Astrology on the Web: Festival of World Service

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Festival of World Service: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | Hidden Glory | White Capped Waves...

Malvin Artley has been a practising astrologer for the past 10 years. He is an accredited member of the American Federation of Astrologers.
Malvin is the author of Bodies of Fire: An Exploration of the Lesser Chakra System. He has authored numerous articles and was a member of the faculty of the University of the Seven Rays, a non-profit organization dedicated to the teaching of the Trans-Himalayan tradition as expressed through the books of Alice Bailey, Helena Blavatsky and others.
His primary focus over the past 25 years has been on the sciences as they express occultism and with bridging work between the two. His special interests are the human subtle energy system and all the chakras, or energy centres, physics and technology, astronomy and all aspects of Chinese occultism. He has done extensive work with Chinese astrology and the cycles they use and seeks to synthesize the great Western and Oriental systems on such matters.
Malvin lives in Adelaide, South Australia. He also works in the engineering trades and sends out periodic emails about astrological happenings and developments. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.

The Festival of the World Service
Subtle Meanings of the Full Moon in Leo

Malvin Artley looks at the meanings inherent in the current Full Moon in Leo, the Festival of World Service (Group Endeavour). This powerful Full Moon is the Full Moon for Aquarius (since the Moon is always full when in the opposite sign to the Sun). Aquarius is the sign of Group Endeavour and has a potent esoteric meaning, explored in this article. Malvin also publishes a regular astrological newsletter, to which you can subscribe by clicking the link at the end of this article.

Greetings Everyone!

Time once again for the Aquarius festival missive. The Christmas break was good, but now it is back to the work world and recovery from the holidays as we settle into another year. The energies that have been impinging upon us since the last full moon have been intense in many ways, and there has been many a comment made to me regarding the vagaries of Nature and the Heavens as we are all prodded, shaken and readied for the year in which we all now find ourselves.

Chinese New Year Begins in Aquarius

In the old medical astrological books we find that Aquarius, when under stress, tends to produce gloom, nervousness, and a hypersensitivity to stimuli. We have certainly seen a bit of that since the start of the Chinese New Year, which began on the first full day of Aquarius this year. But, in general, Aquarius is said to be a strong and optimistic sign, giving the humanitarian impulse, good vitality and the clarity of vision that works out in great services rendered to human-kind. This last point shows well why the Chinese choose to begin their year on the new moon of Aquarius.

This idea of getting back to work after a break is implicit in the idea of Aquarius. Some of you may not know, but Aquarius, like Capricorn, used to be ruled by Saturn before we knew anything about Uranus, and the psyche of Aquarius is all about service (as in Saturn) in response to a greater call and cause. This full moon takes place on the 6th of Feb 2004 at 7:48 PM AEDT (8:48 AM GMT). In last year's letter I called this the "Festival of World Service", or the "Festival of Group Endeavor". But there is, perhaps, little known as to the real reasons why Aquarius is so bound up with this idea of group service and humanitarian leanings. We are prone simply to think of its now orthodox ruler, Uranus, as being the planet that conveys that sort of energy. But, the truth of the matter lies not in the Heavens, but right under our very noses, for Aquarius - like Capricorn - governs a group of lives that are very intimately connected with our very nature.

Hierarchy of Lives

This Hierarchy of lives that Aquarius rules is a vast one and encompasses all that we see around us on this Earth. It is called by several names, such as "The Elemental Lives", "The Blinded Lives" and "The Baskets of Nourishment". We will take a look at each of these names in due course as we examine this most fascinating part of our nature, remembering as we go along that, not only are we looking at ourselves, but that we are also looking at everything else around us and that we are interconnected with all of that.

When we examine this class of lives that Aquarius rules we need to come to several realizations. Firstly, we are multi-leveled beings and what we see on a daily basis is naught but the lowest and densest part of our being. In esoteric teachings we are told that this dense physical part of us is not even a principle - that is, it is of the past and is not a part of our true evolutionary development. It is, in the end, an automaton which serves our needs - and quite remarkably so - but is no longer suitable to the true evolution of our psyche.

The Etheric Double

Secondly, the true evolutionary part of our physical makeup lies in what the clairvoyant would call the etheric counterpart of the dense body - the vitality body. It is this etheric body that is made reference to when one looks at what are called the elemental lives. This is the body that utilizes what is referred to as prana, chi or vitality and which passes that vitality to us in the dense body. It is the mold around which the dense body accretes, hence the name sometimes used for it--the etheric double. It extends outward beyond the surface of the dense physical body at a distance of about 1-3 inches (25-75 mm), is either bluish violet or yellow, depending upon the sight of the clairvoyant, and appears to be composed of a very fine mesh of filaments, making it look like a body of emanation rather than a body of causation. This etheric body is, in fact, composed of one main filament, interwoven within and wrapped around itself innumerable times and - as it turns out - directly connected with everything that we see, because everything has an etheric double - and we are all woven from the same thread.

This interweaving of the etheric thread is where we get the name "The Baskets of Nourishment", because every etheric body does indeed resemble a woven basket in many ways. And, it is the etheric double that nourishes its dense physical counterpart via the prana or vitality that it receives and transmits to the dense body. Were it not for the etheric double all that we see in the physical world would whither, die and cease to exist. This etheric double is composed of a single type of substance, or element, hence the name "elemental". There is also a particular class of deva or angelic lives that form this type of body from their substance. These devas are called the "Devas of the Shadows" and they are classed as devas "who hear, but see not", hence the name "The Blinded Lives". But, there is another name for this Hierarchy that Aquarius rules over, and it is called "The Prisoners of the Planet". A "Prisoner of the Planet" is defined as a deva life that forms a part of the planetary etheric body, to put it most simply. And, our etheric doubles are a class of such lives.

But, how exactly does this convey the idea of group work and service in relation to Aquarius? Read part two of The Festival of World Service and all will be revealed...

Malvin Artley is an accredited member of the American Federation of Astrologers. His primary focus over the past 25 years has been on the sciences as they express occultism and with bridging work between the two. His special interests in those fields are the human subtle energy system and all the chakras, or energy centres, physics and technology, astronomy and all aspects of Chinese occultism.
He sends out periodic emails about astrological happenings and developments. These email messages are sent as a gift and a sharing. They are sent to people of many persuasions, not just astrologers. Blessings. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.

Festival of World Service: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | Hidden Glory | White-Capped Waves...