Capricorn 2014: Grand Cross. Birth-Death. Sugar. Peasantry. Japan.

Keynote
“Lost am I in light supernal, yet on that light I turn my back.”
(Full Moon: January 16, 2014. 11:52 am. London, Britain.)

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2014: Year of the Cardinal Grand Cross
Capricorn: A Sign of Life and Death
Capricorn and Initiation
Jupiter in Cancer, Sugar and Revolting Peasants
Capricorn Japan Revisited: Fukushima

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2014: Year of the Cardinal Grand Cross
On New Year’s Day coinciding with the new moon in Capricorn, the grand cross between Pluto-Uranus, Mars-Jupiter, heralded how 2014 will shape up. Again, in the full moon chart for Capricorn (January 16), the grand cross is still activated, but evolves to an exact focus, April 22-24, 2014.

The 2014 Grand Cross raises to a greater prominence than ever before, the ongoing square between transiting Pluto and Uranus. April 2014 will be the fifth of seven exact squares that started June 2012 and finish in March 2015.

The third and fourth hits were in 2013, hence 2014 represents just past the half way mark of this long initiatory passage. To use a first ray term connected to the planet Vulcan, the 2014 Grand Cross drops the hammer upon the entire period from 2012-2015. The first ray of will or power is one of the rays that pass through Capricorn. The Capricorn 2014 new moon missive­ is repeated and embellished here, because it applies to the whole year, particularly the cardinal Grand Cross of April.

“We reflect upon the year’s achievements in the sign of Capricorn, the mountain top of material and spiritual achievement. We ponder our failures and make new year’s resolutions; we resolve to rectify wrongs and renew our “vows”. We reflect, resolve, and renew — relinquishing regret; not unlike the soul’s journey passing into the afterlife. Capricorn is one of the signs of death, of completion, yet the doorway into renewed life, hence Janus and January.

Capricorn is a sign of initiation into the mysteries and Saturn its ruler, currently in Scorpio, ensures that humanity will have to raise its game in 2014. Individually and collectively we will all be required to tread the burning ground of the lower self, yet also “stand our ground”, claiming the new “territory” that our greater Self has “captured”; this will be achieved through honest self-reflection and an utter ruthlessness — rooting out all that impedes individual progress; and in the groups with whom we are associated. Yet, this planetary configuration holds a reward for the requisite labour it sets before us.

There is turmoil in many nations, from Egypt to Thailand, Ukraine to Bangladesh, Sudan to Syria, as the struggle unfolds for freedom from repressive power systems and governments. There will be much more of the same in 2014, including many strains in all the dysfunctional Western democracies.

The next two years will be an extremely difficult period as Humanity seeks to make a quantum leap through a brief window of time, to overcome centuries of inertia and crystallisation. The resistance to these opportunities for change are so deep-seated, one can almost hear the wheels of the great cycles Pisces-Aquarius, grinding and groaning during this cuspal period. The imminent grand cross of Uranus-Pluto, Jupiter-Mars in cardinal signs, dominates 2014 and will be laying waste to the past as never before, indicating a kind of crucifixion for humanity, as it faces more directly, the planetary Dweller on the Threshold.

The various themes of money and its fairer redistribution, critical environmental and agricultural concerns, bees, pollution, food production and distribution, hunger and malnutrition, radical weather, natural cataclysms, nuclear weapons in the Middle East and/or nuclear accidents such as Fukushima, may all reach critical mass in 2014.

Mars in Libra will be a positive driving force as the god of war in the sign of peace, unrelenting in negotiations, regime change and détente. (Think Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama, both with Mars in Libra.) Mars in Libra is about holding one’s enemies close and to be vigilant for the “frenemies”.

Yet Mars’ square to Pluto and opposition to Uranus is highly volatile. If not handled correctly, these extraordinarily powerful forces will burst out in unpredictable ways around the planet, like the recent massive train explosion in North Dakota, following several other unprecedented explosions in the past year.

Humanity needs courage to face these daunting scenarios, to counter fear and the general sense of apprehension. How we set an example in our communities will go a long way to alleviating crises. As the old paradigm crumbles, we continue to work at the new paradigm emerging, applying the Aquarian values of co-operation and universal brotherhood, to inspire others to live courageously and in service to their fellow humanity. Make no mistake, there will be no dull moments in 2014!”

Capricorn: A Sign of Life and Death
Of course, New Year is based upon the traditional Western calendar; it is pertinent and important, but the real new year starts in March in Aries, the first sign of the zodiac. From Aries, the initial annual impulse gestates for nine months before birthing in Capricorn.

