The Obstruction of the Vedic Waters & the Fixed Water Sign Scorpio ⁓ Part 8.2 ⁓ The 8 Point of the Vedic Year
The month of Leo (2022) brought with it some potent astrological transits, including a rare Mars-Uranus-North Node conjunction at 18° Taurus, [1] opposite the South Node at 18° Scorpio, both squaring Saturn at 22° Aquarius. On the Full Moon of 11 August, the Sun and Moon (19° Leo/Aquarius) axis lined up with Saturn and formed a Fixed Sign Grand Cross, squaring the Lunar Nodes, Uranus and Mars, highlighting all four of Vishnu’s fixed or preservation signs: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius – the full original Sphinx of the Zodiac (Bull, Lion, Eagle and Man). [2] I have highlighted this Grand Cross above, and marked the 8 Point (20° Aquarius) of the Vedic/Zodiacal Year.
In this installment of the series I will attempt to flush out the significance of the 8 Point– which Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet (Thea) saw as Mitra’s seat – in relation to current transits and events and in relation to the Supramental Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, whose natal Sun position or solar seat in the Zodiac is 22° Leo, i.e., opposite Mitra’s seat at 20° Aquarius, via 2° orb. First I want to give a brief overview of what I have already discussed in this lengthy series which brings us to this point in the discussion. Readers who want to skip the overview can go to the next section, but I think the review will be useful in terms of integrating and following the information presented.
This series was inspired or seeded by an actual blockage of one of the world’s most important waterways, the Suez Canal, the week before moving into the fixed-water sign of Scorpio within our current ennead (2016-2025). In Part Two I discussed the importance of the proximity of this blockage in relation to the Giza Sphinx which is a symbol of the Leo-Aquarius (Lion-Man) axis of the Zodiac. In “The Convergence of Putin’s War & the Mother’s 144-Year Birth Anniversary” (Parts 1 & 2) I discussed this axis and the 8 Point of the circle in relation to the geo-cosmology of Ukraine, the birth charts of Putin and Zelensky, the birth charts of Sri Aurobindo and his line, as well as in relation to aspects of my own chart, wherein my natal Sun (24° Aquarius) is conjunct Mitra’s seat (4° orb).
[Note: I corrected the image above on 4 September 2022. The North Node of the 21° Taurus-Scorpio axis is 21° Taurus. The incorrect version posted on 3 September showed two South Nodes along this axis. A better/larger version of the same is available HERE.]
I recommend that readers at least re-read the relevant paragraphs of Part Two of this series wherein I discussed Kyiv’s and Kharkiv’s geo-cosmological latitude of 20° Aquarius, and Putin’s 20° Aquarius/Leo Nodal Axis, as well as his natal Pluto position of 22° Leo, Ukraine’s 22° Aquarius Moon, as well as Saturn’s 2022 transits conjunct the 8 Point (20° Aquarius), which will last through most of January 2023.
I discussed the beginning of Saturn’s (≈ three year) transit through Aquarius [3] in Part Ten of the “Seeing in Understanding”. Throughout 2021 and 2022 Saturn has been squaring off with Uranus in Taurus, [4] which has corresponded with notable and dramatic worldwide disruptions and changes. Saturn and Uranus are known to be co-rulers of Aquarius, the sign of the Zodiac associated with revolution and large-scale change. Note that, whereas Saturn will be out of Aquarius in March of 2023, due to its slower orbit, Uranus will remain in Taurus, squaring the 20°-25° Leo/Aquarius axis via 5° orb, through April of 2026.
These fixed-sign transits have been prominently aspecting (conjunct, square and opposite) my natal Sun at 24° Aquarius and (square and opposite) my natal Mars at 24° Scorpio. This, together with passing through the 8 Point of my current ennead on 12 February 2022 and into the mutable water sign of Pisces in May, has corresponded to various personal shocks and difficulties demanding, in essence, surrender.
After watching Alex Jones get publicly dismantled and held accountable for his gross commercialization of falsehood in the Sandy Hook defamation case, I looked up his chart to see where the fixed-sign square between Saturn and Uranus-Mars-and-the-Lunar-Nodes fell in his chart because it was clearly reeking some havoc on him. [5] As it turns out, his natal Jupiter and Sun are conjunct at 22°/24° Aquarius, square his natal Mars at 21° Taurus. For him, the fixed-sign transits aspecting his Sun-Jupiter square Mars, amounted to a public dismantling of his falsehoods, along with massive punitive damages.
These same transits also correspond to the dramatic expansion of Trump’s various legal predicaments and exposure, including the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago to recover classified documents that he has been illegally hoarding and lying about. As a result he is likely facing "Obstruction of Justice" charges which is symbolic of the role played by the Scorpionic forces in the Vedas. Trump’s natal Mars at 25° Leo and Midheaven at 24° Taurus, as well as his natal Sun-North-Node-Uranus conjunction at 20° Gemini (the 2 Point of the Year) are directly affected by the energies of the fixed-sign transits [6] I illustrated the trine between Trump's natal Sun-North-Node-Uranus conjunction in Taurus and the 8 Point in "Seeing in Understanding ⁓ the Sense and Symbols of 2020 ⁓ Part 9". [Click here for a more detailed illustration].
Before moving on to discuss the importance of the 8 Point in the Vedic Year, I want to remind readers that in Part Six of this series I discussed and illustrated Vishnu’s fixed-sign cross and Sri Aurobindo’s natal Sun position in relation to the November and December eclipses of 2021. Note that the New Moon Solar Eclipse and Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in the fixed-water sign of Scorpio on 26 October and 8 November 2022 also feature fixed-sign squares and oppositions, with Saturn and Uranus square, respectively at 18° Aquarius and 16°-17° Taurus. As I wrote in part two, Saturn transited directly conjunct Putin’s 18° Aquarius (Mean) North Node at the nadir (IC) of his chart, the first week of his invasion of Ukraine.
Mitra and the 8 Point of the Vedic Year
Whereas the 8th Sign of the Zodiac represents the (fixed) blockage of the Vedic waters (the streams of Truth and Holy Order), the 8 Point [Mitra] of the Vedic Year falls in the sign of Aquarius where the Jar and its sacred waters of Truth are released upon humanity. Thea saw, understood, and illustrated the correspondence of this 8 Point with the 8th planet of our solar system, Neptune, and she equated Neptune to the Vedic god Mitra, meaning “Friend”. Aquarius – Vishnu’s fourth and final fixed (preservation) sign in the Zodiac – is known as the Man (Human), Water Bearer, Kumbha (Jar) and also as the Friend. Thus Thea saw Mitra as simultaneously equivalent to the entire sign of Aquarius and to the 8th planet of our solar system seated at 20° Aquarius – the 8 Point of the Vedic Year.
“[As] indicated in the Gnostic Circle, [Varuna and Mitra] are not only the signs Capricorn and Aquarius but the planets Uranus and Neptune as well.” [7] – Thea, The New Way, Vols. 1 & 2, p. 388
As recognized by Thea, the long-anticipated world teacher or savior of Buddhist tradition, Maitreya, is derivative of the Vedic Mitra. In the glossary of The New Way, Vols. 1 & 2 Thea wrote:
“The word [Maitreya] means Friend and the time given for the appearance would be the beginning of the Age of Aquarius, or precisely the sign of the Friend….” (p. 583)
Another offshoot of the Vedic Mitra was the Roman god Mithras. Mithraism featured a seven-stage initiation, paralleling the Vedic mythology of the seven rivers giving birth to Agni (aka Mitra). “Mithraea are commonly located close to springs or streams [or rivers]; fresh water appears to have been required for some Mithraic rituals, and a basin is often incorporated into the structure.” [9]
In The Secret of the Veda, Sri Aurobindo discussed the Jar (Kumbha) of the Vedas as equivalent to the vessel of Man. Thea, in turn, discussed the Jar/Kumbha of the Vedas as equivalent to Aquarius – the highest expression of the mental principle or Mind (Air element) in the Zodiac. [10] If Sri Aurobindo understood the connection between the Vedic Jar and the zodiacal sign of Kumbha/Man, as Thea did, he never discussed it in his published writings, as far as I know. He understood that the Vedic Sacrifice (Yajna) was equivalent to the twelve-month journey of the Year and he was familiar with astrology. [11] Combine this with the fact that Aquarius has long been known as Kumbha (the Water Jar) in India, and it is not hard to imagine that Sri Aurobindo was aware of the connection between the Jar of the Vedas and the Jar/Man of the Zodiac on at least some level of his being. In The Secret of the Veda, he wrote:
“Soma has to be purified through a strainer (pavitra) and through the strainer he streams in his purity into the wine bowl (camū) in which he is brought to the sacrifice, or he is kept in jars (kalaśa) for Indra’s drinking. Or, sometimes, the symbol of the bowl or the jar is neglected and Soma is simply described as flowing in a river of delight to the seat of the Gods, to the home of Immortality. [12] That these things are symbols is very clear in most of the hymns of the ninth Mandala which are all devoted to the God Soma. Here, for instance, the physical system of the human being is imaged as the jar of the Soma-wine and the strainer through which it is purified is said to be spread out in the seat of Heaven, divas pade. [13]
“[Rig Veda 9.83] begins with an imagery which closely follows the physical facts of the purifying of the wine and its pouring into the jar. The strainer or purifying instrument spread out in the seat of Heaven seems to be the mind enlightened by knowledge (cetas); the human system is the jar.…
“So received, sifted, strained, the Soma-wine of life turned into Ananda comes pouring into all the members of the human system as into a wine-jar and flows through all of them completely in their every part. As the body of a man becomes full of the touch and exultation of strong wine, so all the physical system becomes full of the touch and exultation of this divine Ananda.… Soma comes out like the wine dropping from the strainer and then pervading the jar; it emerges into the consciousness concentrated at some particular point, prabhu, or as some particular experience and then pervades the whole being as Ananda, vibhu.
