantra “let pain bring due reward of light and love/ let the soul control the outer form and life and all events” is a reminder of the divine purpose that lies behind the evolving life of the planet. Although humanity as a whole is unfolding into the “World Disciple”, many are experiencing “the dark night of the soul”—the reflective light that brings to the fore the past to be cleansed and transformed, allowing for greater service to be rendered. The past, the present, and the future are in the NOW.
In reference to the date 2 – 14 – 2014, it is interesting and perhaps significant that these numbers appear at the early phase of the 21st Century and will not be repeated. Perhaps it sets the tone for the Aquarian Age. Symbolically the numbers form two pillars with identical numbers on either side (except for the zero).
Consider the following numbers with reference to pp. 79-80 in Rays and the Initiations.
2 – 14 | 2014 and 2/14/2014 = 14=5
(7) | (7)
1 – Will—Shamballa
2 – Love-Wisdom – brotherhood – spiritual hierarchy
3 – lower mind – activity
4 – human hierarchy – victory (harmony) through conflict – development of the intuition
5 – higher mind – kingdom of souls
6 – devotion – abstract idealism
7 – number of man
8 – number of Christ consciousness
number of the hierarchy
9 – number of Shamballa and initiation
Aquarius = 1 8 3 1 9 9 3 1 = 36 = 9
Leo = 3 5 6 = 14 = 5
An Astrological Rhyme in 13 Parts
From a Friend of the School
In parts of 12 become the Whole
As man fulfills his destined role
The everlasting Will to Be.
1. The Savior spirit twelve
Moves again to Aires 1
Continuing the will to delve
Until the all are none.
2. The other pole is seen
By vision of the eye
Desire arises keen
To match the spirit standing by.
3. Now the dual nature set
As spirit/matter brothers be
The twins are not quite yet
Ready for identity.
4. The Cancer waters open wide
To accept the spirit side
And in the union free
Comes a conscious apogee.
5. I, the self and conscious one
Come out along the path away
To see the radiance of the Sun
And live the fullness of that day.
6. In preparation oh so strong
The soul the spirit stirs
Until the vital birthing song
Pulls forth an energy that concurs.
7. Quite so stable, the half enrolls
The six are now “complete”
And so the balance notes control
With harmony as the beat.
8. The Pluto tests adhere
Confounding balance from the seven
Will the will to choose be clear?
Decisions rise amidst the leaven.
9. The arrow flies and flies anew
Decision drives one on their own
Devotion to the goals in view
The mountain top, a nearer home.
10. The tenth does drive completion by
Spiritual will to goals undone
A karmic gate is opened high
The quest now fused as one.
11. Brothers be in the One
Integrated with the Whole
We the group make our run
To coop purpose sole.
12. Here an end appears to come
Just to start anew
Lo the perfect Savior One
Back and forth just on cue.
The Problem of Wealth Inequality
Along with a Seven Ray Perspective
by Kurt Abraham
The Inequitable Situation. Wealth inequality has to do with a lopsided distribution of wealth. The top 5% (even the top 1%) has an inordinately large amount of the world’s financial assets. Chuck Collins, a long time student of the problem (senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies), wrote the book 99 to 1—How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do about It (San Francisco, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2012). Statistically the situation is as follows: The top 1% has 35% of all private wealth, which is more than the bottom 95% combined. The top 1% has 42.4% of all financial wealth, more than the bottom 97% combined. The 400 wealthiest individuals (Forbes 400 list) have more wealth than 150,000,000 Americans. (99 to 1, p. 3)
Similarities with the Great Depression. In 1929, at the onset of the Great Depression, there was also a situation of a lopsided distribution of wealth. This was the era of the great robber barons—Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt. It is estimated that the wealthiest 1% owned 44% of all private wealth. The wealthy few exercised an enormous amount of economic, political, and cultural power. The American Revolution was a revolt against hereditary rule of a monarchy. The American system, however, had evolved into rule by a wealthy elite. FDR’s New Deal did a lot to correct the lopsided situation. It needs to be noted that “middle-class societies don’t emerge automatically as an economy matures; they have to be created through political action. It took FDR and the New Deal to bring that society into being.” (Paul Krugman, The Conscience of a Liberal, p 18)
After World War II there was an economic recovery and a shared prosperity. The trend toward gross wealth inequality began in the late 1970s. In the last 30 plus years we have seen benefits going to asset owners and global corporations, while wage earners and local businesses have been short-changed. There has been a “triumphant of capital and a betrayal of work.” Real wages for many people stagnated, and for the bottom 20% real wages declined. In 1979 the top 1% earned 8% of the national income. By 2007 they earned 23%. (Collins 8, 17, 21)
In 2009 the top 10% owned 82.8% of all financial assets. Between 1983 and 2009, 82% of all wealth gains went to the richest 5%. The bottom 60% had less wealth in 2009 that in 1983. (Collins 23)
This wealth increase of the 1% is true for other countries as well. It is a global phenomenon.