The latter is an interesting phrase as Capricorn’s polar opposite is Cancer, traditionally the sign of birth, whilst Capricorn is a sign of completion and death. Aquarius following Capricorn allows for the new year’s resolutions/revolutions to be set, whilst Pisces hosts the dissolution of the annual cycle in preparation for the new cycle beginning in Aries.

Hence Capricorn’s rulership by Saturn the Reaper, whose jurisdiction is the application of the law of karma and the cycles of incarnation. Esoterically speaking, Capricorn is a sign of birth into the realm of the soul, whilst Cancer is a sign of death, which incarnating into a body is, relatively speaking, compared to the causal body from where one has just departed! “From the womb (Cancer) to the tomb (Capricorn)” — these are inter-changeable ideas depending upon the perspective:

“[Cancer] … is one of the two gates of the zodiac because through it souls pass into outer manifestation and to the appropriation of form, and subsequent identification with it for many long cycles. It is [as an ancient commentary suggests], “the gate which stands wide open, broad and easy to pass through, and yet it leads unto the place of death and to that long imprisonment which precedes the final revolt.” It is allied with material nature, and with the mother of forms, just as the other gate, Capricorn, is allied with spirit, the father of all that IS.”1

The “final revolt” takes place at the “reversal of the wheel”, when a soul starts to tread the way to greater consciousness and freedom. Humanity en masse, is currently reversing the wheel, hence the “grinding gears” and their urgent maintenance — the oil of human compassion.

However, reversal of the wheel re-occurs and is recapitulated several more times at each minor and major initiation, over a series of lifetimes. At each of these successive periods there is a “revolt” at encumbering past structures that have been created as temporary vehicles for soul expression, but have now outlived their usefulness:

“Capricorn holds in itself the seeds of death and finality… When crystallisation has reached a certain degree of density and “hardness,” it is easily shattered and destroyed and man, born in Capricorn, then brings about his own destruction; this is due to his fundamentally materialistic nature, plus the “blows of fate” which are the enactments of the law of karma. Again and again, a certain measure of concreteness is achieved, only again to undergo destruction, prior to the release of the life and the rebuilding of the form.”2

Where there are mountains there are valleys. If Capricorn is the mountain top, then Cancer is the valley, full of the waters that hold the seeds of life. Yet, as discussed previously, Cancer is the “place of death”, reminding us of that sublime Psalm 23, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”. This is descriptive of the vales of illusion that humanity inhabits, yet holds within it the promise to be led “beside the still waters”.

The veil/vale pun describes the “veils of illusion” that the spiritual aspirant is constantly challenged to destroy, yet “vale” is an old word that means, “a valley, often coursed by a stream”. The “still waters” are symbolic of the astral body being brought under control by the aspirant, the main “mountain” for most,  culminating at the second initiation. (Capricorn’s symbol of the sea-goat hints at this.) Cancer as a water sign is most symbolic of the amniotic fluid and the “breaking of the waters” at birth, yet also the waters that must be eventually stilled, or distilled in the laboratory of life.

In Psalm 23, the word “Lord” can be substituted for “soul”, because the soul is of course our “lord”, at least the most immediate one, connected to an inner ashram of other lords/souls, in turn connected to a greater hierarchy of Lords:
“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’ sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.”

The “house of the Lord” is occultly speaking, the “temple of the Lord”, the “mansion of the soul” or the causal body, whilst the cup (the chalice of the heart), “runneth over”.

Capricorn and Initiation
Capricorn is a cardinal sign, the four signs of the cardinal cross are about initiating purpose and plan. A purpose that is initiated in one lifetime or another, culminates eventually in an incarnation — as initiation into a broader realm of consciousness. It is worth bearing in mind on the long journey humanity treads (or staggers!) toward liberation, the successive steps that bring integration within the lower self/selves and subsequent alignment with the Higher Self.

Hence Capricorn is a sign of initiation, of having achieved the summit where a particular purpose has been realised. There are many mountains to climb, each representing a successive step. The mountain top is the crowning glory where the two-horned goat is transformed into the one-horned unicorn. The mountain top,

“… marks the point beyond which further ascent in any particular life cycle is not possible. Capricorn is, therefore, the sign of what has been called esoterically “periodic arresting.” Progress becomes impossible under the existing forms, and there has to be the descent into the valley of pain, despair and death before a fresh attempt to scale the heights takes place.”3

Although humanity symbolically inhabits this “valley of pain”, it has also scaled the summit, bringing the Capricorn-Cancer pair of opposites into a relative synthesis,

“The attempt today to climb Mount Everest is amazingly symbolic, and it is being watched with much interest by the Hierarchy [the “greater Lords”], for in this effort we see the attempt of humanity to achieve the top of the mountain whose height has hitherto defeated all efforts.

