‘…By whatever road we may travel,
That is always the end at which we
arrive and we can only escape it by
refusing to complete the journey.’
Sri Aurobindo
The Life Divine
It may strike the spiritually-oriented student as odd that the Gnostic Circle can be applied to an area of life as prosaic as horse racing. But in effect, the example I am presenting offers perhaps the best means to understand the most essential and profound aspects of the Circle. And in addition, this review will be seen as a most effective method for application in a human situation, more specifically, in the transformation of consciousness.
Perhaps it will not be difficult to understand why I am using the horse and racing as an example when we appreciate the real purpose of the diagram and what it signifies for the individual as a key to yoga and enhancement of one’s consciousness. The idea behind a monitoring of this order is to learn the method for unveiling one’s true potential, or inner truth, or dharma. Indeed, the Gnostic Circle has only one objective: to reveal the process by which a seed is made to flower and maximum growth is achieved. It is a diagram which can be related to the passage of time and its registration by means of the calendar. This monitoring is not fixed. That is, the Circle’s 0 Point at the head of the wheel is not restricted merely to one’s time of birth or even the beginning of the calendar year. As the example I am providing reveals, the 0 Point can pertain to the birth of an experience as well as the birth of an individual or even a civilisation. Above all, we are dealing with compressed energy and its release under certain controlled conditions.
In this light, of foremost importance is a correct assessment of just what that 0 Point might be and when it sets the Gnostic Circle mechanism in motion. For this the discrimination of the user must be honed to the degree that the onset of the process is recognised. Thereafter the Gnostic Circle can be a formidable aid in the process of transformation according to an evolutionary, organic harmony and with the allegiance of Time.
In The Gnostic Circle, Chapter 14, I used the successive incarnations of the Dalai Lamas as stages in the progression through the wheel – from the first to the present one, the 14th of the line. Thus, each incarnation marked off one of the 9 (planetary) points or orbits – the 9th bringing the line to the 0 Point where the cycle starts again. However, it is not at all a repetition thereafter. Return to the 0 Point and the 9th stage, when the movement is still underway, brings to the process the accumulated experience of the previous cycle of 0 to 9. The example I will present, utilising the horse and a series of 9 races, will make this amply clear. Furthermore, it will reveal the role of what I sometimes refer to as ‘the residue’ and the burden this represents in the experience of transformation. In the Thoroughbred example from racing, it is very clearly indicated by the handicap in conjunction with other factors. We may view this as one’s karma, according to the traditional interpretation. But the Gnostic Circle goes beyond this view and serves a different purpose, which I hope will become clear as the study unfolds.
In effect, after time has carried us through the initial 9 stages, return to the topmost 0 Point is actually a spiralling motion, if we wish to apply a visual description to the operation. The movement of consciousness expands on the basis of the prior 9 stages (or years, months, days) of the lived experience. Whatever that has been must determine the nature of the next cycle – from 9 to 18 – in large measure.
Thus it can be appreciated that passage through the first cycle – 0 to 9 – is immensely important for it sets the tone of the entire development. It is said the Jesuits held that if they took up the education of a child from birth to five years old, they could predict the adult character of that individual. This is a valid statement which the Gnostic Circle corroborates, though perhaps extending the period somewhat. Yet even if the period is broadened from 5 to 9, it is evident that by the 5th year or stage, if certain opportunities had been earlier missed, or if certain actions had misfired, when one reaches the 5 Point in the Circle, the remainder is in large part predictable. This will be made clear in the example I shall present.
Distinguishing Features of Traditional Astrology and the Gnostic Circle
The Gnostic Circle is the combination of two divisions of the 360° circle – into 9 and 12 parts superimposed. The former are the 9 orbits extending from the 0/Sun. The 12-part division is the circle of the ecliptic, or the horizontal base of the 12 zodiacal signs (see diagram below).
The planets orbit the Sun in one direction. As well, they all revolve on their respective axes in the same direction though at different speeds and polar inclinations. Thus there is this harmonious feature of our solar system, the only known exception of which is Triton, a moon of Neptune. What this uniform feature seems to indicate to scientists is that our solar system was formed at one time, as a whole, from a primordial cloud of gases which, when a certain threshold had been reached, experienced collapse and ultimate division into the system of 9 planets in orbit of the Sun as we know it today. On this basis it is entirely correct to view the solar system as a single organism, each planet bearing a pulse which is a product of its connection with the heart of the system, the Sun. From ancient times astrology recognised this relationship and equated the Sun with the heart of the body – be this in the human organism over which it is thought to ‘rule the heart’; or else involving an evolutionary organism – i.e., the human species.
This relationship is retained in the Gnostic Circle but it is given more prominence. The Sun is not merely held as ruler of the 5th zodiacal sign Leo, sign of the heart. It is placed at the centre of the wheel; and in the number system of 0 to 9, which India bequeathed to the world, the Sun’s allocation is necessarily the 0. From that original Seed the limbs of the organism evolved. A pulsating Breath was the first Cause, flooding the extremities of the organism with particles of itself and in harmony with its own purposeful pulsation.
The essential difference between the Gnostic Circle and traditional astrology is thus the vision of wholeness it inspires. In traditional astrology the signs are taken as separate stages and are usually viewed linearly, or disconnected from each other. There is no real spiralling movement possible, for in a lifetime via the progression of the horoscope, a mere 70 to 90 degrees of the full 360 can be experienced, on the basis of the traditional formula: a day for a year. For the student who is unfamiliar with these terms, this is a method whereby each day after birth is taken as one year of life. A horoscope is thus drawn up by counting ahead in the ephemerides in this manner, – i.e., the 5th day is equivalent to the 5th year of the individual’s life, the 6th day to the 6th year, and so on. Predictions are made on this basis. This means that in a life span of 70 years, only 70 degrees of the zodiac are open to the individual’s experience.
We know that life is not so limited and that there is an infinite scope for development. Thus, the Gnostic Circle comes to our aid by discarding this method and revealing a diagram whereby in a given cycle of 9 days or 9 months or 9 years, or else 9 stages of any development, the full circle is open to our experience. This indicates that the potential for development or transformation is enhanced to a degree never before experienced in our period of recorded history, by the simple fact that it is now possible to monitor such a process; and this, in turn, is made possible by the fact that our solar system has ‘matured’ as it were. Consisting of 9 planets – where previously we were aware of only 6 – it permits us to harmonise the number system with the planetary body. This, in turn, is applied to the calendar when the need arises. The revelation of the Gnostic Circle thus indicates the degree of evolution of the human species and its mature condition. It also indicates that the individual is ripe for a process which prior to this expansion could not be undertaken.
Thus with the Gnostic Circle it can be seen that we traverse the entire wheel in any cycle of 9; and it is this factor which accelerates our transformation of consciousness by means of this revolutionary key of knowledge.
It is known that the horoscope offers an astrologer a blueprint of the potential of the individual in any given lifetime. It is not merely a pattern of destiny but rather a destiny which is a product of a certain combination of elements, – certain seeds, and a certain soil. But the horoscope in traditional astrology as it is still practised today, does not make use of the cosmic harmony in order to offer the individual a method for extracting that potential and encourage its fullest expression. Indeed, the conventional method is usually not concerned with this development at all, or any such method. Foremost is prediction. The enquirer wants to know ‘what the future holds’ and not what he or she ‘holds’ as a potential in the inner recesses or the core of oneself. On the other hand, the Gnostic Circle is only concerned with that: the method for encouraging the discovery and flowering of one’s inner truth, – or the release of energy from the innermost compressed ‘seed’ in a conscious manner most beneficial to its fullest utilisation and expression.
To this end the Circle provides a framework of points in time which allow for certain aspects of the process to become operative in one’s life. There is no emphasis at all on prediction. Indeed, prediction cannot be carried out by means of the Gnostic Circle, apart from the prognostication of a certain attained (or failed) poise of consciousness by which means the end result in the process can be known in advance. However, the emphasis is always on the method for enhancing one’s consciousness and growth from the ‘seed’, or expressing one’s fullest potential. This encompasses many levels: physical, vital/emotional, mental and spiritual. The ultimate aim is, in fact, an integration of them all.
The Gnostic Circle’s Wholeness
There are certain points in the progression which are especially critical in this regard. But it has to be stated that another essential feature of the Gnostic Circle is that it cannot be dissected and its parts divided from the whole. It offers a vision of unity and a movement in stages but always focusing on the whole, or the underlying unity, which is represented in the system by the central Sun, light of our world. From that Sun the ecliptic extends out and that is the 12 divisions of the Gnostic Circle which acts as a base, a unifying field similar to the drone in a raga – the Silence, eternal upholder of Sound.
The object of the quest in metaphorical terms is ‘to become the Sun’. This means the fullest realisation of the innermost truth of our being. The unified field provided by the luminary of our system, as a sort of backdrop whereupon the experience of life is played out, by its wholeness and unity is intended to function as that unifying element without which this integration cannot come about.
The problem with the human being’s perception is precisely a separative approach. This makes it extremely difficult to appreciate the interconnection of things and then to utilise this vision as a means of extracting one’s fullest potential. The evolution of consciousness is a construction process. One builds with the previous accumulated substance as a sort of mortar in conjunction with the elements life offers. In other words, we enter life with a certain inner substance which is the compressed essence of our previous sojourn in this material universe. This is the ‘seed’ of being. The receptacle of this ‘seed’ is the soul. The latter acts as a bridge to the Infinite and the Eternal. From this centremost point of our being the lines of destiny are drawn. With the first breath we take as individuals at the moment of birth, a web is being woven in time and space. Indeed, that ‘seed’ is compressed time. The aim of our passage on this planet is then to extend that substance, that compressed soul-essence from the Point outward.
The Gnostic Circle can thus be viewed as this web in which and by which the orbit-points of the Circle provide stimulus in order to engender extraction of the maximum potential. It is important to note in this context that we are describing a movement from inside outward; and more especially from a centre to an outer periphery. Therefore, essential in the process is precisely the ability to centre one’s consciousness so that this expansion may take place on the basis of a TRUE CENTRE.
One begins life at the 0 Point of the Gnostic Circle. Each 9 cycle thereafter brings into our orbit the full 12 signs of the zodiac as well as the entire gamut of 9 planetary points. There are a set of circumstances in which we must experience this progression and the purpose of centering, as it is understood in the New Way, is to establish a magnetic mechanism which obliges those circumstances of life ‘to serve the purposes of the One’. That is, be they positive or negative, the conditions of life will always serve the inner being in the development of one’s innermost truth.
