How to Rule the Stars

WHEN we understand the kind of influence
exerted by the stars, and what steps to take in
character-building to enable us to respond in the desired manner to the astral
environment created by their positions, it remains only to act upon this knowledge to
rule our stars.

To a great extent we rule the wind and rain, the heat and cold; and even lightning does
not possess the terror once it had. This does not mean that we have succeeded in
preventing wind storms; but have devised means to utilize the moving air to drive our
mills and propel our ships, and have erected shelters that usually protect us from its
harm. It does not mean that the summer sun will not burn the exposed skin, nor that
we have prevented sultriness in the out-of-doors. But we have devised clothing to
cover our skin, and air-conditioning to provide for indoor comfort. Rain is utilized to
grow our crops, artificial heat protects from cold.

We do not prevent the various forces of nature, whether they be ocean currents,
flowing streams, glaciating ice, or the ionizing cosmic ray, from acting. But through
our knowledge we are learning to adapt ourselves rather successfully to these and
other environmental forces. Nor can we prevent the planets from radiating the
energies they most certainly do. But we can learn what those energies are and how
they influence human life; and then take proper steps to utilize them so that they will
work, not against us, but in a direction that will be to our advantage.

The planets each broadcast an energy of a special type, but they are neither
responsible for the character with which the individual is born nor for the events
which later enter his life. He comes into human existence at the time they accurately
map the dynamic thought-structures in his astral body, which are the outstanding
factors of his character, in obedience to the line of least resistance. As it is easier for a
chip to float down stream instead of up, so is it easier for him then to be born than at
any other time.Nor are the progressed planets responsible for the events that come to him as life
continues. It is true that they determine in great measure the astral environment at a
given time; but how that invisible environment affects him is not determined thus,
but by his reactions to it.

Two things are involved in every condition and event of the individual’s life: the
organization of thought-cells within his astral form which constitutes his soul, or
character, and the environment to which that character reacts. Even though the
environment remains the same, if the thought organization is changed, that which
happens will be different. Change the thought structure of the astral body, and
progressed aspects that otherwise had indicated misfortunes can be made to divert
their energies into channels that will attract good fortune. As once destructive winds
are made to drive his ships, and uncomfortable rains to grow his crops, so also with
the understanding modern occult science gives can man make once fear-begetting
aspects work for him.

In the previous lesson we have considered that the urges of thought-cells, stellar
structures, and other organizations within the astral form determine the actions, and
how, once discrimination selects the direction in which the desire-energies should
express, those energies can be diverted into the designated activities. But many of the
events that come into the life cannot be traced to our physical actions. They seem to
be due to actions of others, and to conditions in the physical environment over which
we have no control. If lightning strikes our house and kills a child, if an unexpected
freeze destroys the crop, if a war breaks out and we must serve at the front, if another
car crashes into the one we drive, if sickness comes into the family, if a bank failure
takes our money and any one of a score of other events that do come into people’s
lives should happen, we are apt to feel that no exercise of intelligence on our part
could have made things different.

Granting that many things happen which are beyond our control, such as wars and
earthquakes; yet how our lives are affected by such events is not due to chance. The
way we are affected by such events and the other events which come into our lives,
such as our money being in a bank that fails, accidents, sickness in the family,
unasked for opportunities–all are determined, not by chance, but by the inner plane
activities of the thought-cells and thought-structures of our astral form.

That which we are inclined to attribute to chance is never such; but always the
working of a hidden law. And the law which governs the events and circumstances
that enter every life is that which relates to the release of desire-energy on the inner
plane. Each thought-cell has within it energy under tension, and each thought
organization within the unconscious mind has still other energy stored and under
tension. These energies strain for release. And when they gain enough additional
energy, through more thought or planetary vibration, they spill over into unusual
action. Nor is such action confined to the physical plane. It works in an equally potent
fashion from the inner plane to attract into the life those conditions which are the
objects of the desires of these thought organizations.