But — and this is the matter of moment and of interest — when humanity emerges into the light and relative glory of the new civilisation, they will at the same time conquer this last remaining summit. That which is of the densest materiality and which is the consummation of earthly grandeur will remain — but it will be beneath the feet of humanity.”4

This “new civilisation” is the emerging Sixth Rootrace which the impending Aquarian Age will catalyse. The mountain top achieved is the “5.5.5”, the fifth branchrace of the fifth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace,5  the development of the mind, at least for a significant portion of humanity.

As a cardinal sign Capricorn is,

“… the sign in which is inaugurated a new cycle of effort, whether this effort is in connection with the individual man or with the initiate. Effort, strain, struggle, the fight with the forces native to the underworld, or the strenuous conditions entailed by the tests of discipleship or initiation — these are distinctive of experience in Capricorn.”6

The “underworld” is where the battle is on in earnest now, it is the domain of the dweller on the threshold for humanity; it is this battleground or kurukshetra that will be at the forefront of human affairs in 2014-2015. The ancient testings for initiation used to always take place in the dark, where the candidate had to struggle through many trials toward the light. The global problems listed earlier are the trials we face today.

Jupiter in Cancer, Sugar and Revolting Peasants
Cancer, the Capricorn polar opposite, is well poised to make a great contribution to the 2014 Grand Cross, with transiting Jupiter in this sign. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, the second ray planet of love-wisdom in the feminine sign of birth and nurturing. Jupiter’s position here is very generous, yet esoterically it concerns,

“The building of adequate forms and the use and control of form are essential if there is to be wise and right cooperation with the Plan of God. Jupiter guarantees this in Cancer from the very initial stage of birth. Love as relationship to divinity and wisdom as relationship to form, lie behind the soul’s intent. In space and time, for long aeons, form controls and hides the soul.

This is equally true in regard to the fluid psychic nature … the form aspect and the psychic nature … reach an eventual concrete perfection in Capricorn, to become again in Cancer the perfect instrument of service, which the initiate wields as he seeks to render mass service instead of being involved and lost in the mass.”7

In this dramatic transition period, Humanity is gradually emerging from being “lost in the mass”, embracing a more individualised soul expression, learning to think independently, hence the proliferation of ideologies and beliefs. Again, the phrase “final revolt” comes to mind, as an increasing awareness is now filtering through about how much humans are being manipulated by one another.

The planetary situation is “revolting”, (i.e., it stinks!), and individuals are not “revolting” through social disobedience because they are blind to their manipulation, or complacent and hypnotised by the bright baubles and toys of materialism. Uranus may bring on a global “popular revolt”, only now expressing itself through several nations.

In the 2014 Grand Cross configuration, Jupiter in Cancer may exacerbate the materialistic appetites, particularly sugar consumption and obesity. This trend to add sugar to all foods most likely started in the USA, a nation that has Jupiter in Cancer. The wealth and excess of the USA can be likened to jumping into a large swimming pool full of flummery or blueberry cheesecake, sweetened to the max!

This sugar problem has reached epidemic proportions worldwide and various nations are scurrying to address the problem. Yet vampire corporations that have foisted their poisonous policies upon the world, are still being allowed to behave irresponsibly; they hold an unfair advantage of people’s power of choice.

Hence, Jupiter opposite Pluto in the 2014 Grand Cross may shed more light upon this power dynamic: Pluto in Capricorn, the powerful corporate interests that dictate to governments, versus Jupiter in Cancer in one of its expressions — the mass consumption of sweetened food.

Mars in Libra, the urge to act with the law and fairness; Uranus in Aries, a revolution in thought. This is just one example of hundreds, of how the 2014 Grand Cross has the potential to push through matters of great planetary urgency — global emergencies on many fronts. (See also Cancer 2011 newsletter with section on the duality of obesity and famine.)

Sugar is at the epi-centre of the human desire nature. That epi-centre is actually the solar plexus centre, the seat of desire, the astral body, the source of all addiction. Excessive sugar “ages” the pancreas, the endocrine gland associated with the solar plexus centre, and which plays an important role in glucose metabolism, the regulation of blood glucose. Aged pancreas = diabetes, another global epidemic. Addiction is a way of feeding the hungry heart, and combined with something physically addictive, is a lethal combination.

