Planets: Earth—ray 3 (non-sacred)

W Ray 3 (non-sacred planet)

Method: The field of human experience

Earth: general information

There is one aspect of energy for which the modern astrologer makes very little allowance, and yet it is of paramount importance. This is the energy which emanates from or radiates from the Earth itself … [our bodies are] at all times bathed in the emanations and the radiations of our Earth and in the integral quality of our planetary Logos … astrologers have always emphasised the incoming influences and energies as they beat upon and play through our little planet, but they have omitted to take into adequate consideration the emanating qualities and forces which are the contribution of our Earth… to the larger whole (EA 12-13)

The Earth is always present by implication in the geocentric chart, but it can only be actually placed in the individual geocentric horoscope from a heliocentric perspective: in the sign opposite the Sun sign. In the esoteric chart this suggests the field of “intelligent activity” (Ray Three) where the established personality must live through experiences that shift awareness from the personality to the Self, and through which we learn to unite the inner and outer selves and begin to form a bridge between the soul and personality. As a heliocentric visitor, the Earth becomes a pointer towards working with the complementary sign and its associated planets and rays. This way, the individual gradually resolves the “pairs of opposites” to achieve balance between the Sun sign and its complementary. In the initial stages, this opposite or “other” can represent the part of the inner self projected outward onto another person, a set of life circumstances, or even the world, similar in meaning to the seventh house. Later, it can symbolise the (Jungian) “shadow” or the “dweller on the threshold” of occult psychology, manifesting as the sum total of challenging personality traits encountered during initiation, i.e. how we learn to stop “standing in our own shadow”.

As one of the four esoteric rulers from the six rulers of the Mutable Cross, and as one of four influential planets at the time of transition to the Fixed Cross (Venus, the Moon, the Earth and Pluto) the Earth stands for the sphere of experience, and under the influence of this planetary experience (which is different to individual experience)… personal consciousness [is transmuted into] into group awareness. Through these four esoteric rulers, the individual is preparing to transfer off the Mutable Cross and mount the Fixed Cross (EA 126-8). The mutable cross in general also symbolises the process of “lived-through change” necessary to this transition, so the Earth’s as a ray 3 planet symbolises the process of development through repeated incarnation.

For a long time during the during [the] cycle of reincarnations and periods of manifestation the human being is almost entirely by the activity of the [five] non-sacred planets:

• The Sun (veiling a planet)
• The Moon (veiling a planet)
• The Earth itself
• Mars
• Pluto (EA 53)

(see Sacred and Non-sacred Planets)

The esoteric origin of Earth (and its ray) is explained as an outcome of the impact of Ray 3:

coming from Alcyone [and impregnating] the substance of the universe with the quality of mind […] Two of our planets, the Earth (non-sacred) and Uranus (sacred), are directly the product of this third ray activity. (EA 200)

The Bigger Picture

However, the most powerful interpretation of the sign opposite the Sun is as a symbol of the monad or spirit, and the possibility of working with both signs as one of the blended six (see The Sign Opposite Sun as Monad). This implies that our entire journey is tied up with the idea that its placement in the opposite sign represents our journey beyond the personal, and hints at the ultimate human goal where the 12 complementary signs are blended into six pairs. The distinction between “self and other” and—by implication—the psychological projection of both desirable and undesirable qualities onto other people, is thereby transcended. The dual expression of Ray 3 via the Earth and Saturn is also a factor and is apparently:

one of the secrets of initiation… hidden in the destiny of the fourth Creative Hierarchy [Humanity] and in the will-to-manifest of the… Earth [as a living being, of whom] it is said that “when the third great energy is related to the fourth Creative Hierarchy, the mystery of the perfected Seven will be understood.” (EA 269)

In the distant future, when the Earth itself has undergone the the fifth and last major initiation, it will become responsive to the synthesis of energies emanating from the seven spirits on each ray who are representatives of the seven Rishis of the Great Bear and Their other pole, the seven Sisters of the Pleiades… These seven spirits are responsive to the seven sacred planets, and are expressions of divine life upon Earth (EA 269).

