Sagittarius These notes are based upon the teachings of Djwhal Khul presented in Alice Bailey’s Esoteric Astrology (Lucis Trust, 1951). It is the work of the zodiacal influences to evoke the emergence of the will aspect of the Heavenly Man and of all monads, souls and personalities who constitute the planetary body of expression. … The goal of evolution for humanity is to become consciously and livingly aware of the nature of these energies and begin to know them and to use them. SAGITTARIUS NEW MOON 4 DEGREES SAGITTARIUS 25TH NOVEMBER 2000 Is it not time that, in loving, we freed ourselves from the loved one, and, quivering, endured: as the arrow endures the string, to become, in the gathering out-leap, something more than itself? For staying is nowhere. This quotation from the Duino Elegies of Rainer Maria Rilke meditates on the image of the bow and arrow, which is traditionally used as the glyph for Sagittarius. It describes the gathering of force that leads to the release of the arrow, signifying aspiration, extension of self, and energetic expansion. Sagittarius is associated with these qualities, ruled, as it is in orthodox astrology, by Jupiter, giant planet of expansion and unboundedness. Both the quotation and the glyph for Sagittarius suggest that it is by using vision and strength to aim our arrows into the future that we actually extend and expand our experience of self and our consciousness. Sagittarius is depicted as an archer on a white horse, or as a centaur. Both symbols connect the realms of the body (the horse), the soul (represented by the human) and the spirit (the arrows). Sagittarian energy brings earth and heaven together through the human experience. The keynote of the archer is aspiration and direction; this is the human soul goal. The archer is a man freed from identification with the animal part of his nature; he is controlling the horse and oriented towards definite goals, signified by the arrows he shoots. The image speaks strongly of the experience of being human, held in an exquisite tension between heaven and earth. DK describes Sagittarius as being a ‘peculiarly human sign’ that is connected with the appearance of humanity on earth. Three signs of the zodiac are more closely connected with ‘man’ (or the human) than the others: Leo, Sagittarius and Aquarius (related to the body, soul and spirit, respectively). LEO SAGITTARIUS AQUARIUS Lion Centaur Water carrier Man Archer Server Self consciousness Focused consciousness Self consciousness Physical nature Emotional nature Lower mental nature Human soul Spiritual human soul Spiritual soul Individualisation Discipleship Initiation Personality Egoic focus Monadic focus Centralisation Orientation Decentralisation Individual unity Sensed duality Universal unity Fire Fire Air Selfishness Struggle Service Evolution Final path Liberation Leo and Sagittarius are the signs that carry us from door to door, as Leo follows Cancer (the portal of manifestation) and Sagittarius precedes Capricorn (the portal of initiation). The one-pointed self-interest expressed in Leo becomes, in Sagittarius, the one-pointed focus of the disciple preparing for initiation. In Sagittarius, the objective is always to orient towards some new and higher objective, allowing the unfoldment of purpose. The purpose can, of course, be base or refined, depending on what level consciousness is operating. Sagittarian purpose can relate to the animal desire, to the human ambition or to the struggle of the aspiring disciple. DK notes the five keynotes of Sagittarius:- 1. Attached or fused duality - the Centaur. Unattached duality - the Archer. Freedom or one-pointedness - the bow and arrow. 2. Human ambition transformed into spiritual aspiration. 3. The clear shaft of light - intuitive, focused attitude of the disciple. 4. ‘Returning arrow of intuition’ - the arrow of aspiration sent out returns to the sender as an arrow of intuition. Sagittarius is one of the intuitive signs; only intuition will suffice to carry man to the foot of the mountain of initiation. 5. Idealism - power to see vision and direct one’s course towards it. It is vision that is being conditioned and encouraged in Sagittarius: intellect develops and is illuminated, making it sensitive to intuitive perception. The distant vision of attainment is glimpsed. The individual begins to climb out of the depths descended to in Scorpio and sees ahead the mountain in Capricorn. Now the disciple can travel fast, for his journey is illuminated. He has constantly to dismount the white horse (of purified personality) to find where the arrows of inuitional aspiration are leading him. He travels now on the ‘wings of the soul’ (this phrase indicates Sagittarius’ relationship to Mercury, ruler of its opposite sign, Gemini). This purposeful