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Malvin Artley has been a practising astrologer for more than a decade. 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.

Festival of the Quickening [part 2]
subtle meanings of the Full Moon in Taurus

In part two of the article, Malvin Artley explains the true meaning of Scorpio and the nature of the influence of the Warrior Planet, Mars. He discloses the origins of the scientific forces now so potently operating, by revealing the nature of the Primary Lotuses. This is all greatly amplified under the influence the current Grand Quintile aspect.

But the truth of the matter is that Scorpio is not actually ultimately about sexuality at all. It is about the resolution of dualistic thinking in its expression at the highest levels. I may have mentioned it before, but the sacral center or chakra in the human energy system is the seat of the sexual force in humanity. But it is also the seat of the mental elemental-the source of the lower, reasoning mind and of one's self-image. The whole mechanics and reasoning around this topic would take too long to go into here, but we should recognize that sexuality and polarized thinking go hand in hand until a late stage upon the spiritual Path. Sex eventually assumes its rightful place in a spiritual life as a natural expression of love and of union instead of sensual gratification. The mind eventually merges with the Soul as well and the sacral center is ultimately the outpost for union in the lower nature rather than the troublesome center most people tend to see it as.

Scorpio rules all these expressions of both the lower mind and of sexuality, but it is really this idea of union and of the end to polarized thinking that is the true goal of the Scorpio native. It is the lower mind that separates us. We see ourselves as separate entities in this world and the difference between the sexes is the first way in which we tend to see that. But at the level of the Soul there is no sense of separation. Scorpio is the sign wherein one gradually becomes aware of the “sin of separateness” and makes the true shift from the material world toward the spiritual realms. It is the sign through which orientation is trialed and where one's identification is gradually shifted “upwards”. It is the one sign that has more than a single identifying symbol. At its lowest level it is the scorpion bound to the earth and bearing the poison sting of unresolved psyche. At its highest expression it is the phoenix rising from the ashes of the fearsome conflict between Soul and persona and ascending to the heights of spirituality.

Mars, the Warrior Spirit

Mars is the warrior Spirit, and it will be of great interest to see what comes of the warring factions in Iraq as the years pass by, for the two great religions represented there-Islam and Christianity-are both ruled by Mars and both have a bloody history. Now, I know better than to say that one religion represents the Soul and the other the personality of humanity, since we are talking about a dual emphasis on Mars in Scorpio. Such is not the case. All true religious belief is divine. But what is of main interest with regard to that conflict is the clash of ideologies, the insistence that both have God on their side, the desires on both sides seeking to work out, the strong compulsive and unreasoning behavior of certain factions on both sides, the hidden agendas working out, the secretive nature of the governments involved and the view by many on both sides that the other side are a bunch of terrorists. We could go on and on with this, but hopefully the point has been made clearly enough. This Scorpio moon will do a lot to highlight these sorts of things in human affairs and will facilitate the necessary clearing process that will bring clearer heads to bear on the solution of the problem. Either that, or it will further polarize the factions involved and thus force what would then be an almost inevitable final conflict. The same or very similar things could be said of the Israeli/Palestinian problem and any of a number of other conflicts going on in the world.

There is another side of Mars in all this too, though. Mars rules empirical science to a great degree along with the fanatical adherence to scientific method, but this will eventually lead to the liberation of humanity from the slavery of mundane labor and the tyranny of restriction by the very nature of our physical form. The second Grand Quintile occurring at the time of the Scorpio moon is likely to be the impetus needed for certain discoveries and technological developments to come forth which will greatly serve to liberate humanity so that the pursuit of a spiritual life removed from the worry of the day-to-day battle for survival will be a much greater possibility for millions more upon our globe than is now the case. There is a rather interesting group of people whose main aim is to advance that very type of technology.

The Primary Lotuses

There is a class of Souls who are here from another planet within our solar system (and who have been with us for a very long time) who will receive a heightened stimulation under the auspices of this Grand Quintile. To esotericists they are known as “The Primary Lotuses”, and they are recognizable as the purely intellectually selfish scientific type. The reason they are with us here is two-fold: 1) to “round out” their own development by awakening the love fiat within them, and 2) for the introduction of certain types of machinery and advanced mechanical science for the needs of humanity. In this we see both their need and their service. They are said to be quite advanced in human terms. It is said that their work is deleterious at the moment due to their “lack of heart”, but that once the heart is opened within them “the wonders then to be achieved by them in loving service along their own particular line will be one of the factors which will regenerate the 4th kingdom [humanity].” They work largely with the energy of the mineral kingdom. In fact, every time a Uranus/Pluto quintile has come along since the inception of the industrial revolution in the 1700s these Souls have given us some of those wondrous machines and they have incarnated in great numbers over the past few hundred years.

