The Twelve Vices

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The personality you yourself are, is not only of the earth, earthly, but of the zodiac. If you have ever studied astrology, you will know that our solar system, with all its planets and their moons, moves within and is enclosed by the twelve signs of the zodiac, so that the zodiac and everything it contains forms one system. This system triggers everything that happens in your life, and your personality is determined by it. This tent-dwelling owes its whole existence to the action of the twelve signs of the zodiac. If you study these things you will realize that the zodiac forms one astral system out of which all its inhabitants have to live, whatever planet they come from.

So this system and everything it contains is the nature-of-death, the non-static realm in which the forces of antitheses hold sway, constantly cancelling each other out. Even without astrology you can easily find proof of this, because astronomy, too, shows how every process of the universe-of-death is characterized by a constant rising, shining and fading. You can confirm for yourself the validity of Jacob Boehme's idea that the zodiacal system is a closed-off space in which 'God has enclosed mankind, so that the evil taking shape therein would not penetrate the entire universe'.

Hermes states plainly that the twelve vices are the direct result of zodiacal activity. He says: the zodiac consists of twelve elements; one nature, but manifold of conception. This means to say that you are born under one sign of the zodiac, one zodiacal activity. So there is one aspect which is fundamental in your life, and the other eleven merge with it. They all work together to mislead mankind. They form an absolute, insurmountable unity, and that is why the twelve vices are anchored fundamentally in man. You have not learned them. You have not cultivated them. They are not the result of evil, and neither are they the result of an accumulation of sins. No, they are twelve fundamental flaws that appear in your life as vices. Think of the two words: 'flaw' and 'imperfection'. As long as any flaw is present there can be no perfection, and the result will be a certain amount of disorder.

To put it another way, our nature is a nature in genesis, it is only an aspect of what it must one day become. That is why we speak of a birth in nature and a birth in the Spirit, of Soul-birth and Spirit-birth, and of being 'twice-born'.

The twelve vices are present in man in their positive and negative, their good and evil aspects, and thus are capable of building up heavy karma, under which man wanders bowed under a great burden of sin. And that is how what is not-yet-perfect can be held fast in the clutches of imperfection.

The existence of these activities and their effects has always been known to mankind. However far back you go in history, you will find knowledge of the forces of the zodiac. Think, for instance, of the Great Pyramid, that mighty Egyptian symbol whose construction is based entirely on measurements and data derived from the zodiacal system and the solar system. You will also see how the forces of the zodiac have always been a source of great confusion for seekers. This confusion lasts until the pupil on The Path discovers that the absolute, insurmountable unity of The Twelve can be assailed by the Ten Forces; that only the Ten Forces can bring a solution, for when they begin to assert themselves, The Twelve automatically recede.

"In The World, But Not Of The World" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis Vol. IV - J. van Rijckenborgh

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