journeying, illuminated by the soul, reminds us of the matters pertaining to the ninth house of the birth chart, the natural house of Sagittarius, and gives us a developmental perspective within which to regard them: the higher mind, spiritual context, wisdom-knowledge, intuitional intelligence, the vision-quest, the foreign. Sagittarius (and the ninth house) is about striking a balance between the soul and the personality, and working the relation between them: this is the experience of the disciple on the plains of Earth. The Sagittarian path is straight and level; on one side rise the heights of soul experience, on the other fall the depths of personality experience. Sagittarius is part of the mutable cross, a cross of restlessness, changeability and reorientation. The energy of the mutable signs have different effects upon the evolved and the unevolved. The matter of how consciousness is sensitised and responds to the conditioning energy of the signs is a primary concern throughout Esoteric Astrology, and it is worth quoting a passage from the text before going on to review the conditioning energies of the mutable cross: These forces in all the signs are ever present, but responsiveness and sensitivity to their impact is dependent upon the nature of the response apparatus. Ponder upon this thought, for it is the sensitivity which marks the difference between the disciple and the average man. Energies of the mutable cross as they affect the unevolved individual: Gemini Changeableness. Instability. Interplay. | | | | Sagittarius Pisces Ambitious desire.-----------------------------------------------Sensation. Direction. Orientation. Mediumship. Fluidity. | | | | Virgo Material life. Cherishing of an idea. Energies of the mutable cross as they affect the evolved individual: Gemini Recognition of soul and form. Soul interplay. | | | | Sagittarius Pisces One-pointed spiritual aspiration.---------------------------------World Saviour. Mediatorship. | | | | Virgo Mother of Christ-child. Gestation. From an exoteric (personality) point of view the mutable cross is ruled by Mercury and Jupiter. The function of these two planetary energies is to fuse and blend into one whole the great dualities expressing themselves through the Human Kingdom. The esoteric rulers of the mutable cross are Venus (Gemini), the Moon (Virgo), Earth (Sagittarius) and Pluto (Pisces). Earth, as the esoteric ruler of Sagittarius, transmits the third ray of Active Intelligence. Saturn is also a third-ray planet, bringing Sagittarius into relation with Capricorn, providing a field of energy wherein the one-pointed disciple can, in the terms of the Rilke quotation, become ‘in the gathering out-leap, something more than itself’: the Initiate. This initiation is a set goal for Sagittarius, but the individual will set the level: whether the initiation is into some form of sensuous experience or into a spiritual undertaking is dependent upon the level of desire and consciousness. The result of all experience in any sign is the expansion of consciousness, which leads inevitably to consummation in some kind of initiation. Sagittarius governs the thighs, the main centre of physical power and protective strength. It is interesting to note that the thighs are the source of moving-forwards energy, propelling us ever onwards on our paths. In this way we journey and expand, facilitating the development of consciousness. The Sagittarian disciple has two things to discover within himself: The power to make progress upon the path and to walk the Way. The ability to create in a higher, spiritual sense. No planet is exalted or falls in Sagittarius, but Mercury is in its detriment there, its power greatly lessened. This happens for two reasons, esoterically: 1 Because the disciple has to cease identifying with his own personality or with the human kingdom prior to initiation. 2 Mind power, developed and tested in Scorpio, begins to wane in activity and intuition begins to take its place. This is essential before initiation can be taken in Capricorn. Sagittarians are often noted for their optimism and friendliness. These qualities arise out of a desire for popularity that can be very preoccupying; however, the kindness and friendliness of the Sagittarian, whatever the motivation, express the ‘tendency of the soul to turn all evil eventually into good’. From the desirousness and appetite of the ordinary wheel (‘And the Word said: “Let food be sought”’) comes, eventually, the spiritual project of the illumined disciple on the reversed wheel: ‘I see the goal. I reach that goal and then I see another.’ ©2000- The D.K. Foundation. This article, including this copyright statement, may be freely distributed but not altered, expanded or abridged in any way. We thank you for respecting this request.