Putting Things in Order

This is the sixteenth part of my essay series “Inner Work with the Planets”. If you haven’t read the earlier parts yet, I suggest you start with part 1 to get the most out of this essay.

The last essay ended with us wondering what you could get out of doing this kind of inner work, based on the Hermetic understanding of the planets. Or rather, I suppose it’s something you might be wondering about, and you might be relieved to hear it’s one of the things we’ll be talking about in this essay. 😉

But there’s also something else we’ve never really discussed, and instead have always taken for granted somehow… and that’s the order of the planets.

At some point a while back, I might have mumbled something vague about the planets appearing in the same order as they are in the solar system, or something to that effect. Which is, of course, technically true – if we only talk about what modern astronomy considers to be planets, i.e. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

(As astute reader, you will have noticed that these five appear in exactly the same order as e.g. in the mnemonic “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos”…)

But what about the Moon and the Sun? Why is the Moon’s sphere closest to the earth, and why is the Sun’s smack in the middle of the planetary onion?

Well, we’ll talk about the significance of the Sun and the Moon somewhat more next time. For today, though, let’s first focus on another, no less interesting question: Is the Hermetic order of the planets only determined by their astronomical order? Or does it have some other, more hidden layers to it as well?

And as you’ve probably guessed, it has (other layers of meaning to it, that is). 🙂

You might (vaguely, I suppose) remember that last time, I mentioned in passing that the first treatise of the Corpus Hermeticum even spells out which planetary vices a divine soul leaves behind in each sphere during its final ascent, and other Hermetic texts list similar traits and habits in relation to each planet.

The actual lists of these vices or virtues are usually not very long and detailed. For example, CH I (the first treatise of the Corpus Hermeticum) mentions the following:

For the Moon, waxing and waning. For Mercury, evil machination. For Venus, deceptive desires. For the Sun, arrogance and imperiousness. For Mars, overconfidence and recklessness. For Jupiter, greed. For Saturn, underhanded deceit.

This list is… short and sweet, I guess we could say, not very in-depth and maybe also not very meaningful to us – at least not on first glance.

But these texts were meant to be digested, contemplated and reflected on, and maybe they were also discussed in study groups (or the ancient equivalent thereof 😉 ), or taught by a master to his or her students. I.e. while the list looks short and unassuming, there is a whole world of understanding hidden behind it.

Now, since this is a practical course in “inner work with the planets”, i.e. a course which encourages you to actually do your own inner work, I will not spell all of it out to you. Instead, I will give you some hints, and also some teasers on how to develop them further – and will then discuss the very practical issue of how you can approach this “riddle” as a course of study for your own inner development.

(Hey, that’s what you signed up for, right? 😉 )

The first thing to consider is whether the order of the planets matters at all. Could we simply re-arrange them in any old order at our whim? Would this give us the same solid and time-proven results?

Well, to a certain extent, yes.

The seven classical planets have a wonderful inherent balance between them, with regards to traits, characteristics, vices and virtues. We’ll talk about some aspects of this in later essays, but for now, and just as an example, I’d encourage you to spend some time on a thought exercise:

Group the planets into pairs, according to various characteristics. Which two planets fit well together, and in what regard? Which planets are antagonists, and in which ways?

(Feel free to spend a few minutes on this right now. Come up with as many pairs as you can. Who finds the most? And when you can’t find any more pairs, try the same with threesomes, just for fun! 🙂 )

Doing things like this regularly will not only greatly enhance your understanding of the planets, but will also give you plenty of new ways to perceive and to approach the world, and your own role in it…

So even if we’d leave the order of the planets aside and only focused on what we can gain from them individually, doing the kind of inner work I propose in this essay series is a very rewarding practice.

But there is more which the planets have to offer us, and it’s hidden in plain sight, right in their specific order from the Moon all the way up to Saturn…

Let’s do another very quick ascent through the planetary spheres together, but this time with a focus on the vices we could leave behind in each sphere, as listed in CH I:

In the Moon’s sphere, we say goodbye to the waxing and waning, and to the cycles of life. This means leaving behind our strong connection to the material world and to our physical bodies.

Mercury’s sphere clears us of bad habits and shady actions, of our urges to gain material advantages for ourselves to the detriment of others.

