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  • Wisdom for practice
  • Wisdom is applied knowledge
  • Wisdom spreads itself

Wisdom for practice

Wisdom is for practice, not for continuous speaking. If we keep on speaking about the Masters, the Rays, and the Hierarchies, we are only missing our duties for the present.

Wisdom is applied knowledge

Knowledge, when applied becomes wisdom. We gain a lot of knowledge, but it has to be applied in daily life, then it transforms itself into wisdom. Through wisdom we will experience the existence.

Wisdom spreads itself

We need not be anxious to spread the wisdom without working it with ourselves. It is a wrong understanding if one thinks that he can spread wisdom. Wisdom knows how to spread itself. It only needs channels.

Libra

Part 1

Libra - Blossoming into Objectivity

The twelve signs of the zodiac have a deep inner order, which is characterised by relations and rhythms. The cyclical movement of time makes rotate the cycle of the year and progress the evolution of life. The way of the sun crossing the equator at the spring and autumn equinoxes creates a division of the unity of the circle into two halves, which marks the beginning of the signs Aries and Libra. Thus two poles are born, with Aries as the upper and Libra as the lower pole.

While Aries symbolises the emergence of the first impulse of life out of the background, Libra represents the full blossoming into objectivity. In this month the beauty of nature is considered to be particularly transparent and radiant, like the golden sun of a brilliant autumn day.

The Material Pole of Life

The splendours of the modern civilisation, big cities, industries and the finest luxuries of life are expressed through the sign of Libra. Food and drink, dresses and jewels, make-up and fashion also are located in this sign.

In the Eastern wisdom Aries is noontime and Libra midnight. Libra is the material pole of life, where the outer side predominates and spirit reaches its “touchdown” point of condensation. The inner and the outer man are separated and become estranged. Thus Libra causes an externalisation of man through the five senses.

The passion for the outer life puts us away from the natural life. Anything in excess is the lower aspect of the Libra-energy: Our over-industrialisation as well as our extreme display of fiction, crime, and sex through the media. Also the frenzy and competition dictating modern life are qualities of the Libra-pole. In order to escape from it, people think that the wilderness is far better than the concrete jungles of the cities. But as long as the inner centre has not been found, the two arms of the scale are not balanced:

“Equilibrium is a proportionate tension of energy. … It is of no consequence whether equilibrium is acquired in desert or city - the main requisite is constant tension. The path of tension is the path of striving, that is to say, the path of life” it says in the book “Brotherhood” § 44.

Finding the Equilibrium

At Libra-midnight spiritual darkness prevails, and the illusion of material life keeps man imprisoned. When the light of wisdom is missing, this leads to wrong outlooks and values, to wrong dealings with power, sexuality and money. Libra symbolically represents the fall of man; it is the place where the pendulum of life is halting between pouring out and back, the pause between exhalation and inhalation.

The inner centre stimulating the pulsation slowly makes the sweep of the pendulum go again into the opposite direction. We begin feeling that the search for happiness in the outer does not satisfy us and that also restless activity or the constant search for a new kick cannot cover up the stale feeling of inner void.

A practical spiritual life integrates the man in objectivity with the man in subjectivity and brings the Libra-energies to balance. Thus we link the lower pole with the higher and overcome the excessive attraction into objectivity.

A regular practice of conscious breathing for a couple of minutes, with a comfortable mind and body, helps us to bring the mind into the interior. With each inhalation we go deep into our own being and with each exhalation we pull up the being into the heart centre. Listening to the rhythm of respiration rids of emotional and lower mental currents and brings us into contact with the pulsating life principle. Then Libra works from the heart centre and no longer with the passionate energies of the solar plexus.

The pair of scales in balance is the symbol (♎) and the message of the sign. It is the sign of reconciliation and calls on us to establish right human relations, in which one side doesn’t dominate the other.

The Man in the Woman

The seventh house of the horoscope related with Libra stands for marriage and partnership as well as for the polarity of the sexes. Mars, the ruler of Aries, represents the masculine force and Venus, the ruler of Libra, the feminine. Aries is the man and Libra is his wife.

