Aries

Wisdom Teachings
The Signs of the Zodiac
Book: Aries. Sign and the Symbol

We human beings live on earth as upright beings, our head is the highest point. With the foetus, the head develops first. The other parts of the body grow downward along the spine. Consciousness, too, descends from the head through the vertebral column and becomes the earthly consciousness. On the way of evolution, consciousness ascends back through the spine up to the head, to the spiritual origin. The head and the base of the spine resemble two poles of a magnet, around the axis of which form the lines of force of our existence. The head is the apex. Earth’s axis around which the globe rotates, has its apex in the North Pole and in the Pole Star. In us, the head centre and the “I AM”-principle are the centre of rotation and the spine its axis.

Our head contains all the sense organs; the energetic centre at the apex of the head contains the higher equivalents of all energy centres arranged along the spine as well as the principles of all zodiacal signs - a miniature cosmos. The head is the most radiant part of our body, and its upper part is ruled by the fiery sign of Aries. The arch of the eyebrows and the nose can be meditated as the symbol of Aries (♈) in our face.

We human beings live on earth as upright beings, our head is the highest point. With the foetus, the head develops first. The other parts of the body grow downward along the spine. Consciousness, too, descends from the head through the vertebral column and becomes the earthly consciousness. On the way of evolution, consciousness ascends back through the spine up to the head, to the spiritual origin. The head and the base of the spine resemble two poles of a magnet, around the axis of which form the lines of force of our existence. The head is the apex. Earth’s axis around which the globe rotates, has its apex in the North Pole and in the Pole Star. In us, the head centre and the “I AM”-principle are the centre of rotation and the spine its axis.

Our head contains all the sense organs; the energetic centre at the apex of the head contains the higher equivalents of all energy centres arranged along the spine as well as the principles of all zodiacal signs - a miniature cosmos. The head is the most radiant part of our body, and its upper part is ruled by the fiery sign of Aries. The arch of the eyebrows and the nose can be meditated as the symbol of Aries

On its path from south to north, the sun crosses the equator on March 21 and we witness the spring equinox. When the sun cuts the equator, the circle formed by the apparent path of the sun around the earth and the circle formed by the earth going round the sun touch each other. Astrologically, the point of intersection at 0 degree Aries represents the beginning of the solar year: the equinox is the scissors cutting the annual ring and thus forming a new beginning. In Indian astrology, there is a moon constellation in Aries called Krittika in Sanskrit, meaning ‘scissors’. Man has received the cutting of the circles as a symbol from above and expressed it in the sign of Aries (♈). This sign also symbolises the head of a ram and signifies a straight dash of the eternity into the cycles of time.

In the circle of the year, Aries is the climax of the ascent of spirit out of matter. It is the highest point of light, the Medium Coeli of consciousness. As a cardinal fiery sign, Aries represents the electric or cosmic fire existing as pure consciousness, from which the entire creation springs. If we meditate on this sign at the time of Aries full moon, we can experience the most radiant light of our self. Aries is the sign of initiation and the sun is exalted in it. In a yogi, the solar principle is in the head centre and in man it is the principle of liberation. It is said that the great Master Jesus experienced his resurrection at Easter which is in Aries. Moses, the law-giver at the beginning of the Age of Aries and the disciple of the fire-god in the burning bush, is depicted as having two white horns on his head. They symbolise the dawn of the light of law in man through the head centre.

Aries represents the head. The Aries personality is considered to be an energetic leader and fighter who can defy every difficulty and sacrifice all to reach his goal. As head of an organisation, Aries can shake up people and get them enthusiastic about something. In this, however, he will follow his own path and do things entirely according to his own plan; he does not like any interference. In his action, he is obstinate and impulsive. At work as well as at home, he likes to be looked on as the boss. He might have a good deal of success and think of himself as great, but at the height of his success his pride and rashness may bring defeat to him.

In the East, there is a ritual in which symbolically the head is cut and replaced by the head of a ram: the ritualistic cutting of the throat and severing of the head indicates to us to replace our individual wanting and planning with the Divine will and plan, so that we can get a head suffused with light and expressing the truth. With right preparation, Aries offers us the opportunity to rise from personality consciousness to soul consciousness and to enter into a higher ring of the spiralic path. Otherwise, we move in a circle and then it is the same year after year. Especially, the first nine days of Aries are meant for the transformation of the head: each year, when the sun is at 9 degrees of Aries, the sun principle re-descends into us, giving a new dose of energy. The preparation for this should take place at least from the equinox in March. It is a preparation of at least 9 days.

