The Makara, Serpents of Wisdom
by Dorothy Roeder
DHY 2011, Level 2. 220 and 260
“The Hindus saw Capricorn as Makara, a sea-monster steed of Vishnu that was a dragon, 1/4 bird, 1/4 crocodile, 1/4 fish, and 1/4 goat. Pictures of this creature have been seen in the Far East and the Americas. The Chinese and American forms
probably had a common origin. Some drawings of the constellation of Capricorn look very much like the Devil card of the Tarot deck.” http://www.aquarian
age.net/tarot/devil3.htm
Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that the term magar or makar, originally had the meaning of “mysterious sea creature.” The mount or vehicle of Varuna god of winds. . . As builder of the cosmic order, Varuna is also guardian of the Final Gate and the makara symbolizes chaos out of which order emerges and to which it returns. The Bhagavad Gita says that “the makara among the fish is like the 
Ganges among the rivers; like Rama among the warriors.”
In western astrology the symbol for Capricorn is the fish/goat 
with the front half goat and the back half fish tail. It may have a horn on its head. It represents man, born out of the sea and climbing the treacherous slopes of an
impossibly high mountain to gain the magical wisdom of the unicorn. It might also represent the three crosses which man must master. The fish part is the mutable cross where one is at the mercy of unfathomable forces which rule his life, out of his control, much like a ship at sea. The goat half is the fixed cross of struggle and suffering where he learns the laws of cause and effect and begins to become the master of his life. The unicorn horn represents the learned wisdom and power achieved through surrender to the One within and offered in service to the Divine Plan.
Capricorn is the sign of crystallization. A crystal is an ordered system of minerals, a symbol of perfection. Capricorn is the symbol of the perfect ordering of consciousness within the Divine Plan for creation. It is the last step in evolution or the return to the One. Once perfected, the crystal is shattered, maya dissolves, and all returns to pralaya.
I wonder if Varuna as the guardian of the Final Gate is a symbol for this round only. As the ruler of the Astral Plane, perfection of his realm would mean the perfect clarity and transparency of the astral or emotional body of man, something like a fine gemstone, which radiates and transmits perfectly the light of the higher levels of consciousness. This is certainly a step in the perfection of the personality vehicle of man and is accomplished by mind. But he no doubt has some relation to the Buddhic plane and a higher level of consciousness. Perhaps he takes us there.
In Hindu mythology, the makara is also an emblem of Kama, the god of love's desire, who aims his bow of honey bees that lets fly the flowers of love. (In Tibetan Buddhism, Kurukulla fulfills that role.) It is Kama's consort who carries the makara so that they may enjoy riding it whenever it suits them. This is not difficult symbolism to unravel! In fact, the makara is used to symbolize the second chakra (in the Indian yogic system) which is at the level of the genitals and is the power that drives desire.
This association with the second chakra relates to the symbol of makara as dragon or serpent. The Hebrew word for crocodile is /ynt, tannin, and also means serpent or dragon, (Ex. 7:9), sea-serpent or whale. “. . .Pharaoh of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers. . .” (Ezekiel 29:3)
This would logically seem to be a crocodile. And in Exodus 7:3, “. . . then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.” The Hebrew word used both times is /ynt. The first speaks exoterically of the power of desire and the second of the serpent power which arises when the desire nature of a man is perfected and focused by the mind so that it can be
directed by Higher Self.
“In Sanskrit makara — the tenth sign of the Zodiac — means a crocodile, or rather an aquatic monster associated always with water. The letter MA is equivalent to and corresponds with number 5 — composed of a binary, the symbol of the two sexes separated, and of the ternary, symbol of the third life, the progeny of the binary. This, again, is often symbolised by a Pentagon, the latter being a sacred sign, a divine Monogram. Maitreya is the secret name of the Fifth Buddha, and the Kalki Avatar of the Brahmins — the last Messiah who will come at the culmination of the Great Cycle. It is also the initial letter of the Greek Metis or Divine Wisdom; of Mimra, the “word” or Logos; and of Mithras (the Mihr), the Monad, Mystery. All these are born in, and from, the great Deep, and are the Sons of Maya — the Mother; in Egypt, Mouth, in Greece Minerva (divine wisdom), Mary, or Miriam, Myrrha, etc.; of the Mother of the Christian Logos, and of Maya, the mother of Buddha. Madhava and Madhavi are the titles of the most important gods and goddesses of the Hindu Pantheon. Finally, Mandala is in Sanskrit “a circle,” or an orb (the ten divisions of the Rig Veda). The most sacred names in India begin with this letter generally — from Mahat, the first manifested intellect, and Mandara, the great mountain used by the gods to churn the Ocean, down to Mandakin, the heavenly Ganga (Ganges), Manu, etc., etc.” S.D., v. ii. p99
The sign of Capricorn is associated with the pentagram as shown by the 15th Key in Tarot, The Devil. The pentagram, as five, is associated with mind and is the sign of man as a being with creative intelligence. Five also reminds one of the five 
senses of man, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching. These five senses are symbols of five activities of mind, reason, intuition, discrimination, suggestion (the power to invoke subconscious response) and coition/response (the creative power within). These faculties are the tools with which man perfects his vehicle. When all senses are focused into attaining the goal of building a 
vehicle for the expression of the One Self, they become the
antahkarana, which will surely take one to the top of the mountain.
