The word "affluence" is derived from two Latin words: "ad," meaning "to" or "toward," and "fluere" meaning "to flow." We usually use it to refer to conditions that are characterized by abundance, bountifulness, plentifulness of supply and wealth, but a consideration of the derivation of the word gives us the clue to its esoteric meaning. It is basically not a description of conditions but a quality of consciousness by which abundance is realized and manifested. In other words, the human consciousness — the "light by which a human perceives Light" — contains a potential of functioning "affluently" so that, correspondingly, conditions of abundance may flow toward and into human environments and affairs. As the desire to realize health is one of humanity's many endeavors to perceive Light, so is the desire to realize affluence; it is important to consider how a human being can generate the kind of consciousness that makes abundance evident in his life.

   If the consciousness of "hunger" is indicative of deeply-felt need, then "poverty" is a combination of that need with a conviction that the need can not, will not, or must not be fulfilled. Poverty is the opposite of affluence — it represents a "cut off" condition of consciousness that is represented outwardly by deficiency or relative lack of essential or desired things. We do not feel "poor" in not having something to which we feel indifferent; to "feel poor" is to feel deprived of that for which we have a strong feeling of desire or requirement. The poverty-complex is a form of mind-pattern, of congested quality, by which a human deprives himself of the realizations of affluence; this deprivation is a conviction of lack which characterizes his living generally or manifests in some specific factor or area of his life. The poverty-complex is always a karmic return from abuses or misuses of means and opportunities in past lives. It is essentially constructed on residual fear or guilt brought over — as reaction in the subconscious — from past actions characterized by wastefulness, destructiveness, dishonesty, or dishonor. By wastefulness we undermine our consciousness of right use; by destructiveness we set up a power of repulsion in the subconscious which "negates" our desire to attract that which we now want or require; by dishonesty or dishonor we deprive others of what is rightfully theirs and the subconscious residue, now registering as the poverty-complex, is the enervating and "lifeless" essence of fear and guilt. Whether of short or long duration, the "feeling of poverty" is always an indication, delivered up to the conscious mind by reaction from the subconscious, that a drastic revision of consciousness is required. That revision must be established in the subconscious mind before the improved conditions will appear in outer affairs. In other words, the person's feeling about life and himself must be changed by a process of "openingness" so that he, by expression of his consciousness, can "flow more freely into life" and so that the manifestations of life's abundance can "flow more freely into his affairs." Water is perhaps the most perfect symbol of the principle of life's affluence; remember that it must be released from its states of suspension as cloud, snow, and ice before it can life-givingly flow forth as rivers. It is the power of warmth that releases the water-potentials from their static state as ice and snow; correspondingly, some form of spiritual warmth must be established in the human's subconscious as a means of revitalizing his outlook on himself and his conditions. How is this renewing establishment made? Let us consider what the Great Astrological Mandala (the twelve-housed circle surrounded by the zodiacal belt with Aries as Ascendant-sign) has to tell us:

   Look first at the two signs which focalize the two arms of the vertical diameter: Cancer, cardinal water, is at the lower end; Capricorn, cardinal earth, is at the upper end; the total vertical line is the line of generation or parentage. The Moon, ruler of Cancer, is the archetypal mother-symbol; Saturn, ruler of Capricorn, is the archetypal father-symbol. Esoterically, these two signs, and the line which they form as "emanation" from the center of the wheel, refer to the attribute of a human being to generate his own destiny by the way he exercises his consciousness, from incarnation to incarnation. Man qualifies the evolutionary line of his existence by what he establishes in his subconscious mind (Cancer) and by the ways in which he outpictures these establishments (Capricorn). By his participation in the creative power of thought, each human is the mother and father of the quality of his own evolutionary line. By his powers of reaction in feeling, he is made aware of what he has established in his subconscious mind; by his powers of expression (thought, word, and >deed), he gives embodiment to that which he has established in his subconscious realms. The "conviction of poverty" is a "darkness in the subconscious" — it means that the person, in the past, has identified himself with deprivation by some kind of action representing misuse and/or abuse of opportunities and means. In short, by his defaults in these matters, he "parented" the present condition or situation which he "identities as poverty." Poverty is not a reality of life, it is an individual interpretation of conditions based karmic reaction. Think a moment: Is life "poverty-stricken?" Is our planet "poverty-stricken"? Does every human have the same kind of poverty-complex as every other human? Does everyone have to suffer from the poverty-complex eternally? The answer to all of these inquiries is no. Let us now consider a very important and interesting esoteric astrological clue to the means by which the poverty-complex may be decrystallized so that the locked-up energies may be released affluently:

