CHAPTER XII.

The Twelve Labors of Hercules (Continued)

"There is not the slightest doubt that Hercules is Baladeva in Greek dress. Arrian notices the great similarity between the Theban and the Hindu Hercules."-The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, III, 260.

THE THIRD LABOR (Cancer)

The Capture of the Keryneian Doe

Hercules' next labor was the capture of the golden horned Keryneian Doe which was sacred to Artemis; both Artemis and Diana being symbols of the moon. This doe therefore symbolizes the feminine power of intuition which is the gift of the Great Mother manifesting through Cancer, the sheath of the moon.

Intuition is a Soul-faculty that was highly developed in the Sibyls and Priestesses of the ancient temples, for it was they who were supposed to receive the true spiritual inspiration from the gods, hence paid great attention to the development of intuition. The Sibyl was regarded as a sacred personage and was surrounded by congenial conditions and secluded from intercourse with any one who could disturb or divert the pure stream of intuition and inspiration. Such Sibyls were highly sensitive psychics who had to be protected from unpleasant or upsetting conditions and vibrations. The information and teaching received through these Sibyls was recorded by the priests, who received it reverently and gave it out to the people in a form which their judgment decided would be best understood by the masses.

Hence we find this doe with golden horns (horns symbolizing powers) belonging to Artemis, represents a strictly feminine attribute, yet Hercules in spite of his masculinity had

to capture it or unfold this feminine side of his nature. Like many a hero, the doe of intuition led him a weary chase, for only after pursuing it an entire year (cycle) did he finally capture it and bear it on his broad shoulders to Mykenai, the temple of his Soul.

We are told that Apollo (the Sun) and Artemis (the Moon) disputed his right to the prize and that Artemis even accused him of slaying her golden horned doe. This symbol shows that even in those days women claimed a monopoly of intuition and were apt to say that man's quiet masculine way of receiving and expressing it killed it. And man even today is apt to find both the Sun and the Moon-his intellect and the feminine quality of love within him-disputing over his possession of the gift, hence only the strength of a Hercules can carry the golden horned doe safely on his broad shoulders. The Voice of the Soul speaks only to one who has stilled intellectual activity or made it a servant to intuition; who has determinedly listened to the Still Small Voice of Divine Love which speaks in the heart. Only when we have temporarily stilled the many loud and persistent voices of earthly passions and sensations are our ears attuned to the Inner Voice.

THE FOURTH LABOR (Libra)

The Capture of the Erymanthian Boar

The fourth labor of Hercules was to capture and take alive the fierce boar that wasted the town of Psophis. When captured, Hercules carried its hind quarters and forced it to walk forward on its fore legs all the way to Mykenai. This boar symbolized gluttony which must be taken alive and tamed or controlled, i. e., eating cannot be killed but should be controlled. We must eat to live and should enjoy our food, yet we must not eat merely to please our palate or gorge our animal body, hence the law of balance must here be carefully applied.

In the way Hercules undertook this task we see the dire

results of unbalanced appetite, for we find him feasting with the Centaurs who soon became inflamed with wine and when Hercules, like many an enthusiastic but unwise reformer, shot arrows at them, in spite of the fact that these arrows were shot from the bow given him by Apollo, the one wise and good centaur Cheiron-the power of true (immortal) discrimination which holds the reins and guides the thoughtswas killed by a wound Hercules would gladly have healed. The pain of the wound drove Cheiron to exchange his immortality for the mortality of Prometheus. Also by another unhappy accident his friend Pholos-bodily strength-was killed by dropping one of Hercules' poisoned arrows on his foot (understanding). Hercules pursued the boar high up on the mountain and there in the deep snow snared it.

When we essay to balance gluttony with fasting so often we find we have killed our great friend, bodily strength, through a poisoning of our understanding. Then our best friend can no longer sustain us, for his strength and vigor of life are killed out. Yet when we attain a true balance, i. e., put eating in its proper place as a necessary part of our care for the friend (body) and do not drop a poisoned arrow on its understanding, we will find that the good Centaur Cheiron (discrimination) instead of being killed has but voluntarily exchanged his immortality for mortality and become Prometheus that he may bring the Divine Fire of mind down to humanity.