In Venus’ sphere, we leave behind any addiction and unhealthy ties we might have had to earthly pleasures.

The Sun’s sphere marks the death of the ego, in that the mask of the “I” which we experienced during our life falls away.

Being now ready to turn towards others, Mars’ sphere marks the point where we don’t have to fight them anymore, neither for personal gains, nor for any personal beliefs, pride, or other matters of the personality.

Jupiter leads us towards expansion and higher things, but in a healthy way – in his sphere, we ditch the false sense of expansion which has led us to greed and material attachments during our lives.

And finally, Saturn’s sphere gives us the final chance to leave behind anything “undivine”, murky and unsavoury, and instead turn towards true wisdom and knowledge.

There is an inherent wisdom and beauty in this sequence, and I hope you’ve been able to perceive it even though we’ve only very briefly touched on all its stages.

The order of the planets symbolizes a journey from the material all the way up to the divine. And of course, this also works the other way round:

Travelling from Saturn down to the Moon in a descent is a valuable journey in itself, from the Divine, from true Knowledge and Understanding, down to material, everyday life here on earth, with all its challenges and pleasures – only this time focusing not on the vices, but on the virtues of the planets…

We won’t do this descent together right now, although I’d strongly encourage you to invest time on it on your own (and don’t worry, we’ll go into how exactly you could do this in a second!).

For now, just remember that the descent has as much to teach you as the ascent – and that there are also other applications of this same series of planets:

They represent a timeless sequence, which can be found in (or mapped on) many things, from the stages of a human life, with the Moon representing birth and early childhood, and Saturn representing old age and death, to the cycles of the seasons, of societies, or of ecosystems.

There are a lot of ways to apply the planets in their timeless order on various areas of life, and a lot of insights to be gained.

At this point, some of you might be nodding your heads, thinking that this all sounds great and reasonable and tempting – and wondering how on earth you’d go about it… 😀

A very good question – and the remaining essays will suggest various approaches to inner work with the planets and their order(s).

(Nope, that plural-s is not a typo – but more on that next time…)

For starters, let’s focus on two things which have been mentioned repeatedly in these essays, namely contemplation and reflection. And to add some spice to the mix, we’ll also throw in a third thing, namely “taking action”. 😉

How can you approach inner work with the planets through contemplation and reflection?

First, I’m using the terms “contemplation” and “reflection” rather losely here. I.e. there isn’t one specific method of contemplation which you have to follow to the T. Any way you want to think about all these issues, mull them over, turn them around in your mind, any way you engage with these ideas counts as contemplation or reflection.

Whether you sit down in an organized way once a day to reflect on the planets for 15 minutes… whether you try to apply these ideas to things (and people) you encounter on your way to work or waiting for an appointment… whether you just think (or feel) your way through them, whether you keep detailed notes or engage in some kind of stream-of-consciousness writing…

… all of these are valid ways to contemplate and reflect on the planets and on their implications and effects in your life. There is no one right or wrong way – as long as you do it, of course!

In fact, I find it much more productive for you to find some means of contemplation and reflection which work well for you, instead of me proscribing the one-and-only way to do the work correctly. If you figure out what works for you, chances are much better you’ll actually do it… 😉

Having said that, I’m going to suggest a few ways you could approach your inner work with the planets through reflection and contemplation (in whichever form reflection and contemplation will take for you):

The first is to aproach this in a systematic way. You could, e.g. spend a week on each planet, go through them in order in an ascent, then spend another week on each planet in order in a descent. (Rinse and repeat, if you feel so inclined.)

During each planet’s week, spend some time mulling over this particular planet and its coins. What are its vices and virtues? How might it apply to life on earth in general, and to your life in particular? What could you learn from it?

(If you should feel a bit overwhelmed at the thought of teasing out the coins of the planets on your own, remember you can always revisit the earlier essays about the planets and their particular coins, too! Right below this essay, there is a link to the so-called “topic” Planets, which will lead you straight to all the related essays.)

And if the thought of spending seven days of reflection on only one planet is a bit daunting to start with, each planet is classically assigned to a particular day of the week (or vice versa, each day to a planet):

Monday to the Moon, Tuesday to Mars, Wednesday to Mercury, Thursday to Jupiter, Friday to Venus, Saturday to Saturn, and Sunday to the Sun.

