# The Message of the Stars/Chapter 3

1918
Were You Born Under a Lucky Star?
HAVE you ever looked through a kaleidoscope at the patterns formed there by the many little pieces of varicolored glass, and noticed how the slightest disturbance of the position changes the pattern? Also, do you realize that it will be impossible, or almost so, to duplicate any pattern, no matter hew much you were to turn; there is such a variety of effect. Similarly when you look into the heavens night after night you will notice changes among the planets, in fact such is the variety of changes that occur among them that it would be impossible to duplicate the position which they held relatively to one another while you are reading, for almost twenty-six thousand years. Thus in the planetary kaleidoscope there is, we might say, an infinity of patterns. When we realize that human beings are entering the world constantly and that each being is stamped at the first complete breath with the planetary pattern then in the sky, everyone must necessarily be different from everybody else. Nor should this statement of the stellar influence create doubt when we consider that wireless waves of different lengths and different pitch sent out from a ​tiny man-made contrivance can make themselves felt and register by mechanical operations involving expenditure of energy many thousands of miles from their source, the planetary vibrations from those great orbs in the heavens make themselves felt millions of miles as surely, us easily, and with equal certainty. We know that the angle of the solar ray determines whether it is winter or summer, We also know the effect of the Moon upon the waters, and it is within the experience of all that we feel more buoyant when the atmosphere is clear and dry than when it is moist and murky. And what determines these atmospheric conditions but the planets, the circling stars?
When we look up at this planetary kaleidoscope from time to time we see in the heavens various configurations which are pronounced lucky or unlucky according to whether they are formed between so-called benefics alone, such as Venus, Jupiter and the Sun, or planets said to be malefic such us Saturn, Mars or Uranus. When Jupiter and Venus are in close conjunction near the midheaven, it is a foregone conclusion that those who come into the world under this configuration will enjoy a measure of good fortune far above the average, and such persons would therefore be considered “lucky” in the extreme. On the other hand there are times when Saturn end Mars occupy the zenith position for souls that are born to suffer,
But why should one suffer and another be born ​under a lucky star? Why do the stars give good fortune to one and misfortune to others, and if we are born to ‘‘luck,’” whether good or bad, what is the use or where is the incentive to individual effort? If there is a law of nature which is established beyond doubt it is surely the law of Cause and Effect. Every cause must produce an adequate effect and nothing which we see as an effect can be without a pre-existent cause. Moreover, if this is a universal law it must apply to the conditions of birth as well as to subsequent life. Following up this idea the next question is: If our birth under a lucky or unlucky star is the effect of some prior cause, what may that be, or where and how was that cause generated? To that. there can be only one answer; that we must have made the causes in some previous existence which now result in our birth under e lucky or an unlucky star, Thus by induction a belief in Astrology requires also a belief in a previous existence as well as in future lives, for while we are now reaping in our horoscopes the effects of our past lives we are also by our acts laying the foundations for a new horoscope which can only be worked out in a future life,
“How closely luck is linked to merit Does never to the foal occur; Had he the wise man’s stone, I swear it, The stone had no philosopher,”
said Mephisto sarcastically in “Faust” and it is ​true. If we are born under a lucky star it shows that we have earned the good fortune thereby indicated, by forethought, kindness, and our other virtues expressed in previous lives, for we cannot have friends unless we are friendly ourselves. If we happen to have Saturn and Mars instead of Venus and Jupiter near the zenith, it shows that in the past we ourselves have not been kindly and friendly or we could not now express the opposite traits. But this is just the point where the study of Astrology should help us. It shows our limitations for the present and it points out the obvious remedies and how to build for the future. Can the leopard change its skin? No, Can the lion cease to prey? Absolutely impossible, Can the flower cease to bloom or the mineral to crystallize? Certainly not; because they are under laws which are unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians. They have neither choice nor prerogative but must obey the dictates of the group spirit which guides them along their path of evolution, But in this respect we differ radically from those lower kingdoms, we have both choice and prerogative. We may do whatsoever we will and that is a factor which is never shown in the horoscope, a factor that may be made to play an all important role in every life. It is not enough to be born under a lucky star to have a lucky life, for the horoscope shows only the tendencies and the person who is so well endowed will without question have an aabundance of opportunities to make his life fortunate in ​the very highest degree. But only insofar as he exerts himself to grasp opportunity on the wing, will that which is foreshadowed in his horoscope come to pass. And similarily with the person who is afflicted by the conjunction of two malefics in the midheaven or anywhere else in the horoscope, By his will, and the exercise of choice, which are his divine birthrights, he may rule his stars and make of the unlucky horoscope a fruitful life from a far higher standpoint than the other, The bark that has been tossed by the tempest harbours a joy when the haven of safety is reached that is not equaled on the ship that has always sailed on smiling seas,
“Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
Who never passed the midnight hours
Weeping, waiting for the morrow,
He knows not yet ye heavenly powers.”
