Chapter III. The LuMINARIES AND THE PLANETS（续 1）

If the natures of the two ‘malefic’ planets are carefully studied from a philosophic point of view, their exact value in each nativity will be much more clearly understood.

Mars is the planet of focussed force, and out-going impulse. Physical heat and motion are more under the direct influence of Mars than any other planet. He governs the sense of taste in its widest application. All the animal propensities, sensations, passions, desires and appetites come under the vibration of Mars. Long and careful study and a

considerable amount of first hand experience which has been tabulated for many years have convinced the author that Mars is the ruler over the animal nature in man; and the task set for humanity is not only that of subjecting, ruling and controlling the animal nature, but also its transmutation into a higher force than that which ministers to the animal soul.

There is an occult teaching that the whole of the animal kingdom is under the guidance of one Group Soul, and as each animal becomes specialised, and in time is sufficiently individualised to break away from the Group Soul, it takes with it into the human kingdom its special nature and peculiar characteristics as an animal; and its evolution at the stage of either a savage or a more highly evolved but still very young ego is also under the influence of the planet Mars, more or less, until the vibrations from the other planets form a greater attraction than the plane of Mars and the purely animal nature. It is when the war between the animal and the God begins that the human being suffers, and the evil of Mars through passion and the rebellious senses is recognised. Animals in their natural state are not evil, but when the struggle between will and desire begins, and the personal man follows the blind impulse of his senses, then Mars becomes truly malefic.

This requires very little demonstration, for when the animal has full sway man becomes brutal, savage and violent, and when the gratification of the sensational and selfish desires is the strongest incentive to action, the animal in man, to obtain its object, becomes cruel and uncontrolled. It is only when the God in man grows stronger that the animal is held in check, trained and finally transcended. Force and energy are at all times necessary on the physical plane, and without the martial influence humanity would be tame and inactive, therefore muse will make the vibrations of Mars as beneficial as abuse will make them evil. Each planet portrays a particular virtue, and that of Mars, strength, acts more especially through the muscular system; and we can easily see that a good muscular system is necessary for any great display of physical strength and energy.

Psychologically, the influence of the ein Mars is greater and more potent through the psychic nature, acting more directly upon the sensational and emotional nature. When acting physically the Solar influence also is necessary to give vitality and full life to the whole system, but psychically the force of Mars acts directly without the

aid of the solar rays. It will be seen by the foregoing how Mars wil} become an evil influence in any nativity where the animal side is uncontrolled. Misfortune and disaster, accident and fever, will be the result of over-excitement, impulse, rashness and over-indulgence in sensation. In fact, to control the animal passions and appetites is to control and guide the vibrations coming from the planet Mars. Force will have its outlet in some form or other, and a man may use his forces and energy either to slay his fellows, or to save them, to become a swashbuckler, or a hero; or he may use it as an energy socially and mentally.

The strength absorbed from the planet Mars will do much to improve an otherwise weak nativity, and in no position in a horoscope can Mars be said to be an evil influence unless the nature is wholly depraved. Men who have strong and personal natures will, by transmuting the force and turning the direction of the currents, become ambitious and energetic and thus raise themselves to a higher state of refinement and progress. Knowledge of the nature and influence of Mars, the position by house and sign and the aspects, will inform the student of the direction in which the force is working; this will be illustrated later.

The mext so-called evil planet is Saturn. The nature and influence of this planet is cold and binding, exactly opposite to that of the fiery Mars. Let us imagine that in the process of separation from the block essence of the Group Soul, the individualised animal, which consists of a vaporous mass of matter, is crystallised or condensed and enclosed in a film which comes directly under the vibrations of Saturn. The contents of this film impregnated by the solar ray will have all the latent qualities of the martial force, but now under certain limitations and restrictions and made the vehicle upon which the higher forces are to play. Being impregnated with the divine spark, which is now in germ, it will unfold all the latent potentialities of the imprisoned God within, through time and space, until it is strong enough to burst through the shell or body in which it was individualised.

The vibrations from Mars will ever force onward impulsively and blindly, but the vibrations from Saturn will be continuously binding and limiting. It can be seen that these two extremes of heat and cold, life and form, will be inimical to each other until the life is controlled by the form and the form expanded by the life and balance obtained as a result

of the struggle between the two. In the early stages of the contest the life will be merely conscious, but gradually se//consciousness will result from the limitations imposed upon the life by the form.

Saturn governs the sense of hearing, a negative or receptive sense. The listener suggests patience, forbearance, silence and caution. The planetary vibration of Saturn restricts, limits, crystallises and binds everything; holding, restraining, fashioning and solidifying all that comes under its sphere of influence. Sat-urn is, figuratively speaking, the urn that holds the Sa¢#. This Sanskrit word Sat signifies ‘that one ever-present reality in the infinite world; the divine essence which 2s, but cannot be said to exist.’ In this sense Saturn governs the encircling limit of the consciousness, the ‘ring pass not’ for each individual in manifestation.

In life, impulse and outrush—ever attracted by the sensations and feelings towards external objects—are checked and restrained by the nature of the form which limits them. It is therefore the vibrations of Saturn that cause each human personality to know itself as a separate, distinct and self-conscious entity. Saturn, as ruler of the personal ego, is the planet of fate, for it represents the personal Will, the lower brainmind, and is practically the ego in manifestation in the physical world, and also the next world to it, which is concerned with the state of the consciousness immediately after death. In these two worlds Saturn and Mars have the greatest power, for Mars is concerned with all the animal tendencies and Saturn directly with the animal-human soul.

The highest states signified by the vibrations of Saturn in the physical world are physical purity and justice, which produce the virtues of chastity, economy, thrift, industry, perseverance, prudence, veneration, and love of truth. When the vibrations of Saturn are perverted through the personality, miserliness, meanness, envy, covetousness and extreme selfishness result.

The two benefic planets art Venus and Jupiter. Venus and Jupiter are the respective counterparts of Mars and Saturn, and they should always be considered in nativities as such. All the martial influence, giving force, energy and strength, is eventually to be trans- ‘muted into sympathy, gentleness and charity. The only real difference between these two planets, Mars and Venus, arises from the special vibrations. Mars is attracted from without through desire and impulse.