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 If you have ever looked at an astrological chart, you will have noticed that it consists of the twelve zodiac signs that we are all familiar with, spread out like a pizza cut into twelve slices.  You may have also noticed that each zodiac sign opposes another—ie. is opposite another sign across the centre of the chart. (See diagram 1.)

Think of it astronomically: take an imaginary line from a given constellation to the Earth, through the Earth and back into space on the other side.  Where that line points is the opposite constellation or sign of the zodiac.  There are six pairs of these opposite constellations or zodiac signs: Aries/Libra, Taurus/Scorpio, Gemini/Sagittarius, Cancer/Capricorn, Leo/Aquarius and Virgo/Pisces.
 From an ordinary point of view, the affairs and issues of these opposing signs are diametrically opposite to each other—they are in conflict with each other.  They each represent the antithesis of the other—two sides of the coin, each valid in its own right, but incomplete without the other side.  The nature of these opposites of the zodiac reflects the very nature of reality itself—we only need to look out into the world for a moment to see opposing views, conflict and seeming contradictions in the world.  Every viewpoint has its advocates and antagonists.  Before we can understand the purpose of this obvious duality in the world and before we can begin to solve the zodiac, we need to take a closer look at the nature of reality.  For this we can turn to the wisdom of the ancient mystery schools.

Spirit and Matter
 are perhaps the most important duality that we perceive.  In physics, Spirit and matter are called energy and mass.  One of Newton’s laws states that ‘energy and mass are conserved in space and time’.  Spirit and matter are conserved in space and time.  What does this mean?  It means that the balance between Spirit and matter is maintained—more Spirit, less matter—less Spirit, more matter.  Only the form changes—for example, if we burn a house down, the form of the house changes.  Some of the matter of the house is converted to energy—heat and light.  Some of the house remains as matter, but in a different form—ashes, for example.  The ratio of matter to energy may have changed, but the sum total remains constant.
 We ourselves consist of a balance of Spirit and matter, or energy and mass.  This totality is all light.  Physicists are beginning to understand that everything in existence is light at various degrees of polarity.  Matter is nothing more or less than polarised light.  We are truly beings of Light.  Consciousness is nothing more than the degree to which we realise that we are Light and that our true nature is Love.  Lesser consciousness indicates more polarised or dualised light.  Greater consciousness indicates less polarised or dualised light.  As we become more spiritually attuned, our Spirit to matter ratio alters—this is what ‘en-light-enment’ means.

The Cosmos
In diagram 2. we are looking at the most basic symbolic representation of the cosmos.

The eternal cosmos is a circle going from Oneness to Many-ness and back again;  it is going from pure Spirit (undifferentiated and whole) to matter (differentiated, fragmented and diverse) and back again; it is going from Unconditional Love to conditional love—ie. dualised emotions—and back again.  The movement from Spirit into matter is called Creation or entropy.  The movement from matter back to Spirit is called Evolution or syntropy.  These two processes are simultaneous and eternal in everything in the entire cosmos.
 Creation is Unity becoming Diversity (‘go forth and multiply’).  Evolution is the synthesis of fragments into greater and greater wholes, back towards Unity (‘conquering the devils within us’).

Duality
We live in a world of perceived duality—black/white, good/evil, male/female, yin/yang, pain/pleasure, spirit/matter, etc.  In most cases, we all tend to accentuate one side of each duality and avoid, deny or minimise the other side.  The path back to Oneness—back to Love—lies in the synthesis of all dualities.  For this, each side of a perceived duality must be acknowledged equally.  Both sides are equal partners in Creation—without one, the other could not exist.  It is the same with the zodiac pairs—each pole requires the other in order to manifest at all in reality.
 It may as well be said now that duality is an illusion of reality.  To the degree that light and Love are polarised (dualised) we find ourselves in relative ‘darkness’.  To the degree that we can balance and synthesise the dualities, we become conscious of our nature as Love—we transcend the illusion of a dualised reality and we perceive actuality.  We are said to have become ‘en-light-ened’.

