The Sun Sign
Compiled and highlighted by Michael D. Robbins
1. Personality Ray of Nation Related to the Sun sign of That Nation: “I will give you two signs for each country. One will be the emerging influence which will govern the ego or the soul of the country or nation, and the other that which governs at the present moment the personality ray of the individual country, and so conditions the masses. Forget not that the soul of the people is represented by those who [Page 68] react to the influence of the soul ray and of the sign which is affecting it (its ascendant, one might say), whilst the masses are conditioned by the personality ray and therefore by the sun sign of the specified nation.” (DON 67-68)
2. Living Under the Sun sign, Libra (or Rising Sign, Libra): “Lives of indecision come wherein the man balances back and forth between decision and indecision, arriving apparently at no action. They are lives of apparent futility but nevertheless of great value. Needless to point out that such incarnations are frequently lived under the sun-sign of Libra or have Libra as the rising sign. Prior to that particular life, the man has had little difficulty. He is conditioned by precipitating karma and at the same time experiences little difficulty in arriving at decisions, because his choices and aims will be motivated by the personality and determined by the lower self. Later, after a life or lives of balancing, the die is cast and the period of inactivity and of indecision ends and the soul begins to determine action; karma then comes under the processes of conscious transmutation. Motives become purified [Page 737] and objectives shift from those of personality ambition to the spiritual goals of humanity.” (DINA II 736-737)
3. Sun sign Indicative of Personality Traits: “4. The comprehension of the Path of Life for an individual, through a study of his astrological indications. It is necessary in this connection to regard the sun sign [Page 120] into which a man is born, as indicative of his personality trends, and as embodying the characteristics which he has inherited from the past, but to regard the rising sign as holding within it the indications of the way that a man’s soul would have him go.” (GWP 119-120)
4. Energies (Including the Sun sign) Which Pour Through the Etheric Vehicle: “When I tell you that to this information he must add a close consideration of the potencies of the forces and energies reaching him astrologically, you will see what a stern task he has set himself. Not only has he to isolate his five ray energies, but he has to allow for the energy of his sun sign as it conditions his personality, and of his rising sign as it seeks to stimulate that personality into soul responsiveness, thus working out soul purpose through personality cooperation. There are, therefore, seven factors which condition the quality of the forces which seek expression through the etheric body: 1. The ray of the soul. 2. The ray of the personality 3. The ray of the mind. 4. The ray of the emotional nature. 5. The ray of the physical vehicle. 6. The energy of the sun sign. 7. The influence of the rising sign. Once, however, these are ascertained and there is some assurance as to their factual truth, the entire problem begins to clarify and the disciple can work with knowledge and understanding. He becomes a scientific worker in the field of hidden forces. He knows then what he is doing, with what energies he must work, and he begins to feel these energies as they find their way into the etheric vehicle.” (GWP 249)
5. The Sun sign Implicated in Disease: “2. Diseases invoked by tendencies in the man himself. These are governed by his astrological sign – either his sun sign or his rising sign and will be considered later.” (EPII 547)
6. The Nature of the Sun sign: “2. That the Sun sign, as it is called, indicates the nature of the man, physical, mental and spiritual. It holds the [Page 17] secret of the personality ray and of the man’s responsiveness or lack of responsiveness to the Soul, the real man. It indicates also the integration already achieved and the present point of unfoldment of the soul qualities, of the present available equipment, of the present life quality and of the immediately possible group relations. It indicates, from the angle of the Ageless Wisdom, nothing more. This is a reversal of the usual astrological position. The reason that I proffer this is that humanity is enough evolved so that the astrology of the soul will become possible before long; it constitutes – from many points of view – a reversal of normal procedure. This is both wise and necessary, and also inevitable. Astrologers will eventually be divided into two classes: the exoteric astrologers who will be occupied with the horoscope of the personality, and the esoteric astrologers who will be occupied with the purposes of the soul.” (EA 16-17)
7. The Sun sign and the Present Problem of the Man: “In connection with the sun sign, the rising sign and the effect of the thoughtform relating to the moon, the position of esoteric astrology is as follows: 1. The sun sign. – This sign indicates the present problem of the man; it sets the pace or the established tempo of his personality life; it is related to quality, temperament and the life tendencies which are seeking expression during this particular incarnation, and it is suggestive of the rajasic or the activity aspect of the innate man. Fundamentally, the forces here found are indicative of the line of least resistance.” (EA 18)
8. The Sun sign and the Line of Least Resistance: “b. The Sun sign, as indicating life trends which are already established and which constitute the line of least resistance.” (EA 31)
9. The Sun sign in Relation to ‘Probability’: “Secondly, the twelve constellations are concerned primarily with the stimulation of the soul within the form, producing subjective activity which, in its turn, causes changes in the outer expression, through the fusion of the energy of the constellation with the energy of the planets. The effect produced falls into two stages: 1. The first stage wherein the sun sign dominates the man and he is gradually fitted to respond to the soul. His latent possibilities for this life are unfolded. The effect of the sun sign is sometimes called ‘the potency of the Sun of Probability’.” (EA 51)
10. The Expanding Energies of the Sun sign: “A right understanding of the effect of the various energies and forces will make it apparent that, when the conditioning planetary forces, the expanding energies of the sun sign and the driving energy of the rising sign are all being controlled and directed by the illumined spiritual man, you will then have a soul upon the very verge of liberation.” (EA 52)