“But it is not every human system that can hold, sustain and enjoy the potent and often violent ecstasy of that divine delight. Ataptatanūr na tad āmo a śnute, he who is raw and his body not heated does not taste or enjoy that; śṛtāsa id vahantas tat samāśata, only those who have been baked in the fire bear and entirely enjoy that. The wine of the divine Life poured into the system is a strong, overflooding and violent ecstasy; it cannot be held in the system unprepared for it by strong endurance of the utmost fires of life and suffering and experience. The raw earthen vessel not baked to consistency in the fire of the kiln cannot hold the Soma-wine; it breaks and spills the precious liquid. So the physical system of the man who drinks this strong wine of Ananda must by suffering and conquering all the torturing heats of life have been prepared for the secret and fiery heats of the Soma; otherwise his conscious being will not be able to hold it; it will spill and lose it as soon as or even before it is tasted or it will break down mentally and physically under the touch.” – Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Vol. 15, pp. 354-56 [Bold emphasis added]
“This wine of Soma represents, as we have abundant proof in the Veda and especially in the ninth book, a collection of more than a hundred hymns addressed to the deity Soma, the intoxication of the Ananda, the divine delight of being, inflowing upon the mind from the supramental consciousness through the Ritam or Truth.” – Ibid., p. 74
). This zodiacal geometry is pervasive throughout the Vedas, but especially so in the 9th Mandala of the Vedas which features Agni as the victorious self-purifying Sage/Horse/Son of Sagittarius (
) flowing and speeding with his rivers (=soma drops) to the Kumbha (=reservoir, vat, jar, beaker, tub, filter, bowl, etc.) In the hymn below, the references to the sign of Kumbha (=Aquarius/Mitra/Man) are emphasized in bold.“The drops of Soma juice [Amrita], those eagles of the heavens, most cheering, rich in meath, rest in the reservoir…. [Agni/Soma Pavamana] Like a steed urged to battle, finder of the light; speed onward to the cloud-born reservoir of heaven…Fleet as swift steeds, [Soma’s] drops, divine, thought-swift, have been…poured with milk into the vat…. When on the sieve the Golden-hued is cleansed, he rests within the vats as one who seats him in his place.… [Agni] Soma advances to the special place of Gods. He speeds with thousand currents to the reservoir…. [The Sovran, Agni-Soma ] set in rivers with the waters' wave moves on….. [Agni-]Soma flows on obtaining Indra's friendly love, and, as [the seven rivers] purify him, settles in the jars…. The vigorous and far-seeing one, the Lord of heaven, flows, shouting to the beaker, with his thousand streams. Coloured like gold he rests in seats where Mitra dwells…. Far-sighted [Agni-]Soma, now thou lookest on mankind: thou didst unbar the cowstall for the Aṅgirases…. Seven Milch-kine [14] glorify the Tawny-coloured One [Agni-Soma] while with his wave in wool he purifies himself. The living men, the mighty, have impelled the Sage into the waters' lap [apā́m upásthe], the place of sacrifice [ṛtasya yonā=the womb of truth/order]…. The Sisters Seven, the Mothers stand around the Babe [Agni], the noble, new-born Infant, skilled in holy song, Gandharva of the floods, divine, beholding men, [Agni-]Soma, that he may reign as King of all the world…. [Soma] displays his might, set among living things as measurer of days. [15] Distilling oil he flows, fair, billowy, golden-hued, borne on a [vehicle] of light…. Loosed is [Agni-Soma, heaven’s support/pillar], the uplifted cheering juice: the triply-mingled draught [=Soma/Amrita] [16] flows round into the worlds.” – Rig Veda 9.86 excerpts, tr. RTH Griffith [all emphasis and text in parenthesis added for clarification]
For readers who are unfamiliar with what I have previously presented, the obstructed waters (=seven rivers) of the Vedas, along with the Vedic kumbha (pot, bowl, jar, reservoir, pail, filter, tub, well, etc.) and its sacred contents (water, wine, milk, ghee, honey, mead, soma, amrita, etc.) are, on the geometric level, all interwoven symbols of the eternal form, law and vessel of the vesica piscis. The vesica piscis is the Daughter of the 360° Vedic Sacrifice and the companion and robe or mantle of the radius which is portrayed as the Son and pillar (skambha) of the Vedic Sacrifice and its Seven Rivers. The “river” of the vesica piscis flows through and measures out the Zodiac from the four cardinal points (two equinoxes and two solstices) of the Earth’s Solar year. [17] From the zero point of 0° Aries, seven vesicae piscium (=rivers) measure out the entrance into the Aquarian Kumbha (Jar).
As I have discussed throughout this series, the flowing and pouring of the Soma-wine, Amrita and the heavenly waters into and out of the Kumbha – Vishnu’s last sign and his highest seat – represents the release of the obstructed (fixed) waters of the 8th sign of Scorpio from the forces and hold of Ignorance and from the Enemies of Truth. Aquarius/Mitra, on the other hand is the Friend of Truth and the Water Bearer who releases these waters from the hold of Ignorance. Mitra is known, like Vishnu’s avatars, as the guardian and preserver of dharma (law) and ritam (truth/order). He is also “the supporter of the race of Man”. [18] The ideal Man of Aquarius is not the unconscious and developmentally immature Man/Human of our modern world; he is the Man/Human who has matured and evolved into a vessel of Truth, Consciousness-Force and Bliss (Sat, Chit/Tapas and Ananda). The universal Aquarian Man/Human is united with Mitra’s (and Varuna’s) universal and eternal laws, divine maya, truth, love, harmony and order.
Sri Aurobindo made the etymological connection between Mitra and Maya, both derivative of the Sanskrit root ma – “to measure, form, build”. Ma is the basis of myriad Sanskrit words, including matra (mother), Manu (the first or archetypal Man), mantra (sacred speech/song), mandala (circular form, orbit, path), and also matsya (the fish) which is the last sign of the Zodiac (Pisces) and the first form Vishnu takes as avatar in his mission to secure the Vedas and the sanatana dharma from being forever lost to Ignorance. From the Sanskrit root ma comes many English words, including “meter”, “measure”, “matrix”, “make”, “matriarch”, “mother”, “matter”, “manifest”, “manna”, “mantle” and “man”.
“Mitra’s is the principle of harmony by which the manifold workings of the Truth agree together in a perfectly wedded union. The root of [Mitra] means both to embrace and to contain and hold and, again, to build or form in the sense of linking together the parts or materials of a whole…
“The well-accorded happiness of the Truth is Mitra’s law of working; for it is upon Truth and divine Knowledge that this harmony and perfect temperament are founded; they are formed, secured and guarded by the Maya of Mitra and Varuna. That well-known word comes from the same root as Mitra. Maya is the comprehending, measuring, forming Knowledge which whether divine or undivine, secure in the undivided being of Aditi or labouring in the divided being of Diti, builds up the whole scene, environment, confines, and defines the whole condition, law and working of our existence. Maya is the active, originative, determinative view which creates for each being according to his own consciousness his own world. But Mitra is a Lord of the Light, a Son of Infinity and a Guardian of the Truth and his Maya part of an infinite, supreme and faultless creative wisdom. He builds, he joins together in an illuminated harmony all the numerous planes, all the successive steps, all the graded seats of our being. Whatsoever Aryaman [the Aspirer] aspires to on his path, has to be effected by the ‘holdings’ or laws of Mitra or by his foundations, statuses, placings, mitrasya dharmabhiḥ, mitrasya dhāmabhiḥ. For dharma, the law is that which holds things together and to which we hold; dhāma, the status is the placing of the law in a founded harmony which creates for us our plane of living and the character of our consciousness, action and thought.
