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(Note to readers: The order in which the "Sun Signs" are posted follows their order in the "Grail" diagrams, working from the top down.)
The Grail diagram is in two parts; the first treats the long-range "spacetime" forces, electromagnetism and gravitation, and their astrological correlates, the Fire and Water signs, respectively. The second part treats the short-range "particle" forces, the strong and weak forces, and their respective astrological correlates, the Earth and Air signs. The fractal nature of these diagrams is to be especially noted; they are composed of 4 identical equilateral triangles, and the particle diagram is an expanded or "exploded" view of the mass center of the spacetime diagram - it details the composition of that mass center. The "Grail Flower" diagrams show how the spacetime and particle diagrams fit together. See both the Physical Grail Flower Diagram and the Astrological Grail Flower Diagram. (Note also the 3-D version of the "Grail Flower" diagram.)
The Universe is a fractal iteration or elaboration of First Cause (see: "The Tetrahedron Model", and related diagrams on the homepage); its fractal nature is the source of its periodic, hierarchal, and General System character, intuitively expressed by statements like "as above, so below", and "man created in the image and likeness of God". The fractal nature of the Universe is the rational basis for General Systems analysis, which looks for correlations and correspondences between divergent physical systems, such as the atomic, biological, and astrophysical natural systems, and human conceptual systems of world order, including rational scientific systems, and intuitive religious or occult systems (see table and text "The Fractal Hierarchy of Nature" ).
Science seeks a cause for every effect; however, in General Systems we recognize and make models of periodic and hierarchal effects whose causes may be known or unknown, extrapolated, or attributed to the "emergent" properties of system complexity. The Universe does not apologize to us for its complexity, and I make none to the reader for resorting to this type of general analysis; it has its own value and utility. The most rational defense of General Systems is that the fractal nature of the Universe is the cause of the correlation between the physical system and our various intellectual modes of conceiving it; we are part and parcel of this fractal and our minds recognize this fact, intuitively as well as rationally.
Analysis of the Archetypes
(For the traditional interpretations of the Astrological Archetypes (Zodiac "Sun Signs"), I rely on the superb book by Isabelle M. Pagan. Of course, I add to these my own interpretations gleaned from my General Systems work on their physical correlates.)Isabelle M. Pagan, "From Pioneer to Poet", Theosophical Publishing House London LTD, 1969.
[Note: I use only the classical, "naked eye" "planets" in my astrological assignments, as these preserve the original meanings of the ancient, intuitive genius that devised the system of astrological archetypes. These are as follows, in 6 male-female pairs: 1) Sun = Leo, Moon = Cancer; 2) Jupiter = Sagittarius and Pisces; 3) Mars = Aries and Scorpio; 4) Mercury = Gemini and Virgo; 5) Venus = Libra and Taurus; 6) Saturn = Aquarius and Capricorn. If you think of these "planets" not as simple astronomical bodies, but as representing archetypes - similar to the Greek and Roman Gods named for them - you will be better able to appreciate how such symbols are used metaphorically in the following discussion. I should add that I examine here only the attributes and characteristics of the archetypes, not their purported predictive values, as found in the newspapers.]
"Let There Be Light"
In physics: light, the primordial and most symmetric energy form; in astrology: Sagittarius, the philosopher or sage; in human biology: native intelligence, mental capacity, logic, rationality, the visionary mind, visual imagination, the capacity for foresight, forethought, and planning, and the visual development of the brain. This is the "sapiens" in "Homo sapiens". Thought and mind are the "light" of the brain; visual imagination and visionary foresight are the "light" of the mind. Indeed, mental visual images, consciousness, the phenomena of "mind" itself, is a form of light produced by the electrochemical activity of the brain.
We associate "wisdom" both with insight, logic, and rationality as well as with the visual brain in the sense of its capacity to imagine the future, the "foresight" of a "visionary" mind as in an oracle, soothsayer, philosopher, counselor, teacher, or prophet. Often these visions are described as "illuminations", they may be received "in a shaft of light", and the receiver becomes "enlightened". Because "past is prolog", "hindsight" is also an important element of prediction and foreknowledge.
Sagittarius represents the visual development of the brain - we are visual animals, sight is our premier sense, our brains and mental processes are dominated by vision and light. One-third of our brain is devoted to vision; to see is to believe. Hence we speak of insight as well as foresight and hindsight, the visionary mind in the sense of wisdom, enlightenment, illumination. Our minds have the capacity for imagination, for internal visualization, to mentally recreate or revisit images which our eyes have seen, or to produce mental images which we have never seen. We do this in both day and night dreams; it is a capacity which is fundamentally involved in the creative process of humanity. Light is a metaphor for intelligence and the mind. Light lifts our spirits; in its absence we become lost and mentally depressed.
Physically, light is a perfectly symmetrical form of energy, carrying no charges of any kind, and having no associated gravitational field or time dimension. Due to its intrinsic motion C, light is "non-local", being everywhere in space simultaneously. Light is its own antiparticle, and is completely anonymous - one photon (quanta of light) cannot be distinguished from any other. It is this perfect symmetry of light - its sameness in all physical attributes - that distinguishes light from any other energy form and identifies light as the most primordial, simple, and symmetric expression of energy. All other forms of energy are derived from light and eventually return to its symmetric form. The devolution of light into matter and matter's subsequent evolution back to light is the phylogeny of matter, the ontogeny of the Universe, and the allegory of religion.
Light is the basic universal form of energy, and from it every other energy form of lesser symmetry is created - the world of matter is an asymmetric form of light.
