Aries

"I Come Forth and from the Plane of Mind, I Rule."

Introduction to Our 12 Zodiacal Deities

We live in a swirling sea of magnetic forces, smaller fields contained within even greater fields, expanding throughout infinity. As our understanding increases, a new picture of the universe emerges ~ one of vast cosmic interdependence and connectedness. From first cosmic dawning to the last electron's feeble light, the whole universe is a complex of coils within coils, spirals within spirals, magnetic fields within magnetic fields.

The stars are interconnected with each other, exchanging particles and gases constantly, all flowing along magnetic field lines which are the arteries of the galactic body. The galaxy's coiled field lines diverge into intergalactic space where they ultimately connect to other galaxies. Do these tendrils of energy act as the nervous system of the universe, relaying information from star to star, galaxy to galaxy, on and on? One can only wonder.

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Zodiacal Deities examines the conditioning effects upon humanity by the specialized and quite unique energies of the star groups comprising the zodiac. We hold these star groups to be conscious, living entities in whose greater bodies we reside.

Traditionally the zodiac is described as the imaginary path of the Sun through the heavens. This path "exists" only from our earth's perspective. If you were observing the path of our sun from another planet or body in space, our sun would appear to be "traveling through" different constellations at different times of the year, to be on an entirely different path through the heavens. This path is largely an illusion but at the same time the 12 zodiacal constellations do exist as great beings, and the streams of energy which pass and repass, intermingle and interlock throughout space are by no means illusions. They express eternal cosmic relationships.

The science of astrology is a study of the interlocking forces of all the 12 constellations as they pour into and through all the kingdoms in nature, carrying with them also their own individual qualities as well as those of the seven rays, focussed through the sacred and non-sacred planets of our solar system ~ the discovered and undiscovered planetary Lives. The vision of these powers and their many weaving lines, seen as rivers and streams of light, is given to the initiate from the mountaintop of Capricorn, once that summit is reached.

As the various energies and forces circulate throughout the etheric body of our solar system ~ itself a Great Being ~ their effects depend on the state of the planetary centers, and upon the point of unfoldment of the centres within the individual planets themselves. Those great zodiacal entities who qualify life as we know it imprint their frequencies or harmonic resonance on the various vehicles that comprise a human being.

Aries

Aries is called the Light of Life Itself. "It is the 'searchlight of the Logos, seeking that which can be used' for divine expression." (1)

The secret of Aries is the secret of beginnings, of cycles and of emerging opportunity. It is a sign of commencement.

Symbolized by the Ram, Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and begins the cycle around the great wheel. This is the constellation used to stream the first ray of Will or Power to our planet.

Aries expresses will or power through the creative process and "awakens the will to reach the lowest and there control, to know the uttermost and thus to face all experience." (2)

This sign is connected to the vibratory activity of the soul under impulse from the monad, and as such, is the sign the initial idea to initiate activity takes form, initiating the cycle of manifestation. All souls enter into human incarnation for the first time in the sign of Cancer, having emerged as mental entities in Aries, as emotional-desire entities in Taurus and as vital entities in Gemini, then taking a physical form in Cancer.

Aries represents the "birthplace of divine Ideas." (3) A powerful mental sign, Aries is a sign of beginnings ~ the beginning of the creative process, the first step of the soul towards incarnation, the beginning of cycles of experience, the beginning of the cycle when the soul enters upon spiritual regeneration and initiation. Aries is one of four signs in the zodiac which are signs of birth. It is also considered a sign of consummation and one of three death signs.

Four keynotes of the sign Aries:

1. Express the will to be and do.
2. Unfold the power to manifest.
3. Enter into battle for the Lord.
4. Arrive at unity through effort.

It is said that another keynote of the sign Aries is hope.

As far as humanity is concerned, the first great cosmic initiation is initiation into incarnation. Aries initiates this process of the "most ancient initiation." (4) In its lowest manifestation, Aries is the creator of activities, conditions and processes leading to the manifestation of soul in form, and later in the life of the disciple, the higher creative undertakings which lead to spirit coming fully through the soul. These processes eventually demonstrate the true nature of the triplicity:

Life ~ Quality ~ Appearance.