In the proper place it will be indicated that true morality is conduct beneficial to the
race. But the benefit an individual can render others is not determined merely by his
physical actions. Often it is determined to even a greater extent by the events that are
attracted into his life through the inner plane activities of the thought-cells in his
astral body. If they cause him accidentally to kill some valuable person in an

automobile collision, he has detracted from his usefulness to society. If they cause
him illness, he has decreased his efficiency to contribute to the universal welfare. But
if they attract to him those conditions and opportunities which enable him to avoid
disaster and to live to his maximum usefulness, they have conduced more in the
direction of true morality than would be the mere following of any physical line of
conduct, however worthy the motive, that ended, because of unforeseen
circumstances, in frustration.

To be of greatest benefit to society, as well as most to benefit himself, and thus to live
the highest type of moral life, the individual must not merely Sublimate the grosser
desires until they flow into channels of physical action of noble purpose, but he must
also RECONDITION, those thought-cells and stellar organizations within his astral
body that tend to attract misfortune into his life, so that instead, they will work with
equal energy from the inner plane to attract into his life those events which most
conduce to spirituality, happiness and true success.

That is, real Morality demands actions on the physical plane that are in the direction
of Universal Welfare; and other actions by the thought-cells and stellar organizations
which take place on the inner plane. Because the activities of cells and groups of cells
within the unconscious mind usually do not rise into the region of objective
consciousness, the individual commonly is unaware of the forces at work to attract
obstacles, separations, friction, and even calamity into his life.

In Chapter 5 (Why Repression is Not Morality), it was indicated how the urges
that clamor for expression in physical activities can be utilized by diverting their
energies into predetermined channels. This, however, is less than half the problem
presented by morality. The other, and larger part, relates to the diverting of the
energies which express in inner plane activities, so that they shall contribute also to
the more effective life. And it is this that we shall now consider.

The first conception that must be clearly grasped is, as explained more fully in
Chapter 1 (Doctrine of Esoteric Psychology), that human birth is merely one
cross-section of the soul’s journey through time. It has existed before, and it will exist
after, human incarnation. And the character with which it is born into human life is
the result of all the experiences it has had up to that time; the organization of these
experiences as thought-cells and stellar structures in reality constituting the soul,
unconscious mind, or character as it exists at that particular moment.

The birth-chart maps the more important factors of the character, and their chief
relations to each other, as they have been formed up to the moment of birth. It does
not map the characteristics that are added to the soul, or unconscious mind, after the
time of birth. Yet it is the characteristics of the soul at the time, and not its
characteristics at birth, that at a given period determine what events will then be
attracted.

Thus what is attracted into the life in the way of circumstances and events is the result
of the inner-plane activities of the thought-cells of the astral body. What these
activities are is determined by the desires they possess, just as the activities of
observed behavior are due to the release of desire energies on the outer plane. What
these desires are, and the manner in which they release their energies are determined
by the manner they have been CONDITIONED in the past. Therefore if we are to get
these desire energies of the stellar-cells and stellar structures to flow into more
acceptable inner plane channels of expression, and thus attract a better fortune, we
must RECONDITION them.

Importance of Events Can Be Increased by Giving the Thought-Cells More Energy

–There is a direct relationship between energy and work, and this relationship is as
true on the inner plane as on the physical. No matter how effectively it is directed one
can do only so much work with a twenty-horsepower engine. And no matter how
effectively it is directed, events of only so much importance can be attracted by
thought organizations working from the inner plane that have a limited supply of
energy.

The birth-chart indicates rather closely, by the positions and aspects of the
planets–the number of astrodynes they possess–the amount of energy at birth in
the thought-cells in each compartment of the astral body, and therefore available to
attract events relating to that department into the life.

But it should be remembered that the birth-chart shows only the desire energy
relative to that department as it existed at birth. That desire energy was built into the
astral body gradually through states of consciousness associated with the things
having to do with the department. And there is no reason to suppose that the
thought-building process stopped at birth. In other words, if sufficient thought and
effort is devoted to it, by building new thought-cells and re-organizing old
thought-cells in the compartment of the astral body relating to some department of
life, in spite of anything the birth-chart shows, enough energy can be added to the
thought-organization there that it will work from the inner plane and attract
important events concerning this department.

