Vox stellarum: part fourteen — consummatus

The Voice of the Stars: the testament of the Zodiac unveiled

Introduction

Our survey of the hidden message of the stars is almost complete. All that remains is for us to draw the threads — twelve in all — of the Tapestry of the Zodiac together, leading to some remarkable discoveries and surprising conclusions. In this final instalment we turn our attention to the Twelve Gates of the Zodiac, while in our last Afterword, we train our metaphorical telescope on the ten (not nine) planets of our Solar System. There is considerable evidence that there were once eleven planets in our Solar System, a possibility we explore at the end of our Afterward. There may even be a twelfth planet beyond the orbit of Pluto. This hypothetical planet has been given the name 'Planet Nine' by scientists, who speculate it is a gas or ice giant, with a mass about ten times that of the Earth. Should it be discovered, we shall certainly write about it. Our principal aim, however, remains to reconcile Astrology with its lost sibling — Astronomy, so that we might restore something of the Wisdom they embodied when they were one, unified Science. If you have not read the previous parts of this investigation or our afterwords to them, please do so before continuing, or you will not obtain a complete understanding of the many subjects under discussion. Before we take up the study of the Twelve Gates of the Zodiac we would like to say something about the Milky Way, the glorious river of stars in which our Solar System — and the speck of dust which is the Earth — swims.

Proem: Via Lactea — The Milky Way

"A broad and ample road whose dust is gold
And pavement stars as stars to thee appear
Seen in the Galaxy, that Milky Way
Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest
Powdered with stars."
(John Milton — Paradise Lost )

There can be very few persons who have not gazed in wonderment at the mysterious river of stars that threads its mighty way across the firmament. And who, realising that this heavenly ribbon is woven of countless myriads of suns, have not felt a sense of awe and reverence overcome them, and a spirit of profound humility take possession of them? Pause here for a moment, close your eyes, and with a peaceful, listening heart, imagine yourself transported into the very centre of our Galaxy. It is a golden Space; illuminated by ten thousand, million glittering suns; an imperishable heaven of rushing galaxies and worlds without end; uncountable. Anon, a soft, musical note resounds within that vast, luminous empyrean. It is followed by another, and then another, weaving subtle melodies never heard on Earth; building slowly into a symphony of sonorous sweetness — each star an echo of its gentle power, until all that vast Space sings with the divine name of God. Sweet and clear the notes sound forth, like silver bells and golden; or mellow organ tones; or tinkling lyres with dulcet-sounding strings; or swift glissandos on vast harps, each with a million chords, all tuned to the sublime harmony of Heaven. This is the 'Music of the Spheres', first codified by Pythagoras who famously stated "there is music in the spacing of the spheres," meaning the planets of our Solar System. He gained his knowledge of the mathematical, philosophical and therapeutic aspects of music from the ancient Egyptians, who, in turn, acquired their science from Atlantis, or what remained of the island in their times.

Aratus, the ancient Greek poet and author of Phaenomena, described the night sky being 'cleft all around by a broad band' which he called Gala, the Greek word for milk. He writes: "If ever on a clear night, when Night in the heavens shows to men all her stars in their brightness and no star is borne faintly gleaming at the mid-month moon, but they all sharply pierce the darkness — if in such an hour wonder rises in thy heart to mark on every side the heaven cleft by a broad belt, or if someone at they side point out that circle set with brilliants — that is what men call the Milky Way." Eratosthenes called it Kyklos Galaxias, the Circle of Milk. Ptolemy in his Almagest spelled the name galaktias. The 1st century Roman writer on astronomy, Manilius compared the Milky Way to the luminous wake of a ship. Ovid in his Metamorphoses described it as a road lined on either side by the houses of distinguished gods – 'the Palatine district of high heaven', as he termed it. This was the heavenly road along which the gods were supposed to travel to the palace of Zeus. As we shall see, making allowances for Roman hubris and Greek poetical fancy, these descriptions are not so far from the occult truth. Keeping with Greek mythmaking, Eratosthenes tells us that the Milky Way was the result of a trick played by Zeus on his wife Hera so that she would suckle his illegitimate son Heracles and hence make him immortal. The Greek Hermes (not to be conflated with the Egyptian Sage whose teachings we discuss in Spiritus Hermeticum) laid the infant Heracles at Hera's breast while she was asleep, but when she woke and realised who the baby was, she pushed him away and her milk squirted across the sky to form the Milky Way. Alternatively, said Manilius, the Milky Way might be a former path of the Sun, now covered in ash where the sky was scorched. Manilius also thought that it could be a mass of faint stars, an idea he attributed to Democritus. We now know that the 5th century Greek philosopher was right. Manilius also suggested that the Milky Way could be the abode of the souls of heroes who had ascended to heaven. He probably obtained this idea from a casual acquaintance with the Greek Mysteries, themselves pale copies of the Egyptian originals from which they were taken.

