1. The Great Bear.
2. The Little Bear.
3. The Pole Star, especially where our planet is concerned.
4. The Pleiades.
5. The constellation of Capricorn.
6. Draco.
7. Sirius.
8. The various constellations and stars of the Zodiac. [796]

The mystery is hidden in esoteric astrology, and until the subject of energy working through the etheric body, of radioactivity, and of the transmutation of all bodies from a lower state into a higher is better comprehended, the true mystery of the "influence" of these various bodies upon each other will remain at its present stage - an unrevealed secret. If the radiatory effect of a human being or of a group of human beings upon each other is as yet practically an unknown thing from the standpoint of practical science, so the occult effect of these greater forms upon each other remains unknown. Science recognizes certain effects, leading and tending to the general coherence of the universe, just as the general laws of the social order among men are theoretically apprehended, but the true scientific realization of energy-radiations emanating from the etheric bodies of all these suns and groups of suns, and from all these planets and groups of planets is little understood. Their atomic activity is recognized, but that department of their being, which finds its correspondence in "animal magnetism" in man, is little realized, while the even more potent factor of the magnetic radiation of their astral bodies is totally uncalculated, nor is it admitted. All these factors have to be allowed for in any consideration of the factor of time and cycles, and the true esoteric knowledge is not to be gained by the study of figures by the lower mind. It comes as the result of the intuition and is stimulated at initiation.

All that has here been pointed out, can be applied equally (though in a very finite sense) to the ego and its cycles, and also equally, considerations other than the purely "personal" will enter into its time periods. The influence of other groups and of other units, the effects of radiation from other rays, and of certain types of force as yet unrevealed, and thus outside our consideration, are concerned with its appearing, with the duration of its [797] manifestation, its subsequent obscuration, and final pralayic interval. As the Ego has time periods corresponding to those of Brahma, and its "100 years" and its "777 incarnations" have a solar analogy, so equally groups of Egos differ as to time, just as the planetary schemes are analogous in evolution but differ where their periods are concerned. The Law of Periodicity is one, but as it is based upon initial impulse, and upon the rhythmic beat of the "central heart" or the "central sun" of any organism (solar system, planetary scheme, planetary chain, egoic group or individual egoic life) the true nature or "family" of any such organism must be ascertained before cyclic pronouncements can be made with any hope of approximate accuracy. This was why H. P. B. sought to emphasize the need of studying the "astral family" and occult heredity of any person, for in the astral is to be found the clue to the "egoic family or group." With this clue the student can then ascertain the characteristics of his group on egoic levels, its place among other egoic groups, and eventually his ray or group center. As time elapses, the true study of heredity and esoteric transmission will open up, and the whole fabric of thought built up around such modern expressions as:

1. Consanguinity or blood ties
2. Physical heredity
3. Atavism
4. Intermarriage
5. Family relationships
6. The family unit
7. Soul mates
8. Divorce and many other terms

will be shifted to higher planes, and will be recognized and used in connection with soul relationships. They are, as yet, but a faint realization on the physical plane of [798] certain inner relations, which are seeking outer response. When all aggregates of ideas are interpreted in terms of force and energy, in terms of attraction and repulsion, or the vibratory response of units to each other, and of aggregates of units to other groups, we shall have the clearing up of many problems and a simplification of life. Men will be true to their group affiliations, and the present misgrouping and mismating will gradually, through knowledge, die out.