Capricorn The light
of Initiation
This is the light which clears the way to the mountaintop,
and produces transfiguration, thus revealing the rising sun.
The Ram, the Scapegoat, and the sacred Goat are Three in One and One in Three. The Ram becomes the second and the second is
the third. The Ram that breeds and
fertilizes all; the Scapegoat, in the wilderness, redeems that all; the sacred
Goat that merges in the Unicorn and lifts impaled upon his golden horn the
vanquished form-in these the mystery lies hid.
Within the symbolism and experience of Capricorn are some of the most profound and mysterious aspects of Soul-Centered astrology. As Capricorn is found on the First, third and Seventh Ray lines of manifestation, it is the connecting link between the Divine creative Will as it operates through Mind in order to produce the myriad forms of physical plane life. Thus Capricorn connects the most subtle to the most dense-the Power of Life itself to the Mineral Kingdom. Through its relationship to its planetary ruler, Saturn, Capricorn provides the structure and order by which the Laws of Manifestation work themselves out, thus propelling the Plan of evolution into objective existence.
Capricorn is the sign of initiation-the gateway through
which the Accepted Disciple, having walked the Path of life through nine tests
and phases, is now ready to culminate her journey and ascend to the
Mountaintop. Once at the peak of her evolutionary
progress, the trained Disciple receives the necessary contact with the
consuming and regenerating Fire of the Will-to-Good. She must now descend from the Mountain,
return to the valleys of human existence, and relate to humanity, either
through the pathway of Aquarius and World Service, or through the goals of the
World Savior radiating Love/Wisdom in Pisces.
The primary initiations are three in number. The first is closely related to the
understanding that all humanity is a single, living organism within a larger
unit of being-the Planet. The actions of
a person who has passed this stage are reflective of this initial anchoring of
the Soul’s Presence in the life of the personality. One looks at and treats life and all people
wholistically, as one Earth family with billions of soul brother and soul
sisters.
The second initiation is a place of tremendous testing for
so many of us, as it involves the dominance by Love over the desires of the
astral body. This does not necessarily
entail total chastity, but it does require that sexuality be conscious in its expression and that it,
plus any other desires, be placed under the aegis of the inner demands of the
Soul Life. The experiences outlined in
our discussions of Scorpio and Sagittarius are very much the testing ground for
the second initiation.
Capricorn is most closely connected to the third of these
major phases of personal evolution. It
is through the gates of the third initiation that the individual becomes totally
mentally polarized, and a conscious linkage takes place whereby the individuals’
talents, abilities and particular Ray makeup are linked to the collective
purpose of the plan. Surefootedness,
emotional balance, and the ability to function wisely in the physical world
have been tested and retested. The
Pathwalker is now ready to assume a major responsibility for the benefit of
all, taking his or her earned place among the serving brothers and
sisters.
There are three horned animals in the zodiac: Aries, Taurus, and Capricorn. The horns of the Ram are turned downward and
represent the involuntionary arc of the creative Will. This is the urge to enter incarnation and
manifest form. The horns of the Bull are
turned upward, indicating the evolutionary arc, pushing toward heaven and the
goal of illumination, and the release of consciousness and light from
matter. The First Ray energy of Vulcan
is the vehicle for this liberating force.
The two horns of the Mountain Goat symbolize the duality of Spirit and
matter, but there is another symbolic horned animal representative of Capricorn
and the resolution of this eternal duality.
This is the Unicorn, whose single horn reveals the on pointed resolve of
the Initiate, in whose consciousness matter and Spirit are One. In effect, the charging Ram eventually is
transmuted into the Scapegoat who, through his conscious self-sacrifice, allows
the manifesting creative Spirit entrance into incarnation. Once the illusions of the material plane are
clearly evinced, then the Eye of the Bull shines forth with the Light of Life
Itself. And when the materially oriented
Mountain Goat perceives the hidden spiritual essence contained within every
ambition and every form of such ambitions, he then becomes the Unicorn.