From the higher standpoint those who are living in the lap of luxury are to be pitied when their lucky stars give them all the good things of this world and cause them to forget that they are stewards and that the day is coming when their souls shall be required of them with an account of their stewardship. They shall then be forced to confess that they have failed to use the substance entrusted to them in the proper manner; while others under the strain and stress of life, expressed by the horoscopical squares and oppositions, have wrong from their unlucky stars a measure of victory. ​What wonder then if the king’s messengers, the circling stars, take from the unfaithful steward that which he had and give to the other, changing their adversity to prosperity in later lives. Thus the pendulum of luck and loss, success and failure changes through many lives till we learn to make our own “luck” by ruling our stars.
“A god can love without cessation,
But under laws of alteration
We mortals need, in changing measure,
Our share of pain as well as pleasure,”
And it is this necessity for change that is ministered unto us by the circling stars which form configurations that we call good or evil, though they are neither from a higher standpoint, for no matter how good the horoscope; by progression of the stars evil configurations are sure to come and no matter how evil, there are always new opportunities for good given by aspects of the Sun, Venus and Jupiter to our planets at birth. All that we have to do is ta grasp the opportunity, help our stars, that our stars may help us.
Amulets, Birth-stones and Planetary Colors
In the windows of jewelers, and in the cheap, ready made horoscopes one may often read that it is ‘lucky’ for people born in a certain month to wear a particular stone or color. It means business ​to the jeweler and the astrological prestidigitator who produces “your horoscope” by a turn of the wrist from a box when, you tell him in what month you were born, Both buy their instructive (?) literature at a nominal price per thousand, the principal east being paper and printers’ ink; there are no furrows in their foreheads from deep and earnest study of the problem.
But as the counterfeit coin argues the existence of the genuine, so also the fallacious information flippantly dispensed by people who eater to the sense of mystery and wonder which is deeply imbedded in human nature argues the existence of a genuine science of mineralogical correspondences with the stellar rays impinging upon all who inhabit our sub-lunar sphere, and when this is rightly understood and used, that which is loosely termed luck results; but then it is not really luck in the sense understood by the majority of people, for then it is the result of accurate knowledge scientifically used, and therefore the outcome is as inevitable as that water runs down hill,
The philosophy of planetary colors and mineralogy is that each of the Creative Hierarchies which is active in evolution works with the various classes of beings from mineral to man, and is responsible for the progress made by all. In the course of this work each Hierarchy naturally imparts to the beings with whom it labors some of its awn nature and vibration. Thus each group of minerals, each ​species of plant and animal, vibrates to a certain keynote which blends the vibration of the Group Spirit, and the particular sign and planet with which he is most nearly attuned.
It has been taught by the Elder Brothers in the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, that:
The Archangels, who were human in the Sun Period when the present animals started their evolution with a mineral-like existence, are now the Group Spirits of the annals.
The Angels, who were human in the Moon Period when the present plants commenced their evolution with a similar mineral constitution are now the Group Spirits of the plants. Man, who reached the human stage in the Earth Period, is now working with the new lite-wave which started its evolution on the Earth as minerals, He is not far enough advanced to assume the role of Group Spirit, that is reserved for the future. In the Jupiter Period he will give them life as plants have, in the Venus Period he will bring out their desires and emotions as animals, and in the Vulcan Period he will give them a mind and make them human, That, however, is all in the future. At present he is working with them to the best of his ability, smelting them into iron bridges, ships and skeleton skyscrapers; he is pulling them into wires which wind around the world; he is grinding from them gems that glitter and grace the great in our social structure, and thus he is gradually establishing an ​intimate relationship with them and preparing ta take charge of their evolution as a Group Spirit at, some future time.