Here we find however an inner inversion: In Aries it is said that it is the woman in man. Man is projected, and the woman is inside. In Libra it is the woman, and the man is within the woman. The woman of Libra seems to be very tender and soft, but inside she is very strong. In the Eastern symbolism this is illustrated by the goddess Durga mounting on the lion, called the “Mother Impermeable”. It is recommended to meditate on this symbol in the month of Libra.

The one who has neutralised Libra in himself is no longer polarised towards sex. Therefore it is said that all initiates are androgynous (male-female): Their woman or man are within, and hence they do not look out for a completion.

Magnetic Presence

Magnetised iron is the metal of Libra, because it forms the lower pole of the magnet. Just like a magnet generates a harmonic order among iron filings, the magnetic presence of the initiate induces a higher order in the life-tendencies of the people. This is done very naturally, through a touch on the soul level. The initiate simply is, he doesn’t want to produce an effect or to be something special: “I am one among all, and I am one in all” - the contemplation on this sentence awakens the awareness of the essential equality as the foundation of the common life and leads to the highest aspects of group consciousness.

Part 2

The Formation of Objectivity

In various wisdom teachings creation is described as an inverted tree, whose roots rise upwards and whose branches are turned downwards. The tree of life grows down from space; its roots are the causes in the subtler planes, while its branches are the manifestations in the gross matter. Man too resembles this tree, whose upper pole is the head, out of which the vertebral column grows down. From there the nervous system, the manifestation of the subtle lines of force, branches out and reaches the extreme ends of the body, the five senses and the organs of action. What the vertebral column is to the two sets of the efferent and afferent nerves, the line between the points of the two equinoxes at the beginning of Aries and Libra is to the zodiac. Libra represents the lower pole of creation; it expresses objectivity coming out of subjectivity. Here the material manifestation blossoms in all its fullness and beauty. Libra is therefore also regarded as the full moon of the year.

Through the attraction of objectivity the perfect creation comes into the imperfect creation and we get into conditioning. Adam and Eve were happily living in the perfect creation, the Garden of Eden, until they were attracted by objectivity and had the feeling that they were missing something. The snake climbed down the Tree of Knowledge, which symbolically represents involution, the fall of man into matter. Eve touched the apple and wanted to taste it. When she had tried it, she felt a sense of shame. Subsequently Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise and got coats of skin. This is a symbolic representation of the formation of objectivity.

We experience objectivity through the five senses, through them the inner man comes out and externalises. Objectivity and subjectivity are the two scales of the one balance. When we identify with a part, we lose the sight of the whole. Thus Libra separates the inner man from the outer and causes limitation and attraction to objectivity. Excessive attraction is passion. At the lower pole of Libra man gets under the spell of passion for money, power, sex, and falls. Libra separates the purity of Virgo and the power of Scorpio. Spiritual Astrology explains that originally the second half of Scorpio and the first half of Virgo formed one sun sign of the perfect zodiac consisting of 10 signs, and there was no differentiation of sexes. The beginning activity of Libra gave rise to the dawn of the mental plane and of objectivity. On the physical plane the separation into man and woman came up and the attraction of the sexes. Also in us there were only 10 sun signs when we were born: Until the age of 7 Libra has not yet formed in the body and not yet separated the sexes. When at this age boys and girls look at each other, the sting of sexuality is not there. The separation of sexuality only unfolds between the age of 7 and 14. Now the urge to unite and the corresponding passion also develop.

Passion and Dispassion

Passion leads to one-sidedness and puts away from the natural life. Anything in excess, like the extreme display of fiction, crime, and sex are lower aspects of Libra. It rules over exaggerations as well as over the search for balance. Its seat in the body is the navel centre, the pivot of the average man. For him the colour of the sign vibrating through his solar plexus is crimson-red. He wrongly regards his affections tinged with emotions as love. Here Venus is the regent of the sign. As seventh sign Libra corresponds to the seventh house of the horoscope representing the marriage partner, friendships and enmities.

