Sagittarius

Wisdom Teachings
The Signs of the Zodiac

The signs of the zodiac follow one another in an interplay of the elements fire-earth-air-water - a round dance, which is passed through thrice in a year (3 x 4 = 12 signs). In the circle of the year each sign forms an equilateral triangle with two further signs of the same element. In this the basic trinity of existence is mirrored: Spirit - Soul/Consciousness - Matter.

Sagittarius is a fire sign, just like Aries and Leo. Fire is an expression of the life energy: With Aries the spiritual fire, the new life impulse emerges. Aries is the beginning of the cycle of the zodiac and corresponds with man to the head. Leo represents the solar or soul fire; it is the energy of the heart, which makes us feel inner relatedness. Sagittarius stands for the fire within matter called frictional fire, expressing itself in the field of tension of polarities. In man Sagittarius is assigned to the area at the end of the vertebral column, the pelvis and the thighs.

In Eastern wisdom one symbol of fire and life force is the horse. The movement of fire is called the movement of the horse. Aries represents the head of the horse, Leo the body, and Sagittarius the tail. It says that the Sun rides on a carriage with seven horses representing like seven rays seven qualities of life. The seven fiery horses or lines of force penetrate the creation and bring the light from the source up to the grossest material manifestation.

In the symbolism of Sagittarius we meet horse and rider on different stages of evolution. In the representation as centaur they are merged together in animal man: Here man begins to rise slowly above the animal through fixed orientation. Later he becomes the riding archer, now he has the horse, the animal nature, under control. The arrow of his mind is concentrated on his goal, and nothing can deter him from it. The biblical as well as the Eastern picture of the Rider on the white horse finally is the symbol of the Coming One, who gathers His people and leads it through fight to victory, to the predestined goal.

In the astrological mark of Sagittarius (♐) the emphasis lies on the arrow and an intimated bow: Tension and striving are the basic motives of Sagittarius, his central theme is the concentrated direction of thoughts. On the outside the Sagittarian may seem to be gentle and not very nimble, but he is fast. In his suddenness of doing things he pursues an aim and is generally guided by intuition. He must see that in his conduct of life the tension does not lead to activism and overwork. A special danger for the Sagittarian and Leonian individual is their receptivity for flattery. Doing great deeds and not inflating oneself is the keynote of persons with a Sagittarius ascendant.

The man who has fixed his eyes on his goal stops searching here and there and looking after unimportant things. He also stops talking of himself and of what he is doing and pushing himself forward. His entire personality concentrates onto the unswerving striving towards high ideals and the unshakeable readiness to engage himself for the wheal of fellowmen. He aligns completely with the goal and loses himself in it: “I and the goal are one” is a seed thought of Sagittarius.

Thus Sagittarius stands for journeys, visions, the realisation of plans and in the spiritual life for the long journey of the soul on the upward path.

The time of the day related with Sagittarius are the two hours before dawn. They are very fertile for deep contemplation and in the month of Sagittarius they are considered to be particularly favourable for spiritual progress. The colours of the sign are gold and honey, its metal is tin, which is called “the sound of metals” and is governed by Jupiter. Thus Sagittarius is related to speech, sound and silence - not so much in the sense of expression, but of impression, not as speaking, but as listening: It is the disciple listening to the word the teacher speaks.

Through our speaking we can inspire people and create a harmonious atmosphere, but we also can confuse and hurt others. Words can even kill. Continuously we are exposed to noise; disharmonious sounds are produced without any sensitiveness and even called music. They have a distracting effect and our energies get dissipated. Our mental restlessness creates an inner noise and makes it impossible for us to hear what is being said or to get impressed by higher thoughts. In order to speak and work in a constructive way, we have to develop inner calmness. It is an important service when the thoughts which cause unrest to us, are not put out, but neutralised and replaced by constructive thoughts.

If we retire every day for certain times into silence, we can come to ourselves and reach unison with the inner being. By conscious listening to the inner tone, the “soundless sound”, we become receptive for higher impression. But there is a long preparation for listening, and only when the receiving instrument is prepared, we can hear without distortion what the Word speaks to us. An old science for inner purification and harmonisation is working with holy sounds. Therefore the Sagittarian is advised to work with the holy word in the inner and to serve his fellowmen in silence in the outer. His concentrated aspiration then burns away the inner distortions and keeps the contact with the fire of synthesis.