“Mitra, like the other sons of Aditi, is a master of Knowledge. He possesses a light which is full of a varied inspiration, or, to keep closer to the Vedic term, a richly diversified hearing of the knowledge.” – Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Vol. 15, pp. 511-12 [Bold and underline emphasis added]
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“O Flame, thou supreme and wonderful thing, it is thou who by force of will becomest in us the greatness of discerning power; in thee [Agni] the all-harmonising Friend [*] in the sacrifice accomplishes the work and climbs to divine mastery….
“[*] Mitra, the Lord of Love, who introduces the principle of harmony into the workings of the divine effort in us and thus combines all the lines of our advance, all the strands of our sacrifice until the work is accomplished in the supreme unity of Knowledge, Power and Delight.” – Ibid., p. 427
In his commentary and translation of Rig Veda 5.63, which Sri Aurobindo referred to as “The Second Hymn to Mitra-Varuna: THE GIVERS OF THE RAIN”, he translated Maya consistently as “knowledge”, where others have translated it as “cunning” (Jamison & Brereton), “magic-power” (RTH Griffith), “power” (HH Wilson/Sāyaṇa), “device” (HH Wilson).
“Guardians of the Truth, you ascend your car and the law of the Truth is yours in the supreme ether.… O Mitra and Varuna, universal in your workings, you approach their cry with your clouds of varied light and you rain down Heaven by the power of the knowledge [*] of the Mighty One [God/Asura]…. This is your knowledge [Maya], O Mitra and Varuna, that is lodged in heaven…. You hide it in heaven with the cloud [19] and with the raining. O Rain, full of the honey start forth thy streamings.… [Mitra and Varuna] pour out on us, rulers imperial, the water of Heaven. O Mitra and Varuna…. Utterly by the knowledge you rain down Heaven ruddy-shining and sinless. O Mitra and Varuna illumined in consciousness, by the Law, by the knowledge [Maya] of the Mighty One you guard the workings; by the Truth you govern widely all the world of our becoming; you set the Sun in heaven, a chariot of various splendour…. [*]Maya, the creative knowledge-will of the Deva.” ‒ Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, Vol. 15, pp. 522-25 [Bold emphasis added, *Sri Aurobindo's footnote]
The reason Matsya [the Fish/Pisces] is related to the same root as Mitra, connoting the act of measuring, forming or building becomes clear when we see and understand that the eternal measure and law (the divine maya and sanatana dharma) of the vesica piscis is simultaneously Mitra’s [and Varuna’s] harmonizing law and his Maya/Knowledge, as well as a long-hidden, secret key of Vedic symbolism, and the basis of the lore and symbols of Vishnu’s avataric incarnations – starting with Matsya the Fish. The following image (constructed on 1 September 2022) shows Matsya Avatar within his key of recovering Vishnu's sanatana dharma and his kumbha of Amrita, which is equally the Maya, Measure or Knowledge that is poured down from heaven by Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Agni (Soma Pavamana) and accompanying Vedic heroes.
In the next-to-last chapter of Geometric Keys of Vedic Wisdom, entitled “Up-Up-Up with the Fish”, I wrote:
“The fact that the sign of Pisces or Matsya/Mina the Fish is the last sign of the Rishis’ sacred year or journey is a case of the key of the vesica piscis being hidden in plain sight, lying in wait across multiple ages to be recovered in the course of Time from the symbolic waters in which it was hidden. This form or “vessel of the fish” is the Divine Maya, divine form or vessel of the indwelling Soul (the Hidden One, Sun or Son). Its eternal form (together with the radius) is the basis of the Rishis’ sanatana dharma, measuring out the twelve-month yajna from the Earth’s four cardinal points. Its victorious recovery, along with the recovery of the divine Sun or Son hidden in the waters [=rivers] is the central theme of the entire Rig Veda. And although this victory has been accomplished via the collective yoga of Sri Aurobindo and his collaborators, now remains the world-yoga of utilizing this key to not only deconstruct our distorted ideas about the Divine Play and about spirituality that have naturally sprung from the heavily veiled truth of the Vedic Sacrifice, but also to increase our own direct experience of the Divine Soul manifesting in our lives and in our world.” – Geometric Keys of Vedic Wisdom, pp. 398-399
Sat, Chit-Tapas, Ananda and Swar of the Vedas
In The New Way, Vols. 1 & 2 Thea identified, discussed, and illustrated the equivalence between the last quadrant of the Zodiac and the heavenly Swar realm of the Vedas which is the home of Mitra and Varuna (Neptune and Uranus).
“The quarter [of the Zodiac] we are concerned with, which deals with these Vedic godheads, is the last consisting of the signs Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.… [t]hese signs correspond to Sat, Chit and Ananda of Indian spiritual terminology. Added to this trinity is Tapas, Force, and in the Gnostic Circle this is the sign Leo, which stands opposite to Aquarius, or Chit. The following diagram shows the quarter of the Circle containing these signs and their corresponding Hindu designations.... [W]hen the circle of nine planets is superimposed on the twelve [signs], Uranus and Neptune fall in the signs Capricorn and Aquarius….
“Our diagram is indeed accurate. Varuna is Uranus whose position is in Capricorn or Sat; Mitra is Neptune who is found in Aquarius or Chit…. Aryaman is Tapas of Leo with the Earth/Moon pair at its portals; and Bhaga is Pisces or Ananda (no planet located therein).” – Thea, The New Way, Vols. 1 & 2, pp. 386-87 [Image to the right, p. 387; bold emphasis added]
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“Mitra as Neptune is found in Aquarius, the sign of Chit, or consciousness. Sri Aurobindo too sees this God of Bliss 'in the all-uniting light of Chit'….
“To understand Mitra or Neptune better, in terms of our effort to make the Veda come alive for us today by means of tracing these godheads from their origin to the Gnostic Circle, it is necessary to give a wider background of Neptune, the planet under discussion. This planet is the planet of divine Love, as stated.
“But while [Neptune] is positioned in Aquarius in the Circle because of its actual location in the sky as the eighth planet from the Sun, it is known 'to rule' Pisces, the sign that follows Aquarius. As we can see from the diagram on page 387 [above right], Pisces is the sign of Ananda, Bliss, the last of the Hindu triad Sat-Chit-Ananda.” – Ibid. pp. 393-94
Neptune (Mitra) and Jupiter co-rule Pisces (Matsya). As such, it is worth noting here that Neptune has been transiting through Pisces since 2011 and that Jupiter and Neptune transited conjunct each other at 20° Pisces in April of 2022. As many astrologers have noted, this conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune in the sign they co-rule only happens once every 165 years. [21] The only thing I have to say about this transit at the moment, in relation to the current subject, is that the energies of Neptune/Mitra are amplified or enhanced in the sign of Pisces (Ananda/Bliss of Satchitananda), and further amplified via Jupiter, which expands the energies of that which it comes into aspect. Below are a couple of Sri Aurobindo’s discussions on the Sat, Chit-Tapas, and Ananda of the Swar realm in The Secret of the Veda.