The word /ynt, has a value of 510, the same as ?yr, Resh, meaning head, beginning or commencement. Resh is the 30th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and represents the first stage of union with the Higher Self shown in the 19th Key of Tarot. It is the result of discriminating use of intuition and of meditation. It is the attainment of the ability to understand the secrets of the cycles of being. So it describes the qualities of the Serpents of Wisdom emerging in the evolving man.
“The esoterical lore of the Brahmans claims that the Rudras (Kumaras, Adithyas, Gandharvas or Asuras), the highest of the Devas, came down to the earthly plain to instruct humanity. They were regarded by the wise men as architects of the cosmos sent to Earth to reorganise the visible world. They were also at the head of the fifth celestial hierarchy and their astral sign was Makara (Capricorn). The legends say that this happened a million years ago when the very first races of humans were entering the earthly plane. They gave man the cult of the serpent for they
themselves were seen as dragons of wisdom (Nagas). The Makara sign was at
times represented as a crocodile but more often as a dolphin. The dolphin, which is also present in Greek myths and in Celtic myths as the porpoise or merman. It symbolises spirit emerging from the primordial waters. It may be argued that the myth originated in Sumer. Nevertheless, the Lepenski Vir sandstone sculptures of the Danube dated 6000 - 5000 BCE represent fish-men or mermen that parallel the Sumerian myths.” http://cura.free.fr/xv/14boutet.html
This lore indicates that these cosmic beings, the Dragons of Wisdom, who sacrificed themselves to help humanity evolve are our teachers in the use of the serpent force which brings wisdom. It suggests that perhaps they direct the serpent force in each of us in a way that leads to the emergence of mind and the mastery of mind over the creative potential of the animal body and the power of desire in the astral forces.. It is the creative force within us which allows us to shape our own bodies and lives and create ones ever more suitable for our purposes. The symbol of the dolphin is interesting as dolphins have often acted as friends to humans and rescued them from the power of the sea, in which depths we can often flounder. The Dragons of Wisdom have pulled us out of the sea of the mass consciousness, or unconsciousness as the case may be, and shown us a greater vision of ourselves.
The Makara was said earlier to be represented by the Hindus as part bird. 
Birds often are used to represent soul. The first decanate of Capricorn is
symbolized by Cygnus, the swan. We note that birds are descendants of
reptiles. In this decan, the Sun begins its upward path after passing the low
point of the winter solstice. Here is the swan beginning its journey toward the
sunny skies of summer, the promise of a Higher World. It is a sign of rebirth.
Zain interpreted it as, “Under Certain Conditions the Stone is Rolled From the Entrance to the Tomb and Man Consciously Exchanges Ideas with Those Who Have Entered the Chamber of Death. This is the decanate of the Master in
Capricorn.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dustera/260591706///
The constellation Delphinus rules the 2nd, Virgo decanate of Capricorn. There are associated with it various stories of dolphins helping man. C.C. Zain, 2, states the lesson of Delphinus as, “Man, by His Thoughts, His Emotions, and His Actions on Earth, builds for Himself a Home in a Higher Realm where He Will Dwell After Passing From the Physical Plane.” In other words, Man creates of his personality vehicle a home for his Higher Self which allows him greater creative freedom to serve the Plan. This is quite in line with the Capricorn will, desire, and effort which will carry him to the mountain top of spiritual achievement. This is the decan with which aspirants and disciples will work in the age of Capricorn, the dolphin symbolizing the love which characterizes the Hierarchy as the Son aspect of the Solar Logos. 