It is obvious, then, that human evolution is an essential part of the planet’s own development, Humanity being one of the three planetary centres (third principle), with the Hierarchy (second principle) and Shamballa (first principle). For the bigger picture on the three planetary centres, see Leo-Capricorn-Pisces. This is because the eventual emergence of of humanity as the fifth kingdom and its merging into the Hierarchy is an essential part of the process of Earth becoming a sacred planet:

…the evolutionary process—from the standpoint of the ordinary human being—is to make the non-sacred planet, our Earth, responsive to cosmic impacts thus bringing more inter-related and inner integration into the logoic body of expression. (EA 494)

In other words, as we develop and eventually become functioning serving elements within the Hierarchy, at a systemic level humanity is also aiding the evolution of Earth itself in its shift towards becoming a sacred planet. Humanity is thereby evolving beyond its original “fourth kingdom” state as a collection of self-oriented individuals, into a globally aware “fifth kingdom” where individual progress alone has been transcended. This consciousness-expanding process requires responsiveness to the Second Ray qualities of our solar system (as expressed through the Sun):

Love is response to contact and this—in the human being—means understanding, inclusiveness and identification. Wisdom connotes skill in action as the result of developed love and the light of understanding; it is awareness of requirements and ability to bring together into a fused relationship the need and that which will meet it. Service is essentially a scientific mode of expressing love-wisdom under the influence of one or other of the seven rays, according to the soul ray of the serving [individual]. The whole problem is one concerning our planetary Logos. (EA 494)

At the personal level, this might all seem remote, but this extract nicely sums up the esoteric meaning of the Earth for developing individuals:

the Earth in the natal chart represents the physical location of a person’s Path. The house position… will reveal this location. … [For those] upon the Fixed Cross, the Earth’s position indicates where service to humanity takes place. The esoteric meaning of the house will point to the inner journey that is taken simultaneously. [It is] this balance between the inner and outer journeys—between the envisioned goal and the actual field of service—that we have to create in our physical reality. Esoteric Astrology with Mermaid

Earth: Rulerships

• Orthodox: none
• Esoteric: Sagittarius
• Hierarchical: Gemini

Earth’s complementary planet, which is the Earth’s polar opposite, esoterically considered […] is Venus. (EA 24)

Gemini and Sagittarius as the two signs ruled by the Earth (hierarchical and esoteric) function as a polar pair. This is bound up with the inner evolution of humanity as whole, with the connection to Venus as the Earth’s “higher self” and the role of humanity’s own eventual development in the Earth becoming a “sacred planet”. So the individual whose personality life is under the influence of the Mutable Cross while developing inwardly through the challenges of the Fixed Cross:

…comes under the directed energy of four planets, three of which are non-sacred planets [the esoteric rulers of the mutable cross]. Usually these four … begin to dominate the influence of Mercury and Jupiter … exerting that influence which will bring the personality into right relation to the soul, for that is essentially the task of the Fixed Cross … with the planets governing Sagittarius, exoterically and esoterically … an idea can easily be gained of the complexity of the forces with which every [developing individual] has to contend… (EA 185)

Orthodox: none ⇧

Earth has no orthodox rulerships. It is itself the sphere of experience for humanity and, symbolically in a geocentric chart, is always placed in the sign opposite the Sun or individual self. Since the ultimate human goal is for consciousness to transcend the individual self and—starting with the third initiation—invoke the power of the monad over the soul, the three bodies of the personality under the soul then become a single vehicle for the monad or “spirit”, the purpose of individual karmic experience having long been superseded by involvement in a greater purpose that involves the evolution of the Earth into a sacred planet. The sign opposite the sun also invokes the “freedom of the two” as the start of this evolutionary process, in which polar pairs of twelve signs are blended into six complementary influences. In orthodox astrology embracing qualities of “the other” opposite the Sun sign is the first glimmer of this process. The Earth’s hierarchical and esoteric rulership of Gemini and Sagittarius represents the human role in this process.

Esoteric: Sagittarius ⇧

Sagittarius and Capricorn, through the Earth and Saturn, are related to Ray 3. The one-pointed disciple becomes the initiate. (EA 67)

Ray 3 and the Mutable Cross echo the function of Earth being the field of experience, in that all experience contributes to an eventual expansion of awareness at the third initiation (remember that initiation means beginning) wherein the individual has released themselves from purely personal concerns by developing a sense of greater purpose and an established sense of responsibility beyond the individual:

Both the Earth and Saturn (one a non-sacred and one a sacred planet) are exponents or expressions of the third Ray of Active Intelligence, and this ray relationship serves to bring the influences of Capricorn into relationship with Sagittarius, thus providing a field of energy wherein the one-pointed disciple can finally become the initiate. This is the set goal of the subject born in Sagittarius—whether it is the set goal of initiation into some form of sensuous experience or of spiritual undertaking and consciousness. (EA 189)