The solar plexus chakra is a ten-petalled lotus, whose perfection corresponds to the tenth sign Capricorn. The energy that pours through the solar plexus is transmitted through the most esoteric portion of the pancreas, the Islets of Langerhans (sounds like a holiday destination!), that produce hormones which underlie the endocrine functions of the pancreas.

The quality of the hormones produced is dependent upon the emotional state of the individual chakra through which energy pours, the ray that conditions the astral body, the spiritual stage of unfoldment and of course the physical condition of the individual. These hormones then circulate throughout the whole body, creating — living!

If 10 petals of the solar plexus are added to the 12 petals of the heart centre, when solar plexus and heart have achieved right relation, there are the 22 major arcana of the Tarot.

Ironically, Jupiter rules the heart centre and Cancer is one of the most astrally sensitive of all signs. There is a deliberate and pre-meditated, hence criminal, perpetuation of addiction by corporate interests, making huge profits; keeping the masses trapped in an endless cycle of advertising, consumption — and financial slavery to an increasingly corporatised medical establishment; it’s the over-consumption of everything, not just sugar; it is the West’s version of mal-nutrition, contra-distinct to starvation and famine with which we normally associate.

The West is experiencing a spiritual starvation and famine, refugees of the heart staring into an abyss, stuck in the cul-de-sac of selfishness and self-absorption, yet earnestly searching for the elusive heart. Past fears, survival issues and desire have to be replaced by faith in a future of courage; it is Humanity’s dark night of the soul, which always precedes illumination; this is why the 2014 Grand Cross will be such a defining moment in history, as Humanity faces its shadow.

The infamous and amusing phrase from the French Revolution, “the peasants are revolting”, is a great metaphor for awakening humanity, spiritually impoverished and starving for light. Yet, it is also an appropriate allegory for those who have awakened, still struggling with their imperfections.

One definition for peasant is, “coarse, unsophisticated, boorish, an uneducated person”, highlighting again, the soul’s power to continually refine the substance of its vehicles, its “peasant lives”, to train and “educate” them through the various spiritual disciplines available.

When the soul or “lord” takes control of its “peasantry” (esoterically, the armies of deva lives that constitute the lower self), then the domain of the spirit will reign. Then we can all say, “Let us eat cake!” The royal or “ruling class” of the soul will be in control and peasant may well be transformed to pleasant, “gentrified” if you will.

Capricorn Japan Revisited: Fukushima
As discussed in the Tsunami newsletter of 2011, Japan is a Capricorn personality and also Capricorn rising in its exoteric chart for 1952. Part of the cause of the ongoing problems in Japan, is Pluto’s transit through Capricorn. Pluto is the co-ruler of the first ray of will or power, the soul ray of Japan.

Pluto has jurisdiction over plutonium, just as Uranus, (entering Aries within hours of the tsunami), has rulership over uranium. As a Capricorn nation that has conquered many mountains, Japan has ongoing challenges around the right use of power — Tepco being a microcosm of that nation. With regard to Japan and its capital Tokyo, five cities can be viewed as the main planetary chakras that bring evolutionary forces into the world. A speculative essay about these five “planetary inlets” can be found on this website. The following table gives the author’s current hypothesis:

City	Chakra	Function
Darjeeling	Head	The head is where spiritual force is directed from Planetary Hierarchy – Sanat Kumara, the Masters – who are in close physical proximity.
London	Throat	The throat is the where the mental body is anchored. Britain is the seat of the developed concrete mind for the Fifth Rootrace.
Geneva	Heart	Expressions of the heart: Red Cross, United Nations, Human Rights groups. Many agreements made here. 730 years democracy.
New York	Ajna	The ajna is a connecting point to all centres: ajna-heart, solar plexus-head. NYC is in the middle of two triangles of cities. (See diagram.)
Tokyo	Solar Plexus	After purification, the solar plexus irradiates the soul’s love through the personality, reflecting the light of the soul.

Globally, the solar plexus of Tokyo functions as a transformational agent of the collective emotions of humanity, a vast cauldron of varied ingredients. If Tokyo is the solar plexus, then Fukushima may well be the “Islets of Langerhans”. The radiation leak could be viewed as the toxic condition of Humanity’s astral body, yet also a “radiation therapy” that destroys the cancer; an homoeopathic remedy of small doses perhaps. Most of humanity see radiation sickness as a disaster because of its impact upon the transient human form and this is true, if we get too much of it.

Currently many US sailors who helped out just after the tsunami have become very sick with radiation poisoning. Yet there were many survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who went on to live long lives, one individual who was in both cities at both blasts, died at 93 of old age! The reader may have some strong reactions to the following statements, but they are worth reflecting upon.

