Aries 2004: Spiritual New Year. Passover. Jewish Scapegoat.
Keynote
“I come forth and from the plane of mind, I rule.”
Aries and the Cardinal Cross Equinoxes and Solstices
Aries, Passover and the Jewish Scapegoat
Aries: Beginning the Spiritual New Year
Aries and the Cardinal Cross Equinoxes and Solstices
Aries marks the start of a new subjective cycle at the equinox. The equinoxes and solstices create the four points of the ‘cardinal cross’ – Aries-Libra and Cancer-Capricorn – upon which the year is structured.
The equinoxes are durations of equal day and night when the Sun, in the course of its apparent motion along the ecliptic, crosses the equator from north to south or south to north, depending upon the hemisphere in which you live. This is the ‘Vernal Point’ or first degree of Aries, and is followed by the Festival of Easter held on the full Moon of Aries.
The solstices occur when the increase in declination between the equator and the ecliptic is halted – the Sun seems to stand still – and declination starts to decrease as the Sun follows the ecliptic back toward the opposite equinox.
Solstices are distinguished by extremes of time, and equinoxes by the equanimity of time.
The ecliptic represents time, as its circle describes the year it takes for the Earth to move around the Sun. The equator represents space as it is the division that is made between hemispheres, and extends out to the celestial equator.
Therefore, the intersections between these two circles, that produce the equinoxes and solstices, represent where space and time meet, yet offer the possibility of transcending the illusion of space-time. (These passages have been in other newsletters but are worth repeating.)
Perhaps this is why the Hierarchy sets such great importance on these four festivals of the year. Equinoxes and solstices represent doorways to align with the Eternal Now where there is greater receptivity to ‘The Plan’ as it emanates from the initiating Cardinal Cross in the heavens. The Tibetan has said in relation to the cardinal cross, “the astrologer can arrive at a clearer understanding of:
a. Of ordinary, individual human beings.
b. Of group beginnings.
c. Of the significance of the first initiation.”1
If the time is taken to go inward at the equinoxes and solstices, just as one would at the full moon festivals, there is much that student of esotericism may be able to tune into. Deva activity at these times is high and indeed, one can sometimes note their physical presence with stunning cloud formations in the sky or the very palpable forces of nature.
It stands to reason, especially in the northern hemisphere, with the onset of spring and the birthing and building of new forms in nature. Though the northern hemisphere seasons impart a generic meaning to the zodiac signs, in some ways they mask the forces that the signs impart to both hemispheres.
As a passionate and fiery sign, Aries blazes the trail both on the physical and mental levels. Hence the pioneering, thrusting, martial quality of Aries as it pushes into new territories. Fire as a symbol of the mental plane sears away any remnants of the past cycle; it inaugurates the new in Vulcan’s furnace by shaping and bringing original patterns into being. Aries is a sign pre-eminently of the first ray of will or power and Vulcan, its ruler is intimately related to these alchemical processes.
Yet the subjectivity of Aries that initiates these new ideas for the spiritual year only sees them take shape as these fresh impulses precipitate their way down into manifestation. This occurs particularly via the following three signs Taurus, Gemini and Cancer – the latter cardinal sign that sees the symbolic or actual ‘birthing’ of the original initiating idea.
The cardinal cross as a whole is a cross of manifestation. “God’s idea in Aries becomes the concrete plan in Capricorn.” Cancer-Capricorn relate to physical forms, their organisation and maintenance. The Sun is exalted in Aries and we are told that the ‘Sun and Vulcan are one’. At his firey furnace Vulcan shapes and fashions upon his anvil the ideas that ‘come forth from the plane of mind’. Polar opposite Libra picks up on the patternings of the original impulse via Saturn (exalted in Libra), who also has a hand in constructing the geometrical pattern or thoughtform. First Ray ruler Vulcan is spirit that manifests through matter, the domain of Third Ray ruler Saturn
The first three signs Aries, Taurus and Gemini, constitute for us at this time the major spiritual festivals of the new yearly cycle; they are events in which we can all consciously and meditatively participate and contribute to the building (and destroying) processes needed to evolve the new archetypes, or to further consolidate that which has already been initiated in earlier cycles.
Hence the importance of the Aries cycle and if ever there was an Aries catch-cry, it must be “Seize the day!” Penetrate the moment – of the equinox – or at any other time transcending time – finding that place of equal day and night the now – the equilibrium, peace and harmony of Aries’ polar opposite Libra. From that place of balance, take action upon that which has been contacted, so that soul purpose is intelligently implemented and not rushed into recklessly, as can be Aries’ tendency; thereby Aries on the Path is not continually beset by the negative consequences of unconsidered actions.
The Aries equinox this year also coincided with the new moon cycle within only a half a degree of the equinox. This will no doubt have added some strong seeding potencies that will have their fruition sometime this year.