The third decanate of Capricorn is ruled by the constellation Pisces 
Australis. It is so situated in the heavens that it appears to be drinking
from the water poured out by Aquarius. This is symbolic of the average
man who will confront Capricorn through this decanate, with the help of
those more evolved. From C.C. Zain again, it lesson is that, “From the
inner Planes it is Possible For Man to Attract Any Information
Whatsoever He is Capable of Utilizing.” http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/piscisaustrinus.htm__//
We saw that the serpent, dragon, sea-monster symbology refers to the kundalini energy or creative power in man. This is the power that shapes the universal mental substance into form which is then given life by the Spirit aspect. The development or evolution of consciousness is really self conscious man learning to use this creative power for specific designed purposes. D.K. says that the three decanates of a sign are a triplicity relating to the three aspects of God and man—spirit, soul and body. E.A. 172. Arranging them on the reverse wheel, the third, Mercury decan is the one of body or the lower mind. This is what is being developed in Humanity at this time. Ordinary man has, so far in his evolution, been at the mercy of Nature and of forces seemingly outside his control. With the development of mind, he is beginning to learn that his life is instead a result of his own thinking. With the revelation that everyone has a Higher Self which is here to teach him to manifest his spiritual potential, he gains access to help from this great teacher. It is the mental recognition of the connection that brings results.
In the second decanate of Capricorn, Venus brings the development of the higher mind and increasing influence of the Solar Angel in the aspirant. In the first, Saturn brings to the disciple freedom from limitation and mastery of the creative power. So evolution of consciousness is increasing ability to use the creative power to manifest Divine Will. This means that the Makara symbolizes some degree of mastery of the kundalini force. In the Theosophical literature we find the Makara name associated with various beings or ranks. Those who have achieved the highest mastery of creative power in our system are called Serpents of Wisdom. They are the five Kumaras who came to Earth with the first of the Human race. Then there are the Solar Angels, also called Serpents of Wisdom, who came with the implanting of the fire of mind. This shows a definite relation between the kundalini force and evolution of mind. I suspect that the phrase, “Overall this deva host [the solar Angels] the mystic Goat presideth” means that all created minds are only aspects of the One Mind and are therefore inferior to it. The masters of our planetary hierarchy have combined the fire of matter, the kundalini energy, with the fire of mind and with the fire of spirit. This gives them the ability to guide and influence evolving humanity in the forms it uses as its creativity develops. Those greater Serpents of Wisdom who came long ago to give Humanity a mind have developed a greater ability to mold and influence form. The mystic Goat is the ultimate creative mind, the source of all form.
Ma, — we are told by the author of the “Twelve Signs of the Zodiac” — is Five; kara, a hand with its five fingers, as also a five-sided sign or a pentagon. The Kumara (in this case an anagram for occult purposes) are five in esotericism, as Yogis — because the last two names have ever been kept secret; they are the fifth order of Brahmadevas, and the fivefold Chohans, having the soul of the five elements in them, Water and Ether predominating, and therefore their symbols were both aquatic and fiery. “Wisdom lies concealed under the couch of him who rests on the golden lotos (padma) floating on the water.” In India it is Vishnu (one of whose avatars was Budha, as claimed in days of old). S.D. iv,149.
This interpretation of the word “makara” as a hand with five fingers brings us to the hand as a creative tool. The tenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Yod, meaning hand. It is the root of all letters; all things are based on Yod; formative potency, formative power or the word. It also has a phallic implication. A
hand is useful because it has five fingers. Universal formative potency uses five tatvas. So makara might refer to man as a creative being or to the OAWNMBS, its formative power extended through the five aspects of reality or fundamental principles called tattvas. These five tattvas are represented in man by his five senses. His senses are the means by which he extends his observations and experience on earth. His use of the information assimilated is how he gains wisdom. By learning to see the One Thing in everything he experiences, his five senses are transformed into one awareness of True Wisdom.
The Fifth creative hierarchy of human personalities is also named “the Crocodiles, Makara, the mystery.” Its sign is Capricorn, its planet Venus, its energy, the will to manifest. EA 34. Manifestation we saw before is a function of Saturn and mind since “Saturn is the focal point for the transmission of Cosmic Mind.” Mind must serve as the means by which the Creator manifests His purpose. This hierarchy is also associated with manas and the coming of the Solar Angels. So mind is very much associated with the idea of the Makars. It makes sense that mind, as the tool of consciousness, must be developed if it is to serve an expanding consciousness. Humans began to become Makaras when they received the spark of mind at the coming of the Solar Angels and began to use it to control, balance and master first the animal body, then the astral. As the human mind learns to control these and in turn to surrender to, or be controlled, by the Solar Angel it takes its first step to becoming a Serpent of Wisdom. The Solar Angels are called lesser Dragons of Wisdom, so there are those greater who have taught them and even come to Earth long ago to plant the seeds of the Serpent religion.
