Ruth’s series on Esoteric Astrology began in November 2010. Since that time, she has introduced us to this very different perspective and taken us through the zodiac three times as we explored the sign pairs, soul rulers, and Rising signs through the lens of Soul Astrology. This will be her last regular post on RealAstrologers as she moves on into other work. She will be back from time to time with articles on other topics. I hope you have gained as much as I have from Ruth’s wisdom and insight. Don’t forget that there’s an archive of her posts, in case you missed any or would like to go back and re-read your favorites. (I have been remiss in linking to all of her Rising Sign series but will do so soon). Also, you can continue to follow Ruth on her own website. ~Pat

As we complete our journey around the zodiac exploring the love-based expressions and fear-based reactions of the signs, we finally arrive at the magnificent and mysterious twelfth sign of Pisces: the sign of the Sacred Heart.

The sign of Pisces is associated with escapism, suffering, retreats, religious orders, prisons, everything illusory and glamorous: photography, the movie industry, and … oceanic consciousness, devotion, and universal love. To understand the mysteries of this seemingly contradictory sign, we need to understand what is sometimes known as the “veil” of our illusion; how it is our illusion that causes suffering, and how disillusionment or seeing reality as it truly is can be an end to suffering and lead to the Sacred Heart opening of humanity. Our soul’s journey through the previous eleven signs has finally prepared us for the ultimate experience in Pisces.

All know that the drop merges into the ocean but few know that the ocean merges into the drop. ~ Ramana Maharshi

The sign of Pisces is associated with oceanic consciousness and it is because of this oceanic awareness that Pisces is also the most sensitive sign of the zodiac. This deep sensitivity means that our Piscean friends are keenly aware of the suffering of others, so much so that it can often feel just too much. Feeling overwhelmed by the suffering in the world can prompt our Piscean friends to withdraw and to all forms of escapism, ranging from lying low with a movie and a tub of ice cream, to full-blown alcohol, drug, gambling, and gaming addictions are the fear-based reactions and personality-based pitfalls of this beautiful and mysterious sign.

Although Pisces is a water sign, and water signs are about mastery of emotions, nowhere is it more important to understand the nature of the mind than in the sign of Pisces, especially the connection between heart and mind. It is the mind that creates all our projections and illusions, and it is the power of the heart that sees through all illusion. It is our mind that separates us, and our heart that returns us to wholeness. It is our illusions that generate suffering, yet on an everyday basis we do not examine how our mind creates illusion. We just accept everything at face value and believe in the appearance of things.

This gives rise to the two Pisces fish, the fish who swims in the shallow waters, never questioning appearances and accepting everything at face value, and the fish who dives to the depths to understand our deeper, spiritual nature. There are many different spiritual traditions, each having different methods for revealing spiritual truth, and one method is called the path of devotion. Devotional practices involve surrendering to a deeper experience of love, so that one comes to experience a greater love than that which we normally experience in our everyday lives. An example is Bhakti Yoga in India.

Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart or the seat of consciousness, it is all the same. The point to be grasped is this, that Heart means the very core of one’s being, the centre, without which there is nothing whatever. ~ Ramana Maharshi

Devotional practices are often misunderstood in the West. Their purpose is not (as is often believed) to encourage blind devotion to a particular guru, group, or cult; but, rather through devotional practices, it is possible to experience a higher or transcendent love: the love of God, or what may be called universal love. This was the original purpose behind monasteries and religious devotional orders, and it is the highest spiritual path of Pisces (although one doesn’t need to enter a monastery to pursue a devotional spiritual practice).

Without a personal direct experience of universal love, we are stuck with ordinary life as it appears to be, and may never go beyond the illusions created by our own mind. Most of us are unaware of the mechanism through which our mind creates and sustains this illusion. In a previous article, “Leo Rising: The Leo Soul,” we looked at how the illusion of “me” gets created and maintained throughout our lives. If we never challenge it, then we find ourselves 30 or 40 years later still trying to be a false “me” that is purely a construct of the mind – it doesn’t really exist! The biggest illusion, is YOU!

