Compilation “Reverse”

(EA 25) I have several times used the phrase "pass through" the centres and forms. This concept
necessitates the idea of distributing centres to which the incoming energies may go and from which
they may pass out again as radiation. Some idea of this might be grasped if I gave you the new
proposition (new to you though old to esotericists) of the centres in the human etheric body. The four
centres above the diaphragm—the heart, throat, ajna and head centres—are basically and primarily
receiving centres. The centres below the diaphragm—the base of the spine, the sacral, solar plexus and
spleen centres—are galvanised into activity by the four higher receiving centres. This, when
accomplished, demonstrates as personality and physical magnetism and influence until the time comes
when there is a reversal in the way of passing—as a soul—around the zodiac. This is
symbolised as the revolution of the sun around the zodiac from Aries to Pisces instead of the
reverse movement, from Aries to Taurus. This is repeated in the human frame and the four
lower centres eventually return that which has come to them. They thus reverse the process
normally followed and the centres above the diaphragm become radio-active, dynamic and magnetic.
This is an intricate occult study and is concerned with the response of the etheric body to the incoming
energies. It relates finally the lowest centre at the base of the spine to the highest centre, the head
centre. This is a correspondence to the relation of the Earth to the Sun. Think this out.

(EA 51) First of all, I would point out that the twelve planets, governing the twelve houses, concern
primarily the physical plane expression of the man; they affect potently the personality aspect; their
influence, plus inherited karmic conditions, produces those environing states and those circumstances
which give opportunity for the development and eventually the control of the form side of life.

Secondly, the twelve constellations are concerned primarily with the stimulation of the soul within the
form, producing subjective activity which, in its turn, causes changes in the outer expression, through
the fusion of the energy of the constellation with the energy of the planets. The effect produced falls
into two stages:

1. The first stage wherein the sun sign dominates the man and he is gradually fitted to respond to the
soul. His latent possibilities for this life are unfolded. The effect of the sun sign is sometimes called
"the potency of the Sun of Probability."

2. The second stage wherein there is increasing response to the energies, concealed by the rising sign.
They evoke the unexpected and produce the hastening of the evolutionary process and the unfoldment
of the inner life. The rising sign is termed in the language of esotericism "the Sun of Possibility."

[Page 52]
Through the effect of the energy flowing from the zodiacal signs the man is prepared for the "crisis of
orientation" wherein he slowly and gradually reverses his mode of progress
upon the wheel of life and begins consciously to travel back to his source. He then goes from Aries to
Pisces, via Taurus, Scorpio and Capricorn, instead of moving from Aries to Taurus via Sagittarius, Leo
and Cancer. The triplicity of constellations mentioned in these two great routes around
the zodiac have a definite and momentous effect and are called "paramount signs of influence."
During this process the mental principle, the discriminating mind, is developed and in
this specific connection (not in a general connection) the emphasis is laid upon the influence of Aries,
Gemini and Libra. Under that influence the man learns to overcome desire through experiment with
and experience of every kind of desire and selfish impulse. Thus gradually, and with infinite pain, the
human soul learns to function first as a member of the human family, and, secondly as a spiritual entity,
the divine soul.

You will see from the above that certain positions taken by the esoteric astrologer reverse the position
of the orthodox astrology of today. The reason for this is that in the descent of ideas from the plane of
ideas, they become "reversed" upon the astral plane and subject to the great illusion;
astrology must eventually free itself from this reversal.
(EA 58) 1. The wheel of life and the path of man, the human being, as he passes through the signs
according to the mode recognised by orthodox astrology. He, as well as the planets, apparently
retrogrades through the signs and appears to pass through the constellations from Aries to Taurus. But
this is all part of the Great Illusion.

2. The wheel of life and the path of man, the divine or spiritual soul, as he passes through the signs of
the zodiac according to the mode studied by the esoteric astrologer. This is the Path of Reality as the
other is the Path of Illusion. This carries the disciple around the path from commencement in Aries to
consummation in Pisces.

