Fraternity is parallelity in human relationship. In our endeavor to decrystallize our congestions on "being different from other people," let us focus our attention now on "how like unto other people we really are" by meditating on the Great Mandala called the Abstract Horoscope: a twelve-housed wheel with the symbols of the signs on the cusps starting with Aries as the Ascendant, and the symbols for the planets placed in the houses corresponding to their signs of dignity. The fraternity of all human beings to each other is here illustrated in so far as it is the entire essential astrological symbology of all human beings. It is interesting — and illuminating — to note that physical sex, absolute evolutionary development, and "nationality, creed, and color" are not pictured in this design. The above-mentioned qualifications are temporary levels of expression by which man separates himself from his fellows through his feelings of inferiority and superiority, betterness and worseness, higherness and lowerness and, in general, "differentness." Man differs from his fellows, in any real sense, only in the dimension of time; some of us leave the level of primitivity a little sooner than others and, correspondingly some attain liberation sooner. But, we all travel the same road and we all fulfill the same evolutionary requirements as expressions of the idea "Humanity." When we clearly realize that our reactions of fear and hatred toward a "wrong-doer and his deed" are simply — repeat simply — memory-stimuli of our commitments of that deed in the past, then we recognize that condemnation of a "fellow wrong-doer" is the perversion of what should be fraternal love; he is fraternal to us in so far as he — and we — are parallel to each other in negative exercise of consciousness — the releasing of our vibratory resources in ignorance of principle.

   Actually, is not "condemnation of a wrong-doer" a protest of the consciousness in being made to see an outpicturing of its "naughty childhood?" We tend to blame ourselves, at times, when we remember mistakes or foolishness that we have done in past years; does not consciousness, then, "blame itself" when we exercise a reaction of intense negative feeling against something done by another person? Our consciousness is one with that of our brother/sister — essential resource for the expression of the one love and the one wisdom of our Father-Mother-God. We are parallel to each other in being expressions of an idea of our bi-polar parent; the masculine/feminine of each human being is, actually, what is meant by the brotherhood/sisterhood of humanity.

   We are parallel with other human beings in our patterns of similarity in suffering. Define "suffering" as "the way in which we involuntarily decrystallize our congestions in consciousness."

   We do not consciously invite suffering — the whole impulse of the human nature is to avoid pain and trouble to the utmost; but since we do not consciously exercise our capacities for growth and unfoldment, Life has its way — through rhythmic stimulus of our vibratory patterns — to alert us to needed correctives for the better releasement of our spiritual potentials. Suffering is the stimulus of a vibratory congestion and a parallelity of vibratory conditioning is found in the "doer of the wrong deed" and the one who reacts to the deed with pain; the former is functioning dynamically, the latter functions reflectively; both, in composite, represent the masculine/feminine of the congested pattern. Should not the "parallelity in suffering" be the ground on which we establish our most acutely sensitive sympathy with fellow human beings? What about the person who exacts revenge as a retaliation against a "wrong done unto him?" Is he really "balancing the account in justice?" His commitment of the same — or a similar — deed ties him in parallelity to the one through whom he experienced his hurt — the congestion is intensified and both are further "imprisoned." The negative condition in the basic consciousness is emphasized thereby and both will have to face a more drastic "recrystallization" in due time until the parallelity is mutually harmonized through love-wisdom.

   Students ask: "Why for goodness sake, is the third house called the house of brothers and sisters?" Let us see what two copies of the Great Mandala have to say:

   Turn one so that the fourth cusp (Cancer) takes the place of the Ascendant; turn the other one so that the tenth cusp (Capricorn) takes the place of the Ascendant. In the first, Gemini is the twelfth house-sign; in the second, Sagittarius is the twelfth house-sign. Basic keyword of the twelfth house-sign-pattern is redemption of unfulfilled ideals; Gemini is the ninth — Wisdom — house-sign from Libra, the symbol of feminine complementation; Sagittarius is the ninth house-sign from Aries, symbol of masculine complementation. Who makes incarnation possible? The Mother (Cancer) and the Father (Capricorn), as the bipolar generative expression of life. In other words, then, why does a woman become a mother and why does a man become a father?

   (1) To contribute to the redemption of human life by making possible the incarnation of more "Lights;"

   (2) To extend their scope of knowledge and understanding through their stewardship of their begotten;

   (3) In present female and male expression to "ignite" knowledge-resources derived from wisdom when each was incarnate as the opposite sex;

   (4) To experience "karmic return" — the agency of redemption — by fulfilling karmic relationship-patterns through the experience chapter of parentage — thereby elasticizing the expression of their Love-Wisdom resources through a variation of polarity and gender, in an extension (from the past) of the dimension of Time.

   Since the third house is the "twelfth-house-of-the-fourth-house," we see that the brothers and sisters (replicas, in part, of the masculinity-femininity of both parents) on the inner planes overshadow the embryonic seeds in the mother's body. The impregnating action of the father makes this "contact-ignition" possible and those "in the third house" emerge (Cancer-Capricorn are cardinal signs) from the invisible into the visible through incarnation.