Japan was the nation where WWII was ended through atomic bombs; where the resistance of the powers of evil was ended, because the atom bomb’s potency is mainly etheric. Fire is purificatory and purging. Interesting to note there is currently debate about whether the bombs needed to be dropped but were released anyway, as a way it is speculated, to send a message to other nations who were potential enemies.

Notwithstanding the contentious and speculative issue of nuclear radioactivity, Humanity is becoming increasingly radioactive in its evolution; it is synonymous with its unfoldment of consciousness, as the following passages indicate,

“All atoms become radioactive as the result of a response to a stronger magnetic centre, which response is brought about through the gradual evolutionary development of consciousness of some kind or another.”8

The energy of the first ray of will or power, coming from the planetary centre Shamballa, is increasing its influence upon all kingdoms, making them all more “radioactive”,

“When the subject of radiation is more completely comprehended, it will be found that it demonstrates one more instance of the unity of all life, and furnishes one more corroborative indication of the synthetic nature of the entire evolutionary process. In every instance that which radiates from each kingdom of nature is one and the same.  The radioactive human being is the same in nature (differing only in degree and in conscious response) as the radioactive mineral.”9

Below we can see the beauty and mystery of the atom mandala, the basic unit of matter, the building block of life – carbon 12. Six protons, six electrons and six neutrons = 666 the number of matter (the “beast”) on the three lower planes.

1 Proton                                   2 Neutron                                  3 Electron

The triangle is the divine trinity reflected in all matter. The proton is the (+) charge, hence the first aspect/ray. The electron is the (-) charge — the third aspect/ray. The neutron is the uncharged particle and assumes the second aspect/ray.

The following passage is an amazing statement with regard to the evolution of human consciousness. Basically the word “radioactivity” can be substituted for “initiation” or readiness for initiation:

“A period of radioactivity is being entered upon now in which men and women will achieve a larger realisation; they will begin to transcend their human limitations, and to enter the fifth kingdom [of souls] one by one, and unit by unit. This period, as far as the larger cycle is concerned, began when the Door of Initiation was opened in Atlantean days, but many lesser cycles have occurred, for the influx into the fifth kingdom is equally governed by cyclic law, by periodic ebb and flow.

… Another period of radioactivity occurred during the time of the Buddha and many achieved Arhatship in those days. That period was the highest point of what is occultly termed “a cycle of the third degree,” and a similar degree of radiatory activity has not been reached since that time.

Human radiation of a very slight nature was felt about the time of Christ, but it only lasted for a couple of hundred years, and though individuals here and there have since achieved the goal, yet no large numbers have passed successfully through the fires of transmutation, and thus transcended the fourth kingdom.

The cycle is again on the upward turn; about the fourteenth century the human kingdom began to be noticeably radioactive, and we are on the way to the fulfilment of a “cycle of the second order” or of a period of transcendence of a still greater activity than in the time of the Buddha.  It will become demonstrably great when certain conditions have been fulfilled.”10

This period is now upon us. The 2014 Grand Cross powerfully stimulates Japan’s horoscope, possibly triggering another tsunami and more radiation leaks.

The configuration in Japan’s Capricorn rising chart is:

Aries-Libra
Transiting Uranus: Conjunct Mercury in Aries.
Transiting Mars: Conjunct Saturn in Libra.

Cancer-Capricorn
Transiting Jupiter conjunct progressed Uranus in Cancer.
Transiting Pluto conjunct Chiron in Capricorn.

There is a high probability for Japan having to cope with natural disaster and ongoing radiation fallout; as well as its power struggles and territorial disputes with neighbours such as China and North Korea, both with nuclear weapons capability. The theme is very much Pluto in Capricorn and the right use of power on all levels.

The New Group of World Servers has a great responsibility in the next few years, to hold these global events in tension, both subjectively and in their outer communities. May Pluto empower us all and Uranus bring the revolution in consciousness that we all seek.

Phillip Lindsay ©2014.
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1. Esoteric Astrology,  Alice A. Bailey. p.312. [↩]
2. Esoteric Astrology,  Alice A. Bailey. p.158. [↩]
3. Esoteric Astrology,  Alice A. Bailey. p.158. [↩]
4. Esoteric Astrology,  Alice A. Bailey. p.158-9. [↩]
5. https://esotericastrologer.org/hidden-history-humanity/ [↩]
6. Esoteric Astrology,  Alice A. Bailey. p.159. [↩]
7. Esoteric Astrology,  Alice A. Bailey. p.341-2. [↩]
8. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey. p.1069. [↩]
9. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey. p.1077. [↩]
10. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey. p.1079. [↩]