Kabbalistic Astrology Part 4 – DIALECTICS or HOUSES Part 1

Fig. 1. Global information-energy flow (zodiacal flows are shown with solid arrows, transit flows with dotted ones)

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Below is a brief description of the transit flows; however, the author makes some preliminary remarks in advance. The main metaphor used to describe the meditations of subtle bodies is the life of a forest, or, in a more cultured version, a garden. From the body lying above, seeds of future plants fall into the forest, which grow on the soil created by the transmutations from the body lying below; as a result of vegetation, fruits ripen, which go to the body above and become its soil, and residues (fallen leaves, dried trunks, etc.) go to the body below and become seeds there. This picture is valid for intermediate bodies—from the Buddhic to the etheric inclusive. In the case of the extreme bodies—the Atmanic and the physical—it is somewhat shortened: in the Atmanic body, there are no seeds or fruits (only soil and residues of meditations remain), while in the physical body, on the contrary, there is no soil or residues, only seeds and fruits. However, although the Atmanic body lacks seeds of meditations received from the body above (due to its absence), this does not mean that its meditations are unmotivated: they vary both under the influence of the soil brought by the Pisces flow from the Buddhic body and as a result of information-energy exchanges with the Atmanic plane of the subtle world as a whole. On the other hand, although the Atmanic meditations do not produce fruits sent to the body above (as already noted, due to its absence), one can still speak of a certain “horizontal” analogue of these fruits, understanding by this certain transmutations from the Atmanic body into the Atmanic plane, carried out as a result. For the bodies: thus, one can speak of “horizontal” fruits, say, of Buddhic or mental meditations. That is, the meditations of the Atmanic body have no “higher” meaning or result in relation to this body, but can serve the Atmanic plane as a whole. Similarly, although the physical body lacks soil created by transmutations from the body below (due to its absence), there is still some soil in it—it is created with the help of the external physical plane, from which the physical body receives nourishment and other types of information-energy support. And, on the other hand, the waste products of physical meditations, absent in the Kabbalistic sense of the word, exist in their “horizontal” understanding, that is, as those sent to the external physical plane (products of breathing and sweating, waste from digestive activity, etc.). But, of course, when speaking of these analogies, one should remember that the true, or “vertical,” soil, fruits, seeds, and waste received from or sent to neighboring subtle bodies are qualitatively different from their “horizontal” counterparts involved in the process of information-energy exchange between the body and its corresponding plane.

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A person’s inner culture is largely determined by their ability to feel their occult organism and to be aware of the processes taking place in it, and then to tactfully intervene in them, applying, as a rule, homeopathic methods and only rarely surgical ones. The first stage of Kabbalistic self-knowledge is the differentiation of bodies: a person learns to distinguish them from one another and to determine the position of their point of composition (center of perception): in which body and how steadily they are currently located. One should not think that this first stage is so easy: the subconscious is sometimes very interested in certain manipulations and tries to pass off, for example, fragments of the mental body as Buddhic or the astral as Atmanic; what I think about my values often does not coincide with the true Buddhist worldview and can completely derail me from the spiritual path. Therefore, the growth of Kabbalistic self-awareness is inseparable from general evolutionary development and requires a person to have a spiritual orientation, great inner honesty, and constant sacrifices of the lower to the higher, and this applies not only to the understanding of the higher but, surprisingly, also of the lower bodies. This may surprise the reader: it is clear, of course, that in order to distinguish one’s Atmanic body from the Buddhic one, one needs to somehow feel one’s mission and life in general, which requires a certain maturity and detachment from pressing problems, but why is the same true for differentiating, say, the physical and etheric bodies? The answer lies, first, in the unity of the organism, in particular, in the direct connections between the bodies of the subtle and dense shells (the author reminds us that the subtle shell consists of the Atmanic, Buddhic, and causal bodies, and the dense shell consists of the astral, etheric, and physical), as a result of which careful differentiation of the etheric and physical bodies is impossible without differentiating the Buddhic and causal ones, and differentiation of the astral from the etheric is directly related to differentiating the Atmanic and Buddhic. The second reason for the difficulties in differentiating the bodies of the dense shell is that the subconscious of an average person and society as a whole treats them and their energies largely in a narrowly pragmatic and predatory-consumerist way, and such an attitude itself is a significant obstacle to their understanding and, in particular, differentiation.

