Aquarius 2004: Water Bearer: Humanitarian, Revolutionary.

Keynote
“Water of life am I, poured forth for those who thirst.”

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Aquarius, the Water Bearer: Humanitarian and Revolutionary
The Aquarian Full Moon festival is always most potent. Aquarius is of course the sign of group process and progress. A major indicator of these influences and the second ray of Love-Wisdom is Neptune’s close proximity to the Sun in Aquarius.

The Hierarchy of the Masters with Lord Maitreya or The Christ at its head is the ultimate example of the co-operative principle of an Aquarian group – upon which all other groups model themselves. They are the “love principle” incarnate, who watch over the world’s souls struggling toward their achieved perfection:

“… unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men … But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:12).

Why is Aquarius noted as the sign of the humanitarian and the revolutionary? Aquarius is quite multi-dimensional, and brings in the forces of several rays working on respective levels. There is both an emotional (not so well known) and a mental dimension to Aquarius. These are both reflections of two higher principles, love and will.

Traditionally Aquarius is an air sign relating to intellectuality, which it certainly has, along with the Fifth Ray of Science which pours through it. Yet the glyph of wavy lines for Aquarius symbolise the waters carried in the water pot by the “water-bearer” and relates to the feeling nature:

“Astral energies emanating from the new sign of the zodiac into which we are now entering, the sign Aquarius. This sign, that 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, and may in its later stages bring about a state of exaggeration as potent in the line of sentiency as that which we have undergone in the line of materiality!”1

One aspect of the Aquarian realises its Humanitarian reputation through empathy and feeling – the personality vehicle through which Love expresses. The other part realises its humanity through mental apprehension of causes that leads also to compassion through understanding.

An “apprehension of causes” is derived from the influence of personality ruler Uranus (ruler of the seventh ray) and its ability to penetrate the arcanum and veils of maya. It is also the influence of Uranus “the Liberator” which births the social revolutionary, who through compassion and understanding the plight of others, seeks to arrest the status quo and revolve the wheel in the opposite direction. Hence upon the reversed wheel, the forces of crystallisation in Capricorn are renovated in the following sign of Aquarius.

Aquarius cannot be considered without its polar opposite Leo. Neptune, so prominent at this full moon, and in its role as God of the Waters, is resonant to the Aquarian energies of the greater 2000 year cycle. Yet Neptune is also the soul ruler of Leo.

Sun-ruled Leo rules the heart, and the “heart of the Sun” employs Neptune as its agent. Leo is similar to Aquarius in that they both have a dual expression of emotion and mind, reflective of love and will. Leo particularly shows us the inextricably entwined evolution of heart and mind.

Leo not surprisingly, rules the astral permanent atom, that repository of lifetimes of experiences in a multiplicity of astral bodies. Hence the passion and dramatic depth upon which the Leonine actor can draw and Leo’s emotional generousness or tyranny, depending upon where a soul is at. An advanced Leo is able to preserve individuality as well as the universality of Aquarius, being a self-identified individual, yet simultaneously possessing a fully awakened universal awareness.

On the other hand, Aquarius rules the physical permanent atom, that repository of lifetimes of experiences in various physical bodies. The permanent atoms hold the memories and patterns which determine how the three-fold personality vehicles will be built and appropriated by the soul in each incarnation. Aquarius is related to the so-called “Seventh Creative Hierarchy”, that group of deva lives that make up the physical form, hence the link with the permanent atom.

Therefore Leo-Aquarius are related to two most important aspects of the personality life. It also gives some clues as to the effectiveness upon the physical plane of Aquarius via its seventh ray (7th plane) influence through Uranus. At one extreme Aquarians can be overly physically focused as a result of this influence. The most important point to bear in mind here is that the etheric body is the medium of relationship to the other bodies and the soul:

“The universal consciousness of Aquarius becomes expressive just in so far as the individual etheric body is in conscious relation with the etheric body of humanity, the solar system and – of course – the planet.”2

Aquarius is also ruled at an “hierarchical” level by the Moon, which veils at times the forces of Neptune:

” … the Moon is given as … the hierarchical rule of Aquarius … through the influence of Mercury (hierarchical ruler of Scorpio) and Neptune the group consciousness of the individual is developed, so that through the tests in Scorpio and the experience in Aquarius the disciple emerges on the physical plane into the position of a world server; all world servers are decentralised workers and are governed by the need and the reactions of the mass or group. That is one of the reasons why, when in training, disciples are absorbed into a Master’s group [Aquarius] which is integrally a collection of individuals [Leo] who are imbued with the group idea and are learning increasingly to react to it.

In this world period and in a peculiar manner, as far as the race to which the Western world belongs, Neptune is known esoterically as the Initiator. In certain ancient formulas, the great Teacher of the West and the present world Initiator, Christ, is spoken of as Neptune, Who rules the ocean, whose trident and astrological symbol signifies the Trinity in manifestation … ”3

Hence the potential potency of this approaching full moon, if ever there was a passage for the Christ force to enter, there is nothing narrow about this gate – it is as broad and wide as Neptune’s proverbial Pacific Ocean – the ocean of peace.

