The highest states signified by the vibrations of Saturn in the physical world are physical purity and justice, which produce the virtues of chastity, economy, thrift, industry, perseverance, prudence, veneration, and love of truth. When the vibrations of Saturn are perverted through the personality, miserliness, meanness, envy, covetousness and extrenre selfishness result.
The two benefic planets are VENUS and JUPITER. Venus and Jupiter are the respective counterparts of Mars and Saturn, and they should always be considered in nativities as such. All the martial influence, giving force, energy and strength, is eventually to be transmuted into sympathy, gentleness and charity. The only real difference between these two planets, Mars and Venus, arises from the special vibrations. Mars is attracted from without through desire and impulse. Venus causes all action to come from within, and instead of feeling rushing outwards to objects and becoming captive to externals, it moves from within through the ego’s direct intuitive power. The vibrations of Venus directly affect the higher part of the nature through the human soul and higher mind. In the physical world Venus presides over the sense of touch, which sense is not related to one special part of the body, but the whole. All the distinctly human and refining qualities come under the influence of Venus, the whole of the tendencies of this planet’s vibration being to centralise and draw in from the objective world the experience necessary to awaken the inner and more subjective centres of consciousness. Venus is on the side of Will and the Immortal Trinity, and all vibrations that are assimilated are made permanent soul possessions. Mars on the contrary is on the side of the Mortal and Impermanent—that is, until the force is turned inward, when it passes into the ray of Venus. Venus preserves, nourishes, rebuilds, and all who come fully under the influence of this planet are capable of living purely and appreciating beauty and goodness to the full. It will be necessary to avoid mistaking the vibrations of Mars for those of Venus, also to know which of these two planets has the stronger influence in each nativity. Mars is the planet of physical generation and its influence is always acting through the senses. Venus is the planet of creation, ever tending to act through the Soul and not the senses. The love shown by Venus always sanctifies and makes for harmony through conjugality, friendship and soul union. Mars denotes feeling that is personal and selfish, and Venus that which is impersonal and unselfish. The influence of Mars when perverted makes men seek to injure, and never allows them to forget the value of personal importance. Venus injures none, and those coming directly under its vibration sink the personal element in love for others, through pure love and true sympathy. The adverse influence of Mars causes men to insult and patronise, while that of Venus always makes for protection and true charity.
In some mysterious manner a ray from Venus touched the life of the animal on its first separation from the group soul. The ‘Sons of Mind’ who came from the planet Venus gave to infant humanity its first germ of that true mind which is in its essence immortal, and through this the period of man’s evolution was considerably shortened, for by receiving this divine spark the seed of the human soul was implanted in the animal man, who would otherwise have spent countless ages in acquiring that which these beneficent beings through their love and compassion gave to humanity.
JUPITER is termed the Greater Fortune. Its vibrations are concerned with the form side of manifestation and like Saturn it symbolises the vehicle which holds the life. St Paul has stated that we have a terrestrial body and a celestial body. Jupiter’s influence in the subjective world is just as important as that of Saturn’s influence objectively, but there is a wide difference between the effects of their vibrations. Saturn contracts and acts microscopically. Jupiter expands and has no limit to its expansion. Mind and feeling are condensed and focussed in the limiting form of Saturn, and expanded, broadened, and extended through the ever-increasing form of Jupiter. In these two extremes we have all the elements of pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, increase and decrease, bondage and freedom, expansion and contraction. The life is evolving as well as the forms, and the contraction and expansion are necessary to harden and soften and finally temper the consciousness of the evolving ego. The good fortune under the influence of Jupiter acts from the subjective world by way of the accumulated experiences, the essence or cream of which is under the guiding influence of this planet.
In the physical world Jupiter governs the sense of smell. Scent pervades the atmosphere and is dispersed through it, being expansive, as is the influence of the planet presiding over it.
The whole of our present moral and social age is more directly under Jupiter’s influence. The success promised by Jupiter may be traced to the best side of the character, wherein hope and the power to expand and enlarge are prominent. Saturn gives financial gain and prosperity through economy, thrift, perseverance, and industry, but Jupiter when concerned with financial success brings gain through the social life, and those under the most favourable influence of Jupiter can accomplish more in one day than the ordinary Saturnine man could achieve in a year.
Sooner or later it must be realised that character is destiny. That is why so much stress is always laid upon the fact that the nativity must be fully understood before directions’ can be interpreted. We each bring our character with us as a result of past efforts, aspirations and opportunity. The sum total of our past is probably indicated by the planet Jupiter. Each individual is encircled by an aura, the boundary of which comes directly under the vibration of Jupiter. We expand and increase the size and quality of that aura during each earth life, and, whether in objective manifestation on the physical world or in heaven, in the subjective worlds, this aura is our own and contains our whole history, the result of the past and the possibilities of the future; in this sense Jupiter is the ruler over the celestial and immortal body.
MERCURY is known as the ‘convertible’ planet. It is neither positive nor negative, but both. It is the planet of the adept, being the planet of adaptation in the widest sense of the word. Mercury is termed the Winged Messenger of the Gods, and takes upon himself the vibrations of all the other planets. It is, in one word, the planet of Reason. In the physical world Mercury governs the sense of seeing. It has also a very close relationship with the mind. The four planets we have been dealing with are each more or less in affinity with either the life or the form, but Mercury has an influence over both. It has also a subjective as well as an objective influence, and all planets may be said to be powerful or weak, according to the strength of Mercury. Mercury, accompanying the soul into Hades, represents the silver thread of memory, upon which are strung the beads which represent the personalities of its earth lives. In every nativity Mercury will represent the ego in physical manifestation, the actor, playing the part allotted to him during each separate earthly existence; and at the close of each life Mercury represents the knowledge gained, as Memory, the cream of which is rendered a permanent possession of the ego as Wisdom.
The planet URANUS has less influence at the present day than any other planet except Neptune. It is the planet of the coming race, for its vibrations will then be more important than to-day. It is thought by the author to represent the fully individualised Ego, and as such is the houseless wanderer half-way between earth and heaven. Its vibrations are different from those of any other planet, governing all things that are not bound by convention or limited entirely to the form side of things to such an extent as to make the form more important than the life. It appears to govern all things that are original, eccentric, and free to act apart from any conventional groove or accepted custom. It has been found to exercise the greatest influence for good over advanced thinkers—those who act independently, and from within more than from without. It seems to have little or no effect upon those who are bound or limited by opinion or custom, and to come fully under its influence the limitations of Saturn must have been passed and the form side of life conquered more or less. No definite or precise rules can be laid down with regard to Uranus; the most elaborate plans and calculations may be upset in an instant of time by the vibrations of this planet. Sudden and unexpected events will occur, and act in an almost unknowable manner, which makes it impossible to judge accurately exactly what will happen under his vibrations. It is now certain that the ancients knew of the planet Uranus, but only those who were as far removed from the ordinary humanity as the poles came under its fluence, and that for an occult