Planetary meanings
as exponents of the Earth
18.4
Page 4 of 5
The first shell – Mars and Venus
In order to deduce the planet meanings, we will start with the first shell that we encountered in our exploration of the human body and Earth (14.2): the shell of Mars and Venus.
Traditionally, these two planets are known as the forces of repulsion and attraction respectively; together they form a first shell around Earth (after the Moon’s). This shell has an emotional, felt-sense character. When we encounter something new, they give us a first gut feeling of either attraction or repulsion. Something either attracts us or repulses us; in this sense, both function in a primal fashion. There is no justification yet; that will come later.
Mars, as the first of the outer planets, is traditionally known as the force that makes itself felt in its environment and imposes itself on others. He does not derive his sense of Self from respectable norms and values, but feels himself to be in conflict with his environment. He discriminates, separates, competes, hates, agitates and conquers: He wants to win and acquires the required techniques to achieve that. He stands for physical courage and the instinctive urge to manifested existence. All familiar traits of Mars as the warrior planet are in line with this.
Venus, as the first of the inner planets, is sometimes called the key to that trinity. She looks for similarity and agreement, recognizes and finds herself in the other, achieves connection without pushing herself forward or imposing herself on others. Venus does not conquer and cannot be conquered either. She is perfectly herself and all who share her sphere of influence can be completely themselves.
As a duo, Mars and Venus together determine our actions, including all contradictory motives that may play a role in this.
The second shell – Jupiter and Mercury
Outside the sphere of Mars and Venus, on either side of Earth, we find the planets Jupiter and Mercury. They stand for synthetic and analytical thinking respectively, forming the sphere of intellectual capacities around Earth. This sphere encompasses both Earth and the emotional sphere of Venus and Mars. Both planets are further away from Earth and are therefore not available to human beings in a primal sense. Yet, if our emotional sphere is sufficiently transparent, their capabilities will function in us in an optimal way.
Jupiter stands behind Mars, providing him with the motives and reasons that help Mars to justify his battles. Jupiter points out to us what is acceptable within our circles and what is not, what makes us belong and what not. He rules over team spirit, social interaction, our networks and all worldly success connected with them. This is accompanied by mutual attunement, prosperity and growth, as well as by flexibility and sportsmanship.
In a primal sense, Jupiter stands for the herd instinct. He wants to have a sense of belonging, welding things together in society, in sport clubs and other associations such as church communities, scientific circles and ideas and viewpoints in general. He repairs organic relationships, providing healing and education. His essence is growth and development.
Mercury feels attracted to the truth. He does not believe at face value. He keeps investigating and unraveling until he has found an answer that furthers his understanding. Just like Venus, he is completely himself in this respect. He gives science its love of truth and independence. In the human soul, he is the only factor that is free; he is the prince or youth who sets out on a quest to unravel the enigma and disclose the secret in spite of mainstream views.He is also capable of speaking his truth, even if this goes against the generally held views of current rulers.
As a duo, Jupiter and Mercury form a developmental quality par excellence for Man and society.
The third shell – Saturn and Sun
In the organic constellation around Earth, Saturn and the Sun are standing farthest away from Earth. By analogy, they are hidden deep within the human soul. Below all our feelings and knowledge, below any projections we may be involved in, Saturn and the Sun provide an existential foundation which is independent from all of our capabilities in both previous shells but does enable them to come to the fore in an individual way.
As described before (18.1), Saturn stands for the ultimate demarcator. All well-known meanings handed down to us by tradition can be recognized in this essential quality, including the qualities of sealing off, limiting, shrinking, coldness, crystallizing, concentration, focal point, gravity, concretizing, realizing, time, fear and the instinct of self-preservation.
Saturn is the counterpart of the Sun, who stands for radiance, creation, expansion, moral courage, self-awareness, being the pivot, royalty and warmth. Together, this duo provides the foundation for inner stability, self-respect and conscience.
This concludes our short sketch of the interconnection between the planets in the shells around Earth (18.4.a).
The inner planets – the ‘Es’
The inner planets, as seen from Earth, are so close to one another that they never reach the square aspect. They are unable to put Earth under a tension of conflict. Being a day sky group, they stand for unity and light.
This light force of the inner planets have been known since the times of Plato as the Good, the True and the Beautiful. They literally cannot be seen as being separate; by analogy, this also goes for how they affect human beings.
The outer planets – the ‘Ich’
This trio in the night sky is associated with the vital forces of Nature that serve us in our self-preservation and survival. In government, the turn up as Saturn’s legislative power, Jupiter’s state ideology and the executive power and law enforcement of Mars. Each of them forms an autonomous unit within the system, yet together they embody the identity of a nation.
In the human soul, Saturn’s self-preservation instinct finds support in Jupiter’s herd instinct and Mars’ urge to manifest himself. In this sense, these three planets form a group of an instinctive signature. They break up the unity of the Es. In our soul, they compete among themselves for dominance and in the firmament, too, sooner or later they will get into conflict with each other. In Nature, this struggle is going on all the time.
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