In his form man himself embodies the archer: His spine, the central nerve tract, is the arrow, his eyebrows with the centre of thinking the arch of the bow. When in highest meditative alignment the arrow is pulled down to the utmost with the string of consciousness, the fire of life energy shoots up from the lowest point of its anchorage at the base of the vertebral column and can soar to the head centre and even above it. Thus the highest and the lowest meet and come full circle.

The Science of Wisdom is a process of becoming natural and normal. In wisdom there is nothing unnatural and abnormal, but only an intelligent understanding of the mode of operation of Nature and the ability to attune to it. Through the knowledge of the time dimension we get an understanding of being and becoming, of the law of periodicity and of alternation. For the spiritual man the path of the zodiac forms an important course of his theoretical and practical study. The word zodiac means a group of beings. Seen from the earth, the clusters of stars appear in the sky in different figures. The shapes ascribed to the signs of the zodiac consist mainly of twelve groups and not of twelve parts. For the mind of this earth they exist as thoughtforms. The seers have studied them and summed up and symbolised their features in the figures, stories, colours and numbers of the individual signs. These human and animal signs are highly symbolic. For the disciple, who is working out the astrological key, the stories are symbols and allegories of the one life in the cosmos and in himself. For him the life pulsating in the individual and in the universe is one. For him the zodiac is the wisdom book of all times, and the astrological key reveals the Plan to him, to work in harmony with the Will of God, so that “His will be done in earth as it is in heaven”. For someone who does not have the astrological key, the stories and images only appear to be tales written by men. He remains caught up in the jungle of his confusion, and for him the whole literature of the Scriptures of our world is a sealed book.

According to its nature, the fiery triplicity of the zodiacal signs Aries, Leo and Sagittarius symbolises activity and new beginning. With the energy of fresh vitality a new phase is inaugurated, in a fiery process the old and crusted gets burned. Sagittarius has to do with the fire which has descended into matter, the inner fire by friction. Matter is heavy and full of resistance. The impurities in the body-matter make us dull, lazy and sluggish in thinking. So we are not honest towards ourselves and have many excuses, why we cannot shape our lives better. When we now have problems and are disturbed by thoughts, it means the fire of the thought is disturbing us and causing headache. As soon as we adjust our lives and in spiritual life focus all our forces on one goal, the fire gets accumulated and the distortions of the mind are removed. Thus the fire of the single-minded Sagittarian leads us beyond the mind: “The flame that gleams beyond the mind reveals direction sure.”

The archer on the horse are we ourselves; we are souls who learn to bridle the impetuous horse of our personality. In the state of the centaur man and animal are still one, dominated by the animal nature. When man sits riding on the horse, he is the archer fired by ambition; his aspiration is like a jumping horse which runs around wherever it wants. Quick like an arrow, he is always busy with many things at a time and lives in continuous tension. He runs the risk to ruin his vital forces and thus become sick. His thoughts already revolve around the light and he acts with good intention. But he has not yet committed himself to a goal and taken a task upon himself. Even if he, a leisure-time aspirant, might think he is walking the spiritual path, he has not yet set foot on it. When he decides to do it, all his aspiration is directed to his high aim. Willingly and voluntarily he then subordinates everything else to this decision. The circumstances and events of his life no longer can divert him. Thus he gains stability and upholds a constant vibration in his striving.

With his determination he frees himself from limitations and can reach the state of liberation. Therefore the month of Sagittarius is regarded as the path to Light, to initiation, it rules over the long journey of the soul on the upward path. So the month of Sagittarius is not a time of hibernation, but should be used well in connection with the spiritual practises. Even during the early morning hours between 4 and 6 o'clock, which are associated with this sign, we should be more awake than in the other months. During the first 13 degrees of Sagittarius and particularly at the time of the 11th ascending moon phase the doors to the higher circles are wider open than during other times of the year. This day (in 2001 from November 25 to 26) is called in the East the Day of Synthesis or of Narayana, the Lord of the Wheel of Creation. In the wisdom teachings it says that among the months of the year the Lord is the sign of Sagittarius, among the moon phases He is the 11th, and among the keys of wisdom astrology.

