Tag Archives: Dr. Douglas Baker

Featured Sign – Gemini; Featured Ray – 2

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Gemini_SkyDanceAstrology_Copyright  We have entered the season of Gemini, the first sign on the zodiacal wheel which is all about thought, intellect and the powers of the mind. From Aries (first sign on wheel) we had a kind of fire of mind which is more about creativity, instigation and inspiration. Then in Taurus (second sign) we began to recognize stuff, the material world and the fun of building and exploration of the physical bits about us. Now we come to Gemini and the mind becomes highly active. We want to know, to understand, to communicate all we know and understand with others. Sometimes, we forget about the space between thoughts.

This is also a time of duality. As our mind becomes curious about what exists beyond the material world, we realize that there is something more to us, something which the material world can’t explain. For the first time we see that we are two, body and soul, and that they don’t always see eye to eye. This could also be called the first conflict; Gemini rules both conflict and harmony. What could possibly be the purpose of conflict? To recognize harmony after working through the conflict. It’s a whole lot easier to look out there and point fingers for our problems, when all the time the difficulty lies in here. The idea, “The World is a Reflection of Me,” is not about ego, but about the recognition that we are all mirrors for one another. The reflection, the mirror is ruled by Gemini. It is the first time on the wheel that we look beyond ourselves and see things in others that we like or dislike. It is all the reflection of who we are, not who they are.

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Only 2 signs of the Zodiac express a single Ray: Gemini and Libra. All other signs express 2 or 3 Rays. The singularity of these 2 signs expressing only 1 Ray makes that Ray shine through loud and clear of course. Gemini is 2nd Ray. The 2nd Ray of Love-Wisdom is actually the dominant Ray of this current Solar System, meaning that everything in our world is “colored” by 2nd Ray first, then whatever other Rays and subjects we are discussing. The first 3 Rays of Aspect are the 3 which emanate as the Trinity from the Source, the first Word. The next 4 Rays of Attribute all derive as parts of the first 3. Thus the 2nd Ray is a very important Ray for this solar system and for us as human beings. Its color is Indigo, the predominant color of the very painting by Brenda Heim which forms my own website header. I chose it with Purpose!

Featured Sign – Pisces

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Pisces is one of our most nebulous of signs. Think of deep, deep water, dark and cold yet teeming with life which we can barely even imagine. That is Pisces. Hard to grasp – like a fish – and often hidden, even to themselves, yet so full of potential.

Pisces is the last Sign of the Zodiac, it is a completion, but not in the sense of coming back to where you started, rather, you have absorbed all the lessons of the first 11 signs and this is the culmination, where we go into the dark cave to let it germinate, ferment, to ponder and wonder, and to prepare for the birth into a whole new cycle. Like Brenda Heim and Doug Hays’ bronze Enso sculpture, the end doesn’t meet at the beginning because in fact it is about launching into the new spiral, the new spin of the Wheel.

This sign is also dichotomous, because it rules the fine line between saints and sinners, angels and demons, criminals and police, the leap of faith . . . or the deep darkness of despair. When one can truly manifest all that Pisces is, you will perceive a human being of deepest compassion and kindness, one who can even help people die because they understand that Death too is but a fine line between here and there, now and then.

Last night I saw the angels knocking at the tavern door,
Modelling the clay of man, becoming drunk with the original wine.
The inhabitants of the sacred enclosure and of the divine malakut
Drank from one cup with me, the pilgrim.

From: “The Green Sea of Heaven” by Diwan of Hafiz

 

Featured Sign – Scorpio

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American-abstract-female-painter-abstract-art-Florida-bHeim-2005 Scorpio Blog   angel02c_bronze_sculpture_Peter_Chinni

Scorpio is the sign of tests and tribulations, to which I can attest even when creating this blog!! But I won’t bore you with the details of how none of this – pictures or text – would line up as desired. I did, however recognize it as the perfect metaphor for Scorpio! Do I give up and go on? Well, eventually I did yes, because I did want to get this post out before it was the season of Sagittarius!!! So what you see is what you get . . . which is not necessarily true of Scorpio!

This is the sign into which we incarnate when we have already proven strength and durability in previous signs. Our Souls of course, do not wish for us to fail even if it does give us many hurdles to overcome and battles – inner or outer – to fight. This is the time when we are given the most delicious of senses and made very aware of them. And just when we most wish to succumb to all of those driving urges and sensuous desires – why else would we be given such experiences? – we realize that they, like the material world, are also part of the Grand Illusion. This is when the Dweller on the Threshold faces the Angel of the Shining Presence to do battle.

Hence the artwork above. Brenda Heim’s abstract work on the left makes me think of a warrior leaping out to do battle with his/her mighty sword. Mars is the planetary ruler of Scorpio and is often thought of as the God of blood and battles. But it is the battle within which the Disciple must fight. And of course it is the Angel, like this beautiful bronze sculpture by Peter Chinni, which we hope will win this battle of the senses, of Evil against Good, of Reality against the Grand Illusion.