The second stage of Kabbalistic self-knowledge is the structuring of individual subtle bodies (including the physical one), and first of all, the identification within them of areas, or, if using the wave approach, vibrations characteristic of exchange with higher and lower bodies. First of all, one needs to learn to distinguish transmutations from neighboring bodies (import) from the products of the body’s meditations sent up and down (export). Import consists of soil and seeds, export consists of fruits and waste, and initially a person learns to distinguish import and export without delving into the details of their composition, and only then comprehends the difference (within import) between soil and seeds and (within export) between fruits and waste. What signs determine these differences? Rich import gives the body great inner strength, readiness for intense meditations, trials, and experiences, and a need for them, as well as a sense of uncertainty about the future—often completely unclear what it will be like and what fruits it will bear. In general, a body with strong seed-soil energy feels like a young one—so to speak, everything (or much) is ahead of it, and there is still powder in the powder horn. Conversely, a large amount of energy intended for export is accompanied by a feeling of fatigue of the body, a sense of much that has been experienced, acquired experience, and a desire to somehow apply it or at least get rid of it because it is burdensome—both valuable experience (fruits) and the burden of unresolved and seemingly insoluble problems (waste).In general, a body with predominant fruit-bearing and waste energy feels old and wise, having left all the essential behind, and it only remains to rid itself of acquired values and shed its old skin. In general, learning to distinguish between the export and import of this subtle body is not very difficult—provided, of course, that a person has managed to isolate it from other bodies. In many cases, it is much more challenging to separate the fruits from the remnants and the seeds from the soil, and this moment is important because such a division depends to some extent on the person’s own will.

Let us consider, for example, the meditation of the mental body. If, as a result of reflection, a person arrives at certain conclusions that form the basis of an action plan, it is clear that these conclusions are full-fledged fruits of mental meditation, properly utilized—that is, directed into the channel of Capricorn. If, however, the final conclusions are dubious—even if logically or impressively reasoned, they do not fit into the overall mental picture—something still must be done with them, and then they are sent instead of the causal body into the astral through the channel of Cancer: the person emotionally experiences the imperfection of their mental efforts, after which they happily forget about them.

Thus, the fruit of mental meditation may, in some cases, be considered by the person as unfit (for example, rotten) and sent as waste into the lower body. A reverse substitution is also possible; we will examine it using the material of the life stream, that is, causal meditations.

There are people who have a weak mental body but an energetic, though disharmonious, buddhial one. Such a person often feels tempted to mistake causal waste for fruits, and instead of sending the rotten causal stump through the channel of Gemini into the mental body and seriously reflecting on the causes of their failures, they, without a second thought, send it through the channel of Aquarius into the buddhial body, forming life positions such as “I am fundamentally incapable of anything,” “They are to blame for everything,” and so on. The rigidity of these fundamental life positions, even if commendable from the perspective of social or cosmic ethics, often causes the skeleton of the buddhial breakthrough to pierce its delicate tissues and protrude outward, so that the body constantly bleeds, falls ill, and demands significant energetic support—primarily causal—and then everything that happens to the person is interpreted in a way that confirms their long-standing deficient positions or compensates for complexes.

As a result, the person typically blocks the channel of Gemini, ceases to think about what is happening to them—that is, mentally interpret their difficulties—and sends all causal waste into Aquarius, to the great detriment of both the channel itself and the buddhial soil, which becomes severely poisoned, potentially leading to severe intoxication.

In this case, defective life positions—from the perspective of the organism (including the atmic body)—may not necessarily be purely selfish or nihilistic; sometimes they can be, on the contrary, overly benevolent and good-natured, leading to simple irresponsibility toward oneself and the world. For example, a person raised in a cultured and religious family may absorb principles such as non-violence, unconditional love, and trust in others with their mother’s milk and sincerely believe that evil and deception cannot approach love, nobility, and honesty. When faced with an insurmountable causal dead end caused by evil, deception, or violence directed at them or perpetrated by them, such a person may, however, refuse to mentally explore the situation (feeling that it will lead to nothing pleasant) and instead send the corresponding causal waste (unpleasant rot and mold) into the buddhial body, forming an additional position such as: “What God does, He does for the best—even if it is not visible to anyone now.”

