Taurus: The Way to Shamballa


The Buddha Presiding Over the Thousands Gathered in the Wesak Valley.
The Hierarchy assemble in the 5-pointed star. (Artist: Francis Donald © 2011.)

"I see and when the Eye is opened, all is light."

Taurus, Buddha and the Wesak Festival
Taurus The Bull: Sex, Sound and Shamballa
Taurus and the New Group of World Servers (NGWS)
The Ajna Centre of Sanat Kumara, the Lord of Shamballa


Taurus, Buddha and the Wesak Festival

The greatest spiritual event of the year is the Festival of Wesak at the full moon during Taurus, also linked to the Kalachakra Initiation and the legend of Shamballa. The Aries, Taurus and Gemini solar festivals are the most esoteric in terms of establishing the principles and plans of each spiritual year. That which was begun in Aries is now carried forward and consolidated upon in Taurus, before it is distributed in the following sign of Gemini.

Wesak is uniquely known as the festival of the Buddha in the East, following closely after the Western festival of Easter whose major representative is the One who holds the Office of the Christ. Yet it is also a time when these two representatives of the western and eastern hemispheres work closely with the major directing agency upon Earth, Sanat Kumara or Melchizedek, the Lord of Shamballa.

Buddha at Borobudur, Java, Indonesia.

It is said that the Buddha came into incarnation in Taurus, gained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree during Taurus and also disincarnated in this sign. Buddha pointed the way in his Four Noble Truths to the timeless and eternal verities that underlie human liberation:

"1. Existence in the phenomenal universe is inseparable from suffering and from sorrow.

2. The cause of suffering is desire for existence in the world of phenomena.

3. Cessation of suffering is brought about by eradicating all desire for existence in this universe of phenomena.

4. The way to the cessation of suffering is by treading the noble Eightfold Path, wherein are expressed right belief, right intentions, right speech, right actions, right living, right endeavour, right-mindedness and right concentration."

Taurus is a sign of desire and the acquisition of that which is desired - yet it is also the Mother of Illumination - light conferred upon us once desire is transmuted.

The redirecting of desire through transformation into aspiration, shifts the origin of desire in the solar plexus centre to the fiery light within the chalice of the heart chakra. Hence a Buddha of Compassion. The word ‘aspiration’ is related to ‘asp’ or snake, such as the cobra, frequently depicted hovering over the head of the Buddha – a ‘serpent of wisdom’. The coiled serpentine kundalini forces rise or ‘aspire’ from the lower centres to their final awakened soul state depicted by the hooded cobra.

There is much to reflect upon the Taurus-Scorpio polarity - in synthesising the pairs of opposites within oneself. The respective rulers of these signs are Vulcan and Pluto. Vulcan brings spirit into matter, and Pluto raises matter into spirit. Both are co-rulers of the first ray of Will-Power, the fiery force that burns away obstacles upon the path and brings an aspirant to initiation.

During the Wesak period, our aspiring thoughts open the door to alignment with co-workers upon the path and the possibility of contact with the heart of the planet, our own ashram within the Hierarchy or Masters of Wisdom. Wesak is essentially a great gathering in of the spiritual government of the planet, bringing alignment between the major four planetary chakras:

1. Shamballa, the crown chakra - from where 'the Will of God is known' and outward directed by Sanat Kumara.

2. Hierarchy, the heart chakra - Masters of love-wisdom and compassion, in contact with the Will of Shamballa and lovingly guiding Humanity.

3. The New Group of World Servers (N.G.W.S.) – the ajna centre – the most spiritually advanced aspirants, disciples and initiates who bridge between Hierarchy and the rest of Humanity.

4. Humanity, the throat centre – spiritually intelligent, creative Humanity who utilise their free will to determine their destiny.