The” Mountaintop” has traditionally symbolized a peak
initiatic experience, and a place of intimate connection with the “mysteries of
the Spirit.” Martin Luther King, Jr,
himself born under Capricorn, said in his most famous and eloquent speech, “I’ve
been to the mountain, and I’ve seen the future.” He went on to say that like Moses, he saw the
Promised Land but would not necessarily be able to go there. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Capricorn of
Initiatic standing who possessed the courage, joy, vision, insight, and steadfast
devotion of the Disciple. He exemplified
through his life the highest attributes of the three horned animals of the
zodiac: the Scapegoat and Sacrificial
Lamb of God, the “Illuminato” who possessed the Third Eye of the awakened Bull,
and the one-pointed, disciplined, and devoted focus of the Unicorn. Saturn had its exaltation through this man, balancing
Will/Power and Active Intelligence with the Love and Wisdom which stood behind
his actions and deeds.
There are two outstanding Mountaintop experiences in the
Bible. From the Old Testament, we have
the archetypical symbol of Saturn in Capricorn:
Moses on Mount Sinai. After Moses
heard the Will of God, he took the Tablets of the Law (Saturn in Libra) and
gave them out to his people-in effect, as an Initiate, to all people. Saturn is the Lord of Karma, and the “thou
shalt nots” of the Ten Commandments clearly outlined the rules and regulations
for what was to become a major foundation for Western civilization. As the people of the Ten Commandments, the
Jews were chosen as the “Karmic clearinghouse” for the peoples of the world,
thus giving to this ancient race (ruled by Saturn, Capricorn, and the Third
Ray) an especially creative but historically difficult position.
The presence of Lord Jesus, on the Mount of Transfiguration occurred
when He received the vision of the Father and His Mission was revealed. The Christ was incarnated into human form in
the sign of Capricorn at the winter solstice.
He placed His Disciples in touch with the energies of Aquarius when He
directed them to go to Jerusalem, where they were to meet a man “bearing a
pitcher of water” on his shoulder. The
latter would take them to an “upper room” (the Higher Mind), where they could
commune in peace with each other, though they were from many different
backgrounds. These twelve Disciples
represent the twelve signs of the Soul, emanation of the Second Ray. Thus the Initiate born in Capricorn becomes
the World Server through His Disciples in the sign Aquarius and the World
Savior through the self-sacrifice represented by Pisces and the Crucifixion. It is as a Great that while on the Cross,
Jesus says, “it is finished.” This does
not refer only to the end of His physical life.
It points to the end of the Age of Aries and of a particular cycle, and
the birthing of a new cycle of twelve World Ages. This new Great Year began some two thousand years
ago when the precession of the equinoxes entered Pisces for the first time in
25,960 years. (For a more detailed
explanation of the precession of the equinoxes as well as a discussion on the movement
from the Age of Aries to the Age of Pisces, please consult Alan Oken’s Complete
Astrology.)
The work accomplished through Capricorn has to crystallize
and be grounded on the Earth. This is
shown to us through several affinities.
In the first place, Saturn is intimately connected to our mother planet,
as they are both vehicles for the expression of the Third Ray. These two planes are thus co-workers in the
function of Active Intelligence, organizing and relating the energies of Will
and Love to their eventual manifestations in the various forms of life. This
relationship links the Third to the Seventh Ray, upon which we also find
Capricorn.
Saturn teaches its lessons of materialization, crystallization,
limitation, and right choice through the Earth and the things of the
Earth. Capricorn is one of the earthy
signs and governs, more than any other, the active, creative potential
available through the correct harnessing of the Earth’s resources. To accomplish their properly so that all
people may benefit requires a great deal of objective, mental energy,
unfettered by the urge for personal gain and self-aggrandizement. Saturn is the planetary ruler of the Third
Ray, and its lessons create that transpersonal mental alignment absolutely
essential to the working Disciple. I might
also add at this point that the Third is the Ray of money, and the lessons
concerning the right use of financial resources come through this
planet-sign-Ray combination.
Saturn and Capricorn teach
us how to break free of our attachment to the material forms of life, so that
we are left free to be the co-creators of those forms. Time and Time again we place our hopes,
dreams and ambitions on the material forms of life to which, at earlier stages
of our evolution, we are unconsciously and instinctively attached. And then what happens? Either we become totally stuck in the forms
of those physical objective (and their accompanying thought-forms and desire-forms), or the earth quakes and he
objects, persons, places or things are lost!
These are the “karmic blows” of Earthly limitation that put us in touch with
our own mortality and “the way of all things.”