   This clue is found in the planetary exaltations — soulic powers of spiritual apperception distilled from conscious regeneration in past lives — as they are pictured in the Great Astrological Mandala: Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius, exalted in Cancer; Moon, ruler of Cancer, exalted in Taurus; Venus, the principle of Equilibrium-through-exchange, rules Taurus and Libra; Saturn, ruler of Capricorn, exalted in Libra; Mars, ruler of Aries, exalted in Capricorn. First, Jupiter exalted in Cancer, as the apperception of the power of "givingness:"

   If we desire to overcome a poverty-complex we have to signify our sincerity on that point by doing something of an affluent nature to manifest the desired condition in human experience. That form of expression is what we call "giving." The statement "it is more blessed to give than to receive" is much more than an "old saw." It contains a profound metaphysical and esoteric directive: the act of giving is a blessing to the subconscious mind of the one who gives. If you are convinced, in your congested subconscious, that a desired or required state is "not for you" but you do something to make possible another person's realization of that thing, you take the first and most important step in decrystallizing your own poverty-complex. If your poverty-complex were "total," you would not even think of trying to make that particular thing evident to another person. The fact that you do give of that thing impresses the subconscious mind that you are aware of the thing's availability. With that action, performed in sincere helpfulness of motive, you begin to release the locked-up subconscious energies because giving is affluence in action. You have thereby opened yourself to the possibilities of realizing the desired or required thing in your own affairs and environment. Consequently, the result is that you have established more light in your subconscious mind and that establishment, from then on, becomes a magnet to attract those things consistent with your desire or requirement. With the en-lightened feeling, resulting from the "loosening" provided by your out-giving action and more out-giving consciousness, the exaltation of Mars in Capricorn makes you more aware of what you must do, as personal discipline and development, to make that improved establishment a "permanent fixture" of your soul-consciousness. In other words the new opening-up leads you onto a new path of spiritualizing endeavor which has as its goal the integrated establishment, for permanent use, of the new spiritual realization. One act of sincere and helpful giving-ness starts the affluent process; but exalted Mars — persistent constructive effort — has to be applied so that the poverty-complex of many years' standing may be completely dissolved and the energies pertaining to it may be completely translated into consciousness of Light. That means that more self-honesty may have to be realized; courage and self-confidence may have to be developed; more consistent and thorough application may have to be applied to current conditions and endeavors; all tendencies or inclinations to hold others — mentally, emotionally, or physically — in any kind of undue bondage may have to be relinquished. Remember, you want freedom from your poverty-complex so you must give others the gift of freedom; in order to do that you may have to let go of certain kinds of fear but fearlessness is, itself, an attribute of affluence. How could water flow if it were afraid of moving, or if ice and snow were afraid to melt? We have to be willing to melt and dissolve the secret congestions if we are to realize the consciousness — and evidences — of affluence. The powers of Truth, Courage, Faith, Love, Joy, and Freedom are the "thermal qualities" by which the Spirit melts the paralyzing constrictions established by the "personal ego" in its expression of unregenerate interpretations.

   If financial abundance is your desired and/or required symbol of affluence, then the two points which are exalted in Venus-signs give us some clues. The person who exercises disorganized and chaotic stewardship of present materials — no matter how much money he has — is operating away from affluence because this kind of functioning is concrete evidence of weaknesses at work. The Moon's exaltation in Taurus — the second house sign — might be said to convey the keyword: I establish affluence by right stewardship — now. In the home, in business establishments, in professional activities, or commercial matters, humans cannot establish disorder in patterns of financial exchange and expect to continue to register affluence. We impose burdens on others if we perpetrate disorder in our affairs and, sooner or later, we have to rectify the unbalance. The sign Taurus is polarized by the fixed water-sign Scorpio which refers to consciousness of sex. It has become an established fact, through psychological and metaphysical inquiry, that the consciousness of money is counterparted by the consciousness of sex. Both are aspects of desire for maintenance and perpetuation. It has been determined that congestions in the attitudes toward sex and/or money have a retroactive effect on the opposite. In these days of "evolutionary speeding up," humans are given the opportunities to resolve much karma from many past lives and sex and money have been the desires which have prompted much negative expression in our past experiences.

