VULCAN THE CHAIN MAKER
There is an aspect of Mars which has an interest for us as prisoners in
this house of flesh. Vulcan or Hephæstus, son of Jupiter and Juno, is
the artificer of human bonds. By some he is thought to be allied to
Pluto, the god of the Infernos, and in the Kabalistic conception,
Malcuth, or the Earth, is the lowest of the heavens and the highest of
the hells, being in fact in a state of equilibrium between the Superior
and Inferior worlds and therefore, as Swedenborg suggests, it is in a
state of freedom from that circumstance. But can so much be said of
those that dwell therein? I doubt it. The Oriental doctrine of Samsara
pictures man as a mere “Butterfly on the Wheel,” bound by the chains of
his own desires to the wheel of cyclic rebirth into a world of
suffering.
“Ye suffer from yourselves, none else compels,
None other holds you that ye lag and stay,
And whirl upon the wheel, and hug and kiss
Its spokes of agony, its tyre of tears,
Its nave of nothingness!”
The law of moral causation, as well as that of affinity, impels man to
rebirth while there are any unexhausted desires in him. These
unexhausted tendencies are called _skandhas_. It does not matter what we
call them, we are all conscious of their existence and of the terrible
strife they cause in us. These desires are in the Adamic nature, they
are in the human blood, and Mars is their cosmic symbol. They are the
chains of Vulcan.
The number of Mars is nine and the magic of the number nine haunts us
from our birth to the very last day of our existence in this world. In
the Kabala of Numbers I have shown the connection between the Adamic
race and the number nine. This is the Iron Age, the Kali Yuga, and the
horoscope of the world shows the sign Aries, ruled by Mars, in the
ascendant. In the age of Saturn men sought virtue and distinction in
obscurity. Now there is but one way to recognition and success, Force
and Self-assertion. Let those take it who will. What is said of those
who willingly take to the sword may be applied to the slaves of every
other form of human passion. Mars will lay them by the heel and bring
them back to retribution.
The cycle of nine is at the root of almost all the mysteries of human
life. It crops up in all the astronomical cycles as if it were at the
root of them, and as representing cosmic energy (Fohat) and the human
will (Ichcha) it manifests in all purpose and all action, cosmical and
human. For Mars (nine) is desire (kama) and desire is that which
underlies both will and action.
There is a period of cosmic activity which runs in a nine-year cycle. It
has even been shown that meteorology cannot shake free of it. The year
1893 was a year of drought, rain being unknown from April to October of
that year, and the summer was exceptionally hot. The same may be said of
1902 and 1911, which are years falling in the nine-year cycle. But 1894,
1903 and 1912 were wet summers, and the temperature also abnormally low.
Dr. Goad, who studied meteorology from the same standpoint of cosmic
interplay, considered that Mars was of chief importance in weather
predictions. Some people appear to think that the icebergs on which the
_Titanic_ foundered are responsible for the wet summer of 1912. I dare
venture the opinion that it was something many degrees warmer than an
iceberg. That icebergs in the temperate zone have a tendency to condense
the air and so to produce rain seems reasonable, but who loosed the
chains that bind the icebergs to the poles. Undoubtedly it was our
Vulcan.
In a scheme of thought that regards the whole world as a symbol, and
that is the standpoint we are taking in this study of the cosmos,
planets are not necessarily causative but they are necessarily symbolic.
The symbol of humanity is the number Nine, and this is the number of the
planet Mars. Hence we may say that for the present and during the whole
course of this age of the world’s evolution or unfoldment, we are under
the dominion of Mars. The sooner we get into wireless communication with
him and understand some of his ways the better it will be for us. For he
is not only the maker of chains but the breaker of them, inasmuch as he
represents both the Desire that fashions them and the Will that looses
them.
Nine is also the cosmic factor. We have already seen that the precession
of the equinoxes is at the rate of 1° in seventy-two years, and 30° or
one sign in 2,160 years, the whole circle being completed in 25,920
years. All these numbers are multiples of nine. Twice nine gives us the
solar cycle, three times nine the number of the asterisms, in six times
nine years the eclipses move through one sign of the zodiac, and in 648
through the entire circle. But this is nine times seventy-two, and so we
find ourselves again and again enmeshed by the network of a nonal
necessity. As the Old Philosopher truly says: “Heaven’s net has large
meshes, yet nothing escapes it!”