The reader will hardly be able to argue against the latter statement—but as a personal life position, it is more suited to wise mahatmas from Shambhala than to an average social individual, for whom God often appears in His punishing or at least sternly warning role (including regarding consequences). Conversely, a person with a strong mental body and a weak buddhial one tends to interpret everything that happens to them, often unconsciously sending the most valuable causal fruits into the channel of Gemini, “drowning” life experience and depriving themselves of support for their positions, values, and fundamental life principles. Thought, even the most conscientious, can profane—and how!—human experience intended to nourish the buddhial soil, and it is very difficult for a 20th-century person, raised in the spirit of the triumph of mental energies and constructs, to reconcile themselves to this.

The mind (the energy of the mental plane) is, in many respects, opposed to wisdom (the energy of the buddhial plane), and it is entirely incorrect to consider the latter the highest form of the former. This is precisely why it is impossible to retell the content of poems or explain the meaning of jokes and philosophical aphorisms: they either resonate on their own (buddhial) energy or are not perceived at all.

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At first glance, the difference between the soil and the seed of a subtle body is fundamental, but in reality, a person can transform seeds into soil by depriving them of their most intimate energy—the embryos, that is, the developmental programs—and, conversely, can attempt to treat soil as seed, as if germinating it—and then, indeed, something grows from it.

Now let us examine specific transit flows. The reader should not take them too literally: unlike zodiacal flows, they are somewhat abstract, as they isolate individual parts of a subtle body’s process (for example, seeds and waste) from the whole. Yet it is precisely here that the transformation corresponding to the twelve dialectical transitions is realized.

The eastern transit flow of the buddhial body is the transformation of the seeds of buddhial development into the waste of that development, which then enters the causal body. The seeds of a developmental program (of any body) are, as they say, “what we fought for”; the waste symbolizes unsolvable obstacles that necessitate a change or halt in the program—“what we collided with.” Common wisdom equates the two or establishes a direct connection between them; however, Kabbalistic dialectics asserts that this connection exists but is not direct and, depending on the horoscope, manifests in twelve different forms.

The seeds in the buddhial body have atmic origin: these are special, often elevated aspirations, usually quite abstract—that is, related to specific actions but simultaneously demanding an unambiguous restructuring of the person’s value system, their fundamental life programs, attitudes, and positions. In people who lack experience (or desire) for self-analysis and intense inner life, the germination of buddhial seeds is only weakly conscious but strongly felt: the person senses that something is happening to them, that they are changing, becoming in many ways different, and this can be painful, awkward, and unfamiliar, though life changes for the better or worse is often difficult to discern.

Yet after some time, the buddhial body restructures itself into a new program, and the person begins to implement it: cultivating talents and virtues, living by new values and positions, realizing new life values and programs. In the process, numerous difficulties and contradictions of the buddhial level arise—not all of which are conscious, but many are insurmountable (or perceived as such)—and these, becoming like dry branches and yellowed leaves of the buddhial forest, pass through the channel of Taurus into the buddhial body, where they transform into the seeds of new causal developmental programs, the esoteric meaning of which is to resolve contradictions that remained unresolved at the buddhial level.However, transit flows are always considered within the framework of a given body, and regarding the descending buddhic flow, the question is framed as follows: what difficulties, obstacles, and contradictions of the value level will a person encounter when implementing a new life? Which of their values will conflict with others? What talents will be able to develop, and at whose expense will this happen? Which major programs will unfold smoothly, and which will lead to a crisis or deep disillusionment? Which life positions will be possible to combine with one another, and which will crack and painfully break down? The buddhic level pertains not to actions but to positions, and in intimate human relationships, it is far more significant. Thus, the descending buddhic flow largely determines the main themes of a person’s relationships with others, and understanding these themes provides the keys to harmonizing and constructively utilizing them.

