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The Christ Festival [part 2]
subtle meanings of the Full Moon in Libra 2005

Malvin Artley continues his discussion of the Full Moon in Libra, the Easter Moon for 2005. In this second part of the article, he analyses the profound, archetypal relationship between Aries, Mercury and Uranus, in the quest for intuition—and revelation.

Mercury is the planet that is most associated with the mind in orthodox astrology. In esoteric astrology, Mercury is associated with pure reason, or intuition. Regardless of the perspective, Mercury is the Messenger of the Gods—Hermes—“that carries messages between the poles with the speed of light”. It is the intermediary between the Higher and the lower—the Leader and Evocator of Souls. It is Mercury that gives the flash of intuitive insight that drops into the reasoning mind and sets off tidal waves of new thoughts. Mercury also causes conflict in the reasoning mind because all-too-frequently the insights that we glean through the intuition are at odds with many of the constructs that the lower mind has carefully constructed, often over many years. Mercury unites the three types of mind through its activity. It is the liquid light of the kundalini fire as it courses through our system, dispelling the illusions to be found in the fiery pit of the human mind. It eventually relates the Soul with the human brain through the activity of the kundalini. Its mission is one of extreme importance to our planet, because it relates our world to the constellations. It is, therefore, the major planet of relationships, astrologically and universally considered.

Mercury, the Mind and Intuition

The idea of Mercury bringing about conflict is important in our consideration here because it goes to the core of a true understanding of the Aries type. Mercury rules over the Hierarchy that is, in its highest essence, us. The human monads (our highest spiritual essence) are ruled by Scorpio and thus by Mercury, and those Lives (we, in other words) evolve and do their (our) work through the agency of the human Soul, which primarily expresses through the intuition.

People are apt to think that having an intuitive experience is a wonderful thing—and it is. But, it can also be a most disconcerting experience. At one and the same time, that experience means that we have temporarily risen above the lower realms and have been given a glimpse into the higher worlds, where all things are known without thought (as we recognize it), all things are known as a whole and all things are, essentially, One. The reasoning mind wants things in neat, nice little patterns and compartments. Intuition doesn't work that way. With intuition, we get the whole puzzle already assembled whereas, with the mind, we get pieces of the puzzle at different periods of time and parts of the whole, but with the pieces often all jumbled together and forced into patterns that simply were not meant to be. A piece of a puzzle looks very different to the big picture. Intuition gives us the Big Picture. When we have such an experience our minds are often left reeling because we see what we have pieced together previous to the experience, but it often bears little, if any, semblance to the concept that has just been dropped into the mind. We are then presented with an immediate choice: Do we continue on the old currents of thought or do we readjust our thinking? Hence, we have conflict—but also eventual resolution—because of the intuition.

The Agent of Intuition brings Revelation

What has all this to do with Aries, though? Mercury, as the agent of the intuition, brings revelation. It is always the work of the Soul to reveal the Higher to the lower and to bring the two poles into relation. Its very essence is Light. Revelation as experienced through the Scorpio experience is heart-rending, often violent, initially blinding and intensely personal, since it relates the lower self to the Soul. Revelation as it comes through Aries is not so violent in an individual sense. Revelation through Aries relates to the world view, and not so much to the individual. Aries brings through universals, whereas Scorpio brings through more intimate revelations. Aries relates groups to universal Archetypes, whereas Scorpio relates the individual to the collective. Scorpio produces unity through conflict with the dualities in one's own nature. Aries produces the unity of groups, and thus institutes a more universal order. When those groups begin to work together under the newer order, then the phrase “Unity through effort” as it applies to Aries begins to manifest itself. The Light (of intuition) that comes through with the Aries interlude is thus only dimly sensed by an individual, whereas the Light that comes through Scorpio is the Light of Day and the lower worlds are thus illumined. The preceding can be boiled down thus: Certain needed work is sensed by the great Lives who oversee the development of our world. The impulse is sent out at the Aries interlude. It is transmitted via Mercury to the human monads (our eternal Spirit), who thus send it on to the human Soul. It is imparted to the lower self through a flash of intuitive insight, and the lower self is thus influenced. That which is begun in Aries is finished (finally related) in Scorpio, in a manner of speaking.

From the preceding paragraph we can perhaps see why any impulse coming through Aries would be so dimly sensed. It comes from levels higher than even a Master would be able to sense in any great detail. I have left out a lot of the detail in how all this works, anyway. Essentially, we are dealing here with a type of energy that originates from far beyond the planes of our recognition, and it then acts primarily on the highest spiritual level to which we can attain. Yet, most people are not even yet cognizant of their own Souls, much less the most refined and spiritual part of themselves. In this we can also begin to see why the 0 degrees of all the cardinal signs are called “world view points” in horary astrology, because all of those points tie in with Aries by aspect, and they thus influence great masses of humanity via the most spiritual part of ourselves. That is why, as well, those world view points are so often disruptive in their influence. The monad is our spiritual will, and it is only at a very late stage in our spiritual evolution that we respond positively to it at all or even recognize it for what it is. We should be mindful, too, that humanity is the way-station and the middle point between the higher worlds and the subhuman kingdoms in nature. In a similar manner, the Hierarchy ruled by Aries is also a middle point and a way-station for Existences far beyond our comprehension. Yet, They influence us via this sign, and most potently at this time of year. Given all this, Aries—via humanity—transmits an energy to the lower worlds that seeks to unify the lower with the Higher. It seeks to readjust the outer worlds to make us and them a more suitable expression of the Divine. It unifies all lives through common effort. Thus, the Aries type always responds to this archetype and is molded by it, albeit imperfectly.