As you go through your week, on each day, engage with the planet which rules this particular day, just like I suggested above. You can do this for as many weeks as you like, or for as long as you get results out of it.

(If you take this kind of work seriously, this will be quite a few weeks!)

Of course, you could also start with a seven week long ascent, followed by an equally long descent, and then dive into the planetary days for the next umpteen weeks. Or spend more or less than a week on each planet during your ascent and descent. Or… well, mix and match in whatever way works best for you! 🙂

The second approach is less systematic, but more personal. Instead of going through the planets in a structured way, you take some time each day to reflect on things you encounter: your own (or other people’s) thoughts, feelings or actions, anything which happened, stuff you’ve read or heard, …

In short, do your best to identify your own planetary coins, your own planetary vices and virtues, and how you let them play out in your life. And the coins of others. And how the planets show themselves in life as you experience and perceive it.

(If you should find it a bit hard to identify your own vices and virtues, we’ll talk about that a bit next time. For now, the short answer is that the first, systematic approach will probably shed some light on them over time…)

Try to match whatever comes up in your life to different planets: E.g. what are the Saturnian or Martian aspects in this encounter? How would the Moon have dealt with it, or Venus? Could you approach it from a Sun angle? Does it tie several planets together, and how? Do different planets represent or reflect different elements or people in whatever happened?

The advantage of this second, more personal, approach is that you’ll see results in your own life faster – the disadvantage is that you need to know quite a bit about the planets to approach your reflection and contemplation in this way.

Thus what might work best for most people is a two-step approach:

First, spend some time (some weeks or months, however long it takes) reflecting on the planets in the systematical way suggested above. Then in a second step, start using your reflection time to engage with events, things and people in your life, and apply the knowledge and insights you’ve gained about the planets directly to them (and first and foremost to yourself, of course!).

Of course, you can always insert another phase of systematically working your way through the planets yet again. And so on.

However you approach this kind of inner work, over time you’ll notice some effects:

One of the first things you’re likely to notice are spill-over effects. After some continued reflective engagement with the planets, anything related to them will be much more at the forefront of your mind, and is prone to popping into your consciousness on other occasions, i.e. when you’re not deliberately contemplating it.

Say you’re having stress at work, or you’re in an argument with a family member, or you watch somebody else doing whatsoever… and suddenly it occurs to you that maybe you should try a Lunar approach instead, or that you’re acting out some specific Mercurian vice again, or that two other people are clashing like Saturn might clash with the Sun over just this issue.

And suddenly, there are options you haven’t had before.

Leaning on the wisdom you have gained from your inner work with the planets, you now have the option to act in a different way. To understand others (and yourself!) better. To play on your virtues instead of your vices. To approach things from a different planetary angle.

Of course, this will inevitably lead to other, secondary effects. Depending on how exactly you will apply your new-found wisdom in your everyday life, you might see changes in different areas:

Maybe in your personal relationships. Or in the way you approach your job, and as a follow-on effect also in your financial situation. Maybe in the way you conduct yourself, or in the way you take care of yourself (or of others). Maybe… well, you get the idea!

That’s to say, what exactly you are going to gain from your inner work with the planets is a personal thing (and a bit hard to tell from my end – my crystal ball ain’t quite clear enough to see this from here… 😉 ). But if you do the work, chances are very high that you will see changes in your life. Or rather: That you will change, in the way you act, think, feel, …

What specifically are you going to get out of this? Well, it’s up to you – provided you put in the work in the first place… 😉

Of course, changing oneself can be a long and winding process. If I were you, I wouldn’t expect insta-improvements tomorrow, just from gazing up at the Moon tonight.

Also, reflection and contemplation will get you quite far – but only so far. If you want some serious change in your life, and have identified the relevant levers through your inner work with the planets, you will also need to implement the change you want to see.

If you’re willing to do this, i.e. to both put in the inner work and to put in the outer work (in your actions, habits, behavior, …), then the sky is your limit – or rather, the fixed stars, way above the planetary spheres… 😉

We’ll continue our practical inner work with the planets in the next essay, which will go up on Sunday, September 7th. I’ll see you then!

---

Image: Mahbod Akhzami on Unsplash