These are lines by an unknown poet, but they ring absolutely true to the teachings of Christ in regard to the rich young man, and also to the teachings given in Paul's inimitable 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians. Love is the source of life; love alone makes life worth living, and therefore I feel that in a course of astrology from the Mystic's viewpoint the planet of love, Venus, has first claim on our consideration.
You know that each house represents a certain department of life, and when you learn the intrinsic value of the planets you will be able to read a message from the stars independently of books and authorities. By exercising your own divine power of reason to combine the simple basic factors, you may become an astrologer (the name means reasoner concerning the stars); any brainless poll parrot can babble about what the books say. It is easy to read and recite; but it requires thought to reach an independent conclusion and give an adequate interpretation of the stellar script. That effort, however, is productive of wonderful soul growth, so I hope that you will read little but think much; then you will develop a deeper and more reliable knowledge than the most erudite authorities can impart and a soul-power of inestimable value, namely, intuition.
The intrinsic nature of Venus may be summed up in the ideas of Harmony and Rhythm; therefore, she has the tendency to draw together all who are in accord, to unite mankind in pleasant companionships of varying degrees which we call friendship and love. The department of our lives in which she will exercise her beneficent office is, course, indicated by the house, and the quality or degree by her configurations with other planets. If well placed in the third house, which signifies brothers and sisters, we may conclude that we have earned the love of our relatives by devotion in a former life, and that their affection for us will brighten this earthly existence. From the angle of the 7th house she may draw to us a soul companion whose conjugal love would make this Earth seem heaven-like, for true marriage, marriage of souls, is a song of ecstatic joy, a paean of praise by kindred spirits. It is taught by the angels in heaven to the tuneful accompaniment of the Song of the Spheres, and whoever succeeds in bringing even the faintest chord of that celestial harmony to Earth has a song of joy in his heart, a source of gladness which no sorrow can diminish.
From the 11th house Venus will attract kind friends whose affections we have won before — for the horoscope shows what we have earned-joy or sorrow. We have made our "lick"; the stars only mark the time to reap, as the Sun calls the harvest man. The kindness of friends today was enlisted yesterlife by our helpful acts. Nor can we keep friends, life partners, relatives, in bonds of love unless we keep feeding the fires of love. We must continue brotherly and sisterly to retain affection from such relatives. It requires a friend to hold friendship, and we must act as lovers to merit continued conjugal affection, or the love light will wane no matter how well Venus is placed. The planets show only the trend of things; we have made the tendencies given by a well placed Venus and we can also mar them. If we do, an afflicted Venus in the horoscope of our next life will make it difficult for us to attract love. Let us so build that the Venus ray may be the brightest of all.
Mars is the exact opposite of Venus, and if we study him now while the characteristics of Venus are fresh in mind, we may learn more of his nature. The first great contrast I wish to point out is that the higher the status of a person in the scale of evolution, the better Venus is placed in the horoscope, and the younger the soul, the more it is dominated by the discordant martial ray. The animals are wholly under the sway of Mars, for as Venus nourishes the love nature, so Mars fosters the passions. An illustration will make the difference clear.
Suppose Venus is Ruler and situated in the 7th House, (representing the public), sextile to Jupiter in the 9th, (Religion), trine to the Moon in the 11th, (Friends). It is then easy to see that here we have a person well disposed toward the public, (Venus in 7th); Jupiter is benevolence, and his being placed in the 9th House shows his work to be along religious lines; the Moon signifies the people, and is in the house of friends; in short, good planets in good aspect describe him as a benefactor of mankind, much esteemed for his benevolence.
Now take an opposite case, where Mars is Ruler, placed in the 10th House, denoting social status, square to Uranus, (whose keynote may be called Ingenuity), in the 7th House, which is the public. These are so-called evil planets and aspects, signifying that this person uses his ingenuity as a menace to the public; and if Mars is also square Saturn, the planet which binds and restricts, and Saturn is placed in the 12th House, (sorrow, trouble, and imprisonment), we may conclude that his depredations will bring him into jail as a public enemy.
But let us now suppose that the potential public enemy comes as a child
under the influence of the developed benefactor, that his horoscope is read,
the latent tendencies to evil detected, and pains taken to eradicate them ere
they get a chance to flower. Saturn in the 12th House will always make him a
recluse; very few are ever strong enough to break the bonds of Saturn, but the
power of Mars may be turned to construction, and Uranus may bring ingenious
inventions from his laboratory to the public. No matter how evil a horoscope
seems, it also has good points, and if we as parents can find and bring them
out, great will be our treasure in heaven.
— Max Heindel