Sagittarius is ruled by the planet Jupiter, King of the Gods, planet of hope, happiness and good fortune. The gentle, yet potent golden light of a summer's morning perfectly conveys this feeling. In classical mythology, Jupiter escapes from his father Saturn, dethroning him and becoming King of the modern era of gods. Saturn represents matter, and in the beginning of the Universe there is indeed a struggle between light and matter, a time when light is either bound in matter as particle-antiparticle pairs, or in thermal equilibrium with matter in the form of plasma. Eventually light breaks free as the Universe expands and cools, producing the transparent spacetime of today. The return of the light that remains bound as matter to its original symmetric form is the conservation principle that drives the evolution of the Cosmos ("Noether's Theorem").
"And God said, let there be light; and there was light." With these words, according to Genesis, God began the creation of the Universe. In science as well as religion, we recognize light as the primordial, initiating energy of the Cosmos. Light is a physical metaphor for Divinity and the spirit, as well as the healthy mind.
Sagittarius represents the Sage or Philosopher of Astrology. In humans, I associate this quality with the elevated mental capacity of our visual brain which distinguishes our species - insight, foresight, visual imagination, the rational, calculating, and visionary mind. The brain is the light of humanity, mind is the light of the brain, and imagination is the light of mind. Man is mind; he is otherwise only another animal. Therefore Sagittarius represents the genesis of humanity, the light in the mind of God which became the visionary consciousness of man.
"In the Beginning was the Word"
In physics Pisces represents space and the dimensional metric; astrologically Pisces is the Poet; in our human model Pisces represents the intuitive mind, memory, communication, language, music, song, rhyme, rhythm, and counting - the aural, hearing brain and mind. Both Sagittarius and Pisces are "ruled" by the planet Jupiter; both light and sound are types of vibration-information to which we are sensually receptive. Together, they comprise our primary spatial communicative sensorium, our visual and aural world.
In physics, space is the dimensional, entropic conservation domain of light: what is this connection in human terms, as represented in the astrological tradition by the Sage and Poet? The connection here is through speech: spoken language is the living, moving conservation domain of perception and thought, just as space is the entropic, expanding dimensional conservation domain of light. Language is the information carrier, a communicable form of thought and memory, seeing and hearing. The poet uses the mnemonic device of rhyme and meter to enhance the memorability of his aural communication, just as the musician uses harmony, melody, and rhythm to enhance the memorability of his communication. The two methods work best when put together as song, as all advertisers know. The connection between music, poetry, and counting is through rhythm and meter - keeping the "beat".
Memory is another of Pisces' methods of conserving perceptions and thought; language, music, and counting are extensions of this conservation effort into a communicable form (we will meet other modes of information conservation in Virgo and Gemini). Intelligence and its information content are of little use without memory; the Philosopher cannot be wise if he has either no information or no memory of it, and he is of little use to others if he cannot communicate his wisdom or thought. In this respect intelligence, information, memory and language are linked just as light and space; they coexist only. Alzheimer's disease is an attack upon memory which eventually destroys our intelligence.
It should be emphasized that light and space together are indeed the memory bank of the Universe; everything we see in the heavens is but a memory, preserved as light waves in space. The entire history of Earth is continuously being revealed to new spectators at successively greater depths of the Universe. Conversely, as we look further into space with our telescopes, we see deeper into the past history of the Cosmos; we search the memory of spacetime. Nothing that happens in spacetime is lost; a record of all events is kept in at least 4 forms: 1) light rays; 2) the gravitational warpage of the dimensional metric; 3) the "identity" charge or information carried by neutrinos; 4) history; the historic temporal domain, the conservation domain of information (matter's "causal matrix"), existing at "right angles" to space. This information content, or "memory" of spacetime, was known to the ancients as the "Akashic Record", and the adept among them reportedly had access to it. (See: "A Spacetime Map of the Universe".)
Sagittarius and Pisces initiate the cosmic system as light and its dimensional conservation domain, space, and for each we find a famous Biblical reference which identifies this primordial role. For Sagittarius it is of course: "Let There Be Light" (Genesis 1:3); for Pisces it is: "In the Beginning was the Word" (John 1:1). In the reference from John we see the recognition that the Universe must have contained information from its very beginning, information which has subsequently evolved into our spiritual awareness (see: "The Tetrahedron Model"). Yet light and space together form a perfectly symmetric state; they contain only the potential for information, since information is an asymmetric form of energy. Information exists as matter, an asymmetric form of light; in the presence of matter, the dimensional conservation domain also takes an asymmetric form, time and history (historic spacetime). John's statement requires that the Universe begins with matter and time as well as light and space; the rational necessity for this we have discussed elsewhere (See: "The Tetrahedron Model").
The Universe contains information in the form of matter, information which is derived from the energy of light and the metric structure of spacetime. We are born from and composed of this information source, which cannot help but inform us of the spiritual nature of our origin in physical law and light.
Communication
Space (historic spacetime) is not only the memory bank of the Cosmos, it is also the vehicle which serves to communicate the information content of this memory. John's reference to the "Word" implies this communicative function - a "Word" exists only to communicate its information content.
Velocity c, the "speed" of light, "gauges" or regulates a symmetry condition of light and the metric of spacetime; this symmetry condition requires the structure of space to transmit light (as a vibration) in just such a manner that it is free of time and gravitation - in Einstein's mathematical formulation of this symmetry, the "Interval" of light = zero. Hence light is "non-local"; its energy is distributed everywhere throughout spacetime simultaneously. Due to the symmetry condition "c" imposed by the spatial metric upon its transmission of massless energy forms, spacetime is in contact and in simultaneous communication with all of its parts, however extended. After all, you can be anywhere in space instantly if it takes you no time to get there. We see light's velocity as finite, because we cannot participate in its reference frame, which is essentially 2-dimensional. For we who exist in time, the Universe has a past and a memory; for light, it has only a "present moment" and a characteristic temperature.