The eastern flow of the causal body is the transformation of causal seeds into the waste of causal vegetation. In other words, here our attention is focused on what obstacles, complications, and deadlocks await the programs of specific actions a person is beginning anew—whether they seem to lead them or happen to them as a passive agent. Generally speaking, just as the ability to segment the life (causal) flow into individual events, so too is the skill to link events into chains—essentially esoteric—something not everyone possesses. Among those who do, few realize how important it is. Action programs are not limited to those a person actively designs or consciously submits to; many causal chains proceed, barely registering in consciousness at all, yet playing a major role in life.

However, the emergence of significant causal chains, symbolized by the inclusion of Taurus, is rarely unnoticed: a person feels something is beginning, and usually has a rough idea of the nature of this “something”—the fabric of events (both external and internal)—though they cannot predict them precisely. If the primary inclusion is accompanied by feelings of upliftment, higher enthusiasm, etc., the Taurus transmission often gives a person a sense of ownership, a readiness for certain efforts and trials. People in responsible professions (writers, artists, mountaineers) do not begin their work without this feeling. At the start of a causal chain, a person often experiences a kind of euphoria: “I can do everything; I will overcome all obstacles and difficulties, or at least bypass them.” However, as the energy of the causal seed weakens and the causal plant grows, the mood shifts, and some obstacles prove insurmountable at the causal level: the first dry leaves and branches appear, the trunk hits knots in neighboring trees, and so on.

What kind of obstacles can be expected, and how are they connected to the initial idea of the causal project? The general answer to this question is provided by the house (phase transition) beginning in Taurus, which governs the descending causal flow.

The eastern flow of the mental body is the transformation of initial causal-motivated causes of mental meditations into various contradictions, complications, and dead ends of thought that cannot be resolved on the mental level. It should be noted here that a mental dead end or contradiction is not necessarily perceived by a person as something negative (this also applies to all other bodies), so the phrase “mental waste” (as well as causal, buddhic, and others) does not carry a negative connotation in Kabbalistic thought. Thought without acute causal necessity becomes bland and dull due to irrelevance: “Satire and wordplay in a glass of water rust over” (F. Krivin). Likewise, the absence of what might be called a necessary paradox in thought deprives it of an emotional dimension.

Language is always polysemous and homonymous, i.e., ambiguous in meaning, which is why purely “philological” series of jokes arise, such as: “Stirlitz emerged from the sea and fell onto the pebbles.” Humor, in large part, is tied to the ability to recognize a mental dead end, acknowledge it as such, and send the corresponding mental splinter through the Cancer channel into the astral body. A pedant, on the other hand, tends to endlessly water and tend hopelessly withered mental bushes, hoping to grow something—even elderberry—on them, or worse, tries to pass off dry needles as ripe apples. This is most often the behavior of unsuccessful leaders and poor administrators. Calling a subordinate into their office to give them a creative task, such a leader, in the course of an instructional conversation, grows a mental tree that (at least from the subordinate’s perspective) not only bears no fruit but simply withers at the root. Yet the situation forces the subordinate to pretend they have carefully gathered all the “ripe” mental fruits that “arose” during the conversation, neatly packed them in a box, sprinkled them with sawdust, and as soon as they step out the door, immediately send them through the Capricorn channel into the causal body—i.e., “proceed to execute.” In reality, returning to their office, they pull out a grotesque dry branch and, saying, “And what idiotic idea did our boss come up with this time!” pass on their perception of the task to others, sending the hopelessly withered plant through the group Cancer channel—eliciting laughter (sometimes bitter) and not entirely pure joy from their colleagues.

The house (with its cusp in Gemini), governing the descending mental flow, will show what specific obstacles and problems the mind, processing the current causal situation, will encounter, and where it can pause and rest by replacing itself with feeling (emotion).

The eastern flow of the astral body is the transformation of seeds of emotional experiences into their obstacles, dead ends, and contradictions. Generally, the culture of emotional life in modern civilization is a supra-esoteric concept; emotions are partially socially regulated—but almost exclusively by unwritten and highly effective rules and demands, which are also insufficient because they do not answer the simplest yet vital questions: How does one regulate their feelings? Can they be suppressed, and how? Can they be unleashed on others, or must they be hidden from society? What should one do when emotions run out? How much and in what way can one rely on them? How should one properly respond to emotional blows (both one’s own and others’)?