For the developing Libra-type learning a good use of time, money and opportunity the colour is violet. He is marked by a sense of justice, the art of reconciliation and building right human relations. He should develop a right sense of discrimination and not pay too much attention to little things to the detriment of greater value. Thus he comes under the influence of Saturn, who in a slow, deep process teaches him the necessary discipline which balances the scales: On the way over the “burning ground” all impurities are burnt away and all imbalances are eliminated by crises. We feel our personality crises as a burning in the solar plexus, and many get stomach problems etc. But the purification work of Saturn prepares for us the ground for the ascent - supported by Uranus: He helps to break the bonds of old forms to lift man up into the life of the soul. Here the colour of Libra now becomes a mixture of blue and pure white.

When we have well organised our social, economic and domestic activities, so that they don’t cause any more troubles for us, we slowly will become integrated personalities: We then find time to bring the objective activity into balance with the subjective and to ascend into higher states of awareness. By inner detachment we learn to act with dispassion in the outer, standing firm in the centre, and to neutralise Libra in us. “Labor for the good of the world will afford the proper balance. Labor evokes joy and cognizance of Infinity, and imparts a realization of the mobility of the worlds.” (Supermundane, § 102)

Neutralisation of Libra

He who has neutralised Libra in him is called pure and is compared with a child between the first and seventh year. His urge for sexuality falls away, his polarisation is continuously towards the inner light and not towards something else. Therefore it is said that all initiates are androgynous: they have found their woman or man within and do not search outside, whether they lead a family life or remain unmarried. By Libra disappearing in us Virgo - Scorpio become again one sign, and we get the zodiac of ten signs of the perfect creation, the Garden of Eden. Venus, symbolising in the early stages of development the tempting serpent, now becomes the pure ray of divine beauty beyond form. Like the presence of the magnet rearranges and magnetises the molecules of an iron bar, the presence of divine beauty causes in man a rearrangement of his etheric currents. Then the energy rises through the sushumna, the channel within the vertebral column, and “lifts up the earth to the Kings of Beauty”.

Part 3

Finding the Inner Balance

At autumn equinox the sun crosses the equator in southward direction and enters into the cardinal airy sign of Libra. The two equinoxes of Aries and of Libra form an axis dividing the circle of the year into two halves: Aries is the higher pole, Libra the lower one. Aries represents the first emergence of the spirit, Libra the full blossoming of material manifestation. Here the spirit has poured itself totally out into objectivity and man is in danger to forget the inner world. Therefore Libra is also called the midnight of the spirit. The symbol of Libra (♎) has two horizontal lines standing for the horizontal life in the outer world. The upper line hoversabove like a bird and doesn’t touch the lower line. Thus man should live in inner equilibrium in objectivity without getting caught by it.

The balance measures what you give and get. Libra marks the birth of the sense of justice, and therefore Saturn is exalted here. Libra is the sign of balancing the opposites and of equilibrium. It teaches us through crises to find the right balance. Equilibrium means not to get overwhelmed by the events of life. When we fall out of balance, we waver in our moods and our likes and dislikes. People whom yesterday we still regarded as friends are now for us enemies. We get brushes and run into problems and crises. The consequences are irritability, anger and imbalance. They disturb the lower centres, and we feel our crises in the stomach, at the solar plexus, in the area ruled by Libra. With crises the frictional fire leads us through Libra and Scorpio to the burning ground. Those who aren’t connected with the thread of light of the soul fall here through passion into an abyss.

Libra symbolizes the passionate fascination for the life in the outer world and for the pleasure of nice clothes, eating and drinking, of money, power and sex. It stands for the separation of mankind into man and woman, and as long as the Libra energies are active in us, both are attracted by each other. Thus Libra, the seventh sign of the zodiac, is related to the seventh house of the horoscope representing the partner and the polarity of sexes. We search for a partner, because we have the feeling that we are missing something which we could get from the outside. In this stage Venus in her emotional qualities rules over Libra. When we turn inward and look for union with the soul, we get under the influence of Saturn. He disciplines us and teaches us right action in accordance with the Law. Our likes and dislikes are neutralized, and we don’t reject other people any more. Our feeling of being a separate entity slowly disappears and we realize that the one soul represses through us, that we are brothers and sisters and have one father. Here Venus is again ruler of Libra.

