Studies in Astrology
by
Elman Bacher
Volume VIII
Chapter II
Marriage
For the pursuance of this material create mandalas as
follows: (1 ) a Great Mandala: the Abstract Horoscope with Aries as the
Ascendant-sign, including the Fire and Air trines--Aries, Leo,
Sagittarius/Libra, Aquarius, Gemini); (2) a sign-mandala with Gemini as
Ascendant; (3) a sign-mandala with Libra as Ascendant.
While "complementation" is the word-symbol that refers
to vibratory exchange in general, "marriage" is that specialized form of
complementation that includes interchange with a person of the opposite
physical sex. In its most complete expression--vibratorily and physically, the
generative exchange is evolved; but many times a man/woman relationship does
not--or cannot--involve this physical exchange; even so, we recognize our
"other selves" in those persons who most completely complement us and our
relationships with them are, perhaps, the most intensely "focused" of all our
relationship-patterns and experiences.
The quality of natural spontaneous joy that is found
in significant relationships is resourced in the fraternity of the two people
to each other. By the quality of our vibratory being at any particular point
in the timing of our lives we magnetize to ourselves people who not only
complement us-- "we need them and they need us"--but there is an inherent
"simplicity" of each to the other. This simplicity is evidenced in a kind of
"natural familiarity," an "easy recognition" that is quite different from the
instinctive "uneasiness" that people feel toward each other when their
fraternity is not recognized. (To have "no recognition" is "indifference" and
no relationship results from the contact.) Mankind tends to fear and to hate
that of which he is consciously ignorant; by this kind of recognition he sees
others as "separate from himself" and the natural tendency to "defend himself
from that which is not understood" takes the form of instinctive antagonisms
and frictions. When we realize vibratory fraternity with even the most
complete strangers we experience an easy attraction which may rapidly flower
into friendship and happy beneficial exchange.
The mandala with the Fire and Air trines pictures the
essence of this quality.
This mandala pictures a two-fold expression of the
dynamic trine; the abstract of this trine is the Fire-trine; existence as
power expressing with love and wisdom; its counterpart is the Air-trine
initiated by Libra as the polarity of Aries; the two together form the six
"points" of the sextile aspect--the mechanism of decrystallizing congestions.
Give a little thought to this "trine-aspect symbol" as spiritualized
expression. Now we will refer to our second mandala--the wheel with the sign
Gemini as the Ascendant; connect the Ascendant with the fifth cusp (Libra),
the fifth to the ninth (Aquarius), and the ninth to the Ascendant; thus
creating the mandala of fraternity--since Gemini, as the Ascendant-sign, is
the sign which refers to the third house of the Abstract Horoscope, and is the
"root" of Humanity's fraternal Love-consciousness.
In this mandala of fraternity we see the picture of
basic brotherhood/sisterhood as the initiating point for the flowering of
Love-Wisdom; brothers and sisters, playmates and fellow-students in child-
hood; fellow students of any age, people who are similar in vocational or
avocational interests, those who have a similarity of spiritual goals, those
who enjoy the same things, those who are learning the same life-lessons. When
we contact our "vibratory brothers and sisters" we recognize them; to the
degree that we are free of congestions we easily--and sometimes quickly--
establish acquaintance with them; we have an "affinity" with them that makes
possible this "good vibratory recognition."
The experience of "falling in love" is an
intensification of this vibratory affinity. In the Gemini mandala, Libra is on
the cusp of the fifth house--the Love-aspect of the trine is now seen to be
complementation of marriage and this vibratory recognition composites the most
complete realization of "other-self-ness." The fraternity of brotherhood-
sisterhood is here seen in an extended form of intensely focused
complementation of one man and one woman whose fraternity with each other is
the need for experience in the marital relationship. "Marriage" is here seen
to be a twofold love-radiation and twofold stimulation by love-power. It is
also the picture of the intense joy of lovers--the complementation is an
ignition of the highest emotional octave of which each is capable at the
particular timing of their lives. Truly, the love-joy of lovers is a radiation
of beautiful and inspiring light--it charges the hearts of all with its ideal
picturing. (Study your chart with the Gemini cusp as Ascendant.)