The problem faced by almost all humanity is that rarely is one’s fullest potential drawn forth in life. Or else the development is lop-sided. There may be an exaggerated mental development at the cost of a depressed vital/emotional being; or else an emphasis on the spiritual at the expense of a suppressed vital and underdeveloped mental being. This is the hallmark of an immature species such as the binary human creation. The object of centering is to place the individual in a position whereby every aspect is drawn into the process and wholeness and integrality are the result. This cannot come about in a binary structure. Given this limitation, progression through the wheel does not extend from the 0 Point to the 9. Rather, it is aborted prematurely at the 6 Point and the 8th sign Scorpio, – indeed the sign of death. Thus our human species is a mortal one, indicated in the world’s oldest book, the Rigveda, where the myth describes the eighth child of the Goddess Aditi as ‘Martanda’, the mortal one, who is father of our mortal creation. The ultimate object of a quest with the Gnostic Circle at its base – as indeed it was the object of the Rigvedic yoga – is the realisation of Immortality. This encompasses all four parts of one’s being, not only the physical. In fact, it may further be stated that anything less than this integral realisation would fail to establish this condition of immortality. When the work is completed, the mental and vital substance is also influenced by this experience of immortality. It is carried over from life to life as a part of this wholeness. One then enters each new life with a fuller capacity of experience and not diminished by the slumber which overtakes us at death and for which reason we are stripped of energies and must begin anew on this impoverished basis.
But the realisation of wholeness and integrality is still an experience of the future in terms of any significant collective manifestation. For the present we must focus our attention on the method provided to attain that centering and extraction of our fullest potential in a field of unified being. The just completed cycle of 9 races of the Thoroughbred filly under discussion will help to hone our perception and enhance the Gnostic Circle’s utility in our yoga.
The Horse Symbolism and the Human Being
Our example begins, as all must in the Gnostic Circle, with the start of the process at the 0 Point. This, in terms of the career of a race horse, would be the moment she was sent for training. At least in this particular case, given a prior aptitude for this sort of experience, the question of measuring the development was easily perceived to be that special moment. One of the items which made this filly particularly favourable as an example in the Gnostic Circle was her birth itself. This was unplanned and unexpected. It occurred on 1 October. Thus, she came into this world exactly nine months from the traditional birthdate of all Thoroughbreds in the northern hemisphere, calling attention by this fact to her possible affinity with the 9 cycle. Regardless of their actual date of birth, Thoroughbreds must regard 1st January each year as their common birthday. This is an interesting convention because being so intimately connected with Time in the language of symbols, that Thoroughbreds should herald in the year by celebration of this common birthday, even though apparently arbitrarily designated, cannot fail to be seen as another example of ‘the symbol being the thing symbolised’.
Thus in the case of this filly, being born on 1st October meant that by 1st January, or three months thereafter, she would be considered 1 year old – at least as far as her career in racing was concerned. This meant that from the outset she would bear a sort of natural handicap: she would always be competing against more mature horses, usually 6 to 9 months older though they would all be included in the same age group. Nature had helped to compensate for this by giving the filly a larger and more mature conformation than many of her fellow equine competitors.
Another handicap was that given her unplanned birth, she could not be registered as the Thoroughbred that she is. Rather, she had to be raced as ‘pedigree unknown’. Indeed, it was clear from the beginning that this filly had a somewhat unusual destiny. She appeared to be a path breaker, at least for her sisters who were to follow her in the years to come.
The 0 Point for this filly was thus the moment she began her training. Thereafter, once completed, she would start her racing career. The monitoring in the Gnostic Circle went from race to race, 1 to 9 after the 0 period of training was over. Each race thereafter became an astounding confirmation of the Gnostic Circle’s accuracy in describing a process intended to extract the maximum potential from the object under study, in this case the filly and her racing potential.
I mentioned earlier that using the Horse as an example, especially the racing animal, is not such a wild digression. From very ancient times in India the Horse has been the finest symbol of the universal manifestation. The Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad goes to the extent in its opening verses of describing the universe in the form of a horse. Each part of its physical being is mentioned in connection with the diverse aspects of this material universe; until finally it is stated that ‘Time is the self of the Horse sacrificial’. Indeed, for this very reason, given that the Gnostic Circle’s own self is Time, we have been able to utilise this precious animal in the way we have, for the better understanding of that very material universe in which the realisation of one’s inner truth must come about.
There is another aspect in the traditional use of the Horse in ancient times which I feel must be mentioned. The Veda highlights the function of this animal in the Horse Sacrifice or Ashwamedha. As a part of the Sacrifice, a specially selected animal was let loose and permitted to roam the kingdom. The boundaries were thus established by the area this sacred creature had covered. In my view, given my own experience with certain recondite aspects of the Horse, I believe that there was far more to the Horse Sacrifice than is known today. And indeed, as I shall explain further on, the zodiac confirms the connection between the Horse (the 9th sign) and the ‘extension of boundaries’. It is my firm belief that similar to the example I am presenting, the Horse held the key to a certain aspect of energy utilisation for the purpose of attaining that state of Immortality, coveted by the ancients at the time of the Rigveda, as well as the practitioners of the supramental yoga introduced by Sri Aurobindo in this century.
Speed is the principal ingredient in the Horse as symbol of the material manifestation. It is this aspect of our universal manifestation which can be said to be responsible for the generation of that special binding energy, without which no forms could evolve and be sustained. Indeed, to halt the movement of the galaxies and solar systems would mean a collapse of our material universe into a colossal Black Hole. The Horse then represents that special quality, – indeed, the ‘self’ of the universe. It is clear in this light that a sport such as racing would require the maximum extraction of that particular essence of which the Horse is the special representative in higher symbolism of the Vedic order.
The Horse is a symbol par excellence of energy (and the vital being in the human species). Contemporary society confirms this by measuring certain forms of kinetic energy in terms of horse power. Thus, our story begins with the training experience for the purpose of extracting the maximum speed from this particular filly. Once the point had been reached and her trainer felt she was ready to race, the filly’s private Gnostic Circle clock began ticking when she experienced her first race.
A Conspiracy of Diminishing
One travels light through stage one and two of the Circle. Especially in the first passage through the wheel, movement is as yet unhampered by a sort of encumbrance or accumulation of ‘karma’ which is often the case in subsequent passages. This is particularly evident in young children, especially up to four or five years old. Until then it is often quite simple to assess what the child has brought into this life as a residue from the past; whereas later this perception is not so easy in view of the accumulation which begins thereafter, as the experience of this life begins to add its own coverings.
Regarding the filly’s first race this unencumbered condition was displayed in the fact of her low handicap – a mere 50 kilos. In addition, she was given a light jockey, young and somewhat inexperienced. The trainer did not believe she stood much of a chance in this first outing, given her natural age handicap with respect to her fellow competitors. Though it was a race for three-year olds, due to her unseasonal birth, she was easily 6 to 9 months younger than her fellow competitors. At that young age this was a marked disadvantage. It was a race for ‘maidens’, or horses who had not yet won a race. Therefore, most of the competitors were already experienced to some degree.
There is a certain characteristic about the start of any cycle or event which we monitor in the Gnostic Circle. The initial experience can reveal much about the subsequent development, or the conditions under which development must occur, the conditions which will hamper or enhance our possibility of most optimum development. The circumstances of this first race, for example, would thus help to understand something of the filly’s essential nature and certain nuances of her destiny; or the elements she draws to herself in this lifetime. That is, she too enters the field with a certain ‘baggage’. She is therefore fashioned in a particular way which acts as a sort of magnet, attracting conditions which will provide a proper ‘field’ for the manifestation of her individual essence and destiny. Because of this, one should always study these beginnings carefully, or one should make every effort to be as attentive as possible to the ‘signs’ nature puts before us in given circumstances.
Regarding this filly, there was not much need of effort: the circumstances her destiny would throw up in the course of her development were made all too evident from the very moment her racing career was set on its way. It is as if one were analysing a soil into which a particular seed was being cast. The composition of that soil indicates the conditions in which the future plant will grow, whether or not it will thrive due to the richness of the soil, or whether it will struggle to reach maturity due to the inherent weakness of the soil-field. In addition, it is possible in the initial stages of the Circle to note something of the true potential of the individual in question. Regarding our filly, it was evident from the beginning that 1) she would have to face very heavy odds throughout her racing career, or at least during passage through the first cycle of 9, and 2) that she had the capacity to cope in spite of the odds against her, brought about by ‘extraneous forces’. In her case, these played an important part in the development. Indeed, they seemed to be essential to the filly’s destiny or ‘purpose’.
The circumscribing conditions of this first race were, to say the least, dramatic. By this very fact they were unmistakable in the events they portended. No sooner had the race prior to the filly’s come to an end with the trailing horse moving past the winning post, than rain set in. It was not just rain. It was a veritable deluge, and it did not cease until her race was over, the last in the day. Normally such appalling conditions would have merited the cancellation of the race. But this happened to be the last leg of the jackpot for bettors. Thus, the show went on regardless, and by 5:00 PM, in the midst of this cataclysmic downpour, the filly began her racing career proper.
The first indication this offered was that in some peculiar and as yet unclear way, the question of unexpected and additional ‘baggage’ thrown at her from outside her orbit, so to speak, would somehow come to weigh this filly down.
By the time the horses jumped out of the gate the ground was nothing but a muddy slush and the downpour continued unabated. The horses were confused to a certain degree and the field looked dispersed. Our filly in question maintained her composure and managed to keep herself in the race, though positioned in the back. To place at all she would thus have to pass the others in that ‘heavy-going’ terrain, to use the racing jargon. Fortunately her handicap was small, and it was perhaps for this reason that as soon as the first drops began to fall the filly started being favoured by the betting public. This indeed would be another characteristic of her future career, a pattern which held almost throughout the entire cycle of 9 races.
Being ranged toward the end of the field of 9 horses meant not only that the filly’s effort to reach the front would have to be much greater given the slush into which her hooves were sinking, but there was the added misery of the great quantities of mud being flung into her face by the horses in front.
Mercifully the race was short, – 1200 metres. And in spite of the appalling weather, the slush, the mud, the inexperience, our filly managed to gain ground, come up from behind to finish fourth. Given the weather and her natural age handicap, her performance seemed quite promising. The racing public seemed to concur with this judgement and she began gathering a few betting fans. The date of the race was 30th June, or the natural 4.5 Orbit of the 12-month year – that is, its exact halfway mark. This too would provide an insight into her future career and ‘purpose’.
The time arrived for her second race. Again the field was rather large, all three-year olds, considerably more developed than her. The jockey was the same and her handicap was still low, a mere 51 kilos. She was thus still ‘travelling light’, as it were. The residue from her last race was therefore not this accumulation or ‘baggage’ of a handicap. It was another external complication and not earned as reward or punishment. Again this point must be noted because it is somewhat characteristic of the 4.5 Orbit in one’s life or monitored experience: an unexpected, external element from outside one’s cosmos or system enters to complicate matters considerably. The date of the filly’s first race having been indicative of this 4.5 quality in some way, caused one to suspect that these unexpecteds might bear a considerable impact on her racing career. At least in this early phase. Subsequent passage through the ‘asteroid belt’ of the 4.5 Orbit would make this clear, – that is, her fourth and fifth races.