In Chinese astronomy, the Milky Way was called Tianhe, the Celestial River or River of Heaven. Closer to home, the ancient inhabitants of Britain called it "Watling Street." Now, this is more interesting than Greek mythmaking, for the name Watling Street, as we learnt in our investigation of the Egyptian colonists who settled in England long ago, is said to be derived from the Egyptian word for road, which was uat, pronounced 'wat', coupled with the name of the Sun-God, Ra. It is but a small step, linguistically speaking, from uat-ra — the road or way of the Sun — to Watling Street. Among the primitive Finns the Milky Way was called "The Pathway of the Birds." If we take 'birds' as a synonym for 'souls' this is eminently correct. The ancient Akkadians regarded the Milky Way as "the Great Serpent," "the River of the Shepherd's Hut," and, most fittingly of all, "the River of the Divine Lady." The Shepherd who sallies forth from his starry sanctum and sails upon that mighty river was Horus in Egyptian mythology. Among the Greeks it represented the stream into which Phaeton and the chariot of the sun were hurled by the enraged Jupiter. Aside from the resemblance of the Milky Way to a starry serpent, during every age and among all nations and peoples, it has also been regarded as a highway amid the stars; the "Via Lactea" upon which the souls of the elect make their way to the circumpolar heaven. There are many myths and legends concerning this celebrated pathway in the skies, some of which are of particular interest to us as occultists.

According to a charming French tale, the stars of the Milky Way are lights carried by angels to show mortals the path to heaven. The Greeks called the celestial river "the road to the Palace of Heaven." Both ideas affirm the importance of the Milky Way as an immutable and enduring picture of the way home for the sons and daughters of Earth. The Algonquin Indians of North America believed that this was the path righteous souls trod that led to the villages in the Sun, a truly beautiful notion. Other Indian nations believed that the souls of the departed entered the Milky Way by a door situated where it intersects the circle of the Zodiac in Gemini, and left it to return to the gods by the door of Sagittarius. The ancient Greeks and Romans entertained a similar belief. Now, this is interesting, for as we saw during our investigation, Gemini is the Sign of the Messenger while Sagittarius is the Sign of the Sage or Counsellor. It makes perfect sense that the soul (Higher Mind in our terminology) who comes to Earth with a particular mission to perform or message to impart, should enter via the Third Gate of the Zodiac — that of SERVICE. Having successfully completed its mission is it not appropriate that it should depart via the opposite Sign of Sagittarius, the keynote of which is INNER LIGHT? As we have said before during this investigation, it is truly astonishing how all these themes link up and interconnect, fully justifying our choice of the word 'Tapestry' to describe the Sublime Circle of the Zodiac.

The Japanese call the Milky Way "the Silver River of Heaven," and believe that on the seventh day of the seventh month, the star Altair, known to them as "The Shepherd Boy" and Vega, known as "The Spinning Maiden," cross the River of Stars to meet each other. This date corresponds to the time of year when the Sun is in Cancer, the Zodiacal Sign of the Teacher or Prophet. Now, Altair is the brightest star in Aquila or the Eagle, while Vega is the brightest star in Lyra or the Lyre. We discussed these two constellations in our Afterwords to parts 11 and 12 respectively. Together with Deneb, the brightest star in Cygnus or the Swan (also discussed in part 12), they form the asterism known as the 'Summer Triangle'. The Milky Way passes right between Vega and Altair; thus we find the Japanese tale inscribed on the tablet of the starry firmament. No matter where we look in the history of nations and in all ages, we find the Galaxy likened to a way, a road, or a pathway to the land of the hereafter.

It is believed that the majority of stars comprising this wonderful belt of luminaries surpass our Sun in brilliancy and splendour. In the deep recesses of this glittering way Sir William Herschel was able to count five hundred stars receding in regular order behind each other, and in the interval of an hour 116,000 stars passed in review across the field of his telescopic vision. Modern astronomers believe there are more than 100 billion stars in the Milky Way and the same number of galaxies. The finite, human mind is simply incapable of grasping the magnitude of such numbers; it reels, it totters on its throne, and unless it is illuminated by the Wisdom of the Divine Soul, it returns to its trivial, terrestrial concerns, utterly incapable of grasping the import of such facts. Science is belatedly discovering what the ancients always knew: that each star is the centre of a Solar System of planets. Where there are planets there must be beings dwelling upon them, however strange or immaterial their forms may be to our finite conception. What a presumptuous, stunted creature is the purblind materialist who in his hubris imagines his species is the sole representative of so-called 'intelligent life' in the universe! No wonder, as we may read in The Teachings of Li Wang Ho, that the stars "twinkle when beholding the follies of Man."

The ancient Egyptians pictured the great stream of white water we know as the Milky Way as the Celestial Nile. In their Mythos this was personified not only by the milk shed by the Goddess Hathor in her form as a cow, but esoterically by the mythical journey of the departed through Amenta, or the Egyptian Afterlife. Indeed, as Gerald Massey tells us in Ancient Egypt, the Egyptian Book of the Dead is primarily based on the journey through Amenta by the souls of the departed following the track of the all-conquering Sun. The soul (Higher Mind in our terminology) enters the mount in the west by the opening in the rock, or at a later stage in the development of the Mythos, is carried on the boat. He is accompanied by those who have gone before as guides. He does battle with Aapap or Set, depending on what phase of the Mythos is under consideration, and is victorious in the character of Horus. He opens all the paths and gates by use of the words of power given to him by Thoth, and cleaves open the earth for the resurrection in the Afterlife. He is delivered from the devouring demon who lurks in the lake of fire and feeds upon the damned. Supported by the eye of Horus, he is raised up by Up-Uatu, the jackal-headed guide of the glorified dead, who carries him safely across the watery Abyss to the Fields of Peace. Needless to add, this journey is allegorical not literal.