“[It] is in the image of Swar, the world of the divine Truth that the goal [of the Vedic Sacrifice/Year] is concretely figured. “Let us reach” is the aspiration “the Light that is of Swar, the Light which none can tear asunder.” Swar is the great, inviolable birth of Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman which is contained in the luminous heavens of the soul. The all-ruling Kings, because they grow perfectly and there is no crookedness in them, hold our habitation in heaven. That is the triple world in which the uplifted consciousness of man reflects the three divine principles of being, its infinite existence [Sat], its infinite conscious-force [Chit-Tapas], its infinite bliss [Ananda]. “…Three heavenly worlds of light [Aryaman, Mitra, and Varuna] hold, the gods golden-shining who are pure and purified in the streams; sleepless, unconquerable they close not their lids, they express the wideness to the mortal who is straight.” These all-purifying streams are those of the rain, the abundance, the rivers of the heaven of Truth. “Charioted in light are they, aggressive in knowledge, sinless and they clothe themselves in the rain [22] and abundance of heaven for the felicity.” By the pouring out of that abundance they prepare our souls to ascend to its source, the higher ocean from which the luminous waters descend.” – Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, pp. 495-96 [Bold emphasis and text in brackets added]
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“[In hymn II.24] Brihaspati is described driving up the cows, breaking Vala by the divine word, brahmaṇā, concealing the darkness and making Swar visible. The first result is the breaking open by force of the well which has the rock for its face and whose streams are of the honey, madhu, the Soma sweetness, aśmāsyam avataṁ madhudhāram. This well of honey covered by the rock [23] must be the Ananda or divine beatitude of the supreme threefold world of bliss, the Satya, Tapas and Jana worlds of the Puranic system based upon the three supreme principles, Sat, Chit-Tapas and Ananda; their base is Swar of the Veda, Mahar of the Upanishads and Puranas, the world of Truth. – Ibid., p. 178 [Bold emphasis added]
The following image depicting Sat, Chit-Tapas, and Ananda, in relation to Capricorn, Aquarius-Leo, and Pisces, and their respective planetary rulers is a combination of Thea’s image above right (The New Way, Vols. 1 & 2, p. 387), and an image from The Gnostic Circle (p. 150) [24]
![Sat-Chit-Tapas-Ananda & the Zodiac-a combination of Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet's images from The Gnostic Circle (p. 150), [24] and The New Way, Vols. 1 & 2 (p. 387 )](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ohaLzEw0tEQepzbLbclCWv5avedcc8vdG3i00riOuIWf4w0EpNw77Lhxq-JnRy79AhgQ_YJwQ8x3N8e3udZ6RGiY9WwqFVMURvozg2yUSt-XRyTUlKJBF3x3ME79N9gKr08hLWbTgzkE82wcmhpSUoK55nHidSTmB8L36QoNapi6II3bCij-_s_y/s1600/TGC-p150-TNW-287-AI-Satchitananda-Tapas-01.png "Sat-Chit-Tapas-Ananda & the Zodiac-a combination of Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet's images from The Gnostic Circle (p. 150), and The New Way, Vols. 1 & 2 (p. 387 )")
“Four great deities constantly appear in the Veda as closely allied in their nature and in their action, Varuna, Mitra, Bhaga, Aryaman.… These four deities are, according to Sayana, solar powers, Varuna negatively as lord of the night, Mitra positively as lord of the day, Bhaga and Aryaman as names of the Sun. We need not attach much importance to these particular identifications, but it is certain that a solar character attaches to all the four.” – Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Vol. 15, pp. 300-301 [Bold emphasis added]
“[We] consider Uranus to be a planet having rapport with all that is universal and all-embracing, and we consider the sign Aquarius in the same light. [Uranus] is also known to be the planet signifying freedom, which we understand to be the freeing of man from the prison of his mind. It is to break the structures and formations he has created therein and to unravel the ties of conditioning that have become his shackles. This is the action of the descending power as epitomised by Uranus, – the 'electric shocks' that allow man to wake up and see, which ultimately will grant him the vision of unity that Uranus promises…. With the entry of Uranus the element Air is modified through its affinity with that element, and thus the upholding seed of the Manifestation, Leo, is first cast by the descending power onto the terrain of Mind. The Sun of Leo is the generating force, Tapas….
“Along with its action of 'shattering', [Uranus] carries the first Leo solar seeds, the initial new light into the field of human mind, which is first experienced as a form of cosmic consciousness. The instrument is widened and rendered more capable of perceiving the vast body of the Divine and man as One…. Uranus, through the sign Aquarius, is the direct transmitter of the solar seed. [25] It can be said that it is through this channel that the Sun-God fecundates the Earth.” – Thea, The Gnostic Circle, pp. 142-43, image p. 143 [Bold emphasis added]
In The Gnostic Circle, Thea first discussed this special yod and its Leo-Aquarius axis in relation to the 9th Manifestation of the Maha Yuga cycle, spanning three ages: the Ages of Pisces, Aquarius, and Capricorn. With regards to Sri Aurobindo’s role as the Avatar of the Age of Aquarius within the 9th Manifestation, Thea wrote:
“The Avatar of the 9th [Sagittarian] Manifestation does not lay the foundations for a new religion, which would defeat the purpose of his advent. It is only the revelation of the next phase of spiritual experience and expression, and the discipline and yogic sadhana that accompanies it, that is his purpose, because each coming must lay before mankind a fuller experience of God. Each Manifestation signifies for humanity a greater possible expression and realisation of the Divine, and it is this that he comes to reveal. The Avatar cannot follow the traditional way, except insofar as he shows how that way prepares for the next step, the next piece in the divine Mosaic. He must explore the past, digest it and assimilate it into his own experience, and then he begins to reveal the actual thrust of the Age. He is the seed of the movement, as we have shown in our diagram of the Manifestations based on the quincunx (inconjunct) [26] aspect.
"Sri Aurobindo is this seed. He was born with the Sun in Leo, the upholder of the three signs of the 9th Manifestation. However, he does not come alone in this work, because the work of Kalki is to embrace the several aspects of the Divine and render the whole of creation the image of the Lord. In the scriptures, though we cannot rely on them fully because many irrelevant pieces have been added along the way, it is said that Kalki comes with two other persons. Sri Aurobindo's advent is intimately bound with the Mother's birth, and in the diagram she fills the position of Pisces, being born, in fact, with the Sun in that sign. The third position falls in Capricorn, and the Age of Aquarius, cupped in between the two, is the entire humanity, the collectivity as a whole, standing directly in opposition to Leo, the seed, the puruśa. In fact, the meaning of Leo in the zodiac is the Purusha, and the spiritual quarter of the Circle, unlike any of the other quarters, is upheld by the Sun, which is also the Purusha of the entire system. Here, in the Spiritual Quarter, the Sun is a direct influence. What it signifies for the structure of the whole solar system―the central and sustaining Light―shows itself to be true also for the spiritual quarter of the evolution of the divine body. It is the Sun, the light of Truth, that feeds the trinity of the body of the Spirit in manifestation. – Thea, The Gnostic Circle, pp. 50-51; image, p. 42 [Bold and underline emphasis added]
Thea, born with her natal Sun at 15° Capricorn, of course knew when she wrote The Gnostic Circle that whereas Sri Aurobindo and the Mother fill the Leo and Pisces roles in this yod, she fills the “third position in Capricorn”. And, as per the above, she saw the position of the Aquarian “Man” as being filled by the entirety of humanity. Regarding the connection between Leo, Aryaman and the Sagittarian Son or "Fourth" of the Solar Line, she wrote:
“We have clearly understood the character of Aryaman and his position in the trinity of Sat-Chit-Ananda, by his aspect of realising Energy which manifests through the Aryans, or the forgers and leaders on the Path. And we see also that [Leo] is the sign and principle of the Father, and indeed the Father was incarnate under this sign.... Leo is the Father who initiates; Sagittarius is the Son who consummates.” – Thea, The New Way, Vols. 1&2, p. 397
Vishnu’s Consciousness-Force and the Age of Aquarius
Thea discussed the significance of Vishnu’s Aquarius-Leo (Man-Lion = Narasimha) [27] axis in relation to the Supramental Avatars and in relation to the Giza Sphinx at length in her writings.
“[T]he four Fixed signs of the zodiac, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius―the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and the Man (Woman)…are mentioned continually in the Book of Revelation and other older occult and esoteric documents and spiritual texts. Of these four signs, the Man and the Lion are the Sphinx of Giza, 'guardian' of the Great Pyramid. …[T]he Sphinx of Giza represents the same axis of Leo and Aquarius, or August and February, the birth months of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, which is the important axis of the Matrimandir. August is naturally the Lion and February the Man, but in fact in ancient times the Sphinx was most often portrayed in its human part as a Woman, [28] particularly in Babylonia and then in Greece.” – Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 278 [Bold emphasis added]
*
“The avatar comes upon Earth during the periods of Vishnu, the Preserver. These are the periods of the four Fixed signs of the zodiac,―Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, and Scorpio. We are in Vishnu's period [Age] of Mitra, the Friend,―Aquarius. [29] – Thea, The New Way, Vols. 1&2, p. 445 [Bold emphasis added]
*
“Aquarius is one of the signs of the Sphinx and the periods of Vishnu, which are the only times when the Avatars can incarnate in their full form. For this period the symbol of that avataric descent is [Sri Aurobindo’s Lotus of the Avatar]…. Its 9 and 6 and 3 form rests at the heart of the [Mother’s Temple] and hence at the core of the new creation.” – Ibid., p. 494 [Bold emphasis added]
[Click HERE to see the larger collection of quotes from The Gnostic Circle on the Leo-Aquarius axis, which I included in “The Convergence of Putin’s War & the Mother’s 144-Year Birth Anniversary ⁓ A Cosmological Perspective ⁓ Part One”.]
It is clear from The New Way, Vols. 1&2 that Thea saw the Aquarius-Leo axis as representative of the Vedic principle of Chit-Tapas (Consciousness-Force) – Aquarius holding the position of Chit (Consciousness), and Leo holding the position of Tapas (Force).