Let us again look at the Great Mandala--Aries
Ascendant--with special reference to the Gemini-Sagittarius diameter. Gemini--
the "root of Fraternity"--is the twelfth house sign of Cancer, the mother-
sign; it is the ninth house sign of Libra, the wife-sign; Sagittarius is the
twelfth house sign of Capricorn, the father-sign and third (fraternal) house
sign of Libra and ninth house sign of Aries, the husband-sign. Let us
interpret the house sign patterns in this way:
Since Aries-Libra--the horizontal diameter--initiates
the lower and upper halves of the circle, Gemini-Sagittarius is seen to be the
modulation into the vertical division of the wheel, represented by the
vertical diameter of Cancer-Capricorn. Virgo-Pisces is the modulation forward
into the next expression of Libra-Aries. Mercury, through rulership of both
mutable signs Gemini and Virgo, is the key-planet of modulation and
adjustability into new octaves. Mercury, from a generic standpoint, is
androgynous; it is "neutral" in the sense that it is not specifically
masculine or feminine but is, in fact, inherently both. The quadrant initiated
by male Mars is modulated by Mercury-Gemini (female sign, masculine gender)
into the next quadrant, Cancer; which is ruled by the Moon and is, being
Water, female-feminine; through Virgo (male sign, feminine gender) Mercury
modulates the second quadrant and the lower half-circle into the third
quadrant and the upper half-circle through cardinal Libra, ruled by Venus
which is complement of Aries-Mars. The "masculinity" of the Air signs,
initiated by Libra, simply pictures the "positive qualities of woman-nature,"
the masculine gender expressing in female sex or the initiation into upper
octaves of consciousness by perception of the ideal reflection of one
individual by another. Libra and its house--the seventh--is the portal to the
temple of the soul; Aries--and the first house--is the portal into new
experience by incarnation and by establishing a new octave of self-awareness.
In Aries we say "I AM;" in Libra we extend our "I AM" into "WE ARE"--the
transformation of separative self-consciousness by the power of Love-
Fraternity; Love-Fraternity dissolves the "spaces" between ourselves and other
human beings; we--and they--reach out vibratorily to each other and the "gaps
are bridged" so that we and they are composited. The consciousness of
individuality is thereby amplified into new and higher octaves of realization.
It is the personal belief of the author--here
presented as "food for thought"--that Pluto, as ruler of Scorpio, is exalted
in Gemini, the root-sign of Love-Fraternity ("exaltation" is "generic
maturity"). When we respond to an ignition of our inner wisdom and realize our
fraternity with another person, our subconscious mind begins automatically --
as fire automatically burns upward--to decrystallize the congestions of envy,
jealousy, and hatred, thus enabling us to "throw off negative ballast" and we,
as a result, rise in vibratory quality. (These negative qualities are
resourced in intense congestions of unreleased desire-power.) Further--let's
look at the Scorpio Mandala--the twelfth house is covered by Libra, initiator
of the Air-trine of which Gemini is the third ("Wisdom") octave; Venus, ruler
of Libra, is herself "matured" in Pisces, the twelfth house sign of the Great
Mandala, ruled by the identity principle of Neptune. The intensely compressed
desire-quality of Scorpio--as the "thing incarnated" in this mandala--was
impelled into "incarnation" by the marriage-complementation of Libra--harmony-
through-perfect-vibrational-exchange is the redemption of the intensely
compressed potentials of the Scorpio vibration. The "wisdom octave" of any of
the four elemental (generic) trines is "that which is learned about Life from
experience"--in contrast to the third-house-sign pattern (which refers to
Gemini in the Great Mandala), which is "that learned through intellectual
exercise;" third house pattern is integration of intellect; ninth house
pattern is integration of consciousness through experience, and "EXPERIENCE"
means RELATIONSHIP since it is only through relationship that experience has
any particular meaning for us; nothing else identifies an experience except
the way we feel about, and react toward, other people.