Those who know choose the months of Aries, Taurus, and Gemini each year to bring in energies from higher circles and to transmit them to our planet. During Aries full moon, the energies are invoked into the centre called “Shamballa”, where the Lord of the planet resides in the etheric. From Aries full moon to new moon they are assimilated at this centre, so as to become acquainted with the descended energies and to gain mastery over them. During the full moon of Taurus, where the Vaisakh-festival takes place, the energies are transmitted to the centre called “Hierarchy”, which has an ashram in the ether in the Himalayan range. In Gemini, the Hierarchy transmits these energies to humanity. Therefore, each year in the month of Gemini the descent of the “Fiery Tongues” is celebrated in the West as the Pentecost festival. Also, in harmony with this rhythm, Master CVV received the energies of synthesis on March 10, 1910; they were conveyed to him via Halley’s comet whose tail passed through the earth at that time. For three months, he assimilated the energies and later distributed them to humanity in Gemini on May 29, 1910 and established this day as the day of group initiation.

Thus, the Aries full moon is related to the energy of the divine will, while the full moon of Taurus is related to love and wisdom, and the Gemini full moon to the light that radiates, transmits, and spreads love and will. In the physical body, Shamballa is located in the head centre and is linked up with the Lord Sanat Kumara who resides in Shamballa. The heart centre is linked with the Hierarchy and humanity with the throat centre. Humanity represents the personality, Hierarchy represents the soul aspect of our planetary system. Shamballa and the Hierarchy are one and the same, except that Shamballa is the blue inner and the Hierarchy the golden envelopment.

Before it is received, the divine Word is there, but it is not perceivable. That is why it is said in the Scriptures that the Word was with God and then it came to man. The God in man releases the Word and the man in God should listen and receive it, i.e., perceive it. The Word exists as utterer in Aries, as voice in Taurus, and as breath in Gemini, and then there is the Word as such. That is what is explained in the Scriptures as the four states of utterance or the four states of existence. That which we normally call the utterance is the vocal utterance. Before it is uttered forth, there is a basis for uttering it, that is the breath. Prior to that, there is the utterance at the thought level, and even before the utterance exists at the thought level, we are ourselves uttered forth from a centre. Once the Word comes to man, the seed of the Word develops in him, and the seed details into thought, before it is expressed. Purity of speech and thought is necessary for the seed to open up. The easiest way to purify oneself wisely is to utter mantrams mentally or vocally.

The reception of the seed is in Aries, its soaking is in Taurus, and its expression is in Gemini. By their nature Aries, Taurus, and Gemini are subjective and they are the subtle, causal principles. From Cancer onward the manifestation takes place and we go more into the material. There are 90 days of subjective preparation and 270 days for expression. The first quarter forms the seed for the expression of the other three quarters. Those who want to follow the spiritual path should very seriously utilise the months of Aries, Taurus, and Gemini for preparing the subjective nature. Thanks to the teachings of the Tibetan Master, the Ancient Wisdom was restored in form of the three full moon festivals of Aries, Taurus, and Gemini. But the knowledge and the celebration of these festivals is from time immemorial. May we not only respect this knowledge, but also make good use of it in our lives.

In the Egyptian “Book of the Death”, the God Ra is said to be in the solar egg. He is described to beam in his egg (the sun) and to start off as soon as the solar energy awakens and gives him the impulse. The solar God exclaims: “I am the creative soul of the celestial abyss. None sees my nest; none can break my egg. I am the Lord.” Ra is the mighty one and the egg is the symbol of Light, of immortality and eternity.

The Eastern wisdom knows the seed sound Ra or Ram as the sound of the Cosmic Fire, which permeates space. The symbolism of the egg forms one of the major keys of the ancient wisdom. It says that the globe of space manifests as a radiant golden egg from out of the darkness of the background and that the Creator, Brahma, lives in it. From out of the egg of the Presence comes the Cosmic Man. He manifests through number 10: the number 1 represents the I AM of the Lord, the number 0 or the egg represents the divine Nature. Before creation unfolds itself, it has the shape of an egg, later that of a lotus, as the ever unfolding principle. The poetic mind of the seers describes that the Mother of the World lives in a lake full of lotuses representing the many universes. With the unfolding of a lotus, the One Light of the “Mother of the Worlds” divides into 12 different kinds of light, radiates into the 7 planes of creation and lends them light and life. 12 x 7 makes 84, the number related to Uranus and his period of revolution around the sun. Therefore, Uranus is also regarded as the greater sun, on the spiritual plane he rules over the cardinal fiery sign of Aries.

According to the law of correspondences, the unfolding globe of the cosmos, the space globe surrounding us, and the egg in the womb are analogous. During the months of pregnancy, the egg grows up in the womb like the lotus in space. After birth, man follows his path within the egg or the sphere of the 12 signs of the zodiac. The stalk which links the egg with the ovary corresponds to the sunrise in the day and the zodiacal sign ascending at birth in the East, the ascendant. In the solar year, it corresponds to the vernal equinox, with which the sign of Aries begins. The tradition to celebrate the resurrection of Christ or the awakening of the spirit with eggs at Easter reminds us of the deep spiritual reality of the cosmic seed principle.