“[The symbol of] Cow and Horse of Vedic symbology are Consciousness-Force, the major axis of existence, the axis portrayed in the symbology of the enigmatic Sphinx of Giza. – The New Way, Vols. 1&2, p. 378 [Emphasis added]
*
“Tapas, Force…is the sign Leo, which stands opposite to Aquarius, or Chit.” – Ibid. p. 386
This principle of Chit-Tapas is found abundantly throughout Sri Aurobindo’s writings. He most often referred to it (as Thea did) as “Consciousness-Force”, but also as “Consciousness and Power”, "Consciousness and Puissance” and “conscious power”. From his teachings on Chit-Tapas, along with his teachings on Truth-Consciousness (Sat-Chit) and the entire trinity or quaternity of Sat, Chit-Tapas, and Ananda, we can better understand THAT which the Aquarian “Man” or universal Human is to contain and realize in the Kumbha or vessel of his or her body at the summit of our evolutionary journey.
“The Divine descends from pure existence through the play of Consciousness-Force and Bliss and the creative medium of Supermind into cosmic being; we ascend from Matter through a developing life, soul and mind and the illuminating medium of supermind towards the divine being. The knot of the two, the higher and the lower hemisphere, is where mind and supermind meet with a veil between them. The rending of the veil is the condition of the divine life in humanity; for by that rending, by the illumining descent of the higher into the nature of the lower being and the forceful ascent of the lower being into the nature of the higher, mind can recover its divine light in the all-comprehending supermind, the soul realise its divine self in the all-possessing all-blissful Ananda, life repossess its divine power in the play of omnipotent Conscious-Force and Matter open to its divine liberty as a form of the divine Existence. And if there be any goal to the evolution which finds here its present crown and head in the human being, other than an aimless circling and an individual escape from the circling, if the infinite potentiality of this creature, who alone here stands between Spirit and Matter with the power to mediate between them, has any meaning other than an ultimate awakening from the delusion of life by despair and disgust of the cosmic effort and its complete rejection, then even such a luminous and puissant transfiguration and emergence of the Divine in the creature must be that high-uplifted goal and that supreme significance.” – Ibid., 278-79 [All emphasis added]
*
“A supramental change of the whole substance of the being and therefore necessarily of all its characters, powers, movements takes place when the involved supermind in Nature emerges to meet and join with the supramental light and power [=Tapas] descending from Supernature. The individual must be the instrument and first field of the transformation; but an isolated individual transformation is not enough and may not be wholly feasible. Even when achieved, the individual change will have a permanent and cosmic significance only if the individual becomes a centre and a sign for the establishment of the supramental Consciousness-Force as an overtly operative power in the terrestrial workings of Nature, — in the same way in which thinking Mind has been established through the human evolution as an overtly operative power in Life and Matter. This would mean the appearance in the evolution of a gnostic being or Purusha and a gnostic Prakriti, a gnostic Nature. There must be an emergent supramental Consciousness-Force liberated and active within the terrestrial whole and an organised supramental instrumentation of the Spirit in the life and the body, — for the body consciousness also must become sufficiently awake to be a fit instrument of the workings of the new supramental Force and its new order. Till then any intermediate change could be only partial or insecure….” – Ibid, pp. 997-98 [Bold emphasis added]
[These and more excerpts from Sri Aurobindo’s writings on Consciousness-Force are found in the Addendum to 8.2]
The Supramental Consciousness-Force Organizing Terrestrial Circumstances
I began writing this article on the 11 August Full Moon, wherein the Sun and Moon came into opposition upon the zodiacal axis of 19° Leo-Aquarius. The Full Moon’s position placed it conjunct (within 1°) Mitra’s seat at 20° Aquarius, the 8 Point of the Year. Sometime that evening, while I was still writing, a friend I had not seen in over a year called and invited me on a Full Moon Sail in the San Francisco Bay the next evening with some of his friends, and I said yes because it seemed like a fitting way to celebrate the special Full Moon, even if a day late. My friend did not announce that his birthday was 13 August and I had forgotten. Regardless, the evening sail (Sun at 20° Leo opposite Saturn at 22° Aquarius and Mitra at 20° Aquarius, and square Uranus at 18° Taurus) included a surprise birthday cake, candles and a song from his friends thanks to the captain who did remember. Thus I came to appreciate that the person who invited me on the 12 August (20° Leo) “Full Moon” sail was born opposite me (12 February) in the 365-day year. I will forever marvel at the way this watery adventure marked, in a few different ways (via the Full Moon of 11 August, via the date of the sail and via the birthdates of myself and the friend who invited me), the Leo-Aquarius axis (circa 22° Leo-Aquarius) which I keep pointing to (and illustrating) in conjunction with Sri Aurobindo’s avataric task and victory of releasing the Vedic Waters and Amrita from the Vishnu’s Kumbha in the Age of Aquarius.
On our way towards this iconic and central Bay Area monument, a lone porpoise arced above the surface of the water, showing himself or herself for a second, and then disappeared back under the water’s dark cover.
The water-bound prison-rock of Alcatraz “released” (relocated) its prisoners and was closed on the March Equinox of 1963, the year of Sri Aurobindo’s rebirth as “the Son” according to Thea’s teachings. It was subsequently opened to the public as a tourist destination in 1973, the year of the Mother’s passing. Alcatraz – established in the 8-power year of 1934 – is a fitting symbol of the fixed-water sign Scorpio, but with the added twist that the prison no longer holds prisoners in itself and functions as a national park and monument, symbolizing a purification and release of its former darkness. In the Vedas, the waters of the seven rivers (=seven cows, floods, mothers, mares, sisters, soma drops, ecstasies, voices, etc.) are released from their obstruction or prison (aka “the rock” or “the water’s rock”) by the Vedic Son, Sage and Horse (Agni as Soma-Pavamana), also known as “the Waters’ Son”, and his companion heroes, upon his birth. Agni and his seven mothers-rivers flow to and are collected in the Kumbha of Aquarius, also known as Agni’s womb of Truth (ṛtásya yónim). As such, it is symbolically fitting that the infamous water-bound rock-prison of the San Francisco Bay became defunct specifically in 1963, on the true zero point of the Vedic Year no less. Fifty-three years later (53 = 5 + 3 = 8), the Vedic Rock (=stone, cave, mountain, prison) released the geometric and zodiacal sense of its imprisoned waters (=cows, mares, treasures, etc.) not far from the Rock of Alcatraz.
“When Agni becomes the offspring of the Daughter [=the River of Heaven], he begins ruling... The conquering [Dawns/Rivers] cling to him in his struggle. By knowledge they deliver a great light out of the darkness….” (tr. RL Kashyap)
“The [Seven] Sages freed them [=the seven rivers/cows/mares] from their firm-built prison: the seven priests drove them forward with their spirit. All holy Order's pathway they discovered he, full of knowledge, shared these deeds through worship.” (tr. RTH Griffith) – Rig Veda 3.31.1-5 excerpts
*
“Pouring all glories hither, he [the warrior steed=Agni=Soma-Pavamana], effused and entering the jar [=Kumbha], stands like a hero mid the kine [=the seven cows, mothers, rivers, etc.].” – Rig Veda 9.62.20, tr. RTH Griffith
As discussed and illustrated in Geometric Keys of Vedic Wisdom (book), I first became aware that Sri Aurobindo and I sat opposite each other in the cycle of the year in 1994. This was six years before I knew of Thea’s existence or of her teachings regarding the Leo-Aquarius axis of the Zodiac in relation to Vedic gnosis.
“In 1994 [the year I began to develop an interest in astrology and in the geometry of Time] I saw that I was born at the specific degree of 24° Aquarius and that my mother’s North and South Lunar Nodes fell at 24° Leo and 24° Aquarius. Seeing this Leo-Aquarius axis in my mother’s natal chart, along which two of her children [myself and my brother] and her father were born…gave me the sense for the first time that astrology was worth studying. That same year I found out that Sri Aurobindo was born on August 15 (22° Leo), along or conjunct this same axis, opposite my birthday.
