Scorpio is the zodiacal sign considered to be the Ruler of the path of discipleship, and rightly so since it is the sign under which the individual undertakes important work and undergoes those tests and experiences that lead to liberation and accepted discipleship. 

Scorpio marks the point where the wheel reverses direction, indicating that profound change in human consciousness that occurs when the Soul is heard and obeyed, and the individual willingly begins the spiritual search and the path of return.

This rulership aspect of Scorpio is clearly seen in the stimulating influence that this sign has over human beings, as well as by its position in the Fixed Cross of the Zodiac (Aquarius � Leo, Taurus � Scorpio), the Cross of the Disciple. Plus it maintains a close relationship with Sirius, which is a constellation of special significance for our planet due to the influence that its Hierarchy has over ours and for the role that it plays in the transmission of Christ energy from the Cosmos to Earth. Also, as a triple sign, Scorpio has a marked influence on the triple personality. The tests of Scorpio lead to the death of the personality and the appearance of the true man.

When we refer to influences in the esoteric sciences, it is important to be exact in our definition of this term and not stray into the foggy world of the speculative and fantastic. Cosmic influences and, in this case, zodiacal influences must be understood as the action of certain centers of energy over other centers or bodies and over all that surrounds them.

It�s important as well to recognize the role of these cosmic influences on the constituents of the web of life; this world contains all that exists, and in it are made possible the expansions of individual consciousness that eventually lead to the One Consciousness.

The task of the disciple is to penetrate and understand this web of life, to expand one�s consciousness in order to become a part of this new world. The disciple has begun to understand the rules that govern the path toward God. He knows himself as a link in a chain of relationship, as a vibrating point of connection and attraction whose role is to liberate the lesser kingdoms and respond to the powerful synthetic energy of the higher worlds. He is a point of tension within the greater tension of the evolutionary process. By maintaining this tension the aspirant discovers the secret of the creative process and becomes a disciple.

We must analyze the significance and scope of the concept of spiritual tension since it should not be misunderstood as a state of constant anguish or internal turmoil, or as a whirlwind of emotions and passions or as the constant agitation of the lower centers of energy. Rather, it is like an elevated state of dynamic alertness controlled via the heart and the head. In this state the clamorous disharmony of kama-manas, that disordered mix of desire and lower mental activity, must give way to a state of vibratory potency that, under focused control, will culminate in releasing ourselves into a new world of increased spiritual meaning. Thus, tension is the prelude to our entrance into a new way of life. Tension is the motivating impulse or cause that creates a thoughtform, an effect, a world. This supreme tension makes itself felt continuously via the subtle world as an elevating stimulus affecting all manifestation.

Therefore a disciple must become a knower, adept at those mechanisms that appertain to the world of energies, because part of his obligation is to possess the knowledge necessary to use energy and force for the benefit and accomplishment of the Plan. He must learn to use wisely the correct sequence of accumulation-tension-creative liberation, followed by pralaya, that natural pause or interval of all cycles of activity in the Universe. Thus, in the correct management of daily affairs and in the correct use of tension, the disciple gradually refines his level of being and proceeds step by step through those stages that he is required to complete.

As a trained worker the disciple can also create tension as a pure exercise of his little will in order to try to become one with the Soul. This is a self-induced act that is not directly related to the external world, nor is it dependent on it. It is a pure meditative exercise in which the disciple, attempting to abstract himself from the personality, raises his consciousness toward the realm of the Soul, and this he does via the creation of a state of internal tension capable of producing a point of contact between his lower consciousness and Soul consciousness, a center of consciousness as an incarnated Soul. He creates from himself and in himself a refined state of tension, divested of any trace of personality, a spiritual tension free from the strong regressive tendencies of the concrete mind and emotional bodies. It is a state of attunement with the Soul, a focusing upward at maximum attention, waiting for a response in a serene, respectful silence. It is an expectant tension that is ready to be released at the opportune and propitious moment of contact with the Self; it requires just the right degree of tension to produce the spark, the flash of light that indicates the entrance to a new dimension of consciousness.

From the foregoing we can understand why it is said that meditation is an active process, a mental effort controlled by the higher mind, and not an emotional act or even less a hedonistic act designed to produce a state of relaxation. And we can understand why the stage of contemplative silence in meditation mustn�t be regarded as a paralysis of the mind or an attempt to cease its functioning; rather it is a moment of expectant quietude, of a directed attentiveness focused at the highest point, attuned with the Soul, of a subtle tension clearly focused on the center of our consciousness, our own Self.

That is the essence of a productive meditation, a meditation in which the meditator penetrates into the realm of the intuition, which is the world of wisdom, a quality of love and the manifested principle of the Soul, our divine inheritance.

Within the complexity of functions that the disciple must embody, there is something of utmost importance, and that is the fact that he becomes a knower of the new world in which he moves and works and in which, as a result, he acts consciously. The degree of his knowledge determines his position within the Hierarchical realm to which he belongs and is the mark of the transcendence of his work in service to his fellow human beings.

At this point of evolution, knowledge is fundamental, because the disciple has to transcend the limitations of the devotional approach of the mystic, which is that of the emotional type, in order to open up to the unlimited possibilities of the higher mind. And he can only do this if he understands that the road toward the higher mind is only available to the knower, and that it�s a scientific enterprise accomplished using the scientific methods given as part of the Science of Esotericism. This is the Science of the Divine, the Science of Life, of the World of Energies, of Causes and Meaning, the Science of all Sciences.

This idea, which has come in with the New Age, ought to be understood in its real significance. It�s not a rigidly intellectual focus, preferring technical aloofness and disregarding the spiritual essence of the individual. Rather it is the culmination of a process of approach to the divine, a process that has already gone beyond the stage of the devotional approach, beyond the powerful astral aspects of the personality, beyond the limitations of ignorance and fear, in order to enter a higher stage, the realm of the intuition, which is a quality of the Spiritual Triad.

Therefore, the disciple synthesizes within himself the experience of the mystical approach, which is now purified and transmuted, by means of the knowledge that he has transformed into wisdom via the light of the Soul. In this way, the disciple acts in accordance with the Law, demonstrating through himself the processes of transference, unification and upliftment, processes that are carried out in all existence.