So--Fraternity is the distilled essence of what is
learned through Love-Relationship; when the intense potentials of Scorpio are
constructively released we are, sooner or later (even if it takes years of
incarnations), alerted to the brotherhood/sisterhood of all complementary
relationships. The painful and terrible reaction we call "jealousy" is nothing
but Fraternity that "has not yet seen its own face;" it is fraternal Love-
attraction which, as yet, sees only differences, not similarities. The pain of
this emotional reaction--a releasement of Pluto-Scorpio--is a deep-reaching
one. No reaction of jealousy is to be taken as TRIVIAL or INSIGNIFICANT--
because it represents a timing for the greater unfoldment of fraternal Love;
until the adjustment in consciousness is made--either as a "taker" or a
"giver"--the subconscious will retain the "pain-pattern." The Scorpio Mandala-
-with Libra as its twelfth house sign and Taurus (also ruled by Venus) as its
seventh house sign--tells us how to deal with these intense pain-reactions:
learn to perceive and to appreciate the best in the other fellow; appreciate
him for his light and learn to emulate something of his regenerate qualities--
for, somewhere along the line, he is "high" where you are yet "low;" he has
evolved something that you have yet to evolve--your pain-reaction is a moan of
unfulfilled hunger from your sub-conscious which wants you to release
something of your potentials and express more extensively. Don't waste time in
envy--admire, appreciate, and learn from the person toward whom you tend to
have this reaction; he is--whether he knows it or not--your "elder brother"
from whom you can learn something of great importance toward realizing your
ideal self.
We must, for clarity's sake, focus on the seventh
house in this discussion, even though there are several ways of analyzing a
chart with regard to "complementation." The seventh house is your marriage
experience and, in a natal horoscope, it must, by its very nature, represent
your relationship with a person--or with persons--of the opposite physical
sex. Planets in your seventh house represent a focalization of principles
represented by the signs they rule which find their most complete expression
in the field of complementary relationship. Not everyone actually marries, in
the sense of becoming someone's husband or wife; but everyone has a seventh
house with a particular focalization of Life-principles and vibratory
qualities represented.
Planets in the seventh house which are in the seventh
house sign or intercepted in the seventh are the most definite focalizations
of vibratory qualities to be dealt with in the marital relationship. These
planets will represent a condensation of your experience-needs and will,
consequently, represent a relatively strong compulsion to marry. Planets in
the seventh house but in the eighth house-sign are a little different; these
planets represent qualities which you need to regenerate--and the "ignition"
of this inner need is brought to you in some form of intensely focused
relationship-- which may, or may not, be with a person of the opposite sex or
the same sex. Many times people are alerted to their most necessary
regenerative need through contact with a person of the same sex--and until
this regeneration is made, the other person will "appear as an enemy" to the
subject.
The first step in vibratory analysis of the seventh
house as indicator of marital experience is understanding of the two signs on
the horizontal diameter of the horoscope. This diameter is the polarity of
"you and your complement" and all astrological students should "ground
themselves" in a philosophic approach to the diameters found in the twelve
signs--one of our most important steps. Then, of the planets that rule the
Ascendant (and sign intercepted in the first house, if there is one) and the
seventh cusp (and its intercepted sign, if there is one such).
Determine the generic quality of these rulers: MALE
SIGNS: Fire and Earth; FEMALE SIGNS: Air and Water; MASCULINE SIGNS: Fire and
Air; FEMININE SIGNS: Earth and Water. Compare the generic quality of these
house-rulers with the physical sex of yourself and your partner to determine
which of the two is, basically, the more masculine and the more feminine;
compare the general generic quality of both charts by synthesizing the generic
qualities of all planets in both charts; the relative value of both charts as
far as congested (square/opposition) aspects are pictured and the relative
value of regenerate aspects; determine which planet, in each chart, is the
most intensely congested and see how the other chart alleviates that congested
planet. Do this with all congested patterns to determine how each can help the
other to rise in vibratory quality.