Trinity
What is required for such a balancing and synthesis of dualities to occur?  This brings us to the idea of the Trinity.  When our perceptions of a given duality are balanced and we are in total appreciation of both sides of the coin, it allows the entry of a third force from above.  This is what the Christian religion calls the descent of the holy spirit.  When this third force enters, we transcend the previous boundaries of our consciousness and understanding and move into the next concentric sphere of consciousness and understanding about the given issue.
 This is what is meant in spiritual lingo by learning our lessons or paying our karma or absolving our sins.  When we have learned to love all aspects of a particular issue equally, our Gratitude takes us to a higher level of understanding, fusing the previous duality or polarity into one.  Thus Trinity becomes Unity.  This synthesis is called Evolution—it births light and Love.  Then we move on to the next issue in our lives that we have yet to Love.

The Zodiac Pendulum
So, coming back to the zodiac now, each pair of opposite signs represents a particular path back to Oneness.  The equal understanding, appreciation and experience of each side of the pairs is a lesson in Love.  Each pair is a puzzle to be solved.  Each pair, perceived as a duality, is a key to Unity in the pair’s particular issues.
 In reality, we swing from one pole to the other and back again, cyclically, like a pendulum.  The pendulum swing can take lifetimes to go from one pole to the other or, if we are more evolved and wiser, it can swing more rapidly.  The faster we swing from pole to pole, the closer the opposites become in time and space.  The closer in time and space we perceive the dualities, the closer we are to synthesis and Love.  As the swinging of the pendulum becomes infinitely rapid and the movement smaller and smaller, we approach total blending of the two poles in an infinitely vibrating, but motionless homeostasis: Love.
In this way, each zodiac pair is truly a lesson in Love and potentially reveals to us our own nature as Love and light.  When we have, relatively speaking, transcended the perceived duality of a particular zodiac pair, we then connect with our Higher mission with respect to the pair: we become of Service to others in this area.
 Let’s look now at each of these six pairs of zodiac opposites and explore their specific affairs and issues.  Zodiac pairs or opposites in an astrological chart, when articulated by opposing planets, become focal issues in our lifetime.  The soul’s path, seen in the chart, is articulated by the zodiac pair of the North and South Nodes of the Moon.  In these abovementioned cases, it is more often that a pendulum swing takes a lifetime or more except in the case of highly spiritually evolved beings.

Aries/Libra
 This polarity is the expression of self/others, me/we, egoism/altruism, inner strength/outer weakness, solitude/relationship, etc.  If the pendulum swings too far towards Aries, then we believe that we need no-one else.  We are a law unto ourselves.  The inner loneliness and isolation that this kind of stance brings naturally encourages us to swing back the other way if we are ready.  The expression, ‘No man is an island’ is the balance for this Arian stance.  One of the chief features of the Aries signature person is the hidden need for approval from others.  In this way, the door to potential acknowledgment of the value of others is kept ajar.
 If the pendulum swings too far towards the Libran stance, then we find ourselves invariably giving our power away to others.  Inner truth is sacrificed for the sake of social harmony and a peaceful life.  The thorn in this peaceful life is the inevitable feeling of self-depreciation and of resentment towards others.  As a result, the Libran signature person will always find themselves in situations of great imbalance and conflict.  This is the other side of the coin saying to them, ‘When are you going to stop being a doormat?’
 The perfect marriage of the Aries/Libra polarity is the balance between self and others.  There is an invisible line around us over which no other shall step.  There is a line beyond which we don’t step into the space of others.  Paradoxically, there is no line between us and others because what we do for ourselves, we do for others.  What we do for others, we do for ourselves.
 The highest understanding and resolution of the Aries/Libra paradox is the realisation that others are a perfect reflection of us.  What we see, judge or love in another is what we see, judge or love in ourselves.  If we infatuate another, we are seeking to love that part of us that we ascribe to them.  If we are resentful of another or judge them, we are in judgement or resentful of the parts of ourselves that they reflect—we are seeking to love those parts in us.