Aries, Passover and the Jewish Scapegoat
The full moon of Aries is around the ancient Jewish festival of Nisan (Passover), the same festival upon which Jesus was crucified upon the cross. It was also a time when The Christ, ‘overlighting’ His disciple, helped effect a revolutionary alignment between Humanity and the planetary centre we call Shamballa, abode of the Lord of the World, or Sanat Kumara. The following definition of Passover:
“… the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt and the “passing over” of the forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, when the Lord “smote the land of Egypt” on the eve of the Exodus. On these seven (or eight) days, all leaven, whether in bread or other mixture, is prohibited, and only unleavened bread, called matzo, may be eaten. The matzo symbolizes both the Hebrews’ suffering while in bondage and the haste with which they left Egypt in the course of the Exodus. Passover is also sometimes called the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
Passover is often celebrated with great pomp and ceremony, especially on the first night, when a special family meal called the seder is held. At the seder foods of symbolic significance commemorating the Hebrews’ liberation are eaten, and prayers and traditional recitations are performed. Though the festival of Passover is meant to be one of great rejoicing, strict dietary laws must be observed, and special prohibitions restrict work at the beginning and end of the celebration. See also matzo; seder.”2
Ironically Passover has also meant for some observers the ‘passing over’ of the recognition of their Messiah who came to them in the form of Jesus of Nazareth; manipulation by the most powerful in the synagogue that saw to the death sentence of Jesus; potent stuff and vehemently argued over to this day by religious factions. The Tibetan curiously calls Aries the scapegoat:
“It is interesting to remember that when the Buddha came, approximately five hundred years before Christ (for the exact date of Christ’s birth remains debatable), the first dim influences of the Piscean Age could be felt, impinging upon the powerful quality of the age of Aries, the Scapegoat or the Ram. It was the influence of this age – persisting throughout the Jewish dispensation – which led eventually to the distortion of the simple teaching of the Christ when He came. He was erroneously presented to the world as the living Scapegoat, bearing away the sins of the people, and thus originating the doctrine of the vicarious at-one-ment. It was St. Paul who was responsible for this emphasis.
A paralleling instance of a similar distortion was also of Jewish origin and appeared in the early stages of the cycle of Aries, the Ram. We are told that the Children of Israel fell down and worshipped the golden calf, the symbol of Taurus, the Bull; this was the preceding astronomical cycle. These are astronomical cycles and not a presented astrology. In the early stages of Aries, the teaching reverted to that of Taurus and in the early stages of Pisces, it reverted to that of Aries and thus set the seal of retrogression upon the teaching which now controls so many orthodox Christians.”3
Likewise in the beginning of the Aquarian Age, will there be a reversion to the ways of the Piscean Age? – probably!
The Jewish tradition around scapegoat which means “goat for Azazel”, comes from “the Old Testament ritual of Yom Kippur (Lev. 16:8-10), a goat symbolically burdened with the sins of the Jewish people. Some scholars believe that the animal was chosen by lot to placate Azazel, a wilderness demon, then thrown over a precipice outside Jerusalem to rid the nation of its iniquities. By extension, a scapegoat has come to mean any group or individual that innocently bears the blame of others.”4
Hence the sacrifice of the Ram and the scapegoat’s connection to Aries. The personality of the Jewish people (who have been scape-goated down the centuries), is Capricorn, the sign of the goat. Some say that through the scapegoating of the Christ, more karma has been incurred – resulting in an even more intense scape-goating of the Jewish race in the past 2000 years:
“Christ came to bring to an end the Jewish dispensation which should have climaxed and passed away as a religion with the movement of the sun out of Aries into Pisces. He, therefore, presented Himself to them as their Messiah, manifesting through the Jewish race. In the rejection of the Christ as the Messiah, the Jewish race has remained symbolically and practically in the sign Aries, the Scapegoat; they have to pass – again speaking symbolically – into the sign, Pisces, the Fishes, and recognise their Messiah when He comes again in the sign Aquarius.”5
Mercury is the soul ruler of Aries and is an important planet as it also rules Virgo, the soul ruler of the Jewish race. It is said that this planet plays an important part in their destiny. Mercury is the wandering shepherd or the wandering Jew. Mercury is also that great intelligence, brought over from the first solar system by the ancestors of this race. Mercury is of course the ruler of the fourth ray of Harmony through Conflict:
“This fourth ray is pre-eminently the way of the seeker, the searcher and the sensitive reflector of beauty. The Jewish nation has a close relation to this fourth ray and to the fourth root race, and hence their eminence at this time in the world of art, and hence the magnitude of their endless symbolic wandering and searching.”6
“No other kingdom in nature creates forms, produces colour and sounds in harmonious relation, except the human; all of this type of creative art is the result of aeons of conflict, pain and suffering. The Jews, as a product of the humanity of the previous solar system, and as constituting the incarnating residue from that solar system, have run the gamut of suffering and are in the forefront of the creative arts at this time, particularly in group production such as certain of the great motion pictures and in the field of scientific discovery.”7
Aries initates action and movement on the physical plane, animated by hierarchical ruler Uranus through mediator Mercury to Mars. Aries is an initiator (as is Uranus the Hierophant) and a sign of initiation. Aries is also the seed-sower and seed-scatterer.