The house (with its cusp in Cancer), governing the descending astral flow, will define the general direction of the transformation of emotional meditations: from their beginning, tied to the primary emotional reaction to a mental contradiction, to their end—which modern people rarely pay attention to but which is extremely important for themselves as well. This house will generally answer the questions: What obstacles will arise along the path of the emotion? What will it encounter, and what will be the outcome? At what contradiction will it stop, dissolve, or wither away?

The eastern flow of the etheric body transforms astral seeds of etheric meditations into their waste—i.e., tensions and antagonisms that cannot be resolved on the etheric level. People’s perceptions of their own etheric meditations vary widely, partly because some pay great attention to them while others pay none at all. How do you feel just after waking up? What are your sensations an hour after lunch? How do emotional and sexual experiences affect your tone? A person who has meaningful observations on all these questions is etherically oriented (which, by the way, is not equivalent to egoism); they can sometimes describe in minute detail their experiences after eating a particular meal, the sensations they feel as a bruise heals, and so on. Generally, what is called “physical” sensations are mostly etheric reactions. It is well known that emotional conflicts and stress (which sow etheric seeds) are accompanied by strong bioenergetic reactions: a person may feel dizzy or energized, experience weakness or “blood boiling”—literally, an etheric storm. How will this etheric meditation unfold further?Will it get stuck in the most inconvenient ethereal place, threatening to destroy the ethereal (and then physical) organs? Or will it crumble into countless blades of grass that gradually wither (stable health), or merge into a mighty oak that rots entirely and suddenly snaps in half (a heart attack)? A shared answer to these questions will be given by the house with its cusp in Leo, which will indicate the nature of the blind spots, obstacles, and waste of ethereal meditations initiated by unresolved astral conflicts and problems. The transiting flow of the physical body is the transformation of the ethereal seed entering the physical body into the fruits of physical meditations, which are then sent back into the ethereal body. What is this ethereal seed? These are numerous agents that act as catalysts, inspirers, and rulers of future physical movement (not necessarily short, like a step or jump—this could include the onset of pregnancy, the process of teething, or motion sickness). From a biochemical standpoint, these questions remain unresolved: it is evident that various nerve cells and their entire structures, hormones, and many yet-unknown substances and entities are involved. At the level of a true treatise, however, far more important is the subjective experience of the person undergoing the ethereal transmission into the physical body: a state in which physical movement is, so to speak, fully prepared conceptually (regardless of how well) and has already begun—at least, it can no longer be stopped—and physical meditation, meaning a particular dance, becomes inevitable.

The weightlifter bends over the barbell and resolutely grips the bar; the hungry infant latches onto its mother’s breast; the ardent youth draws their beloved close; the burglar approaches the safe and retrieves their tools. Such is the beginning of physical meditation; what, then, will be its fruits (in the Kabbalistic sense)? If the beginning of meditation is characterized by physical composure and latent energy that is to be released according to a certain plan, the fruits are, conversely, released in physical relaxation that follows the exertion. In this relaxation, not only do the muscles ease, but so do the rest of the tissues—ligaments loosen, joints soften, and even bones that were bent under the weight of the load straighten. All these processes are accompanied by the release of heat, some of which vanishes without a trace from the physical body (and plane), transforming (via the channel of Libra) into ethereal energy and matter. It is likely that future science will discover that during relaxation, a small amount of matter also transitions (disappearing entirely from the physical plane) from the physical body into the ethereal one (an analogy in physics would be the annihilation of a particle-antiparticle pair into energy).

The house (with its cusp in Virgo) that governs the transiting flow of the physical body will reveal how it perceives the transition from the pre-active to the post-active state and what typical effects arise in the process. The ascending flow of the ethereal body is the transformation of ethereal soil into the fruits of ethereal meditations. Naturally, these fruits largely depend on the plants that bear them and, consequently, on their seeds, which are carried by the Cancer stream from the astral body. Nevertheless, there are general patterns independent of the type of ethereal flora that grow, patterns that largely determine how ethereal fruits mature depending on the soil, which is defined by the house with its cusp in Libra. The ability to distinguish the fruits of ethereal meditations is an important step in what might be called a person’s bioenergetic self-knowledge.

