geometric proportion.

The student should ever bear in mind that astrology, like every
other science, is progressive. The underlying principles are
always the same. These are like the "laws of the Medes and
Persians," but the plane of action is constantly changing.

It is a well-established and indisputable truth that from the
Sun, the solar center of our system, is derived all force, every
power and variety of phenomena that manifests itself upon Mother
Earth. Therefore, when we remember that the solar parent passes
through one sign of his celestial Zodiac in 2,160 years, a
twelfth part of his orbit of 25,920 years, we see that from each
sign in turn he (the Sun) rays forth an influx peculiar to that
special sign; and, as there are no two signs alike in nature or
quality, hence the passage of the Sun from one sign into another
causes a change of polarity in planetary action, which can be
fully demonstrated and conclusively proven. It follows, as a
natural sequence, that the rules formulated and taught by
astrologers in reference to the plane of planetary influence in
one sub-cycle will not hold good in the next. To illustrate: In
the year 1881 the Sun passed from the sign Pisces into Aquarius,
thus beginning a new cycle of solar force. The human race has
entered upon a cycle in every respect differing in nature and
action from the past cycle of 2,160 years. The sign Aquarius is
masculine, electric, positive. It is intellectual in character,
scientific, philosophic, artistic, intuitive and metaphysical. It
is the sign of the Man. The truths of the past are becoming
etherealized. Our solar parent has scarcely crossed the threshold
of the sign Aquarius, and already we observe in many directions
the activities of the peculiar influx. True, it is but the first
flush of the dawn of a new era, the harbinger of a glorious day
to our race. In the light of this truth, ponder well on the
nature of the influx radiating from the solar center, each orb of
his shining family absorbing a different ray, or attribute, of
solar energy, corresponding to its own peculiar nature. The
Earth, in her annual passage about her solar parent, receives the
harmonious or discordant vibrations of this astral influx
according to the many angles she forms to the various planets.

We see, then, that the Earth is enveloped in an atmosphere, or
zone, of occult force we recognize as humane, mental, positive,
etc., acting and reacting upon the human family through the laws
of vibration in strict and exact ratio to its interior capacity
to receive and ability to externalize upon the material plane of
being. The results, as far as this stage of existence goes, will
be manifest as man vibrates harmoniously or otherwise to the
stellar cause.

The present sub-cycle producing an entirely different influence
to that of the past cycle, whose force was watery, magnetic and
feminine, causes a warring of elements, confusion and
uncertainty, until the old are displaced by the new conditions.
We should learn from these facts that it is folly to brand as
false and condemn as worthless the rules and formulas, and even
religious thought, of the past when we find upon careful
investigation and crucial tests their inadequacy to account for
present conditions. They were true in their cycle, and applied to
past conditions and states of mental development. But in this new
era, upon whose threshold we now stand, the vibrations become
more intense. Man's whole nature is being tuned to a higher key.
We must not forget that these cycles apply to the race in their
effect, and to the individual only as an integral part of the
whole. To illustrate. The sign Aquarius is an electrical,
positive, masculine influence, and will consequently manifest its
chief activities upon the masculine qualities of the human soul;
and to-day we have evidence of this in the gradual
enfranchisement of woman, arousing the positive attributes of her
nature in demanding equal rights with her brother, man, in the
political arena, as she has already done in the educational
field. The masculine portion of the race is becoming more
aggressive, mentally, asserting greater individuality,
independent thought and action. The intellect of the race is
being directed, however slowly, into scientific channels, while
the human soul is slowly awakening to a sense of a deathless
immortality and a desire for spiritual truth. It is slowly but
surely shaking off the yoke of an effete priesthood and the
fetters of superstition and tyranny.

Intelligent man talks of the new scientific and intellectual era
that has dawned upon the world; of the necessity for a new
religious system, based upon scientific truths, which can be
demonstrated, combined with the pure spiritual essence found in
all systems of religion; a religion with more spirituality and
less theology; a broader charity and less dogma, and deeper love
for God and man, its only creed.

We must now consider the astral influence of the cycle upon the
physical organism of mankind, and particularly of the Western
races, who are moving upon the upward arc of the cycle. It is
quite evident that a radical change must take place in the
physical form and constitution with the influx of more
intellectual, ethereal and spiritual vibrations. The organism
must become more refined and compact, a greater degree of
sensitiveness be attained, with a highly nervous system. The
forerunner of this superior organism is now apparent in the
numerous schools of physical culture and gymnasiums throughout
the land, the many articles and pamphlets on deep, rythmic
breathing disseminated among the people, and last, but not least,
the various schools of mental healing, etc. The masses look on
and wonder, while they exclaim: "What marvelous changes are
coming to the world!" but are utterly ignorant of the cause of
the mysterious change. To the student of Hermetic Philosophy
there is no mystery involved. He knows the cause, and confidently
watches for the effect.