The symbol of Aries ♈ can be regarded as a blade of grass with two diverging leaves, from the middle of which the next generation of the node of tender grass leaf emerges. The annual herbs – like nearly all cereals, which are our chief foods from the plant kingdom – die by producing their fruit. For this reason, they symbolize the reaping and sowing of karma. Aries brings the new seed, the impulse for a fresh beginning; astrologically it is therefore the beginning of the year. During the full moon hours of Aries, the seed for the plan of the coming annual cycle is received by the great initiates from higher circles. After the reception of the seed in Aries, its “soaking” is in Taurus and in Gemini it is being expressed. Already before the seed is received, it exists, but it is not perceptible. Therefore, it is said that the Word was with God and then it came to man. Only when the Word comes to man, its seed develops in him. And the seed of the idea then spreads into the thought and is expressed later: it is the Will that proposes an idea, which we then should understand in the right way and afterwards put it into action.

To be able to receive the new seed and to express it, inner purity is necessary. The first 15 days of Aries are a good time for us to orient to the inner and to give a better order to our senses. Mantric sounds like “Sri Ram” help us with this. “Sri” stands for the splendour, the Divine Nature. The fiery sound is uttered and written repeatedly, in order to burn the impurities on the physical, emotional, and mental planes, making thus the personality transparent. The sound has the power to purify, protect and direct. It helps speedier transformation and generates intuitional following of the Law.

Another instrument is rituals. Initiates use rituals to replenish their will and to enable them to conduct great tasks in an effective manner. The flames of a fire ritual are meant to burn away impure thoughts and to bestow on us lightful thoughts. We can sit in the dawn hours with a pure body before a flame, looking to the East or the North-East and speak mentally with the flame: “O Master, please burn up the impure in me and give me the fiery power to conduct actions of good will.” Especially the fiery signs of the zodiac – Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius – as well as Sundays and Thursdays can give us a lot of fiery energy. By the way, the meaning of name of Master Djwhal Khul, who gave us the Treatise on Cosmic Fire, is “A Garland of Flames”. He has mastered the fiery element and therefore works for the transformation of the fire of mind. He knows how to cook and serve the wisdom in order to make it tasty for us, so that we are able to assimilate it.

The fiery energy of Mars rules Aries on the outer plane. It makes us fight with all that comes in our way, in order to conquer and defeat it. Power, determination, venture, rashness, and obstinacy are the keynotes of the lower Aries type. He thinks only of his intention and his action and not of how others see. He is the energetic type of a leader, who directly rushes at that which he wants to attain – no matter how much war, fight, and opposition there might be.

Outer fight comes from inner unrest. On the spiritual path, we have to learn to take the fight into the inner and to fight with our own personality. A good government will fight the inner weaknesses instead of fighting other nations. Only when we take the fight into the inner, we can overcome the lower, impetuous aspect of Mars. Thus, the power of discernment slowly awakens and with it the light of wisdom. The enlightened mind is Mercury, the higher ruler of Aries. When the light in the head grows more and more strong, Uranus finally becomes the Lord of Aries. He is the light ray of intuition, which is being received via the higher centres in the head. Therefore, Aries is considered to be the most radiant and most enlightened sun sign representing the upper part of the head and the midday light in the course of the day.

He who realizes the light in the head ascends into the divine kingdom. If, however, we grow in knowledge without wisdom and modesty, the pride in our own achievements grows. In the Eastern wisdom there is the history of Daksha, a very intelligent and skilful person. He was very proud of his abilities. The story tells that Daksha was made humble by the Lord by cutting his head and replacing it with the head of a lamb, which later developed to a ram. The exchange of the head symbolizes exchanging the individual plan with the Divine Plan. It is recommended to ponder on this story each year in the month of Aries, in order to harmonize one’s own plan of life with the Divine Plan and to begin the annual cycle in the right way.

The circle is a symbol of the eternal existence, which has no beginning and no end. A circle is formed from its centre; it does not have its origin on the circumference, but in the central point. In the centre the beginning of all things can be seen, how they develop and dissolve again. From the circumference we can only see what has already come into being, but not how. People dominated by the intellect move only along the circumference, and cannot reach the centre. Standing at our centre we see the things and events on the background of eternal existence. Therefore, the Scriptures say: “Man know thyself, do not try to understand other things first.”

When we mark an event as beginning, we have to define another as an end. It is a concept of our mind, a frame which we set up for ourselves. Depending on the point where you begin with the subdivision of the circle, you get a view of the wisdom. The circle of the solar year has four points of beginning: the equinoxes of spring and autumn as well as the solstices of summer and winter. As a basis for the subdivision of time, you can also take the lunar cycles and thus obtain the lunar year which is used by some nations and religions. Some people also have taken the Venus cycles as basis for a year. With the Venus cycle you work with the line of immortality, the lunar cycles stress the influence of the past, the solar cycles the consciousness.