The completion of the cycle of ethereal vegetation (if one may call it an ethereal evening) signifies the appearance of a large quantity of fruits and waste that must be properly managed. Ethereal waste produces a specific bioenergetic disturbance—one feels as though tossed about, shaken, feverish, as if deep waves pass through the body—and all of this is nothing other than preparation for some physical action:

“My mouth trembles like in fire,
Passion strains,
Hungry juice streams,
Now it stretches like a dragon,
Now it contracts again like urine,
Saliva, churning, mutters in my mouth,
And clenched jaws double…
I want you!” (N. Zabolotsky, “The Fish Shop”)

The fruits of ethereal meditations, however, feel and are experienced quite differently—this is a kind of elevated bioenergetic excitement that ultimately deepens, enriches, and intensifies (sometimes poisons) the general emotional backdrop. Thus, good wives and mothers know perfectly well that food gives their husbands and children not only the (ethereal) strength needed for physical labor and movement but also shapes the emotional foundation of family life. However, for this to happen, the ethereal fruits must be allowed to ripen and be given the chance to pass through the channel of Scorpio into the astral body, rather than being sent prematurely through Virgo into the physical body. Inexperienced young wives often make this mistake by hastily feeding their husbands and then immediately sending them off to household chores or other tasks. It is well known that any emotional gratitude that arises in the husband’s heart finds no expression, much to the detriment of the marriage.

The ascending flow of the astral body represents the transformation of astral soils into the fruits of emotional meditations—that is, the final emotions that, passing through the channel of Sagittarius, become mindsets. The ability to “keep oneself in check” at a high level means not only controlling the amplitude of emotional meditations but also carefully separating astral fruits from waste. A person who poorly governs their astral body and succumbs to uncontrolled emotions suffers doubly: both bioenergetically and mentally. Their astral body becomes like an orchard in a hurricane: the wind tears away ripe astral fruits, snaps branches, breaks boughs, and even uproots trunks—and all of this, through the channel of Leo, hurtles downward into the ethereal body, causing great destruction (the person’s heart pounds wildly, blood pressure jumps, etc.), yet they are utterly unable to say or even think anything meaningful.

Processing enables one to speak fiery words while remaining ethereally calm—a state in which a sincere but astrally uncultured person would suffer a heart attack or inflict severe physical harm on their offender. The house with its cusp in Scorpio will reveal the characteristic general features of the transformation of astral soil into astral fruits that are peculiar to this person (or collective) and depend on the specific content of the emotional meditation—that is, the type of fruit-bearing plant.

The ascending flow of the mental body is the transformation of fundamental mindsets into a person’s final conclusions, which then become the basis for causal meditations. Here, however, the word “conclusions” should not be understood too narrowly—many practical “conclusions” are made subconsciously, and a person either does not notice them at all or only perceives small fragments. For example, intense mental meditation occurs in a driver behind the wheel of a car, but the “conclusions” that form the basis of their concrete actions—steering, pressing the gas or brake pedals, etc.—are mostly not registered by their consciousness. The same can be said of professional wrestlers, warriors, and others forced to act in high-pressure situations where there is simply no time to consciously acknowledge mental “conclusions”—yet this does not mean that mental meditations do not occur; they proceed with the utmost intensity and sometimes yield high-quality fruits. This applies not only to world champion figure skaters or badminton players but also, say, to the digestion of a grand feast by a true gourmet. No wonder it is hard to think after a hearty meal: all the mental body’s energy is devoted to analyzing the contents of the stomach and devising the optimal strategy for assimilation.

So what, then, is the mental soil?Subjectively, it is perceived as mental potential, or more precisely, raw mental material, expressed, for instance, in the ability to reason in a certain key or with a particular mindset on any topic. The mental ground has an astral origin, so it usually carries some emotional influences (or rather, memories), and then we speak of a passionate or cooled, malicious, ironic or good-natured, timid, fearful, or on the contrary, fearless mind—all these characteristics, as the reader understands, are applied.

The mental fruits bear other qualities—they can be concrete or vague, constructive or destructive, virtuous or malicious. A house with its cusp in Sagittarius, ruling the ascending mental flow, will show the way the mental ground is transformed into fruits characteristic of a given person and independent of the type of the specific mental tree.