If such events happen frequently enough-if we are fortunate enough to
learn the essential factors of the limitation of egocentric ambitions, desire,
and thoughts-then Saturn ceases functioning as the exotic ruler of these
aspects of our lives and becomes instead the Soul-centered Teacher. What may be interpreted as stop pages and
limitations to the grieving personality are experienced by the aware,
Soul-infused individual as guidelines and parameters for the expression of the
Higher Life. We thus progress on our own
Path and make those conscious choices which lead us from self-discipline to
Discipleship.
Saturn is therefore not only the Lord of Karma, but also the
Dweller on the Threshold! It is Saturn
that we confront when we wish to start a new cycle of becoming on yet a higher
turn of the evolutionary spiral. What is
the Dweller, if not the sum total of those habit patterns that have ceased
being (or maybe never, ever were) vehicles for the proper expression of our
creative life urges. The Dweller will
reflect our attachment to these now useless illusions of mind, feeling and
body. It will block our passage to the
Mountaintop until we release our hold upon them with the one-pointed focus of
Devotion and Will required for the next step on our Path. Let us keep in mind that it is at the winter
solstice in the northern hemisphere that the Sun begins to stay ever longer in
the heavens. Daylight lengthens, and as
the “dark night of the Soul” recedes, we are spiritually regenerated. It is also in Capricorn that we celebrate the
New Year, and thereby renew ourselves also in the temporal sense. From a geocentric perspective, both our spiritual
and physical beginnings and endings have their roots in the sign of the
Unicorn.
Finally, we should mention that, just as Cancer is the Gate
into incarnation, and most specifically functions as a means for the creation
of the foundation of personality, Capricorn is the Gate out of incarnation and
into the immortal life of the true Initiate.
The Initiate moves in and out of the incarnation unattached to form, but
returns in cycle fashion to serve and save humanity, advancing His or Her “younger
brothers and sisters” a bit farther along the Way.
Capricorn on the Carinal
Cross (the Soul-centered individual). The
magnetic and synthesizing qualities of the Cardinal Cross Capricorn are very
highly developed. In addition, the
energies of the three Rays upon which the Unicorn manifests all feed into a
unit of wholeness allowing for a tremendous outpouring of creativity. The Unicorn is always sensitive to the Plan,
and to the Will aspect of the Divinity.
When she is focusing through her highly evolved Active Intelligence, she
is able to externalize the objective of the Plan through the facilities of the
Higher Mind. The unicorn is then able to
harness subjective forces and resources, and bring about necessary Organization
and Order, thus allowing the original creative impulse to be carried forth into
the outer world. The combination of the
First, Third, and Seventh Ray influences endows Capricorn with the ability and strength
to eliminate anything that has been previously created, and bring about a new
form for the externalization of the Plan. Capricorn may thus appear to be cold,
aloof, and at times absolutely unrelenting in her need to bring about
transformation and change. All of the
Unicorns actions are very one-pointed. That
point is directed at the Heart of Humanity so that it may open ever wider,
allowing for the unfoldment of the Human Soul-the light of the Christ. Simultaneously, the earthy element inherent
in Capricorn, and the structural focus of Saturn and the Third and Seventh
Rays, create the needed channels and forms through which this Light may
externalize as the Way shower for Humanity.
Let ambition rule and
let the door stand wide. On the
ordinary wheel, ambition drives Capricorn toward achievement. The door to initiation and the freedom to
serve humanity from a focus of loving awareness are always there. Yet fear and instinct blind Capricorn into believing
that freedom is gained through attachment to form. The opened Gate remains unseen until such
time as material illusion ceases and spiritual reality is revealed.
Lost am I in light
supernal, yet on that light I turn my back.
The totally Soul-centered Capricorn Initiate may remain in the
consciousness of Divine Love. She has
culminated a long journey and may now pause, rest, and be rewarded. Yet the call to service is so strong that by “turning
her back” on this supernal state, she takes the Gate in through Cancer and
returns into incarnation for further service to humanity.
DANIEL 12:13 KJV
BUT GO THOU THY WAY TIL THE END BE: FOR THOU SHALT REST, AND STAND IN THY LOT AT THE END OF THE DAYS.
IT IS THE END OF DAYS
Alan Oken - Soul Centered Astrology C. 1990, 2008