Massey continues: "The deceased has here attained the summit of the solar mount of glory on his way to the circumpolar heaven and the stars that never set. All day the manes [dead] make their voyage in the solar bark, and come at sunset to the land of the west. At this landing-stage they leave the Day Boat for the Night Boat. The sun goes down to Amenta in the west each night, but their sun sets no more. They have done with the mount of earth in the mythology, and come to the mount belonging to the heavens." In other words they are liberated from further reincarnations on Earth. As the Hindus had a Heavenly Ganges (Akasha-Ganga) and an earthly Ganges, so too did the ancient Egyptians have a Celestial Nile and a physical Nile. The former was figured as the life-giver of heaven, and the latter as the life-giver of the earth. The earth in this context being a concealed synonym for Amenta, with its higher and lower divisions or Realms of light or darkness.

nut — The Goddess Nut supporting the Boat of the Sun

The earthly river was thus a symbol and a parallel of the Celestial Nile, the River of Heaven, or Via Lactea. The Hierophants of ancient Egypt divided the Celestial Nile into three states, or regions, which they called "The Territory of Initiation; the Territory of Illumination, and the Place of Union with the Unseen Father." Now, these three regions correspond with the third, fourth and fifth stages of Initiation enumerated by Theon of Smyrna, which we told you about in our Afterword to part ten of this investigation when we discussed the extra-Zodiacal constellation Crux. All this affirms what we said earlier — that the Great Sages of antiquity regarded the Milky Way as a symbolic highway upon which the souls of the elect made their way to the circumpolar heaven. In addition to the parallels between the two Niles — one Above and one below — Egypt was laid out in nomes or provinces, originally 42 in number, each of which was a reflection, or parallel of a Celestial location, corresponding to the centres or ganglia of the heavens. We find confirmation of this in the Hermetic treatise known as The Virgin of the World, translated by Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland in the latter quarter of the 19th century. In part IX of a 'Treatise on Initiations' in this book, we read that: "Art thou not aware, O Asclepios, that Egypt is the image of heaven, or rather, that it is the projection below of the order of things above? If the truth must be told, this land is indeed the temple of the world." And so it was. A fact also recognised by Gerald Massey who subtitled his masterwork on the Egyptian Mythos and Religion 'The Light of the World.' In his first book, the aptly titled A Book of Beginnings — he wrote:

"Egypt! how have I dwelt with you in dreams,
So long, so intimately, that it seems
As if you had borne me; though I could not know
It was so many thousand years ago!
And in my gropings darkly underground
The long-lost memory at last is found
Of motherhood — you Mother of us all!
And to my fellowmen I must recall
The memory too; that common motherhood
May help to make the common brotherhood."

Fine words and true. Further evidence of the two Niles is found in the Book of the Faiyum, a Ptolemaic map of the Faiyum region, in which the Egyptian deities are paired with their centres of worship and both are connected with their Celestial counterparts. The book exists in a variety of forms and enjoyed great popularity in Roman Egypt. Copies and fragments of the text have been found in both hieroglyphic and hieratic versions. Although belonging to the late period of the Egyptian civilisation, the book is firmly rooted in the Egyptian Mythos and religion. Among the many references to earlier doctrines is an outline of the journey of Ra through Amenta. The book also includes references to various Egyptian creation myths, such as those of Hermopolis and Heliopolis. The esoteric nature of the text suggests that the book was probably compiled from earlier sources that had once belonged to the libraries of the (by then) long defunct Ancient Mystery Schools.

The Twelve Gates of the Zodiac

"Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."
(Shakespeare — The Merchant of Venice)

Shakespeare here says all. There are few indeed who can hear the Voice of the Stars — Vox Stellarum — and fewer still who comprehend the Holy Message they sound forth, to the Glory of the One immutable and Sovereign Lord of the universe. The Father who is alone in the Orb of Circles, who first gave form to the Elements, the stars, the firmament, the shining planets, the sun and comets, rapid in their wandering flight. Who fabricated the earths in choirs innumerable and made them to be the habitation of life; and from the essential energy of the material and immaterial; made spirits manifest in soul and body. Twelve Gates he made also; and a high protecting wall connecting them, and there are walls within the walls, many massive walls, very powerful and thick. And some Gates are wide, and some are narrow; and Twelve Paths, some broad and easy, some strait and hard, lead unto those wondrous Gates. According to the Wisdom of the ancient Egyptian Sages those who guard the Gates are deities, twelve in number. Twelve children, as it were, born from the Holy Mother Nut. And as those deities, twelve in number, are wholly good, well-named and pure, so has the god of Hell twelve names, and deities. Greatly dreaded are the names of the Gates of his great City in the Underworlds. For good and evil are weighed in the Scales of the Sovereign Lord of the universe, the Lord of Light and Law, the Omnipotent, Lord of the World of his universe of Stars, and of Light, and Darkness.