The ascending flow of the causal body represents the transformation of the causal ground into existential conclusions that a person draws after completing their life plots. How is the causal ground perceived subjectively? If the mental ground is a mindset, or a general readiness for reflection, then the causal ground is, so to speak, a “will-to-act”; the military use the term “combat readiness” here. On this ground, that is, on the energy experienced by a person as readiness for a certain kind of events and actions and active participation in external or internal life, these or not quite these (or not these at all) events occur, and upon completion, they yield their fruits—some kind of summaries of lived experience arise. These summaries are often perceived by the person as certain final events, specially colored by the preceding causal chain, but summing up life, even over short intervals, is always something more than merely emphasizing some events as the main ones: the summaries serve to transmit energetic information upward, through the Aquarius channel of worldview, values, virtues, and talents.

However, one should not think that these fruits of causal meditations are consciously perceived by the person: most of them (and often the most important) remain beyond the control of consciousness and are used to support subjectively significant but unconscious values, life positions, and core programs of the person.

A house with its cusp in Capricorn determines the characteristic type of transformation of the causal ground into the fruits of vegetation of the plants growing on it—for the given person (or couple, or collective)—regardless of the specific type of these plants, that is, chains of external and internal events.

The ascending flow of the buddhic body represents the transformation of the buddhic ground into fruits, that is, metavalues, or the deepest existential conclusions a person draws after completing major life plots or serious restructurings of their essential worldview.

The buddhic ground is the soul’s energies that a person can expend on long and serious external and internal programs: realizing their talents, cultivating virtues, significant social advancement, and so on. The buddhic ground carries a certain tint, or memory, of the causal results that gave rise to it, but to a large extent it also depends on the processing of the Aquarius channel, which transforms these summaries into fundamental soul energy: not always does a series of causal failures and defeats lead to the exhaustion and poisoning of the buddhi.

A house with its cusp in Aquarius, ruling the ascending buddhic flow, will show the features of the transformation of a person’s soul, or existential energy (the author will use the expression “the will to live”) into metavalues or existential philosophical conclusions concerning their essential worldview, which usually mature after the completion of major life stages. Again, one should not think that all metavalues are registered by the person’s consciousness—as a rule, they completely elude it, and great attention to inner life, honesty, and spiritual orientation are needed to at least somehow grasp them, while mental analysis is of little help here.

The transit flow of the atmic body is the transformation of the atmic ground into the waste of atmic meditations—drying leaves and branches of the mission flower, which are then transformed (through the channel of Aries) into the seeds of buddhic plants. If the buddhic ground is the soul’s energies necessary for a person to constantly maintain long and difficult but separate life programs, then the atmic ground is spiritual energies whose purpose is always global: they are needed to change the entire life of a person as a whole, both in the present and near future, and even in the distant future, and even in all the past. From an objective-social point of view, what has been said is absurd: one cannot change their past, for example, alter their birth date or cancel the early death of their parents. But subjectively, ascending into the atmic body, a person loses the difference between past, present, and future, perceiving their life as a whole, in the continuous connection of all events. Therefore, here they find power over the future and past to an equal degree, and the amount of spiritual forces is a synonym for the level of this power—not directly, but indirectly, because the atmic ground cultivates the mission flower, whose appearance (but not the specific form!) is predetermined.

Power over the past (and by the way, the future) here is understood not as the ability to change biographical data (name, place of birth, parents’ social status, etc.), although this sometimes happens, but as the ability to free oneself from its negative, destructive, evolutionarily stagnating influence and, conversely, to convert it. Therefore, the test for a person gathering spiritual forces to completely rebuild their life is their readiness to revise their relationship with the past and to let go of all the undesirable hooks by which they cling to it, which hold their present and future captive; Castaneda calls the corresponding process “erasing personal history.”

The most important lesson conveyed by the transit atmic flow is that spiritual forces are transformed into specific changes in the buddhic body—that is, changes in major life programs and the value system—not directly, but indirectly, through the vegetation of the mission flower, the change or turning point of the main life meaning and ideal. Therefore, spiritually mature people expend their spiritual forces precisely on clarifying their ideal, and it, developing, in turn, clarifies and modifies the main content of their life and then adjusts the value system; attempts to send the atmic ground directly through the Aries channel, bypassing the cycle of the atmic flower’s development, lead to pitiful, though not immediately obvious, consequences: the Aries channel becomes clogged, the buddhic sowings are poisoned, and most importantly—the mission flower withers, and the person’s life loses all meaning entirely.

