Studies in Astrology
by
Elman Bacher
Volume VII
Chapter III
Healing
The art of healing is an impersonalized extension
of bi-polar parental love. The preservation of the begotten body is one of
the factors involved in parental responsibility; wisdom, which is knowledge
distilled from experience through incarnations, is added to the basic love-
urge of parenthood to form the essence of the arts of healing by which
humanity, in service, preserves and protects the composite of its myriads of
bodies. We will consider a basic mandala indicative of this extension:
First, a circle with the vertical diameter, the
signs of Cancer and Capricorn at the lower and upper points, respectively.
This is the essential mandala of parentage--the maternal and paternal of the
abstract I AM of the Ascendant. In primitive states, humanity functioned
instinctively in parenthood, following the call of the generative urge as a
fulfillment of an intensely expressed desire-with, perhaps, the barest modicum
of what might be called "affection." With the conception, bearing, and hit-
and-miss preservation of children, primitive mankind fulfilled the form-
begetting responsibility. However, with evolution and the unfoldment of the
love-potential, parents developed a consideration of children as individuals,
and with this consideration was born a desire to understand them. The healing
arts may be said to have been born with the first human who exercised his
thought and ingenuity, as an expression of an instinctive parental
protectiveness, to preserve the life of another. This hypothetical person,
whoever he or she was, projected from the love-wisdom potential an imposition
of mind and will on the phenomena of Nature to fulfill the dawning of the
impersonalized love-service urge. Man ever urges toward extensions of blood-
relationship in the unfoldments of his potentials. First, his parents,
brothers and sisters, mate and children; then members of the clan or tribe to
which he belongs; then members of another clan and so on--until he reaches an
octave of consciousness in which he perceives a glimmering of his life-
relationship with all people. He "took care" of his animals, first, because
he was dependent on them for work and food; however, with the "glimmer of
life-relationship" he perceived that he is related to his animals as well as
to his human relatives and other humans and, as consequence, he has extended
his knowledge of healing to benefit not only people but all animal-life as
well. The universalist is decrystallized to such a degree that whatever he
has of love-service potential is radiated to all creatures who need it.
To the mandala at hand, now add the Pisces-Virgo
diameter; comparable points on Cancer-Pisces and Capricorn-Virgo are connected
by curved, counter-clockwise lines. In this way we see a composite motion-
picture of the Cancer-Capricorn diameter turned nine signs, coming to rest at
the signs which represent the wisdom-octave of parentage. "Wisdom born of
evolutionary experience" is the archetypal meaning of any ninth house-sign
pattern. A devoted but unenlightened parent may make every effort to heal a
loved child, but wisdom results in the art of doing anything according to its
essential principles. So, the medical specialists, diagnosticians, surgeons,
nurses, dentists, gynecologists, dietitians, herbalists, veterinarians,
psychiatrists, etc., comprise the great fraternity of therapeutists, the
"impersonal fathers and mothers" who consecrate their efforts to the
maintenance of inner and outer health of all creatures. Of this fraternity,
there are two basic types which we will study by mandalas. The mandala of the
exoteric healer is the Virgo-Pisces diameter polarized by Gemini, ruled by
Mercury, and third house sign from Aries. Gemini is factual knowledge, it is
understanding derived from observation of physical phenomena and the study of
recorded facts and data. The exoteric approach to the therapeutic arts is
based on an approach that the body itself is the source of its own ills and,
as such, it was the means by which man was impelled to acquaint himself with
the structure and functions of his physical vehicle. In his early stages of
evolution, he knew only what he saw, or perceived by physical means; his
consciousness and appreciation of life focused on his reaction to the
objective world around him. So, he studied his body by observing what
happened to it under certain conditions and experiences. He learned the
different kinds of pain-reaction he was capable of when his body was affected
in specialized ways by external forces or agencies. This "healing-mandala,"
polarized by Gemini, being essentially objective, is the mandala of all
diagnostic art that pertains to any branch of healing, inner and outer. It
also refers to the arts of surgery and medical treatment which apply directly
to the physical condition.
Man began to learn about external effects fairly
early in evolutionary stages, but it was not for a long time until he came
into an awareness of the significance of inner states to affect his physical
well-being. The (hypothetical) first human who realized that an emotional or
mental state had a direct bearing on the condition of his body, as the cause
of an abnormality, was the first esoteric therapeutist. He was the first to
recognize the co-existence of subjective life with objective life. His
observations were the genesis of those which were subsequently evolved
pertaining to the subjective cause of all physical abnormality or in-harmony--
injury as well as disease. In short, these observations refer to the karmic
causation of physical disharmonies. (Winged Pharaoh, by Joan Grant,
tells how the great healer-priests of ancient Egypt perceived, by clairvoyant
examination, the inner causes of physical inharmonies.) The immortal
Paracelsus may be referred to as an "epitome" (in relatively recent history)
of this "first esoteric therapeutist." To the mandala at hand we now add the
symbol for Sagittarius, polarizing Gemini, thus forming the mutable cross of
instrumentation, the extension of the mandala of the exoteric healer, the
portrait of man as an instrument for his own healing. The principal
congestion involved is the congestion in ignorance, the "blindness to
principle" which is ultimately the causation of all disease and physical
injury. The initiating point of this cross is the fire sign Sagittarius--
corresponding to the Aries of the Cardinal Cross. The identity is: "I am a
healer."
