Signs: Mutable Cross—Virgo

I am the mother and the child. I, god, I matter am

Care of the soul within the form: awakening the transpersonal

Virgo: esoteric meaning

Details to follow.

Virgo: rulers

• Orthodox: Mercury
• Esoteric: Vulcan
• Hierarchical: Jupiter

Orthodox: Mercury ⇧

Mercury indicates that the line of least resistance for humanity is harmony through conflict, for Mercury expresses the fourth ray energy which is buddhic, intuitional and expressive of the Christ [Ray 2], as Mercury and the Sun are one. (EA 127)

Esoteric: Vulcan ⇧

In Virgo the Moon usually veils Vulcan as the forger of a material form fit to express the self within. If even-numbered rays are emphasised in the chart, it may instead veil Neptune.

The Moon, as esoteric ruler of Virgo, veils either Vulcan or Neptune. —Robbins, Michael D. Article: “Roberto Assagioli (FCD)”

The creative aspect of The will and Ray 1 in our age, is a sense of continuity and an overall aim held steady while working around any obstacle, not by force, but by consistency and persistence.

Vulcan… brings in what might be called the endurance aspect of the will-to-be which carries the incarnated (soul) through the experiences of the dark time wherein the personality becomes the Mother in the stage of gestation, through the period of infancy upon the physical plane and through the stage of adolescence until the initiate attains full maturity. This necessitates persistence, endurance and continuity of effort and is one of the characteristics imparted or stimulated by energies pouring from Vulcan. …these …first ray attributes …are the reverse side of those usually emphasised, namely, death or the activity of the Destroyer aspect. (EA 274)

The esoteric philosophy drawn upon in Alice Bailey’s writing holds that there are three phases of our solar system, under the three rays of aspect. In order, the first phase under Ray 3 is past, we are currently in the second phase with the Sun transmitting Ray 2 energy (hence it’s allocation to Ray 2), and the third phase under Ray 1 is yet to come.

…Virgo is … identified with the third aspect… the mother principle and is believed to be the director of the energies, developed and recognised in the first solar system. It is for this reason in this solar system that Virgo is subjected predominantly to the influence of [Ray 2, Ray 4 and Ray 6] energies through Jupiter (second ray) the Moon and Mercury (fourth ray) and Neptune (sixth ray). The Moon and Mercury together indicate the activity of the higher and lower mind and are, therefore, related to the third Ray of Active Intelligence which controlled the first solar system. There is consequently only one planet, Vulcan, which is distinctly and purely first ray energy. (EA 281 emphasis added)

The idea here being that the creative power of first ray energy can not yet be expressed in general human culture, yet it still plays a crucial role in our our individual psychological growth.

Theosophy often carries elements from classical mythology; Vulcan’s power to fertilize was related to the fire of the hearth in the home and Caeculus—one of Vulcan’s sons—was conceived when his mother was impregnated by a spark from the hearth landing on her womb (Vergil Aeneis VII 680.). The connection to the role of Vulcan esoterically ruling Virgo is obvious. There is also a link between Vulcan and Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth (plus home and family) which is symbolically relevant to Virgo, as Vesta was seen as the same as the earth (Ovid, Fasti VI. 269–270) yet the hearth fire was a crucial part of her ritual worship.

Hierarchical: Jupiter ⇧

The central idea of occultism that even the smallest atom of substance has in it the germ of that which can respond to spiritual energy is preserved for us in the teaching anent the influence of Jupiter, the second ray agent (EA 277)

Virgo is the “mother of all things”—the vessel through which the inner prepares for birth into the outer. Increasing the vibration of dense matter occurs when it is infused by consciousness during the embodiment of the soul in incarnation. The “dead lives” or inorganic substance ruled by the Moon are then vivified and can move beyond dull inertia. Incarnation thus changes the very substance from which our bodies are made.

Jupiter… is the hierarchical ruler and rules the second Creative Hierarchy, that of the Divine Builders of our planetary manifestation. […]

When the human Hierarchy is fully awakened to spiritual and not simply material possibilities, then the work of Jupiter will immediately intensify and this beneficent ruler will lead the human family into the ways of peace and progress. (EA 264)

Via Jupiter and the Moon “Virgo is brought into relationship with Aquarius which means, in this case, with the seventh Creative Hierarchy” (which is also the Second—see EA 263). This is the actual “atomic substance out of which the dense body of manifestation has to be constructed” if the soul consciousness (which Virgo nurtures) “is to be brought to successful manifestation.” As mentioned, this involves vivifying inorganic substance (ruled by the Moon) so that it begins to respond to the inner soul life.

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°: Mercury C: Virgo, at an advanced stage, “Mercury and the Sun are interchangeable terms”

10-19°: Saturn G: Capricorn, the knowledge that Saturn “offers opportunity” and is no longer the planet that “brings disaster”

20-29°: Venus D: Taurus, “the source of wisdom and the… transmutation of the mind into intuition and… intellect into wisdom”

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

29-20°: Venus D: Taurus, immersion in the comfort of earthly concerns

19-10°: Saturn G: Capricorn, limitations and obsessions that conceal the door to opportunity

9-0°: Mercury C: Virgo, the need for order to stave off anxiety and the conflicts of an awakening consciousness

• Orthodox: Mercury, Saturn, Venus (Virgo, Capricorn, Taurus)
• EAst e/o: Mercury, Saturn, Venus / Venus, Saturn, Mercury
• Pugh e/o: Mercury, Saturn, Venus / Venus, Saturn, Mercury

Sepharial’s allocation of Sun, Venus, Mercury is clearly corrected in the passage below, so we can presume a simple reversal of the “backwards” orthodox order of the decanates.

According to Sepharial, the three decanates into which Virgo is divided are governed by the Sun, Venus and Mercury, whilst Alan Leo gives us Mercury, Saturn and Venus. I would remind you … that, in the case of the disciple, Mercury and the Sun are interchangeable terms. When the disciple becomes aware that he is himself Mercury, the Son of Mind, and therefore one with the universal Christ, the “Sun and yet the Son of God” (as it is esoterically called), he is then an initiate. Therefore, Leo’s assignment of rulers is the truly esoteric one. When the disciple knows Saturn as the God who offers opportunity and does not only feel him to be Deity who brings disaster, then he is on the path of discipleship in truth and in deed and not just theoretically. When Venus is the source of wisdom and the expression of the transmutation of the mind into intuition and of intellect into wisdom, then he is ready for initiation. He is rapidly achieving liberation. The weakness of the rulers of the decanates as given by Sepharial lies in the fact that as both Mercury and the Sun are one, the choice is therefore redundant; he omits Saturn and because of this omission, esoterically speaking, the “door is not open.” (EA 284)

Esoteric Astrology: 284