From revelation to revelation
The flow of energy from the plane of mind (Aries) progresses through Taurus, “the symbol of desire in all its phases”, before reaching the level of form. As the writings of Alice Bailey tell us, “The flow of spiritual energies begins with thought, released from the plane of mind, then mobilizing through desire before entering into form. …Desire propels the planets in their orbits, the shoots of a plant breaking through the soil, the migrations of birds and animals, and the efforts—selfless or self-serving—of humans to reach a goal and then see another.” Desire in all its phases (will, power, purpose, aspiration, ambition) generates on all planes of life the compelling urgency of the will-to-live. Taurus is the symbol of desire in all its phases and thus, the condition of Taurus is struggle. “It is the struggle of that which is deeply hidden in darkness to reach the light of day, of the hidden soul to dominate and control the outer form, to transmute desire into aspiration…to attain the goal which an increasing light reveals”, Alice Bailey wrote.
This quest for light is expressed in the keynote for Taurus: I see, and when the eye is opened all is light. Pure light is an incredibly powerful energy but not always benign in its effects, for esoteric teaching questions humanity’s capacity “to take the light” and to use it rightly. Revelation leading to enlightenment can create a stimulation so potent as to be “stupefying” in its effect on the unprepared mechanism. Saul of Tarsus, a fierce opponent of Jesus’s teachings, became the devoted Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus only after experiencing a sudden blast of light so intense that it rendered him blind for three days.
Perhaps the power of revelatory light helps to explain the stresses so evident in the world today. The light of a new age is pouring in, accompanied by a growing responsiveness to what esotericism calls the Shamballa force—the energy of the spiritual will. At the time of the Taurus full moon each year, we’re told, the Forces of Enlightenment which the Buddha contacted on the May full moon more than 2,500 years ago bring the “touch of Shamballa” to humanity. Enlightenment is much more than knowledge; it’s a combination of wisdom, skill in action, and loving understanding. It cannot find expression in the consciousness that is impinged by selfish or reactionary minds, nor by those who are preoccupied by personal or group problems, who cannot place their personal or group identity within the greater context of the whole.
The Buddha, whose name means “the enlightened one”, was the first to clarify the nature of desire and all its consequences. The true nature of existence is dukkha–sorrow or suffering—he said, and its cause is self-affirmation—the urge to promote the individual separated self at any cost. The powerful energies that pour through Taurus can stimulate the personal will to heights of desire and ambition, but on their highest level these same energies can provide the key to self-mastery. “He never taught the subjugation of passions, as such, but the transmutation and the sublimation of their quality, for at the base of each passion is contained the spark of energy without which no progress is possible”, Helena Roerich wrote in her book The Foundations of Buddhism. Life in form is suffering, but when the eye is opened, life is also wonder. Perhaps poets such as Wordsworth and Whitman were especially responsive to this realization, for they were able to discern and give words to the wonder that is revealed in the world around us when our eyes are opened, through enlightened perception, to the good, the beautiful, and the true that are existence on its highest levels of being. Ultimately, Alice Bailey wrote, “There is only progress from glory to glory, a moving forward from point to point on the divine Way, and from revelation to revelation towards those points and revelations which are perhaps part of the Goal of God Himself.”
