Festival of Sagittarius
Keynote for Festival of Sagittarius:
"I see the goal. I reach that goal and then I see another."
Recommended Reading
The Sagittarius Festival Talk from the Lucis Trust is from a public address by Christine Morgan of the Headquarters staff of the Lucis Trust. In this article, we learn that Sagittarius is "a sign associated with intuition, vision, aspiration and one-pointed direction towards a goal."
Steve Nation's online article Looking into the Face of the Archer reminds us of the significance of meditation at the time of the full moon, of the role of Sagittarius as a transition point towards the expression of Aquarian principles, the significance of the symbolism of horse and rider, and the use of this imagery in our meditation.
The Labours of Hercules
Labour IX: Killing the Stymphalian Birds
In her book The Labours of Hercules, Alice A. Bailey shares some of her insights into the sign of Sagittarius, in which Hercules kills the Stymphalian birds - symbols of the devastating force of a disciple's wrong thoughts and words. The following are extracts from pages 155-168 of her book.
The Sign of Silence
Restraint of speech through control of thought
Alice Bailey tells us that Sagittarius is called in some ancient books "the sign of silence". She goes on to tell us that the lesson of Sagittarius is "restraint of speech through control of thought."
'Right use of thought, restraint of speech, and consequent harmlessness on the physical plane, result in liberation; for we are held in the human unit, we are imprisoned to the planet not by some outside force that holds us there, but by what we ourselves have said and done.'
The Little Gate
Right use of the arrows of thought
Alice Bailey tells us that Sagittarius is "the little gate to Capricorn". She explains:-
"There are two cosmic gates: Cancer, the gate into incarnation; Capricorn, the gate into the spiritual kingdom. Prior to Capricorn is Sagittarius, spoken of as "a lesser gate". I like to think of it as the little gate at the foot of the hill through which we pass before climbing the mountain and in passing through that little gate, we demonstrate our ability to rightly use the arrows of thought. That is the great test."
The Ninth Sign
Sagittarius is the ninth sign of the zodiac. Alice Bailey asks us to think about the following sequence of thought:
"In Virgo, the sixth sign, we have the indication of life; in Sagittarius, the ninth sign, the completion of the prenatal period before the birth of the Christ in Capricorn in December."
The Chrysalis Symbol
There emerges out of the period of silence, a wonderful butterfly
Alice Bailey tells us that Sagittarius has been called the chrysalis stage, in which "the man is neither one thing nor the other". She goes on to describe the symbolism of the chrysalis:-
"We are told that inside the hard shell of the chrysalis which the caterpillar has constructed, there is nothing but a fluid. Every single thing has broken down and in that fluid are what are called three centres of life, and because of the interplay between those three focal points of energy, a change goes on, a rebuilding, until there emerges out of the period of silence, a wonderful butterfly."
Alice Bailey goes on to compare this symbolism with the life of the aspirant in which there is a "complete breaking down of everything":-
"As one person said to me, there is nothing left to live for, there is nothing interesting enough to pull one through existence. Why? Because you are an aspirant, a disciple; it is the best indication you can have of your status on the ladder of evolution. Everything has broken down and you know it. But the three aspects of divinity are still there in the fluid; and they will work and the pattern is there. "
A Sign of Power
Alice Bailey tells us that Sagittarius is a sign of power:-
"The true Sagittarian is a very potent person; potent because it is the sign of silence; potent because it is the sign of one-pointedness and the goal is seen for the first time clearly; potent because it is the period immediately preceding the birth of the Christ."
The Spirit of Truth
We are told that Sagittarius is "the spirit of truth". It is, says Alice Bailey "the sum of all Truth growing out of individual revelation."
The Spirit of Right
Alice Bailey tells us that we learn right from wrong in Sagittarius. She reminds us of the need for discrimination and respect:-
'When I am really functioning in Sagittarius, I will have learned to discriminate between right and wrong. I will know what is right for myself, but I will also have learned this lesson: that my right may be my brother's wrong, and my brother's wrong may be my right.'
Three Constellations
There are three constellations connected with this sign, "the three most beautiful" says Alice Bailey - Lyra the seven-stringed harp, Ara the altar and Draco the serpent of wisdom. These are hovered over by two other constellations: "Aquila, spirit and Cygnus, the soul" and symbolise for us:-
"Music in the life of harmony, sacrifices in the personality reactions and desires, and wisdom."