The general rule, supported by comprehensive statistical studies, is that the more
energy–astrodyne’s–possessed by the thought-organization associated with a
given phase of life the more important, either favorable or unfavorable, the events
relating to it become. If, therefore, it is considered to be in the direction of a more
effective life to attract events that are of greater consequence relative to any
department, the thing to do is to work as energetically as possible to build
experiences relating to it into the finer body. Not only work with the things of the
department, but think and feel often and strongly concerning them. After all, what
your birth-chart now indicates has all at some time thus been built into the astral
body, and the process is as open for use now as it was before human birth.

Planets prominent in a birth-chart indicate thought organizations in the astral form
possessing much energy. But the volume of energy thus available is mapped in terms
relative to the total energy of the astral form rather than in terms that can be measured
on some standard scale applied to all individuals.

A horse or a cow may have the same birth-chart as a man, but not be able to do the
things the man can do. An Eskimo may have practically the same birth-chart as the
editor of New York’s leading newspaper, yet never be able to read or write. Among
his people, where the level of his evolutionary ascent placed him, he may be the chief
disseminator of news. Relative to the other thought-energies in his astral form those
signifying ability to acquire and impart information of current interest are as
prominent as those in the astral form of the editor. But compared to those of the editor
they have little power.

Thus it is that from a birth-chart it is much easier to determine the special types of
ability possessed by an individual than to determine how far he will go in the
development and application of the indicated qualities. But whatever he does thus
possess in the way of energies mapped in his birth-chart, he has the power immensely
to increase by intelligently directed effort.

More Fortunate Events Can Be Attracted by Conditioning the Thought-Cells to Desire More Harmonious Expression

–What the stellar-cells and thought structures of the astral body attract into the life
with such energy as they possess is determined by the way they are conditioned. This
applies not only to those with which the individual was born, but also to all that have
been added by subsequent experiences. The thought-elements enter into discordant
psychoplasmic compounds when they are conditioned by feelings of distress, and
into harmonious psychoplasmic compounds when they are conditioned by feelings
of pleasure. The aspects in the birth-chart reveal not merely the relationships existing
between the different departments of the life, but also what type of compounds exist
at birth in the stellar-cells having to do with each department of life.

Stellar-cells and structures that have been conditioned by pain, when they release
desire energy, use their psychokinetic power to attract into the life similar pain. A
physical habit that is once firmly established, no matter how detrimental it is,
because paths of association have been formed, tends to follow this line of least
resistance. So also a discordant thought-compound in the astral body that has
become ASSOCIATED with a certain kind of pain, no matter what the effect upon
the organism as a whole, it finds it easier to release its desire-energy through
pain-begetting channels. That is its habitual mode of expression.

If, therefore, the individual expects to attract to himself events that are more fortunate
than those indicated by the aspects in his birth-chart, he must change the
CONDITIONING of the thought-compounds in his astral body which those
birth-chart aspects merely map. To the extent he can do this will more fortunate
events come to him.

Again it should be pointed out that the birth-chart indicates the manner in which the
thought-cells and organizations were conditioned at the time of birth. It does not
indicate that their energies must remain conditioned in that particular way. In fact,
even as the primitive desires characteristic of the snake, the scorpion, the badger and
the fox, existing in the human astral form as derived from prehuman experiences, are
usually reconditioned during infancy into socially acceptable channels of
expression; so should those who would live more fortunate lives set about to
recondition the misfortune-attracting thought organizations of their astral forms so
that they will work no longer to attract disadvantages, but will as energetically strive
to bring into the life advantageous conditions.

Yet as we found in Chapter 5 (Why Repression is Not Morality), in the case of
repressed desires, before energies can be reconditioned so that they will manifest
through other channels they must first be recognized. And it is a function of the
birth-chart to point out in no uncertain manner the thought-compounds in the astral
body which attract each type of difficulty.