To begin the year with the 1st of January which is in use today does not correspond to any of these cycles, but is a date arbitrarily fixed by people in more recent times, without knowledge of the ancient wisdom. The names of the months of September, October, November, and December contain the names of the Latin numbers for 7, 8, 9, and 10 and still hint to the old order: if December is the tenth month, it cannot be the closing of the year, but January is the eleventh and February the twelfth month. March with the equinox at 0 degree of Aries is then the beginning of the new annual cycle. The wisdom teachings also look upon it like this. When we try to live according to the eternal values, we should follow this understanding, then a deeper knowledge about time reveals to us. With this however, we should not reject the social customs, but respect them.

Every time several planets enter into Aries, this is a time of a new beginning. Every year when the sun crosses the spring equinox, Aries supplies fiery energies for changes. Life gets a powerful impulse so that it does not move in a circle, but progresses in spirals. The sun stands for consciousness, and like the plants now strive out of the ground with full power and start to blossom, the individual consciousness also has the opportunity now to spring up. Therefore, the season starting now is called “spring” in English. When we see the outer spring, we should yearn for the inner spring. The spirit should awaken, collect itself, and break through the individual egoism and ascend into higher realms.

The sign of Aries rules the head. The meditation in the month of Aries recommends meditating on the symbol of Aries (♈). It starts from the tip of the nose and diverges through the eyebrows. We can imagine that we are a lotus unfolding right from the eyebrows and above. We can imagine our nose as the stag of the lotus, the eyebrows as the preliminary bifurcated petals of the lotus and the forehead and the upper part of the head as a globe of light positioned in that lotus. We can contemplate the top of the lotus having 1000 dimensions, just like a diamond stone which is well cut emitting brilliant light. The mantram for this meditation is SOHAM, meaning “That I AM”: we do not identify any longer with the individual life of our personality, but with the great Life, like the wave identifies with the ocean. SOHAM is the song of the respiration, of the pulsating principle. SO expresses through the inhalation and HAM through the exhalation. The sound SO shall have to be visualised at the head centre and the sound HAM right from the throat centre. With this, the part between the throat centre and the head centre should be consciously pervaded by us while we utter forth the sound inwardly.

Aries contains the potential of all other sun signs; we can experience in it the energy of the whole year in a seed form. Like this, the knowers experience in Aries the Plan for the year. It is also a good time for us to set up a plan for the year and to consider improvements. The equinox offers an opportunity to make an introspection, to examine our way of life and to think about the areas in which we can improve something: in our dealing with time, with food, drink and sleep, with money or with our fellow men.

From ancient most times the spiritual student is recommended to deeply consecrate and live with utmost purity from the beginning of Aries on, in order to attune to the energies of Aries. They try to live on minimum food and drink, try to speak as little as possible, and link up to the highest possible awareness. Above all, in the time from Aries new moon to full moon, they devote themselves to a yogic program in order to bring all the five senses to a state of equanimity, to give them an order and thus to keep them in a good state for the rest of the year. Our program for the year substantially depends on how we orient ourselves during these 15 days.

The senses are compared with wild, untamed horses governed by Mars, the ruler of Aries. They draw us to the outside and make us run after the material things. With this we overexert our energies, we become tired and exhausted. Here, the horses decide where the chariot goes and not the charioteer. This can go to a point where even the chariot breaks, that is that by a wrong, excessive lifestyle the body becomes sick and dies. When we give an order to the senses, we take the reins. With our sense of discrimination, we neutralise the negative, impetuous activity of Mars. Then Mercury becomes the ruler of Aries, he transmits to us the light of the soul. The light does not manifest by itself, but it emerges when we invoke the soul and the presence of the Master.

For the one who is living at the soul level, Uranus becomes the ruler of the sign. Uranus causes sudden changes. His motto is: “Be open for the unexpected, for new possibilities.” Uranus initiates work in accordance with the Plan, give a new direction to life, and last long.

It is an ancient-most knowledge that Aries provides the opportunity to ascend into higher stages of existence. Likewise, in the month of Aries, on Good Friday the Passover festival is celebrated, a passing over into higher circles of existence. In harmony with that Master Jesus has manifested this through death and resurrection. The heavens are open at this time, and with the right preparation and alignment we can receive the incoming energies.

Sources used: K. P. Kumar: Hercules: The Man and the Symbol / seminar notes / E. Krishnamacharya: Spiritual Astrology. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India. - A. A. Bailey: Esoteric Astrology, Lucis-Trust, London. ( www.netnews.org / www.lucistrust.org ).