Matter, the hiding place for spirit
Virgo is one of the most significant signs in the zodiac because it concerns the whole goal of the evolutionary process: to shield, nurture and finally reveal the hidden spiritual reality. This, esoteric teaching tells us, every form veils. As long as we remain focused only on forms—on outer expression—we contribute to “the great heresy of separateness”, Alice Bailey wrote. Yet, forms play a vital role in the evolutionary process, for matter guards, cherishes and nurtures the hidden soul. This is the mother aspect which Virgo represents, coming midway in the evolutionary cycle depicted by the zodiac, beginning in Aries which initiates the cycle of manifestation into matter, followed by incarnation in form which takes place in Cancer, and culminating in the achievement of Christ as the world Savior in Pisces.
Virgo’s place at the midway point was expressed by the apostle Paul as “Christ in you, the hope of glory”—the Christ principle concealed in form, awaiting revelation. As the Franciscan Richard Rohr points out, “Matter is, and always has been, the hiding place for spirit.” The energies which flow through Virgo foster a process of gestation rather than producing an achievement, for the Virgo experience symbolizes depths, darkness, quiet and warmth. It’s the valley of deep experience where slow, gentle yet powerful crises take place…in the dark, and only later culminating in the fulfillment of Paul’s promise. These thoughts cast light on Alice Bailey’s description of Virgo as “the womb of time”.
Virgo represents the feminine aspect of creation in the development of the hidden but ever present divinity, we’re told. The fact that divinity is concealed within form helps us to understand the importance of intelligence, the third aspect of divinity, which esoteric teaching describes as the creative, nurturing principle of the universe. Learning to use the intelligence leads to the revelation that behind the outer world there is a coordinated, organized idea which is working out by means of the material form. That this recognition is dawning on human minds seems verified by developments in the study of the animal kingdom—not just the domesticated animals and the apes but extending to the intelligence demonstrated by birds, whales, elephants and, no doubt, many other species. Scientists are also discovering how intelligence expresses through the vegetable kingdom, as in the integrated network which trees create in a forest.
These examples which the Earth provides indicate how intelligence governs all forms and seems to permeate the realm of matter. We live, in effect, in an “ocean of intelligence”, yet all too often, spiritual seekers look beyond the outer realms of human and planetary relationships in search of the sacred, believing that, given the world’s problems and the depth of humanity’s confusion, God must be sought “somewhere out there”. Yet, as Alice Bailey wrote, “There is no need for too great an upward straining or too intense an outward looking….That which is to be revealed lies all around us, and within us. It is the significance of all that is embodied in form, the meaning behind the appearance, the reality veiled by the symbol, the truth expressed in substance.” In this thought we realize the enormous significance that life in manifestation offers; for the creation of finer, more responsive forms, whether ideas or artistic endeavors or relationships, is the proper field of our efforts while in incarnation on this beautiful planet.
The keynote of Virgo sums up this creative promise: I am the mother and the child. I, God, I matter, am.