   In the Great Mandala, the sign Gemini is the "root" of the fraternal diameter, being in the first quadrant of the wheel. Its ruler, Mercury — the intellectual faculty — is neutral as far as gender is concerned; the sign is third of the air-trine initiated by Libra, therefore "reflective" in quality. The mythological Mercury transmitted messages from the gods to human-beings; are not our brothers/sisters messengers from father/mother God to us? It is through our childhood relationships with brothers and sisters — in the physical sense — that we receive our first "messages" or relationship-parallelity and acquaintance with the opposite sex. "Brothers and sisters" also means "fellow-students," "playmates" and "childhood companions:" the "togetherness of children" in the early years of incarnation is the root of "togetherness of men and women" in adult life; the relationship of ourselves with our physical brothers and sisters is a focused, karmic expression of this parallelity. Also, the "neutral" quality — or "androgyny" — of Mercury as ruler of Gemini is symbolic of the passionless-ness (for the most part) of our affections for fellow-children; boys and girls play together and associate simply as "kids" — it is not until the emergence of the passional qualities in adolescence and sexual recognition of the opposite sex that the "differences of male and female" are perceived in a marked way.

   Now — an extended approach to the third house (referring to the Great Mandala).

   It is the first relationship house in the cycle of the wheel starting with the Ascendant; consequently, it represents our "childhood-relationships" in any experience level. As long as we are new to an experience-pattern, we are children, regardless of how old we may be chronologically. A person who starts a study of anything is a "child" in that particular endeavor. Adults who have congestions to the third house, to the sign Gemini and to the planet Mercury are persons who have difficulty in adjusting to a new mental horizon — and very likely will experience difficulties in adjusting to relationships with fellow-students. In adult years, there may be an "accumulation of negatives" (rigidity of opinions, false-pride, envies, and jealousies, inferiority and superiority complexes, etc.) which have accrued during the years of growth. When such an adult is moved — for whatever reason — to "inaugurate a new learning," these accrued negatives will emerge from his subconscious through his "fraternal contact" with fellow students; he may find his going "a little tough" because of his negative reactions to others and consequently find that the actual mental exercise is difficult. He may blame his age or his not having studied anything for a long time, but contact with other people is the ignition of negatives, and careful observation may serve to prove that his feelings of "un-fraternity" are really the root of his difficulties. (The author's experience in the war — paralleled by that of many other men — bears this out: being ordered to carry out a line of work that was completely new and unfamiliar, the third-house-Gemini-Mercury congestions brought about feelings and reactions of great disturbance and unpleasantness toward fellow-workers; this made the adjustment to the new work very difficult; when, however, adjustment to others was established in friendliness and familiarity — brotherhood — the adjustment to duty-fulfillment became one of harmony and actually, of pleasure.)

   The exercise of our third house faculties is focused on exercise of mind; consequently, the impersonality of approach can be a remarkable corrective for unpleasantness through contact with people with whom we are associated in both study (Gemini) and work (Virgo)-also ruled by Mercury — experience. Mentally to let every other fellow-student and fellow-worker fulfill his pattern according to his equipment is a most effective psychological decrystallization of false pride, envy, and inferiority. When we make our goal the best of our own learning and working, we free others from the unpleasantness of our negatives and we free ourselves from inner discomforts, resulting in greater efficiency all around. We cannot have personal feelings about knowledge and work since Gemini and Virgo are "roots" of our impersonal flowerings — Gemini is polarized by the wisdom of Sagittarius-ninth house; Virgo is the "modulation" from the lower semi-circle into the upper semi-circle through the cardinal sign Libra. To perceive and appreciate the abilities and potentials of fellow-students and fellow-workers is to charge the study and work-experiences with the glow of Love-power and congestions automatically loosen.

   What are some of the results from holding on to Gemini-Virgo, third-house sixth-house, Mercury congestions? Create the mandala of the mutable cross: a wheel with the cusps of the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth houses covered by the symbols for Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces, respectively. Connect these points by straight lines, forming the mutable square. Emphasize the Gemini-Sagittarius and Virgo-Pisces diameters. A significant thing: the two "lower points" of the mutable square give us a clue to a remarkable "generic composite" through the rulership by Mercury. The masculine polarity is Gemini (female) and Sagittarius (male); the feminine polarity is Virgo (male) and Pisces (female). Herein Mercury is seen to be the only planet which "roots" the entire generic spectrum of two-fold quality of two-fold polarity, hence Mercury's androgynous nature is pictured completely.