Shamballa, Hierarchy, NGWS & Humanity

Wesak affords us an opportunity to grasp some part of the immediate Intention of Deity:

“…those in the Hierarchy—the initiates and disciples in their ordered ranks and various gradings … cooperate with that immediate aspect of the Plan which they can grasp and which comes down to them through the inspired minds of their Directors at certain stated times … At those times, when the Hierarchy meets in silent conclave, a part of God's vision, and His formulation of that vision for the immediate present, is revealed ...”^[1]

Taurus and the New Group of World Servers (NGWS)

“The group, therefore, which "serves as Aquarius indicates" is the Hierarchy; the group which is "speeded upon the upward Way" is the New Group of World Servers.  This group is ruled by Taurus, and to it that divine Taurean energy brings "illumination and the attainment of the vision." This group is, figuratively speaking, the "bull, rushing forward upon a straight line with its one eye fixed upon the goal and beaming light."

But what is that goal? It is not the goal of Self-illumination, for that lies far behind; it is the goal of providing a centre of light within the world and of holding up this vision to Humanity. Let this never be forgotten, and let the New Group of World Servers realise its mission and recognise the demands of humanity upon it. What are these demands?

1. To receive and transmit illumination from the kingdom of souls.

2. To receive inspiration from the Hierarchy and go forth, consequently, to inspire.

3. To hold the vision of the Plan before the eyes of Humanity, for "where there is no vision, the people perish."

4. To act as an intermediate group between the Hierarchy and humanity, receiving light and power and then using both of these, under the inspiration of love, to build the new world of tomorrow.

5. To toil in Pisces [at the end of this age], illumined by Taurus and responsive in degree to the Aquarian impulse coming from the Hierarchy.

These objectives are not only individual objectives, but the goal for the entire group. All who respond to the life-giving force of Aquarius and to the light-giving force of Taurus can and will work in the New Group of World Servers, even though they have no occult knowledge and have never heard of their co-workers under that name.

The ajna centre of the Lord of the World is just beginning to express itself in a recognisable manner through the New Group of World Servers. This intermediate group—between the Hierarchy and Humanity—is a carrier of the energy which makes the Plan possible. This Plan implements the Purpose, and later, when the New Group of World Servers is organised and is recognised as a living organism, it will definitely receive energy from Shamballa in a direct reception, via the Hierarchy.”^[2]

The rhythms of the NGWS occur in three-year cycles and 2011 is the beginning of one set of cycles. Yet the whole cycle set is the ending of a greater set of cycles that will have an 'Emergence and Impact on Public Consciousness'. Hence we enter a very important phase that encompasses the much-hyped 2012 date.

2011-12 Crisis/Consolidation. Emergence/Impact on Public Consciousness.
2012-13 Tension/Expansion.
2013-14 Emergence/Impact on Public Consciousness.

Taurus The Bull: Sex, Sound and Shamballa

The Fourth Ray of Harmony or Beauty pours through Taurus, ruled by Venus the goddess of beauty and love. Love’s lower octave - desire, finds its expression through sex, generating the form in Taurus. Desire and love are intertwined in a mutual embrace. Venus is in touch with the realm of divine ideas on the mental plane and seeks to express them as beauty upon the physical plane.

From Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.

Procreation becomes creation, creative procreation. Venus harmonises and brings into equilibrium the interaction between spirit and matter and her offspring are love and beauty.

The exaltation of the Moon in Taurus is related to the creation of these forms, bodies to inhabit, vehicles of expression. The Moon’s co-rulership of the ray of Harmony Through Conflict, speaks of the conflict and pain involved in the birthing process; that which is upon the plane of Harmony, must eventually find its way onto the physical, in order for the Divine Plan to unfold. The Moon is the feminine aspect of form-building that is related to the personality and its needs.

Yet the Moon also ‘veils’ Vulcan (soul ruler of Taurus), the masculine builder. Vulcan hammers the divine template into shape, fashioning by flame and fire in the smithy’s furnace and forge. His ‘masculine’ hammer strikes the ‘feminine’ anvil.

Vulcan or ‘Hephaestus’

Vulcan is the inner spiritual individual, the soul, who has to go ‘down into the depths to find the material upon which to expend his innate art and to fashion that which is beautiful and useful’.^[3] Vulcan, or ‘Hephaestus’ in the Greek tradition, re-fashions the form with the more refined substances of gold and precious metals, hardened steel or rare alloys. The stronger, more beautiful form allows it to reach back toward the ‘heavenly realms’.

