University of Virginia Library

VIII. Scorpio [?]
"And, longer grown, the heavier scale inclines,
And draws bright Scorpio from the winter signs.''

We now behold the gates of Paradise guarded by the flaming sword which points to the four quarters of the world. This sword is, according to Genesis, "to guard the way of the tree of life,'' and such, esoterically, it really is.

The soul is no longer dual, but separated into male and female personalities; "and behold they see that they are naked.'' Stripped of their spiritual raiment, they feel the chill of matter and the lusts of an animal nature. They need clothing, "so God made them coats of skin.'' Sex is the symbolism herein typified, and the evolution of the animal passions of procreation, of multiplication and evolution. It is the complete entry of the soul into elemental conditions, and the flaming sword guarding the four quarters of the Earth to the way of life are the four great realms of the astral world; the way to physical life in concrete forms; and the way to life eternal through the realms of the Sylphs, Gnomes, Undines and Salamanders. They are the basis of all matter, known as Air, Earth, Water and Fire. Here we see that, through the evolution of sex and its accompanying desire for procreation, these blind forces of Nature find their avenue of expression. Spiritual consciousness almost lost, and without reason, the soul becomes the prey, so to say, of these forces of the astral world, which is the realm of design. The soul's creations must be met and vanquished upon the upward arc of the Cycle of Progress. They guard or oppose the way to eternal life. Here the soul, having gained the victory, stripped forever of its earthy raiment and the lusts of the flesh, arrayed once more in its spiritual raiment, purified and sanctified, it will stand once more at the gates of Paradise, where, reunited with

its missing half, it will partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life and become as Gods. Astrologically the correspondence is perfect, and so thinly disguised as to need no explanation.