Hierarchical: Gemini ⇧

This rulership touches on the larger global purpose behind individual development. The collective evolution of humanity is intimately connected with the Earth becoming a sacred planet, in other words, the evolution of Earth itself beyond individual planetary existence towards connection with Venus as the Earth’s “higher self” or alter ego. This process is held to involve the agency of humanity as an integrated global centre, which obviously cannot occur until inter-human conflict has faded out under the power of a collective and conscious sense of responsibility. At that distant point, humanity will also be evolving into the fifth kingdom, a process which—with the Earth gradually becoming a sacred planet—will produce definite changes in the solar system(EA 130) at the end of a great zodiacal age. For more about this process, see the Leo-Virgo-Pisces triangle. There is a quotation from the Old Commentary that encapsulates this:

When the dual forces of the cosmic brothers (Gemini) become the energy of the one who rides towards the light (Sagittarius) then the fourth becomes the fifth. Humanity, the link, becomes the Hierarchy, the bestower of all good… (EA 356)

Global intercommunication is enabling humanity to undergo a reorientation in which worldwide inequalities, conflicts and harmonies are brought into the light of global awareness. Just as with individual development, tensions on a global scale are caused by this expansion of consciousness, including ideological culture- and info-wars, online polarisation, worlwide population shifts, environmental crises and conflict between and within nations (or modern versions of what was once feudal loyalty and has become patriotic nationalism—effectively “warring siblings”).

Humanity as a whole is ruled by Ray 4, which began a new cycle in 2025 (Esotric Psychology I, 25-6) so this initial level of conflict, although no surprise, is not necessarily problematic. In order to resolve conflicts, they must first be brought to the fore and made explicit. A “peace” where only one side “wins” is no solution; what is required for harmony is for the elements in conflict to reach a resolution in which neither is the “winner”, and in which extremes become too brittle to survive. Hence the irresolution of many current issues… this is a painful global growth process that involves humanity en-masse—i.e. everyone on the planet.

When astrologers understand the true significance of the constellation Gemini… and the dual forces which pour through this sign (the “forces in conflict” as they are sometimes called or “the quarrelling brothers”) and beat upon our planetary life, then the true method of resolving the dualities will be known. (EA 55-56)

Earth’s rulership in Gemini therefore symbolises its role as the “waning sibling” (personality) to Venus (soul) (EA 361). This is all on the inner levels, of course, so notions of “Venusians” are as sci-fi as they always have been although—from the 1950s onward—parts of the UFO community interpreted some esoteric Theosophical teachings literally; an issue that persists to this day. During these huge evolutionary changes, Gemini therefore plays a central role in the “freedom of the two” mentioned above, forming as it does a triangle with every other pair of signs (except Sagittarius) so that oppositions become complemetaries.

Also see the Triangles of Mercury’s rulerships which are each grounded on Earth.

Earth decanates

The Earth as used in esoteric astrology rules no decanates.

Earth Dignities

• Exaltation: Libra
• Fall: Aries
• Detriment: Gemini

Although, strictly speaking, the Earth has no allocated dignities, detriment could be extrapolated (in the traditional way) in Gemini, opposite to Sagittarius where Earth is the esoteric ruler; while Exaltation and Fall could follow the paired Ray 3 planet [Saturn](/planets/saturn/. This is a suggestion only:

• Exaltation: Libra (as with Saturn, opposite Sun in Aries)
• Fall: Aries (as with Saturn)
• Detriment: hierarchical ruler of Gemini, opposite esoteric rulership of Sagittarius

Exaltation in Libra ⇧

As a Ray 3 planet, like Saturn, the Earth might be considered to be exalted in Libra, as humanity as a whole is currently experiencing that crucial first initiation as part of Earth’s development from a non-sacred to a sacred planet. In Libra this involves the reversal of the wheel—in this case for humanity as a whole. During this crucial phase of evolution—which currently involves millions across the planet—we learn to become active agents of change rather than passively responding to circumstance.

Our Earth, being a non-sacred planet, is in process of becoming a sacred planet. This means an interim of upheaval, chaos and of difficulty. EA 519

Fall in Aries ⇧

During the development in humanity of a collective planetary awareness, the individual becomes less significant within the evolving consciousness of the global whole. This placement suggests a curbing of the personal will and the urge to individualism (Sun in Aries), favouring instead the balance and the poise of the “turning point” from passive to active as symbolised by the Sun in Libra.

Detriment in Gemini ⇧

Earth as the hierarchical ruler of Gemini is opposite its esoteric rulership of Sagittarius, and represents the “waning sibling” to Earth’s higher self as symbolised by Venus, which rules Gemini esoterically (EA 361)—see Earth’s rulerships.