The fifth Creative Hierarchy in active planetary expression is named the “Human Personality, The Crocodiles, Makara the mystery.” E.A. 34. The number five is associated with mind. We can also look at the five senses as relating to the five aspects of mind, memory, imagination, reason, intuition and discrimination. It is the memory of what we truly are and of our true home which drives us up the mountain of initiation. It is the stimulation of imagination by our Solar Angel which brings intimations of the next step. It is reason which finds wisdom in our experiences on Earth. It is intuition which stretches our minds into higher realms of understanding. It is discrimination which takes the results of much experimentation and shows us the right path.
It is the task of man, through use of mind and his five senses to tame the power of the serpent force, the kundalini. Having blended the kundalini fire of matter with the devic fire of mind, man can then receive the fire of spirit which is wisdom. So let us take a look at what mind, or manas, is, in a general way, as the subject is vast.
Manas has been defined as mind, or that faculty of logical deduction and reasoning, and of rational activity that distinguishes man from the animals. Yet it is something much more than that for it underlies all manifestation, and the very shape of an amoeba, and the discriminative faculty of the lowest atom or cell, is actuated by mind of some kind or another. It is only as the place of that discriminating cell or atom within its greater sphere is apprehended, and recognised, that any clear conception will be gained of what that coherent rational inclusive mentality may be. TCF 310.
This passage indicates that mind is not just an activity in registering sensations, but uses that activity to recognize its place in the whole in which it exists.
“. . .all that we can really predicate anent the origin of manas is that it is the unified will activity, or the purposeful expression of the realised Identity of some great Self which colours the life and swings into intelligent co-operation all the lesser units included in its
sphere of influence. Each of us, in illustration, is the thinking purposeful Entity who acts as the manasic principle, and the spring of action, to all the units included in our three bodies. Each of us sways them to our will; we act, and by acting, force co-operation as we see fit. TCF 353.
The animal brain itself seems to have been designed to respond to evolving levels of consciousness. The core of the human brain is called the reptilian brain and is the foundation on which the modern human brain is built. It basically allows the Life Force to interact with the environment through the animal possessing it.
“The brain stem is the oldest and smallest region in the evolving human brain. It evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and is more like the entire brain of present-day reptiles. For this reason, it is often called the 'reptilian brain'. Various clumps of cells in the brain stem determine the brain's general level of alertness and regulate the vegetative processes of the body such as breathing and heartbeat.
It's similar to the brain possessed by the hardy reptiles that preceded mammals, roughly 200 million years ago. It's 'preverbal', but controls life functions such as autonomic brain, breathing, heart rate and the fight or flight mechanism. Lacking language, its impulses are instinctual and ritualistic. It's concerned with fundamental needs such as survival, physical maintenance, hoarding, dominance, preening and mating. It is also found in lower life forms such as lizards, crocodiles and birds. It is at the base of your skull emerging from your spinal column.
The basic ruling emotions of love, hate, fear, lust, and contentment emanate from this first stage of the brain. Over millions of years of evolution, layers of more sophisticated reasoning have been added upon this foundation. http://www.crystalinks.com/reptilianbrain.html//
The limbic system was overlaid on the rudimentary reptilian brain. It arose early in mammalian evolution and was responsible for the motivation and emotion involved in feeding, reproductive behavior, and parental behavior. The neomammalian complex is the cerebral cortex and is a structure found uniquely in mammals. Its addition is the most recent step in the evolution of the human brain, conferring the ability for language, abstraction, planning, and perception. This suggests the idea that perhaps the crocodiles, the Makara evolve in Humanity as consciousness which is capable of creating its own vehicle for that abstraction, planning, and perception. The brain allows mind to learn to control the basic instinctual functioning of the kundalini force at the physical level. Then the brain added the parts that create feelings and the beginnings of group awareness. Mind learns to control and use that. The modern human has a brain which supports language, abstract thinking, and most importantly, the will to expand consciousness to unknown levels. Now mind can learn to control the very functioning of the brain itself. The integration of soul into the physical-astral-mental vehicle will allow another layer of consciousness as the pineal gland is transformed by spiritual progress and the rainbow bridge leads us out of our tiny world.