The Aries type is therefore always the pioneer and the introducer of the new into the world at large. It is rare that an Aries type, or the person who experiences intuition through the Aries interlude, will see the whole of the intuition thus dropped into his/her mind and be able to bring it through into a workable reality, though. One of the better examples of this type of Aries is found in J.S.Bach, one of the fathers of modern music. He was also the founder of modern musical counterpoint and his work is legendary. A little biographical study would reveal the truth of the matter. He was definitely visionary for his time and much of what he brought through to the world of music in his day was pioneering. Sometimes the visions seen by the Aries type are so far in advance of presenting human development that they take many generations to completely work out. One of the best examples of that instance can be found in Leonardo da Vinci—a man definitely ahead of his time.

Archetypal Energies

Astrology is full of paradox and seeming contradiction. The psychology of all the astrological signs is based upon archetypal energies that were passed on to this world long ages ago. They represent the collective workings of the 12 Hierarchies of lives, and that symbolism has been handed down to us through the various world mythologies throughout human history.

As a case in point, with Aries we have a group of Lives that expresses Unity through Effort, as has been stated. At that exalted level, Aries expresses both unity and action (effort). At the middle level (esoteric rulership), Aries still expresses as unity, but it does so usually only after it has challenged the status quo in thought through the agency of new lines of thought. At the lowest level, Aries works alone and has to learn cooperation. That is its task in like-to put forth new initiatives and to energize them, hopefully in cooperation with others. We often see quite the reverse of that with the Aries type. All too often, what we see in the psychology expressed through the typology of the signs runs counter to its divine counterpart. Once again, it is a case of “Daemon est Deus inversus”, or the material is the inverse reflection of the divine.

Uranus, the Hierarchical Ruler

A few final points to be made in this discussion regarding Aries rest with its Hierarchical ruler, which is Uranus. As we know, Uranus is the planet of the new, of science, of change and of new order. It is the planet that brings the urge to better conditions and which introduces new structure or order into the world. But, the fact is that the true potential of Uranus is not sensed until a late stage in a person's spiritual evolution. Until that time, its effect is disruptive, and it leads the seeker onto the greater burning ground in preparation for major expansions of consciousness (initiations). Its work is analogous to that of Mercury but at a higher level, and it rules the path of occultism, in distinction the mystical path. It rules “that which is essential”, that which must be discovered. It is the primary planet that rules the principle that materializes that which is in need of manifestation-providing the impulse for all other planets that deal with that type of force. It represents absolute time—the timeless moment—in distinction to the finite time that we know as human beings. And, as a result of all the preceding, it is the planet that characterizes the scientific mind, for science in its highest essence is that activity and line of endeavor that reveals the Mind of the Creator to humanity. It thus shows us the purpose of everything in manifestation. That last statement is a far cry from what most people see as “science”. Science gets a bad rap these days in many quarters.

In its highest essence and most essential expression, however, Uranus could be said to be the planet that brings at-one-ment between our world and the desires of the Divine. It is ultimately the Great Unifier of the zodiac. It works with the principle of magnetic response to divine desire, if we can understand such a thing and it stands as the way-station of the psyche of the Lord of our world. That it is seen as disruptive in orthodox interpretations points squarely to the fact that we have a long way yet to travel on our way back to the heart of God and that we are also yet a long way from perfection. If we were at that exalted state of being there would be no real need to have adjustments in our thinking and behavior because we would always be in right relation and timing with the divine. Our hearts would beat as one with the great Heart. It may also be of interest to note that Aries has a strong response to music, whether it is the music we create or the music of the spheres. Some of the foremost expressions of this are to be found in the likes of J.S. Bach (already mentioned), Modest Mussorgsky, Béla Bartok, Arturo Toscanini, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ravi Shankar and Leopold Stokowski, to name a few in the classical field. In popular music the list gets quite a bit more extensive: George Benson, Chico Marx, Doc Watson, Tiny Tim, Chaka Khan, Billy Holiday, Henry Mancini, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross and Mariah Carey—and these are only for starters. All of these people have brought more harmony into our lives, both literally and figuratively, and they have often either pioneered phases of music, or they have been quite novel at the very least.

In part three of this article, Malvin examines the effects of the interesting and unusual aspect patterns that are associated with this Easter Moon.

Click to read part three of The Christ Festival