Gates of the Avatars

Yesterday’s post caused a bit of feedback, especially the part about the four creatures on the Wheel of Fortune and The World Tarot cards being equivalent to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. So, I’ve done a little more research and found this clear image. What it also showed me is that the concept of Divine Gates is not new. In fact it’s a very old idea that recently has come back into focus.

Four gates in the zodiac are called Divine Avatar Gates and their history is sort of murky, but they provide a similar portal for stellar drama. They are the cross-quarter days marking the halfway point between solstice and equinox, so you find them at 15 degrees of the fixed signs: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius (often called the fixed cross). They were at one time the signs where the equinoxes and solstices resided, and fifteen degrees is the middle of the sign. In my data from my clients, it appears that planets at this degree will make an impact on a person’s life that is perhaps equal to the importance of the chart ruler (ruler of the first house).

A Walk Through the Divine Gates

I have a very old reference book on Astrology (it’s three years older than me). According to the Encyclopedia of Astrology (by Nicholas de Vore), two of these four ‘gates’ are significant.

15° Scorpio: The Center of Regeneration; the Eagle point.

15° Aquarius: The Center of Humanity; the Angel point.

For some reason, he skipped the other two, but he did mention that there was a solar eclipse on February 5, 1943 in regards to the Angel point. So let’s look at that, shall we?

I am always heartened when I see a Star in the middle of a chart. But, for our purposes, this doesn’t answer our unstated question: what does it all mean?

The living creatures, living beings, or hayyot (Hebrew חַיּוֹת ḥayyōṯ) are a class of heavenly beings in Jewish mythology. They are described in the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the heavenly chariot in the first and tenth chapters of the Book of Ezekiel. References to the sacred creatures recur in texts of Second Temple Judaism, in rabbinical merkabah (“chariot”) literature, in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, and in the Zohar.

According to Jewish and Christian traditions, there are four living creatures, although their description varies by source. The symbolic depiction of the four living creatures in religious art, especially Christian art, is called a tetramorph.

Wikipedia

⁴ I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, ⁵ and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, ⁶ but each of them had four faces and four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. ⁸ Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, ⁹ and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

¹⁰ Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. ¹² Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. ¹³ The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. ¹⁴ The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

¹⁵ As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. ¹⁶ This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. ¹⁷ As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. ¹⁸ Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

¹⁹ When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. ²⁰ Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹ When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²² Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. ²³ Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. ²⁴ When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

(Ezekiel 1:4-24 NIV)

OK. Are you still with me? Good.

The whole merkaba thing may be a modern UFO, or it could be a description of Astrology (wheels within wheels). The point is that these living creatures are symbols of spiritual avatars.

Can the Gates be Personalized?

I won’t go any further into the Ezekiel testimony here, but the heart of each fixed sign was clearly sacred. These points in the wheel of the year also became significant holidays in many cultures. Using 0˚ Aries as the spring equinox and the beginning of a yearly cycle, we see that the bull’s 15 degree point marks Beltane, usually near May Day. The lion’s gate dates Lughnasa or Lammas, held in early August and marks the Heart of the Lion and the rising of the star Sirius. Eagle’s gate in Scorpio is Samhain (Sow’en) marking the time when we pray for the souls of our dearly departed; when the veil between worlds is thinnest. It marks All Saints’ Day and the Mexican Day of the Dead. Finally, the Angel’s gate at 15 degrees Aquarius marks the holiday of Imbolc which became St. Brigid’s Day and is near to Candlemas (the Feast Day of Mary of the Candles). It also marks Groundhog’s Day, when we talk about the first days of the coming spring.

These were images of great power, benevolent guardians often placed at the entrance to a temple. They were known as beings that introduced a guest to a King or even to a God, so at heart really a gate-keeper. A gate-keeper that somehow had a connection to divinity. I think that connection is found in the chart of astrology and the divinity is the power that is expressed in the planets at these cross-quarter points.

Among the charts of my clients a 15˚ fixed sign placing is above all a huge dose of medicine. It can be too much to handle. It is powerful, and we all have to keep things in check when we have so much power.

I mainly used placements within 1 degree of exact in the examples, so only planets at 14 or 15 on the gate (14+ being one degree and 15+ being the other). I allowed just a few minutes extra in a few charts.

Ibid

So, to place a cat among the pigeons, I’m going to demonstrate the two ‘gates’ listed by de Vore in my own chart:

Moon in 11th House

You have a strong need for friends who support you in whatever you do and who make you feel better about yourself. You want to be able to trust your friends completely, which sometimes means that you prefer to choose your friends from the people whom you have known a long time and are used to. All your life you may make new friends among the people you know now.

Your moods will have a strong effect on the course of your friendships. Some days you’ll really like someone, but on another day, you’ll feel cool. But be careful not to act inconsistently towards your friends and make them feel confused about your feelings for them. Often this position of the Moon signifies that you prefer to have girls as friends.

The goals you set for your life will be enormously influenced by the attitudes you have learned while you are young. Be very careful not to get too set in your beliefs, because that could prevent you from taking advantage of opportunities when you are older. As you get older, you will have to make a special effort to adapt your beliefs and ideals to new experiences. Otherwise you will be an adult with the beliefs and ideals of a child.

Jupiter in the 2nd House

You are likely to collect material possessions beyond your practical needs, because they signify security and protection to you. And the more insecure you feel, the more extreme this trait will become. But if you feel secure and confident about yourself, this will not be so much of a problem, and in fact, you will share your possessions with others and give generously to those who need it.

You will arrange to get whatever will give you the most opportunities to live more elegantly and to expand the world in which you live. When you are older you may work to earn a lot of money so that you can travel and get to know a great many people in as many different places as possible. On the other hand, you may spend money recklessly to get what you want for some particular purpose, since the only value of money, to you, is what you can do with it. All you can count on with this placement is that however you handle your money, you will do it in a big way. Everything you buy has to be large and elegant. Particularly while you are young, your purchases may be quite tasteless and a waste of money, but as you get older your taste and discretion in buying will improve.

Conclusions

Going back to the Lords of Karma concept, it seems to me that only when the planets are actually at the Divine Gates is the reincarnating individual allowed to break on through to the other side. In my life, the emotional and financial difficulties were finally overcome, but I had to go through a great deal of shit to get there. And that seems to be the individual lessons we can all learn, eventually.

One Post Script

Remember that 1943 solar eclipse chart? When compared with my birth chart, Mercury @ 24° Capricorn is repeated in it. Is this significant to my present transit of Pluto there?

Hmm.