Signs: Mutable Cross—Sagittarius

I see the goal. I reach that goal and then I see another

Aims and aspirations: integrating vision with reality through co-operation

Sagittarius: esoteric meaning

(Under Sagittarius) …a balanced relationship between the personality and the soul and can function as either at any desired moment with equal facility.

This … is called the experience of the disciple upon the plains of Earth, for the path between the pairs of opposites runs straight and level, leaving the depths of personality experience and the heights of soul experience (at this point of development) on either side. (EA 181)

In the bigger picture, Gemini and Sagittarius function as a crucial influence in the development of humanity:

The cosmic line of force from Gemini to Sagittarius and the reverse is subjectively and esoterically related to our Earth, thus guaranteeing its soul development, the unfoldment of form as an expression of that soul, and leading our sorrowful humanity … to the very gate of initiation in Capricorn. (EA 356)

Details to follow.

Sagittarius: rulers

• Orthodox: Jupiter
• Esoteric: Earth
• Hierarchical: Mars

Orthodox: Jupiter ⇧

Sagittarius conditions the activity of the ‘lunar lords’ who build the body of humanity out of their own substance i.e. inanimate matter, so that when an individual begins:

…the one-pointed activity of Sagittarius and becomes the earnest disciple, it is possible… to rule the personality and to govern it so that eventually it becomes the vehicle of the soul. It accounts also for the reaction of the personality against this control. (EA 277)

The latter, because when matter isn’t infused with consciousness it is resistant to change and tends to inertia; as in the Sanskrit term Tamas from the three Gunas or states of being (Sanskrit गुण) from Indian philosophy.

Esoteric: Earth ⇧

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: Mars ⇧

This rulership covers the esoteric view of the origins of humanity, which adds a spiritual dimension to the process of material evolution. The idea is that “souls seeking incarnation” at that distant time required forms or bodies in which to incarnate, and this was taken from the more evolved hominids among the animal kingdom who received the spark of humanity. Alice Bailey refers to this process as the fall of the angels in primordial times.

This sixth ray influence coming from three angles—orthodox, esoteric and hierarchical—and hence involving both Neptune and Mars—predisposes the race and individual man as well to become one-pointed disciples in Sagittarius. This latter constellation is ruled by Mars, bringing the man into control or closer touch with the lunar lords, the sixth Creative Hierarchy. … The sixth Ray of Devotion is consequently most powerful in this age or cycle and hence the expression in every land today of its best and its worst features, of which the intense devotion to material things and the intense devotion to spiritual values are dramatic instances. (EA 218)

So what begins with Neptune in Cancer through birth into incarnation and the experience of material life (via the “lunar lords” or devas who create our various bodies) is revisited in Sagittarius:

[after Aries and Scorpio] Mars… does not again appear in the life of the individual except as that individual responds to mass vibration in Sagittarius, where Mars appears as ruling the sixth Creative Hierarchy, the lunar lords of the form nature who must eventually be sacrificed to the higher spiritual aspect and brought under the control of the solar Angel. (EA 210)

This sixth hierarchy—the “Lunar Lords”—are consequently also known as the “sacrificial fires”, since they are connected to the collective emotional level (or “astral plane”) which is burned away on a personal level by the “fires” of the mental plane during the third initiation. At that stage of development, our personal life becomes a subset of the greater life of service to humanity—not through any personal urge to “become selfless” but simply because our consciousness has expanded beyond the purely personal self.

Decanates

See the notes about the inconsistency of decanates in Esoteric Astrology. For comparison, Stephen Pugh’s decanate rulers are listed, alongside current orthodox rulers and those given in the book.

Esoteric/developmental: conscious development (annual signs from Aries via Taurus to Pisces)

0-9°: Jupiter F: the expansive and inclusive mind, superseding the Mercurial mentality

10-19°: Mars E: “devotion and the capacity to fight for an ideal”

20-29°: Sun A: the soul as a “constant pressure and presence”

Exoteric/experiential: humanity in general (precession from Aries via Pisces to Taurus)

29-20°: Sun A: the presence of the soul impelling the individual towards the learning process

19-10°: Moon B: symbolising the changeable nature of material life, and emphasising the Ray 4 influence in this sign

9-0°: Mercury C: the “the mercurial mind is ever a limitation even if only a temporary one”

• Orthodox: Jupiter, Mars, Sun (Sagittarius, Aries, Leo)
• EAst e/o: Jupiter, Mars, Sun / Sun, Moon, Mercury
• Pugh e/o: Jupiter, Sun, Mars / Sun, Mars, Jupiter

Exoteric decans aren’t verified but given by Sephirial as Mercury, Moon, Sun, although (from the description) on the reversed wheel these would be: Sun, Moon, Mercury—the Moon instead of Mars is from Sepharial’s scheme.

As regards the three decanates of Sagittarius, Sepharial gives us the three governing planets as Mercury, the Moon and the Sun, whilst Alan Leo gives us Jupiter, Mars and the Sun, emphasising… the way of the esotericists. … Jupiter gives expansion, superseding Mercury, for the mercurial mind is ever a limitation even if only a temporary one. The Moon gives place to Mars, which confers the quality of devotion and the capacity to fight for an ideal. This idealistic concept and method of work is always the characteristic of discipleship during the early stages of unfoldment upon the Path. The Sun, typifying the solar Angel remains constant both through the exoteric and the esoteric processes and therefore astrology recognises it as a constant pressure and presence. This fact in itself indicates a significant truth. The soul remains eternally present—in the past, in the present and on into the future. (EA 192)

Esoteric Astrology: 192