But let us not ‘jump the gun’. The second race was a considerable improvement over the first, and the weather was obliging this time. She was moving more fully into and down the circle of 9 but still light enough to breeze along. There was this time only one hitch: the whip. The trainer had instructed the jockey not to use the whip in the first race, fearing that the filly might react negatively and thereafter take a dislike to racing. But in this second race no such instructions were given. The jockey was thus free to use the whip, which he did mercilessly. Having come up so far from behind in her first race, without use of the whip and in appalling weather conditions, certainly gave the impression that she did not need this external stimulus. In the last 200 metres of the race she was whipped perhaps a dozen times. And each time she reacted negatively, pulling her ears back, kicking up, and thus losing precious time with each superfluous movement. Finally, similar to the first race, she landed up fourth past the winning post. Given the filly’s character her reaction to the whip was to a certain degree predictable. A highly intelligent animal, she had been raised as a pet and not simply as a racing machine. She logically balked at the whip, and with each stroke it was evident that she closed up more and more until in the last 100 she was not extended at all but striding short and choppy. All her attention was on that whip and she seemed to be pulling out of the race – but the jockey never stopped, never perceived his error. Under the circumstances, it was surprising that she again placed fourth.
This particular example is being used as a choice means of demonstrating the Gnostic Circle’s ability to monitor the extraction of a certain deep inner essence or potential. In this case, the whole object of the training of a race house is to carry the animal to the point of giving its best. This is no simple matter, as any trainer and jockey can affirm. Each horse is an individual with his or her own special temperament. In addition, there is the question of the inherent potential and just how far the horse can be expected to go, just what his innate capacity might be. In training the equine athlete much of this capacity can be known. But finally it is on the track that the real and true quality of a race horse is exposed. The breeder prepares the animal, builds it up from a foal to a full-grown, finely developed specimen, under conditions which will provide the best environment for the purpose the horse will later serve. Under good conditions and sensitive care, this should bring about a maximum of growth from the original physical and mental potential. Then the horse is given to the trainer who is expected to bring the horse to a similar peak and make of it a first-class athlete. Finally this carefully nurtured product is handed over to the jockey on the day of the race – and fate.
Perhaps one of the greatest demands placed upon the jockey is the sensitivity to know the correct moment for opening up the horse in the last stretch, as well as the signals that particular animal requires to achieve this final extension and supreme exertion. The horse has to cooperate at that moment when the race is either lost or won. Clearly if the whip is producing the opposite result and with each lash the filly closes her strides more and more, throws back her ears and fails to extend, the jockey must on the spot recognise these signals and stop employing the whip. It goes without saying that the trainer must also perceive this essential dislike and instruct the jockey accordingly.
This did not happen however. The filly went into her third race with no instructions given to the jockey (the same one) in this regard. It was a new season and her handicap had decreased somewhat but was still within the weight of the same jockey. It was 48 kilos.
We had reached the 3 Point of the Gnostic Circle. In the normal course of things, this means that the movement is ripe for something of one’s inner truth to manifest. Indeed, in a human being’s life, any passage over the 3 Point, or when one’s age equals 3 by the Mathematics of Unity, allows for a contact to be made with one’s innermost truth, with one’s soul. It is the first stage when something of this inner essence can be known. Likewise in the case under discussion, this could and should have produced the filly’s first win. Considering her young age, she had been rested for the remainder of the previous season and therefore she was somewhat overweight for this new one, though still in very good condition. Indeed by then she was consistently a favourite, given her good looks and condition, regardless of the horses of superior breeding with which she was competing.
This Gnostic Circle 3-point race saw the filly exert her will to a certain extent, because this too is a feature of this segment of the wheel. She did this by demonstrating beyond any further doubt that she would not tolerate excessive use of the whip. To this end, when the filly reached the last stretch of what was again a 1200 metre race, the jockey began his insensitive use of the whip and caused her once more to balk. Her reaction was now more marked, her kicking more aggressive. But the point was finally and conclusively made when at last the jockey took heed and stopped whipping over the last 100 metres. He moved forward to encourage her, as he ought to have done earlier on instead of relying entirely on the whip, and the filly responded by extending somewhat and increasing her speed and indeed by concentrating on the race. It was not a display of her full potential. It was merely a sign of the relief that she was feeling, being then permitted to do what she really wanted to do in the first place: race well and perhaps win, fate and other conditions concurring.
The outcome was second place by a neck. But it was all too clear that had she not been distracted by the whip and had the jockey been sensitive to the precise moment for opening her up and moving forward, encouraging her with just his hands and feet as is the practice under such circumstances, she would have easily won. The winning post was just too close when finally she was left free to extend, given the battle she was subjected to throughout the most crucial stretch. It was decided then that her next race should cover 1400 metres instead of 1200.
The three angles of what I call the Sacred Triangle of the Gnostic Circle, 9, 6 and 3, invariably introduce decisive interventions. Their purpose is both to keep the movement circular, so to speak, and to accelerate or add impulsion. If we take the diagram quite literally or visually, we can see that at these triangle points something must intervene to curve the progression and not permit it to fly off into space as it were, and to maintain a certain momentum. This is very important since each individual bears his or her own particular ‘speed’ in this universal manifestation. The unfolding of destiny hinges in larger part on this factor. It is similar to the different axial rotations of the planets in orbit of the Sun. The progression must be kept within the precise boundaries of the particular ‘cosmos’ being monitored, and at a determined rate of acceleration given this individual characteristic of destiny, the sum total of past experience.
In this case, the intervention was the explicit instruction of the trainer that no whip should thereafter be employed. The inner substance of the animal was then allowed to prevail but not her true dharma as yet, or her fullest potential. The third was the first of her nine races that ought to have been won. And but for the whip, the filly would have responded and fulfilled the purpose for which she was being trained.
It was from this point that her handicap began to be a burden. In the sport of racing the handicap is both reward and punishment. It is a reward because it is increased according to the performance of the horse. The better the animal runs, the higher is the subsequent handicap. Yet it is a punishment because the horse is obliged to bear this additional weight, which, more often than not, causes him to lose the race. Carried over to the human condition, the handicap is one’s karma: the inexorable reaping of reward or punishment.
There are also classes, degrees, levels in the sport. Our filly began her racing career in Class VA, the second to the last category. She was striving to climb the ladder and move higher. Each promotion, decided by the horse’s performance and number of placings or wins, means that in the next higher category the handicap goes down. The horse starts from the back of the class he or she enters. Thereafter, as his performance permits, the handicap once again increases. Thus if our filly had won her third race, in all likelihood she would have been promoted. In which case the reward/penalty would have ceased to operate in her destiny of racing at that point. But as it turned out, having performed well in spite of the jockey’s insensitive handling, but not winning, served only to saddle her with a heavier handicap and decrease her chances in the next outing.
When applied to life and the individual’s progression through the wheel, the same law is seen to operate. The 3 Point often brings something on the order of a divine Grace into one’s life. But the subtle way in which this manifests makes it often undetectable, It is on the order of a ‘small, still voice’, – for indeed the 3 Point is the point of the soul (see Diagram 2). But when that voice is not heeded, the result is a loss which begins to add a residue to life. That is, we are slightly weighed down by our inattentiveness. In a more apt image, it is as if a veil had materialised in our consciousness. What is not seen then serves to cloud our vision by a certain loss of focus. In other words, the 3 Point requires the act of centering, of steadying one’s consciousness on the inner indestructible Point. When this does not occur the sharpness of the vision is made to suffer. There is a dispersal of energy whereby the experience of life is subjected to a certain degree of blurring, as it were. Seeing is not from a centre of being, which is the only poise from where true clarity is possible, or a true perception of the inner dharma. It is subject to a separative perception. In place of the central Point there is a void. And from this void ‘veils’ or ‘fumes’ arise which cloud our vision. This is what is meant by a residue. It is also a misuse of power or energy by which the desired momentum is not maintained.
In a more apt description, the angles of the Sacred Triangle are the points where centering is ensured. If this is not the case due to the failures discussed in our example, then one spins off and elongates the orbit. This occurs because the residue is in the form of a ‘dark sun’, shadow of the true luminous Sun of Truth. We then increase the binary nature of this mortal creation of which we are a part. Yet the experience [purpose?] of life is precisely to step out of that limitation, enlarge the scope by means of a transformation of consciousness and the attainment of the next rung on the ladder, the supramental species. This cannot come about in a creature of binary structure. Therefore, centering in the New Way meaning is essential in order to cease to fortify the binary system of old.
The act of creation which is enacted in the human being’s experience of life is a vision that unfolds. Creation is simply ‘an act of Seeing’. A veil/residue dilutes that pristine vision. The result is an increasing diminishing of that Power’s ability to influence one’s life. As time moves us forward, we move farther and farther away from the centre and become increasingly more a plaything in the periphery of life. Never are we in its essence or poised in its core.
However, the Gnostic Circle does not end at the point we have reached in our filly’s racing career, and subsequent passage through the wheel is intended to provide the means of rectification.
The Critical 4.5 Orbit: the Asteroid Belt
In the act of centering the angles of what I call the Sacred Triangle are perhaps the most important features of the wheel. This can best be understood by observing that it is only at these angles that the 12-circle division and the 9 join. That is, as Diagram 1, page 3 illustrates, the 0/9 Point coincides with the start of the wheel and the 1st sign, Aries. Thereafter the two separate and it is only at the following 3 Point that they again converge, or the 5th sign, Leo. Thereafter once again they separate and come together at the next and last angle of the Sacred Triangle, the 6 Point; the sign is the 9th, Sagittarius.
Thus these angles are, as it were, stabilising points by this factor of convergence. It is as if they were the points where the cogs of the two superimposed circles join or become engaged, very much like the inner mechanism of a clock. The difference here is that these ‘cogs’ are really orbits within a plane; and the impulsion is Time. The nine orbits are connected to Time and are thus the points of impulsion primarily; or else they can be understood as the pulsations of the mridangam or tabla, the percussion instruments of Indian music. And these are the points which, through the magical properties of our number system, we connect to the calendar, thus converting this renewed body of Vedic knowledge into an applied cosmology. The 9 division with its balancing Sacred Triangle is the vertical dimension and the time key. Its inner pulsation is to the beat of 3. The 12 is the horizontal base, the field. The ‘angles’ of this base are the four Cardinal Points and therefore its pulsation is 4. The only place in the Gnostic Circle where the Cardinal Points meet the orbital angles is at the start of the wheel, the 0/9 Point. Thereafter they separate and the 2nd Cardinal Point, the zodiacal sign Cancer, stands alone. The 3rd Cardinal Point, the 7th sign Libra, is the natural 4.5 Orbit of the 9 circle. The fourth and final one is Capricorn.