Rigging the Rules
Wealthy individuals and corporations have been able to rig the rules of the game in their favor.
Through large political contributions and lobbying they are able to:
– Weaken government regulation
– Block climate change legislation
– Obtain free trade polices which benefit investors but hurt workers by driving down wages
– Obtain income tax cuts for the rich, special tax treatment and loopholes
– Reduce capital gains taxes (The 1% receives over 80% of capital gains income)
– Obtain diminished inheritance tax
– Weaken environmental laws and worker safety rules
Offshore tax havens have enabled the 1% of corporations to hide income and assets, thereby reducing or eliminating their taxes.
Through media ownership and control over think-tanks and advocacy groups, the one percent are able to:
– Influence public discussion, shaping the national debate
– Promote the demonization of government
Thirty years of rigging the rules in favor of the one percent “has almost destroyed the economy and ecology of the planet and shattered the lives of billions around the world.” (Collins 34)
Financial Games
According to David Korten: “The priority of the money system shifted from funding real investment for building community wealth to building financial games designed solely to enrich Wall Street without the burden of producing anything of value.” In 2007 40% of corporate profits came from the financial sector, up from 20% in the 1960s. (Collins 49, 51)
CEO Pay
In 2010 CEO average pay for an S&P 500 company was 10.8 million dollars.
In 1980 the ratio of compensation for a CEO to an average American worker was 42 to 1.
In 2009 the ratio was 325 to 1.
Short term profits take precedence over long term strategies.
The CEOs game the system in order to maximize profits. In such cases shareholders are short-changed, employees are exploited, and customers are cheated.
The People Suffer
– There has been an erosion of community institutions, such as, libraries, schools, parks, recreation facilities.
– Labor costs are driven down by hiring part-time workers and paying consultants in order to avoid paying worker benefits.
– Corporate lobbyists dominate the “democratic” system. In 1970 there were 5 registered lobbyists for every congressman. Today there are 22 lobbyists for every member. The lobbyists are the large political campaign contributors. The people’s voice is not being heard, and when heard, not heeded.
– Political inequality in a country fosters social aggression from the bottom up and the totalitarian creep from the top down.
– There is a growing lack of equal opportunity and social mobility as wealth inequality increases.
“Too much inequality leads to economic instability…. Periods of shared prosperity have greater economic growth and stability.” (Collins 65) “There is a strong correlation between social mobility and policies that redistribute income and wealth through taxation. The United States is now among the least mobile of industrialized countries in terms of earnings.” (Collins 63)
A Two-Tiered System of Justice. Glen Greenwald points out in great detail that a two-tiered system of justice has evolved—one level for the wealthy and powerful, and the second level for everyone else. See Glenn Greenwald’s Liberty and Justice for Some—How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful (New York, Henry Holt and Company, 2011).
