Chapter I. EVOLUTION AS SHOWN IN THE ZODIAC（续 1）

The next step in human unfoldment is not so much along the physical lines as along the mental, its nature is shown by the Sun's passage through the sign Scorpio, which is pictorially represented as a serpent or scorpion, emblems of cunning and sub-

tility. It is plain from this symbol that the first faculty of the mind evolved by infant humanity was cunning, and we still see that that is a characteristic trait among the lower races, the lower classes and the lower natures even among our present-day humanity.

But when the Sun enters the sign Libra, 'The Scales" by precession, the balance of reason gives him a new start upon the evolutionary path. Under the care of divine instructors man had at that time advanced to the point where because of this new faculty, reason, he could be made fully responsible to nature's laws, and thus reap what he sows, that he may learn the lesson of life by actual experience, be able to reason out the connection between cause and effect and in time learn to govern him,self upon the path of progress.

Thus, under the guidance of the spiritual hierarchies, focused through the signs of Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, and Libra, were his physical, moral and mental attributes acquired, and he was equipped to commence the spiritual side of his evolution. The germ of this progress is hidden in the celestial virgin, the sign Virgo, which is the vehicle of the immaculate conception, the heavenly mother of Christ ; not of one Christ only, but of many. This is one of the most sublime signs of the Zodiac and one of the

most mystic, so fraught with hidden meaning that its full import cannot be fully understood save when viewed by the internal light of spiritual illumination. Yearly, at the Winter solstice, the immaculate Madonna is ascendant at midnight, when the new born Sun commences to rise to the task of growing the grain and grape, to save humanity from the cold and famine, which would inevitably result were he to remain in the southern declination. The Sun is therefore an apt symbol of the Savior, born to feed his flock on the spiritual bread of life. But, as we must have eyes attuned to light to see the sun, so must the Christ be born within. As Angelus Silesius says :

"Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn. The Cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain Unless within thyself it be set up again."

Therefore, by the p recessional passage of the Sun through the sign Virgo, the germinal impulse was given towards the birth of Christ within. 'The mystic marriage' of the lower self to the higher, 'the immaculate conception,' and 'the divine motherhood' which nourishes deep in its bosom, unseen by a scoffing world, 'the new born Christ,' is an actual experience of a growing number of people. And without the celestial prototype, fructified by the solar precession, this would be an impossibility; neither

has this ideal been realized in such fullness during the past ages as today. The reason of this will appear when we take up the joint consideration of opposite signs of the Zodiac.

A great future is in store for this offspring of the celestial virgin. Listen to the wonderful prophecy of Isaiah: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end."

Humanity is to rise to a wonderful spiritual height and this is symbolized by the Sun's precespional passage through the Royal sign Leo, pictorially represented by the king of beasts, the lion. This is an apt allusion to the King of Creation, who will then embody the three great virtues of the Master Man, Strength, Wisdom and Beauty.

It is wonderful to see how the various phases of the religions given to the Great Aryo-Semitic Race from the time they were "called out" in the later third of the Atlantean Epoch, to the end of the Aquarian Age, when a new race will have been definitely born. This aspect of the Zodiac will form the subject of our next article. It will shed light on many of the most obscure passages of the Bible, as only study of this Cosmic Science can.

When we consider the Zodiac in its religious as well as its evolutionary aspects, by means of the six pairs of opposite signs into which the twelve may be divided, we also commence with Cancer and Capricorn, for the reason given in the previous article, namely: that these are the solstitial points where the Sun reaches its highest and lowest declination.

Considered in this manner, we find that there are two sets of three pairs of signs, namely, Cancer and Capricorn, Gemini and Sagittarius, Taurus and Scorpio. In these three pairs of signs we may read the history of human evolution and religion, in the early, the middle and the latter third of the Atlantean Epoch. In the other three pairs of signs : Aries and Libra, Pisces and Virgo, Aquarius and Leo; we find the key to man's development during the Aryan Epoch. This is also divisible into three distinct periods, namely: the Aryan Age, from Moses to Christ, which comes under Aries-Libra; the Piscean Age, which takes in the last two thousand years under Pisces- Virgo Catholicism, and the two thousand years which are ahead of us, called the Aquarian Age, where the signs Aquarius and Leo are illuminated and vivified by the solar precession, for the upliftment of the Son of Man (Aquarius), by the Christ within, the Lion of Judah (Leo), to the estate of Superman.

It must not be thought, however, that the Atlantean Epoch only lasted while the Sun by precession went through Cancer, Gemini, and Taurus, a period

of only six thousand and a few hundred years; far from it; but there are spirals within spirals and recapitulation takes place in the epochs and races, so that we may know what is the general destiny by looking at the Sun's passage through these signs and therewith taking this import and symbolism into consideration. It may also be said that the further we advance the smaller do the spirals become, the shorter the time in which a given improvement is made, because of the proficiency we attained in former ages, and therefore it is extremely probable that this present is the last lap, that the coming Aquarian Age is the final preparatory school day which will fit us for the new age, the Sixth Epoch, and that will begin when the Sun by precession enters Capricorn.

This, of course, would mean that the Second Advent must take place just before that time, ana though it seems to us that so many signs point that way, this is a mere surmise and may not have any truth in it at all. Thousands of people have been misled during all the ages that we know of, to think that Christ would soon be here ; it is, however, better that we are looking forward to it than if we should say with some, that it will never take place. In that case the Great Day will find us unprepared and we should find ourselves among the stragglers who are unfit to attend the wedding feast of the higher Self to the lower because lacking the "soulbody ' ' which is the ' ' wedding garment ' ' that enfolds them.

The Sun's passage by precession through the sphere of Cancer with its opposite sign Capricorn, designates the early third of the Atlantean period, which was intensely watery, as the whole earth was surrounded by a dense drenching fog, and the Niebelung, or "Children of the Mist," lived then in the basins of the Earth. Cancer was not then represented by the same symbol as today ; in ancient times, it was pictorially figured as a beetle or scarab. This was the signature of the soul, for then mankind was much less body than soul.

The sign Cancer is watery in its nature, and the fish part of Capricorn in the opposite also helps to symbolize this state of life under water when the Sun went through the watery sign Cancer by precession. The Moon, the planet of fecundation, points mystically to this period of germination, when mankind first commenced to exercise the Creative function at the dictates of desire inculcated by the Lucifer Spirits. Thus they opened the Gate of physical Life through Cancer, and strayed into the terrestrial sphere, but opposite stood Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, ready to slay them with his scythe, and usher them through the Gate of Death back into the spiritual realms where they are at home.