Wednesday, October 28th, 1981

SEMINAR at Wisdom's Goldenrod, Hector, NY

with Anthony Damiani (AD)

October 28, 1981-a

PLOTINUS; NATURE

TOPIC: Plotinus

SUBJECT: Nature

SUBSUBJECTS: Sidereal Zodiac, Tropical Zodiac, Grid, Gnostic and Fabricative, Dignity and Non-Dignity, Earth Soul, Force Fields, Liberated Order, Mundane Order, Idea of Man in Soul, Idea of Man in Nature

CONTENTS:

Sidereal zodiac as the unknown force field ('X') outside the Earth's Soul; the psyche and soma as condensations of it; defined by the Sun's relation to the fixed stars

Tropical zodiac inseparably associated with the Earth; the Earth's axis (tilt) as what differentiates tropical from sidereal

Sidereal 'X' made available only through the schema — the seven planets functioning in the twelve signs; each planet's schema differs

Sidereal as Sun-centered (same from any point in the solar system); the tropical as relative to each planet's viewpoint

Earth's axis as the Spindle of Necessity, guarded by Vesta; the tropical zodiac tied to necessity, bodies, karma; the Earth's own karma determines precession

Hestia/Vesta as the Earth's intellect, translating the sidereal force fields through the tropical zodiac and seven planets; the Aquarian Age defined relative to the two zodiacs

The grid or schema, identified with the Soul of the Earth, builds up psyche and soma from sidereal substance; through it the individual soul gets experience of the cosmos

Any individual's personality = psyche (images of the seven planetary functions) + soma; the seven soul powers inseparable from the grid — Saturn is always in a sign

Dignities = images of the World-Soul's powers (gnostic, the tropical aspect); non-dignities condense the sidereal force fields into soma (fabricative, circumstances)

Senses as non-dignities, understanding as dignities; the grid brings together these two functions of the mind

The grid combines Nature and Soul in the twelfth house; the tropical zodiac from the Liberated Order, pure force fields as the Mundane Order

Tropical zodiac as the Earth Soul's experience of the twelve — the Idea of Man in Soul; the non-dignities as the Idea of Man in Nature

Saturn in Libra functions natally vs. by transiting; the Earth's chart instantaneous, with the individual's natal chart as its reproductive imagination

Liberated and Mundane Orders: Aries appears in both, Taylor's one-to-one correspondence, unity of the grid; movement of the tropical within the sidereal = evolution

Tropical zodiac is imaginary — a give-away that it's conceptual

BOOKS READ FROM OR REFERENCED:

• Plotinus, The Enneads (MacKenna translation, 4th ed.)

PLOTINUS QUOTES READ OR REFERENCED: II.1.5, II.3.9, IV.4.23

DIAGRAMS embedded in and appended to this transcript:

• FIGURE 1981 1028a-1. Sidereal and Tropical Zodiacs and the Earth Soul. (embedded)

• FIGURE 1981 1028a-2. Twelfth House Levels, with Gnostic and Fabricative Grid. (embedded)

• FIGURE 1981 1028a-3. Twelfth House Levels, with Gnostic and Fabricative Grid. (appended)

RETYPED AND REFORMATTED by IT 2026

NOTES:

• RETYPED PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT (hence V10). From 1981 1028S1-07R14.PDF. THERE ARE NO AUDIO CASSETTE TAPES EXTANT.

• This is 1981 10/28a, the Plotinus; Nature seminar, and the first of two entries associated with this date. 1981 10/28b is the Hinduism; KCB class.

• Handwritten edits and marginalia by AS appear throughout the source PDF and have been incorporated into this transcript. AS also drew the full-page diagram on page 2a of the source, digitally recreated as FIGURE 1981 1028-3 and appended to this transcript.

• This event is among those in later 1981/early 1982 when Anthony was exploring Astrology/the Zodiacs, Cosmology, Physics, Astronomy, Soul, Nature, and The Grid: Gnostic and Fabricative.

• For more on The Grid: Gnostic and Fabricative, please see the Appendix to WG Seminar 1981 1016a.