Now, for clarity, "build" the Sagittarius-mandala
as follows: the left horizontal, Sagittarius; the upward vertical, Virgo; the
right horizontal, Gemini; the downward vertical, Pisces. The healing,
preservative radiation of Sagittarius is polarized by the knowledge of Gemini;
the parentage-diameter is the abstract service-diameter of Virgo-Pisces. The
primitive maternal instinct of Cancer is here shown to be the universal
maternity of the compassionate Pisces; the primitive paternal instinct of
Capricorn, exaltation of the male principle, Mars, is here shown as the
stewardship of the earth-element through Virgo, as wisdom expressing through
love-service. Now add the fifth and ninth cusps and the appropriate signs
Aries and Leo, respectively; connect the three fire-points by straight lines
forming the trine of dynamic individualization that characterizes all great
esoteric healers; each one of these, by the very nature of his purpose and
responsibility-fulfillment, is a fore-runner in so far as each adds a point of
understanding that serves to transcend the limitations of purely exoteric
knowledge. Every healer, no matter what branch of the art he serves, who
applies an inspired awareness of the inner causes of injury and disease is an
esoteric healer; only those who focus on the body only are to be considered
"pure exotericists" of the healing-arts.
The love-potential (fifth cusp) of this mandala
focusses the arch-regeneracy of courage and all esoteric healers must, to
fulfill, express this virtue. The majority of humanity are, and always have
been,"esoterically minded"--congested on outer appearances and blind to inner
realities. To tear aside the veil of ignorance so that mankind might be
alerted to "himself as the cause of his own disharmonies" has required a
dauntless courage and a blazing zeal on the part of great healers. The
instinctive "fear-of-the-unknown" which characterizes ignorance has always
been the greatest challenge to the personal integrity of healers and this
challenge has had to be met by exercise of the utmost dynamic urge represented
by Mars' Aries. Leo, at the ninth cusp of this mandala focusses the "power and
authority" vibration of the Sun at the house which refers to understanding and
teaching. Who, in the healing arts, would presume or dare to present
speculations as truths regarding subjective healing--that is, without the
authority of true understanding of principles involved? In this factor of the
mandala, we see the "king-ship of true understanding," the "nobility of
illumined perceptions." The truths of the outer, important and significant as
they are to the development of the healing arts, are mirrored reflections of
the truths of the inner. Ninth house Leo is the "wisdom that radiates love"
and the expression of realized truths of the inner is the essence of healing
on any plane; this wisdom is a vitalizing contribution to human experiences in
any aspect.
As Cancer is the symbol of that which, in
consciousness, impels the woman to sacrifice her body-substance for the
incarnation of Egos, so is Pisces, as the fourth house sign of the "healer-
mandala," the spiritual sacrifice which is made by all true healers. The
"substance" of this sacrifice is the ideality of all healers, male or female,
which is offered continually in order that the ideal of health may be
manifested in human experience. As the primitive woman instinctively loves
her offspring, so does the feminine polarity in all human beings love that
which is young, helpless, and unformed. And--"unformed" means "ignorant."
The sacrifice, through ideality, which is offered by healers is often
infinitely worse in degree than any physical suffering could be. To have a
vision of a radiantly healthy humanity traduced continually by the congested
and dark forces of materialism, prejudice, stupidity, and envy is a
crucifixion of the spirit that can be--and has been--abysmal in degree. The
maternal heart of all healers endures these lacerations in service just as, in
another degree, the woman endures the pain of gestation and parturition. So
the picture is shown to all who would be healers: be willing to neutralize the
forces of congestion by a continual outpouring of your identity and of your
sympathetic impulses. In this universalizing service, everything in your
nature which is, or has been, "Mother" reaches into extended octaves of
consciousness in order that all may benefit from the outpouring of your
compassionate and sympathetic impulses.
If the urge to heal is derived from the feminine,
maternal essence, then the actual work of healing is derived from the paternal
essence as an extended universalization of the principle of stewardship
inherent in the earth-trine, initiated by Saturn's Capricorn but focalized in
this mandala as Mercury 's Virgo, the "male placement" of this mental planet.
