Question: Why did the ancient priests of Egypt study astrology so thoroughly? (Vol. II, #115)

   Answer: Why, the whole fate of humanity is bound up in the stars. It doesn't matter whether we go to our own Bible or the textbook of any other religion. Everywhere we shall find that the stars are given a most prominent place. In our own Bible we know that they are called the Seven Spirits before the Throne. They are the seven Star Angels as known particularly to the Catholic church; the Seven Planetary Spirits that have had to do with our evolution ever since humanity began to evolve on this planet. Therefore, naturally the course of the stars and their configurations are time markers in the history of humanity.

   We hear Pythagoras speak of the music of the spheres. Most people think that a poetical expression. It is not; it is a fact. Anywhere we go we shall find there is a sound distinct from the sounds of other places. The rustle of the trees when the wind is blowing, the babbling brooks, all have peculiar sounds. No two brooks will give the same sound. Musicians who have a trained ear can hear the difference. If we go into a city there is a conglomerate noise, but all that noise blends into the tone of the city. The composite of all the sounds all over the world, the rustle of the winds in the trees, and all the noises are heard in space as a certain single tone — the tone of the Earth.

   These stellar orbs travel around, as is well known to astrologers, but not in a circle. They don't stay in one order, but come into different configurations with one another. The same is true of the seven tones in the octave, which are the replica of the Seven Planetary Spirits. Just as they can be brought into different connections and make different chords, so also these different tones of the worlds that are moving through space make up the harmony of the spheres, and according to the change in these vibrations humanity is evolving. There is a different vibration every single moment of time, and as a new being comes into existence, these varying vibrations act upon him and make him different from all others. Therefore he has a certain fate.

   It is the same in the microcosm and the macrocosm, the little world and the big world. We all have to do with the stars. Everyone is bound up with the stars, without them there is nothing done or made. That is why the ancient priests of Egypt who knew, took up that phase of religion. That is why they studied astrology so thoroughly, and the day will come when a great many more people will study it. The science of astrology will be revived when we grow wiser.

   Question: Why do you call Neptune the higher octave of Mercury? (Vol. II, #118)

   Answer: Mercury is usually associated with reason and intelligence; to him is ascribed rule over the nervous system, which is the medium of transmission between the embodied Spirit and the world without. Thus, as Neptune signifies the sub- and superhuman intelligences who live and move in the spiritual realms of the universe, but who work with and upon us, so Mercury indicates the human intelligence focused upon the terrestrial physical world wherein we live from birth to death. Therefore, it may be said that Neptune is the octave of Mercury, but there is a deeper sense.

   Reference to a textbook of anatomy or physiology will show that lengthwise fissures in the spinal cord divide it into three parts, which enclose a hollow tube. Each of these columns is ruled by one of the Hierarchies in closest touch with us, the lunar, martial, or mercurial, predominating, according to the stage in evolution of the individual. In the spinal canal the rays of Neptune kindle the spinal spirit fire whereby the human spirit is enabled to pierce the veil of flesh and contact the worlds beyond. This vision is colored according to the column of the cord most actively excited.

   In the childhood days of mankind the creative force which is now turned outwards to build ships, houses, railways, telephones, etc., was used inwardly to build the organs of our body, and as the surrounding physical world is photographed upon the table of a camera obscura, so the spiritual world is reflected in the spinal canal. There man beheld first the lunar God, Jehovah, whose Angels were then his tutors. Later, Angels who had fallen behind the standard of their compeers, and whose evolutionary requirements were therefore different, forced entrance to the spinal cord of man. The spiritual inner vision of mankind faded when "their eyes were opened and they saw they were naked."

   Then they lost touch with the higher self. They saw only the person, and the docile creature of Jehovah was soon transformed to a savage and a brute under the impulse of the Lucifer Spirits, the hierarchy of Mars. However, by their promptings man has also learned to conquer material obstacles, to build outwardly and become architect of the world. To counteract the unmitigated selfishness bred by the martial Angels and to make mankind humane, our Elder Brothers from Mercury, human like ourselves, whose high state of evolution required the higher vibration generated and prevailing in close proximity to the Sun, were required to invest the spinal cord of mankind also. Through their labors civilization has taken on a different form. Mankind is again beginning to look inwards, and when the mercurial ray meets the ray of Neptune in the spinal canal, man finds again his higher self — the Christ is born within.