The trials of Hercules as depicted in “The Labours of Hercules, An Astrological Interpretation,” by Alice Bailey depicts a particular trial every one of the signs is meant to undergo. But in fact, because Scorpio is all about testing and trials, the whole book could be said to be Scorpion literature. Yet, I choose the tale particularly aimed at Scorpio to quote here:

“Hercules was told to find the nine-headed hydra that lived in a stench-drenched bog.” This is a metaphor for the caverns of the mind. “The burning arrows of flaming aspiration must be discharged before its presence is revealed.” Hercules finds the hydra and attempts to cut off one head at a time, but in each destroyed head’s place grow two more. By chopping at bits of the beast, he only aided in its becoming stronger. “As long as Hercules fought in the bog, amid the mud slime, and quicksand, he was unable to overcome the hydra.”

“Then Hercules remembered that his Teacher had said, ‘We rise by kneeling.’ Casting aside his club, Hercules knelt, grasped the hydra with his bare hands and raised it aloft. Suspended in mid-air, its strength diminished. On his knees then, he held the hydra high above him, that purifying air and light might have their due effect. The monster, strong in darkness and in sloughy mud, soon lost its power when the rays of the sun and the touch of the wind fell on it . . . But only when they lifeless lay did Hercules perceive the mystic head was immortal. Then Hercules cut off the hydra’s one immortal head and buried it . . . ‘The victory is won,’ the Teacher said. ‘The Light that shines at Gate the 8th is now blended with your own.'”

Featured Sign – Libra

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Libra is an extraordinary Sign in that it is a Sign which evolves dramatically when we move from the traditional to the Esoteric Astrology. On the Zodiacal Wheel, it is the first Sign above the horizon line. The first 6 houses are below the line and the 7th house is our first step over the line, into the sky, the Higher Levels of Consciousness as it were. It is the equinox today, and the perfect Balance is between night and day, spring and fall, 1st 6 houses and the last 6 houses . . .

It is the first Sign which looks around and recognizes there are others in the world and that we might want to relate to those others in a new and committed way. Partnerships, such as portrayed in the lovely picture above become possibilities. So is the recognition of the fact that Laws hold not just our planet together, but all of Creation. Libra rules Laws and how we use them. The letter of the Law or the Spirit of the Law, which shall we obey? The Law of Balance and the Law of Attraction are just 2 of the Laws which provide the very foundations upon which our Spiritual lives can be built.

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Brenda Heim’s painting, “Wings” is indicative to me of what can happen once we have spiritual foundations and when the Law of Balance is obeyed. A bird – birds are associated with Libra – can’t fly until it has learned how to balance those fingers of feathers thrusting out from the sides of its body, attached to delicate, fragile, hollow bones. It needs a solid foundation on which to perch until it is stable enough to fly. Then, Balance becomes the Joy of Flight, the Attraction of touching the stars, the Moon and the Sun and soaring back to Earth again. Libra is the one Sign which has one leg well planted right on the horizon and the other poised to fly, to run, to join with others in the true joy of Life.

“God is Law. We enter the Divine through the consistency of Law. If you violate the laws of your body, you will die. Everything is law; that’s why God is in everything. I am governed by the nature of the Divine, by law. What is law? It is the Law of Balance. God is always going to try to bring you back to balance.” Carolyn Myss, Lecture on SoulFood

 

Featured Sign – Virgo

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Virgo is such an interesting Sign! We have come all the way around the Zodiacal Wheel and now, after the birth into Aries, recognition of Form in Taurus, the discovery of Mind, Family and Ego through Gemini, Cancer and Leo, we now recognize that actually, we are two; body and Soul. The germination of this Idea is something to be cared for, nurtured, protected. Here is the first sign where the relationship between matter and Spirit is approached.

Brenda Heim’s painting, above makes me think of embryos, seeds in various stages of growth, expanding cells and developing eyes, a lovely plethora of all that goes into growing a living Being. The painting itself nurtures the Viewer on one hand, yet gives the impression of Life roiling about in its rich soup of Initiated Creativity.

Everything begins as a Seed, be it form, idea or project. Peter Chinni’s series of The Seed bronze sculptures show an evolution from small and simple to larger and more complex, even as we grow spiritually.

                     seed_i_thumb-Chinni-bronzeBronze Sculpture-seed_ii_3_Chinni                         seed_ii_2_thumb-Chinni-bronze

When we realize that inside of us is a spark of the Divine we realize that Mother Mary, also known as Virgin Mary, or Virgo is a symbol for us all. The Tibetan, who sent the New Astrology back into the minds of men through Alice Bailey said it well:

“It is said that from some aspects, Virgo is the oldest of the Zodiacal signs. Down through the ages, be it Lilith or Isis, Eve or the Virgin Mary, all portray the Mother of the World, but it is Mary who at length bears the Child in her arms.”