The present method is based upon the temporary truth that ordinary man is subject to the illusory nature
of manifestation and "as he thinks, so is he." When, however, he becomes Hercules, the Sun God (or
solar Angel), he begins to reverse the process (again only apparently) and a definite
reorientation takes place. The Teachers on the [Page 59] inner side, therefore, study the horoscope only
in its relation to the following three entities:

(EA 110) One of the questions which normally arises might be expressed as follows, and was so
expressed by an interested astrological student. It involved the following inquiry: Granted the
inevitability of a man eventually reversing the mode of his passage through the
twelve signs, at what time and in which sign does the Sun reverse? At what point in the
swing of the zodiac can this reversal in the Sun itself be seen taking place?

Unless you have some grasp of the nature of the great illusion of the constitution of the Sun, it will be
hard for you to understand the significance of my reply. The sun to which you are referring is the
physical Sun and its apparent path in the heavens. This
"appearance" will not
outwardly change and—here is the statement of importance—the real Sun under which
our planetary life will eventually function [Page 111] and to which response will be made is the
Heart of the Sun. (Neptune, under whom the 2nd initiation is taken)
When that is controlling, the spiritual man will then live a dual life simultaneously (which is ever the
problem of the man who is illumined by the soul as well as by the light of day) and this dual life will
consist of our apparent experience and situations and our inner spiritual soul awareness. The
personality will still respond to influences coming to it from the
physical Sun but the motivated life activity and the subjective experience of the inner man will
be conditioned by energies coming to him from the "Heart of the Sun." I would here recall to your
minds the teaching of the Ageless Wisdom as given in The Secret Doctrine and elaborated by me in my
later books, that the Sun has to be discovered and known in its triple nature which is
threefold as is the Trinity. The tabulation below may serve to make this idea somewhat clearer:

1. Physical Sun Form Personality . . . Influencing Mutable Cross.

2. Heart of the Sun Soul Consciousness. . . . . . Influencing Fixed Cross.
3. Central spiritual Sun Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Influencing Cardinal Cross.

The reversing impulse of Scorpio

(EA 220) Cancer, being the door to incarnation, has a close relation to Scorpio through Neptune and
Mars, both of whom are expressions of the sixth ray energy. In Cancer, you have the devotion of the
soul, developed to such an extent that the urge to manifest overcomes all other urges, and the processes
of incarnation impose themselves upon the soul. In Scorpio, that same spirit of devotion (which is
based on the sense of duality and the need to go out towards that which is not the Self) is turned in the
reverse direction and the urge towards liberation and the desire
to tread the Path of
Return becomes so strong that the disciple submits to tests, reverses—at
tremendous cost and pain—his position upon the wheel of life and assumes the
attitude of the Observer (the individual suffers from glamour until the
2nd initiation and so cannot assume the attitude of the observer until
then) in contradistinction to that of the Experiencer. Old identifications cease; new trends toward
higher, subtler and more spiritual identifications begin to appear and then Neptune and Mars begin to
play their part.

A close study of all the above relations will reveal the fact that four signs of the zodiac play a dominant
part, therefore, in the life of the man who is working whilst in incarnation with his Sun
in Scorpio or with Scorpio rising. These are:
[Page 221]
1. Aries Cardinal Cross Initiating impulse Life.
2. Cancer Cardinal Cross Focussed impulseIncarnation.
3. Scorpio Fixed Cross Reversing impulse Return.
4. Aquarius Fixed Cross Group impulse Service.

These are signs 1-4-8-11. These numbers in themselves are most significant for they are the signs of
will-desire, of human expression, of the Christ principle and of initiation. There is no need for me to
enlarge upon this fourfold theme and the truth of its implied teaching, for it is obvious and clear and the
history of the soul is sealed up in these numbers.

