Franz Hartmann, M.D.¹​​ 

Translation from the German by Robert Hütwohl

It is still a somewhat dangerous thing to speak of astrology today if one does not want to be laughed at or thought foolish. For the modern “educated,” to whom a particularly large number of school scholars and newspaper editors belong, and who have no idea of​​ ​​the nature of astrology, believe it is a swindle and fraud that should no longer be tolerated in our “enlightened times” and should be thrown into the junk room, and discarded as superstitious theories. For many who engage in divination and card dealing, it is a means of exploring the future, satisfying curiosity and self-indulgence, and often profiteering. But to the initiate it is a sublime and sacred science, related to astronomy much as psychiatry is to anatomy; because it deals with the heavenly, spiritual powers which rule the course of world history and whose symbols and representatives are the visible stars in the sky. For the mindless observer, the sky and its starry world is just a dead mechanism set in motion by mindless forces; For the astrologer who has awakened to spiritual life, the visible signs of the heavens are only images, forms and symbols of the laws which govern the universe and which are based on a higher intelligence which does not act arbitrarily and is also not subject to compulsion, but is the law itself. Such universally existing intelligences were​​ called “gods” in earlier times, and representations of them are known in all religious systems.

 These representations were originally personifications of divine qualities of all life in nature, of the great world spirit, of the elements and natural forces; but in our dark age, the understanding of these symbols was lost along with spiritual perception; the profane took the form for essence and the letter for spirit. So e.g., the visible celestial body of the sun is the symbol of the omnipresent spiritual sun of the universe, invisible to the material eye, the Logos (Christ), who fills everything. Its​​ sign is​​ ☉​​ a circle with a center, and we must think of it as a circle whose periphery is indefinite and whose center is everywhere. The unlimited cannot be represented otherwise than by bringing it into a limited form. The limited common sense cannot grasp the conceptless, the limitless. The sun is the symbol of wisdom, the moon​​ ☾​​ the symbol of the intellectual and also of the material and imperfect, since the earthly mind receives its light from the sun of wisdom (on the path of intuition). Our intellectual speculations are our product; but the knowledge of truth comes from the light of truth; we don’t make it; it is bestowed upon us. The same is true of the other planets. Jupiter​​ ♃​​ signifies power, greatness and glory of God in the universe; Mercury​​ ☿​​ intelligence, Venus​​ ♀ love and attraction which holds everything together, Mars ♂︎​​ strength and power, Saturn​​ ♄​​ life in the material world, but also the transience and death of forms; he eats, as depicted in the mythology, the children he has begotten; he is the god of time.

 But all these cosmic forces, which are active everywhere in nature, are also contained in the human organism and work in it. Therefore, as the astrologers and alchemists say, all the “planets” and “metals” (their symbols) are contained in the microcosm of man. Yes, even the whole zodiac is necessary to him and for his development. The individual, as well as humanity as a whole, must traverse the zodiac from beginning to end in order to attain perfection. Our current human race has hardly passed the sign of​​ Scorpio​​ ♏︎​​ in its development, and mankind will only have completed its evolution and be perfect when it has crossed the zodiac and reached Aries​​ ♈︎​​ (absolute consciousness).

 The zodiac is not only “the visible zone on either side of the ecliptic, in which the sun, the moon, and the major planets perform their apparent motion”; it has a much deeper meaning that cannot be briefly described. He is the sum of the cosmic forces which make up the universe. The following indications may serve as indications of its composition.

 1.​​ ♈︎​​ Aries. Aries. (Sanskrit: Mesha Āja. [Meṣaḥ].) Parabrahm, the Deity, Absolute Consciousness, the All. Omniscience. The main.²

 2.​​ ♉︎​​ Taurus. Bull. (Riksabha. [Vṛṣabhaḥ]), OM. Atma. The first, unrevealed Logos, the universal spirit, the word.

 3.​​ ♊︎​​ Gemini. Twins. (Mithunau.​​ [Mithunaḥ]) The second Logos (Adam Kadmon), Buddhi. The All Soul. spirit and substance.

 4.​​ ♋︎​​ Cancer. Crab. (Karkataka. [Karkaḥ]) The third​​ Logos, the Holy Spirit, cosmic intelligence.

 5.​​ ♌︎​​ Leo. Lion. (Simha. [Simhaḥ]) Fohat. Christos. Ghost. The procreator.

 6.​​ ♍︎​​ Virgo. Virgin. (Kanyā.) The astral light. Substance. Kundalini. The giving birth in nature.

 7.​​ ♎︎​​ Libra.​​ Balance. (Tulā.) The point where the human monad has reached the culmination of its material development and enters into free self-determination.

 8.​​ ♏︎​​ Scorpio. Scorpion. (Kaurpya. [Vṛścikaḥ]) The psychic nature of man. The realm of desire. (Kāma.)

 9.​​ ♐︎​​ Sagittarius.​​ Archer. (Dhanu. [Dhanuḥ]) Manas. the mind. In connection with Scorpio it is egoism, selfishness and passion (or the opposite).³

 10.​​ ♑︎​​ Capricornus.​​ Ibex. (Makara. [Makaraḥ]) The higher, spiritual ego of man. The spiritual man.

 11.​​ ♒︎​​ Aquarius.​​ Water-man. (Kumbha. [Kumbhaḥ]) The ideal. The heavenly man. The State of Devachan.

 12.​​ ♓︎​​ Pisces. Fish. (Mīna.​​ [Mīnaḥ]) The elemental kingdom. The return to the material. The will. Reincarnation.