   Thus there is a connection between the Moon, Mercury, and Neptune. Those who come in touch with Neptune through the Moon may become irresponsible mediums, victims of obsession, etc., but where Mercury is the gate, reason and understanding guide the aspiring Spirit. An afflicted Mercury may sometimes tempt seekers to enter by the wrong door, and mental trouble may result. If aware of the danger, however, continual care and persistence usually unlock the door of the temple, for the good forces are in the ascendancy now and grow stronger as time passes.

   Question: In training children it is advised that parents get an astrological reading of the child's potentialities so as to inhibit detrimental tendencies and strengthen the beneficent. Does this pay? Is it not necessary and ultimately beneficial for the child to pass through the so-called adverse moods and experiences? Will not the spiritual nature be stronger when they are overcome? Is not acquired virtue better than innocence or purity through evasion? (Vol. II, #120)

   Answer: No, we do not advise parents to get an astrological reading for their children. We advise them to study astrology for themselves so as to be able to study and read their children's horoscopes. We do this because although strange astrologers, professional or otherwise, may be much more competent to read the children's horoscopes than the parents, they lack the keen vital interest and the sympathy which will intuitively guide the parent to a much better understanding of what is contained in that little figure than ever an outsider can.

   The parent will have a much keener appreciation of what is shown in the child's horoscope when he has to dig it out for himself and sees it there in symbolic form, than when it is simply put down for him ready to read on a typewritten page, for he or she will then be much better fitted and qualified by a deeper insight to help the child foster the good tendencies and avoid the pitfalls shown by the bad.

   Now our correspondent asks does this pay. Is the child not going to be much better off by just simply wading through the mire and blundering along than by avoiding the pitfalls that are shown? Surely not. What would we think of a captain of a ship who set out on a voyage without either chart or compass because he thought it would be far better to learn by experience than to avoid the rocks and shoals already charted by others? We should call him a foolhardy man, and be surprised if he did not put his ship on the rocks and smash it to pieces. If every one refused to take the experience of others as contained in books and the general knowledge now available in the world, how limited would be the experience of each! All the world would commit the same blunders over and over again. We find the same thing in our colleges as compared with the manually trained mechanics. The boy who goes into a shop and learns only by practice what work is done there may become fairly proficient in his trade during the time another spends in a technical school, but once the technical student has graduated and entered the shop, he not only quickly catches up with the man who has learned only by experience, but soon passes him and goes to the top. Such is the universal experience in all parts and departments of life, that by adding the practical experience of others contained in books and taught in schools to our experience we acquire a vast amount of knowledge that could not be obtained in any other way.

   It is the same in the school of life with respect to ethics and morals. If someone who is interested in us knows just at what point we fall short, is able to supply the needed training or encourage us to train ourselves in that particular branch of morals and ethics, or is ready to help and restrain us when we would rush headlong into a pit, he may help us acquire the same faculties and qualities in a different way than would be the case if we were left to our own devices and forced to learn by experience. Thus we shall be able to advance upon the path of evolution much better than if we had to learn through our own sin and suffering.

   If we see in the horoscope of a little child a tendency toward drunkenness, and we take it during its years of childhood when the nature is sympathetic and sensitive, to places where others are making beasts of themselves, to homes where children are being beaten by a drunken father, and to any other place where an object lesson that will appeal to the sympathies of the child may be had, the chances are that we may instill in such a little one a horror for drink that will last throughout life and keep it on the straight path so far as that vice is concerned. Then the child has learned the lesson equally as well by the sorrows of others as if it had to go through the mire itself, and the object has been attained.

   Besides, the parent or guardian who has done the child such a wonderful service will have laid up for himself a treasure in heaven that is precious beyond all that words can express. Therefore we shall continue to urge parents and guardians to study the science of astrology and apply it in the training of children. By our simplified system it is easy to do the mathematical part, nor is the reading difficult when love points the way.

   This article was adapted from "The Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions and Answers, Vol. II," by Max Heindel.