“2. THE SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT

“Spiritual astrology deals with the spiritual evolution of man. For this, a definite idea of the spiritual order of the universe and the solar system is necessary. The relationship between the universe and the individual is only a matter of correspondences as we have seen previously. An individual becomes _self-conscious_ through some definite steps which are natural. At first the individual distinguishes himself from other beings and this individualisation makes him live in a world which is a bit higher than that of the animal world. From individual consciousness a man unfolds into the consciousness of personality. This process is through his experience through the senses and sensations. At this stage, he lives below the levels of his solar plexus. Food and protection form his motives of action. During the personality-level his mental vehicle is stimulated through desire and experience. At this stage, his consciousness is located between the solar plexus and the throat-centre _via_ the heart-centre. During this period his emotions and thoughts are blended. He finds an expression through the experience of mental and emotional relationships with others. In the next step his intellect is purified. His thoughts are freed from motives and his emotions are purified into love. At this stage, the lower centers gradually lose their control, and his consciousness gains possession of the higher centres. The centre of consciousness is shifted from the personality-level to the soul-level. During this period, the minor initiations take place. His consciousness begins to take possession of his throat- and _Ajna_-centres. His relationships with others are only in the group-level because there are no motives. He learns to live with the one Higher Soul of the _greater intelligences_ at work on this earth. In the next stage, the evolution is from soul to spirit, that is, from the one soul to the parent-soul of this solar system and above. Spiritual astrology gives direct light concerning these steps of unfolding. The following phenomena take place during the above-said steps:

“(1) When one lives in the individual level, in every birth, the twelve houses of his horoscope wield their influence through the twelve departments of the individual life. The whole globe of the apparent space around him is made to have a symbolic beginning from his ascendant and to travel through the zodiacal signs _via_ his twelve houses. The signs and the planets influence him only through his twelve houses.

“(2) When the individual unfolds into the personality-level, gradually the houses cease to exist for him. It is only the planets and the twelve signs that stimulate him into the work of the world. Aries works as the first house, Taurus as the second house and so on. Another important and interesting change takes place at this stage. The position of his birth Moon works as his ascendant and from that point there is some influence (only on the mental and astral planes) which divides the zodiac into the twelve houses of his personality. If you take the Moon as his ascendant and construct the twelve houses, that will be his horoscope for mental and astral influences. The Sun in his horoscope works as another ascendant (for purposes of objective and mundane spheres) and there is another set of twelve houses from his Sun, working upon his vocational and social spheres.

“(3) In the third stage of his unfolding, his birth ascendant again takes hold of his consciousness; but, this time the ascendant does not denote his physical existence. It marks the plan of his soul. He will be highly influenced on the soul-level by the sign and the degree of his ascendant. This is because the birth ascendant is nothing but the position of his Moon at the time of fertilisation preceding his birth. The _kama_ and the _sankalpa_ of the parents give him this sign and the degree through the mind (Moon) of the parents. This results in his physical body which is his ascendant. But here at this stage of evolution, his real body or vehicle of expression is his soul and not his physical body. Hence his soul is influenced by his _Lagna _ at this stage. There is another interesting point also worth noticing here. The course of his soul does not follow the planetary path of the zodiacal signs. It follows the path of the higher sun, or the equinox. Therefore for a proper understanding of his further path, the ascendant should be progressed backwards. The path is from Aries to Pisces and so on. His ascendant meets the aspects of the other planets in a receding order of direction which will be explained later.

“(4) In the fourth stage, the ascendant, the Moon, and the Sun form the three centres of working. His life is guided by the planetary principles as angels and not planets. There are three main centres through which the cosmic energy contacts him. In the cosmic plan, there are three great forces which are beyond the planetary level. These are the solar, the lunar, and the earth principles. These principles are the cause of the planetary creation in each solar system. Every planet and its every atom contain these principles. They are explained, in detail, in the next chapter. In the horoscope of a disciple who has attained this fourth stage, his birth Sun works as his solar-principle, his birth Moon as his lunar-principle, and his ascendant as his earth-principle. He gains mastery over these principles and creates through them in tune with the cosmic plan. He attains the level of a worker with the higher beings. At this stage only, the aspects between the planets that occur during the progressions of his retrograde horoscope respond. The Sun and the Moon stimulate him only through the new moon and the full moon and the half-moons. The ascendant influences him only through its rotation along the four cardinal points of the day (the east, the meridian, the west, and the nadir).

“These four stages form the main content of spiritual astrology. A thorough explanation of these stages, as far as it is possible at present, will be given in this book.”

I start with quotations from Ekkirala Krishnamacharya’s groundbreaking book Spiritual Astrology:

From p. viii: “Unlocking the keys of the stories that contain the secrets of eternal wisdom was one of the main purposes of [Helena Blavatsky, founder of The Theosophical Society]. …. [The] Astrological key is inevitable to read the scriptures of the world and understand them in a proper manner.”

From pp. 40-41: “Orthodox astrology has not much in common with the astrology of the wisdom school. … a true student of Veda [in this case, "Hindu" scripture in its generic, inclusive sense, one of its two common semantic senses], who has trained his inner sense organs in tune with his intuition at the feet of his guru, knows how the astrology of the wisdom school is concealed in the Veda, Brahmana, Itihasa, and Purana literatures [in this case, Veda is used in its other common semantic sense, its specialized, exclusive sense, where it is understood that the other categories in the list are other "Vedic" or "Hindu" scriptures in pursuance of the original Veda]. Many of the fundamental concepts of the subject differ from those of popular astrology. We should not, however, discard the popular branch of astrology and its skeleton, astronomy. Like the skeletons and physical bodies of the men of the material plane of living, they contain what the average man wants and conceal the inner content to be revealed to those seeking after it. Just as the uninitiated does not respond to the effects of his chakras and certain glands, so also the higher planetary expressions and the mysteries of the zodiac … remain away from him. Similarly, he is blind and deaf to the light and music of the planets of the higher octaves. Hence great sages like Parasara, Jaimini, and Varaha Mihira separated the portion of astrology required by the average man from the larger and the higher. Only here and there did they hint at the true path. They reserved the original path for those who followed the hints. Parasara and Vedavyasa gave the whole wisdom of the lights in the form of simple stories in the Puranas.”