LESSON 19
Rulers VI and VII
During the following week, study the description of the Rulers presented below while you keep practicing your journaling and magical Rites.
Ruler of the Sixth Zone
This Ruler is an intelligence of Generosity and Collaboration. Its power manifests in the mortal soul as empathy, compassion, trust, friendship, and an inclination to see the best in others. The power of the Sixth Ruler opposes the vice of Avarice, which is rooted in Envy. It inspires mortals to help each other attain prosperity and happiness in their own terms, without imposing uniform conceptions of wealth and well-being upon each other. "Live and let live" is a golden rule of the Sixth Ruler, the spirit of good will and good faith. Its power protects against paranoid competition for all the good things in life and its counsel reminds each mortal soul that there is a fair share of everything for everyone, as long as the fear of having too little does not lead one into a paranoid hoarding of riches. Each individual has their own possibilities for happiness in the World of Lights, and achieving those possibilities is possible without taking from others what they need. The Sixth Ruler is the patron of all collaborative efforts, fair deals in business, and honorable agreements and contracts.
This Ruler's aspect of Generosity is firmly based on the virtue of Charity, in its Latin meaning of caritas, or love. Too many times, an individual will congratulate themselves for being charitable, when all they do is give away a little of their disposable income--sometimes with the objective of recovering what was given in the form of tax returns. However, what the Sixth Ruler steers mortal souls to is the ancient virtue of universal friendship, or what has been called the Charity of the Eyes: it is highly charitable to look at each other with good eyes, trying to see the best in them and extending them a friendly hand whenever possible. Thinking good thoughts about others, offering them good words, and expressing trust and optimism in good deeds towards them is the essence of the power of the Sixth Ruler. Its aspect of Collaboration tempers the tendency of mortal souls to compete with each other for social standing, material wealth, and worldly power. It urges mortals to replace the desire to defeat others with the desire to help them; the desire for personal success with the desire for collective success; condemnations with blessings, and aggressions with gifts. Therefore, the Sixth Ruler is the patron of all magic aimed at blessings and mutual help.
The Ruler of the Seventh Zone
The Ruler of the Seventh Zone occupies a special place among the Rulers. It is not their actual superior or their chief, but it is responsible for distributing to them the powers of the Godhead. The Seventh Ruler acts as a prism through which the pure light of divinity is polarized into the various Lights of the world. In the mortal soul, its power is called Transparency, because it functions as a window pane through which divine power may penetrate the individual consciousness. Each individual is free to choose the degree to which they will keep that window unobstructed or covered by the separating power of Darkness. Through the cultivation of the Virtues of the Rulers, a higher Transparency can be achieved, allowing the creative power of the Godhead and its spiritual authority to manifest in the individual consciousness. A life more oriented to the powers of the Tormentors, on the other hand, will reinforce the separation, making the individual less connected to divine will, wisdom and divine power of creation. The result of the latter way of life is a materialistic existence which limits itself to the forces and causalities of the physical world. Such a life is much more burdened with suffering than a life in touch with divinity, and therefore the intelligences that facilitate it are called Tormentors, and their powers Vices. It is not immoral to turn one's back to spirituality, it is just a harder, coarser way of life that bears unnecessary sufferings. The Ruler of the Seventh Zone favors values and attitudes that facilitate the power of Transparency, especially those related to truthfulness, frankness, and honesty. A general attitude of openness and distancing from deception and concealment goes a long way to keep the window of the soul clean, allowing more light to pour in. In this way, the Virtue of the Seventh Ruler is called Truth, and its opposite Vice is called Error: Truth means "in the open" and "unconcealed", while Error means "dishonesty" and "deceit".