Drop the idea of becoming someone, because you are already a masterpiece. You cannot be improved. You have only to come to it, to know it, to realize it. God himself has created you; you cannot be improved.  ~OSHO

Let’s briefly review how that happened. As a baby, we were a pure bundle of awareness; we were aware of everything, but without mental concepts. We didn’t have the ability to think, “I am this” or “I am that.” We just were. Then somebody told us, “That is you,” and the seed of an idea was planted. “Me”. This idea has continued to grow within us, and it obscures the fact of the underlying reality that existed before we created our label. Just like when watching a movie we lose sight of the screen and the movie theater and get lost in the story, in our own lives we get so entangled in the story of “me” that we lose sight of our deeper reality as spiritual beings. We are like spiders caught in our own webs.

Wakefulness passes off, I am; the dream state passes off, I am; the sleep state passes off, I am. They repeat themselves, and yet I am. They are like pictures moving on the screen in a cinema show. They do not affect the screen. Similarly also, I remain unaffected although these states pass off.  ~ Ramana Maharshi

According to spiritual traditions, it is this constant inner monologue of self-concern that keeps us from seeing ourselves as we truly are, and the purpose of devotional practices are simply to divert our attention away from mental activity and bring our awareness back to our heart. Recent studies into meditative practices have noticed that when we learn to shift our attention away from mental activity, there is a marked reduction in suffering (see “The Neuroscience of Suffering – And Its End”). Indeed current research shows that not all mental activity leads to suffering – but a particular “self-referential” type of thinking that creates and maintains this illusion of a “false self.”

The mind thinks of the self as separate, the heart knows better.  ~ Jack Kornfield

When we believe in this illusory self created by our mind, we experience a deep sense of separation, and that is suffering. Even the idea that mind and heart are separate is part of this illusion. In universal love there is no such separation. In Esoteric Astrology, by Alice Bailey, the Tibetan Master DK teaches that “all sickness and suffering is caused by separation.” We are all suffering from a kind of separation anxiety, caused by a false belief in our separateness from our human family, nature and our divinity. Once we drop this illusion and rest in our natural self, we experience the truth of connection for ourselves. This is the true meaning of “healing,” as the word “whole” and the word “heal” both have their origin in the old English word haelan, which means “to make whole.”

You are not accidental. Existence needs you. Without you something will be missing in existence and nobody can replace it. That’s what gives you dignity, that the whole existence will miss you. The stars and sun and moon, the trees and birds and earth – everything in the universe will feel a small place is vacant which cannot be filled by anybody except you.
This gives you a tremendous joy, a fulfillment that you are related to existence, and existence cares for you. Once you are clean and clear, you can see tremendous love falling on you from all dimensions.  ~OSHO

The truth is, we never really leave our heart center, but we do forget about it, and this is the nature of the “veil.” Our separation is just an illusion. When we remember how to live from our hearts, we realize, through our own direct experience, the true meaning of oneness with God and the whole of creation. When we learn to abide permanently in our hearts, this is true healing. The Sacred Heart of humanity is the sacred core of our being, and it is known through the devotional path of Pisces. When we remember our true nature and drop all illusion, our hearts beat as one and true peace and universal uove prevail. This is the Sacred Heart of humanity.

Only by doing nothing will you accomplish all there is to be done.  ~ Patrul Rinpoche

If you have Pisces Rising, you can consider yourself to be a Pisces soul. You are not here to do anything but realize your own true nature. The most important thing you can do is to learn to drop all illusions and self-concern, and simply rest in the truth of your own being. When you learn to live from your heart, your heart center opens wider, you emanate universal love, and you become a pacemaker for other human hearts to follow. You are simply here to remember who you are and live it fully, so others may see your light and follow your example.

What I am is good enough if I would only be it openly. ~ Carl Rogers

According to Esoteric Astrology, the journey of our soul began as “a point of light in the mind of God” in Aries. That point of light left “the Father’s house” and experienced a fantastic journey of existence, experience, individuation, and maturation in which awareness became aware of itself. Finally our journey through the zodiac culminates here in Pisces, where we remember our oneness and return home bearing the gifts of awareness, wisdom, power, compassion, consciousness, and universal love. Through Esoteric Astrology and in particular The Twelve Labors of Hercules: an astrological interpretation, the Tibetan Master DK is describing the creation and development of our soul, or light body, in stages from instinct, intellect, intuition, and illumination to enlightenment. It is through this greatest journey of all – our soul’s journey of consciousness – that we are able to experience and become aware of our own divinity and fully realize our true nature as divine beings of love and light.

Ruth

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Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”