It. is well known to students of Astrology that an astrological reading based upon the month in which an individual is born is worthless, for all the people born in the same month do not have the same experiences by any means, but if we consider the day, the year and the place we get a horoscope that is absolutely individual and totally different from the horoscope of anyone else in detail — and this is the point which concerns us for the present argument—the ruler is not the lord of the sign the Sun is in, except for children horn at Sunrise, when the Sun is on the Ascendant, It is the ruler of the rising sign, THAT is the determinator with regard to our mineralogical affinity, because at the moment of conception when the seed-atom of our present physical mineral body was deposited the Moon was in that particular sign and degree, (or its opposite}, and acted then as a focus of forces which have since crystallized into the vehicle we now wear.
The following table shows the affinity of each of the twelve signs with certain gems, metals and colors, and in that chart there are the elements for making an effective talisman by any individual who has the knowledge of how to cast a horoscope and blend the ingredients according to the requirements of the case. We have no scruples about telling how this is done, for it may help some to help themselves ​and others. The only harm it can do is if some unscrupulous person starts to make them for coin, and even then, if he is conscientious about the work, whoever obtains it will not be cheated, the re-action will be upon the one who prostitutes the spiritual science for material gain.
BIRTH-STONES AND COLORS. :
| Gems ruled by | Gems ruled by | Sign Rulers | Metals | Colors. |
| | the signs. | Sign Rulers | | |
| ♈ | Amethyst, Diamond | ♂ | Iron | Red |
| ♉ | Moss Agate, Emerald | ♀ | Copper | Yellow |
| ♊ | Crystal, Aqua Marine | ☿ | Mercury | Violet |
| ♋ | Emerald, Black Onyx | ☽ | Silver | Green |
| ♌ | Ruby, Diamond | ☉ | Gold | Orange |
| ♍ | Pink Jasper, Hyacinth | ☿ | Mercury | Violet |
| ♎ | Diamond, Opal. | ♀ | Copper | Yellow |
| ♏ | Topaz, Malachite | ♂ | Iron | Red |
| ♐ | Carbuncle, Torquoise | ♃ | Tin | Blue |
| ♑ | White Onyx, Moonstone | ♄ | Lead | Indigo |
| ♒ | Saphire, Opal | ♄ | Lead | Indigo |
| ♓ | Chrysolite, Moonstone | ♃ | Tin | Blue |
To forestall a question we may say that ancient astrologers who had studied this aspect of the science have tabulated several hundred minerals of which ​the planetary affinities had been noted, but these works have been mutilated in the course of time, and are now not available. Paracelsus also and Agrippa, made considerable study of this subject, and with very important results, but the wider view is outside the scope of this work, so the authors confine their remarks to the essentials, and indicating the way which others may follow farther if they feel so inclined.
To illustrate how the mineral elements may be used to advantage let us take the following example. Suppose that in a certain horoscope we find Sagittarius rising with its lord Jupiter on the Ascendant. Jupiter is then the ruling planet and so, according to our chart turquoise is his birthstone, tin is the metal with which he has affinity, and blue is his color, That means that it will help his express himself if he wears a turquoise, an amulet of tin, and dresses in blue whenever consistent with custom. That is true to a certain extent, but it is only a small part of the truth, and it is by no means the best use that may be made of this knowledge.
To indicate the better way, let us suppose that this person’s figure shows severe afflictions by Mars and Saturn.
Mars afflicts three planets; his metal is iron. Venus is the apposite of Mars; her metal is copper, and consequently copper is an antidote for the martial vibrations.
Saturn afflicts one planet; his metal is lead. ​Jupiter is his opposite and therefore the Jupiter metal, tin, is an antidote for the saturnian vibrations,
With this in mind an amulet may be compounded of tin and copper; not exactly in the ratio of three to one, but with a mind on the bulk of the various planets, their density and the strength of the aspects it is desired to overcome, a matter which involves further study, The work itself should be done under auspicious planetary conditions. A Mars’ amulet, designed to give energy to one with a weak figure would be most successful if made in a Mars-hour on a Tuesday when both the Sun end Moon are in martial signs as happens in April and November. The same with amulets made for other planets. (See the Tables of Planetary Hours, in our Simplified Scientific Astrology.)