The conservation of energy requires the Universe to maintain contact with all of its parts; this is the joint communicative and conservation role of the metrical structure of spacetime. This conservation role is inextricably linked to the symmetry gauge c. Through c, the symmetry of the metric is maintained and the equitable distribution of light's energy throughout its domain is ensured. But there is more. Because gravitation is a structural warpage of this metric, the location of every massive particle in this domain is mapped; and because neutrinos carry the information code which identifies every elementary particle, the Cosmos "knows" the identity of every elementary particle. Christ told us that "every hair on your head is numbered, and not a sparrow falls but the Father knows" - sufficient precision for his time. We can now say that every elementary particle in every hair is numbered, and its location known. Furthermore, a record of every event exists in the "causal matrix" of historic spacetime ("karma"). Indeed, "every jot and tittle of the law will be fulfilled".
Communication is therefore linked to conservation through the connective function of spacetime, clarifying the analogy between language and the spatial metric. Appropriately, Einstein was born a Pisces; no greater poet of spacetime ever lived. We are part of a wholly conserved system which has known us from the beginning and tells us so. We are the means by which the Universe achieves self-awareness, and experiences itself. Life is the information content of the Cosmos organized for self-understanding, knowledge, and exploration, including new creative modes.
The warrior, hunter, athlete, pioneer, adventurer; muscular energy, action, enterprise, health, perception, defense, competition, sports, the military; electric charge
In physics, Aries represents electric charge; in Astrology, the Warrior, Athlete, or Pioneer-Explorer; in biology, I equate this force to the muscular energy of the body, which is wholly electrochemical in nature. Aries and Leo are superimposed upon one another at the center of the Grail diagram because the metabolism of the body can hardly be disentangled from its muscular activity - to do so produces a corpse. Leo represents metabolism and food-energy; Aries is the muscular electrical energy which converts food energy to directed, goal-oriented action. Aries also represents the generalized perceptual abilities of the body, health and fitness (also entangled with Leo-food), as discussed below.
Electromagnetic energy is the basic type of energy in our Universe, whose free, symmetric form is light. The intrinsic motion of light creates space; light and space are related as free energy and its conservation domain. Together, the energy of light and the structure of spacetime create the asymmetric energy form matter, and its asymmetric conservation domain, gravitational (historic) spacetime. The electromagnetic nature of matter is demonstrated in matter-antimatter annihilations, which create light, vanishing the gravitational field and the time dimension of the massive particles involved. This liberated light, in turn, creates (via its own intrinsic motion) a new conservation domain of space. The process can be repeated by the creation of new particle-antiparticle pairs, until the expansion of space reduces the energy of the individual light quanta (photons) below the threshold energy for particle-pair creation. The process then becomes "virtual" rather than "real", driven by quantum fluctuations within the residual energy field.
Matter is derived from light and light's conservation domain, spacetime; matter is an asymmetric, massive form of light, lacking only an antimatter partner to complete its symmetry and return to light. It is the electromagnetic nature of matter that allows it to interact with light, and light will only interact with an electrically charged particle. All massive particles bear electric charge, whether internally, as in the neutron, or externally, as in the proton and electron. Electric charge is a required condition for the creation and existence of massive particles (possibly excepting neutrinos) (see: "The Origin of Matter and Information").
Electric charge encodes a symmetry debt of light, originating as the symmetry differential, expressed in terms of electrical potential energy, between the 2-dimensional wave form of light and its 4-dimensional particle form. Electric charge is specifically intended to produce matter-antimatter annihilations; therefore, opposite charges attract over infinite distance, ensuring that matter-antimatter pairs find each other in space and annihilate. Virtual photons are the field vectors of electric charge; we see light protecting its own dimensional symmetry in this role. The connection between electric charge and matter is therefore fundamental, demonstrating again the inseparable linkage between Leo and Aries, sufficient reason for their superposition at the center of the spacetime Grail diagram. Electric charge connects matter to light; gravitation connects matter to space and time.
The Aries-Leo combination stands at the gate between the manifest and unmanifest worlds. This central position is the position of the Sun (Leo's ruling "planet") in the solar system, and the position of the Son in the Holy Trinity, spirit made manifest. "No man cometh to the Father but through Me" said Christ. The unmanifest conservation domain of the Father is the upper triangle of the Grail diagram, which we call "Heaven", ruled by light and space (energy and conservation); the lower triangle is the realm of manifestation, the conservation domain of the self, ruled by gravity and time (death and taxes). The angel with the flaming sword (actually a lightning bolt) that guards the "Pearly Gates", the entrance to Heaven, is Aries. The symbol of Aries is the ram, or the spring lamb.
We are now in a position to reinterpret the restrictive religious dictum attributed to Christ in a more universal context - it does not refer to a particular religion or personage, but to the condition of manifestation itself. 1st, the spirit must achieve manifestation by passage to the lower realm, avoiding annihilation by the electric charge of an antimatter partner (we will see how this is arranged in Gemini). Presumably, the purpose for the manifest self in the lower realm is to gain the particularized experience of individuality which is denied to the generalized, symmetric potential of the upper realm. 2nd, the experience of the lower realm is illuminated by interaction with the light of the upper realm, an interaction made possible by the electric charge of matter. 3rd, to reenter the upper conservation domain, the self must be annihilated, giving up its manifest experience to the Father, having served the purposes for which it was created. The self is conserved as its experience in the historic temporal domain - at "right angles" to space (historic spacetime).