A fire sign, Aries is a constellation of the Cardinal Cross, the cross of God, the Father, and the incarnating monad. Aries provides our solar system with electric fire and the dynamic nature of God, whose qualities grant a fostering and nourishing heat, as well as a fire that burns and destroys.

There are three death signs that demonstrate the first ray destroyer aspect: Aries, Scorpio and Pisces. These signs bring about "three needed and determined deaths" (5) in the human cycle. Energies pouring through them initiate a crystallizing process and the eventual destruction of some type of form. Each death sign is found in a different cross: Aries on the Cardinal Cross, Scorpio the Fixed Cross and Pisces is on the Mutable Cross.

At different junctures on the Path, Aries forces the soul on to the fiery burning ground to initiate a purification process. Scorpio eventually brings the death of the personality, symbolized by burial in the earth. Pisces brings forth death of all the influences of the form and represents death by water.

"The fire blazed forth and through that fire I died to life and so was born to death.
And then again I died to form." (Aries).

"The heat of earth, the fiery temper of the mother, destroyed the form,
released the soul and so the lesser self was killed." (Scorpio).

"The waters drowned the man. The fish was made to disappear.
It then appeared again only to die or else to die and bring salvation." (Pisces). (6)

Symbolically speaking we have death through fire, death through earth and death through water ~ burning, suffocation and drowning. The three deaths release the soul into the three great planetary centers of Humanity, the Hierarchy and Shamballa.

1. The death by drowning or by water releases a being into the center called Humanity, where experience is gained.
2. The death by suffocation in Scorpio releases one into the Hierarchy
3. The death by fire or burning in Aries releases the disciple into Shamballa.

The Planets and Rays Ruling Aries

Aries is the primary agent of the first ray of Will or Power, the ray of the destroyer, under the guidance of the three ruling planets ~ Mars, Mercury and Uranus. Mars is the exoteric ruler of Aries and Mercury is the esoteric ruler. Uranus brings in seventh ray energies and so rules the occult Way as energy flows through Uranus to the Creative Hierarchies.

Mars rules and controls the physical vehicle. It embodies sixth ray force which leads to idealism, destructive fanaticism, struggle, strife, war, effort and evolution. Through these fiery processes, brought forward by the influence of its exoteric planetary ruler Mars, god of war, purification occurs in Aries.

The same purification comes to the disciple through the activity of the esoteric ruler, Mercury, which illumines and releases the mind, enabling the disciple to become aware of the divine Plan which underlies all experience.

Through Mercury, Aries is related to the fourth ray. The fourth ray energies propel the disciple around the wheel of life as it illumines the mind and through experiences of conflict, eventually produces unity and beauty.

As a Messenger of the Gods, Mercury mediates between the soul and personality, producing opposition between spirit and matter and a long battle. Victory is finally won by illuminating the lower mind, thereby dispelling illusion.

The influence of Mercury, stepped down to the earth by Aries and Gemini, initiates a series of beginnings in order to produce certain planned and definite effects upon our planet, influencing the kingdoms in nature and individuals. A conflict is initiated that ultimately brings to balance.

Uranus represents the seventh ray which relates spirit and matter, and brings together electric fire and fire by friction, producing manifestation. Uranus leads the soul to the burning ground during the final stages of the Path. The fires ignited by Uranus’s potency produce the flaming heat of the final burning ground.

Rays 1 and 7 express through Aries. Being the highest and the lowest, the combination demands a point of balance upon the wheel, which is provided in Libra. Rays 6 and 4, from Mars and Mercury, bring to this balancing process the energy of the second ray, the major building ray which allows disciples to build anew and provides a spiritual body of manifestation.

The Sun is exalted in Aries and represents the life of the spirit which comes to full expression as the result of the evolutionary process initiated in this sign. The life of God is "swung into activity" in this sign and eventually achieves consummation. Latency becomes potency and midnight merges into midday. God, the Father, rules.