The Hebrew word Da’ath seems to correlate most closely with this idea of mind as the tool of a purposeful entity. It pertains to knowledge gained by direct personal experience. This is not just information collected, but real insight which is part of an unbroken flow of 
knowledge. Da’ath has an implied place on the Tree of Life as the center of the upper hexagram, the Macrocosm. Its place is implied not real, because there are
only ten Sephiroth, not eleven. (Some say it replaces Malkuth when the lowest aspects of consciousness have been absorbed into Yesod which is the Astral Plane.) It guards the abyss between the lower seven Sephiroth and the higher three. It is knowledge combined with understanding. Its spelling, Daleth-Ayin-Tav, describes this idea. “Daleth, the door, true magical knowledge opens a door from the outer world of effects and appearances, leading inward to the realm of causes. It is based on creative imagination and is an interior illumination. Ayin, the eye, one sees, with the inner eye and perceives with the outer sense of sight the true perception of reality in all things. Tav, the mark, one experiences the unity of life.”3
To Daleth is assigned Venus, the planet of higher mind and soul. Its faculty is imagination, inspired by higher aspects of self and the Solar Angel does serve as the source of images received through “The higher abstract mind, the custodian of ideas, and that which is the conveyor of illumination to the lower mind, once that lower mind is en rapport with the soul.” ENA 5. Capricorn is assigned to Ayin and it is the sign associated with the birth of the Redeemer. Saturn, its ruler, has to do with manifestation and Ayin, the 27th path on the Tree of Life, is called “the Renewing Intelligence, “because, thereby, God, … renews all things which are begun anew in the creation of the world”, S.Y. i.e. every new concept of self is filled with Spirit, Life Force, and the old self concept is gone. Finally Saturn is assigned to Tav, the sign of completion and freedom from form limitation. We have the rulers of Capricorn in the name of Da’ath, Saturn used twice for the exoteric and esoteric ruler and Venus as the Hierarchial ruler. Capricorn takes us from the depths of the primordial sea to the mountain top of illumination and Capricorn is the sign of the Makara, those who have completed this journey.
In order for the man to become a Makara, he must tame the force latent within the atoms of his own body’s cells, that force residing in the reptilian brain. In the unevolved man this force, called the kundalini power, the serpent force or creative power functions just enough to keep the body alive and to power the mind and emotions. Under the direction of mind, it slowly raises itself as the man learn to recognize and use the power of his mind.
The kundalini fire is consciously directed and controlled by the mind or will aspect from the mental plane. The two fires of matter by the power of the mind of man are blended first with each other, and, secondly, with the fire of mind. TCF 125
When the vehicle is sufficiently purged of self-will and person desire for power or things, the soul reaches down and blends its fire with that of the fires of mind and body. This burns away the remaining veils of illusion which prevented his seeing the next dimension of reality and he becomes a new man, a superman. At this point he begins to become actively involved in the administration of the Plan for Earth.
So we have seen that the Makara represents something latent in each of us that can learn to express the wisdom and power which, one gained, is surrendered to the One Self. As mind, it learns to express itself in increasingly greater ways. It also represents our desire to achieve freedom from the limitations of physical existence and even of mind and emotion. It represents a mind that struggles to expand to understand more and more of what it is. It is creative power surrendered to the Higher Will to achieve the purpose of The Creator. It is Mastery which can grow to approach that of the Supreme Being. The Makaras take part in the training the consciousness and mind of those lower on the evolutionary scale. As Serpents of Wisdom they came long ago to Earth to implant mind into the animal bodies on Earth and bring the serpent religion to guide its use. As the Hierarchy they actively participate in the
development of mind in Humanity. They are a part of the ladder of evolution which is taking us from its lowest rung to the next and then the next. One day we will all be Serpents of Wisdom, guiding first Earth’s kingdoms and then, perhaps, greater levels of consciousness. I do not know if this service is distinct from other paths of service or how this one would relate to them, but the work of the Makara is a glorious way to serve The One.
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1. illustration, http://www.khandro.net/mysterious_makaras1.htm __
2. C.C. Zain, Spiritual Astrology
3. Sepher Sapphires: A Treatise on Gematria The Magical Language, Vol.2, by Wade Coleman.