Aries and Electric Charge
There are two principal characteristics of Aries that are due to the sign's association with electric charge; one is action, the other is perception. We can see why these attributes go together - action requires perception as a guide. We see these combined in the athlete or warrior as coordination, quickness, and accuracy of motion - hand-eye coordination - the perceptual and nervous systems finely tuned to the musculature. In the body, the defensive system must be able to distinguish its own cells and protein from those of an invader or disease organism; this is the immune response of the white blood cells or leucocytes that causes the rejection of transplanted organs or foreign tissue of any kind (the foreign protein reaction).
Electric charge is the source of action between atoms and in the muscles of the body - like charges repel and opposite charges attract, with great force and over any distance. The muscles and nerves of the body are electrochemical systems, so the connection between electric charge and the physical activity of Aries is perfectly straightforward. We also associate this sign with bodily health through the disease-fighting activities of the immune system, as well as the contribution to health of physical activity itself. The athlete is also the hunter and warrior - the skills of the athlete are needed for the hunt, and the weapons of the hunt are readily used for defense. All systems, the body as well as society, must have the capacity for self-defense if they are to survive. Aries is "ruled" by the planet Mars, god of war and the thunderbolt.
The Military
One of the remarkable characteristics of human society is the fact that it is the males who are the dominant social force. In animal societies this is rare; usually it is the females who are the dominant social force and the males simply fight among themselves for females, and perhaps guard small harems. But coordinated social action by a group of males is unusual; when it does occur, it is usually for group defense. Intensive male social involvement is the norm, however, in human society and nowhere is it more evident or better organized than in the military.
When primitive humans came down from the trees and began to walk upright, they lost the prehensile character of ape's feet and the ability to climb trees quickly and easily. Life in lion country without recourse to the refuge of trees requires some compensating form of defense, and for humans this was the control of fire, the invention of hand-held weapons, and coordinated, social defensive action by the powerful males. The survival of primitive man was entirely dependent upon social coordinated action - either men stood together in the common defense or perished individually as midnight snacks for the lions, hyenas, leopards, and cheetahs. Groups with the best weapons and the best coordinated defenses were the survivors - and these were also the best hunters/scavengers, as similar skills and weapons are required for both activities.
Humans survive only in rather large social groups; a single family cannot mount an effective defense against lions, much less drive them off a kill. Social accommodation between human males was born of necessity, not affection, but evolution has strengthened what bonds did exist so that human males could develop the social bonds and friendships that allow them to tolerate each other's presence and to work and fight together in coordinated groups. These warrior groups formed the nucleus of a well-ordered male-dominated society, and are the origin of today's military.
How the Giraffe got its Neck
Once interspecific (between species) competition has run its course, then intraspecific (within species) competition begins, which is generally much more ferocious. That is, once a species has won a competitive battle with other species and established itself in a new niche or territory, then it begins to compete with its own kind - a victim, as it were, of its own success. The competition with members of its own group is especially fierce because the combatants are fighting for exactly the same resources - there is no room for displacement. This effect is why the giraffe's neck is so much longer than it needs to be to outreach the other antelopes it originally competed with. Long ago the giraffe won the "how high can you reach" competition with other browsing species and began to compete only with other giraffes. It is the competition with its own kind that has pushed the giraffe's neck to such extreme lengths over that of any other browsing species.
Exactly the same evolutionary force has operated in humans. We are so much smarter and better organized socially than the other apes it is ridiculous - there is no longer any contest between humans and apes. This huge gap between humans and our nearest primate competitors is just the "long neck" effect, the evidence of humans competing with other humans, not with other apes, over evolutionary time. Long ago we won the competition with other apes and began competing amongst ourselves; it is intraspecific competition and struggle, often involving warfare, that has driven us to our present evolutionary state. This has obviously been an extremely intense competition, for it has left us so far above the apes in our social and intellectual skills we did not even recognize them as our kin, until Darwin rubbed our nose in the evidence. We have Aries the warrior, hunter, and athlete to thank for this - we are far and away the smartest, and the most social of the apes, and we definitely have all the best weapons.
Perception
Photons (quanta of light) interact only with electrically charged particles; hence electric charge enables matter's interaction with light. Electric charge is the basis of the perceptual abilities of life - the perceptual organs and nervous system are wholly electrochemical in origin and function. Action without perception is random motion. Perception allows us to find food and mates through directed, rather than random, motion. The energetic efficiency and competitive efficacy of directed vs random motion in terms of food finding, mate finding, and the avoidance of danger are obvious selective advantages driving the evolution of perceptual systems in the physical body.
In human society, it is again the military which has developed most of our advanced, sophisticated perceptual systems - the spy satellite, cloud penetrating radar, surveillance systems of every kind for espionage; and conversely, stealth and camouflage systems to avoid detection by the enemy. It is abundantly clear that we have Aries to thank for the quality and quantity of our perceptual systems and our brains. Again, where would we be without our enemies and our competitors?
The Superheroes and the Grail Quest
To Aries, the athlete-warrior-pioneer, we also attribute our human propensity for adventure, discovery, and dispersal to new territory, our curiosity, enterprise, and our capacity for aggressive conquest. Aries has "the right stuff" and we have many action heroes of this type, both in classical literature and in modern times. Achilles, Hercules, Jason, Odysseus, and Alexander the Great are all examples; so too are the great names of the age of discovery, Leif Erickson, Columbus, Magellan, Vasco Da Gama, Balboa, Drake, Cooke, Cortez, Pizarro, etc. In modern times, we have Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Lindbergh, Earhart, Byrd, Amundsen, Scott, Hillary, and now the astronauts - mostly military test pilots - and in the mythology of our science fiction, a perfect Aries in the person of Capt. James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise, the athletic military adventurer on a voyage of discovery. (Note that I am not saying these people were all born under the sign of Aries, only that they exemplify archetypical Arietian activity).