   Consider this in the light of the programs of heavy taxation we are now dealing with. Also, in the light of what is being revealed in these times regarding the sexual aspects of human nature — the karmic conditions of the generative consciousness which are being revealed in so many complex forms. Therefore, a man's "poverty-laden consciousness of money" could well be found to have its roots in psychogenetic conditions of a constrictive kind and these conditions all require more charging by the consciousness of love and/or good will toward other humans. Saturn, ruler of Capricorn, is exalted in Libra, the seventh house-sign of the Great Mandala. This is the insignia, in a simple astrological way, of the Golden Rule — the perfect fulfillment of experience through harmonized consciousness of human relationship and the consciousness of spiritual justice which that form of realization includes. Affluence is the provide-ance of Life for our sustainment. That "providence" is already established for our use but if anything in our consciousness seeks to deprive another of what is his rightful fulfillment, then we cut off our recognition of Life's affluence; we limit our expression of affluence; and poverty sets in.

   The traditional symbol of the Sun — the point circumscribed by a circle — may well be taken, for this consideration, as the symbol of all affluent potentials, the symbol of Life's entire provide-ence. From what it represents, all things necessary for our evolution are emanated — just as everything pictured in a horoscope is "emanated" from the central point. The Sun, as ruler of the fire-sign Leo, may then be taken as the symbol of the affluence of spiritual light — all Love, all Wisdom, all Truth, all Beauty, all Ideation which humans can realize and, as well, all material representations which we interpret from spiritualized consciousness. Power in all possible degrees is represented by the Sun and, thus, it represents every possible degree of power which a human may realize. Power is — it is part of our "life-job" to unfold recognition of it in ourselves.

   Since poverty is an illusion created by the relatively unevolved human consciousness, it is not strictly true, from a philosophical standpoint, that "Saturn is the symbol of poverty." Such an interpretation does Saturn an injustice. Saturn speaks to us, through our fears and guilts, of the unfulfilled areas of our experience; when these areas are fulfilled, security is established in consciousness and consequently that form of inner ease which generates affluence is brought about. Also, the square aspects in the individual chart represent areas of inner tension and each of these can be interpreted as a "poverty-potential." Alchemical regeneration by expressing the spiritual attributes of the planetary points involved will "melt the ice" of the inner congestion. The person who suffers from a sense of "poverty of education" must first heal his subconscious mind by re-charging it with a strong desire to learn; the desire to learn is the desire to experience affluence on the mental plane and this form of affluence can only be experienced when the mind is allowed to open. Tendencies to prejudice, dogmatism, opinionatedness, and mental tyranny must be loosened and the humility of a true learner must be established in the subconscious. If schooling, per se, is not available then the true learner will open his mind to the awareness of other channels of study and learning: libraries, bookstores, public lectures are abundantly available for all in these times. If specific schooling is the desired thing, then the person will have to indicate his sincere desire by being willing to organize his life and affairs for the realization of the goal. People can learn much by the inexpensive method of becoming more perceptive of the world around them.

   The poverty of love, friendship, and companionship is, perhaps, the most tragic of all karmic congestive evidences. People who suffer from these deprivations might well give attention to the fact that love and friendship are states of consciousness — establishing them in consciousness makes possible the affluent expression of them and the affluent realization of them in relationships. It is also important to recognize that many people who deeply yearn for relationship-joys and companionship-fulfillments are not friendly with themselves, however devoted they may possibly be to others. Respect and appreciation for one's self, as an expression of Divine Life, and one's potentials for revealing that which is good and beautiful, may have to be established in place of self-contempts, inferiority-feelings, and the like. Lack of harmony in such relationship-patterns as those with a parent or fraternal relative may have to be transformed by expanding the relationship consciousness in more universal ways. But, always, we should remember that the will to truthful understanding of others may — and can — unlock the tight areas of any human relationship. We must be affluent in our good will toward others if we would realize affluence in our experience.