We have seen a small indication of their work in recent days. I stated in the Grand Quintile article that every time a Uranus/Pluto quintile has come along since the industrial revolution there have been discoveries made that have enabled great strides to be made in public transport, among many other things. We have seen the beginnings of such a step forward with the successful test flight of the sub-space craft SpaceShipOne over the Mohave Desert last week. It may not seem like much of an achievement at the moment, but neither did the first flight of the Wright brothers 100 years ago. The flight last week has opened the frontier of commercial space flight and has thus broken another barrier for humanity, both literally and figuratively—the limitation of the common man to our own planetary sphere. The implications of this will be very far-reaching indeed—again, both literally and figuratively. There are several things of interest about this flight that really stand out, though, and which apply directly to the discussion of Scorpio and of Mars in general.

Firstly, this flight was funded entirely by private investors. There was no bureaucracy involved and that, in fact, was a snub of organizations such as NASA. Secondly, whenever private enterprise gets behind something then things move much more quickly that they would otherwise. Thirdly, the main investor involved mostly got his money from his own development of technology in service to humanity. The stated goal of the competition organizers is to make space travel accessible to everybody. The inventor of the craft—Burt Rutan—is an outspoken critic of the major aeronautical companies and NASA and loved nothing better than to be able to thumb his nose at such organizations. Known as an eccentric inventor, he said the craft was “100 times safer than anything ever flown into space”, and that safety was a major concern to him. Lastly—though much more could be said—anything Richard Branson has his hands in seems to turn out to be wildly successful, and he is a man of unique vision and purpose in the business world. The next decade will tell the tale. Of course, this would be a dream come true for me—all of my boyhood Spaceman Spiff-type fantasies coming alive!

The Rugged Individualist

Mars contributes much to what is called the “rugged individualist”—a person who is self-made, freedom-loving, a maverick free-thinker, self-reliant and highly individualistic, pioneers and leaders, astronauts and presidents, etc.—an American archetype to be sure, but one that ably fits so many people in the world, men and women alike. I have written and we have heard much about Mars this year. When the esoteric rulership of Mars takes over in the life of a Scorpio type, then the Scorpio tends to exhibit those traits of rugged individualism more and more. They stand out from the crowd and they lead by the sheer force of their example. We see this in the Aries type, too, but its expression through the Scorpio type is geared toward the betterment of the human condition, whereas in the Aries type it is more often selfish, Mercury being the esoteric ruler of the Aries type. In fact, the two signs are closely related through their rulers and they display traits in common, but the Mars double-rulership over Scorpio tends to be extreme in its effects on the person's life.

This brings us to the crux of what this full moon/Grand Quintile experience will be about. The base quintile of Uranus/Pluto calls upon all of our resources to be used in the cause of human upliftment in some manner. The fact that it occurs most potently through the Scorpio Grand Quintile points to this idea of rugged individualism being used as a force for change in world affairs. In every country we see people wanting greater security, wanting to take less and less responsibility for their actions and for what happens to them, wanting a more risk-free life and desiring material comfort and, in fact, demanding it as their right in many cases, all for a minimum of self-effort and as if they were owed what they desire.

Anyone who expects that to come from this period in world history is in for a rude shock, and Scorpio is just the sign to provide that sort of dynamic shock to the system. People are also apt to think of quintiles as wonderful aspects that bring rare beauty into the world. Well, ultimately they are and do. But the process of getting to that point is a far cry from that. Union with the Soul and the beauty and gifts born of that is a rocky road for humans and the Scorpio experience perhaps describes it better than any other sign. Eventually union and beauty does come through Scorpio, but it comes at a cost and with a lot of struggle.

In part three of this article, Malvin Artley concludes his remarkable article on the power of the Scorpion Moon Festival, by examining how the current aspects give us the impetus to live in the life of the Spirit.

Read part three of The Festival of the Quickening

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 letters are sent out as a gift and a service. If you wish to be added to or deleted from the mailing list please let me know. If you feel inspired to pass them on please do so, but do so without alteration or charge. They are sent to people of many persuasions, not just astrologers. Blessings. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.