At this time of the year, as we, in the northern hemisphere, prepare to experience the darkest point within the annual cycle, we know that this experience is but an illusory point of transition. Although it feels as if we are entering into an abyss of darkness, we are yet aware, in a way that our most ancient forebears were not, that this is but an illusion because since the time of Copernicus in the early 1500s, we've understood that this is a normal cycle, resulting from our planet's yearly revolution around the sun. Thus, with a hopeful, expectant heart we await and prepare for the glorious re-emergence of the sun's effulgent vitality after the Winter Solstice, knowing that daily, the sun's light and warmth will grow stronger and brighter so that, eventually, new life may awaken and prosper on planet Earth.

As that most ancient of Sanskrit prayers, the Gayatri, tells us, the sun is but a disc of golden light, veiling the true reality. It gives sustenance to the universe; it is that place from which all life proceeds and to which all life returns.

In esoteric literature the sun is the grandest of all mysteries. In antiquity the sun symbolized the source of Reality, and the source of Light and Life. In ancient Egypt the Sun-God, Re or Ra, was worshiped as the "glorious King of the gods" and Plato used the image of the sun to represent the idea of the One, the Good, the Beautiful and the True.

In the Secret Doctrine the sun is referred to as both matter and spirit. And, it is pointed out that the Greek word for sun—Helios meant "Most High." This "Most High," the Self, the one and the universal was symbolized on the plane of mortals by the sun, its life-giving effulgence being in its turn the emblem of the soul, which alone brings light to darkness and makes enlightenment possible.

In the Ageless Wisdom, the sun, like all life, is known to have three aspects: the physical sun, which we see with our eyes, the heart of the sun, which is recognized by the Soul and the Central Spiritual Sun, which is recognized by the Monad, a consciousness even more inclusive than the Soul.

History records humanity's preoccupation with the sun's annual cycle since Neolithic times and archeological sites such as Stonehenge in Southern England are thought to have been erected specifically to view and trace the path of the sun throughout the heavens.

It is because of the seeming disappearance of the sun's vitality and its cyclic and annual return to its full glory that in many cultures and throughout history, the belief arose of the birth or rebirth of a son-god who, just like the sun, brought light to the darkness and life to the planet.

This triple nature of the sun is also reflected in the three aspects of the Christ consciousness: the Cosmic Christ, the historical Planetary Christ and the indwelling Christ principle within the heart of each human being.

The individual, the planetary, and the cosmic Christ—just as surely as the spark of consciousness motivates the life of each individual, overseeing the long evolutionary journey from life to life, so too is each world period informed by a World Teacher, a Planetary Christ who oversees the evolutionary journey of humanity and reflects the qualities of the Cosmic Christ. As above, so below; as within, so without; as in heaven, so on earth. This truth is most succinctly reflected in Krishna's statement within the Bhagavad Gita: "Having pervaded the whole universe with a fragment of Myself, I remain." (Continued on next page.)