Our attention is now focused on the 4.5 Orbit or the ‘space’ enclosed between the 4th orbit of Mars and the 5th of Jupiter – that is, the natural midway mark in the 0 to 9 scale. What is fascinating about this area of the wheel is its subtle characteristic of emptiness. Indeed, this is the ‘shadow’ of the 0/9 Point (Diagram 4). We thus have a most critical zone indicated by the reversal action of the 4.5, as well as by the Asteroid Belt. And similar to the Asteroid Belt, it is an ‘orbit’ but there is no crystallised body therein. Only fragments, particles. Consequently, this splintered emptiness is not marked off by an orbit or number in the scale of 0 to 9. It is only emphasised by a number reversal. At the same time, this is another convergence point between 9 and 12. Here we find the 3rd Cardinal Point Libra, the 7th zodiacal sign. But the convergence between the two divisions of the circle, 9 and 12, is this void space, which however, by its location (in time) is critical in the unfolding of life and destiny.
To perhaps further facilitate an understanding of the nature of this ‘emptiness’, we may view it, or hear it, as the location in the raga where the tala or tempo changes, the beat is quickened critically, and this point is the interval in the midst of that reversal.
The Enneagram (Diagram 5) conveys the innermost esoteric essence of the 9-division circle. Here reproduced, it highlights the stress lines, converging onto that ‘emptiness’. There is no other diagram better suited to help the student to understand the crucial nature of this passage through Time. Given this emptiness – that is, a zone exerting a critical influence but not housing an actual planet or crystallised essence or beat/pulsation, and yet converging with the 12 division of Space and the 7th sign, Libra (see Diagram 1) –, it is perceived as the Shadow, the reflection of the opposite 0/9 Point of the Transcendent.
If we adhere to the gospel of the Void, under whichever of its philosophical, spiritual or religious guises, then this cosmic image is the justification for all schools which propagate the theory of an ‘illusory’ creation, a physical world somehow intrinsically unreal, a maya where the only reality lies beyond this gross dimension and in the Transcendent or Absolute beyond the cosmos. It would appear as the cosmological confirmation of the substanceless nature of the material universe. The 0/9 Transcendent casts its shadow or reflection of Itself, which is then the image of our material creation. In other words, this would justify all the Mayavadist theories, as well as the foundational premises of all religions: salvation comes after death and in a heaven beyond this cosmic manifestation.
This would have to be assumed to be correct, but for one element: Shiva’s Son, the Immanent One.
The exciting news conveyed in the Gnostic Circle is that out of the depths of the apparent void, the One arises, essence of the Transcendent Father compacted into a seed. In this light the beauty of the myth regarding the birth of Kartikeya or Murugan, as he is known in South India, comes fully to the fore. That is, we begin to understand the emphasis in the story on the collection of Shiva’s seed or semen during his loveplay with Parvati. Legend has it that Shiva did not want to produce an offspring, yet the Gods knew that without the birth of Kartikeya the earth would be lost to the dark forces and would not be able to fulfil her purpose in the creative scheme of things.
The Gods then conspired to steal that precious bija or seed while Shiva lay with Parvati. And of course it is Agni who, in the form of a white dove, comes to the rescue and carries the sacred bija in his beak and deposits it in the Ganga for its gestation. (See The Hidden Manna, Chapter 12, and The New Way, Volume 2, Chapter 9.)
This myth is the most exact explanation of the combined contribution of the 0/9 Point of the Gnostic Circle and the 4.5 Orbit – its opposite in the wheel, or shadow. Were it not for this ‘seed’ dropped to the depths (indeed another name of Kartikeya is Skanda, from the Sanskrit root to fall), the compressed essence of the Transcendent, material creation would not bear this quality of essential PURPOSE and FULNESS. It would indeed be a maya devoid of all divine attributes.
For this act of creation to ensue, a prerequisite is, we may say, the Absolute’s slumber so that the operation may spontaneously evolve. Hence Indian mythology offers another exquisite myth to convey this message. Vishnu, the Lord of Preservation of the universe, sleeps on the serpent Ananta (endlessness or eternity), and when he awakens from his divine slumber the creation begins to unfold.
Another area of Vedic tradition is explained by this diagram when we analyse certain practices in Tantra which often perplex the non-initiate or the secular layman, or even the religious puritan. Tantra understood that the unconsciousness of the sex act was largely responsible for the mortal character of the human condition. And that this was the property of the male of the species. It is by ejaculation that the sperm is released. And this takes place in the moment of orgasm when the subject loses control and is overtaken by the finite ecstasy of the climax. This act then results in that special feature of the human creation (and the animal) whereby loss of consciousness is the mark of its first entry into this material dimension. Or a physical structure fashioned according to this principle of unconsciousness, with all that this entails.
The Tantric then resolved to use that very act and transform it, or utilise the sex act to render that moment CONSCIOUS, or a conscious tool in the manipulation of the creative energy. Instead of release in the midst of that orgiastic loss of control, the practitioner exerted the maximum restraint so that release would occur but on the basis of a conscious process and consequently a reversed direction of the released energy. Upward, not downward.
In the Gnostic Circle we may view the process as a containment whereby the energy is not allowed to escape from the system at the 4.5 Orbit but is rather channelled upward through the remainder of the wheel. Our contemporary model thus conveys the same message as these myths and practices. Indeed the myth, it needs to be stressed, presents this very same truth. The only difference is that the Gnostic Circle is an applied cosmology and mythology. The example we are using from racing is a case in point.
Given the recondite, critical nature of the 4.5 Orbit, we observe that all schools or religions apart from the Vedic have stopped short of a full understanding and posited their goals in a Beyond, precisely because they became enamoured of or beguiled by the Shadow. They did not press on and break through the veils and come to Guha, the hidden One, Shiva’s divine Son. This is the Point, first cause of the universe, Skambha, upholder of the worlds, the cosmic pillar/point, or Agni. And it is Agni in the form of a Horse.
The objective of this divergence has been to draw the student through the Vedic and mythic age to the present via precisely the Horse Symbol, and this racing example of an applied cosmology.
Passage through the Asteroid Belt, or the 4.5 Orbit of the Gnostic Circle, the ‘space’ between the 4th orbit of Mars and the 5th of Jupiter, which would be one’s 4.5th year, or 13.5th, or 22.5th, and so on, is often characterised by unexpected happenings, elements injected into the ‘system’ which often alter the process significantly. In other words, they are not self-engendered as such, but are introduced from external quarters. For example, an asteroid wandering into the Earth’s orbit and colliding with the main body. Thus it is difficult to protect oneself from such invasions. But there is a method, and this will be explained by the example I am presenting through the 9-stage development of our racing example.
There are certain cosmic properties of this section of the wheel which merit special attention insofar as they present a formidable hindrance to the human being in not only the realisation of one’s full potential, but in the more sensitive question of direction, or focus of the energy.
This 4.5 (6/7) area is where a major shift occurs. It is, properly speaking, a reversal point. In the multiplication series of 9×1, 9×2, 9×3, and so on, the 4.5 is where the shift occurs from 45 (9×5) to 54 (9×6). That is the quality of reversal is demonstrated by this reversal of numerals, 45 to 54. This is then maintained throughout the remainder of the series: 36 becomes 63, 27 becomes 72, while 18 becomes 81 or 9×9 and closes the circle of 9. (See Diagram 5 above)
This pertains to the Gnostic Circle’s division of 9. As for its division of 12 and the 6/7 passage, though there is no reversal as such, there is an equally important development. This is the passage from the lower hemisphere to the higher. In cosmological studies of this order, the lower and higher dimensions of the zodiacal wheel have always been of foremost importance. In Indian cosmology, the hemispheres are designated dakshinayana and uttarayana, or the southern and northern ‘gateways’. The apex of the former is the sign Cancer, or the second Cardinal Point, and the apex of the latter is Capricorn or the fourth and last Cardinal Point. The solstice times were thus of great meaning because they marked entry into these segments of time through these sacred gateways.
To return to our racing example, on the basis of these considerations, it is clear that the 4th and 5th races would be the most critical in the first 9 series. And indeed they were.
Given the filly’s improved performance in her third race, in the fourth she was obliged to carry top weight, 59 kilos. The trainer had a more experienced jockey waiting for the moment when she would cross the 54-kilo mark in her handicap, to permit this particular jockey whose weight was 55 to ride her. He was not inexperienced but an old hand in the trade. But what transpired in this race bore the mark of the unexpected both for the jockey and the trainer, as well as the filly’s owner. Indeed, this race introduced an extraneous element, a complicating, unanticipated asteroid into her career which caused considerable damage to her psyche. It went completely contrary to the very purpose for which she was being trained. That is, to perform at her best and win the race. In this 4th race the filly was impeded from doing that for which she had been laboriously trained.
There was no whip in this race, its use having been finally prohibited by the trainer, given the fact that she lost the last race because of it. The jockey could thus use only his ‘hands and heels’ to urge her on. But to better appreciate what transpired, it should be explained that a characteristic of this particular equine-athlete is her propensity for jumping out of the starting gate and placing herself in the lead, at the same time setting the pace for the others. Left to herself, this is the pattern she invariably plays out in every race.
Naturally, with a heavy handicap the risk in such a strategy is that the filly might become exhausted halfway through and not have anything in reserve for the crucial last stretch. As often happens in such cases, others come from behind, overtake the horse, open up by the use of the whip and, more often than not, go on to win the race, especially if the weight they are carrying is less. In this case, I repeat, the filly was carrying a top 59 kilos.
Nonetheless, true to her pattern, the filly jumped out and was pressing on to keep the lead. Clearly the other jockeys were keen on letting her wear herself out and fade out of the race in the final stretch. But she seemed determined to win and contradict their designs. She fought her own jockey magnificently since he was clearly not of the same mind as the filly. And he kept fighting her to the very last.
It is not necessary to enter into any elaboration of what transpired in that race. Suffice to say that we were left with the gnawing thought that something was very wrong. Doubts, suspicions abounded, complemented by the body language of the filly as she came off the track. She was angry, full of an unreleased energy – and confused. We noted that an ‘asteroid’ had been thrust into her orbit. And it went right to her heart, for it was in this race that the filly began to demonstrate the very first signs of ‘turning sour’, as it is called in racing. The reason for this was simply the confusion in her mind of trying her utmost to fulfil what she had been trained for – her dharma, quoi – and having to contend with a jockey of a different mind. She had exerted herself in these restricting conditions to reach the winning post first, but the struggle, very obvious to the observer, ended in a win by a mere neck for another filly carrying 5 kilos less than ours. The confusion this produced in her instinctive being was that though ready and eager, she was not permitted to utilise her fuller potential.