The Christ initiated the Age of Pisces at the Crucifixion during Aries. The whole mission of the Christ and His disciple Jesus culminated at the festival of that time. Both achieved high initiations through their combined alignment and what the inner ashramic plan sought to anchor. The fourth initiation (Crucifixion) relates to fourth ray of Harmony through conflict and its ruler Mercury, the Messenger.
That message (amongst others) was, “I and my Father [the monad] are One,” and in these words epitomised His entire message. I, the individual, through initiation, am identified with Deity.
Aries: Beginning the Spiritual New Year
Traditionally in the exoteric year which ends on January 31st we make our new year resolutions. How many of us do likewise at the start of the true spiritual year in Aries, in alignment with the cosmic forces that surround us? Granted, Capricorn during January is the mountaintop and symbol of the completion of a cycle, a death or ending of sorts, taking its meaning from untold aeons ago when Capricorn was the last sign in a ten-sign zodiac.
What ‘new year resolutions’ can we make for ourselves through alignment with our souls and hence the greater group purpose and plan?; through recognition of our fellow travellers upon the way?; through inner recognition and realisation of Hierarchy – which is experiential and not theoretical?
Yet Pisces just before Aries is also a sign of death, in preparation for the new cycle in Aries. Pluto as soul ruler of Pisces governs those destructive processes leading to the releasing of the old. There are three major signs of death: Pisces, Scorpio and Aries, the latter which:
“…forces the soul on to the burning ground and subjects it to a purifying process during incarnation. Through the lesser fire of mind, the “jungles of experience are set on fire and dissolve in flames and then the Path stands clear and unobstructed vision is achieved.” Through the fiery processes of war and strife, brought to the individual through the influence of the planetary ruler, Mars, the God of War, a needed purification takes place.
The same purification, but this time through vision, comes to the developed man through the activity of the subjective ruler of the planet, Mercury, who is the illuminating principle which releases the mind, directs the way of man through life and enables him to become aware of the divine Plan which underlies all his fiery experience.”8
Aries is a sign that takes through it rays one and seven, relating to spirit and matter respectively, giving Aries an ability to relate and bring together these two forces via its ruling planets Uranus, Mercury and Mars. Uranus stands for pure spirit and electric fire and the archetypal forces that can be contacted. Mercury is the intermediary who works at the soul level to carry through the ‘message’ to the physical plane. Mars is that agent of the physical plane who initiates action based upon what it has received.
Yet there can be much conflict here as the material plane is continually adjusting itself to that which it receives from soul or spirit. There is an ongoing process of absorption and balancing (polar opposite Libra) until an equilibrium has been achieved and the process can start all over again. This can occur on a daily or weekly basis or on a yearly basis with the energies that we open ourselves up to as a result of our ‘new year resolutions’.
Thus the Mars-ruled Aries is a true warrior who plunges fearlessly into battle – both at physical and subjective levels. Courage is a potent factor that all warriors must continually find and it is interesting to consider its polar opposite as a dual expression of the fourth ray – cowardice.
Courage is exemplified by the Sun which is exalted in Aries, the force which also rules Leo, the sign of courage and ‘le couer’, the heart. The Sun is the co-ruler of the heart chakra, whilst Mars rules the solar plexus – where lurks fear and doubt that undermine the warrior in battle. As most students know, the solar plexus works closely with the heart – as the latter is in a continual process of drawing up the synthesised forces of all the lower centres.
Hence the duality of the solar plexus-heart – desire and love – the cowardly and the courageous (the timid or confident). Aries and the first ray of will or power represent the quality of daring in heart and mind – pre-requisite for the trail-blazer and pioneer in their chosen area of human endeavour.
“The Sun is exalted in Aries. Here the Sun stands for the life of the spirit which comes to full expression as the result of the great evolutionary process, initiated in Aries. The life of God which in this sign is “swung into activity” eventually achieves consummation. Latency becomes potency and midnight merges into midday. God, the Father, rules.”9
That which is ‘latent’ and hidden at midnight eventually achieves its ‘glory’ at midday in the exalted Sun overhead. The noumenous monad has become the full phenomenon. The seed has grown into the Tree of Man – blossomed, fruited and ripened.
Phillip Lindsay © 2004.
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- Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.335. [↩]
- Britannica. [↩]
- The Reappearance of the Christ, Alice A. Bailey. p.106. [↩]
- Britannica. [↩]
- The Reappearance of the Christ, Alice A. Bailey. p.106. [↩]
- Esoteric Psychology I, Alice A. Bailey. p.134. [↩]
- The Rays and the Initiations, Alice A. Bailey. p.243. [↩]
- Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.96. [↩]
- Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.104. [↩]
