Good evening. Welcome to this Festival of Sagittarius. At each group meeting we, along with thousands of other groups around the world, reflect on the particular keynote of each sign in an effort to build and strengthen the life qualities and attributes conveyed by the sign's energies. Over the centuries these cosmic influences--after being stepped down through the planetary rulers in our solar system—have served to mould and condition all life on this planet. It is still a work in progress. And being somewhat aware of this process, we think it is our responsibility, as a meditating group, to contribute to this creative effort. So let us take a moment to visualise and link up mentally with the other groups and see our work as part of a vast worldwide network through which is flowing the light and love and will of God. And as we link up, let us focus the group mind on the words of that ancient prayer, the Gayatri.

O Thou Who givest sustenance to the universe,
From Whom all things proceed,
To Whom all things return,
Unveil to us the face of the true Spiritual Sun
Hidden by a disc of golden Light
That we may know the Truth
And do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet.

"I see the goal. I reach that goal and then I see another." Sagittarius is the sign of the archer who shoots his arrows in the direction of his visioned goal. He follows the path of the arrows, retrieves them, and then he shoots towards another goal. Would it be that life is so simple. You aim towards a particular goal in your life journey. And then if and when you reach that goal you set your sights on another. Most of us struggle to reach even the first goal.

And maybe that is the untold lesson of Sagittarius. It's like the ancient truth: It is not reaching the destination that matters; what matters is the lessons learned through the pain and struggle of the journey itself. If there were no lessons to be learned along the way, the goal would be meaningless and empty. It needs to be a journey of growth and endless revelation.

Also it is a matter of the direction in which one shoots the arrows. Is the direction you choose going to advance you only in a material way, or will the journey towards the goal you envision deepen and expand your awareness of life? In other words, does the goal move you towards fusion with the soul or does it merely enrich your material personality life? If the latter, there may be more pain and suffering in store for you. The real benefit of the journey comes if there is significant gain in the life of the soul. Then the inherent quality of direction in Sagittarius has been useful and fruitful. Right direction should guide one on to the path of initiation, which is the inner quality of the next sign of Capricorn.

This raises an interesting question. If the influence of Sagittarius heightens our sense of direction, what do we gain from all the other signs of the great zodiacal wheel? Given the hundreds of lives that we have experienced and will experience in all the signs, what other attributes are we developing? And how do these attributes compliment and support the sense of direction being developed under Sagittarius?

For example, in Aries the focus of the soul may be on awakening the power of the will, the will-to-be and do. In Taurus, the attribute of desire is developed in all its phases - desire in ambition, in motive, in aspiration. In Gemini, the question of duality may come up for consideration and development of the ability to relate pairs of opposites, the ability to relate "duality into a fluid synthesis." In Cancer, consciousness at the physical plane level is developed. This is followed by Leo and the development of self-awareness and self-consciousness. And consciousness undergoes a deeper development in the next sign of Virgo, which nurtures the Christ consciousness or the hidden spiritual reality. Then in Libra there comes the opportunity to pause, and with the analytical faculty of the mind to develop the ability to balance all the gained attributes of the previous signs This life experience prepares one for setting foot on the path in Scorpio and the development of the higher spiritual attributes necessary for the new journey on the higher way. The experience in Sagittarius provides additional strengthening of the need for right direction, especially on the path, because the goal of initiation in Capricorn lies just ahead. Ambition in the early stages of Capricorn develops the strength and drive to finally climb the mountain of initiation. And from the mountain top one gains and develops the attribute of universal service in Aquarius, followed by the final necessity of sacrifice and detachment in Pisces.

These attributes represent just some of the highlights that we all have developed and will develop as we round out our life experience in all twelve of the zodiacal signs. In reality of course it is much more complex because there are many other energies involved—like those of the planetary rulers and the potent energies of the seven Rays. There are infinite combinations of energies and forces that exert their subtle influence on our spiritual development. But from just this brief outline of the twelve signs, one can see how the particular influence of Sagittarius fits into the whole. For example, without the intuitive sense of direction developed in Sagittarius, one might never develop the ability to reach a goal beyond that of the purely intellectual mind. The highly developed intellect is a wonderful instrument for the early and middle stages of the path, but if it becomes over-developed, it could actually form a barrier to the real intuitive level of mind that one needs to move forward on the higher way.

Now you can see, hopefully, the value of our group meditation meetings each month. Together with hundreds of other meditating groups around the world, we greatly strengthen the thoughtform of each sign. A network of groups focussed on a single keynote can generate much more power than can an individual working alone. And if we are concentrating on the highest refined attributes of each sign, we are providing a focal point within the thoughtform to which the highest energies will be drawn.

The whole process of energy flow is based upon the process of invocation and evocation. The quality is evoked, or comes forth, from the zodiacal energies commensurate with the quality of the invoking power. In other words, the quality of the output depends upon the strength and quality of the input. We receive only as good as we ask. This is why prayer can be effective as a healing agent, but it tends to be personally oriented. Group invocation, on the other hand, can be, if done properly, much more directly involved in the evocation process. Because it is a highly intensive act of a group mind and more selfless in its intent. It is an intensive quality of input that calls forth automatically a high quality of output from divine sources. We should bear this in mind as we work in meditation and especially when sounding the Great Invocation. Invocation gives us the power to be directly involved with the energies of Sagittarius, and therefore directly involved in refining this planetary thoughtform.