This ‘bottling up’ was the first ingredient in the ‘reversal’ whereby the potential or energy released after such laborious preparation on the part of breeder and trainer would begin to turn back on itself – ergo, turn ‘sour’. The filly reacted predictably, mathematically. From that point onward this negative imprint began to crystallise in her consciousness. She began to equate the last stretch either with the whip which she loathed, or else the struggle with a jockey who was, in the words of the newspapers reporting on his riding at the time, ‘…pinching the baby while rocking the cradle’.
Carried over to the human condition, this is wonderfully descriptive of similar afflictions which serve to diminish rather than replenish or release energy. We are studying via this example the optimum conditions of growth from a seed to a full flowering tree, expressing the fullest potential of its inherent worth. Inasmuch as the 4.5 Orbit is connected to the One, or the Immanent Seed, it is directly related to the question of PURPOSE. Thus, this is the area of the development most susceptible to an understanding of purpose. This is achieved by an erosion in the foundations, in the depths of being. In the human species as a whole, it is this area of the cosmic wheel that signifies an erosion of purpose by providing an escape route, a ‘way out’ of the cosmic dimension and material being. In spiritual paths it is the offer of nirvana and similar ‘liberations’, whereby the element which the human being is meant to consolidate or crystallise in his or her lifetime is disintegrated. The consciousness or energy base is inflicted by a realisation or an ‘unexpected’ which serves to disintegrate rather than integrate. This is wonderfully described by the Asteroid Belt, an orbit which consists of nothing but a series of fragmented particles of a once crystallised cosmic body. That this should be the halfway point of our solar system, ought to cause us to ponder on the matter and seriously strive to understand what exactly might that ‘purpose’ be which is so viciously attacked by all and sundry. The racing example I am presenting is one method for providing a simple means to understand this complex cosmic/evolutionary conspiracy and its devastating effects on the human race.
The tool used for this undermining is a corrupting, corrosive element. Equally, it is difficult to perceive given the hidden quality of the 4.5 Orbit. In the case in question, this difficulty was present and the operation was undertaken in such a way as to make detection if not impossible, at least ‘excusable’. Thus, the filly entered her 5th race, in her passage through the Asteroid Belt, with the same jockey.
Again, given her performance in spite of the heavy handicap, she was once more ‘penalised’ with the top weight. Since the 5 Point is the orbit of Jupiter, this race bore many characteristics of that planet. It was Derby Day and hence there was more pomp to the affair, a Jovian characteristic, as well as a packed stand and an illustrious public. Our filly was judged ‘the Day’s Best’ for bettors and the favourite of the betting crowd. There were even favourable write-ups in the newspapers. All eyes were on her and hopes were high that this time she would conquer.
As it turned out, the jockey contradicted her from the beginning and did not permit her to take the lead at all. The result was that other horses moved in front and constantly blocked her way. No serious effort was made to position her for a win, even when there was an opening, and not only was this the most miserable race of her career until then, but it was equally a miserable display of riding by the jockey. Again, the details are unimportant. It is only important to note that this blatant mis-riding caused a reaction which finally went to liberating the filly from the menace of this manipulation. Thereafter, she would never be ridden by that jockey again and subjected to this humiliation and his penchant for ‘rocking the cradle while pinching the baby’.
But the damage had already been done. She was completely ‘sour’ and would pin her ears back at the least insistence on opening up. When the final stretch approached, she would react by throwing her head to the side or pinning her ears back in protest. There was no exertion, no extension, just this firm NO. And this was carried over to her morning exercise which previously she had fully enjoyed. The energy was completely reversed indeed, but for the purpose of collapse into the void of being and not the ‘rise to the summit’ as the Gnostic Circle indicates for the final goal. In the case of our filly, this would be to win a race and move up the ladder to a higher grade. Nothing of this happened. There was nothing but diminishing, waste, shrinking, and not growth and contact with a plentiful source of energy.
The Residue
This entire discussion, it should be evident by now, is one centred on energy; a conscious utilisation or manipulation of a carefully balanced play of energy. Our experience of life is simply the question of a more and more harmonious utilisation of the energy at our command in order to fulfil our journey and reach the summit of Being. Thus, in the ancient Rigveda that experience was referred to as ‘the journey’, and the summit was the mountaintop. But to attain this destination, this superior goal, a very knowledgeable utilisation of the energy base is demanded. For there are deceiving pitfalls, traps along the way. One especially deceptive point is passage over the 4.5 Orbit because there is the overwhelming temptation in that section of our experience to disregard the indications life provides and find release from any pressure by escaping, by opting for ‘the easy way out’.
In a psychological process this means not using one’s perceptive faculties properly. One adopts a see-no-evil/hear-no-evil attitude. One deludes oneself, fails to face the reality of one’s true condition. The veils which emerge in our consciousness from that point onward, if not ruthlessly dealt with, make it increasingly more difficult to extract from within that inherent compressed potential or essence of being.
In the cosmic process which can be applied both macro- or micro-cosmically, there is the need to avoid a negative crystallisation of energy at this point. Applied to our filly, the ‘sourness’ was simply this negative crystallisation. Energy was not released for winning but turning back, collapsing into a sort of Black Hole. It is a knotting up, as it were. The external signs of this collapse were easily perceivable in her case whenever an opening up was asked for. Since this collapse or knotting up of energy had occurred or become crystallised, it was not possible for her to respond in any other way.
Cosmically, the danger is explained by the Asteroid Belt of our solar system: a planetary body in formation is shattered, splintered. This represents the inability to carry out a cosmic process, to engender the ‘energy that binds’. The utilisation of the horse as an example is quite apt because we are dealing precisely with the question of speed, a certain threshold crossed, an increase and correct utilisation of ‘fuel’ so that this binding energy is generated and the body in formation is held together and does not collapse, as we see in the Asteroid Belt. Properly speaking, there is the danger of a ‘negative copy’ emerging, a shadow of the true thing, a substanceless, centreless Nothingness, glued together by the Shadow. This is when we remain in the system, still engaged in the on-going process. The other possibility at this point is simply a disintegration to such an extent that one steps out of the cosmos entirely, be this individual and microcosmic, or macrocosmic.
In the human being, it is during this passage that careful attention has to be given to ‘shedding baggage’ so that the residue does not become akin to an anchor in one’s being, impeding acceleration and rise to the summit. Or else it may be viewed as a strenuous exertion the final aim of which is minimised by this ‘dead weight’. This is known as karma or samskaras.
Yoga, and especially the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo for reasons which will become obvious as this study progresses, helps to relieve us of these burdens and especially to accelerate our march. For it is obvious that after a certain critical threshold is reached and the mass accumulated is too dense, one lifetime is insufficient to work it out, to dissolve this dense compactness. It is a question of collapse of purpose. The ‘seed’, container of that ‘purpose’, is not organically unfolding by the aid of Time, giving forth always more of its inner essence in a sublime and ceaseless act of creation. Rather, it is being crusted over, covered in veils. The energy utilized for that process is as if dead, lifeless, inert. For this reason the Rigveda considers our mortal race the offspring of the Goddess Aditi’s eighth son, Martanda, whose name in Sanskrit literally means dead egg.
Indeed, it is at the 8th sign, Scorpio, that this ‘death’ sets in. Clearly the meaning of ‘dead egg’ is an aborted process; not the experience of the full Circle or progression, but truncated prematurely. For that is what death is. In the Gnostic Circle’s superimposed structure, this is the third quarter of the wheel – from the 4.5 Orbit to the 6th in the 9 circle, or the 7th sign Libra to the 10th sign Capricorn in the 12 division.
But Capricorn is that summit. Having failed to release the energy properly, having caused a collapse, this negative crystallisation does not allow us to rise. We can only fall back then, and back, and back, depending on the degree of our burden or ‘handicap’.
Yoga then accelerates the process of seeing, of undoing the ‘knots’, of freeing the Seed and permitting its inner essence to flow freely, creatively. An acceleration of the process is imperative so that in one lifetime the work is done. As one progresses, it is possible to register an acceleration which shortens more and more the periods between collapse and the subsequent undoing, to the extent that action and so-called retribution can follow upon each other almost immediately, thereby never permitting any permanent crystallisation to occur, any hardening which defies dissolution. When such an irreversible hardening does set in, then Death is the inevitable result and only ‘solution’. The burden, the anchor is too great and the pace of the journey is forcibly slowed down until collapse of even the physical being occurs.
But it is not really a new beginning in the real sense of the word. The next life is the result of this unconscious, diminishing process. That is, we re-enter with the same ‘seed’ but bearing encumbrances. The seed-energy is enclosed in a sac, the hardness of which is measured by the veils accumulated in moments when our perception failed us, moments of unconsciousness and lapses into deeper or denser slumber. Until death ends our journey, the soundest and greatest slumber of them all.
The ‘dead-egg’ human race is in its entirety characterised by the unconsciousness that overtakes us and increases in proportion to the accumulation of veils or encrustations.
Of course the filly in our example is not expected to be engaged in yoga or a conscious progression. She is simply playing out a cosmic process for us and demonstrating how certain actions of unconscious or conscious human beings can hinder or enhance that process. She is offering us an example closest to the essential truth of the cosmic manifestation because the Horse is symbol supreme of that universal Energy. Extracting her fullest potential for racing would thus mean the ideal utilisation of energy. In this case, the filly herself was akin to the Seed containing that essential, compressed energy. The arena of breeding, training, racing was the soil in which the seed-filly was planted and expected to flower.
The Cave
The filly’s fifth race, the 5 Point of Jupiter in the Gnostic Circle, carried us to the portals of a most interesting segment of the wheel: Scorpio, or, as it would be known in the Rigvedic myth, the cave of the Panis. This is where the stolen ‘cow’ is hidden by these hostile powers, known also as the hoarders and misers. The Cow is the Vedic symbol of that seed-energy in its potential form, as the Sanskrit word indicates – go or ray of light. The ‘misers’ or ‘hoarders’ are known in the myth for what they are: diminishers, powers which close in, or ‘pen in’, as the myth describes, that precious energy. This is very aptly descriptive of our filly at this point in her career. Her potential, her energy base was boxed up, penned in, hoarded away. The idea is to break through the ‘rock’, according to the myth, and release the cow/energy.
The correspondence with our racing example is obvious. For it was at this point in the first passage through the Circle that serious attempts began to be made to expose the falsehood and to liberate the filly from the clutches of this dark force which had had such devastating effects on her racing spirit by adding more baggage to her already considerable burden.