“The fact that Sri Aurobindo’s birthday fell opposite mine in the year felt important to me, though I did not fully know why at the time. It simply seemed to reflect the deep connection I felt with his yoga. Later, perhaps in 2002, I came to find [via Thea’s writings] that the Mother’s North and South Lunar Nodes fell at 22° Aquarius and 22° Leo [via True position not Mean calculation]. In other words, her natal North Node ‒ an indicator of one’s karmic destiny ‒ conjuncts my birthday; and her South Node conjuncts Sri Aurobindo’s birthday. While writing this book I came to find that the year Sri Aurobindo was born (1872) the Sun’s position was 22° Aquarius on February 12, my future birthday….” (pp. 48-49, image p. 49)
I have been emphasizing the fact that Mitra (the Friend) seat in the Zodiac is 20° Aquarius ‒ the 8 Point of the Vedic Year – opposite Sri Aurobindo’s birth at 22° Leo and conjunct the Mother’s North Node at 22° Aquarius, conjunct my birth at 24° Aquarius, and conjunct Saturn’s (the Time Spirit’s) transiting position throughout most of 2022 ‒ because Mitra’s harmonizing and unifying divine law and divine maya (measure) is equivalent to the divine law and divine maya (measure) of the Vedic Waters and their Son, the radius. It is not a random coincidence that the person the eternal divine law and divine maya (i.e. the sacred and zodiacal geometry) of these waters was released to and entrusted with the week of Thea’s passing, was born conjunct Mitra’s seat opposite Sri Aurobindo’s seat in the Vedic Year. It is part of the seamless perfection by which the Supramental Consciousness-Force organized and coordinated the victory of Vishnu’s recovery and pouring out of his Kumbha in the world, in the Age of Kumbha, in the Age of Mitra, wherein Mitra’s (=Agni’s=the soul’s) eternal and universal laws (sanatana dharma) and divine maya (measure) are revealed to and reestablished within the consciousness of Man/Humanity, no longer obstructed by the barrier, veil, rock or prison of our own Ignorance. With this in mind, it is worth repeating what I wrote at the beginning of “Mitra and the 8 Point of the Vedic Year”, which in many ways is the crux of this entire series.
“Whereas the 8th Sign of the Zodiac represents the (fixed) blockage of the Vedic waters (the streams of Truth and Holy Order), the 8 Point [Mitra] of the Vedic Year falls in the sign of Aquarius where the Jar and its sacred waters of Truth are released upon humanity.”
The energy or power that becomes pent up, fixed, stagnant and poisonous in the 8th sign of the Zodiac (Scorpio), is subsequently purified by the movement of the Sagittarian Sage-Horse to his heavenly Jar or Kumbha, wherein the 8 Power of Mitra/Neptune resides. So we can appreciate that this purification takes us from the lower-poise of the 8th sign of the Zodiac to the higher poise and power of the 8 seated in Aquarius (Kumbha), in the Swar realm of the Vedic Yajna. From the higher poise, the form of the 8, releases that which it hoarded and hid from us in the lower poise of Scorpio. [See 8.1]I will draw Part 8 of this series to a close with Rig Veda 3.5, as translated by Sri Aurobindo. This hymn describes Agni’s birth, awakening and entrance into the Kumbha – his “luminous native abode” – via his seven mother-rivers (=dawns, waters, cows, voices, lauds, etc.). When the seven rivers (=seven vesicae piscium) give him birth, he becomes Mitra, the Friend.
1. The Fire is awake fronting the dawns; one illumined, he becomes aware of the paths of the seers: kindled into a wide might by the seekers of godhead, the upbearing flame opens the gates of the Darkness.
2. Ever the Fire increases by the lauds, the words of those who hymn him by their utterances, one to be adored with prostrations; the Messenger who desires the many seeings of the Truth [30] has shone out in the wide flaming of the Dawn.
3. The Fire has been set in the human peoples, [31] child of the Waters, the Friend who achieves by the Truth; luminous, a power for sacrifice, he has risen to the summits; he has become the illumined seer who must be called by our thoughts.
4. The Fire when he has been kindled high becomes Mitra, the Friend — Mitra the priest of the call, Varuna, the knower of the births, Mitra, the friend, the priest of the pilgrim sacrifice, one rapid in his impulsions, the dweller in the house, the friend of the Rivers, the friend of the Mountains.
5. He guards from hurt the beloved summit-seat of the being, mighty, he guards the course of the Sun; Fire guards in the navel-centre the seven-headed thought, sublime, he guards the ecstasy [=Soma/Amrita] of the gods. [32]
6. A skilful craftsman, a god knowing all the manifestations of knowledge, he forms the beautiful and desirable Name, the luminous seat of the being [33] in the movement of the peace; that the Fire guards, not deviating from his work.
7. Desiring it as it desired him, the Fire entered into that luminous native abode [34] wide in its approach; shining forth, pure, purifying, sublime, again and again he makes new the father and the mother.
8. Suddenly born he is carried by the growths of the earth when the mothers [=seven rivers] who bore him make him grow by the light. The Fire in the lap of the father and the mother is as one who defends the waters gliding happily down a slope.
9. Lauded by us mighty he shone with his high flaming in the largeness of heaven, in the navel-centre of earth. The Fire is Mitra the friend, the desirable one, he is life growing in the mother; may he as our messenger bring the gods for the sacrifice. [35]
10. The Fire with his high flaming up-pillared, sublime, the firmament and became the highest of the luminous kingdoms, when for the flame-seers life, that grows in the mother, kindled all around [Agni] the carrier of the offerings [36] who was hidden in the Secrecy.
11. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech, [37] the many-actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth; O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.
‒ Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Vol. 16, pp. 170-77
[All emphasis, text in brackets, and endnotes added]
[Link to Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, or 8.2]
Endnotes
“When Uranus and Mars get together, they tend to trigger shocks and disruption. Uranus is unpredictable and electrifying, while Mars brings heat and anger. Add the north node into the mix and everything becomes intensified. Previous alignments of Uranus and the nodes have coincided with storms and extreme weather, as well as crashes and industrial accidents – there’s a list here, and an interesting post by Marjorie Orr here.” See also: “Uranus and Mars conjunct North Node”, by Jessica Davidson.
[2] An Astro-charts.com chart of the 11 August Full Moon is available here.
[3] Via CafeAstrology:
Mar 21, 2020 11:58 PM EDT Saturn enters Aquarius
Jul 1, 2020 7:37 PM EDT Saturn Rx enters Capricorn
Dec 17, 2020 12:04 AM EST Saturn enters Aquarius
Mar 7, 2023 8:34 AM EST Saturn enters Pisces
[4] “The astrology of 2022 is underscored by the Saturn Uranus square which had its final exact alignment on 24 December 2021. They remain in orb throughout 2022, moving apart into the spring and closer again into the autumn. Saturn has had the upper hand since 2021, keeping us locked in a holding pattern. But now Uranus is joined by the north node in Taurus and the energy changes, becoming even more disruptive and unpredictable.... This is the final square in the cycle that began in 1988 and it runs from 2020 to 2023. The exact alignments were in 2021 and this year the planets are close but not exact to the minute. The square forms by degree at 18° Taurus/Aquarius on 2 – 12 October [2022]. Alignments between Saturn and Uranus represent periods of radical change and disruption to the status quo. It’s a good time to break out of old habits that have become too restrictive and make creative changes to the structures of your life. These periods coincide with a crisis in consciousness that can lead to awakenings, breakthroughs and/or breakdowns.” – Jessica Davidson, “The Astrology of 2022”
See also: “Saturn square Uranus: Revolutionary Times”, moonomens.com.
[5] See: "Alex Jones Day of Reckoning the Astrology of the undoing 8 3 22", Brandon Russ.
[6] See: "Aquarius Full Moon & Donald Trump’s Therapy", Penny Dix AstroCoach & Brandon Russ Whiskey & Bagel. Astro (Aug 11, 2022).
[7] Below is a small selection of Sri Aurobindo’s discussion of Varuna and Mitra which Thea saw as commensurate with the zodiacal essence of Uranus and Neptune. Note especially – considering Uranus’s current transits and associated world events – Varuna’s function as a destroyer of enemies (of the Truth) which coincides with Uranus’s reputation for the sudden and revolutionary and often violent dismantling of old structures, patterns and beliefs.
“Varuna and Mitra, Powers of the Truth, are invoked “accomplishing a richly luminous thought,” dhiyam ghṛtācīṁ sadhanta…. The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Vol. 15, p. 75
*
“…Varuna and Mitra who accomplish or perfect this state of the intellect, are distinguished by two several epithets. Mitra is pūtadakṣa, possessed of a purified judgment; Varuna is riśādas, he destroys all hurters or enemies….