The Arietian spirit of adventure and discovery is taking us into the solar system, and as usual, it is the military and their pilots who are leading the way. Lest we forget - it was Wernher von Braun and the German V2 rockets of WW II which initiated the space age. One has only to consider how the terrible worldwide conflicts of the 20th century have driven our science to appreciate the connection between the competition of warfare and our fund of knowledge.
Aries' quest of discovery, which has reached the limits of Earth's terrestrial boundaries, fortunately has found in space an unlimited horizon with the prospect of endless adventures and worlds to conquer. But Aries' quest need not always be in the external world, and in the classic tale of King Arthur, in which the three fire signs appear as King-Knight-Counselor, we find the knights, having tired of their worldly adventures, turning finally to the Grail Quest, a journey of inward discovery and a reminder of the spiritual origin of perception as the light of Sagittarius. This very same theme is echoed in our modern science fiction mythology as the Jedi Knights of Star Wars and their relationship to "The Force". Military discipline put to the service of an internal, spiritual quest is a common thread in all religions, producing the ascetic and monastic life, as well as the "crusade" or "holy war".
The Grail quest of Lancelot, Gawain, Galahad, and the other knights of the Round Table has become symbolic of the transmutation of conquest and discovery in the outer world, to conquest and discovery in the inner world: "Beat your swords into plowshares." At the same time, it tells us there is a hidden glory, a spiritual quality in the warrior, symbolized as St. George and the archangel Michael, who do battle with dragons and Satan, cleansing Earth and Heaven of impurity. This notion of the "good soldier" or the spiritual crusader who fights for justice and the right against the forces of darkness and evil finds a simple expression in the action superheroes of children's comic books and TV programs: Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc.
The competitive drive of Aries has lifted our minds, and now even our bodies, to the very gates of heaven. There is a spiritual quality in the martial arts, which sees evil in the world as simply the necessary competition or obstacle which pushes us to a higher plane of self-discipline, action, understanding, and fulfillment.
Sports
Evidently for millennia, humans have used sports as a means of discharging their competitive and aggressive energies symbolically, ritualistically, and relatively harmlessly. We are not the only animal that engages in ritualized combat, but we are the only one who keeps score. The Olympics are the most ancient and best known example in which states (originally city states) compete against each other in ritual combat.
There is a great deal of spiritual or religious ritual associated with the Olympic games; evidently in this symbolic combat someone is going to be ritually killed (lose the contest), and therefore the invocation of the gods is appropriate. We see the same spirituality attached to ritualized combat in the East, as in the cleansing ceremonies preceding a Sumo wrestling match. In this country we still observe a ritual ceremony before games, which may be a prayer to protect the players from injury, and/or the singing of the National Anthem. The spirituality which is associated with Aries the warrior and Aries the athlete (the ritual warrior), is due to the altruistic sacrifice of life offered by the warrior in the service of his community; the sanctity of the warrior's life and sacrifice is recognized and his service to the community honored by the ceremony, which is carried over into the ritualized combat of sport. The ceremony gives the ritualized combat a little more significance, and a prize may be added as well, so that the sport may give more satisfaction as a substitute for the real thing.
The special character of the Olympic games is that they are not just ritualized individual combat, but ritualized war between states, and hence very elaborate ceremonies emphasize their exceptional character. In ancient times, actual war was suspended during the Olympic games, giving place to the ritual warriors.
The spirituality of the warrior is recognized in every culture, including the martial arts of the East, the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, the holy wars and crusades of the Christians and Muslims, the Grail quest of Arthur's knights, etc. It is because the warrior must kill and be killed that he needs special spiritual protection and special thanks for his sacrifice to his country. It is the altruistic military sacrifice of the warrior that elevates the male in social esteem and status above the female in most societies. Females sacrifice themselves for their families, males sacrifice themselves for the whole community, and are well organized to do so.
We see from the Grail diagram that Aries (electric charge) is directly in the path of the light (and spiritual message) from Sagittarius; indeed, it is only the electric charge attached to Leo (mass) that enables matter to interact with light at all. Hence there is something about the curious, adventurous, competitive spirit of Aries that is simply a translation of the character of light - very appropriate for this sign of hope, promise, and cheer that comes with the warmth, light, and blue skies of spring, and attends the birth of new life and enterprise everywhere.
There is something special about the sign Leo in that it is designated the King, associated with a lion and the human heart, and "ruled" by the Sun. What is special about Leo is that this sign addresses the central problem of life, and that is energy. All life requires an external source of energy to survive, for life is an improbable state of chemical information which is sustained against the universal current of entropy only by a constant input of energy. Leo represents that crucial energy source whatever it may be: in the case of the Sun, it is the binding energy of the atomic nucleus; in the case of Earth's biosphere, it is solar energy; in the case of primitive humans it is food, fire, and fuel in the form of plants and animals, and in the case of advanced human society it is fossil as well as nuclear fuel, energy from the sun, wind, gravity, chemistry, human and animal labor, etc. Socially, it is the economic system, the economy, money, wealth, and the means by which society makes its living and extracts energy from the environment (the social "niche").
Mass
In physics, Leo is associated simply with mass, the m of Einstein's E=mcc. At first sight, common mass may seem a rather inglorious assignment for Leo the Sun-King, but Einstein's formula reminds us that mass is the grand energy reservoir, the royal treasury, the "Fort Knox" of the material Universe. As we have discovered in the solar process of nuclear fusion or the radioactive process of nuclear fission, there is a vast store of energy in mass, but it is energy which is not easily accessed. A million (!) years after the "domestication" of fire, humans are only now unlocking the deep mysteries of nuclear energy.
