The unexpected keys to liberation
Pisces, sign of the World Saviour, brings to fruition the lessons learned through service in Aquarius. As the twelfth and culminating sign, Pisces is the omega point of the zodiac. All souls repeatedly return to incarnation to experience the gamut of the zodiac, but in Pisces an element of finality or of conclusion in the zodiacal flow of energy is experienced which slowly, inevitably reveals that the ultimate destiny of humanity is to serve as planetary mediator. “In humanity all lines and aspects meet. The subhuman kingdoms find their consummation in humanity, and the superhuman kingdoms their opportunity, and through the human kingdom all superhuman lives have at some time passed”, the writings of Alice Bailey tell us. The great spiritual law “as above so below” means that this fundamental truth has relevance for every incarnated human soul. The destiny of each human being might be regarded as having in view the establishment of a sympathetic relation with other human units as well as with the animal kingdom, and also “the development of the power to act as the transmitter of energies from greater lives than one’s own, and to become a transmuting, mediating agency”, in Alice Bailey’s words.
Although Pisces is the sign of mediatorship, on a mass level mediumship is the more appropriate term, for the major problem of Pisces is psychic sensitivity. The lower psychical powers must be transmuted into spiritual faculties in order to maintain stability and clarity of perception in response to the inpouring forces and energies which can be such powerful causes of glamour. Now, at the close of the Piscean Age, glamour is a worldwide problem. Illusions and glamours are being shattered in order to “inaugurate the reign of the Real. It is the revelation of the Real which is the high task following the final tests in the twelve signs”, Alice Bailey wrote. This shattering is an effect of the inpouring light, for all true esoteric service generates light and thus makes impact on substance. In reality light is substance, and esotericism is the art of “bringing down to earth” those energies emanating from the highest sources and grounding or anchoring them.
This helps us to understand the significance of the key word of Pisces: I leave the Father’s home and turning back, I save. The illumination of substance, the energetic or etheric component of matter, is an act of salvage and a profoundly vital need in this materialistic age. All spiritual seekers can play a part in this service, even though on the periphery of the Masters’ influence, for regardless of where one stands in the spectrum of evolution, one can serve as a mediator between those stages still higher and those below, speaking in terms of consciousness. “The great chain of contact reaches from Shamballa to humanity, and then, through humanity, to the three subhuman kingdoms”, Alice Bailey wrote. In this way light illumines the radiant surface of Earth and all are “enlightened and raised”.
The human urge to return to the Father’s home—an ancient, deeply seated human urge which was expressed in the Upanishads as “the resting-place which the Vedas proclaim…the unchanging Eternal”—is mistakenly sought “upwards”, away from the phenomenal world, but in reality the keynotes of Pisces—bondage, renunciation, and sacrifice—hold the unexpected keys to entrance. The salvaging of souls, the releasing of the prisoners of the planet—of all lives embodied in form—is in fact the goal for the spiritual seeker. As an ancient manuscript confirms, the cycle of liberation leads “Back to the depths of darkness, away from the light of day….To gather those who stumble in the darkness and light their steps upon the path….Whilst one suffers I stay behind and serve.” Thus is spiritual law fulfilled, Alice Bailey wrote, for “as we redeem are we redeemed, as we save are we ourselves salvaged”. This is the lesson of Pisces.