• All spelling, capitalization, and punctuation corrected, all abbreviations and astrological glyphs (except for degree) spelled out.

1981 10/28a SEMINAR at Wisdom's Goldenrod

Plotinus; Nature

[File 1981 1028S1-07R14.PDF Begins]

SEMINAR, OCT. 28, 1981

ON SIDEREAL & TROPICAL ZODIACS, GNOSTIC & FABRICATIVE FUNCTIONS

* DIAGRAM

'X' is the unknown, the force field outside of the Earth's Soul. The psyche and soma is a condensation of the force field.

The sidereal zodiac is defined by the relation of the Sun to the fixed stars. The sidereal zodiac is determined by the plane of the Sun. The relation of the planets to the sidereal zodiac is the relation of the Sun to the Cosmic Soul. The unknown 'X' is the force field of the sidereal zodiac.

The tropical zodiac is associated indissolubly with the Earth. The Earth's functions are the Earth's participation in the Cosmic Soul's functioning.

Without bringing in the intelligence of the Earth, the Earth's axis, the tropical and sidereal zodiacs would be the same. Therefore the tropical zodiac is defined by the Earth.

There wouldn't be tropical Aries unless there are planets functioning there, and no planets, say Mars, without Mars in Aries or Mars in Taurus, etc. The only Aries is in the tropical zodiac. Aries, Taurus . . . . . . is in the schema.

The sidereal 'X' is unknown unless the functioning of the 7 planets, the schema, makes it available for you.

The Earth entity itself has these 12 categories and its own peculiar schema, and the 'X' unknown is combined with it, and by it. Each planet (other than the Earth) would have a different schema, for the alignment of its 12-fold categories and 7 functions would be different (i.e., a square from Earth is not a square viewed from Mars).

The sidereal zodiac is Sun-centered because from any place in the solar system it's the same zodiac, whereas the tropical zodiac would vary by the viewpoint of the planets (each planet being the center of its own tropical zodiac).

* (aside?) The tropical zodiac has to do with the Earth's vasanas or "tropes". The Earth's axis is the "Spindle of necessity", guarded by Vesta. II. 3. 9: "This brings us to the Spindle-destiny, spun according to the ancients by the Fates. To Plato the Spindle represents the co-operation of the moving and the stable elements of the cosmic circuit; the Fates with Necessity . . ."

The tropical zodiac, associated with Vesta, has to do with everything under necessity / with bodies / with karma. The Earth's own karma determines precession.

(He) calls Hestia or Vesta the Earth's intellect. That intellect is pointing towards various stars in the sidereal system, and the tropical zodiac with the 7 planets would translate various field forces the sidereal represents.

How would the Aquarian Age be defined in reference to the sidereal and tropical zodiacs? One could say the tropical zodiac has moved up, or the stars have moved back, or the Earth's ascendant has moved back.

— • • • —

* II. 1. 5, last sentence. "Our own case is different: physically we are formed by that (inferior) soul, given forth (not directly from God but) from the divine beings in the heavens and from the heavens themselves; it is by way of that inferior soul that we are associated with the body . . ."

The "inferior soul" is the principle of our existence.

* The soma aspect builds up the actual modifications of the body. What is responsible for the psychic functions?

* DIAGRAM

[Note: For AS's fuller elaboratiobn of this diagram, drawn on page '2a' of the source PDF, see FIGURE 1981 1028a-3, appended.]

The dignities and non-dignities would be related to the building up of the psycho-somatic organism.

Psycho refers to the psychological or gnostic functions, or concepts.

Somatic refers to the sthula, linga, etc.

* The grid or schema forming the lower soul builds up the psyche and the soma. Through that the individual soul gets experience of this cosmos. The substance that the schema is using seems to be coming from the sidereal zodiac. See Plotinus quote IV.4.23, "The Intermediate" — akin to both.

* The grid is identified with the Soul of the Earth, and cannot be separated from it. The input 'X' is from the sidereal, the force fields.