Aries ~ A Sign of Duality

In Aries we have the duality which is attached to bringing together of spirit and matter in the creative activity of manifestation at the beginning of the evolutionary cycle. Seven of 12 signs of the zodiac are dual in nature:

1. The two horns of the Ram in Aries.
2. The two horns of the Bull in Taurus.
3. The figures of the Twins in Gemini (two vertical lines).
4. The two claws of the Crab in Cancer.
5. The two scales of the Balance in Libra.
6. The two parallel lines of Force in Aquarius.
7. The two Fishes in Pisces.

There are three constellations in the zodiac where the animals have horns: Aries, the down-turned horns of the Ram, representing the coming into manifestation, the involutionary cycle and the experience of the Cardinal Cross as it expresses the will-to-manifest of God.

Taurus, the up-turned horns of the bull with the circle below, depicts the push of man, the Bull of God, towards the goal of illumination and the emergence of the soul from bondage with the two horns (duality) protecting the "eye of light" in the center of the Bull's forehead.

Then in Capricorn, the Goat, closely related to Aries, is hiding the symbolism of the unicorn in which the two horns and the single eye are blended and shown as the long straight horn of the unicorn in the center of the forehead.

There is said to be an ancient astrological treatise which will be discovered some day that will explain the relation between the horned animals of the zodiac as being,

The Ram, the Scapegoat and the sacred Goat are Three in One and One in Three. The Ram becomes the second and the second is the third. The Ram that breeds and fertilizes all; the Scapegoat, in the wilderness, redeems that all; the sacred Goat that merges in the Unicorn and lifts impaled upon his golden horn the vanquished form ~ in these the mystery lies hid. (7)

Three mysteries are hidden in the three horned signs:

1. The mystery of God the Father ~ Creation
2. The mystery of God the Son ~ Redemption
3. The mystery of God the Holy Spirit ~ Liberation

In both their higher and their lower aspects these signs are said to hold the secret of the "horns of strife and the horn of plenty subjected to and guarded by the horn of life."

An ancient proverb explains: "The Ram ~ when it has become the Scapegoat, has sought illumination as the Bull of God and has climbed the mountain top in the semblance of the Goat ~ changes its shape into the Unicorn. Great is the hidden key." Carrying the symbolism a little further, it might be said that

The Ram leads us into the creative life of Earth and into the darkness of matter. This is the blue of midnight.... Eventually the Ram becomes the Scapegoat and the will of God in love and salvage is demonstrated. (8)

The Three Initial Impulses in Aries

Three outstanding urges characterize Aries.

1. The urge to begin. This may be expressed as the urge to take form, or it may reverse the process and focus on the urge to achieve liberation from form, freeing the soul from the prison of form life.

2. This urge is followed by the desire to create. This may include the formation of worlds of expression for a Deity, resulting in the formation of a solar system, beginning a life cycle of the universe. Or it may be the urge of the soul to take a body, or of a human to create something uniquely theirs.

3. Thirdly, we find the urge to resurrection. Once the creative work has been initiated, the urge to achieve freedom from the form, to stand free arises. Physical commencement and spiritual commencement, physical creation and spiritual creation, physical emergence and spiritual liberation are the three initial impulses found in Aries.

What appears as spiritual energy in Aries enters into the soul stage in Cancer. This energy reaches a point of equilibrium in Libra, the polar opposite of Aries.

Libra admits the soul into the world center which we call Shamballa, and demonstrates the perfect balance of spirit and matter that first came together in Aries. This balance and this relation of spirit and matter is symbolized by the personality balancing the pairs of opposites on the astral plane, and finding the "narrow razor-edged path" which leads into the kingdom of souls.

Aries is closely connected with one of the stars called the Pointers in the Great Bear that points to the Pole star, which is at this time is a major "star of direction." Direction, will, purpose and plan are all connected with the Solar Logos and with His evolutionary undertakings in connection with the many lives manifesting in the vehicle of expression which we call the solar system.