“In the Veda there are no merely ornamental epithets. Every word is meant to tell, to add something to the sense and bear a strict relation to the thought of the sentence in which it occurs. There are two obstacles which prevent the intellect from being a perfect and luminous mirror of the truth-consciousness; first, impurity of the discernment or faculty which leads to confusion of the Truth, secondly the many causes or influences which interfere with [i.e. OBSTRUCT] the growth of the Truth by limiting its full application or by breaking up the connections and harmony of the thoughts that express it and which thus bring about poverty and falsification of its contents. Just as the Gods in the Veda represent universal powers descended from the Truth-consciousness which build up the harmony of the worlds and in man his progressive perfection, so the influences that work against these objects are represented by hostile agencies, Dasyus and Vritras, who seek to break up, to limit, to withhold and deny. Varuna in the Veda is always characterised as a power of wideness and purity; when, therefore, he is present in man as a conscious force of the Truth, all that limits and hurts the nature by introducing into it fault, sin and evil is destroyed by contact with him. He is riśādas, destroyer of the enemy, of all that seek to injure the growth. Mitra, a power like Varuna of Light and Truth, especially represents Love, Joy and Harmony, the foundations of Mayas, the Vedic beatitude. Working with the purity of Varuna and imparting that purity to the discernment, he enables it to get rid of all discords and confusions and establish the right working of the strong and luminous intellect.
“This progress enables the Truth-consciousness, the Ritam, to work in the human mentality. With the Ritam as the agency, ṛtena, increasing the action of the Truth in man, ṛtāvṛdhā, touching or reaching the Truth, enabling, that is to say, the mental consciousness to come into successful contact with and possession of the Truth-consciousness, ṛtaspṛśā, Mitra and Varuna are able to enjoy the use of a vast effective will-power, kratuṁ bṛhantam āśāthe. For it is the Will that is the chief effective agent of the inner sacrifice, but a will that is in harmony with the Truth, guided therefore by a purified discernment. The Will as it enters more and more into the wideness of the Truth-consciousness becomes itself wide and vast, free from limitation in its view and of hampering impediments in its effectivity. It works urāv anibādhe, in the wideness where there is no obstacle or wall of limitation.
“Thus the two requisites on which the Vedic Rishis always insist are secured, Light and Power, the Light of the Truth working in the knowledge, dhiyam ghṛtācīm, the Power of the Truth working in the effective and enlightened Will, kratum bṛhantam.” – Ibid., pp. 75-77 [All bold and underline emphasis, and the text in parenthetical brackets are added]
[8] See: “Recovering the Ancient Light and Amrita of the Vedas – Part 1 & 2" and “Kumbha Mela and the Reestablishment of India's Truth and Power in the World ⁓ Part 3”.
[9] The original endnote for this quote is as follows: ‘Manfred Clauss, The Roman cult of Mithras, p.73: "...the importance of water for all manner of ritual purposes is revealed by the water-basins and cisterns, by the representations of Oceanus, and also by the evident desire to locate temples in the vicinity of a river or a spring. Water-basins were clearly part of the basic equipment of all mithraea."’ – www.tertullian.org
[10] The following excerpt is from Thea’s article “Cosmology in the Rigveda, The Third Premise” (originally published in The Hindu on 9 July 2002):
“[David] Frawley refers to the births of Agastya and Vashishta as ‘born in a pot or kumbha’, the Sanskrit word. He interprets this as ‘a vessel or a ship’ to reinforce his theory of a seafaring civilisation. To begin, I must indeed agree with Witzel that for a civilisation at home with the oceans as Frawley sustains, one fails to understand why the Rishi would need to make Agastya emerge from a pot if indeed he had been born at sea! A pot is a pot and a ship is a ship!
“More to the point, in making this deduction Frawley misses an important clue. Kumbha in the Rig Veda is what it still is today, thousands of years after the hymns were recorded: the zodiacal sign Aquarius, the Water Carrier, who, from the jar he carries, dispenses upon the whole world the waters of a divine substance; it is known in Sanskrit as Kumbha. This is the same Kumbha that gives its name to the world-famous Mela we celebrate year after year during the very same zodiacal month of Kumbha (PNB, 1978, 1981, 2001, 2002).” [Bold emphasis added]
“By the central Fixed sign Aquarius, an Air sign...the Mental Principle has given birth to the higher principle inherent in itself, the supermind, which signifies the spiritualisation of the species." ‒ Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 229
[11] Circa 1917-1918 Sri Aurobindo wrote a review of an astrological treatise Kalaprakasika, which discussed the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and included mention of Aquarius as the Western name of Kumbha. In a memoir, Dinendra Kumar Roy wrote, "Aurobindo was a firm believer in astrology. He believed that the planets had an influence on human life. He hadn’t the slightest doubt that one could tell good or ill in the life of a new-born by studying the horoscope…. At Aurobindo’s request I got a horoscope made by Mr. Bhattacharya. I never asked Aurobindo whether the events in his past life agreed with his chart." (With Sri Aurobindo in Baroda (Dinendra Kumar Roy lived with Sri Aurobindo in Baroda from 1898 to 1900 or 1901. This text first appeared in the journal Sahitya in Bengali in 1911-1912).
[12] Sri Aurobindo is pointing out here the equivalence between "the seat of the Gods" and "the home of Immortality" and the Vedic Jar/Kumbha (=reservoir, bowl, etc.) of Soma, which as I have discussed, is equivalent to Vishnu's Kumbha of Amrita, Amrita being the Gods’ Nectar of Immortality.
[13] Divas pade, “the seat of Heaven” of 9.83.2, is equivalent elsewhere to pada ilas, translated by Sri Aurobindo as “the seat of revelation”, which I discussed as one of the many names of Kumbha/Aquarius in Part 7.2.
[14] This Vedic imagery of setting the cows (kine) free from their pen is equivalent to the Vedic imagery of releasing the seven rivers from the obstructions of Vritra (the Coverer). The seven rivers and the seven cows, mothers, sisters, mares, etc., of the Vedas are all equivalent to each other, and, in my view, are all symbols of the first seven vesicae piscium of the Zodiac.
[15] Agni-Soma-Pavamana (= the Son and the Radius of the Circle) is simultaneously the measurer and "ruler" of the 360° day and of the 360° year, and of larger, macro cycles of time as well.
[16] The vesica piscis (= the drop and kumbha of Amrita/Soma) and its indwelling radius measures out one-third of the circle, encompassing three units of the circle of 9.
[17] Illustrations of the vesica piscis’s role in measuring out the 12 months of the Zodiac are found in “The Sacred Geometry of the Vimy Crop Circle (5 July 2020)” as well in “Kumbha Mela and the Reestablishment of India's Truth and Power in the World ⁓ Part 3”.
[18] Rig Veda 3.59.6., tr. RTH Griffith.
[19] As discussed throughout Geometric Keys of Vedic Wisdom (book, Part Two), the cloud (abhra) containing rain is one of the myriad symbols of the vesica piscis (= the vessel/kumbha containing its waters) in the Rig Veda.
[20] See: “The Sacred Measure of 432,000” (2019).
[21] Neptune’s transit of Pisces extends through 2026. Jupiter’s approximate one-year transit of Pisces lasts through 20 December 2022. Here are some links discussing the astrological energetic significance of the Neptune-Jupiter transit:
• "Jupiter Neptune Conjunction in Pisces 12th April 2022" Pam Gregory, Jan 3, 2022
• "THE JUPITER-NEPTUNE CONJUNCTION IN PISCES [12 April] 2022 IS A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME TRANSIT", David Odyssey, Nylon, April 8, 2022
• "Everything To Know About The Rare Jupiter-Neptune Conjunction Happening In April", by Nina Kahn, March 9, 2022
• "Neptune in Pisces Timeline", Forrest Astrology, October 17, 2014
[22] The Vedic gods are consistently said to be robed in waters, rivers, milk, ghee (oil), and such. As I have discussed at length, this is a veiled depiction of the geometry of the radius and vesica piscis. The vesica piscis is, among other things, the robe, mantle, clothing, adornment, veil, cloud, etc. of the radius.
[23] On the geometric and zodiacal level, “the well with mouth of stone that poured a flood of meath” (tr. RTH Griffith) of Rig Veda 2.24.4 is equivalent to the kumbha, jar or vessel of the vesica piscis, and the Kumbha of Aquarius.
[24] See The Gnostic Circle, pp. 42, 56, 143, 146, 150. Note: All references to specific page numbers of The Gnostic Circle in all of my writings are from the 1994 edition.
[25] The Lion, like Vishnu, is known as a protector and establisher of Dharma (Truth/Law). It is worth noting here that 0° Leo, the 3 Point of the circle (opposite 0° Aquarius) falls precisely 432,000ʺ into the circle, linking it, in a special way to the 432,000-measure of the Sun’s radius, the Rig Veda and the Kali Yuga, which Thea referred to as the "measure of Unity". In other words, the solar seat of 0° Leo is measured or marked out by the eternal law, dharma, and divine maya of the first vesica piscis of the Zodiac.
[26] Quincunx (inconjunct) is an astrological aspect of 150°, equivalent to five zodiacal signs. The yod (Finger of God) formation is formed by two quincunx (inconjunct) aspects (150° angles), and one sextile (60°, equivalent to two signs).