Applying this magic of the number nine to some of the deeper problems of
human experience, we may profitably examine the symbolism of the
asterisms, which are twenty-seven in number, or three nines. The Hindus
have a period which they regard as the sum of life, extending to 108
years, which is twelve times nine. From this we may draw the conclusion
that the Moon remains in one sign for nine years and that this sign
reflects nine others. The system is connected with the Ashtottaradasha
system to which reference has already been made, and of course, with the
navamshas or ninefold divisions of the signs of the zodiac.
We have already seen that the ninth part of a sign of 30° is 3° 20´, and
that each such part corresponds to a particular sign of the zodiac. This
may be seen in the Navamsha Table already given.
Let us suppose, for instance, that the Moon was in the sign Leo 22° 43´
at the birth of a person. By our Table it is seen that this corresponds
with the sign Libra, which navamsha extends from 20° 0´ to 23° 20´ of
the sign Leo. Then in order to find at what age Libra navamsha expires
we say—
As 3° 20´ is to twelve months so is (23° 20´-22° 43´) 37´ to the answer.
Now 3° 20´ is equal to 200´, so that if we multiply 37´ by twelve and
divide by 200, we shall have the months required, namely, 2·22 months or
two months seven days nearly. Therefore we know that the Moon is under
the influence of Venus during the first two months of the life, and from
Libra it passes to Scorpio, when it comes under the influence of Mars,
and then to Sagittarius navamsha, where it is under the influence of
Jupiter. With this navamsha the limits of the sign are reached, and the
Moon in passing into the sign Virgo comes first under the navamsha of
Capricorn which is ruled by Saturn, and from Capricorn it goes into
Aquarius navamsha and is still under the influence of Saturn. And each
navamsha is one year, so that we know that the period from two years and
two months to four years two months is evil, for Saturn is privation,
loss, darkness and death, and by the cyclic order of things this will
recur every twelve years, since nine goes into 108 twelve times. Now it
is a fact that in the case cited the cyclic recurrence of this influence
of Saturn brought about at four years the death of the father, at
fifteen the death of the grandfather, at twenty-seven the death of the
mother, at thirty-nine the loss of all property. Similarly by this
system of the cycle of nine twelves, at the Moon’s occursion into the
navamsha of Cancer, which is the lunar influence disposing to changes,
and which occurred at 8, 20, 32, and 44, there were radical changes in
life and surroundings.
Any case can be worked out with perfect ease from the Table of
Navamshas, and will serve to show that there is a veritable law of
periodicity at work in the lives of men. Not that all events or periods
recur at the end of twelve years as might be thought by the impatient
student from the examples here given. On the contrary, it will be seen
upon closer study that Jupiter has a period of three years, followed by
one of nine years; Mars, one of five years, followed by one of seven;
Venus one of seven, followed by one of five; Mercury one of nine years,
followed by one of three; and so on. But all the planets recur eighteen
times in the course of the cycle of 108 years, and the Sun and Moon nine
times each. Then as there are five planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus
and Mercury, they will amount in all their periods to ninety years, and
the Sun and Moon will amount together to eighteen years, thus making the
complete cycle.
In the Brihat-Paras’arahora there are many systems of planetary cycles,
employing the same factors variously, and all of them symbolically,
since they do not depend on the true motions of the planets in their
orbits. Indeed, the ancient writers appear to have devoted themselves
very closely to the interpretation of cosmic symbology, and there are
grounds which lead me to think that some of their famous Nadigranthams
or Books of Destiny are built up entirely on a symbolical basis.
One of the most famous of these is the S’ukranadi in which the
horoscopes are written out for every 6´ of the ecliptic rising, making
some 21,600 different delineations. But in addition to this there are
purva and uttara, or first half and latter half, subdivisions of each of
the periods dealt with. The planets are distributed after a certain
order beginning with the ruler of the rising sign, and this order
differs according to the consideration whether the sign is cardinal,
fixed or mutable.