Human life depends crucially upon the fact that: A) there is a vast, stable storehouse of energy in mass; B) the energy stored in mass can be released slowly and continuously by stars over billions of years. It has required the constant output of solar energy over a period of 4.5 billion years to evolve human life on planet Earth; only the storage of energy in the form of mass has made this possible. (See: "Proton Decay and the "Heat Death" of the Universe").
The Human Niche
At the level of human social organization, Leo represents the "metabolism" of society, the economy, money, wealth, taxes, the economic system (capitalism, socialism, communism, etc.) the source and system of energy for a people and a particular way of life. This is the equivalent of the ecological "niche", the unique process by which a species makes its living, or extracts energy from the environment. The economy or niche of the human species began as hunting and gathering, evolved to agriculture, became industrial and commercial, and currently is scientific and technological. What is remarkable about this progression is that the niche of humanity has changed from that of an ordinary animal to a niche of natural law - humans now extract energy from their environment and earn their living through the social comprehension and application of natural law. Because natural law is universal in its extent and applicability, humans have been able to use it to leave their home planet and take their first steps into the wider universe. Cows, whose niche is the ability to digest grass, will never jump over the Moon without the help of humanity's universal niche.
Leo the King
Metaphorically, Leo the King has all the money (from taxes) and makes all the laws, so it is the King's primary responsibility to manage his Kingdom's economy - "It's the economy, stupid". The king, leader, or boss is always the one who controls the money and pays your wages. If Leo does his job well he will have money to pay Aries (the military), defend and order his Kingdom, and keep himself in power. This is true whether we are talking about Leo-Aries at the level of the health of the human body as dependent on food, or Leo-Aries at the level of the readiness of the army as dependent on the King's treasury, or Leo-Aries at the level of species fitness as dependent on resources and territory - such is the fractal nature of our system. Humans are now the king or boss species on the planet; how we manage our new technological economy will determine the health of the biosphere and the length of our tenure in office.
The Lion in the Path
The lion is a fitting symbol for the "Sun Sign" describing the human economic niche, because without doubt the African lion stood between early man and the abundant food resources contained within the vast herds of animals grazing the plains. But to access these herds, indeed simply to live on the plains, man had to deal with the lions, who were there first and quite naturally claimed this territory and the herds as their own.
Competing against the lions required social cooperation between human males for hunting, defense, and the aggressive invasion of new territory; it also required the invention of tools and weapons, and the control of fire. The mastery of fire is simply a necessary human characteristic; we are the animal that makes and uses fire, our first and most important use of an "artificial", supplemental energy source. The control of fire is a key human adaptation; it is on a par with language, social behavior, and tool making. As an additional energy source, the "domestication" or harnessing of fire comes under the purview of Leo - his first and perhaps greatest "invention".
Fire has so many critical uses: cooking vastly increases the available food supply by increasing the digestibility, variety, and safety of foods which may be eaten, including grains, tubers, and meat. Furthermore, fire is an excellent offensive and defensive weapon, recognized and feared by all animals. Fire is an energy source which will keep people warm and dry, safe through the night, and it is eminently useful for tool-making. It allows hunting at night and a comfortable life in cold, damp climates. It is an altogether marvelous and necessary invention, without which humanity would have remained a walking ape and "fast food" for the lions.
The Lion is a social, cunning, and powerful hunter which forced humanity to become a social, cunning, communicating, tool and fire user so that we could even the odds, invade the lion's territory, and share its food resources. It is the African lion which forced us to become human. Where would we be without our enemies and competitors - without the lion in our path? This is one answer to the "question of evil".
The Energy Boost
Humanity's first and most important external energy supplement (beyond the crucial but "genetic" fact of our social nature) was ordinary fire. Humans did not advance beyond this stage for hundreds of thousands of years, but simple fire, supplemented by the mechanical advantage supplied by simple tools and the concentration of effort supplied by social organization, was enough of an advantage that it allowed the new species (Homo ?) to leave its African home and spread over the entire globe. Hence fire, fueled by the enormous vegetative resources of the Earth, was the energy boost that increased and diversified the food supply, permitting the dispersal phase of humanity and its successful establishment in virtually every environment (except Antarctica) on Earth.
The second great external energy supplement to humanity was the domestication of animals and plants, and the use of animal labor, including horses, oxen, dogs, camels, llamas, water buffalo, yaks, elephants, etc. The energy boost of agriculture, added to fire, tools, and human social organization, greatly increased the human population, and provided enough food energy, horsepower, and manpower to end the era of prehistory and establish the great cities and empires of the ancient world.
The next significant advance in energy use involved the harnessing of wind power for sailing ships, and chemical energy for gunpowder. This energy boost was enough to produce the European discovery and conquest of the Americas (and much of the rest of the world), and initiate world travel and commerce. Wind and water power were also harnessed for the grinding of grain and the operation of simple machinery.
Next, following technological advances in the iron and steel industry, the steam engine was invented, powered by apparently endless supplies of coal. This energy boost was sufficient to launch the industrial revolution. Human and animal muscle was now supplemented or replaced by steam power and machines.
With the harnessing of electricity, essentially a means of distributing energy, and the development of the internal combustion engine, powered by enormous supplies of petroleum, the modern age of technology and information was initiated. The development of electricity and magnetism also allowed the generation of hydroelectric power (the harnessing of gravitation), wind and solar generated electricity, in addition to the steam turbine, typically fueled by coal, oil, or gas.