A most important clue is given by the placement of
your planetary ruler in your partner's chart, and his/hers in your chart. Your
ruler is in a certain sign, having a certain generic quality. The placement of
the chart-rulers in the other person's chart will give the clue as to the
focus of influence that each has on the other. If your planetary ruler is
conjunct a planet in your partner's chart, then your influence is enhanced
greatly for good or ill--because that planet in your partner's chart is your
personal identification in his/her life and you can, by the way you express
your ruler, "make or break" your partner by the way you identify yourself as
that particular planetary influence. Also, apply his/her ruler to your chart
and see if it conjuncts a planet in your chart: if so, study that planet with
might and main; the regeneracy of that planet is the purpose for which you are
drawn to your partner--if the planet is congested. If not, then its
expression, on your part, makes possible a "channeling" of constructive effect
on him/her and the picture is therein shown that that particular planetary
vibration will "condense his/her need of you." So, it is incumbent upon you to
exercise your regeneracies so that your Light, not your "darkness," will be
the "gift" that you make to your marital experience.
Then, of course, synchronize the two charts so that
you may determine all mutual planetary conjunctions. These are "power-houses"
by which light is generated in your relationship of marriage. Study the
generic qualities represented by the sign-placement of these conjunctions to
determine which phase of polarity is being exercised by the two of you
together and study the planet that disposits each conjunction--that is very
important because the planet that disposits such a conjunction represents the
focalized life-principle that the two of you are, jointly, "working on"
through the mutual conjunction.
Remember that your chart is your chart and therefore
a picture of your consciousness. Your seventh house is your inner picture of
marriage; as such, recognize the value of realizing the ideal represented by
your seventh house ruler; it is the principle that your partner should alert
you to, and is the ideal that you are, in your Inner Being, most earnestly
seeking to realize.
To conclude, with a brief survey of the Libra
mandala--the abstraction of humanity as a reflector of that which is of the
soul.
The basic feminine portrait of Humanity--the faculty
that every man and woman has of reflecting to others ideal realizations of
them by perceptions of their inner light. Virgo is on the twelfth, so service
is the redemptive key-word of marriage; the service that is performed by the
fulfillment of partnership is the releasement of light through regenerating
our reactions to each other and to our experiences together. The placement of
Gemini on the ninth is a key-word that the wisdom-resource of marriage is in
fraternity of each to the other; "Fraternity" is "parallelity;" when we, in
consciousness keep side by side with our partners rather than "higher and
lower" we truly "take hands in loving companionship"--and each can, with
comparative ease, learn from the light of the other.
Those who have fulfilled the marital experience are
much more aware of true Friendship--Leo is on the eleventh cusp of this
mandala. Personal love-power is--or can be--released with great effect from
the source of a loving and fulfilled heart to the extensions of impersonal
relationships. Aquarius on the fifth tells us that the creativity of love, in
marriage, has its impersonal meaning; we must not invite Egos into incarnation
by making "graven images" of them; if we want to fulfill marriage through
parenthood, we must do so in love, not with egotism and possessiveness. As
parents, humanity fulfills his/her obligation by assisting the begotten to
find its own realization of individuality and--having found it with integrity
and clearness of perception--it must be liberated to its own fulfillments and
experiences. The children grow up and go their ways, but the parents who love
each other remain together. Their fraternity as husband-wife-brother-sister is
integrated by love-wisdom and they are inwardly free to let their children
find their maturity in expression of individuality on all planes. The
fulfilled husband and wife stand, hand in hand, as a living symbol of the
fraternity of men and women--as loving and beloved children of our parent--
Father-Mother God.