The ancient Teachings tell us that all the Gates of Heaven are for ever closed, except one, the Gate of Tears. This is the First Gate and the easiest to enter. Yet is it also the hardest, ever standing wide; and the Path to it is the broadest of all, and the shortest. Many people throng that Path, for the Earth is the realm of tears and suffering. Yet those who suffer most receive the greatest blessings in the end. For the Angels of Heaven watch over them in their sorrow, and will take them by the hand, and lead them to a place of consolation, rest and ease when the time comes for them to depart this world.

The Second Gate of Heaven is the Gate of Faith, which is for ever closed to all who in wilful ignorance disbelieve in God or the gods. The Second gate of Heaven is wide also, and the Road toward it is a pleasant one, it being easy to have Faith if the heart is turned toward the Goodness, Mercy and Love of God. And all those who have Faith, shall have their Faith rewarded, for to such the Gate will be opened when they knock; for the faithful receive many blessings, unknown to the evil ones who sneer at their childlike trust.

The Third Gate is the Gate of Service. It is not wide, nor is the way to it so ample as the previous two, for few there are who serve without a thought of reward, most being selfish. All those who serve willingly with love and no thought of recompense, but because they must, will find entry into a better world when they reach the Third Gate. For true service is like a Golden Flower come to life upon the Tree of Paradise; there it blooms, while the name of its cause is engraved upon the petals in letters of light.

The Fourth Gate is the Gate of Inner Peace. This is smaller still, and the Road to it is straiter and more tenuous than the previous three. For Peace Within is rare indeed, and few can truly claim to know its mysteries in full, or have it in their grasp. The Road to this Gate is long; for while every one may have their peaceful moments, few there are who can hold it for long, for this Earth is filled with strife, and unrest; and of enmity of one against another, so that Peace is easily lost in the turmoils of worldly adversities and occupations.

The Fifth Gate is the Gate of Love. This is smaller still, and the Path that leads to it is hard and thorny, and many stones lie on the way, sharp stones and cruel, and the traveller along this Path has many falls. For perfect love is the rarest attribute of man or woman. Perfect love is love for all, for good and bad alike, and who can truly say that such pure love is theirs? Who possesses this loving attribute is blest indeed, and a crown of unfading white flowers with golden hearts, shall be placed upon their head.

The Sixth Gate is the Gate of Harmony. This is a small Gate, and the Way to it is macilent and steep, for it leads to a Higher Heaven than all the previous ones. To seek harmony and quietude, concordance and sympathy in the silence of a forest or on a mountain top is not hard, and many have found it there. But Harmony whilst every one is antagonistic, in a world where every purpose clashes with the schemes of others, this needs the fortitude of heroes whom no division, rupture, or opposition will disturb.

The Seventh Gate is the Gate of Justice. The Way to it is dire and full of unseen traps and snares. For the man or woman who has the power and wields true Justice, enriched with Mercy and kindly Understanding is wise indeed. But how many, or rather how few can truly claim this virtue? Is it not rather the case that most of us err in Justice at some time of trial and of test? Woe unto those who deal in Justice unjustly and without due lenity or mercy, for their Fate is terrible indeed.

The Eighth Gate is the Gate of Attunement. Those whose minds are one with the Minds of the Dwellers in Paradise are the Angels of God on Earth. The width of the Path is not wider than a ray of light which gleams through a small chink in a wooden shutter. It is a Golden Gate which no mortal man or woman can ever hope to reach. Yet are its doors ever open to the Higher Mind in its highest consciousness of divine lineage from its Deity: a Mystery most profound and holy.

The Ninth Gate is sublimer still, for it is the Gate of Inner Light which leads to the very Throne of God. There stand the blissful bowers of initiate trees and flowers, radiantly blooming and shedding irradiate gleams of splendour upon the Mind which has the Light Within. A Light of gentleness and clemency, forbearance and compassion. A Light of Understanding which greets repentant Sin with kiss divine in knowledge full and tolerant of that weakness inherent in God's creatures.

The Tenth Gate is the Gate of Inspiration. It is an ever shining Gate through which every high Ideal of thought freely flows into the minds of men and women attuned to Beauty and Goodness. Delicate and refined is that Tenth Gate too, and only those who have dedicated many lives to every form of loveliness can enter it; freely partaking of the riches which are gathered in the Region to which it is the entrance. Threefold is this amazing Gate, with Portals dedicated to Music, Art, and Poetry.

The Eleventh Gate is the Gate of Wisdom. This is the supremely Hidden Gate; and vain it is to seek its doors with vapid mind and intellect, bemused with idle fantasies or fancies. Its Path is hedged with the darksome shrubs of superstition and the barbed undergrowths of vanity. For many there be who call themselves wise: yet are their minds bereft of knowledge true and holy. Of Wisdom there is no trace but folly thrives in its place. Blessed are those who pass this Gate for they will sit among the Sages, imbibing wisdom unknown on Earth.

The Twelfth and final Gate is the Gate of Illumination. It has no doors nor locks, and only Wisdom is the Path that leads unto its Splendour. Those who enter by that Gate shall lead the wise in heart and mind with Knowledge lit by the flames from God's Imagination. There are no words to paint its plenitude, for none can paint the depths of the ocean or the glory of the heart of the Sun. The Sage whose Mind is bathed in that Illumination has solved the riddles of existence in the universe.