On the body Sagittarius governs the thighs and the centre at the base of the spine called Muladhara in the East. On the planetary scale it corresponds to the South Pole. The Sanskrit word “Mula” signifies a corner, a point, but also a lunar asterism in the zodiacal sign of Sagittarius and the first 13 degrees of the sign. The Muladhara-centre is a branching off, where man either descends still further by misusing his sexual impulses and loses himself in the material, or with the base chakra as starting point he turns again to spirit: His energy then rises through the column of his spine as the vital force of kundalini, and the individual soul can reach again the universal soul. So the base centre regulating the matter in our body has a higher and a lower side: On the lower path it is the centre of reproduction, on the higher the centre of creation out of the inner, in order to manifest things from the invisible to the visible. When we have learned to lead an orderly, rhythmically regulated life, the higher functions awaken in us and the wisdom of the divine Plan begins to unfold.

Sagittarius is a very profound sign related to the sound-principle. Jupiter, the regent of Sagittarius, rules over sound and impression, whereas Mercury, the ruler of the opposing sign Gemini, governs expression. With sounds and rhythmic musical utterances we can purify our personality and become receptive for higher impressions. The uttering of holy sounds or mantrams is the main key for a quick transformation, faster than with any other technique. By singing the holy word OM and then listening to it, we trace the source from which the sound emerges. Each sound uttered forth has its basis in the unuttered sound. The uttering of a mantram is a call, and no call is left unresponded. However we have to pay attention to the response. The intonation of OM, particularly in groups, builds a cone into space which projects, and through that projection energy can descend into us and impress us. When we have gained the right impression, we can also transmit the right expression with the spoken word. But right listening takes a long preparation. Through years of practice we learn to tune up to the pulsating source, and we realise that we ourselves have been uttered forth from it and that we are an expression of the Divine Word. To this it says in the evening invocation: “May we speak the silence without breaking it, may we live in the awareness of the background.”

The man at the beginning of the spiritual path is compared with a jumping horse running around as it fancies, like the wind takes it. His interests go into many directions: For some time he orients himself by Jesus Christ, then again by the Hierarchy, by Baba, by diverse esoteric teachings. His thoughts revolve around the light and he acts with good intentions. However he lives in concepts and is not yet on the path, even if he might fancy so. He is lacking inner stability. Stability only comes when we commit ourselves to a task. As long as there is no task which we set to ourselves, our aspiration goes to and fro. Like a horse which isn’t on the path we cannot reach a goal. In order to bring the horse onto the path we put the bridle on his nostrils. When we set foot on the path we make willingly and voluntarily the decision to work for the welfare of others, of the greater whole and to pursue less and less personal goals. We submit ourselves to the inner law and make the related sacrifices. We do this because we have realized the path as being right and not in order to derive benefits for ourselves. Great possibilities are coming up for a disciple to acquire material well-being, admiration or power, but he refuses all this in order to go the path. If we come on the path for other reasons than because of the light, we will fall when we grow.

The fiery sign of Sagittarius corresponds with the ninth house of the horoscope. It governs long journeys, dreams and aspirations. For the disciple it is the eternal journey of the soul on the upward path. Each year in the month of Sagittarius the time offers a great possibility to enter into the higher circles; Sagittarius is regarded as the door to initiation. Particularly during the first 13 degrees of the sign the doors to the spiritual are wide open. Here we stand at a bifurcation, where one way leads further down, into objectivity, to experience the grosser side of creation. The other path allows us to enter into the subtle side of creation. It is the path of transformation leading us upwards, to the light, to pure existence. This path lies hidden in the centre at the base of the spine. Through the power of Sagittarius the energy resting there coiled-up can be lifted up to ascend through the spine to the throat and to the head. Thus Sagittarius is not a month of winter sleep, but a time of intensified spiritual practice and increased inner wakefulness. We are expected in this month to be more awake even during the night than in other months, since the time between 4 and 6 o’clock a.m. is ruled by Sagittarius. It is very good for spiritual work, to work out a synthesis between the soul and the mind. Sagittarius as well as the 11th ascending moon phase are full of healing energy. Especially good is the 11th ascending moon phase in Sagittarius (this year the 14th/15th of December). It is also called the day of synthesis.

