Angels That Go Up and Down...

“Parenthood Tends to Displace Selfishness With Tender Affections that Most Quickly Strengthen the Soul and Build the Spiritual Body.”

When discussing the spiritual significance of the sign Cancer, Zain focuses on “The Ladder to Heaven” described by Jacob’s dream in the twenty-eighth chapter of Genesis. A ladder is set upon the earth. The top of it reaches to heaven. Angels of God ascend and descend.

The degrees of the zodiac are not unlike the rungs of a ladder arching across the sky. The Sun and planets, move higher and higher in the sky, climbing this zodiacal ladder until they reach the sign Cancer. Then they start their descent to lower declination.

The sign Cancer, where the Sun may be found from June 22 to July 23, is the natural ruler of the home and family. Therefore, next in Jacob’s dream he is told that his children will be many and that in them all the families of the earth will be blessed. He awoke from this dream saying, “This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

In Brotherhood of Light cosmology the soul makes progress through the Cycle of Necessity by gaining experience with matter in a physical form. After a lifetime of gaining experience in the material world, the soul gives its physical body back to the earth and moves to the astral world where it undergoes a period of assimilation. This is much like we do each night when our conscious mind is asleep and the unconscious mind processes the day's experiences. After a period in the astral world, the soul is ready to descend into matter and occupy another more complex physical body on the earth. This calls to mind Jacob's dream and the non-material beings he saw.

Each occupied form constitutes one rung in the soul’s evolutionary ladder. Each new rung of the ladder is gained through the offices of parents who provide an opportunity to acquire a new physical body. Every cell, germ or shoot that develops into bacterium, plant or animal is dependent upon parenthood for its existence. Without parenthood there are no successive rungs providing more complex opportunities. There is no avenue for each soul to reach the spiritual development that opens wide the Elysian gates.

The commencement of Cancer marks the highest declination of the Sun and the boundary of the place of home in the zodiac. It also signifies parenthood. It is the very "gate of heaven."

At its highest declination the Sun touches the "gate of heaven." This gateway is the point where Gemini gives way to Cancer. Gemini is the section ruling thought; its key phrase is “I Think.” The Key phrase for Cancer is, “I Feel.” Appropriately, we have Thinking and Feeling in immediate contact with the highest point of the celestial circle. Love and Wisdom are joined.

The purpose of evolution, or the Cycle of Necessity is to gain experience and develop self-awareness as the result of occupying forms of increasing complexity. By growing in Love and Wisdom our vibratory rate is raised. Together, they lead the way to the heavenly gate and eternal life.

Whether lowly or highly evolved, whether a single cell of protoplasm or an educated human, every experience adds equivalent energy to the finer body. The four-dimensional body of every organism is a complete record of all that has happened to it. It is a complete record of its mental and emotional reactions.

Every form of life acquires abilities that fit it to perform its unique function in the cosmic scheme of affairs. It attracts, by virtue of its original polarity, the type of experiences that afford the proper trend in its education. Experiences along each rung of the ladder result in the ability to handle gradually more complex situations.

Birth, death and rebirth are the rungs of the ladder that lead to a spiritual estate. The gate through which one must pass, is the gate of parenthood.

The benefits of parenthood, particularly when its offices are well performed, are not confined to the offspring. When cold, iron does not glow. It becomes luminous with light when sufficiently heated. So also, the warm sympathies of parenthood transmit their energies to substance still finer than the astral, touching the spiritual realm, and the construction of a truly spiritual form.

To the extent feelings and emotions are present which have for their chief concern the welfare of others, do they displace thoughts and emotions which revolve around the self.

Domestic misunderstanding hampers progress in life. Strife and discord in the home have a peculiarly effective way of confusing the mind and retarding effort. They are powerful to pull the individual down. Domestic harmony is equally as effective to raise and uplift the spirit. The text, therefore, becomes: Parenthood Tends to Displace Selfishness With those Tender Affections that Most Quickly Strengthen the Soul and Build the Spiritual Body.

Paraphrased from Spiritual Astrology by C. C. Zain

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