The jockey began persistently maligning the filly in the effort to cover up his own dubious actions in her regard. This was a simple matter at that point since the filly is what we humans call a ‘dumb’ creature. She could not defend herself. The veils thrust over this seed-energy were these layers of false labels which she was forced to live with. Her reputation was thus destroyed. No really good jockey would accept to ride her because she was described as ‘mad’, ‘unpredictable’, and therefore a dangerous ride. Interestingly, this filly was perhaps one of the most well behaved on the turf. Her manners were impeccable both at the starting gate and during the race. Her only ‘misbehaviour’ was her unwillingness to open up and her sourness. But to cover up his bad actions the jockey cast the blame on the filly who was then obliged to carry not only the burden of her own inner sourness but this external pollution as well. In other words, inwardly she was weighed down and the external field of her experience was also spoiled.
This describes the outcome when passage through the 4.5 Orbit does not bring about the true release and balance of energy. The remainder of the ‘journey’ is indeed a struggle. The residue is an anchor. Instead of moving from 5th to 6th on the wings of an acceleration – for this is what contact with the 5th planet/orbit, Jupiter, is meant to do – the planet which replaces the Sun, as it were. That is, if still there is a chance of retrieval and creative expansion, the 5th Point is meant to introduce a ‘bolt out of the blue’ and propel one forward regardless of the encumbrances. In the Rigveda this action is known as Brihaspati’s word, which pierces like a lightning bolt the rock of the cave in Scorpio which stands in front of the 5 Point. Then the ‘ray’ or the ‘penned in’ energy is released.
Jupiter is also the Guru, the spiritual guide or he who enlightens. Thus it is clear that to deal with this darkness, this conspiracy of hostile suggestions and powers ranged against one, the tactic is always that of forcible exposure. Brought to the light their dark substance is dissolved.
After her 5th humiliating performance, it was clear that a process of cutting through the crusts, loosening the thick layers had begun. The first step was to forbid the trainer to put that jockey on the filly, be it in her morning exercise or, more importantly, in a race. As for the filly herself, she then had to be handled more like an invalid or a psychological casualty of man’s insensitive attitude toward ‘dumb’ creatures. In this case, the gross insensitivity was compounded, or perhaps had its roots, in the element of corruption, the desire for illegitimate gain which so plagues the ‘sport’ of Kings.
Indeed, this is another aspect of Thoroughbred racing which must be discussed. Being the symbol of the vital force is only part of the matter. For it is this same force that is connected to money, or money power. The ‘hoarders’ and the ‘diminishers’ represent the acute selfishness which afflicts a society overridden by corruption. Economics come into his area of the cosmic dispensation as well. It is, once again, a question of the right use of energy (money), its balanced or imbalanced usage. Corruption is the selfishness of the individual who is cut off from the larger body of which he is meant to be a complementary part, a cog in the wheels which makes the collective manifestation a channel for the expression of a supreme Harmony, a divine life on Earth, as Sri Aurobindo has described. The corrupt individual cares only for himself or his immediate circle. Indeed he is a pani or a dasyu, to use the Vedic terms. Energy is penned in, confined to this closed-off circuit and not integrated into the collective pool which can then benefit both the community and the individual.
The Horse thus combines in its representative role this wrong utilisation of energy. Nowhere is this more evident than in the ‘sport’ of racing. The difficulties our filly experienced have to be viewed on this backdrop. This was the condition of the ‘field’ into which she was thrust.
The time came for her 6th race. We had, by then, a still splendid-looking animal, in good physical condition but entirely disinterested in racing or the question of exertion, of striving for perfection, of reaching the goal – in this case, the winning post. She seemed to be focussed exclusively on herself, on fulfilling her will; and invariably this clashed with that of her rider in the last stretch of the race. The least ‘interference’ by the jockey would cause her to close up and pull out of the race. Thus she had to be allowed to run her own race, as she liked.
An apprentice jockey was put on her, an allowance rider. That is, his inexperience was compensated for by offering the tempting prospect to the trainer of a 5- or 3-kilo reduction of the horse’s handicap. For this race she was carrying 56 kilos, which, with the allowance would come to a mere 51.5. This could be considered on the order of ‘cheating destiny’, or ‘making light of one’s burden’!
The 6 Point and the planet Saturn stands at the threshold of the sign Sagittarius, sign par excellence of the Horse. One begins to emerge from the Scorpio cave, the darkness is somewhat lifted of mystifying, burdening veils, and a great release is felt in the open spaces offered by Sagittarius, after the confinement of Scorpio. This portion of the Circle is on the order of a pleasing interlude, a playful expansion, entirely deceiving however.
In spite of her diminished spirit the filly responded to this atmosphere of lightness in her race. She did this by ignoring the jockey entirely. She ran out front and kept the lead, kept her own pace throughout the entire race. He did not interfere, or rather, he could not. He was too ‘light’ for her, primarily in will. By that time, her will had crystallised negatively. It meant that she was her own boss and was not engaged in a complementary sport with her jockey: two athletes competing together and with a harmony of wills. Hers was inverted, collapsed into a hardened mass.
In this condition of course the ‘light’ jockey could not get her to extend in the final stretch more than she herself seemed to have decided upon. She was seen to race in what was virtually third gear throughout, right up to the end. She never really changed her pace, never really extended and remained disinterested. From time to time her ears would be pinned back to indicate her dislike of the sport. Of course she was sour in the extreme. If she came out of this race in second place, it was largely because she ‘cheated’ by the allowance handicap. Indeed, there is something of this element in the sign Sagittarius. Its lightheartedness often causes it subjects to ‘cheat’ – with a smile. They could be known as the lovable thieves of the zodiac.
Sagittarius is meant to bring the subject to exceed his or her limitations. That is, provided the release has come about and the correct transmutation of the energy. It is then the power which, in this sign of the Horse, does indeed cause one to exceed one’s limits or to extend one’s boundaries (as in the Vedic Horse Sacrifice, or Ashwamedha). It also indicates a period when an expansion of consciousness can occur, so important for the experience of the next and final quarter of the Gnostic Circle and passage through the signs Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. The planetary orbits reached are the 7th and 8th, to close the wheel at the 9th, or Pluto at the farthest reaches of our solar system.
For our filly the only indication of any sort of exceeding was that she was finally free of her suppressor and antagonist, that pani who had caused a ‘penning in’ of her energy. She had a young and enthusiastic jockey whom she could easily ‘make light of’ and virtually ignore. But she was also determined to remain closed in her shell and was beginning to be considered ‘difficult’. Thus in this diminished condition she approached the Circle’s last quarter and faced the ‘Mountain’, the fourth and last Cardinal Point, Capricorn.
Truth is the keyword of this sign. But this word means all things to all men. Indeed, a significant characteristic of our age is the conundrum thrown up when we are faced with absolutes and relatives, in particular in the domain of truth, thus having a bearing on the moral base of contemporary society. Therefore it is necessary to digress somewhat and again move into the world of myth so that a very clear understanding can come about regarding the precise meaning of the word in the context of a process such as we are describing, monitored in the Gnostic Circle.
The Replenishing Source and the Axis of Truth
Indian mythology contains a number of descriptions of the sign Capricorn. The Mountain symbolism is perhaps the most important ingredient in its mythological lexicon. This has been carried over to temple architecture where the myth is rendered in stone and the temple symbolism is that of a mountain. Central to the structure is an axis.
In the most important ‘mountain’ myth, this axis is the navel of the world. It is known as Mount Meru, the churning stick around which the serpent Vasuki is wound. The head and tail of the serpent are held by the Asuras (Titans) and Devas (Gods), respectively. When the primordial ocean is churned by these powers of Dark and Light, various elements of creation are brought up – each one symbolic and pregnant with meaning.
However, there are aspects to this tale which are overlooked, or perhaps have never been appreciated. It is more than a story of creation and the first churning of that Ocean of Life. Indeed, it is the churning of any process which can be monitored in a diagram such as the Gnostic Circle. That is, a formula in which Time is used as an ally, as a collaborator in the progressive transformation or development of consciousness. The Mount Meru tale refers to Time’s action. The axis-symbol is the Golden Rod of ancient traditions, the divine Maya of the Veda. The idea is to establish this axis in one’s being. Around that both dark and light orbit. The absolute Truth is this immobile, central axis. All the rest is ‘relative’.
However, the relative is necessary for the evolution. The only question is that each thing must be in its place. Thereafter harmony ensues, a ‘cosmos’ and not chaos. Thus, this quarter of the Gnostic Circle presents an opportunity to create a cosmos or order out of an essentially chaotic conglomeration of forces. The Mount Meru tale points the way to this ordering process. To be noted is that the power of the Light, the Gods, are not the central axis, as one might be inclined to think. Rather, they are ranged with the dark forces. Something else holds the play of forces together. And it is this something else that is so brilliantly described in the myth and so carefully captured in this segment of the time-wheel.
For our filly the moment of truth had indeed come. She was entering her 7th race and it would be her last of the winter season. The 7th planet/orbit Uranus is posited, in this section of the circle, who, in Indian tradition, is Varuna, the God of Truth and the Law.
Her 7th race brought the truth to the fore. She had another apprentice jockey, also offering an allowance to her top weight handicap, a crippling 60 kilos. This was indeed the truth of her ‘accumulated baggage’ or residue. The allowance brought this down somewhat. But this jockey was inferior to her last and there was none of the playfulness of the sign Sagittarius to breeze her through her trial. She was serious about her sourness and pinned her ears back dramatically at any attempt by the jockey to encourage her to extend. The result was a poor fourth place – on the board as she always was, except for the humiliating race where the ‘baby was pinched while rocking the cradle’. It was clear at that point that there was only one solution: the filly had to leave the track and return to her ‘source’, that is, the farm where she had been bred. Thus, her 7th race seemed to close a chapter. But in the larger vision of the first completed cycle of 9, this was not exactly a closing of a chapter. It was simply an ordering. It was a return to a source of replenishing, of healing. It was a time to come into contact with her inner being and truthful energy base. Interestingly, this was in the mountains.
The filly responded to the treatment admirably. From the first moment she stepped into the premises she was a different creature. She had been removed from her constricting environment and hence there was an immediate relaxation. There was nothing of her sourness in evidence at all. She was ridden regularly, and apart from a few kicks and initial slight battle of the wills with her rider, she very quickly moved into the spirit of the thing and began to enjoy her rides. There was no evidence at all of the minor displays of boredom and determined opposition which she had been demonstrating toward the end of her period at the track. But her physical condition needed attention. Her hoofs were in very bad shape, almost as a reactive symbol to her unwillingness to race. Had she remained on the course, the condition of her hoofs would have deteriorated even more and would have perhaps become a physical problem forcing her out of racing, or at least impeding her from racing until the problem had healed. But it was clear that under the prevailing circumstances, there would have been no healing. The only place where that could come about was by a return to the farm-source. Her healing was many-dimensional, not only physical. As her psyche healed, her hoofs returned to their original condition.