A discordant aspect indicates at each of its planetary terminals where a dynamic
stellar structure has been built of thought-cells whose elements have entered into a
disagreeable compound. And the thought-cells in the compartments ruled by these
two planets partake also of this disagreeable quality. They have been conditioned by
pain. Consequently when the two departments of the life connected by the aspect are
present in the thoughts, there is either consciously or unconsciously, and often both, a
feeling of dissatisfaction and annoyance.

Harmonious thinking and feeling about the things thus mapped by discordant planets
in the birth-chart rearranges the thought-elements in the stellar-cells related to these
things. And as an aspect really maps a line across the astral body of such a length as to
pick up, radio fashion, the quality of energy indicated, such a reconditioning, when
successful, dissolves the old stellar aerial and forms a new one which is able to pick
up planetary energy that is free from static.

That is, an aspect in the birth-chart not only indicates whether, and to what extent, the
thought-compounds at its terminals are harmonious or discordant, but it actually
maps a line of astral substance which performs the function of picking up such
planetary energies as are indicated by its terminals, and picking them up in
harmonies or badly loaded with static. Work always consumes energy, and it is this
planetary energy largely which is consumed in the psychokinetic work performed
from the inner plane by the thought-cells in attracting events into the life. What they
attract depends on how they have been conditioned, and how that feeling is modified
by the new energy reaching them through the thus formed receiving set.

The planets in the sky form good aspects and bad aspects at closely spaced intervals.
It is not, except as these affect world conditions, the aspects of the planets in the sky
that form from day to day and from month to month that give the thought-cells in our
astral bodies the kind of energy they express in attracting events. Mars energy, Saturn
energy, Jupiter energy, and all the other planetary energies are being broadcast from
their respective stations constantly, even though at times somewhat stronger than at
other times.

It is not the energy being broadcast that affects us, it is the type of energy picked up by
our own receiving sets–which are mapped by the birth-chart places and progressed
positions of the planets–and thus added directly to the thought-cells at their
terminals in the astral body.

Those receiving sets–mapped by the positions of the planets in the birth-chart and
by progressions– that have well defined and strong aerials, pick up in volume the
energy to which they are tuned. The length of the aerial, or line across the astral body
mapped by an aspect, determines both the volume of energy picked up and whether it
delivers it as a harmonious vibration to the thought-cells at its two terminals, or
delivers it so loaded with discordant static that it gives them acute distress.

As with the ordinary radio set, it is not the programs that are being broadcast at any
given time that affects us pleasantly or unpleasantly. It is the particular program of
the many coming over the air which we tune in on. And the stellar aerials extending
across the astral body of an individual, such as are mapped by aspects, determine the
programs of planetary energy picked up and added to the stellar-cells of the astral
body. No matter how badly the planets are aspected on a given day, unless we have
stellar aerials that are tuned discordantly, and thus to the programs of these
discordant planets, no discordant energy from them can reach us.

Conversion Conditions the Thought-Cells to Work Energetically to Attract Only Favorable Events

–These lines through the astral body, such as the birth-chart and progressed aspects
map, are not due to planetary positions, they are due to the ASSOCIATIONS
between different groups of thought-organizations within the astral body. Such
associations are not merely energy relations between groups, but these energy
relations have caused the mental elements at each terminal to enter into a type of
compound characteristic of the association. The aspect thus points infallibly to the
type of compound in the stellar-cells, unless something special since birth has been
done to change it.

As the line across the astral body mapped by an aspect is not due to planetary
positions but to thought-cell composition and thought-cell organization, if the
thought composition of the stellar-cells is changed, and a different organization
effected, the line across the astral body which is the outgrowth of the original
compounds and relationships also will be changed. Through rearranging, the
thought-elements in a compound such as is mapped by a square aspect between
planets, can thus be transformed into a luck compound such as is mapped by a trine
aspect between planets.