Our newest energy boost, added to all the others, is of course nuclear energy, currently only available from fission, but hopefully the goal of fusion energy (the solar process) will someday be reached. We can reasonably expect the nuclear energy boost to be sufficient to launch the space age and the eventual colonization of the Solar System. We may also expect that the new science of genetic engineering may enable us to improve the quantity and quality of our food supply. Nuclear power is wonderful but our bodies still require simple, organic food.
One can readily see from the progression of energy supplementations listed above (all of which are completely unique to the human species) that the adage "you are what you eat" applies to human societies in terms of their mode and quantity of energy consumption, as well as to individuals in terms of organic food. Leo is the King because energy is the central problem for life. We are only now discovering that the pollution caused by too much energy can also be a problem. Leo the Sun-King suggests a solution: fusion, hydrogen fuel, and clean solar energy.
Although the ruler of Cancer is traditionally given as the Moon, the Earth in fact is a "co-ruler" of this sign. The Moon of course has the same mean solar orbit as the Earth, but since the Earth cannot appear in her own sky, the Moon takes her place in astrology. The royal couple then, is Father Sun and Mother Earth-Moon; it seems the Earth cannot bring forth alone, but needs the help of her sister, who acts as midwife.
Of course, there are important biological connections between the Moon and gravity. The gravitational influence of the Moon upon Earth's biology is profound, most obviously through the ocean tides, where the daily cycles of wet and dry along the shores have probably been just as instrumental in the development of life as the cycles of night and day. The Moon also stabilizes the tilt of Earth's axis of rotation, and therefore preserves the regular cycle of the seasons. The rhythm of the tides, daily, monthly, and yearly, continues to cue and synchronize the life cycles of the sea, rocking the cradle of life. This ancient rhythm persists in the fertility cycles of many terrestrial creatures, including ourselves. The gravitational influence of the Moon upon the geology of the Earth is another matter, where it helps to stir and heat by friction the Earth's interior, aiding in the production of volcanism, the development of the atmosphere, the magnetic field of the Earth, plate tectonics and continental drift, etc. The fact that neither Mars nor Venus has a significant moon may be one reason why they are today geologically and biologically dead planets.
In any event, the counterpoint between the gravitational cycles of the Moon and the light cycles of the Sun as they have played upon the Earth over the eons of its geological and biological development are without question the principle external forces driving its biological evolution. Light and gravity, the Sun and Moon, King of the day and Queen of the night, they are indeed the royal couple, male and female, energy and conservation, action and reaction, whose progeny populate the Earth today.
The connection between gravity and motherhood is most readily seen as Mother Earth: Earth is a gravitational collection of particles. The gravitational charge is the symmetry debt of light's "non-locality". Light's intrinsic motion C is a symmetry condition of the spacetime metric governing its transmission of electromagnetic energy; this symmetry condition vanishes the time dimension of light, with the result that light is everywhere simultaneously within its spatial conservation domain. Light is "non-local" - its position in spacetime cannot be specified; in Einstein's mathematical formulation of this symmetry, light's "Interval" = zero. This symmetry with regard to the distribution of light's energy throughout space is obviously broken by mass, which has no intrinsic spatial motion, and whose location in spacetime can readily be specified. The "Interval" of mass is always positive, always greater than zero.
The gravitational charge identifies the spatial location of mass by adding the time dimension, "warping" the metrical symmetry of spacetime, producing, in terms of metric energy, a structural map of the location of the center of mass for every particle within the dimensional domain. Gravity will simply take you physically to the center of particle mass, essentially announcing in the universal language of metric (inertial) energy: "here it is - this is the place". (For a further discussion of gravitation, see: Entropy, Gravitation, and Thermodynamics).
Gravitation produces a locus, a focus, a center, a specific place in the otherwise symmetric ocean of space. This universally attractive force - the reactive opposite of light's intrinsic expansive motion - builds planets, stars, and galaxies, producing a place, a platform, a territory, a home for life and humanity in the Cosmos. The self requires a mother, the mother requires a home, the home requires a territory, the territory requires a planet, etc., etc.
Gravitation is the great conservative, nurturing, mothering principle of the Cosmos, linking matter to space, keeping track of the physical location of all her children (the particles of matter) via its structural warpage of the spacetime metric, producing a home for life (Earth), lighting the nuclear hearth of the Sun, and producing though the nucleosynthetic pathway of the stars the heavy elements required for life. More than this, gravitation produces the time dimension itself (as we shall see in Scorpio), the defining dimensional and entropic conservation parameter of matter (expanding historical spacetime), and leads life along the evolutionary pathway which restores matter to light and symmetry to the Universe.
Gravitation is our dimensional umbilical cord to the conservation domain of our origin. Because of gravitation, we are not "lost" in space - the Universe "knows" exactly where we are through the warpage of its metrical structure, the conserving embrace of a Cosmic parent enfolding her child. Earth is our special place in the Cosmos; gravitation has formed her and holds us to her bosom. No matter where man may travel in the future, Earth will always be our sacred home, our special place, our Garden of Eden in the Cosmic waste, the cradle of humanity, our nurturing and beautiful Mother Earth.
In the upper triangle, Sagittarius and Pisces, light and space, represent the Celestial male-female pair; in the lower triangle, Leo-Cancer take their place as the Adam and Eve of the manifest world, Father Sun and Mother Earth. Gravitational spacetime plays the same role for matter as space does for light, providing an entropic, dimensional conservation domain. The equality of the forces represented by light and its reactive spatial metric are most curiously demonstrated by the ability of the Moon to eclipse the Sun, just as gravity can produce a black hole.