   Various types of Mercury-congestion may be classified as follows:

   (1) Gemini: lack of mental focus, organization, and concentration; this results in superficial inquiry, dabbling, and mental vacillation; Mercury, remaining "childish" is "mental activity, but to no purpose," study without perception, thought without wisdom, speech and writing without pattern or technique; the best that can be said for this pattern is "acquisition of facts" but absorption of knowledge is difficult or purposeless, and expression, without wisdom, can be lacking in truthfulness which, in its turn, is evidence of immaturity. The first line of the mutable cross cuts across the cardinal sign Cancer, initiator of the second (or "family") quadrant and Leo, the resource of love-power, to the second mutable sign:

   (2) Virgo — ninth house-sign of the earth-trine, initiated by Capricorn — symbol of service as the wisdom-aspect of the element of earth and the releasement of creative-love potentials as a contribution to life; congested, Virgo is a "doing for material return;" it is "working without knowledge or wisdom;" the slogan "Employer (Capital) versus Employee (Labor)" is an archetypal word-symbol for "Sixth House Congestion;" both capital and labor are workers-in-the-world and only through fraternity can the slogan be reworded into "Capital and Labor as the composite of true service — each fulfilling his part with equity — with cooperation and the best possible personal contribution to the work-pattern; "Capital versus Labor" is service congested and depleted by lack of technical knowledge and (very important) its principle: wisdom concerning human values. Just as fraternal composites are found in the combination such as father/mother, husband/wife, etc., so is capital/labor the composite identity of service. From Virgo the second line cuts across the cardinal sign Libra (reflective complementation) and its emotional resource, Scorpio, to:

   (3) Sagittarius: ninth house-sign from Aries, third aspect of the fire-trine, the polarity of Gemini, the radiation of knowledge as wisdom, the fraternity of fathers and the fraternity of our elder brothers/sisters — our teachers, the parents of our Spirits. Congested, the ninth house is theory and abstraction that is put to no practical purpose; it is wisdom that is not demonstrated in daily living; it is religion that emphasizes forms, distinctions, and differences; it is a subtle testing-point in higher octaves of development because the congestion that we call "pride" is herein evidenced in our condescensions toward those we choose to feel are "lower" or "less wise" than we are; it is wisdom utilized to channel expressions of personal power-gratification, thus defeating its own purpose because of being out of line with its own principle; its essence, being congested, is failure to learn from experience, the consciousness being unperceptive of the principles involved in experience-patterns. Just as inharmony and contention between parents can result in the infliction of grievous wounds on the minds and emotions of growing children, so can — with much more drastic effect — jealousies, envies, competitions, and feelings of unfraternity in the hearts of our teachers, educators, religious leaders and artists inflict double wounds on our minds and emotions because thereby the spiritual work of the world is congested, distracted, and depleted; as children sometimes tend to feel that they are "competitors against each other for the love of the parents," and fellow-workers (Capital or Labor) are mutual "competitors for income-getting," so our Elder Brothers and Sisters may strive against each other for prestige, acclaim, fame, power, and influence; they should, actually, stand as living symbols of spiritual fraternity so that the consciousness of the "younger ones" may be more securely and certainly lifted in understanding and perception; if they are to "parent" our Spirits, they must undertake to do so with wisdom that channels their love-power. From Sagittarius the fourth line cuts across the apex of the wheel at the sign Capricorn (responsibility-fulfillment) and across the " Soul-quadrant" to:

   (4) Pisces and the twelfth house, polarity of Mercury's Virgo and sign of "redemption of unfulfilled ideals;" the fraternity of soul is pictured by this transcendent, Neptune-ruled sign; herein we face the out-picturings of our most serious expressions of "un-fraternity" — our violations against the Divine in man and through it, by karmic-return, we are brought face-to-face with our "fraternity with the worst in man" — the imprisoned, the persecuted, the betrayer of ideals and the worshiper of graven images; congested twelfth house is the "Judas" in each of us — through its picturings we see the "dust" that we have thrown into the eyes of our brother/sister — blinding him/her with illusions; Neptune, congested, sums up the worst that is inaugurated by congested Mercury and congested Jupiter; only the most drastic revisions of consciousness — through realizing and living the ideal — can bring these patterns into constructive realignment; the twelfth house and the sign Pisces are interpreted as "self-undoing" (the one self cannot be undone) because in them we walk into the traps we have set, in the past, for our brother/sister and make ourselves "messengers of darkness" rather than "messengers of the gods."

   Gemini (abstractly) and your third cusp (concretely), are the ninth house-sign from Libra (abstract sign of complementation) and your seventh house (concrete); "ninth house-sign" conveys "wisdom aspect;" the wisdom we derived from our last incarnation in the opposite sex manifests in the love we now receive — and happiness enjoyed — with brother/sister of that sex; and, that wisdom-resource makes possible greater unfoldments in this incarnation through our new chapters of fraternity.

   The first trine from Gemini is Libra itself — the intensely focused love aspect of fraternity; our husband/wife is truly our brother/sister and the next "extension" to Aquarius, the eleventh house-sign, is the picturing of fraternity in its most widely extended octave — that of friendship, the love-vibration, in parallelity, which unites us in consciousness with all of our brothers/sisters, transcending all barriers of relationship-classification and difference. Fraternity, then, is in the final analysis, the archetypal relationship-pattern of humanity since we all must fulfill all patterns of inter-relationship with each other to fulfill the manifestation, on this plane, of the human ideal.