The discerning reader will have noted that each of these Twelve Gates corresponds with one of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac we have covered in this investigation. This is no coincidence, for as we said in the Proem to part one, each Sign is also a Gate through which we enter this world. But next time we may enter through a different Gate. Or we may pass through the same one several times, or skip one or more Gates. It all depends on where we are upon our individual evolutionary path; what we have learned and what we still need to learn; what we have gained and what we have lost, as well as what we have done or left undone during previous lives on Earth. Each Sign, and therefore each Gate, has also its positive and negative aspect. This too, we have discussed at length during our survey of the Twelve Zodiacal Signs when we explored the characteristics of those born under them. From this it follows that each of the positive virtues mentioned above has it opposite vice.

Hence we may associate Laughter with the First Gate, in contradistinction to Tears. For many there are who are perfectly happy in this world and wish for none better, being content with the pleasures life on Earth offers those who are seemingly blessed with apparently unlimited wealth and the leisure to enjoy it, free from such distractions as ill-health, wars and impecunious relatives. In contradistinction to the Faith of the Second Gate we find Doubt. The typical doubter is generally a thoroughgoing materialist who disbelieves anything that cannot be subjected to the scrutiny of their five senses; the end of whose nose is the limit of their range of perception. The Service of the Third Gate has its opposite vice of Selfishness, while the Inner Peace of the Fourth Gate becomes Restlessness, dissatisfaction, and anger. And so we could go on, finding one or more negative traits for each of the Twelve Gates. But this is not really necessary as the reader can easily do this for themselves. Not is it desirable to dwell upon negative conditions lest we unwittingly draw them towards us. In The Book of Sa-Heti from which we have drawn much of the content for this part of our investigation, we may read about the Gates that lead to the lower realms of darkness and despair. There is, for instance, the hell called Raurava, "the dreadful hell of liars and false witnesses, where continual Courts are held, the accused being faced by serpent-headed judges, who with their ice-cold eyes behold them, whilst a host of accusers testifies against them, affirming their non-existing crimes with many oaths, citations, and corroborative evidence against which there is no defence. And there is no end to the trials, and any refutation of the lies is regarded as a rebuttal, whilst the Judge's darting tongue strikes at the helpless accused and fills them with untellable fear."

Then we are treated to a description of the hell called Rodha, "the hell of obstruction, where dwell thieves and murderers, and those who cause abortions; where the victim is killed over and over again in the most fearful ways, and brought to life again each time; and all he has is stolen by rapid-fingered robbers who slink like shadows in the dark, where every woman gives endless series of births to great monstrosities, who glare at their mothers, and bite them, and claw and shriek without ceasing." In addition to these horrors we have the hell Taptakumba, "where stand the heated cauldrons in which boil those who hold incestuous intercourse with their sisters, or murder ambassadors; and here the air is heavy with the steam and stench of the boilings, and the moist heat is beyond all imagination. This hell is full of demons who toil at filling the vats, and once a person is immersed he boils for evermore." There is also a hell called Taptaloha, the red-hot iron hell, "where go those who sell their wives; and it is the place of the wicked gaolers, who have tortured their prisoners during life, and those who desert their adherents in the time of peril. Here everything is made of red-hot iron, and the victims are compelled to work with burning tools, and their skin adheres to all they touch."

We can read similar descriptions in Dante's Inferno, in Milton's Paradise Lost, as well as in the experiences of those unfortunate souls who, in vision, or during so-called 'Near-death experiences' (NDEs), behold the dreadful conditions to be found in the lower realms. We gave you one such account in our Afterword to our article about Life after Death when we told you about the NDE of one Drithelm who flourished in the 7th Century. Drithelm's experience is very similar to that of Howard Storm whose NDE formed the main content of our article Ascent from Death to Life. Some readers may doubt that such hellish conditions as those described above actually exist. Others will think them poetical exaggerations or pious theological fabrications to terrify the faithful. We can assure them from personal experience that they are not. In his first book — Occult Enigmas — Jean Michaud paints an all-too graphic picture of what awaits so many human beings after death.

"If you have ever seen the swirling streams of anxious and bewildered lower evolved human beings that flow in huge torrents around the astral spheres, you will know that no effort you can make here is too hard, no service you can give is too great, no love you can offer is too selfless, in order to escape from the maelstrom of wandering beings, who know not what has happened to them or where they are, and whose sad eyes look at you, imploring you to come to their aid. If you have only ONCE seen those millions of frightened faces, you can never forget it. Or else they float about in Space, tenuous and vapourish semblances of what they used to be on earth, alternatively cursing and praying, loving and hating; wraiths...God's lost children...until they again are enslaved in the bonds of flesh which to them seems salvation, to endure further servitude, until at last they are found worthy to be shown the WAY."