 The zodiac thus also designates certain character traits, and experience teaches that every human being has more or less the character of the sign under which he was born. This can be explained by the fact that his astral body receives its properties from the influences of the stars. whoever, for example, someone born under the sign of Scorpio will have a different character than one born under the sign of Pisces, and the two do not mix well. A knowledge and observance of this law could prevent some unhappy​​ marriages or other connections.⁴​​ Of course, that doesn’t mean that opposite characters can’t be brought into harmony; because man also has the entire zodiac within himself and can be master of all his stars through the power of his​​ ♈︎.

 Every thing, from a solar system down to the atom, has its zodiac and the lawful course of its development thereby determined; due to its properties, each individual is connected to the corresponding properties of the whole. The development of a human race or a nation depends on what sign it has progressed to in its evolutionary path.

 According to the “Secret Doctrine,” the first human race of the fourth round was born under the sign of Cancer​​ ♋︎. The beings who belonged to it​​ were not formed like us; they were crystal-like, spiritual spheres, like a breath. The sign of the second race was Leo​​ ♌︎, in it Prāṇa (the life principle) was developed into forms. The third race under the sign Virgo​​ ♍︎​​ had astral bodies, the fourth under the Libra​​ ♎︎, to which the Atlanteans belonged and where kāma-manas was predominant, had material bodies and the sexes, male and female, separated; the fifth (our) Aryan race is ruled by Scorpio​​ ♏︎​​ (desire and greed); the sixth under Sagittarius​​ ♐︎​​ is now in the making, spiritually and morally superior to ours; the seventh under Capricorn​​ ♑︎​​ will stand even higher, and in it the highest spiritual development (for this our fourth round) will be completed.

 But for humanity as a whole, as well as for the individual human being, distinctions must again be made. Four beings can be distinguished in every human being, namely:

 1. The physical, material, visible organism of man with its five sense organs, life force and personal qualities. He is the mask in which the inner man appears and the instrument through which he reveals himself.

 2. The psychic or astral man with his desires and passions, which forms with the principle of thought the personality subject to constant change.

 3. The intellectual man with his individual character. In this rests his individuality, his “I,” which enables him to think for himself and to distinguish between the reasonable and the irrational by means of reason.

 4. The true, immortal, higher Self (Ego), which is elevated above all transitory things and consequently also above one’s own personality with its sufferings and joys and is rooted in the self-consciousness of the eternal.

 Each of these beings as a whole has its own course of development and consequently its own zodiac, and where the development of one has reached its climax, that of the next higher ones begins.⁵​​ Each of the higher ones is like a shell or shell in which the more material is contained, and man's progress continues even after the death of the material body or the shedding of the astral and thought bodies. The mental sphere is in the spiritual sphere, the astral in the latter, and the physical in the astral. Man is born, lives, dies and is reborn according to the progress he has made in his zodiac.

 H. W. Percival writes:⁶​​ 

“The whole life of man is the life of his zodiac. He has his period of activity and rest according to this. His body is constructed according to its law; he is born into an appropriate family and a country is​​ thereby determined, and his character develops. He dies; the material elements of his body dissolve; his life separates from his desires, and his temperaments, thoughts and loves become separated from him or remain attached to him according to the nature of the sign in which he stands. Then there comes a state of rest, the duration of which is determined by his zodiac, and when it comes to an end he again comes into contact with the emotions of this world; he chooses his parents according to the dictates of​​ his zodiac, unites with the child in the womb, transmits his talents and inclinations to it, and unites with him through a part of himself at birth. All this takes place according to the law of his zodiac. In the sign of​​ ♎︎​​ (sex), the body is born, develops its desires in​​ ♏︎, is educated in​​ ♐︎, and acquires an individual character in​​ ♑︎. If his spiritual power does not go beyond this sign, he has little experience in​​ ♒︎​​ (intuition or soul life) and none in​​ ♓︎​​ (the divine will). Its entry into​​ ♈︎​​ denotes death. Since he has no experience of soul life and spiritual will or the highest consciousness, he cannot know anything about it even after death; he enters his zodiacal states between death and conception as determined by​​ ♉︎​​ (movement), loses memory of his past life, comes into contact with his future parents in the sign of​​ ♋︎​​ (breath); he unites with the child in the womb in the sign of​​ ♌︎​​ (life), which undergoes its various metamorphoses in the sign of​​ ♍︎​​ (form) and is finally reborn in the sign of​​ ♎︎​​ (sex).”

 “The length of time between death and rebirth also varies according to the condition of man. The “psychic” man, i.e., the one whose ideals reached little beyond the material, begins his reincarnation according to the law which governs the world of​​ ♏︎​​ (form = desire); the mental man can have a much longer existence in the intermediate period, and the spiritual man an extraordinarily long one in Devachan (world of the gods), depending on his thoughts and actions in the past life. In the sign of​​ ♑︎​​ man attains​​ “intuition” or superiority over life and death.” It is the union of the personality with the higher, immortal self.

 These few and necessarily highly incomplete considerations are intended to point out to those who are not yet acquainted with the matter that astrology is a high science based on a deep knowledge of the laws of nature, and that it is of great benefit to everyone to know under which heavenly sign he was born,⁷​​ in which he is and to which he should go. The knowledge of the higher sciences is one of the most important tools for gaining knowledge of one’s own self and the zodiac in the firmament has a great influence on human life, because there is an intimate relationship between the macrocosm and the microcosm.

Notes