A gem or an amulet made on these principles is a focus for the stellar rays of the planets they represent, and infuses vibrations of their nature into our auras all the while we are wearing it, just as surely as the wireless receiver attuned to a certain pitch catches the waves within its range, and we may blend the colors in the same manner to obtain help from them. As a matter of fact, it is the complimentary color which is seen in the desire world that produces the effect of the physical colors, If it is desired to restrain one whose Mars is too prominent, the gems, colors and metals of Saturn will help, and such a person should have as little to do with iron (tools, machinery, etc.,) as possible, ​but if we want to help someone who is moody and taciturn, we may use the gems. colors and metals of Mars to advantage. In the final analysis the matter resolves itself into a question of judgment and common sense. With these and the knowledge concerning the essentials here given anyone may use it to advantage.
When is the Best time to Be Born?
In the light of occult investigation of some of the modern methods it appears that Birth is an advent we are powerless to control, when we seem to do so in a slight degree we are really the agents of Destiny to accelerate or delay till the proper moment has arrived. This view is also justified by the author’s experience in Horary Astrology. The philosophy of Horary Astrology is that at the tine one is impelled to ask a question concerning an important mutter the heavens contain also the answer and a figure set for that time will contain the solution to the problem, But it should be particularly noted that the time to set the figure is when the inquirer asks the question of the astrologer, when this is done in person; when it is done by mail the astrologer sets the figure for the time he reads the question in the letter,
On a number of occasions we have received letters containing questions which bore marks of having been delayed by flood or fire, but the figure east ​for the moment of reading gave the answer, showing that the delay had a part in the plan, nor should it Surprise us that the great Intelligences which are the ministers of Destiny foresee and make allowance for contingencies beyond the grasp of the human mind, and when the infinite mind bestows equal care when designing the anatomy of a fly, mouse and lion, may we not conclude that a similar attention to the minutiae prevails in all departments of life and that when we seem to delay or accelerate birth we are really aiding nature to take its predetermined course as said in the opening sentence of this article.
Nevertheless people often ask the astrologer when is the best time to be born; young astrologers also frequently want to know, not that they have any idea of controlling birth but so that on seeing a horoscope or being told a person’s time of birth they may make quick mental calculation to determine a good or bad horoscope. Such a judgment would, of course, be founded only on the position of the sun ‘by sign and approximate house, hence general in the extreme. It may be said however that other planetary positions being equal, it is better to be born when the Moon is increasing in light from the new to the full than when she is decreasing from the full to the new for the growing Moon always increases vitality and furthers our affairs.
It is best to be born in April or August when the life-giving Sun is in its exaltation sign Aries or Leo, its home, for then we enter the sea of life on ​the crest-wave and are backed in the battle of existence by an abundant fund of vim and energy,
It is also good to be born in May and July when the life-light of the Sun is focused through the exaltation sign and home of the Moon, Taurus and Cancer, especially, as said, when the lesser light is increasing for those configurations, also furnish an abundance of vitality which is such a great asset in physical life.
With respect to the time of day most favorable for birth it may be said that children barn about. sunrise, or during the forenoon from 8 to 12 while the Sun is traversing the houses of friends and social prestige are the ‘luckiest’ for they are helped on every hand. Children born between noon and midnight are less ‘lucky’ the nearer. the Sun comes to Nadir, and then the ‘luck’ turns again for the children born in the early morning while the Daystar is ascending towards the eastern horizon. They will have to carve their own way in the world, but opportunities will be given them in abundance.
We may therefore sum up our conclusions by saying that it is best to be born at Sunrise or in the forenoon, preferably in April or August when the Moon is increasing in light.
Finally it should always be borne in mind that there is no ‘luck,’ in the commonly accepted sense, but that what we have or Jack in any respect is due to our own actions in the past and that in the future we may have what we now lack by proper application.