A house with its cusp in Pisces, which governs the transit atmic flow, will show the characteristic way for a given person of transforming spiritual forces into spiritual contradictions and dead ends that generate numerous existential problems but also provide the individual with a powerful impulse for soul and value development.

Now the reader has some idea of the material on which dialectical transitions are realized. What are these transitions themselves? The dialectic under analysis is based on the dualism of object—environment. In Chapter 9 of the author’s book “Reversed Occultism, or The Tale of the Subtle Seven,” the evolutionary stages containing seven main degrees or levels of existence of any object are described in detail. These levels, according to the occult tradition, are named after the chakras: Muladhara, Svadhisthana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha, Ajna, Sahasrara.

An object at any of these levels is in a state of equilibrium with the environment: it receives as much energy and information from it as it gives back, but in a certain integral sense, these flows are balanced—neither the object nor the environment perceives each other as either benefactors or parasitic vampires.In a harmonious coexistence, the word “symbiosis” may be used; in a tense outward display, outright mutual abuse may even be heard, yet beneath it, a stable dynamic equilibrium persists, ultimately suiting both the object and the environment. This often occurs in families where the father is on the verge of leaving, occasionally disappearing into binges or revelry but invariably returning; for various reasons, he cannot be permanently expelled from the family. This is a variant of muladhara existence (and equilibrium) for a person within the framework of a family egregore, and a psychologist who carefully studies such a family will undoubtedly detect the energetic balance of the father-family system—binges may alleviate many familial tensions that cannot be resolved otherwise. In turn, he may need precisely such a family to sustain his life positions and narratives, so while suffering causally, he gains buddhically and is generally satisfied with his life.

A qualitatively different situation arises when the object transitions from one level to another: the overall energetic balance between it and the environment is disrupted, specifically in one direction. If the object’s level rises, energy and information flow from the environment to it; if it declines, the opposite occurs—energy and information flow from it into the environment. This law can be expressed as follows: an increase in the object’s level demands sacrifice from the environment, while a decrease in the object’s level is itself a sacrifice.

Closer observation reveals that when the object’s level changes, the environment reorganizes itself relative to it as if performing a dual (oppositely directed) transition. For example, if the object transitions from muladhara to svadisthana (this transition in astrology is called the first house), the environment around it organizes itself into muladhara (the eighth house). The word “as if” in the last sentence is a concession to the objectivist views of the modern author of society; if one remains in the reality of the object itself, all such words become superfluous.

Finally, a few reflections on house systems. In Kabbalistic astrology, only equal house systems can be used, where each house occupies exactly 30° of the zodiac, beginning in one sign and ending in the next. For astrologers and their clients living within the paradigm of the Pisces era, the author recommends an equal house system with the Midheaven calculated by the Placidus (Koch) method: here, the Sun passes through the cusp of the tenth house at the moment of astronomical noon (when shadows are shortest). The Aquarius era, in the author’s view, is more socially oriented, and for its people, the natural equal house system is better suited, where the Sun passes through the cusp of the tenth house exactly at 12:00 by official, i.e., locally accepted, time.

Calculating natural houses is very simple: the cusp of the fourth house (IC) is computed by the formula IC = Sun + T/4 degrees/minutes, where Sun is the Sun’s position in the zodiac in degrees from 0° Aries, and T is the official time expressed in minutes (see the author’s book “Kabbalah of Numbers,” number 2).

Chapter 1

TRANSITION FROM MULADHARA TO SVADHISTHANA, or the FIRST HOUSE

Key words: spontaneous manifestation; direct self-expression; primary free growth.

“So from the dark waters emerges into the world a light-eyed maiden,
And flows over the body, freezing in rapture,
Grasses faint, and to the right and left run
The herds have seen the sky. And she above the water, above the expanses of the earthly circle,
Amazed, gazes in strange brilliance at her own white rolling word
And a radiant rain bursts upon the fortunate flowers.”
(N. Zabolotsky)

A reader who understands everything may confidently proceed to the second chapter. For the rest, the author offers brief comments and additions to what has been said.