These are the first fruits of two centuries of atheism in the West. Of the denial of the reality of Life beyond this vale of tears; of the teaching that all men and women are equal; of the iniquitous cult of "Me First," and "YOLO" (You only live once), and of rampant materialism and consumerism. Collectively, these attitudes dominate the thinking of the average modern individual, the proud product of Western Civilisation. As we said in our article How peace leads to war, "For him God is a shadow in the background, with no connection with everyday life. If God enters his mind at all, it is only occasionally and to be put aside because he is too busy struggling to make money and spend it, or keeping body and soul together to worry about such matters. Heaven and Hell, or their equivalents, no longer exist for him. So there is no reason why he should do more than necessary to assure his own comfort in this life." Alas, for most of us, and despite the present increase in longevity in most Western countries, 'this life' is almost over before it has really begun. After so-called 'death' our modern individual joins the 'streams of anxious and bewildered lower evolved human beings' seen by Jean Michaud in vision. What a dreadful waste it all is! If only a tiny fraction of all the energy and time spent securing a 'good job', a comfortable living and the pursuit of pleasure, were devoted to spiritual aims and aspirations, how many would be found that now are lost.

The cure for all these ills, as we suggested in the aforementioned article, is a return to real religion. By this we do not mean yet another set of religious dogmas founded on the worship (sincere or otherwise) of a god made solidly in the image of man, but a genuine spiritual philosophy whereby the individual is convinced that there is something greater and more important than mere material comfort and worldly success. An all-embracing system which will give every human being a firm foundation upon which to build their world outlook in harmony with each other. In short, a universal institution that provides every man, woman and child their recognised place and duty, to which all can turn with confidence for advice and help and consolation when the tribulations of this world become too much to bear. The building blocks of such a system — as some perceptive readers may have guessed — already exists in the form of Occult Science. This will, long after the present faithless generations have passed into forgetfulness, together with all their vain accomplishments, form the Faith of the future for all mankind.

Here we must reluctantly draw our investigation of the hidden messages contained within the Testament of the Zodiac, and our exploration of the extra-zodiacal constellations to a close. We can but hope it has been as enjoyable and instructive for you to read as it has been profitable for us to research, arrange and compose.

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The Ten Planets

Part fourteen: Vulcan, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

In our final Afterword we train our metaphorical telescope on the ten planets of our Solar System.

We begin our survey of the Solar System with the nearest body to the Sun — Vulcan. Little is known of this tiny planet, whose very existence is doubted by the vast majority of contemporary scientists. We told you a considerable amount about it in the seventh of these investigations when we discussed the Zodiacal Sign and constellation of Virgo. Although the first recorded sighting of Vulcan was not made until 1720, this does not exclude the possibility — nay — probability that it was known to the Sages in ancient times.

Science smugly dismisses the many observations of Vulcan, or the need for an inter-Mercurial planet to explain Mercury's orbital irregularities, with the truly specious argument that such are rendered unnecessary due to the 'curvature of Space-time' caused by the Sun's mass. We thoroughly debunked the risible notion of Space being 'curved' in our Afterword ('The warped theories of Science') to our article on so-called 'gravitational waves', published in 2021.

The next planet moving outwards from the Sun is Mercury. In ancient Persia Mercury was called ‘the Writer’ and the 'Scribe of Ormuzd'. This fits in perfectly with the astrological characteristics associated with the planet and the Zodiacal Sign of Gemini which it rules. The Peruvians made of Mercury the ruler of merchants, travellers and messengers. This too is apt, for, with the exception of Vulcan, Mercury is the fastest moving planet in our Solar System, completing his circuit of Sol in 88 days. So swift in fact that it can only be seen with the naked eye shortly before sunrise or soon after sunset.

We now approach the most beautiful planet of all which used to be known to the ancients as our sister-brother Venus-Lucifer — the "bright and morning star" with which Jesus is identified in the Bible (Revelation 22:16). Sadly, this title has fallen into disrepute and is regarded with deep suspicion, if not outright opprobrium on account of its spurious association with the devil. So leaving somnolent theological dogs to their peaceful repose, let us regard the goddess Venus as the Ruler of the Planet. This will not only avoid any complications or accusations of 'devil worship', but allow us to learn some interesting things about our near neighbour.

The Babylonians worshipped the triad Sun–Moon–Venus as the whole being of the Godhead, the Trinity, while Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn had their special place of revelation at the four quarter points of the Zodiacal Cycle. In ancient Rome the 1st of April was kept as the feast of Venus and Fortuna Virilis. She was worshipped by Roman ladies so they might preserve their charms intact and so please their husbands and lovers. Sadly, we know of no comparable festival for the Roman man!

Venus has been called 'The Light of Heaven and Earth'; 'The Flaming Torch'; 'The Glory of the Whole World'; 'Queen of the Stars', and of Heaven, the 'Perfect, Mighty Light'. In a Hymn to Tammuz, the Babylonian poet sings: "with her gracious aspect Nina speaketh, in her gracious rising, verily she shineth forth; where she waxeth full, her procreative power is mighty of aspect." Nina or Ninsianna was the Babylonian personification of the planet.

The next planet in our survey is the Earth. For we must not forget our own habitation plays its part in the influences the planets exert over us. And not only do they exert their influence over us, but upon one another and so set the 'tone' for the entire Solar System. We use the word tone deliberately, for as we explained in our investigation of the Magic of Music, the Pythagoreans taught that the distances of the planets from the sun, and the distances between them, could be represented by musical intervals — the so-called 'Music of the Spheres' mentioned earlier.