Taurus/Scorpio
 This is the polarity of organisation/chaos, construction/destruction, material security/material chaos, total trust/suspiciousness, peace/war, etc.  If we swing too far towards Taurus, we become too fixed, complacent, materially oriented, trusting to a fault, indolent and attached to our comfort.  When we find ourselves in these states for too long, either we get bored and this impels us to make changes or life deals us some swift and dramatic crises to wake us up from our slumber.  Within this pole is the need to control everything material.
If we swing too far towards the Scorpio pole, we become excessively destructive, chaotic, materially scornful, jealous and envious, suspicious and over-protective.  This pole is the ‘shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later’ stance.  Within this pole is the need to control Spirit.
Everything in the life of these two polarities points us towards the real security that can only be found in Love.  The Taurean security leads to boredom and stagnation—the Scorpio security leads to hatred and resentment of the things that it strives to control.  The two poles together are a good illustration of the 4th Ray of Creation—the Ray of Harmony through Conflict.  Only when we relinquish our need to control, handing over our will to the higher power of our Higher Self, do we begin to understand that only in Love do we need no security.  Love is the answer to all questions.
Also, the Taurus/Scorpio polarity requires a balance between Spirit and matter.  In the real world, this blended dichotomy acknowledges equally the processes of construction and destruction—of war and peace.  War without peace brings chaos.  Peace without war brings stagnation.  Real harmony is a balance of both.

Gemini/Sagittarius
 Here we have the polarity of knowledge versus experience, of information versus broad conceptualisation, of the deductive versus the inductive, of the particular versus the general, of fragmentation versus unity, etc.  The Creation of the solar system comes from a ‘cone of illumination’ originating in the centre of the galaxy.  This Creation is described above as a movement from the ONE to the MANY.  The centre of the galaxy is in the constellation of Sagittarius and the Creation of the solar system is a breath from Sagittarius to Gemini.  This is a path from the Oneness of Love and light to the ‘many-ness’ of polarised Love and light—from the general to the particular.  The return journey of Evolution is a journey of synthesising the fragments (Gemini) into Wisdom (Sagittarius).  And so the cycle repeats eternally.
 On Earth, if the pendulum swings too far towards Gemini, then we are ‘in the head’.  We get stuck in masses of information that have no unifying understanding.  We are taken this way and that way by our thoughts, impulses and external stimuli in a random way.  Gemini is the height of specialisation—the exploration of the ‘particular’.  When we go too far in this direction, we lose the bigger picture—we lose touch with meaning in our lives.
 When the pendulum swings all the way towards Sagittarius, we lose touch with details.  We bask in the grandiose pictures of wisdom and order.  Free from the laborious and boring details of the lesser populace, we are free to invent and float freely in the realm of pure ideas—metaphysics without the constraints of boring information!  Alternately, we become adventurers on a journey that requires no thought or introspection—all is given from life itself.  The only trouble with these stances is that we lose touch with reality!
 Without the process of manifestation, which is the Creative process of finer and finer detail and diversity into matter (information—Gemini), the undifferentiated Spirit (Sagittarius) cannot know that it exists.  Without the process of evolution, which is the process of synthesising and unifying fragments into the greater whole (Sagittarius), the fragments (information—Gemini) would simply dissolve into chaos.  The two together make up the cosmos—Creation and Evolution, the cyclic principle that we spoke about at the beginning.
 Spirit without knowledge is impotent (the enlightened idiot).  Knowledge without Spirit is empty (the idiot savant).  What this is saying is that the potential balance of the Gemini/Sagittarius polarity lies in the simultaneous pursuit of knowledge and the unifying wisdom that ties that knowledge together.  Taken together, we are growing in consciousness—growing towards Love.  As the magnificent plan of the cosmos unfolds from the knowledge collected we cannot help but be awestruck by the realisation of the divinity behind everything in the cosmos.