The same thought-elements are present in each of such compounds in about the same
proportion. But they have been CONDITIONED at the time of the formation of the
obstacle compound so that they have arranged themselves in a manner to express a
type of desire which works energetically to attract obstacles into the life. When they
are RECONDITIONED, through giving the thought-cells at either terminal of the
aerial harmonious associations of greater volume and intensity of energy than was
given to them discordantly in their building, the thought-elements become
rearranged in the thought-cells, and the old line across the astral body is dissolved. In
its stead there is gradually built as an outgrowth of the new compound, another line,
not mapped in the birth-chart, but which acts quite as effectively in its capacity as an
aerial to pick up planetary energy as the old one did.

This new, deliberately built, stellar aerial picks up the energies broadcast from the
same two planets that the old one did. But it picks them up only in harmonious
vibratory rates, such as when delivered to the thought-cells at the terminals
intensifies their desires to work from their inner plane to attract fortunate events into
the life. That is, it gives them the additional energy they need, and in the harmony
they require, to enable them to perform on the astral plane work of the character they
represent which is beneficial to the individual.

Such rearranging of the thought-elements within the stellar-cells, and rearranging
the stellar-cells within their stellar structures, without adding in any appreciable
amounts thought-elements of a different family to the compounds and structures, is
called CONVERSION.

Only the general principle of Conversion here can be set forth, as the process is
considered with full detail in Mental Alchemy (Course 9). But it should be brought to
the attention, in connection with its processes, that no new principle is involved.

Conversion Is Merely Reconditioning the Desires of the Thought-Cells

–In sublimating the grosser desires of which the individual may be somewhat
conscious, they are Conditioned through the use of Pleasurable Associations, not so
that their energies will fail to express, but so their energies will be led into channels of
expression that are favorable to the individual and the race. And in CONVERSION, a
similarly sound psychological technique is employed, not to prevent the expression
of the urges of the thought-cells and thought-organizations of the astral body, but to
Condition them through the use of Pleasurable Associations, so that their energies
will be led into channels of expression that are favorable to the individual and the
race. The only difference in the process is that in Conversion we deal with desires that
express on the inner plane. The rearrangement of the thought-elements and stellar
structures, and the stellar aerial which grows as a result, are effects of the
Conditioning process, and indicate the new energy relationships established.

In other words, any condition within the astral body shown in the horoscope of any
individual in the world, either in the birth-chart or by progression could be built into
any other person’s astral body if enough thought-energy could be acquired. It is true
that physical life is too short, with the thought-energy most people have, to build into
the astral body those thought-cells and organizations that express as genius or that
attract world recognized power. But to the extent they do build into themselves the
same thought-cells and thought-cell relationships possessed by genius or men of
world-wide power, they also must inevitably attract to themselves similar external
events.

What comes to any individual is attracted by the thought-organization and
thought-element composition of his astral body. It is not due to the planets. The
planets do furnish the energy with which the thought-cells work. But the kind of
work done by the planetary energy thus utilized is entirely determined by the desires
of the thought-cells and stellar organizations. That is, we build our fortune, as well as
our abilities, through our experiences and how we mentally react to them. If we want
a different kind of fortune, the only way we can get it is to build into the thought-cell
compounds and structures of the astral body such desires as will attract it.

Events of Importance Come Into the Life Only When Planetary Energies in More Than Usual Volume Reach the Thought-Cells

–Because on the astral plane as well as on the physical plane, work consumes
energy, the thought-cells in the astral body can only do unusual work when they
acquire, from some source, an unusual amount of energy. Such energy can be
supplied by properly directed intense thought and feeling, but commonly it is
furnished by the planets.

The life moves along its normal trend, the thought-cells doing the work for which
their desires condition them, with such planetary energies as the stellar aerials with
which the individual was born–mapped by the birth-chart aspects–can supply
them. But when a progressed aspect forms within one degree of perfect, the natural
growth of the astral body under cyclic law causes a temporary line to develop across
it. This line connecting the two groups of dynamic thought-cells, for the temporary
period of its duration, which is as long as the aspect is within one degree of perfect,
acts as a temporary stellar aerial to pick up the energies of the planets mapping its
terminals.