Venus’s marriage to Vulcan is therefore a ‘marriage made in heaven’. The ‘ugliest’ and lame god unites with the most beautiful goddess. Hence Taurus carries within it a profound allegory relating to the unification of mind and matter, soul and personality, beauty and the beast, spirit into form.

The desire aspect of Taurus lusts after physical experience, whether it is eating, drinking, sexuality, appropriating or spending money. Desire repolarised for the Taurean upon the path becomes burning aspiration. The higher use of the sex impulse transforms into focused creative activity in the throat centre, seat of the mental body. Taurus is related to this centre through its rulership of the neck, throat and thyroid gland. Creation through love and will at this level moves the forces of the sacral centre to the throat. The balance is to maintain a divine circulatory flow, being polarised unnecessarily in either extreme.

The Bacchanalia – Auguste Leveque

The physical throat is therefore employed to bring about some fundamental changes through ‘directed and motivated’ speech, the chanting of mantrams, toning and singing. The throat centre is the vehicle through which the mental body creates and has a direct relation to the sacral centre that manifests.

The organs of speech employ language to ‘clothe thought’ and the ‘word is made flesh’, thought is bought into form; hence the sacredness of language and right speech for the world aspirant, the aspiring Taurean Buddha on the upward way.

Taurus also rules the ears, the inner and outer. (There is also a close resemblance between the organs of speech and the sexual organs of both sexes.)

Consider Taurus rising Wagner, with Venus and Mercury also placed in Taurus. The divine music that precipitated through his inner being, the Nada Brahma of the Hindus, helped him reach that buddhic beauty; beauty is born and it is borne by the Divine Hermaphrodite (Mercury-Venus). Brahms, David Helfgott and Peter Sculthorpe are some other musicians and composers who have Taurus Suns.

Wagner, Helfgott, Brahms.

Many singers have Taurus prominent in their horoscopes. The beauty (Ray 4) and harmony (Venus) they express enriches the world. Enya, Dame Nellie Melba, Barbara Streisand and Roy Orbison are/were Taurus Suns; Dionne Warwick and Diana Ross have Taurus Moons. Reflect for a moment upon the relationship between that which perceives the inner sound (the subtle centres, then the ears), and then expresses it (via the throat, mouth and tongue), both ruled by Taurus.

Here is a profound analogy related to alignment through ‘listening’ that invokes the higher Will - and the corresponding evocation, reception and translation, via speech, sound, singing or music. It is said that, ‘The middle ear is a narrow, air-filled cavity in the temporal bone. It is spanned by a chain of three tiny bones—the malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and stapes (stirrup), collectively called the auditory ossicles. This ossicular chain conducts sound from the tympanic membrane to the inner ear, known as the labyrinth.’

Note Vulcan’s hammer and anvil at work within the auditory processes (which Taurus rules) and also the presence of the ‘labyrinth’ wherein King Minos hides his bull. Vulcan ‘sounds the note’ with his hammer upon the anvil.

Taurus the Bull is also ‘Nandi’, the ‘vahan’ or vehicle of Siva. Siva is the deity of Will and Power and hence an expression of the first ray. Therefore Siva is synonymous with Vulcan, soul ruler of Taurus, with a profound connection to Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the World. Sanat Kumara sits at the centre of  Shamballa, personified as Siva sitting in meditation upon Mount Kalaish near the Wesak Valley.

Siva and Nandi                                      Mt. Kailash

The Lord of the World directs and sees over the precipitation of The Plan and world karma. Sanat Kumara sounds the note of the planetary purpose and plan.

The assembled Hierarchy of Masters at Wesak gather to focus and distribute the forces from the  triangle of Sanat Kumara, Buddha and the Christ over the full moon period, chanting mantrams in sacred ceremonial, ‘pacing and interweaving the assembled crowd into the formation of geometrical figures’ (see below). These forces are stepped down to their disciples who work within the ranks of Humanity throughout the world.

The Buddha in the Wesak Valley