We would not like to say just what kind of influence the Earth does exert, but we doubt if it is a particularly positive one! It is probably for this reason that our planet has been called the great Altar of the Gods, where men are sacrificed according to their pleasure. This gruesome thought is not without some truth if we regard the Earth as a place of test and trial where we are tried in the fire of adversity to fit us for a better or worse life to come.

The Earth itself has been worshipped in the past and still is today if we regard the Cult of Gaia as such. Indeed, Wikipedia even has an entry for this under the heading 'Gaianism'. Therein it is described as: "an earth-centred philosophical, holistic, and spiritual belief that shares expressions with earth religions and paganism while not identifying with any specific one."

That this is not a new conception the worship which exists among the Buryats of south-eastern Siberia is sufficient proof. Like their fashionable modern counterparts the Buryats consider the Earth to be a female principle and heaven a male principle. This is quite correct from an occult scientific point of view.

From Earth we move now to Mars, known as Nergal by the Babylonians. The Arval priests of ancient Rome called upon the god Mars to avert pestilence; "Let no plague come upon the people; be content, O fierce Mars!" they pleaded. Interestingly, Mars has long been associated with fevers of all kinds by astrologers.

Mars, like Venus is known under many, many names. Although generally regarded as a god of war, he was originally a god of vegetation and of the borderlands between the fields and the wild. He is especially intertwined in the history of the foundation of the City of Rome, for it was the wolf Mars that suckled the twins Romulus and Remus. Moreover, agriculture and warfare were the two chief preoccupations of the early Romans, and it is with these that the Mars cult was most closely connected.

We come now to the giant of the Solar System — mighty Jupiter, the Father of the gods. It is gas giant with a mass nearly 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System put together. Its diameter is eleven times that of the Earth and is the third-brightest natural object in the night sky, after the Moon and Venus.

The Babylonians called Jupiter Marduk, the adversary of the evil Dragon, making him the creator of the world. Alexander the Great consulted the oracle of the god in the great oasis of Jupiter Amon. He is the god of lightning, thunder and rain, descending in person in the lightning-bolt; hence he was called Fulgur and Fumen by the Romans. Astronomers have now discovered more than 90 moons orbiting the planet, the four largest of which, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, are visible through good binoculars. Ganymede, the largest of the four, is larger than the planet Mercury.

Beyond the orbit of Jupiter we encounter a planet much dreaded by ancient astrologers — Saturn. He is the grim god of death and stern Justice; the ruler and the organiser, slow, but sure, the deity of delays and frustrations. He is Sani in Bengal, much dreaded there as elsewhere and carefully propitiated on Saturdays or during the days he is badly aspected by the Sun, Moon or planets. From long experience the writer has come to the conclusion that the main effects of Saturn manifest as delays and restrictions.

The ancient Babylonian name for Saturn was Sagush and the associated god was Ninurta. When the Tablets of Fate, which held the laws of the universe, were stolen by a dragon, it was Ninurta who rescued them and was henceforth placed in charge of fate and law. Sagush was therefore the star of law and order, just as it is in Western Astrology. This does not conflict with the role of Jupiter as judge: order is not quite the same thing as justice. Unfortunately, most of the Babylonian tablets relating to the omens of Saturn have yet to be found, so we know less about his role in Mesopotamian astrology than that of the other planets.

The next planet in our survey is Uranus, the erratic one, the awakener as he has been called. This, as we said in part twelve in our discourse about Aquarius, is a good name for him, for he awakens the inner mind of men by means of terrible shocks at times, entirely unexpected, giving a person such a shake-up that they will either fail entirely in despair, or pull themselves together, and proceed a certain distance towards the Light, or, maybe, reach it in one swift rush. And if we were afraid of any planet Uranus would be the one we should fear most, for the reasons we gave in part twelve.

We can say that at no known period in the history of Greek religion was Uranus, or Ouranos, of any consideration in the popular worship. His evil influence was probably too well known even then. And when Aeschylus, the 5th century B.C., playwright speaks of him as "one who in the old time was mighty, full of unconquerable boldness," he was probably misled by Hesiod's artificial stratification of periods, namely: the periods of Ouranos, of Kronos, and of Zeus. All the same, as we saw in our analysis of the Aquarian type, 'unconquerable boldness' is certainly a characteristic associated with Uranus, along with rashness and impetuosity.

We now come to Neptune. In Greek mythology Neptune is Poseidon, god of the sea, as illustrated in Neptune's glyph of the trident. Neptune rules the ocean and all that is related to it, such as sailing, boats, fishing, and marine life. The archetypal 'Neptunian' is often "all at sea" with no land in sight — drifting and floundering — as we saw when we analysed the Piscean type.

Neptune's proverbial association with the sea is not original, but is due to his identification with Poseidon. He is the god of the element of moisture, and in times past the rustics of Italy and the provinces worshipped his divinity for many centuries. The nymph Salacia, representing the ebullient nature of springs, was frequently his cult companion. Here we see a connection between the planet and the lower realms, the underworld from which rise the springs of water. The feasts known as the Neptunalia were celebrated in Rome on July 23rd each year.