The temporary line, acting as an aerial, picks the energy up either discordantly and
loaded with static, or harmoniously, according to its length. This energy, whatever its
nature, harmony, or discord, is carried to the thought-cells at the terminals, giving
them both the impetus and the ability to perform unusual work. The energy they
receive thus gives them a power they did not before possess to do work on the inner
plane. And statistical work with the events that have come into thousands of people’s
lives, whose birth-charts are known, and whose progressed aspects have been
calculated, shows that unusual or important events come into their lives only at those
times when the thought-cells relating to the department of life influenced thus
receive additional energy from the planets. Events worthy of being noted are always
indicated by appropriate progressed aspects.

It is not a difficult thing to determine when unusual events affecting a certain
department of the individual’s life will come to pass. They come to pass when
progressed aspects are within one degree of perfect. But it is entirely another thing to
determine how much benefit, or how much distress, will be coincident with the
aspect.

If the stellar-cells affecting a department of life have been conditioned harmoniously
at birth, as shown by birth-chart aspects, or if they have been more harmoniously
conditioned since birth, no amount of discordant energy reaching them from a
temporary stellar aerial can cause them to feel mean enough so that they will find
expression in attracting an unfortunate event. The energy they receive will build up
their desires until they spill into definite inner-plane actions, but they have been so
strongly conditioned to work through channels favorable to the individual that they
do not know how to work in any other way, in spite of the inharmony and static they
receive with the new energy supply.

On the other hand, if the thought-cells reached by the new energy supply have been
conditioned at birth to feel distress, and to find an outlet for their desires only through
actions detrimental to the individual, no matter how harmonious the new energy
added may be, they will not work entirely in beneficial ways. They will not act so
disastrously to attract misfortune as if the new energy supply had increased their
pain, but neither can they feel joy. Because they have been so strongly conditioned to
attract pain, the desire can only find satisfaction in some measure of discord.

All of which is said to indicate that which astrological research amply proves, that the
CONDITIONING of the thought-cells and thought structures in the astral body more
surely determines the nature of their inner plane activity than does the discord or
harmony of the energy they receive at any particular time through a temporary stellar
aerial.

Five Methods Employed to Rule the Stars

–Yet the quality of the energy they receive over a temporary aerial, through its
harmony or discord, and its family type, also tends, during the time it thus reaches the
thought-cells, to Condition them in a particular way. It may not have sufficient
Conditioning energy, except as it stimulates thoughts and attracts events, to
rearrange the thought-elements in the stellar-cells to any great extent, but through the
feeling it stimulates in these cells it tends in this direction, and gives them desires
they normally do not have. Even a person acts differently when in distress than when
experiencing pleasure, and this distress or pleasure prolonged leaves a permanent
impress.

Thus is signified, even though progressed aspects merely indicate temporary
supplies of energy of a given kind, and do not indicate the thought-cell composition,
that exactly the same methods are applicable in handling a progressed aspect as in
handling the same birth-chart aspect, except that the method need be applied only
while the aspect is within one degree of perfect, instead of more persistently.

This being the case it would be useless repetition to indicate each method of control
as applied to the positions and aspects in the birth-charts and then again indicate it as
applied to progressed positions and aspects. A progressed aspect merely indicates
that energies of a specific type and harmony or discord are being at that time supplied
certain thought-cells in unusual volume, and that, therefore, there is more acute need
then of applying the methods of control than at other times.

These methods are five in number: The most obvious is through manipulating the
physical environment and directing the physical actions. Other than this most
external method, which for practical reasons is limited in its effectiveness, there are
only two avenues by which the conditions indicated in a birth-chart or the nature of
the events indicated by a progressed aspect can markedly be altered. One is by
changing the thought-compound of the stellar-cells and stellar structures reached by
the planetary energy, so that because they have developed different desires, any
energy reaching them will be utilized in a different type of inner plane activity. Such
are the methods of Conversion and of Mental Antidotes. The other is by changing the
volume or the harmony or discord of the energy reaching the thought-cells, so that it
will incite to more or less activity, or so that it will make them feel more disagreeable
or more congenial such are the methods of Character Vibration and of Rallying
Forces.

