MQ Classroom
Spherical Libra
The Hermetic Qabalah of the Western Tradition has always been an ample storehouse of all our preceding religious pan-expressions. Religion (as contrasted with Spirituality) is the Expression of Psycho-Spiritual Archetype vis-a-vis the verbal technology of its contextual civilization/culture at the peak of its own classical period. For example, many authors have pointed out the many relics of earlier heathenism embedded within modern Christian religious practice (the Christmas Tree, the Yule log, the dying/resurrected God, etc. etc.). In fact there are many contributory artifacts from Astrology and Tarot within the Qabalistic Pantheon.
To this extent, we can look more profoundly into the Spherical Qabalah, extracting the 12 divisions of the 360 degree Circle, and bringing forth the Zodiacal Sign of Libra (the current sign for today’s date), and asking ourselves, “What does Libra Represent?”, “What are the chief Archetypes constituting Libra?” and, “Is there something it is like in the Expression of Libra Consciousness?”. Let us begin here.
Libra is a time of rapid change, compared to many other times of the year. Change is what we measure psychologically as Time. The symbol for the Sign of Libra is the Scales and Scales are for measuring against a Balance of some sort. In, or around the time of Libra, we have several Portents or Signs in the Sky. There is the Autumnal Equinox, which sees the length of Day and Night become equal (‘in Balance’) and there is the Full Moon nearest this time, known as the Harvest Moon (the ‘Moonth’ of Full Measure).
So both change (Transformation) and Harvest are an Expression of Libra Consciousness, the Measure of.
The Original Peoples of the North placed great reverence in the Heavens, finding in the Sky Signs of Celestial Light: the Sun (Creative fecundator) alongside all his luminarious Creation (Moon Stars, and Planets). Anthropological evidence from these Original Peoples indicate a notable Celestial Spirituality. Scientists are renown for projecting upon every evidence the interpretation of ‘worship’ and ‘mating’, quite naturally demoting early human expression as ‘Sun Worship’, but we can be sure that the experience of early humans was one of pan-animistic unity: everything was alive and all were related. This applied equally well to the Celestial Luminaries, who accompanied our early Ancestors day and night across the fullness of their vast nomadic journey.
The Original Peoples came to us 20 thousand years ago from the North Pole, as legend would have it, and they are known as the Aryans (Noble Ones). The Aryan Race is Nomadic and followed the great trans-oceanic grazing lands that stretch from Atlantic Europe to Pacific China in latitude, and from Central Mongolia to Northern India in longitude. Populating Iran, India, Greece, Russia, Germany and other European nations, they spread their great language, proto-indo-european (or PIE) across the entire Western World.
Eventually forming a homeland in ancient Persia, they formed a Dynastic culture and developed a major religion, known as Zoroastrianism. The orthodox date for Zoroaster is given as around 600 BC, but most archaeological evidence relates to between 1200 and 1500 BC. This makes the Persian religion one of the most ancient living religions in the world today: older than Judaism, older than Buddhism or Christianity and far older than Islam. Parsi Zoroastrians fled to northern India during the Arab Conquest (633-654) to practice their religion and preserve their culture. When the Earth cried out for a savior, the ancient Aryan prophet Zarathustra was born to deliver the Aryan peoples and redeem their faith. Their Creator God is known as Ahura Mazda and Zoroastrians are monotheistic.
There is also the annual rising of the Star known as Vindemiatrix, which of old portends the ‘Harvest of the Grapes’. Students of the Bible will at once recognize that Grape and Vineyard metaphors abound in Spiritual teachings, as well as ‘Harvest’ and Garden Metaphors metaphors. Alchemically, the wine made from Red grapes is said to have the highest vibratory rate of any Spagyric substance. When we are dealing with Alchemical Red Wine (see Arator 17 degrees Libra), we are dealing with very Spiritual Humans who have Matured, Spiritually. Because of the ‘Vindemiatrix’ aspect of the star that portends the harvest of grapes, perhaps we should look at ‘fruits of the harvest’ in the Sign of Libra as a Spiritual Influence indicated within the Stellar Constellatory. We may very well look at ‘Grapes’, that way, too.