For the ascent the matter of the subtle bodies has to be cleaned and purified. This is done by the purifying fire of Sagittarius, which is also called the fire by friction. It releases matter from its heaviness and makes it magnetic and radiant. Impurities in the body matter cause tendencies to inertia and laziness. Our problem is a gap between what we know and what we do. We know so many things of which we are aware that we should do them, but our mind says: “Oh lets postpone it to tomorrow.” Often we do things of which we know that we shouldn’t do them, and we create problems for ourselves by doing too much, too little or the wrong thing.

The only way to free us from the inertia of matter is to rearrange the material activity of life in ourselves. By rearranging the atoms an iron piece becomes a magnet, a rearrangement of our life causes a magnetisation. If we tell an iron piece, “become magnetic”, nothing however happens at all. But if we put the same iron into the presence of a magnet, it transforms into a magnet by itself. The magnet doesn’t do anything, it is just there, and the iron gets magnetised. In the same way the presence of a magnetic person gets the energies in us reorganised to a higher order. Our concrete mind cannot accept this transformation, but in this lies the importance of the help of an enlightened teacher. By his spiritual presence – not his physical nearness – he helps the aspirant along on the path. Magnetism is a state of being, not of doing.

Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius, represents the teacher. The means by which he brings about the rearrangement are sound, rhythm and ritual. The place of the ritual is the body. The use of rhythmic utterances of holy sounds kindles the fire inside. This purifies the matter of the body cells and removes the inertia. In a very natural way it transforms the inner bodies and makes them lighter and more transparent. Therefore Sagittarius recommends to us to work with the Holy Word inside and to serve the fellow beings outside. A mystical description of a Sagittarian is that he should keep his head in the realms of Light and his hands in the realms of worldly service.

In a candle there is fire, but we don’t see it, when it isn’t lighted. When we lighten the candle, it is the matter of the wax which sets the fire free and maintains the flame. Sagittarius helps us to kindle the fire in matter and to burn our low, uncontrolled thoughts. As long as the mind is continuously connected with the fire it remains pure and keeps the fire burning. Then the pure mind reflects that which is above. We don’t distort any longer our perceptions by our habits; we don’t see any longer as we think, but that what is. Thus Sagittarius releases us from our limitations and leads us beyond the mind into the realms of Light.

In Eastern wisdom Sagittarius is related with the cosmic Jupiter principle. The qualities of it are worshipped in the symbol of the elephant-headed deity Ganesha, the Lord of wealth and of wisdom. Incomprehensible to an unenlightened mind this elephant god at that is depicted as riding on a rat and ruling the base centre. Behind this is hidden a profound symbolism: Visualised in light the form of our head, our ears and the spine look like the head and trunk of an elephant – Ganesha. His big ears symbolically stand for deep listening. A man of wisdom has big ears and hears not only what we say, but also our motives and intentions. The rat teaches us swiftness and skill in movement. Without wisdom however skill is dangerous, just as wisdom without skill remains ineffective. So riding on the rat of personality we have to learn to intelligently express the big wisdom of the soul in daily life, in order to rise from the depths of matter to the Light.

Humanity is one of the kingdoms of nature on this planet, of which each person is a part. The planet itself is also merely a piece of a greater system. According to the wisdom of correspondences, every person is a future solar system. The solar system is like a tree with flowers and fruits, and we are akin to seeds. All that a tree carries within itself is contained in its seed. It holds within itself the principle, and the tree is its manifest aspect. Likewise, all that exists in the solar system is also present within us. There are seven main principles working through the sun and the planets, which are responsible for creation. These are also active within us. The Sun corresponds to our consciousness, and the Moon to the mind. Mercury stands for the discriminating principle, and Venus for our ability to experience the beauty of nature. Mars represents power and strength, Jupiter wisdom. Saturn causes us to understand our own limitations, so that we may develop a program to overcome them.

Through meditation in accord with the law of correspondences, we open up to the cosmos within. By adjusting to the macrocosmic system, we slowly bring the qualities of the zodiac and the vibrations of the planets within into accord. We learn to understand the energies conveyed through the planetary principles. Our microcosmic system expands, becomes pervasive and loses its limitation: Gradually the feeling of being separate disappears, and we realize that we are brothers and sisters with one father.