The period of life related to Libra is the seventh group of seven years, the time from 42 to 49. If not already learned, it is now the time to work with dispassion in the outer and to serve the family as well as the society without expectations. The 49th year of age is considered to be particularly significant to overcome the personality and to triumph over the influence of money, sex and power.

The Mother on the Tiger

As long as the soul isn’t ruling the personality, the latter is like an untamed beast. Therefore the eastern wisdom recommends to meditate in the month of Libra on the symbol of the Divine Mother riding on a tiger. She is called Durga, the “Impenetrable Mother”. If we think of her, she gives us a spark of light in order to penetrate the darkness of material illusion. It is recommended to align to the light during the fifteen ascending moon phases from Libra new moon to Libra full moon and to contemplate on the energies of the Mother. She deblocks the way, so that we can go through the second half of the year without getting entangled in the illusions of matter. Thus the higher taste for light makes the lower taste for sex fall away.

The Pulsation of Breathing

For being able to reverse the downward flowing energies and to lead the mind to the inner, the science of breathing is an important key. If used correctly breathing dynamises the vital force and helps us to lift up the emotions of the solar plexus to the love of the heart centre. With every inhalation we go deep into our being and with every exhalation we draw energies of the lower centres upwards. Thus Libra gets neutralised, and its energies shift from the navel to the heart centre. Each time we react in an impulsive or emotional way our respiration rhythm gets disturbed, it is cramped by mad rush and fear. Most people therefore don’t breathe in a normal and balanced manner. Deep, conscious breathing lets the energy of the soul pour in from the soul and fills us with energy.

It is very pleasant to regularly breathe consciously for a certain time in the morning and in the evening – slow, soft, deep and uniform. We should sit comfortably, in a friendly mood. We breathe through the nose and keep the tongue at the upper palate without touching the teeth and without the upper and lower teeth coming together in the front. This allows the mouth to relax. A proposal is to do 27 breaths in groups of three breaths each, with little pauses, and to feel the echo of the pulsation during the pauses. With the breathing the pulsation brings the vital force from the surrounding space into our inner and pushes out the stale matter and thus strengthens our body. The pulsation is the subtle aspect of breathing. When we meditate on the pulsation of the breath, inhalation and exhalation slowly approach each other and then merge. Mind ad respiration neutralise each other. Our mind meets with the consciousness which makes us breathe: It breathes in and out. The inhalation and exhalation in their subtle aspects are called in Sanskrit prana and apana, while the balance of the respiration impulses is named samana. In the science of Yoga of the East it is known since ages that when prana and apana are brought to a balance, the breathing energy ascends to the head (there called udana) and that from there the vital breath of the soul (vyana) runs through the entire body as its light. These are the five pulsations of the science of breathing circulating through our body.

The inhalation carries in itself the sound SO, the exhalation the sound HAM. SO-HAM is called the sound of the pulsating bird of respiration. Hovering in balance, at the point where inhalation becomes exhalation and exhalation inhalation, there is created a gap, an interlude of silence, where contemplation opens the doors to the higher worlds. Here the soul is liberated from its ties to the triple body and comes to rest at the secret place of the most high. Detached it lives in peace and contemplates on the vision gained. Returning from there it brings along inspiration and power to express thoughts and deeds of good will in everyday life.

Part 4

The Full Moon Point of the Year

The full moon point of the year is during the sign of Libra, when material manifestation has come to full fruition, and creation has totally poured itself into the outer world. Like a bubble bulging to the size of a globe, Libra governs the growth of an impulse from the centre to the circumference. If you examine the rotation from the centre, you will find dual forces: the radiating force, which brings diversity from centre to circumference, and also the blending force, which brings unity from diversity. Libra therefore represents the fulcrum-principle of the universe, which causes the rotation of the wheel, and the grand miracle of objectivity coming out of subjectivity.