THE FIFTH LABOR (Aquarius)

Cleansing the Augean Stables

The next labor was to cleanse the Augean stables where the offal had collected to such an extent that all tillage of the surrounding land was stopped. This Hercules accomplished by turning the waters of the two great rivers Alpheias and Peneios from their courses and making them run through the stables. These stables were exceedingly filthy, not having

been cleansed for thirty years-or 3 cycles of 10. These stables are the dwelling place of the cattle or the lower animal appetites and desires in the physical body, the same stable in which The Christ must be born and cradled in the manger where the animal seeks its food. When the Christman, or Sun Initiate, reaches his mystic age of 30 years he must begin his real work, just as Jesus began his at the same age by cleansing the temple of the money changers. He finds these stables very filthy, full of all kinds of impurities, but this is a task which every Candidate for Christ-hood must perform ere he can pass his Sun Initiation and the Myth of Hercules shows us the way. We must turn the living waters into this stable to cleanse it so that the animal nature may still abide there, but in purity and health.

The two rivers are firstly, the River of Life or the breath. The Candidate for Initiation must learn to use the breath to cleanse and purify his body and see to it that the breath stream is not polluted by the excreta of the animal so often retained in the body; and secondly, the River of Thought, which he must deliberately turn into channels which will cleanse the body from pollution, i. e., from wild imaginings, selfishness, lust and disease-producing thoughts. For the body will respond to the cleansing power of these two rivers even as the Augean Stables did to the rivers Alpheias and Peneios. Thoughts indulged in continuously deepen the channels in the brain just as a river eats out its bank or deepens its channel. This task Hercules found difficult and only when Athene (Wisdom) came to his aid, was he successful.

THE SIXTH LABOR (Sagittarius)

Killing the Man-eating Birds of Stymphalos

The next labor was that of clearing the marshes of Arcadia of the great man-eating birds. Arcadia is a land of simplicity and earthly happiness, symbolizing gaiety and a carefree, thoughtless life. To dwell perpetually in such a state,

however, is impossible for the unfolding Soul, for it soon feels itself shut in. Hence Arcadia is represented as being shut in by extensive marshes of creature comforts, childish pleasures and vapid amusements, into any one of which the undeveloped Soul may easily sink if his thoughts (birds) nest there. There great man-eating birds made their homes, protected by a dense growth of underbrush which made access to them difficult. Mythologists have generally considered that these birds represent the death-dealing pestilences which arise from great areas of stagnant water or marshes, but birds are universal symbols of our thoughts, which should ever fly upward into the pure ether and lift us above the earthly things. But if we seek to dwell in Arcadia, rather than to seek for our home in the New Jerusalem which cometh down from heaven, we force our birds of life to propagate in the miasmic marshes which surround Arcadia. Then, instead of being free to lift us above the earth, they become like birds of prey, feeding upon our very flesh. It has ever been recognized that a life of ease soon tends to generate such man-eating thought-forces as selfishness, indifference to others and many other life sapping thoughts, but the higher aspect of Sagittarius gives to man the power of guiding and controlling thought, and of holding in his right hand the reins of this fiery steed, forcing it to carry him up the steep mountain path until it becomes the winged steed Pegasus which ultimately enables him to soar above the earth. But ere he can do this, he must kill the stymphalian birds. And like Hercules, we can only clear the marshes of our environment when we clash the brazen symbols given us by Athene and compel our stymphalian birds to take to the air where they can be seen, recognized and killed one by one.

While the Centaur or the horse and his rider is the symbol generally assigned to Sagittarius, yet since birds symbolize thought, horses symbolize the intellectual activity which we must guide and train ere the thought or Bird of Life can carry us safely through the various realms of both the mental and astral worlds. The Sun Initiate must kill every