Those who are beginning to mount the Fixed cross are reversing the
wheel
(EA 283) In connection with the decanates, I would point out that what I am in this treatise constantly
emphasising is that the astrologer needs to study
the horoscope of an individual from
the angle of his place upon the wheel of the zodiac and to consider which way
he is going. Is he progressing around the wheel as a personality or is he moving forward
as a soul? The conflict to which all disciples are subjected can be traced to the fact that the form life of
the disciple [Page 283] is influenced in one way by the wheel, and the consciousness
aspect in another way or in the reverse direction. The disciple enters the sign under
the influence of that decanate which is for him the first but which is the third for the
ordinary man. This is interestingly and practically instanced by the constellation which we are
now entering. The three decanates of Aquarius, from the angle of the disciple, are Saturn, Mercury and
Venus. It is in this sequence that they affect him and carry him forward on his desired way, thus giving
opportunity through conflict, the illumination of the mind and eventually the achievement of brotherly
love which is wisdom. Ordinarily speaking, the mass of men would pass through the sign via Venus,
Mercury and Saturn, for the undeveloped man is influenced by those qualities which can be best
described as instinctual mind or affection (Venus), which is brotherly love in embryo; by the slow
unfoldment of the mind through the activity of Mercury; finally, as the result of this unfoldment,
conflict supervenes and Saturn offers opportunity to suffer and, through suffering, to learn to choose
rightly, to analyse correctly and to decide upon the higher values. These points must be carefully
considered by the astrologer. But at this time, we are at a point of crisis and the problem takes wider
implications, for the reason that, for the first time in its history, humanity is beginning
to
mount the Fixed Cross of the disciple, thus reversing its progress upon
the circle of the Zodiac. Humanity—as a whole and owing to the large proportion of aspirants and
thinking idealists—is entering Aquarius, via the open door of Saturn. At the same time, a very large
number of men are in the non-thinking instinctual stage and their consciousness is
predominantly Atlantean. These enter via Venus and hence the conflict.

The wheel moves both ways at once and at right angles

(EA 369) In connection with the decanates and their rulers, it is interesting to find that Sepharial and
Alan Leo give entirely different ruling planets, and yet both are right. Uniquely for him, Sepharial
gives the three planets of Jupiter, Mars and the Sun, and thus indicates those which are the esoteric
rulers of the sign upon the wheel of discipleship. Usually his choice is exoteric and not esoteric. Leo, in
this case, gives Mercury, Venus and Saturn, and these three govern
the wheel of ordinary
life. Between them, they cover the wheel as it turns in both directions. You will
note how two out of the governing planets of the decanates in the case of the ordinary wheel serve to
enhance the planetary rulers of the sign, Gemini with Saturn offering at a certain fairly advanced stage
the opposition needed to bring about a basic revolution. Note this phrasing. The entire question of the
revolving wheel with its dual action and its dual effect upon consciousness (and
therefore the whole problem of the three decans and their rulers in each sign of the zodiac) must remain
a difficult and abstruse problem until [Page 370] such time as astrologers have developed a four-
dimensional consciousness and know the true meaning of the Biblical phrase: the "wheel turning
upon itself." In reality, the wheel does not turn like a wheel in a car either forward or the reverse.
It turns every way and both ways simultaneously. This fact is, as yet, an impossible one for the human
consciousness to grasp. The complexity involved in the progress through the decans—conditioning also
the rulers—is to be found to be based upon this multiple
action of the wheel. The wheel,
therefore, moves not only clockwise, but both ways at once and also at right angles
to itself.

(EH 162) As a result the heart centre is beginning slowly to unfold and also to
reverse itself. The reversal of the "lotus centres" is always brought about as the result of a dual
action—the pushing from below and the pull from above.

The reversal of the heart lotus and its upward unfolding is due to the following factors:

1. The growing potency of the hierarchical approach.

2. A rapidly establishing soul contact.
3. The response of the unfolding heart lotus to the pull of the Master's Ashram.
4. The surging upwards of the transmuted energies from below the diaphragm, via the solar plexus, in
response to spiritual will.
5. The growing understanding by man as to the nature of love.

Each initiation brings one or other of the centres into full functioning
activity from the angle of a wheel turning upon itself
(RI 339) Each of the seven initiations, for instance, is an exemplification or a revealer of one of the
seven ray qualities or tendencies; it is governed and conditioned always by a certain ray, and this is one
of the factors which disciples have to learn and grasp whilst preparing for an initiation, because it
involves success in handling and manipulating certain types of divine energy.

Each of the initiations brings one or other of the seven centres into full
functioning activity, not from the angle of awakening or of stimulation, but from the angle of
a "wheel turning upon itself." This is an Old Testament expression [Page 339] and is
wholly inadequate, but I can find none other to substitute. The wording is totally blind and inadequate
and will prove to you somewhat meaningless, except to the initiate who has experienced that turning.