The intrinsic, contractile, spatial motion of gravitation is but the inversion of the intrinsic, expansive, spatial motion of light, produced by the conversion of space to time, a process we will meet next in Scorpio. The planet Mars is the co-ruler of both Aries and Scorpio, the third male-female pair of the spacetime Grail diagram. Aries stands at the threshold of the upper triangle, guarding the gateway between Heaven and manifestation; Scorpio in the lower triangle represents the children of Leo-Cancer, the life of the Earth on its time-bound evolutionary journey toward enlightenment.
Scorpio represents evolution and the transformation of species. Time stings us all to our deaths, even as it brings a new generation into life. Whereas Cancer represents the place, platform, territory, and home of biological life, Scorpio represents the evolutionary processes of life, which entail competition, struggle, survival of the fittest, death and regeneration, the glory and despair of life rolled into one Karmic cycle of evolutionary destiny. While we remember the nurturing environment of our home with nostalgic fondness, we must leave the place of our nativity and enter the struggle and competition of life if we are to mature and reproduce, testing the fitness of our genetic constitution against that of our fellows. This is the basis of the connection between Scorpio and Aries, both ruled by Mars - the warrior who triumphs in the struggle of competitive life is the one who acquires territory, mates, and food, and therefore whose genes survive. (This competitive connection is completely absent in Cancer, whose only concern is to nurture and protect the infant life she brings forth. Cancer's connection is instead to the energy source for her children provided by Leo.) Philosophically, we may not like the spectacle of life fighting with itself, but it is only through this process that we who wonder at its purpose have evolved. The control of the evolutionary process is now passing into our own hands. It seems possible that we may discover a more compassionate evolutionary path. This also means we will become the arbiters of our own evolutionary destiny, a further reflexion of the fractal, man on the path to becoming a co-creator with God.
In physics, Scorpio represents the time dimension. The dimensions, whether spatial or temporal, are conservation domains - they exist to conserve a certain type or expression of energy. Space exists as the conservation domain of light, or free electromagnetic energy, imposing upon light the constant and "intrinsic" motion C, conserving light's energy through the regulation of metric symmetry and by containing its energy within a closed and reversible system (as demonstrated by gravitation). Pisces and space represent the imposition of a conserving form upon free electromagnetic energy (light).
Time is an alternative, "emergent" dimensional conservation parameter which is required to conserve the energy accounts of the non-intrinsic, nonuniform, transitory, relative, and random motions of mass through space. The conservation of matter's momentum, for example, requires the time dimension. Light does not require (nor does it have) a time dimension because light's motion is regulated by space - light can only move at velocity C, whereas matter can move at any lesser velocity. (Mass cannot move at C because it would have to become 2-dimensional to do so, leaving behind its conservation domain, at which point its mass-momentum becomes infinite - that is, an infinite amount of energy would be required to extract matter from its 4-dimensional conservation domain - a telling point regarding the tenacity of conservation principles).
Time, mass, gravitation - these three asymmetries are inseparable, to which we should add electric charge, completing the lower triangle of the spacetime diagram. Time is related to all three of its companions, and through them, to the members of the upper triangle - to light through electric charge, and to space through mass and its gravitational field. We have noted these connections earlier - electric charge exists to prevent light from permanently assuming its massive form and entering the asymmetric time dimension (particle-antiparticle pair annihilations); the existence of mass requires that an alternative dimensional conservation parameter (time) be produced from space to conserve its energy accounts. Einstein was the first to realize that time was in fact another dimension related to (and partially interchangeable with) space as "gauged" or regulated by the metric constant C - one second of time duration is metrically or dimensionally equivalent to 300,000 kms of linear space. After nearly a century we still struggle to comprehend the meaning and consequence of this astonishing fact.
But time is also related to gravitation (as indicated by the connecting lines of the diagram). The intrinsic dimensional motion of gravitation is the spatial consequence of the intrinsic dimensional motion of time. In turn, gravitation produces more time by the symmetric destruction of space; time and gravity induce each other in an endless cycle. The creation of matter's time dimension is the local conservation role of gravitation; gravity's "reason for being" is the conversion of the entropy drive of free energy (velocity c) into the entropy drive of bound energy (velocity T), and vice versa. Gravity represents both an entropy and a symmetry debt of light. For a more complete discussion of the cyclic, intimate connection between gravitation, time, and entropy, see: "A Description of Gravitation" and The Double Conservation Role of Gravitation".
Just as our biology impels us to reproduce, it compels us to die. Our mortality is genetic, not accidental; the old must make way for a new and more highly evolved generation, yielding space and resources to a new and better expression of life. Individuals do not evolve, they only develop; populations and species evolve. The individuals who comprise a species are only temporary participants in the process, benefiting from the genetic heritage of their ancestors, perhaps passing on their own genes to posterity. It is only the genes which are essentially immortal, not the bodies which give them expression and transport them from one generation to the next.
But now evolution has completed a fractal loop or reflexion in the Grand Design, for evolution has created a creature capable of understanding and consciously manipulating the evolutionary process. We are therefore truly entering upon a new biological era; a new expression of the biological fractal is developing, created by humans. We are playing with the nuclear fires, both of the atom and the cell. We are creating artificial intelligence in our computers, and taking our first steps into the Solar System, our larger home. Having eaten the apple of knowledge, we are "becoming as gods". But "fools rush in where angels fear to tread". Disasters of the biological nucleus may be even worse than disasters of the atomic nucleus. We cannot turn back but we must proceed with caution. It will require all our collective wisdom (including the intuitive wisdom of the ancients) to get it right.
Go to Part 2: The Particle Grail Diagram; the Strong and Weak Forces; Earth and Air Sun Signs