For everybody involved in this matter it was equally a moment of truth. The filly’s rest period was extended to a full three months. Interestingly, it came to an end on 30 June – or exactly on the first anniversary of her first race. Thus, the 4.5 Orbit was again seen to be operative in her return to the track. In this instance the circumstances surrounding that trip seemed to indicate something of the perilous Asteroid Belt in that she set off on her journey just when a nation-wide truckers’ strike was scheduled. Thus during the entire 15-hour drive the perils of the Asteroid Belt were evident. Lorries which were found plying the roads were stoned and even burned by angry strikers. Our filly, however, seemed to move through the ‘orbit’ of the system where ‘stones’ (asteroids) were flying past helter-skelter from all directions! Anything could have happened, but she and the vehicle in which she was travelling remained unharmed. With her on the trip was her sister and stablemate, with whom she had reestablished a very close bond during her sojourn on the farm. Her sister too was being sent for training. However, the power of the axis of truth began to emerge in the process. A notable shift was felt in the entire affair. There seemed to be a compelling magnetism operating, obliging all elements to serve ITS purposes.
The first overt manifestation of this compelling magnetism was a change in stables and a new trainer. The presence of the ‘baby-pinching’ jockey in the former stables among other things, made a continued association with the trainer for this particular filly difficult. It was clear that new conditions had to be created. This was not a MENTAL decision. It was a compelling play of circumstances. Given that contact had been established with the ‘source’ and the subsequent forging of the axis of truth around which all the diverse elements of that particular ‘cosmos’ would have to orbit, the environment in which the sourness took shape, manifesting finally in the deterioration of her hoofs, had to undergo a change. Thus there was really no choice as such involved. The newly-forged axis determined or IMPOSED these new conditions. The dangers of the 4.5 Orbit were still clearly in evidence, but they would not be able to impede a determined progress or development.
The meaning of forging an axis of truth in an individual’s development or transformation of consciousness is akin to creating a cosmos out of chaos. That is, the peripheral elements of the system are no longer left free to create havoc, as it were, and to endanger or impede a certain development. Rather, when the axis comes into being even those same negative elements, conditions, situations must serve the purposes of the One – or, the central axis of truth. This may pertain to an individual and one’s inner truth, or a cosmic system. Or else, as in the case under discussion, the career of a Thoroughbred race horse. To further drive home the importance of this axis, in Hindu temple architecture this mountain-axis symbolism is reproduced in stone and serves the community by acting as that compelling axis. Of foremost importance for this to come into being, even in the question of a temple construction intended to capture this power, Time is the essential ingredient, indeed, the essence of that axis. Or, like the Horse symbolism of the Veda, the ‘self’ of that universal consciousness.
Thus, the filly’s sojourn in the mountains, or her return to the source where the truth of her being could be encouraged to manifest, took place exactly in the segment of the Gnostic Circle where this operation can ensue, and only in this segment: Capricorn. This sign is represented by both the mountain symbolism and the Time-Spirit, a combination which fortifies the view that the axis is singularly involved with Time.
The operation of this power-axis in the process did not exactly indicate the start of a new cycle, in spite of the ‘new’ conditions prevailing, as the layman might assess the situation on the basis of the entry of a new trainer, new stables, and so forth. This would indeed have been the case had the progression been aborted at the 6 Point and the sign of Death, Scorpio. Indeed, this is the position where, for the mortal, ‘dead-egg’ human species the ‘journey’ does come to an end. The remainder of the wheel – a full 120 degrees of the total 360 – is either a limbo (Sagittarius) or heaven/hell (Capricorn). In other words, the process is truncated on Earth in a time-continuum. It is effectively aborted as far as extraction of the compressed potential in the ‘seed’ is concerned. The journey can then only be pursued in ‘heaven’. This is the relative ‘truth’ of all religions.
But these postulations came into being during the period of history when our solar system was thought to consist of only 6 planets, very accurately confirming the 6 Point of the Gnostic Circle as the end of the journey for the ‘dead-egg’ human race. Now, however, our cosmic vision has expanded and 9 is the measure. Thus, the Gnostic Circle comes to our aid with its measure of 9 superimposed on the scale of 12, by indicating what is meant to happen in the segment of the wheel previously barred from our experience in a body, on this planet.
This is nowhere more accurately described than in the Rigveda in the passages dealing with Swar, commonly considered the ‘heaven’ of the Veda. That this concept has been distorted over the ages due to the rise and supremacy of religions is not the subject of this study. It has been treated elsewhere in depth. The point I wish to make here is simply that the possibility of our expansion of consciousness, or the extraction of inherent potential, has increased by a measure of three. This means that in one incarnation that much more can be attained, mirrored as well in the prolongation of the average life span of the human being. But to make full use of this enhancement, it is necessary to understand in depth the nature of that newly-opened segment of time-consciousness. Indeed, central to this greater potential is precisely the consciously-lived experience. No longer is it slumber and death but a progression in full or fuller awareness, under the light of the midday Capricorn truth-conscious Sun which casts no shadows.
This is the nature of the ordering process indicated in this segment of the Gnostic Circle. With a central axis, a Mount Meru, both dark and light, or negative and positive, are drawn into orbit in a sort of complementary labour. Similar to the Asuras and the Devas who pull the Serpent of Time wrapped around the churning stick-cum-axis, Mount Meru, in order to extract from the ocean of life the precious treasures hidden in the depths, the individual too draws both negative and positive into his or her ordered cosmos when contact is made with one’s innermost centre and the axis is forged. These powers are then obliged to serve the individual in the process of extraction. The magnetic centre indicates its presence by drawing to it the proper conditions for this orderly and harmonious play. For our filly this was made immediately evident by the changed circumstances of her training. The new trainer, moreover, was young (and a woman), and appeared more suited to the ‘new beginning’.
Thus this was not a 0/9 point or the start of a monitored experience. Contrary to appearances given the new conditions, it was simply the 7 point, part of the fuller scale of 9 stages or progressions. If the measure was 6 it would have been truncated or aborted before the 7. But in a full scale of 9, the meaning of the new conditions is simply the inevitable, predictable result of an ordering process whereby new conditions are introduced which allow for the power of truth to operate with a determined goal in view. For the proper understanding and application of the Gnostic Circle, I repeat, it is essential to know or to recognise the true 0 Points or the start of a process. And thereafter to recognise that when new elements are introduced they are not indicative of a return to the 0 Point but are merely in answer to the imperatives of the Gnostic Circle operations in a full scale of 0 to 9 over a field of 1 to 12.
Dissipation, Dispersal or Dissolution: the 8th Stage
The filly responded well to her new environment, her trainer, the fact of having her cherished sister with her and a part of her racing experience. Above all, this seemed to convince her that contact with the farm-source had not been broken when she was previously sent for training. The return to the farm seemed to have a relaxing effect also due to this discovery which was further compounded by the companionship of her sister. Her sourness disappeared and the only indication of any difficulty was a tendency to bolt during her morning work-out, but this was more an indication of an energy imbalance rather than a vice as such. She was clearly suffering from a hampered or damaged energy flow, and this was clear both from her bolting as well as her performance in the 8th race, a month after returning to the track.
Indeed, the 8th stage is often indicative of a dissipation of energy, a dispersal. In the Gnostic Circle the 8 begins to draw the movement to a close and will always be the faithful outcome of the previous 7 stages and what passage over these points had produced. For our filly there were various aspects to the problem she faced at the 8 stage, in her 8th race. The first is that she continued to be saddled with a heavy handicap: 57kgs. She had not performed well enough to seem to merit or attract any of the top jockeys to ride her, though she was still a favourite, and therefore she was obliged to accept the services of a lesser-experienced jockey whose weight was only 49kgs but who offered no allowance. She was therefore carrying 8 kilos of dead weight to reach the prescribed 57. In other words, she was drawing the first round of 9 to an end encumbered by this penalising handicap and still blocked at Class VA.
This merits some elucidation. If the filly had met with ideal conditions in the earlier stages of her experience, passage over points 3 and 6 should have resulted in promotions. Thus, after her first legitimate and merited win in her third race (ideally), she ought to have been promoted to Class IV, the next one up the ladder. At the same time, she would have entered at the bottom of that class and this would have meant a reduction in her handicap – i.e., no accumulation of karma/residue. And even if she had failed to achieve this promotion in her third race (at the 3 Point), there was a second chance to catch up with a legitimate and merited win in her 4th. But in both these races external factors impeded her from winning. They had nothing to do with her inner worth. Rather, impositions placed on her then served to stifle that potential: the energy turned back on itself.
Consequently, at the most critical 4 Point, opening onto or into the 4.5 Asteroid Belt, the encumbrance or excess baggage should definitely have been shed in order to make passage into the higher hemisphere (the sign Libra), a real promotion. With a lowered handicap in Class IV the filly could have looked forward to a swift passage from the 5th to the 6th Point; and the (ideal) win at the 6th would have brought her another promotion to Class III and once again a reduced handicap. The handicap in such a scenario would never have accumulated to the degree where it was a true penalty which she could not shake off and a decisive conditioning factor in her performance. It served truly to anchor her, to pin her down at the lowest rung. Contact with the two angles, 3 and 6, of the Sacred Triangle should have been points of intervention, of grace whereby accumulation of residue would be impossible. But this would have meant that an ideal balance between release and proper utilisation of the compressed energy had been achieved. Given the circumscribing conditions she met in the field of her experience, this was not the case.
By consequence, the filly performed in her 8th race as could have been predicted from a perceptive scrutiny of her previous 7 races. She displayed an imbalance – i.e., great initial burst which then was seen to fade out. She failed even to place in that race due to the imbalance and also as a result of her long rest prior to the race. But she did display the effects of that sojourn and her new conditions by her eagerness to race and the complete absence of sourness.
The 8th stage is a sort of limbo, a suspension before the 9 and the true new beginning. There are no demands or expectations. In this case, something of the residue was dissolved as the 8 does indicate by its connection with the power of dissolution and undoing, in that at least one of the former encrustations was broken down: her sourness. She had attracted to herself the conditions which would serve to undo that formation or imprint or encrustation. But this was only part of the problem, only one aspect, albeit the most serious and obstructive. The harsh conditions of first passage through the wheel left other imprints, reflected in her heavy handicap. And they would all have to be dealt with in the course of the next cycle, 9 to 18.