Libra is the birth of the polarity of inside and outside as well as the duality of the sexes. Its birth is due to the dawn of the mental plane on our planet. The mental sheath of man forms the demarcation line of objectivity, which serves as a mirror or surface of reflection, and separates the higher from the lower, the inner man from the outer. On the surface of mind, the faculties of the five senses evolve and open up the channels connect to the outside. It is the purpose of the senses to allow consciousness to experience objectivity, but not to lose itself in it. However, attraction to objectivity draws the inner man toward the outside powerfully, and a dark curtain obscures the inner light. The fall into creation, or matter, points to the story of Adam and Eve and the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

The symbol for the sign of Libra, the beam with two scale pans, symbolizes the horizontal expansion into the outer world. The trinity of the air signs (Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra) are all double signs, illustrating the interplay of spirit and matter. Aquarius has two electric wavy lines (♒), which cause the emergence of the name- and formless essence as Sound and Light into space and time. Gemini brings down the Light, as symbolised by the vertical lines of the sign (♊). Libra (♎) is its manifestation in the horizontal, in objective life.

Over-stimulation

Libra is a symbol for equilibrium and balance. The scale pans of the sign are also referred to as the scales of justice. Sagittarius, the sign of Judges, is linked with Libra, through a sextile aspect, as well as Leo, the sign of the ruler protecting the law. When the weights on the scales are unequally distributed, a state of imbalance, exaggeration, and passion is created. All false values and excesses of today’s civilisation are a lower aspect of Libra. In business, the demands and desires of people are stimulated to an extreme via marketing. Then products are offered to satisfy the desires. Banks, insurers, car companies, and the fashion & cosmetics industries all do it. The ordinary mind responds to this stimulation. Even though we are already overactive, we are stimulated further by people with an even greater concrete mind, causing us to become lost. When we are passing by shops, a feeling of desire for one thing or another immediately arises. We buy without having planned, and in the absence of any real need. Meanwhile at home, we already have more things than we need. At the moment of the purchase, we are emotionally driven, and we are slaves to the situation. When we waste money, we must not be fooled into thinking that nothing bad happens. Money unnecessarily spent contributes to a crystallization. We form a habit of stimulated actions, which are reactive in nature, and become unable to receive inspiration from higher circles. Our overactivity creates many difficulties; it makes us do things of which we know that they aren’t right, but we do them nevertheless. It is an insatiable addiction, which weakens our discrimination more and more and opens the door to the darkness. The force of desire prevents the influx of vital force, weakening the etheric body and leading to disease. Greater joy is available when we spend more time internally, moderating our involvement with the outer and the fulfilment of outer needs.

Desire and Need

No one is arguing against desires, but we don’t have to act upon them immediately. Instead, we should view them through the filter of discrimination: What is desire and appetite, and what is need? We should respond to needs, but bridle desire and appetite. Discrimination is a shining sword given to us by the higher mind. It is the light of wisdom, which enables us to distinguish between the agenda of the soul and that of the body consciousness. The light illuminates what to do, and how to apply the discriminative will in order to think, speak and act correctly. It is a slow process involving discipline, by which Saturn teaches us a higher equilibrium and how to bring our actions in harmony with the Law. In Libra, Saturn helps in the building of the bridge of light, the antahkarana.

The Mother Impermeable

When we don’t regulate our lives, we, through the influence of Libra and Scorpio, enter the illusionary worlds of matter. Everyone who is not linked with the thread of light falls into a bottomless abyss. During dark times, we urgently need the light of the soul. It illuminates when we manage to remember it, or when we invoke the presence of the Master or alternately, the divine Mother. The moment we think of her, she bestows a spark of Light upon us. In the East, during Libra, she is called “Mother Impermeable” or Durga, and stands on the threshold between illusion and truth. It is recommended, as it is difficult to overcome the illusions of matter, that we meditate upon the energies of the Mother, especially during the 15 ascending moon phases until the Libra Full Moon. Then she clears the way, so that we can get through the second half of the year in safety. At every stage of life, we must achieve a measure of balance, which must be superseded by aspirations of equilibrium at yet a higher level. As a result, we learn the ease of living.

“Everything vibrates and is in motion, and it is necessary to consciously preserve inner balance. Life itself reveals that only equilibrium permits progress and advances evolution.” (Supermundane III, 613, 485)

Durga is visualized as riding a tiger, which represents the personality regulated and balanced by the soul. Thus the Mother may be worshipped as a balancing power, which makes us find the necessary equilibrium in order to ascend into Eternity.

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