1. Manipulating the Physical Environment

— The earth is subject to different weather conditions simultaneously in different
regions. And the energy delivered to the thought-cells in a certain compartment of
the astral body, and therefore influencing that department of life is in the nature of an
astral weather condition affecting one region strongly, and perhaps another region
not at all. That is, it may affect money and have no influence over the health or
affections.

One may take heed of storm warnings in a particular department of the life to prepare
the external conditions so little damage will result, and turn the attention to some
other region where the sun is shining, as explained more in detail in Chapter 1,
(Course 18, Imponderable Forces).

Or to state the astral storm indications in terms of energy and work: The activities of
the stellar-cells from the inner plane can only bring such events into the life as the
physical environment makes possible. If the physical environment is so arranged that
a certain type of event cannot happen, it will not happen, no matter what the
birth-chart and progressed aspects are. That is, the thought-cells can only do as much
work from the astral plane as they have energy to accomplish. And if the
environmental resistance to a particular event is sufficiently high they do not acquire
enough energy, and events that they otherwise would attract do not happen. The
events which tend to be thus attracted if nothing is done about it, and what actions
should be taken to give a high resistance, are given detailed consideration in Course
10, Natal Astrology: Delineating and Progressing the Horoscope.

2. Conversion

–In connection with birth-chart aspects considerable attention already has been
given to Conversion. It can also be utilized quite as successfully in handling a
progressed aspect. The progressed aspect indicates a line giving different groups of
thought-cells ASSOCIATIONS they did not before possess, as well as adding to
them planetary energy. Such energy relations if permitted to set up strong trains of
thought and to attract characteristic events, may cause changes in the
thought-compounds. But instead of permitting such changes if they are not
advantageous, and instead of permitting thought-cell desires which are
disadvantageous to develop, through predetermined thought ASSOCIATIONS the
thought-elements within the cells receiving the additional energy supply can be
rearranged, and their desires so conditioned as to make it easier for them to work to
attract fortunate events than those of misfortune.

3. Mental Antidotes

–As the nature of the work done from the inner-plane by the thought-cells and
thought organizations within the astral body is determined chiefly by the
thought-compounds of which the thought-cells are formed, changing these
compounds give them a different type of activity. In Conversion the attempt chiefly
is to rearrange the thought-elements already present within these compounds.

But, even as when certain chemical elements are added to a chemical compound
already formed, they unite harmoniously and readily with one or more of the
elements present, converting what before was a dangerous compound into one
highly beneficial; so there are mental elements, called Mental Antidotes, that when
added to a compound containing another specific mental element, unite with it and
quickly change the compound into one harmless or even beneficial.

Thus the work of changing a dangerous, or difficult, thought-cell compound into one
that is harmless or advantageous, is much easier through the use of proper Mental
Antidotes than through the process of Conversion. Conversion depends for its
efficacy entirely upon Reconditioning the desires of the thought-cells through
changing their feeling. And if a compound is to be changed by Mental Antidotes into
a highly beneficial type of activity, this Conditioning through giving the compound
harmonious feelings also is necessary. But certain mental elements when brought
together, by their own type quality, tend to unite with a feeling of harmony, and will
do so unless otherwise conditioned by painful experiences accompanying their
union.

Mental Antidotes, because cultivating a type of experience or thought suffices,
without the necessity of giving so constant attention to intense feelings of pleasure,
are the easiest applied of all methods of changing the composition of the
thought-cells beneficially. They do not merely change the arrangement of its
thought-elements, but they also add new thought-elements which give a different
character to the compound. The thought-cells then act differently when they receive
energy either from the aerial mapped by a birth-chart aspect, or from a temporary
aerial mapped by a progressed aspect, because they possess thought-elements that
have changed their substance into a very different psychoplasmic compound. This
whole matter is set forth in detail in Course 9, Mental Alchemy.