The 8th race was akin to a safety valve in a pressure cooker. Steam is released in a controlled manner to avoid disaster, but it is wasteful, purposeless. There was a powerful accumulation due to the rest and return to the farm-source, a great enthusiasm even as witnessed in her bolting during morning work-outs. But none of this could be channelled to the fulfilment of her purpose – that is, to win a race. It was frittered away. Yet this experience was at one and the same time a necessary outlet for pent-up energies and a means to produce a certain balance. Indeed, she settled down thereafter and ceased to bolt. She was then in the right condition for the start of the new cycle and race 9.
In addition to this imbalance and the need for controlled release, there is the question of accumulated residue to note. At the same time, a tool of knowledge such as the Gnostic Circle is meant to indicate when such moments of accumulation (or release) are met and by consequence how they can be dealt with. For the aim of the Gnostic Circle is precisely KNOWLEDGE in contrast to ignorance. It is true that our filly emerged from the first cycle with a sizeable residue reflected accurately in her handicap. At the same time, in view of the fact that the axis of truth was timely bought into being, the indication is that the knowledge gained in the first cycle would be precious nectar extracted from the churning of the Capricorn Mount Meru, and that this would be a valuable aid in the subsequent cycle. However, we cannot escape the fact that mishaps of this nature signify that in the next cycle, 9 to 18, one carries along this shadow residue. Instead of breezing through lightly, it is now an uphill struggle given the weight one is saddled with – ergo, the encrustations which still hamper the free and creative discharge of the compressed inner potential. Indeed, our filly displayed this encumbered condition very faithfully in her 9th race.
The 9 as the ‘new beginning’ made itself felt by a change of venue. Her 9th race was in a neighbouring city and the new centre and season meant a reallocation of handicap. She raced with 58 kilos – still one of the highest. The jockey was the same but the result this time was an easy second. Though the race was won by 5 lengths, the winner was carrying a mere 49 kilos, – that is, a full 8 kilos less than the filly. Moreover, it was a horse from a higher class which had been successively demoted to reach VA. She was thus facing considerable competition. Nonetheless, even without exerting herself unduly, she breezed along, showing for the first time enjoyment and willingness and a wonderfully extended gait, even if only for a brief span at the end. There was no major release of energy but she kept ahead of another filly carrying 11 kilos less and who finally went past the winning post 1/2 neck behind our subject.
This 9th race marked a return in a sense to the starting point and her first race. Indeed, even the weather seemed to corroborate and remind us when just as the race was about to begin, it started to rain. Unlike her first race it was not a deluge; just a reminder. In fact, it was this light rain that served to crystallise the vision and understanding of the first cycle of 9 races as having been faithfully monitored in the Gnostic Circle. I had written in the beginning that it is important to note the circumstances surrounding the first monitored experience for they provide insights which may be valuable in the subsequent denouement. Thus this recurrence of rain served to reveal the inner mechanism operating in the career of this race horse and its potential for application and understanding of the human condition.
With this knowledge it was possible to enter the next round in a healthier, sounder more enlightened condition. The experience gained within this framework in the first round would have to be applied if at all the remaining encumbrances were to be dismantled and the filly’s true potential allowed to surface. Though her psychological state was greatly improved, there were still imprints to deal with – indeed, an uphill task. But that will be the subject of another study, another chapter.
Concluding Summary: A New Poise of Consciousness
The purpose of this study centred on the Horse and racing in a pattern of 9 has been to illustrate certain essential attributes and the mechanism of the Gnostic Circle. Important to note is that we are monitoring a process in this case largely by hindsight. That is, I did not seek to fit the 9 races into the Gnostic Circle framework either by prior manipulation or subsequent adjustment of circumstances or contrived readings of the situation. There was no possible way I could have arranged the circumstances surrounding each race which were clearly uncontrollable by any human being. Countless elements and people entered the design and contributed to the unfolding accuracy of this singular experience, over which no one could claim any control. Therefore, it ought to be immensely interesting for the student and investigator to observe how these elements all played their part and with astounding exactitude of time, place and circumstance.
We have in this study the filly central to a complex play of circumstances. It is as if she were posited in the centre of a circle which we view as a sort of cosmos. In the beginning it is somewhat disconnected or fluid. Then as the movement progressed deeper into the hidden purpose of the exercise, a distinct pattern began to emerge. At the same time, the elements involved were seen ranged on either side of a certain subtle demarcation: negative or positive; or else, elements furthering that central purpose or hindering. By the aid of this key of knowledge, we were in a position to establish on which side of the demarcation the peripheral protagonists are located. This is a unique aid for making the fullest use, conscious use of their participation. For ultimately, once the axis of truth is forged and firmly rooted in the centre of the process, these elements are obliged to serve that central Truth. Their qualification of positive or negative undergoes a certain transformation in our vision.
Thus, this brief first study, only a small portion of which is given here, reveals the unique role of Time and the ineluctable CONTROL prevalent in the operations of our evolution and the universal manifestation as a whole. The axis of truth is the foundation of the cosmos itself, just as it is the foundation of each human being given that everything we know, we are a part of, is soul. That is, this material dimension with everything it contains is simply a jelling or crystallisation of the soul-substance or essence. Given the fact that Time is wedded to the soul in a very special way, it is through Time that the control I refer to is maintained and we have a cosmos in lieu of chaos.
In the early stages of evolution, indeed the point where we find the actual human species, the existence of this control is not easily appreciated. It exists, it is always the foundation of the universal manifestation and is responsible for the order we observe in our cosmic habitat, from macrocosm to microcosm. But it is only when the species crosses a certain threshold, as ours is presently poised to do, that certain veils are drawn aside and one is granted that coveted vision of the Mysteries of old, or the vision of Mahakala, the Great Time, which not even the warrior Arjun on the Kurukshetra battlefield was able to endure of his beloved friend and lord, Krishna, the 8th Avatar. For indeed, it is the 9th who incarnates that very Spirit of the Great Time. With his subsequent appearance the threshold is crossed as an evolutionary breakthrough, and not simply a preserve of an elite, and ‘all things are made new’. Then, as a race WE SEE. That is, the human species comes to express certain hitherto hidden qualities or capacities, first sporadically, then consistently.
The threshold when crossed carries the individual, society, civilisation out of the binary structure where mind stands as the highest attainment or reigning principle, and the species moves into the supramental realm and the habitat of the gnostic being. In that domain gnosis or knowledge prevails. But it is not EXTERNALLY engendered or imposed. It arises from within.
To provide an example, the filly was a perfect instrument for demonstrating the poise of consciousness which is ideally suited to an operation involving the power of gnostic time. She was in a sense a passive receptor. She stood at the centre of the movement on to which the peripheral action was aimed. She was, as it were, the nexus. And her non-interfering poise allowed the faithful and accurate evolution of the exercise to unfold. Knowledge in this case was not a tool utilised to influence, or to impose a desired result, or to manipulate events and people. It was simply an aid for SEEING, for PERCEIVING.
This is valuable when the axis is forged at the 7 Point because the key then is a centre that holds. One ‘acts’ simply by HOLDING FIRM, thereby permitting by this immobility the action of ordering to take place. Then everything included or drawn into this orbit of the central sun (the filly in this case), must serve the purposes of that inner truth.
Given the fact that the greatest obstacle the individual must contend with in the transformation is Mind, which operates EXTERNALLY to the central Purpose and therefore does violence to this soul essence, it is understandable that in the initial stages, as my work has revealed, animals are precious helpers in this New Way. Similar, no doubt, to what they were for the ancient Vedic Seers. The Horse is not governed by mind but rather the vital and physical. The power or impulses from strata higher than mind have easier access without this shadow element during the period when Mind is itself in a process of transformation in order to permit it to occupy its rightful place in the echelon of Being. Consequently, given this clear channel we are able to reach depths from which we are barred by mind.
Finally we must return to the original perception regarding the aim of the Gnostic Circle. It is to draw out FROM WITHIN one’s maximum potential. This is lodged in that compressed seed by the process of INVOLUTION. Mind is there, as well as the vital and as well as the supramental. If we write of the gnostic being as the next species, a higher manifestation in the echelon of creation, we want to know where this being is coming from. It is clear that he or she is not going to descend from heaven or from outer space, as some new-age groups contend. For that would again be an imposition external to this planetary evolution and a denial of all that the Earth stands for in this solar system at the third orbit from the Sun. This position implies an evolution FROM WITHIN of the thing that seeks to manifest, an extraction of a compressed essence which involution posited as the seed of our evolving world.
The Gnostic Circle helps us to know how to extract what has been until now hidden, unexplored, untapped source of energy, a layer of creation entirely unknown to us as a species. Its expanded measure, from 6 to 9, allows us to appreciate that a full triad has been added to the cosmos which inscribes that hidden potential. By consequence and given the fact that this single seed is the foundation of all creation, it is clear that the method required for the individual and the species to make that courageous leap forward to a higher rung has to be a system, a method with its key of gnosis which permits us to reach far deeper inner depths and to extract from therein that untapped energy by which we may exceed our limits, our boundaries as a mental binary species.
In the zodiac this exceeding is depicted in precisely the 9th sign, – inter alia, the sign of our entire 9th Manifestation of 6480 years starting from 234 BC. And it is precisely the sign of the Horse. In another exercise in seeing ‘the symbol as the thing symbolised’ in this New Way, I have presented an example of the method using precisely a living horse in a lived experience reflecting that inner mechanism of that extraction and exceeding process. All the protagonists in this drama lived the experience with me, the only difference between us being that I have seen it in a different light, from the perspective of the control of gnostic time in orbit of an axis of Truth. It has been an important exercise to demonstrate the responsibility the human being bears toward creatures lower down on the echelon of evolution. Our awareness has to be enhanced so that our relationship with the entire gamut of creation is transformed. Only then can all things be ‘made new’.
Dadikravan [the Vedic Horse] is he of whom now we must
do the work; may all the Dawns speed me on the path!
For the Waters and for the Dawn and the Sun and Brihaspati,
he of the puissance, the Victor.
May this Power of being who seeks the full-bringing
and seeks the Light and who abides in all activity
turn into inspiration the impulsions of the Dawn,
may he abide in their speed that carries us beyond.
– Dadhikravan who is the truth in his running,
yea, he gallops and he flies – brings into being
the impulsion, and the abundant force, the heavenly light.
When he runs, when he speeds in his passage,
as the wing of the Bird is a wind that blows about him
in his greed of the gallop; as the wing that beats about
the breast of the rushing Eagle, so about the breast of
Dadhikravan when he with the Force carries us beyond.
For the abundance of his strength he carries his impellor
beyond, a rein binds his neck and a rein holds him about
the chest and a rein is in his mouth. Dahikravan puts
forth his energy according to the will in the mind
and gallops along the turning of the path….
Rigveda, 40, 1-4
October of 1992
Aeon Centre of Cosmology PN-B
at Skambha