As esoteric astrologers know well, there comes a life cycle wherein the disciple reverses
himself upon the Wheel of Life (the zodiacal wheel) and from going clockwise
around the zodiac, he now begins to go anti-clockwise; he learns that the substance aspect of his nature
may still be conditioned by the forces flowing through them sequentially and serially, and
according to his horoscope and according to the exoteric mode of the zodiacal revolution;
at the same time, the disciple is receiving energy currents from the reversed wheel whereon he, as a
soul, finds himself. He is consequently the recipient of two currents of energy, going in
reverse directions; hence the increased conflict in his life and circumstances; these constitute
the reason for the tests of initiation.
This, on a tiny scale, is true
of the centres in the etheric body of the disciple;
they too evidence the same dual activity, once the Path of Discipleship is
trodden and the Path of Initiation is entered. The zodiacal wheel is itself essentially a cosmic centre; it
is a twelve-petalled lotus, but it is a twelve-petalled lotus within the thousand-petalled lotus of an
unknown cosmic Entity, the One referred to in my earlier books as the ONE ABOUT WHOM
NAUGHT MAY BE SAID.

The multiplicity of zodiacal influences have eventually a dual effect: one upon Shamballa
(the planetary head centre) and the other upon the Hierarchy (the planetary heart
centre); the effect is also felt in the head centre and the heart centre of every
initiate. This final dual activity is registered by the initiate of the highest degrees
when he undergoes the eighth and ninth initiations; the other seven initiations are
governed by the seven rays.

(RI 484) Humanity will awaken steadily and as a whole to the incoming spiritual urge; an
overwhelming impulse towards spiritual light and towards a major orientation will take place. Just as
the individual disciple has to reverse himself upon the wheel of life and tread the Way
counter-clockwise, so must humanity; and so humanity will. The two-thirds who will make the goal of
evolution in this world cycle are already beginning to do so.

(RI 566) Initiation is a progressive sequence of directed energy impacts, characterised by points of
crisis and of tension and governed—in a sense not hitherto realised—by the Law of Cause and Effect.
This Law of Cause and Effect (from the spiritual angle) appears to the progressing initiate to
reverse the process which has up till now governed his life. Instead of his
being impelled forward on the path of evolution by spiritual energies which from higher spheres invoke
and evoke his response and a developing expansion of consciousness, each successive initiation
undergone, understood and demonstrated upon the physical plane becomes the cause and influence
which propels the initiate forward upon the Path of Initiation. In one case the cause of progression is a
streaming downward of the energies, producing effects in that which is thus stimulated; in the other
case, the cause is to be found in the soul-infused personality and constitutes an upward movement of
the initiatory self-directed activity, of the measure of love energy which his soul can express, and of the
energy of will which is in itself the result of all the fusions he has at any given moment been capable of
consciously focussing [Page 566] and using. These are points which it will be difficult for you to grasp
but which are of major importance.

(WM 442) From the standpoint of the form, the life proceeds in a reverse direction,
and the work of nature is seen under the following words:

Pisces And the Word said: Go forth into matter.

Aquarius And the Word said: Let desire in form be ruler.
Capricorn And the Word said: Let ambition rule and the door stand wide.
Sagittarius And the Word said: Let food be sought.
Scorpio And the Word said: Let Maya flourish and deception rule.
Libra And the Word said: Let choice be made.
Virgo And the Word said: Let matter reign.
Leo And the Word said: Let other forms exist, I rule.
Cancer And the Word said: Let isolation be the rule and yet the crowd exists.
Gemini And the Word said: Let instability do its work.
Taurus And the Word said: Let struggle be undismayed.
Aries And the Word said: Let form again be sought.

Reversing the wheel destroys the protective sheaths

(WM 596) The quality and the brilliance of the light in the head has to be studied, for it indicates the
measure of soul control and the relative purity of the vehicles, and the various etheric "webs" have to
be carefully dealt with, and also the rate of vibration of the web and the centre. A synchronisation has
to be set up and this is most difficult to bring about. These are only a few of the points that the teacher
has to note, and it is apparent therefore that only a teacher who has achieved synthetic vision and can
see a man "whole," or as he really is, can give those instructions which will reverse the
ancient rhythm of the centres, destroy without pain and danger the protective sheaths,
and raise the kundalini fire from the base of the spine to the exit in the head.