A question arises – would we be ready to walk through, or indeed meet and encounter that which approaches? Would we be ready to surrender and not resist, to stand in complete humility, vulnerable like a child? Whether the Christ’s speculated “return” is upon the astral or physical plane is from one viewpoint, irrelevant. The main question must be the readiness of the New Group of World Servers to appropriate, distribute and demonstrate that force:

“Christ sent His disciples into the city to find the man “bearing a pitcher of water” upon his shoulder. This is the symbol of the sign Aquarius – the sign in which the universality of the water of life will become a factor in human consciousness; then we shall indeed all sit down eventually to the communion of bread and wine. He referred indirectly to the same idea when He spoke of Himself as the “water of life,” assuaging the thirst of humanity.”4

With the ongoing precipitation of the descent of Hierarchy, this period will definitely mark an acceleration and in parallel no doubt, more personal claim-making to being a divine vehicle for this or that Master or “Being”:

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:7)

Alice Bailey herself elaborates in her Unfinished Autobiography:

“The world today is full of self-proclaimed disciples, initiates and Masters; loud voices are everywhere to be heard demanding attention to themselves; personal claims delude many people. False Masters are to be found in many countries, deceiving the people and prostituting the divine science of the initiates before the eyes of the public; spurious initiates and imposters are lecturing up and down the earth and false Christs are arising in both hemispheres, thereby proving the accuracy of the prophecies of Christ to be found in St. Matthew XXIV.

People are very easily deceived – largely through their longing to be helped and through an instinctive recognition of the factual existence of many grades in the spiritual development of mankind. The masses of men everywhere have an inherent belief in the Spiritual Hierarchy; it is this belief that these false prophets are deliberately exploiting.

Our students are taught the truth (as given by Christ) that “by their fruits ye shall know them”; the fact is emphasised that the existence of claim-making is a guarantee of imposture. No true initiate or Master ever proclaims himself or calls attention to himself. He is, instead, intensely pre-occupied with the “things of the Kingdom of God” and has no time to spare for the imposition of himself upon the consciousness of men.”5

Neptune’s current transit of Aquarius relates to the principle of “sacrifice” and making sacrifices. This can range from the instinctual sacrifice of a mother for her child to the martyr who acts on faith; or it can be the intelligent use of the “Law of Sacrifice” in making renunciations necessary to surmount obstacles on the path:

“The Great Renunciation [the Fourth Initiation and liberation] becomes possible only when the practice of the little renunciations governs the life of a disciple and a group. The renouncing of ambition, of all personality ties, and the renunciation of all that hinders progress as it is revealed to the eye of the soul, lays a sound foundation for the final great transference, based upon the renunciation of that which for aeons has connoted beauty, truth and goodness, and which has seemed the ultimate goal of all aspirational effort.”6 (Author’s italics.)

On another note, Aquarius is said to be the culmination of lives upon the fixed cross, relating to the consummation of the experience in Leo and the first initiation, completed in Aquarius at the Third Initiation. It is during the astronomical phase of Aquarius over the next 2000 years that many will be prepared for and take this initiation – which is probably unprecedented in the history of Humanity. We are entering upon the “fore-runner” of that time now.

A recent pioneer of this phase was Sir Francis Bacon, a previous incarnation of the Count St Germain. Bacon was a triple Aquarian (rising, Sun and Mercury). His thought and writings toward the end of the Piscean Age had wide influence over Europe and the world in general.

Another Aquarius rising was Krishnamurti, one who was temporarily an “experimental” vehicle for Lord Maitreya and who influenced thousands of spiritual seekers.

Triple Aquarian Ken Wilber (Sun, Mercury, Mars) is a more contemporary example of the liberating force of Aquarius, by creating synthesis, new mental templates and paradigms that have wide appeal to those dissatisfied with the old.

Other advanced Aquarians and initiates (Sun signs) include Helena Roerich, Mozart, Leadbeater, Swedenborg, Thomas Paine, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Aung Sun (Suu Ki’s father), Edwin Babbitt, Charles Darwin, Ramakrishna.

Neptune also rules diseases that are hard to diagnose, as well as mass diseases. Currently there is the threat of a large flu epidemic that has the capacity to be as large as the one in 1920 when Neptune was in the opposite sign of Leo. The Tibetan has told us that the “scourge of influenza has its roots in fear and worry, and once the world settles down to freedom from the present “fearful” condition, we shall see the disease die out.”7 The speculation about flu does tend to increase fear and so a vicious cycle is perpetrated. Likewise, another exoteric aspect of Neptune is biological terrorism – a lethal, silent and invisible killer. The cultivation of courage and vigilance is needed more than ever.

” … the symbol of the sign Aquarius – the sign in which the universality of the water of life will become a factor in human consciousness; then we shall indeed all sit down eventually to the communion of bread and wine. He [Christ] referred indirectly to the same idea when He spoke of Himself as the “water of life,” assuaging the thirst of humanity.”8

Phillip Lindsay © 2004.
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1. A Treatise on White Magic, Alice A. Bailey. pp.313-4. [↩]
2. Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.303. [↩]
3. Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.219. [↩]
4. Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.566. [↩]
5. The Unfinished Autobiography, Alice A. Bailey. pp.290-1. [↩]
6. The Rays and the Initiations, Alice  A. Bailey. p.223. [↩]
7. Esoteric Healing, Alice A. Bailey. p.70. [↩]
8. Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.566. [↩]