He describes how the American system “sanctions immunity at the top; mercilessness for everyone else…. Those with political and financial clout are routinely allowed to break the law without any legal repercussions whatsoever.” (Greenwald 1)
The Nixon pardon became the “template for justifying elite immunity.” (Greenwald 22) Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon because “public policy demanded that I put Nixon—and Watergate—behind us as quickly as possible.” (Ford’s memoirs)
Following the Iran-Contra scandal under the Reagan administration in 1986, special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh commented, “President Bush’s pardon of Casper Weinberger and other Iran-contra defendants undermines the principle that no man is above the law. It demonstrates that powerful people with powerful allies can commit serious crimes in high office—deliberating abusing the public trust without consequences. Weinberger, who faced four felony charges, deserved to be tried by a jury of citizens.” (Greenwald 31)
Illegal Wiretapping. Regarding illegal wiretapping, Greenwald notes: “There is no question that George W. Bush, Dick Chaney, Michael Hayden (CIA director), and many other Bush officials had violated FISA’s requirements by spying on Americans without warrants.” (Greenwald 56, 61)
The National Security Agency clearly violated the law by conducting illegal wiretap on thousands of American citizens. Some major telecommunication companies willingly cooperated with the government in this illegal activity. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the telecoms, since it was virtually impossible to sue the NSA. When they started to win some lawsuits, the panicked telecoms lobbied congress and contributed large sums of money to congressmen in order that congress would pass bills providing the telecoms with immunity from prosecution that would be applied retroactively. Key people in the corporate press wrote editorials excusing the criminality of all parties involved. This sad and criminal situation of White House-NSA-Telecoms-Senate-Press revolving-door bedfellows is well documented in Greenwald’s book, Chapter 2 “Immunity in the Private Sector.”
Brutal Torture. Glen Greenwald is a former constitutional law and civil rights attorney, so when it comes to legal matters he is knowledgeable and thorough. There is “compelling evidence that the U.S. government authorized and carried out brutal torture—one of the most serious and heavily sanctioned crimes under U.S. domestic law, and a war crime that carries the death penalty in international law.” Several examples are cited, including Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison. (Greenwald 163, 167, 168)
Financial Crisis. In the fall of 2008 the United States and the world was on the brink of a meltdown of the financial system. “Full-scale destruction of the economy was averted by quickly transferring $700 billion in taxpayer money to the very banks that spawn the crisis.” Greenwald calls this “one of the most devastating events in American history.” The crisis was the result of “plundering, fraud, lawlessness, and criminality on a massive scale.” Warren Buffet denounced the toxic derivative products as “financial weapons of mass destruction” back in 2003. There has been “no punishment for the perpetrators.” (Greenwald 105, 107)
A Seven Ray Perspective
We have only very briefly touched upon the complex problem of wealth inequality, along with the attendant problem of an inequitable two-tiered system of justice. These problems are symptoms of an unhealthy and unstable political-economic system. Do the Seven Rays and Esoteric Psychology shed any light on these complex problems?
From Pisces to Aquarius—from the Sixth Ray to the Seventh.
The Sixth Ray of Idealism and Devotion was the predominant Ray of the Piscean Age; the Seventh Ray of Organization and Ceremonial Magic is the predominant ray of the incoming Aquarian Age.
“This is a transition period between the passing out of the Piscean Age, with its emphasis upon authority and belief, and the coming in of the Aquarian Age, with its emphasis upon individual understanding and direct knowledge.” (Externalization of the Hierarchy 3)
“The Sixth Ray of Devotion embodies the … capacity to see the ideal reality lying behind the form; this implies a one-pointed application of desire and of intelligence in order to produce an expression of that sensed idea…. It is on this ray primarily—as it cycles in and out of manifestation—that the work of distinguishing between appearance and quality is carried forward, and this work has its field of activity upon the astral plane….
“The Seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order or Magic embodies a curious quality which is the outstanding characteristic of the particular Life which ensouls this ray. It is the quality or principle which is the coordinating factor unifying the inner quality and the outer tangible form or appearance….
