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BEING SELF-CENTERED

by

Zane Maser

"To have that sense of one's intrinsic worth … is potentially to have everything."
Joan Didion, novelist

In our Absent Healing service, we read the words "the Ancients saw and worshipped the Sun as sign and symbol of God, and called upon the spiritual sunlight for strength, health, and healing." This gives us the essence of the Sun as a symbol of our eternal Self, which is the highest potential expression of our Godly Self, Portraying wholeness and unity, the astrological glyph for the Sun is the all-encompassing circle of universal Love with the dot as the Self, the center of Being, the immortal spark of God's life within us. As the most powerful, vitalizing, individualizing force known, the Sun is the dominant note of the universe in its emanations of warmth and generosity, with its continual golden infusion shining equally on all. This Solar energy strongly urges us outward and forward into deliberate, confident engagement with life. Our solar fire is thus what we each have within our self to become.

The Sun represents both the heart of a person and the heart of the astrological chart in its deepest expression, for it reveals the spiritual lesson to be learned and the conscious purpose, or main expression, of the current life. It also shows the underlying keynote of the character—the real Self-identity—in all its possibilities for Self-realization. The Sun gives the central focus in the chart of the individual's basic drive for significance, success, and power, and its fortifying energy motivates our most authentic longings and creative aspirations to shine in our own unique way. Exalted in its position of supremacy amongst the planets (its number is One), the Sun indicates not only the potential for spiritual attainment but also our connection to our life's Source.

With all this intensity of Sun power swirling about, it's helpful to think of the quest for Selfhood as a process of personal, evolutionary growth along a continuum. Each task of this "self-reinforcing" feedback loop is as relevant and necessary as the next. "Be strong in the self," counsels White Eagle, "but be stronger in the selfless."

At the starting blocks, we are a young soul innocently setting out on our journey to gain consciousness or greater self-awareness. We may spend a good many lifetimes in early stages attempting to master the central concerns of the outer self, learning hard-won lessons through being self-serving, self-aggrandizing, self-loathing, self-destructive, to name a few. This tends to correlate with some of the negative expressions of the Sun, such as being overly confident, overbearing, and overindulgent. Then, perhaps, we make strides along the continuum, gaining ground and greater self-discipline, self-worth, and self-forgetfulness. As we tread ever closer to the farther reaches of discovering our true Selfless identity, we become emptied of the little self, able to realize that the illumination of the Sun shines through us from a Center (the heart) that emanates within our own Being. This Sun center is the vital link with our Higher Self, what White Eagle refers to as 'the mind in the heart.'

Many of us in the Lodge had the privilege to know a radiant Sun lady whose inner Light shone brightly in joyous, commanding ways. Our past Lodge Mother, Joan Hodgson, had the Sun in Leo (its natural sign). Her Ascendant (how she appeared to others; how she came across) was also in Leo, which means the Sun "ruled" her chart. Moreover, the Sun was only a degree from the Ascendant—a double portion of solar vibrancy and optimism! Such a combination would denote great ease and charisma, and Joan, in her physical presence, naturally stood out in a crowd. Maybe I was royally Sun-struck, but I clearly recall her luminous being during those days of the dedication of the Temple in Texas. The positive force of her personal Light bathed us all with strength, vitality, warmth, confidence, and love—true qualities of the Sun and Leo. By living and affirming her own special essence and life purpose, she encouraged us to feel centered in our own distinctive identity (Sun) and birthright.

As the supreme spiritual ruler of Tibet, the Dalai Lama is a further example of one who, by being Self-centered, exemplifies an authentic expression of the solar Light. He was also born with the Sun just over a degree from the Ascendant but in the deeply caring, nurturing sign of Cancer. It can be said that he beautifully blends the universal aspects of the Father (Sun)-Mother (Cancer) in one who is believed to be the reincarnated soul of the Buddha of Compassion. As a young boy, he was installed on the Lion Throne in Lhasa, Tibet's holy city. The Dalai Lama says, "The important thing is that men should have a purpose in life [the Sun]. It should be something useful, something good." Having fully tapped his own Sun-consciousness, he gives selflessly to the entire world, never for a moment diminished in his own capacities as a purified channel.

For many of us, this process of coming into our Sun sign occurs gradually over the course of years and growing maturity. This is when the deeper qualities of our Sun sign may become more evident to those outside of our self. Our Sun sign is like the real person waiting inside the costume! What we know ourselves to be inwardly, when all the noise of the outer self is silenced, is often some of the most noble, selfless characteristics of our Sun sign—what we most long to be from our deepest core. When I read Isabelle Pagan's description of my Sun sign in her classic book "From Pioneer [Aries] to Poet [Pisces]," it was like an affirmation and a coming Home to my Self. I said, Yes! It is a glove that fits my Sun Self perfectly! You might also have a similar experience, were you to take a private self-inventory and match it to the positive qualities of your Sun sign.

Though the Sun is the natural ruler of the fire sign Leo, it is exalted in the fire sign of Aries. When the Sun is in Aries, the virtues of the solar qualities are magnified and expressed most harmoniously. Easter often occurs during the time when the Sun passes through Aries. The message of Easter is one of birth, of the soul rising triumphant over darkness and death, no longer imprisoned by the little self and outer personality. The festival of Easter brings the hope-filled message of the spiritual Light of the Sun—the Self—in every person, when we each have the potential to arise renewed and re-centered, our consciousness and whole being illumined by the Cosmic Sun. This is the state in which we have moved from self-orientation to self-mastery over the matters of earth, finally becoming enthroned over the Kingdom of the Self. This is the attainment of complete God consciousness and the ever-lasting promise of Easter time.

Blessed am I radiant in purpose
For I behold the Light
The promise of the Self is mine
My heart is the Sun's abode.

© Zane Maser 2006.
This article was published in Drumbeat, Journal of the White Eagle Lodge (Canada), Volume 14, Issue 1, pages 16-18 (2006).

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