By this means a complete interpretation of the permutations of the
cosmical kaleidoscope is effected, and from various of the readings that
have been submitted to me I am persuaded that there is without doubt a
great deal of truth in them. One such grantham applies to all those who,
whether European or Hindu, were born between the Vindhyas and the
Himavats, but unfortunately, having other engagements of a karmic
nature, I find myself among the large number whose horoscopes are not
contained in the kadjan. These monumental works have hardly received the
attention they deserve and I am therefore collecting information with a
view to their analysis and study.
Another very important subdivision of the ecliptic circle is that of the
Das’amsha or tenfold division of the sign into amshas of 3° each.
Applied to the twelve signs we have as a result 120 divisions in the
circle, answering to the Vimshottaradasha system of Planetary periods,
notice of which has already been made. In this system the amshas do not
run consecutively in the order of the signs of the zodiac through the
various signs, but follow the order of the triplicities, known as the
four “Elements,” Fire, Earth, Air, Water.
Thus the Fiery Triplicity comprises Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. The
Das’amshas begin with Aries, and the first 3° or amsha of Aries is ruled
by Aries, the first of Taurus by Leo, and the first of Gemini by
Sagittarius. The first amsha of Cancer is ruled by Taurus, the first of
Leo by Virgo, and the first of Virgo by Capricorn, these being the
Earthy Triplicity. The first amshas of Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius
are ruled by Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius, these being of the Airy
Triplicity, and the first amshas of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces are
ruled by the Watery Triplicity comprising the signs Cancer, Scorpio and
Pisces. The second amshas of Aries, Taurus and Gemini are ruled by the
Earthy Triplicity, the third by the Airy and the fourth by the Watery,
the triplicities then recurring again in their order. A study of the
following Table of Das’amshas will make the arrangement quite clear.
The twelve signs of the zodiac which occupy the first column are seen to
be divided into four groups answering to the four “Elements,” and the
first divisions of these groups are occupied by the four Triplicities.
These serve as entries or indices, and from them the signs run on in
their natural order.
Those who uphold the Vimshottaradasha system, in which the circle is
divided into 120 parts answering to 120 years of life, will find their
interpretations from the occursions of the Moon into these amshas, each
of which answers to one year of life. Thus the Moon remains in one sign
for ten years, during which it successively passes through ten sub-signs
or amshas, reflecting the nature of the planets governing those amshas.
It then passes into the next sign and takes up ten influences
successively, and so passes to the next sign. Thus in one complete
circle of the zodiac it will take up 120 different influences exerted by
the several planets in the various signs.
[Illustration: Figure 21. Table of Das’amshas.]
But each das’amsha or division of 3° is reflected in an entire sign.
Therefore each degree embraces 10° of the reflected sign. Thus the first
3° of the sign Aries correspond with the whole of the asterism Aries,
using that term for purposes of distinction only, and each of these 3°
will therefore correspond with 10° of the asterism, and every 6´ will
correspond with 1°. Thus, if we take the first 3° of the sign Aries, we
shall find that they correspond with the 30° of the asterism Aries, and
the next 3° of the sign with the whole of the asterism Taurus, and so
on. Here are the first 3° of the sign Aries reflected in the asterism
Aries—
Sign Aster
0° ♈ 6´ 1°
0 2
12
0 3
18
0 4
24
0 5
30
0 6
36
0 7
42
0 8
48
0 9
54
1 10
0
1 11
6
1 12
12
1 13
18
1 14
24
1 15
30
1 16
36
1 17
42
1 18
48
1 19
54
2 20
0
2 21
6
2 22
12
2 23
18
2 24
24
2 25
30
2 26
36
2 27
42
2 28
48
2 29
54
3 30
0
It is to be observed that in all these systems the Moon’s place at the
moment of birth or other epoch is the basis of the calculation. The
first of these I have been expounding bears the sign manual of Mars,
inasmuch as it is a ninefold division of the sign, and the latter system
is accordingly one that belongs to the Sun. The Hindus, who have many
methods of subdividing the signs, from two to thirty divisions for each
sign, have various uses also for the different methods, but the object
of them all is towards an intelligent anticipation of the course of
mundane events. In this direction the West has also developed some
methods, which, on account of their simplicity, have found a certain
vogue among the Arabs, and are even at this day exercising the ingenuity
of reputable exponents of the predictive art. They are called by the
Arabs, Alfridaries, and some examples of them are to be found in _The
Manual of Occultism_. Let us look at some of the later evolved examples
of the Alfridary.