“The spiritualizing of forms might be regarded as the main work of the seventh ray, and it is this principle of fusion, of coordination and of blending which is active on etheric levels every time a soul comes into incarnation and a child is born on earth.” (EP I 52-3)
Piscean Ideals; Sixth Ray Contribution. The sixth ray brings an inner aspirational effort to cognize quality and the ideal. The seventh ray is more outwardly focused on “spiritualizing forms” —unifying inner quality with tangible form. The seventh ray influence will bring better management and greater practicality. Rather than being obsessed over ideologies and points of doctrine, the seventh ray person will be concerned with what works.
In this difficult transition period, it can be noted that there is both a mystic Neptunian quality of the sixth ray (pure, spiritual, devotional) and an aggressive Mars-like aspect of this ray energy.
Neptune is oriented towards the world of higher values.
Mars relates to fanatical emotional idealism and to the “conquests of science, the conquests of nations, and the conquests of territory [which] are all indicative of the Piscean method, with its idealism, its militancy, and its separativeness in all fields—religious, political and economic.” (Education in the New Age 3)
Major Piscean ideals include: “The idea of authority. This has led to the imposition of the different forms of paternalism upon the race—political, educational, social and religious paternalism…. The idea of the value of sorrow and of pain….. The Guides of the race have emphasized the idea of the virtues of sorrow and the educational value of pain. These virtues are real, but the emphasis has been overdone… The races today are steeped in misery and an unhappy psychological acquiescence in sorrow and pain. The clear light of love must sweep away all this and joy will be the keynote of the coming new age.
“The idea of the satisfaction of desire. Above everything else, the Piscean Age has been the age of material production and of commercial expansion, of the salesmanship of the products of human skill which the general public is educated to believe are essential to happiness. The old simplicity and the true values have been temporarily relegated to the background…. Aggression in order to possess has been the keynote of our civilization during the past fifteen hundred years. (Education in the New Age 119-121)
A Perfect Brotherhood. “Aquarius, the sign of the water-carrier, is a living sign and an emotional sign. It will (through the effect of its potent force) stimulate the astral bodies of men into a new coherency, into a brotherhood of humanity which will ignore all racial and national differences and will carry the life of men forward into synthesis and unity. This means a tide of unifying life of such power that one cannot now vision it, but which—in a thousand years—will have welded all mankind into a perfect brotherhood. Its emotional effect will be to ‘purify’ the astral bodies of men so that the material world ceases to hold such potent allure…” (Alice Bailey, White Magic, 313-4)
Generally, we think of Aquarius as a mental (Air) sign, but we are well advised to consider the feeling effect that will come from this sign of service. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s sun was in Aquarius. His radio fireside chats had a lot to do with restoring hope and optimism to people during the Great Depression and Second World War as did his restructuring of the economic system along more equitable lines.
“Perfect brotherhood” will take a thousand years—in other words, halfway through the Aquarian Age. Transmuted desire (purified astral bodies) leads to a culture based on spiritual awareness and a beauty-producing creativeness rather than material consumerism.
Rays Seven, Two, and One.
Seventh ray Uranus is the ruler of Aquarius, and second ray Jupiter is the esoteric ruler of Aquarius. Brotherhood is heart-felt. Unity is of the second ray of love-wisdom. It is not just a matter of reorganizing for material survival and efficiency. It is a matter of awakening to the vital cohesive factor. One could say that the emotional sensitivity of the sixth ray is replaced by the sensitivity of the love of the second ray, which is more inclusive and expansive.
But, when one endeavors to rebuild and restructure along more inclusive lines, can one do it without the first ray of power and will? Some people tend to hold on tenaciously to the old ways.
Seldom does entrenched power willingly let go of the reins. The will is needed in order to carve new paths.