[27] Narasimha (the Man-Lion) is the name of Vishnu’s third avatar.
[28] Thea knew of course that the Mother, born in the sign of Pisces, “fills the position of Pisces” (The Gnostic Circle, p. 50) and not the position of Aquarius.
[29] Thea also discussed the Age of Aquarius as the Age of Vishnu’s Supramental/9th Avatar, and as the Age of Supermind.
[30] The “many seeings of Truth” (pūrvīr ṛtasya saṃdṛśaś) along with the “lauds” or hymn are equivalent to the seven rivers (the streams of Truth or Holy Order = ṛtásya dhā́rāḥ) that increase and birth Agni forward to his Seat of Truth or Holy Order = Kumbha) in the Vedic Sacrifice. In Rig Veda 3.7.1 these seven rivers (=sisters/mothers/cows/mares) are referred to as saptá vā́ṇīḥ – “seven voices” (Sri Aurobindo) or “seven tones” (RTH Griffith). In Rig Veda 4.1.12 they are sapta priyāsaḥ – the “seven beloved” or “seven friends (RTH Griffith).
“Driving [Agni/Soma-Pavamana] in Vivasvan's course, the Seven Sisters with their hymns Made melody round thee the Sage.” – Rig Veda 9.66.8, tr. RTH Griffith
*
“Mark the Law, thou who knowest, yea, observe it: send forth the full streams of eternal Order.” – Rig Veda 5.12.2, tr. RTH Griffith
*
"They [=the seven] who have climbed from the dark-backed foundation have entered the Father and Mother, have entered into the seven voices [=seven rivers]. … [Agni] reached the milch-cows [=rivers] that dwell in heaven, the Mares of the male, the divine rivers that carry in their flow the sweetness. The one Light moves on the way around thee when thou seekest thy dwelling in the house of the Truth.…They [the seven rivers]…rejoice in the rule of the Great One; they [the rivers] are the lights of heaven luminously blazing and the Word of Revelation is their mighty common speech…. Seven illumined seers guard…the beloved seat of the being that is set within [=the beloved Fixed seat].… the gods move according to the law of the workings of the gods.… The seven pleasures [=seven priests or rivers] take their rapture by the self-law of their nature; the Truth they express, the Truth only they speak, guardians of the law of its action according to that law they shine.… The swift-running dawns [=rivers] have shone opulently bringing us our satisfactions, with their true speech, their rays of intuition.… ‒ Rig Veda 3.7 excerpts, tr. Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Vol. 16, pp. 173-76
RTH Griffith's translation of some of 3.7 above, text in brackets added:
“The seven tones [hath] risen.... [Agni] The Male who dwells in heaven hath Mares and Milchkine: he came to Goddesses [=rivers] who bring sweet treasure. To thee safe resting in the seat of Order the Cow alone upon her way proceedeth.... Strength-giving streams bear hither [Agni] him eternal…. Seven holy singers guard…the Bird's [Agni’s] beloved firmly-settled station [=the Kumbha].... These speak of truth, praising the Truth Eternal, thinking on Order as the guards of Order.”
What Sri Aurobindo translated as “House of Truth” in 3.7.2 (above), RTH Griffith translated as “the seat of Order”, and HH Wilson translated as “the abode of the water”.
“The sky-traversing steeds of the showerer (of benefits) are the kine (of Agni); as he attains the divine (rivers), bearers of sweet (water). One sacred [sound] glorifies you (Agni), who are desirous of repose, pacifying your flames) in the abode of the water (the firmament).” – Rig Veda 3.7.2, tr. HH Wilson
*
“Wondrously first [Agni] rose aloft, defiant, in the Bull's lair, the home of holy Order, Longed-for, young, beautiful, and far-resplendent: and seven dear friends sprang up unto the Mighty.” – RTHG 4.1.12 [“the seven Beloved brought him to birth for the Bull”, tr. SA]
In my view, the Bull’s lair is equally Agni's, Indra's and Vishnu’s lair, aka resting place, given that all three are characterized as a Bull (among many other characterizations) in the Vedas. Taurus the Bull is Vishnu’s first sign/house in the Zodiac, and Aquarius is his final abode in the Zodiac.
[31] In my view this mention of Agni being set or fixed in “human peoples” refers not only to humanity but also to the fixed sign of the Aquarian “Man”, which Agni enters into, just as he enters, via his dawns (=rivers, mothers, etc.) into his Kumbha.
[32] This “seven-headed thought” that Agni-Mitra guards can be seen as equivalent to the law, maya (measure) and mayas (bliss) of the vesica piscis itself which, as I discussed in Geometric Keys of Vedic Wisdom (book), contains in itself four months and spans three units of the circle, thus being seven-fold in a sense. It can also be seen as equivalent to the seven rivers (vesicae piscium) that birth Agni unto his Kumbha of Soma (=amrita, ecstasy, bliss, immortality, etc.). Likewise, the “ecstasy of the gods” that Agni/Mitra guards is equivalent to the law, maya (measure) and mayas (bliss) of the Kumbha/Vessel. It is important to recall here Sri Aurobindo's discussion of mayas as "the archaic Vedic word for bliss" and as etymologically related to Maya (measure) and Mitra.
[33] Sri Aurobindo translated carma ghṛtavat padaṃ vés as “the luminous seat of the being". RTH Griffith translated it as “the Soma [wine’s] skin, the Bird's [the God Soma’s] place rich in fatness”. The leather skin (carma) of ghee/oil (ghṛtavat) which is a place/step or station (pada) of the bird (vés) is similarly described in 5.83.7 as a “downward-turned water bag”. These are equally depictions of the Kumbha (Jar) to which Soma flies, gallops or rushes as a Bird (Eagle), Horse or Bull.
“Send down for us the rain of heaven, ye [Storm gods], and let the Stallion's [Agni-Soma-Pavamana’s] flood [=the seven rivers] descend in torrents. Come hither with this thunder while thou pourest the waters down, our heavenly Lord and Father. Thunder and roar: the germ of life deposit. Fly round us on thy chariot [vessel] waterladen. Thine opened water-skin draw with thee downward, [dṛtiṃ su karṣa viṣitaṃ nyañcaṃ = “downward-turned water bag” (HH Wilson)] and let the hollows and the heights be level. Lift up the mighty vessel [mahā́ntaṃ kóšam=Kumbha], pour down water, and let the liberated streams rush forward." – Rig Veda 5.83.6-8, RTH Griffith [All emphasis and text in brackets added]
As discussed in Part 7.2, this pada (place, step or station) is called pada ilas, which Sri Aurobindo translated as “the seat of revelation”.
[34] Sri Aurobindo translated “luminous native abode” from yonim ghṛtavantam, which is more literally the “ghee-covered womb”, equivalent to carma ghṛtavat padaṃ vés (“the luminous seat of the being”, tr. SA) of the previous verse, discussed in the previous endnote.
[35] In Part 7.2 I discussed Kumbha/Aquarius as the “meeting place”, “rendezvous” (niṣkṛtam) and banquet of the gods, within the twelve-month Sacred Year or Sacrifice (Yajna).
[36] These offerings are equivalent to the seven rivers, aka seven soma drops (=the seven vesicae piscium), that Agni/Soma Pavamana – the Sage, Son, Horse, Divine Ray, i.e. the radius – dwells within, propels forward and delivers to his Kumbha (=to the Gods’ banquet) in the course of the Vedic Sacrifice.
[37] Ila is equally sacred speech, a goddess, a river, a stream and a cow [=Vac]. Sri Aurobindo translated Ila as “the word of Revelation” in Rig Veda 3.7.5, equivalent to brahmaṇā of Rig Veda 2.24.3, which Sri Aurobindo translated as “the divine word”. The Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon defines Ila as: “[A] stream or flow of praise and worship (personified as the goddess of sacred speech and action…a cow ; the goddess…daughter of Manu or of man thinking on and worshipping the gods; she is the wife of Budha and mother of Pururavas; in another aspect she is called Maitra-varuni as daughter of Mitra-Varuna.” In “The Sacred Measure of 432,000 ⁓ Part 4: The Sacred Syllable of the Rig Veda”, I discussed the equivalence between Vak (Speech) and the 432,000° measure of the vesica pisces, the Rig Veda, the Kali Yuga, and the radius of the Sun.
“[Rig Veda.1.128.1] states Agni is born by the law of Manu and dwells in Ila’s abode [iḻas pade]…. [We] note that, like Yamuna, Ila is also a River.…[T]he three Vedic Rivers are Bharati, Ila and Mahi… These three are also Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati respectively.” – “Vedic Agni Illa”
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