All the sympathy in the world may be, from a vibratory standpoint, an agency
of healing, but so complex is the total of healing-arts and so varied are the
factors they deal with that, in evolutionary processes, application of much
study and observation is entailed. The polarization of Sagittarius by Gemini
and of Pisces by Virgo shows us that factual knowledge of all planes of
existence, in human terms, represents the completion or the fulfillment
(complementation) of the basic urge or instinct by which a human seeks to make
himself an instrument for healing powers. All the study and learning-from-
experience ultimately serves the purpose of alerting the consciousness of the
healer to a perception of health as being a universal attribute.
An intelligent human father does not conceive his responsibility to comprise
a "doing everything for the child;" he knows that his responsibility is to
guide and alert the child to his exercise of individual potentials. So the
healer, as a "universalized father," studies disease and injury for the
purpose of alerting the patient (his "child") to an awareness of the patient's
own responsibility in the matter. The "father-heart" of the healer says: "My
child, you must learn why you have this condition and exercise yourself
according to a clearer understanding of the principles of your body."
The healer, an evolving human-being with problems
like anyone else, can, and sometimes does, congest and cause himself to "back-
slide" in the fulfillment of his universal service. He is, like anyone else,
an aspect of the Great Mandala which gives clues as to certain specialized
dangers if the healer operates from a basis of congestions-in-consciousness.
The sign Cancer symbolizes not only "home and
private life" but it is archetypal of the consciousness of adherence to
particular race, nationality, or religion. These factors are all part of our
"nest-consciousness" and serve as "evolutionary moldings." The healer who
"congests on Cancer" is one who will exert himself to the utmost to help one
"of his own kind" but may refuse his aid to one who is, in relationship to
him, "outside the pale." Regardless of skill or ability, such an action
displays ignorance of the principles of the healing arts. The sign Capricorn,
focalized by Saturn, is orthodoxy, organization, and conventional standards.
It is through the Saturn-vibration, in certain patterns, that the healer's
individuality is challenged by "that which has been established as
professional standards and ethics." All great healers are great because of
their individuality and the courage of their inspired convictions. The greed
for money, applause, and "reputation " which characterizes crystallized
healers is a composite force which often challenges the integrity of the
individual. If he transcends that challenge, his Light continues to burn
brightly and purely; if he succumbs to any factor of it, his Light, sooner or
later, dims and splutters. The healer cannot "sell his Light down the river"
in acquiescence to that which his crystallized and unprincipled and hope to
keep that Light clear and illuminative. The complementation of Sagittarius by
Gemini, unregenerate, is congestion on intellectual attainment at the expense
of the spiritual impulse. If a healer has reacted to disappointments and
difficulties with an accretion of cynicism and gradually intensified un-
sympathy, he may be tempted to find a consolation in turning "to books and
away from people." A healer exists, as such, because of the needs of other
living things not because of what is in books. Knowledge should be "married"
to the spiritual ideal to complete, as fully as possible, the love-service
which is the healer 's reason-for-being.
Any astrological student who wishes to inaugurate
a period of study pertaining to the charts of healers or to astrological
factors pertaining to "healing abilities" should prepare his mind for this
study by first reading biographies of great healers as an "at-tunement" to the
spirit in human-nature which makes people healers. He should acquaint
himself, "Mercury-ishly," with the significant steps in the development of the
healing arts through humanity's evolution. This is comparable, on the
intellectual plane, of "meditation on mandalas" since the mind is thereby
sensitized to the vibration of healers. Suggest also a reading of Franz
Werfel's exquisite Song of Bernadette as a "must" for all students who
wish to sensitize their awareness of the instrumentation of all great healers
and the occult agencies by which great healing-centers are established.
Theosophical and Rosicrucian literature is, of course, a fathomless well of
knowledge concerning healing-subjects.
A few general observations: the surgical arts are
characterized by the Mars-vibration; those of medicinal treatment and
diagnosis, by Mercury. The Moon and Venus are conspicuous in the patterns
referring to feminine specializations; Saturn for the chiropractic and
orthopedic arts. A person endowed with healing vibratory power will have,
usually, a strongly aspected and clear Sun, with an emphasis on the fixed
signs, particularly Scorpio and Leo. The signs Pisces and Cancer and the
planet Jupiter are "basic" in healing-charts. If the healer is a true one, he
is a preserver--and Jupiter is the principle of preservation and improvement.
The twelfth house--that of karmic responsibility-fulfillment to those limited-
-must be configurated in the charts of those who serve through hospitals or
other healing-institutions. Venus may or may not be conspicuous in such
charts but the Moon must be--since it is the symbol of instinctive maternal
sympathy and also of the public need. A form of inspirational healing can
take place in the consciousness of anyone who studies the subject of healing--
and the astrologer, "twin-brother" to the esoteric healer, must radiate
healing by his friendliness, perceptions, and impersonalized love. He
functions as a "healer of the psyche" by his alertment of the consciousness of
humanity to the truths of life-principles.
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