Ray Two or Ray Three?—That is the Question. In the three Solar Systems there is a Three-Two-One sequence—First Form, then Consciousness, and finally Purpose:
First System—3rd Ray, Form development, activity, appearance
Second System—2nd Ray, Consciousness, soul awareness (the present Solar System)
Third System—1st Ray, Synthesis
“The life of the Pilgrim can be, for purposes of discussion, divided into three main periods:
1. That period wherein he is under the influence of the Personality Ray.
2. That wherein he comes under the Ray of the Ego.
3. That wherein the Monadic Ray holds sway.”
This corresponds to:
1. First solar system, third aspect logoic, that of Brahma, Mind, or Intelligence
2. Second solar system, second aspect, the Vishnu or the Love-Wisdom aspect
This is the astral-buddhic solar system, wherein love and wisdom are being brought into objectivity.
3. Third Solar System, first aspect, the monadic ray makes itself felt on the physical plane, a period of achievement and liberation (Cosmic Fire 174-5, 178)
“The general theme of the Old Testament is the recovery of the highest expression of the divine wisdom in the first solar system; that system embodied the creative work of the third aspect of divinity—that of active intelligence, expressing itself through matter. In this solar system, the created world is intended to be the expression of the second aspect, of the love of God.”
(Esoteric Healing 268)
“What we call the Laws of Nature were the highest phase of the divine life possible in the first solar system. They are primarily the laws inherent in the life aspect of the form and have in them, therefore, the seeds of death.
The Laws of the Soul as they subordinate and render negative the Laws of Nature, are the highest laws to which humanity (the highest kingdom in nature at present) can respond, and these—when fulfilled—will conclude the purpose of the second solar system.
The Laws of Life itself will finally supersede the Laws of the Soul and will completely offset and negate the Laws of Nature; these laws will be distinctive of the third solar system—the last personality expression of the solar Logos through the medium of the Seven Planetary Logoi with their varying forms and soul expressions.” (Esoteric Healing 522-3)
The teaching regarding the Solar Systems is a vast one, involving Schemes, Chains, Globes, Rounds, and Races. We can barely touch upon this vast subject in a short article. The main point to appreciate, however, is that we are in the Second Solar System. The synthesizing ray in this system is the Second Ray of Love-Wisdom. All rays are, in a sense, subrays of the second ray in this second system. The Third Ray of Intelligent Activity was the synthesizing ray in the first system. In this large picture (mahamanvantara) the movement is from the shoulders of the previous system (Ray 3) to the vision and labor in the present system (Ray 2).
If we narrow it down still further, we note that the “lower concrete mind was unfolded in the first solar system and the higher abstract intuitional mind, the pure reason, is unfolding in this system.” (Esoteric Astrology 281)
– The high point of System One had to do with the development of the intellect and with Ray 3 and Ray 5 (the lower concrete mind).
– The high point to be reached in System Two is the “higher abstract intuitional mind, the pure reason.” The rays, then, move up a notch to Ray 2 and Ray 4, which has to do with the monadic plane (second plane) and the buddhic-intuition plane (fourth plane).
In terms of color we could say that there is a movement from Green and Orange to Indigo-Blue and Cream-Yellow. Green is nature’s carpet and the foundation upon which the Second System is built. Orange is the color of the fifth ray of concrete knowledge. Indigo-blue is ray 2, and cream-yellow the color of ray 4 and the plane of buddhi.
In the success of any dualistic and developmental system, there is always the clinging to the “old”, the established, during a transition to the “new” incoming vibration. Thus, we can witness today the struggle between 3 and 2, between 5 and 4—and the battle goes on in every walk of life. In a word, we need Love-Wisdom to be the controlling factor in everything we do. Love-Wisdom needs to overshadow government, religion, economics, and all cultural life. We will find unity and brotherhood under this second ray. Seventh ray organization and restructuring needs to come under the second ray. In addition, we need Harmony through Conflict, the Ray of Beauty and Intuition, along with the higher reasoning of abstract levels of the mental plane, to lift us above the confining limitations of concrete minded intellectualism. We need 2 and 4 to take 3 and 5 and spiritualize them. The Form will be perfect when it is aligned with the Spirit and when God’s Will runs through it all.