4. Rallying Forces

–The nervous system of man, through the electric currents flowing over it, is tuned
by his thoughts to pick up, radio fashion, the type of planetary program
corresponding in harmony or discord and in type to these thoughts. That is, the
individual can tune himself to feel rather intensely in a certain way, and the electric
currents flowing over his nerves then pick up energy of this quality radiated from one
or more of the planets.

Such electric currents also serve as conductors carrying the astral energy thus
received to all the stellar aerials of the astral body. So long as a particular state of
feeling is maintained the chief astral energy received by the stellar cells at the
terminals of all the aerials is of this particular planetary type, and of this harmony or
discord.

Thus can be controlled, to the extent the individual can direct his feelings, the type of
planetary energy, and the harmony or discord of that energy, which is transmitted to
the stellar cells in his astral body. As it is easier thus to keep the consciousness tuned
to some aerial already present in the astral body, mapped either in the birth-chart, or
by progression, than merely to develop and hold a certain feeling, birth-chart aspects
and progressed aspects may be used to indicate the Rallying Forces, as they are
called, which are easiest of cultivation.

As inharmonious birth-chart and progressed aspects also map aerials that may tune
the consciousness in on discordant Rallying Forces, these indicate clearly what
feelings should be avoided to prevent discordant energy being delivered to the
thought-cells.

A certain feeling developed and maintained tunes the person in so completely on a
specific wave-length and program, that other wave-lengths and programs are not
strong enough to make their influence felt at the receiving sets. This does not to any
extent change the composition, and therefore the basic desires of the thought-cells,
but it does temporarily cause them to feel either better or worse than usual, and gives
them energy with which to do more than the usual mount of work. Rallying Forces,
which direct the desires of the stellar cells through the quality of energy furnished
them are fully considered in Course 9, Mental Alchemy.

5. Character Vibrations

–Not only our human associates by their thoughts, but all the objects and conditions
of our environment, are radiating astral vibrations which are similar to those that
reach us from the planets. Such astral vibrations, not those of thought and not those
from the planets are called Character Vibrations. And any such invisible energy
reaching the astral body of the individual stimulates into additional activity the
thought-cells of the astral body having the same vibratory tone.

Names, numbers, tones, colors, types of environment, etc., radiate definite vibratory
rates and thus influence those with whom closely associated. They may, therefore, be
selected for the specific effect they will have in furnishing a definite kind of energy to
the thought-cells. Chapter 6, Course 10 and Chapter 2, Course 18 explain this
method fully, and Course 6, The Sacred Tarot goes into much detail in regard to such
vibrations.

How to Rule the Stars

–Experiments carried out in a dozen universities have now conclusively
demonstrated psychokinesis, which is the non-physical power of the mind to move
physical objects and bring about physical conditions. This psychokinetic power is
not confined to the unconscious mind as a whole, but is exercised also by each group
of thought-cells within the unconscious mind. Whether the events that come into the
life are fortunate or unfortunate depends upon the desires of these thought-cells.
Good luck and bad luck are not fortuitous. Good luck is due to the psychokinetic
power of harmonious thought-cells within the finer form, and bad luck is due to the
psychokinetic power of the discordant thought-cells within the finer form. The
importance of the event is the algebraic sum of the psychokinetic power of the
thought-cells working for the events minus the resistance of environment.

Thus what comes into our life is not due to the positions of the stars either at our birth
or after our birth; it is chiefly due to the psychokinetic activity of the thought-cells
within our astral bodies. If we would rule our stars, therefore, in addition to
manipulating the physical environment intelligently, we must change the
thought-cell activities. When these activities are altered the change thus in our
character cannot fail to bring a corresponding change in the events and conditions
attracted.

Thus to change the thought-cell activities, their desires must be changed. Such
desires can be reconditioned, as can the desires more commonly recognized. This
may be done through rearranging their thought-elements, in Conversion; through
adding new thought-elements, called Mental Antidotes, to form a new and beneficial
mental compound; through delivering to the thought-cells different Character
Vibrations as energy for their work; and through supplying them with a different type
and quality of planetary energy, termed Rallying Forces, which tends to Condition
the thought-cells so they desire to perform the work decided upon.