Eventually, in some mysterious way, there will be only 10 signs of the zodiac, once again. Aries and Pisces will form one sign, for "the end is as the beginning." This dual and blended sign is called in some of the ancient books the "sign of the Fish with the head of the Ram." Indeed, Aries is said to rule the head.

Aries also governs the path of evolution. As we study this path, there are four words of vital importance that represent the soul’s progress, both as a personality and as a disciple, around the wheel heading towards final liberation.

These words express the subjective impulses and motives and introduce four different cycles of progress upon the Path at various stages of individualization to initiation. We are told that these four words and their significance underlie all the Alice A. Bailey books have to impart about the dual experience upon the wheel of life. They are

1. Re-creation in which the influence of Cancer, combined with that of Aries, produces the pull into incarnation upon the physical plane.

2. Regeneration in which the growing influence of the Fixed Cross, playing upon the Mutable Cross, produces those interior changes which eventually lead to

3. Reorientation or the cycle of repolarization which takes place through the influence of Libra and the "swerving of the Bull in mid-career," as it is called in ancient texts. Reorientation leads to a passage around the wheel where the soul blossoms into full manifestation and the personality recedes.

4. The final stage is Renunciation. Renouncing all personal desire for the love of humanity and service, the disciple eventually achieves final liberation.

This liberation is 12-fold in nature owing to the fact that the disciple must experience liberation, victory and triumph in every sign, just as captivity, defeat and failure were experienced in all the signs of the zodiac.

Each sign of the zodiac is associated with three other constellations. The constellations connected with Aries are Cassiopeia, Cetus and Perseus. Cassiopeia, the Enthroned Queen, always is a symbol of matter. The second constellation is Cetus, the Sea Monster, the Enemy of Little Fishes, represents evil. Perseus is the third.

Keywords for Aries:

Form: "And the Word said: Let form again be sought."

Soul: "I come forth and from the plane of mind, I rule."

The Three Spiritual Festivals

Aries initiates the Festival season, and focusses on the Love aspect of God as demonstrated through the Hierarchy, preparing initiates, masters and disciples for the inflow of Will at Wesak. This second ray demonstration of the Will of God is experienced at the Festival of the Risen One, or Easter.

Hierarchy	Love aspect of God	Easter	Aries full moon
Shamballa	Will aspect of God	Wesak	Taurus full moon
Humanity	Divine Intelligence	Goodwill	Gemini full moon

It is the will or the Father aspect that governs Shamballa; the loving desire of the Son which attracts to the Hierarchy, and the permeating, intelligent activity of the Holy Spirit which animates that center of Divine Life which is called humanity.

Shamballa	Hierarchy	Humanity
Will	Love	Intelligence
Aries	Taurus	Capricorn

Service is its own reward.

It is interesting to note that during the time we say the sun is in Taurus, each year approximately from April 20 to May 19, due to the precession of the equinoxes, and from the earth's perspective, the sun is actually traversing the zodiacal constellation Aries. With this consideration, we invite you to review the SouledOut.org materials on Aries freshly, from this perspective.

 

Print version

Credit for information and synthesis:
The collected volumes of writings by Alice A. Bailey,
specific reference here to Esoteric Astrology, p. 91–114
and The Labours of Hercules, p. 27-38
©Lucis Publishing Co., 120 Wall St., 24th Floor, New York, NY 10005

To read the pages from The Labours of Hercules in their entirety, click here

Aries Keywords
Aries Navigation Page
Aries Festival Global Meditation
Aries Hercules Labor
12 Zodiacal Deities
Cosmology

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Artwork at top of page adapted from poster
"The Celestial Zodiac" @1994 Tomas J. Filsinger
published by Celestial Arts, Berkeley

(1) Esoteric Astrology, p. 329
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(2) Esoteric Astrology, p. 92
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(3) Esoteric Astrology, p. 102
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(4) Esoteric Astrology, p. 94
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(5) Esoteric Astrology, p. 97
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(6) Esoteric Astrology, p. 97
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(7) Esoteric Astrology, p. 155–156
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(8) Esoteric Astrology, p. 156–157
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