A Deep Immersion into the Archetypes of the Planets
Are you experiencing, as I am, the gravity of our present age?
Those of us who strive to be awake to the spiritual needs of our time can vividly perceive how much has changed since the turn of the century. We have made great strides in technological development, in medical research, in astronomical exploration, and more. Yet through our increasing enchantment by the magic of the material world, our ability to perceive the deeper and truer levels of reality is becoming ever more threatened. And without clear knowledge of the entire spiritually-grounded meaning of life, our capacity to live and work worthily towards a moral and ethical future for the earth and humanity---and for the gods—is in jeopardy. Awareness of the needs of our time evokes in us a mood of soberness.
In the Christian calendar, we deliberately pause before celebrating the resurrecting joy of Easter. In the season known as Lent, or Passiontide, we meditatively allow ourselves to contemplate the painful parts of the human experience. We let pass before our souls the picture of the Garden of Eden, which we have left long ago, and acknowledge how far we have come from paradise. We acknowledge that we cannot hear the voices of the gods speaking to us, nor easily see the elemental beings at work around us. All too clearly do we see what we are doing to our earth-mother, and what we are doing to one another in war and violence. We see then the lack of love in our own hearts, our arrogance and our self-righteousness, and know how much of the shadow lives within us.
Then, in contemplating Easter, we must admit that we too could have been the ones who crucified Jesus. This might step in self-knowledge challenges us to engage in an ever-deeper commitment to spiritual development. Can we allow the spirit of resurrecting love become a reality for ourselves?
Once we awaken to this profound self-knowledge, we can prepare ourselves to walk the inner path towards a new commitment to the spirit at Easter.
The seven days of the coming week, beginning with Palm Sunday, is known as the Holy Week. Each of the seven days carries the powerful archetype of its ruling planet, imprinted on the human psyche.
Through the insights of esoteric Christianity, we can find a path of meaning through Holy Week, as we contemplate the archetypes of Lent. In the journey through the seven days, we face the deep questions of life: meaning, intention, birth, death, suffering, sorrow. These questions are not only for the religious person: these are the powerful questions that are brooding in all of us.
The journey from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday lead us from the exultation of a crowd of ecstatic worshippers to the gravity of the crucifixion that leads beyond death, into the solemn realms of the dead. By studying the qualities of the planets and what we learn from the scriptures of what might have taken place on each of the seven days, we are filled with wonder of how the lord of Love fulfilled each archetype as he walked with righteousness and compassions through the traps of betrayal and death laid upon him by his foes.
According to ancient wisdom, these archetypes are:
Sunday Sun Wholeness and abundance au
Monday Moon Reflection i
Tuesday Mars Assertive opposition ā
Wednesday Mercury Agility and balance ē
Thursday Jupiter Generosity, wisdom o
Friday Venus Love ah
Saturday Saturn Solemnity u
The Saturday of Holy Week is called the last day of the ancient world, before the Turning Point of Time. Because the Lord of Love gave away his power to the created world, a wholly new creation could be born on the earth. Easter Sunday is thus the first day of the new world, suffused with the resurrection power of the new sun that has risen in this world, and may rise in the heart of every human being who seeks it.
We can thus awaken to a new appreciation for the gift of being alive, of having been created and placed into time and space. We can draw nearer to understanding our ultimate responsibility: the task of creating the new human being through living on the earth in sacred service to the Creator and the created world.
In that spirit, this year I will once again publish the 8 Easter essays I have written for this season, one for each day of the week. Each day contains an essay that describes the gifts of the planet that rules the day, and a description of the deeds of Christ on that day.