Cancer/Capricorn
 This dichotomy is the expression of the polarities: being cared for/caring for, dependence/independence, support/non-support, fluid/solid, organic/structured, warmth/lack of warmth, embryonic/fully formed, growth/decay, idea/form, Spirit/matter, etc.
 The Cancer extreme seeks warmth, caring, nurturing, looking after, etc.  This is hearkening back to a time before self-determination and responsibility were required.  There doesn’t seem to ever be enough love for us when we are at this extremity—it is a bottomless pit.  We are dependent upon others for our emotional needs.  The world around us , however, seems cold and uncaring.  This is literally a foetal response that does not want to accept personal responsibility for our lives.  The cold and uncaring world around us (Capricorn) is trying to get us to grow up—to take responsibility—to nurture ourselves, to look after ourselves.  At this Cancerian extreme we are in birth without growth and maturity.
 The Capricorn extreme is only interested in practical matters.  Responsibility is more important than care.  In this space we don’t have time to worry about those who cannot worry about themselves.  We bury ourselves in work, creating structures against the emptiness we feel inside.  We see the world as a commodity that we can shape—beat into form.  The trouble is, once we have built the structures, who is going to inhabit them?  In our extreme coldness and pragmatism, we repel others who could teach us the warmth that could fill these empty structures.  At this extreme we are in death without having lived.
 The lesson here is that we are each seeking a balance between care and responsibility, between being nurtured and nurturing self, between being supported and supporting self, between being looked after and looking after self.  Warmth, care, nurturing (Cancer) without form and structure (Capricorn) remains embryonic and unmanifest—thus it turns inwards into the bottomless pit of despair.  Form and structure without warmth, caring and nurturing remains empty—it remains inanimate and lifeless.  This also leads to isolation and despair.
 Where then is the blending of these polarities?  It is a question of a balance of dependence and independence.  The perfect marriage of the Cancer/Capricorn dichotomy includes both dependence and independence in every person.  In caring for others, we seek to learn how to care for ourselves.  In caring for ourselves we are preparing to care for others.  In taking responsibility for our lives we are preparing for taking responsibility for others.  In taking responsibility for others we are learning to take responsibility for ourselves.  The blending of these two sides is Love.

Leo/Aquarius
 This is the polarity of ego consciousness/collective consciousness, individuality/blending with the masses, autocracy/sociocracy, inner focus/outer focus, self-approval/collective approval, individual creativity/the creative masses, the sun/the stars, the local picture/ the galactic picture, my will/thy will, geocentric/heliocentric, I am/we are, etc.
 When the pendulum swings too far towards the Leo pole we begin to think that we are the centre of the world—that everything revolves around us.  We are the stage, the actors, the play, the playwright and the light.  All others are stage-hands and audience. We are the chosen—the ones born to lead and to hand down to others from ‘on high’.  The trouble is, that deep inside, the real truth is known, if not consciously.  The seeking of approval, adulation, and attention is no more than an unconscious desire to rebalance the lack of self-esteem that we feel inside.  Our self-worth is deprecated privately and exaggerated publicly.   Without others, where would we be?  While outwardly espousing our superiority, we are really run by our need for adulation, approval and attention from others.  We are a slave to popular opinion of us.
 When the swing towards Aquarius is exaggerated, we espouse high ideals of brotherhood and collective benefit, technology and spirituality while doggedly asserting our own independence, being deliberately contrary and going against the flow!  While outwardly being a ‘people person’ we are inwardly cut off, aloof and alienated.  Without other people to interact with we feel empty and alone—we are dependent upon other people being around.  And yet, we outwardly assert our independence!  This Aquarian stance is one of the more perplexing puzzles to those around it.
 A healthy sense of self-worth (positive ego—Leo) is a necessary requirement for a collective society (Aquarius) to function properly.  We only need to look at the failures of Communism around the world to see illustrations that support this statement.  A society with no individual leaders becomes a society run by committee.  According to the joke, the definition of a committee is: a life form with more than six legs, but no brain!  Anywhere we look in nature we see hierarchical structures—class systems and pecking orders; to think that Man can rewrite nature’s plan and introduce a classless system is not so much an Aquarian stance, as one would think, but is redolent of Leonine arrogance.  Conversely, true self-worth and a healthy ego are not possible until we witness our actions having a true benefit to all around us; and this does not necessarily mean that we seek to please everybody around us all the time!
 The synthesis of this Leo/Aquarius polarity consists of true self-appreciation—not inflated or depreciated.  Each person in such a society recognises their true place. We learn from those that have walked further down paths that we wish to travel and we teach others who wish to walk down the paths that we have travelled.  We are all teachers and students, leaders and followers amongst geniuses.  The Leo/Aquarian leader will acknowledge and draw upon the individual talents of each person in their group, acknowledging that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  True self-worth of each member is the result.  True self-worth has another name: Love.