11. The Sun sign in Relation to a Point of Crisis: “What is true of man in this connection is true also of humanity as a whole, of the planetary Logos of the Earth, as of all planetary Logoi, and of a solar Logos. The analogy between the fusion of the pairs of opposites, for instance, upon the physical plane can be seen in the conscious and directed fusion of the planetary forces with the energy of any specific planet or group of planets. The analogy, involving discrimination to regulate and offset the force of the pairs of opposites upon the astral plane, can be seen when the energies of the sun sign and of the planets are perfectly directed and adjusted. The analogy can also be carried forward onto the mental plane and when the energies of the sun sign and the rising sign are coherently blended and expressed (in the case of both the individual or a planetary Life) there comes a point of crisis wherein the soul and the personality are brought face to face. The Angel of the Presence, distributing solar fire and holding focussed electric fire, and the Dweller on the Threshold, expressing and utilising fire by friction, know each other “with intimate occult knowledge.” The door then stands open wide through which the life and light of the three major constellations can – after the third initiation – be occultly available to the initiate, be he a liberated human being or a planetary Logos.” (EA 55)
12. The Significance of Oppositions Between the Sun sign and the Ascendant: “It would also be interesting to make an analysis of those particular incarnations and their horoscopes wherein [Page 184] the polar opposites both appear in relation to each other – one as the sun sign and the other as the ascendant, for these lives usually express some degree of either equilibrium or of consummation; they will not in any case be negative lives or lacking in direction, event or purpose. This is particularly the case upon the Fixed Cross of the Heavens.” (EA 183-184)
13. The Sun sign in Relation to Sagittarius (as an Example): “1. The Sun sign. – In this case Sagittarius conditions circumstances, indicating inheritance and forcing the environment to be declarative in connection with the subject.” (EA 186)
14. The Horoscope Built Up Around the Sun sign: “6. The horoscope, built around the Sun sign, is adequate for ordinary humanity. The exoteric planets rule and the man lives within the limitations of the twelve houses.” (EA 513)
15. The Sun sign in the Horoscope of an Initiate: “8. The Sun sign, governed by the ruling esoteric planets and the rising sign governed also by the esoteric planets, can both be used in casting the horoscope of the initiate; when superimposed upon each other, the outer life of the initiate in the three worlds and the inner life of subjective realisation will appear. This mode of super-imposition will be a feature of the new astrology.” (EA 514)
16. The Sun sign in the Horoscope of a Disciple: “9. When the Sun sign, with the exoteric rulers, is worked out in a chart, the rising sign with the esoteric rulers is also worked out and the two are superimposed upon each other, the problem of the disciple in any one incarnation will appear.” (EA 514)
17. The Sun sign Different in Each Incarnation: “Each changing personality sees a different ray force enter and each ray governs or transmits its forces through one or other of the seven centres; the Sun sign in each incarnation will be different, leading necessarily to a different rising sign and therefore to a complete new set of planetary influences. Thus the centres in the vital body come under varying pressures and stimulation. In one life, the stimulation applied may tend to vivify the solar plexus or to drive its energies upward into its higher point of transference, the heart centre. In another, it may be seen to be focussed in the throat centre, and by indirect activity affecting the sacral centre and – under the major Law of Attraction – producing a raising of the force to the higher creative focus.” (EA 515)
18. Relating the Sun sign to the Rising Sign: “The theme we will now consider is one which is of general interest but not of individual moment. Arguing as one ever must from the universal to the particular, it is essential that humanity relates its own mechanism to the greater mechanism through which the planetary Life functions and views his soul as an infinitesimal part of the world soul. It is necessary for him, therefore, to relate his Sun sign to his rising sign and his soul to his personality, viewing both as aspects and integral parts of the human family. This will be increasingly the case. This process is beginning to demonstrate in the steadily expanding group, national and racial consciousness which humanity is today demonstrating – a consciousness which shows as a spiritual inclusiveness or as an abnormal and wicked attempt (from the standpoint of the soul) to fuse and blend all nations into a world order, based on material issues and dominated by a material vision. There was nothing spiritual in the vision of the leaders of the powers which were called the Axis powers. But the spiritual intent of mankind is slowly growing and the great Law of Contrasts will eventually bring illumination.” (EA 518)
19. Availing Oneself of the Three Other Energies of the Cross on which the Sun is Found: “The man whose Sun sign is in Gemini, for instance, is subjected to the forces flowing through the Cross as whole, unless he is a very low grade human being; he will be sensitive to the influences of the other three signs when they sweep into power as the lesser zodiac of the year plays its part. Later, when the practical value of esoteric astrology is better understood, men will avail themselves of the three energies of the three other signs of the Cross in which the Sun sign finds a place. This is a future development of the science of esoteric astrology. Putting it into the simplest terms and thereby necessarily limiting significances, a man will endeavour, when in Sagittarius, to practise one-pointedness along some one line; when in Virgo, he will know that opportunity to bring the form more under the influence of the hidden Christ is possible and that, in Pisces, sensitivity to the higher impression is his right and privilege. All these four possibilities, in regard to the advanced initiate are beautifully demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus, the Master on the sixth ray.” (EA 564)