The keynote "I see the goal. I reach that goal and then I see another" helps us to understand the reason that balance is needed. The symbol of Sagittarius is the archer facing the target, which for the disciple, could be the goal of initiation. To achieve the goal the archer must learned to stand perfectly poised, perfectly balanced, still and silent with his mind concentrated one-pointedly on the target. He shoots the arrow and then goes forward to see where it has landed. These are arrows of the one-pointed mind. Over time, as the intellect develops and becomes more illumined, he becomes sensitive to a still higher type of mental experience: intuitive perception. This perception brings flashes of light upon problems; a distant yet possible vision of attainment is seen. He walks no longer in the dark, for he sees what he has to do. From this point on he makes rapid progress and travels from point to point, searching for the arrows which he has discharged. The returned arrows of intuition enable him to follow a true course to the soul, and from then on establish a balanced relationship between the personality and the soul and can function as either at any desired moment with equal facility.

Now this marks a real turning point for any individual who has reached this stage in consciousness. Or for a group, or even a nation, for that matter. Consider for a moment the fact that the personality ruler of Washington , DC is Sagittarius. Now if any group in this country needs a strong sense of balance and poise and intuitive perception, it is that distinguished group of servants who work in our nation's capitol.

This country, and all countries, need a firm sense of direction—an intuitive sense of direction and vision. And this of course is the underlying theme of Sagittarius. We are told that "when this faculty of sensitive direction is rightly developed, it becomes, in the early stages, an effort to identify all soul and personality activity with God's Plan, and this is, in the last analysis, the ordered direction of God's thought. There is no true direction apart from thought...thought is power." Congress seems to think that money is power, which indicates where the problem lies. Think what power they could generate for the good of the whole, if there was an intuitive consensus on the direction of congressional group thought! "Intuition is the ability to arrive at knowledge through the activity of some innate sense, apart from the reasoning or logical process. It comes into activity when the resources of the lower mind have been used, explored and exhausted. It is the sense of synthesis, the ability to think in wholes, and to touch the world of causes." Perhaps it is asking too much to ask a group of legislators to be truly intuitive.

But there are those with vision among the new group of world servers; there are those who have the ability to think in wholes and to touch the world of causes, and their voices should be heard. What is required is not some distant utopian vision that is impossible to achieve, but a realistic goal of our next immediate step ahead. "I see the goal. I reach that goal and then I see another." One step at a time, but only as far ahead as the arrows can reach.

Such a next step can be seen in the global issue of climate change. As you may know, the United Nation Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just released its final synthesis report that outlines some possible catastrophes for the people of the Earth if definite cooperative steps are not taken in the next decade by the nations of the world. Next month, on December 3-14, the United Nations is holding a conference on Climate Change in Bali. It will be an opportunity for the national representatives to agree on a new agenda that--if all nations cooperate--might head off a potential disaster. It is interesting that this conference is being held during the inflow of the energies of Sagittarius with its emphasis on intuitional direction.

And it is interesting to view this issue and the process in consciousness. In the difficult process of negotiations we will probable see the full range of the Sagittarian mentality: the heavy Centuarian mentality which reacts out of pure selfish desire and ambition; or that of the archer who is more aspirational in his direction. But hopefully, the strongest impact will come from those true visionaries who are able to look beyond selfish interest and think intuitively in terms of the whole and are able to touch the realm of causes in their thinking. Very likely all depths of thought--from the purely selfish to the divine--will play a part in the negotiation process. And this is where all the meditating groups around the world can play a part by contributing subjectively to this global thoughtform of solution.

Perhaps it might be said that the big winner in this agreement will be humanity itself; it is demonstrating the power of group thought for the good of the whole, which is in reality an expression of the will-to-good. It is an indication that humanity has the ability to respond to the Will of God, whether it knows that fact or not. It is becoming sensitive to the direction of God's thought. It could be said that this conference on climate change is in line with the working out of the Plan for humanity because it does concern the overall quality of life on planet Earth. As we are told, "there is no true direction apart from thought." This conference demonstrates that when group thought can be focussed and concentrated on a specific intent, it has the power to direct human activities on a large scale. Working towards an ideal is one of the five keynotes of Sagittarius - "the power to see the vision and to direct one's course towards it; this is an expression of the sixth ray." The great ideal in this case is not simply for our survival. What should come from this is the realization that we are all citizens of the world and now have the capacity to think universally. That ability is gradually aligning us more closely with the universal Will of God.

In our meditation this evening, let us use the power of directed group thought to strengthen the hands of those intuitive servers who have the ability to envision a higher set of goals. Let us work to strengthen the Sagittarian thoughtform of working towards a goal, of reaching that goal and then seeing another. Each successful step forward brings us closer to the group soul, and the ultimate goal of manifesting the kingdom of souls on earth.

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Dale McKechnie

Festival of Sagittarius
New York,
November 23, 2007