Virgo/Pisces
 We come finally to the Virgo/Pisces polarity.  This is the polarity of Many/One, fragments/wholeness, detail/vista, meticulousness/vagueness, discernment/lack of discernment, cynical/gullible, concrete/dreamy, earth/heaven, body/soul, healer/healed, excessively defined/undifferentiated, etc.  Perhaps this polarity most clearly illustrates the path of Creation (Pisces to Virgo) and Evolution (Virgo to Pisces).  It also traces the breakdown of health (Pisces to Virgo) and the healing of sickness (Virgo to Pisces).
 When we swing too far towards Virgo, we become engrossed and obsessed with the details, the fragments, the definitions and categorisations.  We lose the big picture, the vista, the plan, the total design, the soul within.  We only see duality.  We mis-perceive that the world needs fixing.  We become stuck in definition and categorisation—if something cannot be touched and classified it may as well not exist.  The body becomes the focus.  The desire to fix the world comes from the innate wish to synthesise the fragments within our own psyche—to heal the polarities.  What we see in the outside world that needs fixing is a reflection of that which we wish to fix within us—that which we wish to Love.  The extreme Virgo stance is cynicism without Faith.
 When the Pisces polarity is exaggerated, we wish for Oneness and merging so much that we don’t care about the details.  We avoid definition and concretising our perceptions.  We fall prey to any and all outside influences, thinking that Love will look after us.  This is a stance that is prone to losing touch with earth, body, reality and practical concerns.  This the stance of Faith without discernment.  Here, Spirit is unmanifest—it cannot know itself, but instead merges willy-nilly with whatever influence it encounters and calls itself this.
 The solution of the Virgo/Pisces polarity  lies in the acknowledgment that without matter, fragmentation and duality, we have no possibility of become the conscious masters of our own evolution.  In fact, we have no possibility of becoming conscious to our true nature as Love.  We are descended into matter and form—into duality.  The journey ‘home’ is to take the matter, form and duality and synthesise all opposites.  This synthesis is the revealing of Love.  Without descending into ‘darkness’ we cannot know that we are light.  This return journey is the journey of healing—the healing of all fragmented parts.
 Our total journey of descent into matter, duality and fragmentation (Virgo) and then back to Spirit (Pisces) is a microcosmic reflection of the whole of Creation—it is a hologram.  When polarities are healed we birth light and know that we are Love.

The Sacred Marriage
 Each of these astrological pairs offers us another way to evolve and to reveal our true nature as Love.  In each pair, both sides of the equation are equally required.  This is a sacred marriage.  (See diagram 3.)

When we exaggerate one side and deny or condemn the other, we are playing the game of the illusion of reality.  In actuality, each side points us back to the middle—back towards Love.  Our lives vacillate between these poles in the dance of Creation.  The length of time it takes to swing from one extreme to the other determines our degree of wisdom.  The faster the swing and the more narrow the angle of swing, the more wise we are.  As the swing approaches infinite speed (the speed of light) and approaches zero angle, we experience Love; we have solved the zodiac and gone beyond paradox into a new concentric sphere of understanding and consciousness.
 A marriage or partnership is the ideal environment for the solving of the zodiac paradoxes—for the revealing of Love.  Contrary to popular belief, however, our perfect partner—our soul mate—is not one who is like us in every way.  It is one who is perfectly opposite to us in every way!  This is because Love is birthed from the synthesis of opposites—of dualities.  Until we have worked through each of these zodiac pairs, we are not ready for our true soul mate.  In the meantime, we are in training with each and every partner we have, learning to love all aspects of ourselves equally as beacons pointing towards our true nature as Love and light.  Our partners reflect the ways in which we are not Loving ourselves and vice versa.
 

So, isn’t it amazing to think that the lessons of Love are built into the very fabric of the cosmos through the zodiac constellations!  The solution to the zodiac pairs is Love.  Beyond paradoxes lies Love.  Love is the answer to all questions.