The Sun and the Moon and the Vegetable Kingdom

The Sun and the Moon and the Vegetable Kingdom

A warm welcome to you all, on this Monday, 31stAugust. As many of you know, these programmes aim to introduce Triangles to those people who are new to the work, and to encourage them in the forming of their own Triangles. They also aim to create a space for those people who are already engaged in Triangles to participate in a visualisation exercise, to support and to strengthen the planetary network. 

Using the power of focused thought to uplift, transform and illuminate human consciousness, each triangle formed becomes part of a larger network of light and goodwill. Three people come together and daily link in thought to circulate energy through the points of their triangle. And visualising their triangle as part of a worldwide network they pour beneficent, healing energies into the vast planetary triangular energy field surrounding the planet.  Energies that act as an imperative and a catalyst to spiritualise human thinking and action, and turn the gaze and focus of the human family to the light, to the realms of inspiration and of eternal goodness.

The network is created and is vitalized by the daily work of each individual member. The cumulative effect of the many thousands of members all over the world who come together in consciousness to serve humanity, makes it a powerful, redemptive and effective tool. Every focused triangle that is added to the network enhances the whole, lightens the mental atmosphere of the planet and helps to relate the inner and outer worlds. 

Triangles work only take a few minutes and it can be done at any time during the day. It is completed by the sounding of the Great Invocation which focuses and releases the spiritual energies available, energizing and stimulating the planetary network of light and of goodwill.

If you are new to the work and resonate to the theme of planetary service through the power of thought, then you might consider forming a triangle. If you are looking for triangles partners then you can use ‘Form a Triangle Online’ on the Lucis Trust website, or you can also express your interest in forming a triangle during the Webinar by typing in the ‘Chat’ box and hopefully two others will do likewise. And, if you do form a triangle, we would appreciate it if you registered it at: www.triangles.org

As triangles workers we strive to raise the consciousness of humanity to encourage love and goodwill between men; for in fostering the spirit of inclusiveness and the tendency to spiritual identification humanity is prepared to develop a response to its divine purpose, that of being the custodian of the lower kingdoms. Our relationship with these kingdoms is being brought more firmly into focus today as we battle the current Covid 19 pandemic. A virus that may have, according to current scientific thinking, its source in the animal kingdom. It is also the case that the resulting lockdown to diminish the power and spread of the virus has had significant effects on the levels of pollution which has been beneficial for the vegetable kingdom. The vegetable kingdom is extremely important to life on this planet, for not only is it is a source of food for both the animal and human kingdoms, but as the ‘lungs of the planet’ it draws in carbon dioxide and breaths out oxygen which is essential to the atmosphere and therefore all life.  

So much of modern life depends on the vegetable kingdom, from food to furniture, paper to construction to mention but a few areas and the demand for such goods worldwide is having a devastating effect on the kingdom with the widespread clearing of forests for farming, animal rearing and timber production. At the UN Summit on biodiversity next month in New York, scientists will provide evidence to suggest that if levels of deforestation and biodiversity loss continue at their current levels there will be increasing numbers of deadly new pandemics afflicting the planet. 

We are now moving astrologically out of the influence of the constellation of Leo with its focus on the sun, the father aspect with its life-giving force, and which is very much associated with the growth of the vegetable kingdom, to Virgo, a sign that symbolises the mother aspect and is esoterically associated with the moon. We read that ‘during the summer months—as that great cycle comes around in different quarters of the earth—the fire devas, the fire elementals come into greater activity, relapsing as the sun moves further away into a less active condition.  The fiery aspects of the earth economy correspond in their relationship to the sun as the watery aspects connect with the moon.1As a dead planet the moon itself has no radiation but it veils other energies which do have a significant effect on the earth. There is a therefore a great triangle of relationship between the earth, sun and moon and this relationship is constantly reiterated in our awareness through the monthly full moon cycle. 

The relationship between the earth and moon has been symbolised throughout ancient mythology by a multitude of lunar deities. In Greek myths, we have the goddesses of Phoebe, Artemis, Selene and Hecate, all deeply associated with the earth and in Egypt the cow-headed Hathor’s milk was said to nourish the world.  In Mesopotamian myth, there is Nana-Sin, known as the celestial physician and the black-coated Isis, whose ‘misty radiance nurses the happy seeds under the soil’ (Apuleis).2

The moon and its cycles are clearly important to the vegetable kingdom, and while the moon has been involved in the past with agriculture and its cycles of sowing and reaping, modern agriculture focuses predominantly on maximising yields through the use of large-scale industrial farming techniques such as factory farming, pesticides and fertiliser that is leading to not only devastating effects on the environment but a diminishing nutritional quality of food. 

Planting by the Moon's phases and its sign in the zodiac is an alternative that dates back to the ancient peoples of the Nile and Euphrates river valleys. In more recent times Rudolf Steiner and his alternative agriculture known as Biodynamics has focused on moon cycles and cosmic forces in farming. While there has been a lack of scientific evidence proving the beneficial effects of astrological gardening and farming, it is reported that the quality of food grown in this way is high. And, it has some significant followers, such as Prince Charles, for example. Such farming is today practiced in more than 50 countries worldwide and in a variety of circumstances, ranging from temperate arable farming, viticulture in France, cotton production in Egypt, to silkworm breeding in China, and Germany accounts for nearly half of the world's biodynamic agriculture. Such practices are perhaps a hope for the future as we face the constant crises that arise due to our lack of care for the lower kingdoms. 

Virgo is also the emanator of energies which nourish and aid the birth and growth of the Christ consciousness within humanity and it is this to which our work with Triangles contributes. It is through this process of birthing that humanity is learning the responsibilities associated with being the custodian of the lower kingdoms. Crises such as pandemics are important reminders of that responsibility and prepare the ground for a still greater responsibility to come, that of being the redeemer of the subhuman kingdoms. While the energy focused within the human family has redemptive effects on the lower kingdoms, seen today in the domestication of animals, the cultivation of crops and the mining of minerals etc., which all helps to release the latent energy from within them.  Humanity does however, currently redeem without true awareness, it is just a beneficial product of striving to meet human needs and desires, such as to feed, cloth, and amuse and this is often countered by the negative effects due to over-consumption. Gradually however, as soul consciousness develops within the human family, the will to good will become more firmly established in consciousness and a shift from a focus on the meeting of human needs to a conscious striving to aid the lower kingdoms to meet their own specific redemptive goals will come about. This will not be for some time, but as the saviour of the lower kingdoms, this is humanity’s destiny.                              Christine Aagaard