The self-consciousness aspect of the human being is [542] being steadily expanded under this major interplay and through the forces transmitted by Uranus, via the eleventh house, and will ultimately give place to group consciousness and group relationships and group work. Hence the trend towards amalgamation today, towards federation, spheres of action and the many groups which distinguish increasingly human intercourse. The group spirit and the forms through which it will express itself are being increasingly demonstrated and this constitutes a veritable initiation for the race. It is the emergence of the glory of the human spirit in a more definite and arresting way and involves an orientation towards freedom which will later stand in the historical records as the outstanding characteristic of this age of major conflict. Humanity is today participating in the preparatory tests for initiation, the initiation of the world disciple. Great is your privilege to be taking part in this. Forget not that eleven is the number of the Initiate and that today it is the eleventh house which is so dominant; forget not that Aquarius, the eleventh sign, is the sign of universal relationships, interplay and consciousness. For all this, the combination of signs, Leo, Capricorn and Pisces - is preparing the race.

Capricorn is related, as you have been told, to initiation; [543] it is also the sign of the coming world Savior and these higher aspects of the Capricornian influences can be potently demonstrated if humanity so wills it and will take advantage of the Venusian influence to use the mind as the reflector of soul purpose. If this does not take place, the present situation will turn into something far worse - a situation wherein the mass of men will be "reinitiated into the Earth and forced to turn their backs upon the dawning light." A dark period of civilization will ensue. Instead of the dark cave of initiation wherein the light of the initiate's own nature illumines the darkness and so demonstrates his command of light, the dark cave of materialism and of physical, animal control will take the place of the "lighted Way." The earthy aspect of Capricorn, the lowest concrete aspect of the mind and an increased control by the Taurian spirit in its worst form will take the place of the divine possibility of entrance into greater light, the manifestation of the soul nature and the recognition of the "light which is found in the eye of the Bull."

Such are the possibilities confronting the world of men today; the issue is dependent upon the final triumph of the Forces of Light (working through the Allied nations) or on the control of the forces of materialism. Germany represented materialism in the West and Japan in the East. I would also add that those who in both nations (and there are many such) represent the "lighted Way" were so imprisoned in their environment and so dominated in their personalities by the thought-forms of their powerful rulers that for them right action was impossible. It is this thought which prompts the Hierarchy to renewed effort. The Forces of Light recognize and work for the spiritual good of all people, irrespective of their national relations. They are [544] working for the release of Germany from the glamor which descended upon her people. The Hierarchy makes a distinction between the bewildered mass, the wrongly educated youth and the obsessed leaders in all branches of the government. The latter are "shells," obsessed by evil entities and hence their dynamic, one-pointed potency, hence also their extreme skill and cunning, based on very ancient evil experience and hence also the well-nigh ludicrous falsity of their propaganda. They are the spirit of materialism embodied, devoid of all true feeling and perception, lacking the light of love and understanding, but powerfully animated by the energy of substance itself. It is time that men woke up to the nature of these beings who sought (under the present grouping of constellations) to enslave the race. The earthly influence of Capricorn made their activity possible; they themselves have been evoked out of their evil past by the material side of humanity itself and the potency of the massed selfishness of mankind. In like manner, the Forces of Light can be evoked in tremendous potency but only by the massed aspiration and spiritual desires of the peoples of the Earth. Of this evocation, there are already signs.