Each one must seek to comprehend for himself, according to the
light he may receive, basing his premises upon the TRUE
PRINCIPLES of astrology, carefully noting the triune aspect of
planetary influence upon humanity, ever remembering that the Sun
and Moon are the great factors in human destiny, and that his
premises and conclusions must occupy the same plane. Having
acquired a knowledge of the science in its application to the
individual, take the broader field, or universal aspect, as it
applies to human races, and you will find the rise and fall of
nations, empires and families marked upon the celestial dial, and
in perfect accord with the influence of the Sun and planets upon
Mother Earth, in her various movements. And last, but most
important, seek with an earnest desire for truth to learn the
relation of those glittering constellations of the shining Zodiac
to the human soul and their influence in shaping its eternal
destiny. This will reveal the whole of involution and evolution
in a general sense.

A faithful, earnest and devout study of the "Science of the
Starry Heavens" will lead us on to other planes of thought,
relating to still more interior realms of knowledge than we
perhaps now dream of, and, in the words of the master: "A true
knowledge of the stars will include a true knowledge of the
soul," and we shall realize "the mystical link that binds the
soul to the stars."                               MINNIE HIGGIN.

CHAPTER 1

THE ZODIAC

To the ordinary astrologer the Zodiac is simply a band of space,
eighteen degrees wide, in the heavens, the center of which marks
out the pathway of the Sun during the space of one year of 365
days, etc.

The twelve signs are to him simply thirty degrees of the space
(12 times 30 equal 360), bearing the names of the constellations
which once occupied them. Nay, he, as a rule, still imagines in
some sense that the signs (constellations) are still there, and
that the power and potency of the twelve signs is derived from
the stars which occupy the Zodiacal band of the skies.

But this is not so, as any ordinary astronomer well knows. This
single fact, i.e., the gradual shifting of the constellations,
the DISPLACEMENT, let us say, of the starry influx from one sign
to another without any ALLOWANCE being made in the astrologer's
rules for any such change, has been one of the greatest
obstructions to the popular spread of the art among EDUCATED
MINDS. Argues the scientist: The "fiery influence of Aries," if
depending upon the stars of that constellation, ought now to be
shedding forth their caloric from the sign Pisces, and Aries
ought to be lumbering along with the earthy Taurine nature. So,
also, the lords of these signs ought to be changed, but that they
are not can be proved by the fact that our earliest records of
that dim, historic past show, equally as well as your latest
"text-book," that Mars is the lord of Aries--a fiery planet in a
fiery sign; but astrologers still say that Pisces is watery and
Aries fiery, WHICH IS NOT THE CASE, IF THE STARS HAVE ANY
INFLUENCE AT ALL. It is not necessary," say these logical
thinkers, "to learn your abstruse science if we can demonstrate
that the very basis upon which your conclusions rest is in every
sense fundamentally false." The scientific facts of the case are
as follows: The influence of the twelve signs, as described by
astrologers, is a delusion, because in all ages they are reported
the same; whereas WE KNOW that every 2,160 years each sign
retrogrades to the extent of thirty degrees, and, as your art
does not make allowance for this, it is false. For, if the
influence of the twelve signs does not emanate from the stars
occupying the space of those signs, it must emanate from
nothing--a doctrine well suited, no doubt, to musty old sages of
your superstitious Chaldea, but quite out of court in our
progressive age--the last decade of our cultured and scientific
nineteenth century.

So far, so good. And so the world rolls along its bright pathway
in the heavens, little heeding the logical conclusions of an
exact science. But to an initiate of those inner principles of
our planet's constitution all these mental conflicts have a
meaning and a purpose within Nature's divine economy; for it is
neither wise nor expedient that the masses, with popular science
in the lead, should grasp the truths which Mother Nature reserves
ALONE for her own devoted priests.

The shining Zodiac, with its myriad constellations and its
perfect galaxy of starry systems, derives its subtle influence,
as impressed astrologically upon the human constitution, from the
solar center of our solar system, NOT FROM THE STARS which occupy
the twelve mansions of space. Aries, the fiery, and PISCES, the
watery, ARE ALWAYS THERE, and, instead of its being an argument
against astrology, it is one of its grandest truths that, in all
ages and in all times, Aries, the first sign of the Zodiac has
been found EVER THE SAME, equally as well as Pisces the last.

In order to convey our meaning, let us digress for a moment and