We can visualize the entire cosmos within us and meditate upon it with the help of the law of correspondences. Similarly, there are places within for the 12 sun signs, the Pleiades, the Great Bear. The Pole Star is seen on the head, the Great Bear with its seven stars on the forehead above the eyebrows; the scull is its cave. The seven stars also form the spinal column. In the centres, we can contemplate our birth planets, or the planets in transit. While engaged in this, the mind is filled with thoughts of the universe instead of what our neighbour or the colleagues at work might have said. We are then completely detached from local limitations, and our surroundings don’t exist anymore.

For spiritual purposes, the signs of zodiac from Sagittarius onward are linked with their higher correspondences. Therefore, Capricorn is contemplated in the higher heart centre, Aquarius on the forehead and Pisces at the highest point of the head. Pluto in Sagittarius is thus viewed at the higher muladhara or base centre, which structures the dense matter. Pluto causes profound changes, even in the thinking of the leader-personalities on Earth. It takes time to transform changes of mind into action. Slowly, the whole terrorist activity begins to be examined in relationship to its real causes. Attacks and aggression cause people go more deeply into the problems: You cannot use power to control people for an extended period of time without producing tremendous tension. The proper solution is to improve the living conditions of all those in our sphere of influence. Even through bitter events, Nature intends to teach us.

Sagittarius is a fiery sign on the mutable cross and stands for fiery aspiration. In order to be able to realize our ideals and aims, we must focus our energy like an archer on his target. Many spiritual aspirants are occupied with insignificant matters, thereby dissipating their forces. Their aspiration wavers and they don’t have enough fire to sustain the path. Spiritual aspiration is not a part-time job; it must permeate all of our activities. Wherever we work and whatever we do, our attitude can always be spiritual – at the breakfast table, in the professional realm, and at leisure. Sagittarius helps us to bring rhythm and structure into our lives, and to centre our forces and our lives. In meditation, we can see ourselves as an archer who tries to shoot upwardly with his five arrows. Here, the bow and the five arrows represent our striving towards ideals, which the five senses and sense organs are concentrated upon. The arrows also represent swiftness and the abilities of our personality.

Arjuna, the heroic archer of the Mahabharata epos, is the archer’s archetype. The Bhagavad Gita describes how he, in the midst of the battlefield and prior the beginning of a murderous battle, receives the teaching of right action from Krishna. Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius, represents the teacher and the sage. The teacher impresses the student through the word of wisdom; he uplifts him in his consciousness and thus leads him beyond conflicts and contradictions. When we follow wisdom, Jupiter brings us expansion. If we use this expansion on the personal level, we work but for ourselves: We see to it that we have good food, comforts and luxury at our disposal, and that we become well known and famous. But Jupiter’s work with us can only begin when we have calmed down our personalities and have become receptive to the voice of the soul. Jupiter and Sagittarius are related to the principle of sound. Through harmonic vibrations, we replace everyday life’s internal noise with holy sounds.

The Wisdom Teachings call the Holy Word OM the bow, with which the disciple as the arrow reaches ever-higher realms, enabling the fire of kundalini to shoot up from the base centre to the head and beyond. When we sound the OM, we should listen to the sound as well as the silent OM that follows. By regularly sounding and listening, we lose the appetite for impure and insignificant speech. The ears are also purified, so that we may hear correctly. If we don’t receive properly, words are misunderstood and represented inaccurately in the retelling. We end up talking past each other. It takes much preparation through the work with sounds, in order to naturally transform our receiving instrument and become receptive to the voice of silence. It is good practice to intone the OM in group formation, which projects a cone within the space and facilitates the descent of energy.

Sagittarius teaches us to maintain inner silence in the midst of life’s noise, to maintain our heads in the light, and to stay involved in service to the world. This is illustrated by the story of Arjuna in a fabulous picture. He had to solve a task, in which he had to shoot at two fish with an arrow. The fish were attached to a rotating wheel above him. Arjuna had to look down, as the target was reflected in the water of a lake. With full concentration, he hit the fish. The water is akin to life, the reflection to understanding and the object above to liberation. We have five arrows at our disposal and those are the five senses, which work through us.

A seed thought of Spiritual Psychology says: “The goal is the pole” – the centre related to Pisces located on the head. The Sagittarian is expected to forge ahead along the path of the zodiac with determination, to return to Pisces, the very beginning, and to reach the bliss of synthesis in cosmic consciousness.

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