Out of this the grid is concreting the psychical and the actual physical (which is further corporealization). Any individual's personality would have these 2 factors, the psyche, the images of the 7 planetary functions, and the soma. The psyche is here constituted by the Cosmic Circuit.

Even the World Soul has an aspect bound up with body — this is the grid. The 7 powers of the soul operating in the grid can't be separated from the grid. In other words, Saturn is always in a sign, is never by itself.

Saturn in dignity, in its gnostic functioning, is the psyche aspect of Saturn. By "gnostic dignities" we mean the image of the World Soul's powers, functioning in the cosmos; that is, in the psyche — self-apperception, libido, and so on.

When a planet is not in dignity, these cosmocrators produce the material vehicles — sthula, linga, and so on.

* II. 1. 5, p. 84. "Physically we are formed . . ."

This grid is the same as the Earth Soul.

* II. 3. 9, second para. "Divinities moving in the cosmos . . . we are set under necessity . . ."

* The non-dignities would actually be condensing the force field into the soma, or concreting soma into a body. The non-dignities are more concerned with the forces coming in from the sidereal. Therefore astrology based on the sidereal zodiac is more concerned with circumstances.

The dignities, R E D F, are following images of soul powers. The reason dignities are important in astrology is that they are related to the soul powers. The dignities concern themselves more with the tropical aspect.

* Then the senses as non-dignities, and the understanding as dignities, would be in the grid. The schema or grid brings together these two functions of the mind.

*** Analogously: Sun in Aquarius has both a Nature and a Soul aspect. Similarly, in the 12th House, the grid combines Nature and Soul. The tropical zodiac is coming from the Liberated Order. The Nature aspect is unconscious. Nature contemplates — these "pure force fields" — are the Mundane Order.

* Out of the sidereal forces the actual material vehicle will be constituted, and then you can speak of knowing it. The schema is the combination which is not purely intellectual (that is, from Soul), nor purely material (from Nature).

*** How does the tropical zodiac fit into this?

The tropical zodiac is the Earth Soul's (not Nature's) experience of the 12. The tropical zodiac is the Idea of Man in Soul, coming from within, and leads to the idea of terrestrial man, who is an amalgamation of tropisms.

The planets and their dignities are the Idea of Man in Soul, not the Idea of Man as matter.

*** The non-dignities are concerned with the Idea of Man in Nature (or matter). The life systems constituting the body, for instance the bone system, must also participate in the Idea of Man.

* IV.4.23, on perception. ". . . instrument . . . it must be apt to likeness with both . . . external object . . . internal, the knower, by the fact that the modification it takes becomes a Form."

* [aside] The sidereal zodiac establishes the locus for the Sun's operation. Where the Sun appears and manifests is determined for it.

* Saturn in Libra is that for the Earth too. Saturn in Libra functions natally and by transiting. Natally it is stamped on the structure of the individual's mental body. Transiting it is participating in the Earth Soul's aspect.

* Does the Earth have Saturn in Libra in its chart? No. The Earth's chart is instantaneous and not fixed as an individual's natal chart. The Earth doesn't have a reproductive imagination because the individual's natal chart is that reproductive imagination. The individual's participating means the individual's natal chart is participating in the Earth's instantaneous chart.

*** A [Anthony Damiani]: Maybe the Liberated Order structures the tropical zodiac — or Idea of Man in Soul.

The Mundane Order of gods, which primarily refers to impressions, is associated with the 12th House sidereal forces and the non-dignities that are fabricative.

The Liberated Order, the dignities, are concerned with the visible.

Aries appears in both orders, and Taylor makes a one-to-one correspondence. This correspondence of gods is why one and the same mind can operate with sense and conceptions, why there is unity in the grid.

— • • • —

* When Aries precesses, where does the relation of the Liberated and the Mundane Orders change?

The movement of the tropical within the sidereal is what you mean by evolution, the metamorphosis of forms and conditions.

* Sun in Aquarius brackets out towards the 12th House. The tropical zodiac is imaged forth from that Sun in Aquarius. The sidereal, the unknown 'X', is part of the 12th House.

* The tropical zodiac is imaginary, a give-away that it's conceptual.

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