Neptune, as the Ruler of Pisces speaks to us of escapism in all its guises. Whether it's the glamour of the movies or the hazy world of drugs and drink, the Neptunian world is cut off from reality or anaesthetised from pain. Saturn restricts, Uranus explodes, but Neptune dissolves into nebulous escapism, most often down the neck of a bottle!

Needless to add, to seek solace in such stimulants is futile. The movie finishes, the drugs wear off, the hangover brings sickness, and suffering inevitably follows. Neptune thus has two sides or aspects so far as its influence is concerned. Rapture or despair; delirious happiness versus pain and confusion. This is the reason Pisceans in particular, and those who have Neptune accentuated in their birth map are highly sensitive to either state.

The last planet in our survey is tiny Pluto. In Greek mythology the god Pluto was the ruler of the underworld. As a god, Hades-Pluto formed part of the dream-oracle in the Ploutonion, a sanctuary specially dedicated to this ancient Greek god. Only a very few such shrines are known from classical sources, usually at locations that produce poisonous emissions and were considered to represent an entrance to the underworld. The Greek geographer Strabo mentions only three sites as having a ploutonion. One was on a hill between Tralleis and Nysa. Its precinct encompassed a sacred grove, a temple dedicated to Plouton and Persephone, and an adjoining cave called the Charonion, named after Charon, the ferryman of the dead. These shrines served as a sanctuary for healing and dream interpretation.

The ploutonion near Nysa on the upper Maeander regulated the curative treatment received by means of dreams during ecstatic trances. The patients themselves often slept in the cave for a few days without food, but if they were favoured with a dream, the priests interpreted it; and the whole process was similar to that of the Babylonian dream-shrine. Potent exhalations from subterranean sources probably had much to do with the effects obtained in the cave, in the same way as some complaints are said to be cured today by 'taking the waters' of some famous Spa.

Esoterically, Pluto is the Keeper of the Keys to the Secrets of Life and Death, which Hecate holds for him. Astrologically, Pluto presides over the processes of elimination, renewal and regeneration. All three involve transformation which, by its very nature is often disruptive and painful. If we look at the periods during which Pluto transited the Signs of the Zodiac we make some interesting discoveries.

From 1939 to 1957 it was in Leo, a time when states were overthrown and the kings and queens of Europe lost their few, remaining powers. During the so-called 'swinging sixties' Pluto was in Virgo. Traditional values were questioned, conventions overthrown and sexual 'freedom' was all the rage.

From 1983 to 1995 Pluto was in its own Sign of Scorpio. The HIV/AIDS epidemic which occurred during this period reinforces the strong association of sex with Scorpio — doubly so, as Pluto was in its own Sign at the time. Empowerment, personal growth and the dynamics of power and powerlessness are deeply embedded in the thinking and attitudes of the generation born during this period.

In 2024, Pluto entered Aquarius, ruled by Uranus. The admixture of elimination, renewal and regeneration (Pluto) with sudden, disruptive and erratic change (Uranus) does not bode well for mankind. Hence, astrologers were not slow in drawing parallels with the last time Pluto was in Aquarius which coincided with the French Revolution. Only time will tell if their prophecies of doom and dire destruction will be fulfilled.

Before we end this Afterword, and the final part of our investigation, we would like to say a few words about a planet thought by some to have been a member of our Solar System in the distant past. According to the hypothesized Titius–Bode law proposed in the 1700s to explain the spacing of planets in a Solar System, a planet should have once existed between Mars and Jupiter.

After learning of the regular sequence discovered by the German astronomer and mathematician Johann Daniel Titius, astronomer Johann E. Bode urged a search for the fifth planet corresponding to a gap in the sequence. In 1801 the Italian astronomer and mathematician Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres, the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt, occupying the vacant position in Titius' sequence. However, a year later, in 1802, astronomer Heinrich Olbers discovered and named the asteroid Pallas, a second object in roughly the same orbit as Ceres.

Olbers proposed that these two discoveries were the fragments of a disrupted planet that had formerly orbited the Sun and predicted that more of these pieces would be found. The discovery of the asteroid Juno by Karl Ludwig Harding and Vesta by Olbers supported his theory. Such theories are now referred to as "the disruption theory".

These hypotheses state that there was once a major planetary member of the Solar System circulating in the present gap between Mars and Jupiter, which was destroyed, either by being struck by another large celestial body or being shattered by some internal catastrophe. This idea gained the support of several astronomers, notably the French–Italian mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Canadian geologist Reginald Daly, and American geochemist Harrison Brown.

More recently, the theory that the asteroid belt is the remains of a destroyed planet has been dismissed by most scientists on the basis that the large amount of energy required to destroy a planet, combined with the belt's low combined mass, which is thought to be only about 4% of the mass of the Moon, does not support it. It is also argued that the many significant chemical differences between the asteroids are difficult to explain if they all came from the same planet. Occult — as opposed to material — science, disagrees with these speculations, but our readers are free to make up their own minds!

Indeed we have always warmly encouraged our readers to take nothing on trust, but to always question everything, especially the pronouncements of science and so-called scientific 'facts'. Furthermore, nothing we have put before you in these Afterwords is intended to be taken as the last word about the many extra-Zodiacal constellations we have explored. On the contrary, we are only too painfully aware that we have but examined a very few threads of the vast canvas which is the Tapestry of the Zodiac.

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