The valley of deep experience:
The flow of energy depicted in the zodiac progresses from Cancer, in which the anchoring of spirit in the material realm first takes place, through Leo, where the consciousness of an individual identity, “I”, awakens within the incarnated form, to Virgo, in which the mother aspect of forms is recognized as a necessary component of evolution. Esoteric teaching tells us that the work of the Christ principle—the soul aspect—is to build the forms for the expression of quality and life. “Just as the mother protects the germ of the Christ life, matter guards, cherishes and nurtures the hidden soul”, in Alice Bailey’s words. This process of gestation occurs not only in the human kingdom but in the lower kingdoms as well, revealing wonders on every level of manifested life. Just as the brilliance and refraction of the diamond reveal the “imprisoned splendor” within the mineral kingdom, the attractive scent of the rose is a similar example in the vegetable kingdom. What imprisoned splendor” is awaiting revelation in the human kingdom, when conditions allow its emergence?
Perhaps it will manifest through the creative intelligence of the human mind, as implied in the very word “man” which comes from the Sanskrit term meaning “one who thinks”. Virgo is the focal point for the expression of active intelligence, Alice Bailey wrote, for by use of the intelligence the form may be adapted to the need of the indwelling life. This recognition applies not only to the human atom but is characteristic of matter in general, she said, for the fundamental faculty of intelligence characterizes all atomic matter. To achieve forms which are increasingly appropriate expressions of the indwelling spirit, the faculty of adaptability is required, with all its implications of change and relinquishment. Understanding the esoteric dimensions of this essential function of the evolutionary process governing the relation of spirit to matter can shed light on the current times we live in.
Adaptability can be a preventive measure which offers an antidote to the shattering of forms, and the word “shattering” seems entirely appropriate to describe the present times. Shattering implies destruction, and this may be why there is such a visible tension between the desire to “return to normal” and the growing realization that there is only a “new normal” lying ahead. In such a transitional, confusing period, the call in the writings of Alice Bailey to “cultivate plasticity” takes on new meaning. Inevitably, the transition into a new age will bring much disruption “until the forms that be have adapted themselves to the newer vibration”. Doesn’t that provide both clarity and a warning concerning so much of the present turmoil in the world? World views that are crystallized and resistant to expansion are susceptible to shattering, but the cultivation of pliability and adaptability in response to the changes underway will generate more creative adaptations, we’re told.
“Faith sees best in the dark”, Kierkegaard said—an intuitive observation for the present cycle. The lessons of Virgo take place in the dark, in “the valley of deep experience”, and thus Virgo represents the womb, both of form and of time. It’s a place of slow, gentle and yet powerful crises in keeping with the mother aspect which prepares the form prior to birth. Accepting the “fecundity” of darkness, of periods of “not knowing”, can awaken humanity’s capacity for endurance, for vision and patience, enabling us to live in the present without knowing exactly what is emerging but trusting that something better, higher and finer is seeking to manifest through the choices each of us makes now. The powerfully creative cycle which Virgo contributes to the soul’s evolution is beautifully expressed in the keynote for meditation: I am the mother and the child. I, God, I, matter am.
