Page:Simplified scientific astrology - a complete textbook on the art of erecting a horoscope, with philosophic encyclopedia and tables of planetary hours (IA simplifiedscient00heiniala).pdf/175

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

around the soul which shuts us off from others, we begin slowly to cultivate the quality of benevolence, and gradually the half-circle of the soul rises above the cross of matter and becomes the symbol of Jupiter, the philanthropist and friend of man. It then signifies one who loves all and one who is equally the favorite of gods and men.

Mercury: Though the least in the Kingdom of God, the Solar System, it is nevertheless of the greatest importance, on account of its influence upon body, soul and spirit, which is shown by the fact that its symbol contains all the component parts of the planetary symbolism, namely, the circle, half-circle and cross. This is because in the mind all are linked together in one whole physico-spiritual organism called man. Without Mercury this could not be.

Mercury is neutral however, and it depends upon the indwelling Ego represented by the centrally placed circle whether it will use its divine attributes of choice and free-will to aspire heavenward for soul-growth as symbolized by the signature of the soul, the half-circle, placed above the circle of spirit, or whether it will stoop towards the cross of personality below the circle and wallow in the mire of worldliness. No creature has such divine possibilities as man, none may aspire higher, and conversely, none may fall lower. This struggle between the higher and the lower natures for mastery, symbolized by the half-