Hello Do you start from Pisces and do the reversed Zodiac or start with Capricorn and go forward...what is the "place holder" for new year's eve? Thanks
Dear, thank you for your question regarding the Thirteen holy nights
Unfortunately there is no simple answer as far as we know, as various sources entertain different versions of the mapping of the zodiac signs. Each with a different 'logic' or explanatory rationale. That is why there is no simple unambiguous statement on the site, and also why the comparative table was not uploaded yet (though we can do that as this question seems to come back, there were exchanges on this topic over email also).
That being said, I personally believe that the 'state of soul' and the depth of concentration or praying mood in this period is (much) more important than the contemplation along the zodiac signs. What I mean by that is that this is especially a period to go inward and contemplate within oneself, or put differently: strive for a connection with one's own inner and higher self, better future self.
This can be intuited from deeper study and meditation on the topic 'the three meetings', and I know people therefore 'fill in' this period with an own personal version for this special period. This praying mood can consist of many different elements such as (a) the lord's prayer, EDN-ICM-PSSR, after vacancy of mind along a morning and evening meditation of an hour each day. Connecting with the cosmic events of this period is a very personal matter, but you can certainly do so by entering into imaginations deeply. Another example (b): open the valve of imagination freely in one's meditative soul and imagine the winter solstice so important for people across millenia, the descent of the pure adam sister soul at christmas, the descent of the christ at epiphany, the white lodge at this time around christmas, what takes place with the spiritual hierarchies around this period of the year .. all of this to enter into a personal praying state of soul, and connect it to oneself as totally connected microcosm to the macrocosm.
What I'm trying to say is that a personal ritual is certainly no less valuable and may or will actually carry a deeper meaning because it is genuine and personal, comes from the depths of our soul (which is the key thing), and this, in my humble opinion, is certainly better than that we would get stuck with the intellectual dilemma around what is the right sequence of the zodiac signs. We should not feel bad or believe there are implications if we get it wrong because this is the only way and most important. Another way of saying the same thing is that the feeling and willing 'concentrate' are most important, which is a general comment for the study of spiritual science and the path of initiation.
Although it is not a direct answer to your question, still hope the above can be of value to you. I will however look into this further as I certainly appreciate the question and take it to heart, but today I cannot provide a simple direct answer on the single right way of this zodiac sign mapping.
PS: the above-mentioned table was added as illustration on the Thirteen holy nights topic page, see Schema FMC00.360A.
Note: another aspect to be considered for this period is what happens during sleep, and the importance of the process of falling asleep and waking.
To get inspired for a start, read for example the RSL extracts on Three meetings first, and from there read Christ Module 16 - During sleep. Then with this, one can also try to imaginatively 'feel yourself into' the lower right part of Schema FMC00.023B on the Three Meetings page, and the connect between the intertwined rings depicted.
For people doing initiation exercises the daily 'connection' is part of daily practice (see eg IIH step 2), and this special period of the year becomes the culmination to take this a level higher.
What I wanted to add hereby is that once one has an imaginative understanding of the daily process , the yearly can be seen as a 'step up' in a way, which might perhaps help to tune in with your soul mood to what is happening in this period.
Indeed, the main point of participating in a spiritual sacrament in these 13 Holy Days and Nights period is, being in a meditative mood, to bear in mind that the Cosmic situation provides a unique opportunity for your True personal «I» to be united with the Universal «I» of Humanity, with The Macrocosmic Power of the Word/Logos – i.e. directly with Christ Himself.
I personally find useful to follow the scheme provided in 1927 by a Russian anthroposophist Andrey Belyi (pls., see the table).
These 13 Days and Nights are influenced by Macrocosmic Forces operating in a powerful way from a reality which is out of time and space – i.e., from eternity.
The inner spiritual Sun of the Earth – the Spirit of the Earth – sends from Its center on each of the following days its rays alternately towards each sign of the Zodiac, a pair (two rays) per day: during the day – into the future, and in the evening – into the past.
Every day is experienced by our soul as the rhythm of the change of the Zodiac Signs corresponding to each month of the year.
At this time, our «I» becomes the point of intersection, or, better to say, the point of joining in us of two streams of spiritual Light going from the center of the Earth to the signs of the Zodiac.
The experience of 13 Holy Days and Nights unfolds before us two times by twelve panoramas, corresponding to 12 months of the coming year and 12 months of the last year. That is, in the daytime we anticipate the future, and in the evening we observe (in images) month after month the outgoing year, summing up the work of the Spirit over the past 12 months.
Thus during this special time we feel connected both with the Primal Powers of the Word and that of the humanity as an indivisible unity, to which we belong.
