Cosmic symbolism

by Sepharial

Now if we multiply this latter period by ten and divide the product by six, we shall have the dividend 4,320,000, which we have already identified as the value in years of the Maha-yuga or Great Age. This means that the entire revolution of the Earth’s axis occupies a period which is ten-sixths of the whole period of cosmic activity known as the Manvantara. Hence we have the series 1, 2, 3, 4 equals 10, and the series 6, 12, 18, 24 equals 60, which we have already shown to be the basis of the Yugas composing the Maha-yuga. This value of 60 has therefore a cosmical significance.[^[1]] It is geometrically derived from the interlacing of two equilateral triangles, commonly known as the Seal of Solomon, and esoterically invested with the symbolical value of the universe in manifestation of Spirit (male, positive) and Matter (female, negative), and also the Out-breathing and In-breathing of the Great Breath of Life. Water crystallizes at an angle of 60°, and the ancient teaching of Pythagoras, Plato, Thales and other Initiates, was that Water was the basic element of Nature. By the elements they did not understand the chemical elements known to modern Chemistry, but the Four states of Matter, the Igneous, Gaseous, Fluidic and Mineral, which have their correspondences in the Four Principles of the human constitution, Spirit, Mind, Soul and Body, of which the first two are formless or immaterial, and the last two formative or material. Thus we have the higher trial of Intelligence, Life and Substance, with their multiplex manifestations in the lower triad of Consciousness, Force and Matter.

For there is only One Intelligence, One Life and One Substance, and it is with the manifestations of these in the lower world that Science is concerned. Wisdom has no other concern than to discern the Unity in Diversity and to cognize all in terms of the One Being.

Figure 7.

Another very interesting cosmical cycle is that of the Eclipse Period. The initial value of this is 18 years 11 days 7 hours 42 mins. 35 secs., being the mean interval between an eclipse and its recurrence. In three cycles the eclipse will have moved through one sign of the zodiac, and in twelve times three or thirty-six cycles it will have moved through the entire zodiac and come again to the place of the first occurrence. Then 18 × 3 × 12 or 648 years, to which add one for the precessional increment and obtain 649 years as the Eclipse Cycle, after which the phenomena recur in the same part of the zodiac.

Thus I find an eclipse of the Sun in June, A.D. 1277, and the same eclipse in June, A.D. 1926, another in June 1295, which recurs in June 1944.

We can hardly escape the inevitable harmony of celestial motions when we note that the eclipse which recurs every eighteen years, makes seventy-two appearances during the entire period that it takes to work across the Earth’s disc from its first appearance in the Arctic Circle to its disappearance in the Antarctic. Here we have four times 18 equals 72, and 72 times 18 are 1296 years. Thus, again, we have the cyclic period of 1296 years, which we have already noted in connection with cosmical symbolism. It is twice the eclipse cycle of 648 years, after which the eclipses return to the same part of the zodiac. It has not yet been shown that there is any necessary connection between these two periods, and it is therefore the more remarkable. The average of Precession being 1° in seventy-two years, it is, of course, quite easy to link the eclipse period with the Great Year.

Here, then, we have a veritable Phœnix which renews itself after incineration in Heliopolis (the City of the Sun), and although Eclipses may have no cosmical significance, they may very well have a terrestrial one, both causative and symbolical. Take, for instance, the abscission of the Sun’s rays which takes place at the time of a solar eclipse. This affects only a small area of the Earth’s surface, but quite sufficient to produce very remarkable results when, to the known tidal influence of the luminaries we add the violent and sudden change in the electrostatic condition of the atmosphere. Thus at the solar eclipse of 17th April, 1912, I registered a fall of 27° of temperature in the space of one hour in London. Here the eclipse was not at its maximum, and in no place was it total but merely annular. If the effects are due to the combined action of the Sun and Moon, the ratio of influence being in regard to the Sun 30 per cent., and to the Moon 70 per cent. roughly, then it may reasonably be supposed that when the Moon is simultaneously in perigee, that is, nearest to the Earth in its orbit, at the time of an eclipse, the effects should be proportionately greater, and also that they should be experienced in that locality which coincides with the zenith position of the luminaries at conjunction.

Such effects can be traced in the occurrence of great earthquake disturbances, due, no doubt, to an effort of nature to restore the balance of magnetic action, the local fall of temperature being met by an uprush of electrical energy from the interior of the globe. Similar effects are registered in the human body by the local application of ice, the blood being finally determined to the affected part. And if the whole Earth can thus be disturbed by eclipse influence, so also must men be, since they are compounded of elements which are drawn from the Earth. Not only the waters, but also all plant- and animal-life, as well as the solid mass of the Earth itself, respond to this influence of the luminaries acting in combination, and there is little doubt that there is a tidal effect in the atmosphere which proceeds from the same cause, and which affects the course of the weather.

The fact that volcanic eruptions and earthquakes do not follow all eclipses, merely informs us that they do not always coincide with a volcanic area, but whenever they do so there are marked disturbances directly attributable to the action of the luminaries, and similarly the effects upon the weather will vary in accordance with local conditions, such as latitude, elevation, mean saturation point of the air, etc. Those who have failed to trace the connection between lunations and the weather, have left out of consideration the effects due to (a) the time of the conjunction, and (b) the Moon’s position in its orbit at the time. The Metonic Cycle of 6940 days or nineteen years, is another cycle of considerable value, which informs us what effects are due to the combined influence of the Sun and Moon irrespective of their ecliptic conjunction. The lunations occur in the same degree of the zodiac every nineteen years. Any effects that may be due to their influence can best be traced by observing how they fall in regard to the positions of the planets at an epoch such as the moment of a person’s birth. For if it is found that the New Moon falling on the place of Saturn in a horoscope of birth is followed by certain privations in agreement with the nature of the planet Saturn, and that similar effects are found to occur nineteen years afterwards, then the influence of the lunation as a factor in human life is presumably established. And if to Saturn we add the other planets, and also if we add the other aspects, such as the opposition, trine, quadrature and sextile, we shall be able to institute a series of observations which depend for their significance on the assumed value (causative or symbolic) of the luminaries. Such effects are easily traceable, and serve to establish the significance of this cycle.