Regarding Harvest we might look at Swedenborgian correlations for something such as the gathering of maturations; mainly relating to thoughts, hopes, dreams, aspirations, and ambitions. Those things , especially, which were sought after; cultivated. All that we have studied and worked on throughout the year in this class might be a good example. So those who applied themselves and judiciously worked on the ideas contained in the lessons have prepared themselves in all seriousness for an ample Harvest.
Regarding Fruits, the same, (especially with respect to the inner vegetation of all that we have developed and cultivated in our previous MQ studies concerning this for the larger part of this year).
Because Erigone is very much a part of the Virgo Constellation and magically effective in Libra, we have before us the opportunity to investigate Dionysius and his contribution to the Grapes of Icarius via of his Shepherds (and their companions), perhaps with reference to Pan but leaving much of Pan until the Sign of Capricorn. (Pan, of course, referring to ‘Global’, or All Manifesting (or something of the sort, due to the hairy legs and Knowledgeable Intelligence).
The focus regarding Dionysius will likely (after review of the earlier notes on same) center upon the [intoxicating effects of the Grape] (highest vibratory rate, ergo stimulation) vis-a-vis our above definition of Fruits.
That the Shepherds were [stimulated with enthusiasm] was not the problem (for they were in need of motivation in their field of endeavor) but some of their companions perceived that they had been poisoned. This, in part, marks the difference between a happy drunk and a mean drunk. The point is that whatever the internal state that has been cultivated has come to be, the intoxicated stimulation of such will either result in Divine states of Euphoria or diabolical states of poison. The result was the murder of Icarius by the drunken thugs.
We may further have an opportunity to develop Aidos (modesty, or shame; of a similar ‘double’ as Shepherd vs. thug) as a psychic personification. [fully cognizant of the distinction between Icarii]
This, of course will lead us back to Erigone and the hangings; the maidens of Athens, etc..
Again, we have this idea of Cycles and Fractals: there is the Great Cycle of Forever, of Creation and Pralaya; there are the Great Periods, Saturn, Sun, Moon and Earth; there are the Yugas, there are the Life-times of a Man, there are the School years, the Work years, Retirement; there is the Great Round of the Sun, which is one year, which has its Seasons; and there are Months, the Moon Cycles; then weeks, then days, etc..
Each Round or Cycle is divided in some way into equal segments thereof. These divisions enable us to measure and compare against the whole. Mastery of accrued segmentation is what we learn to call Progress. You will remember in our exploration of the Moon Sphere (Sign of the Crab), that in actual fact, it is very difficult to determine at which particular stage the Moon is really in with any precision because the division into segments was Ideal and not Real. We are Projecting stages of Progress upon something else which does not experience these itself, but which we experience with great certainty. However, this has never been known to stop us from measuring things with great prodigiousness. Thus we are certain beyond all doubt that the external world is Truly Real in all its splendor of shape, measure, number and weight.
The same situation exists with respect to the Decans. They represent a continuum of developmental Constellations, but it is difficult to say where one leaves off and another begins (see comment above regarding the weather). Except that we do say where they begin and end as well as assigning them to an appointment with the calendar. And finally, the same could be said with respect to the Signs of the Zodiac themselves. We give them appointed times and assign them attributes of their particular Zoe. All this takes place in the linear realm within the province of Planar boundaries. With respect to Spheres, the influence is interpenetrating and without spatial limits.
Hence we have in this Sign, Libra the Measurer, a constellation of attributes which represents measurement in some way, whether that be via physical standards (vis-a-vis ‘relative deprivation’) or via morals and opinions (vis-a-vis ‘Values’), or what-have-you.
