The Power of Living the Twelve Virtues of the Soul

D id you know that there is a Soul Virtue for each month, each sign of the Zodiac, that meditating on the twelve Virtues of the Soul is a way to discover our true role and relationship with each other – our humanity and naturally with life in the cosmos?

The Virtues act as spiritual guides, and when embodied within an individual I believe they represent the Soul aspect present and working within a human being and one day humanity. How we learn to use the transformational power of the virtues and move them into the age of Aquarius, is the subject of Jungian psychotherapist Dr. Robert Sardello. In his book The Power of Soul: Living the Twelve Virtues, Sardello purposes that through a practice of the Virtues, humans and humanity can establish a harmonious relationship with the Soul and the Cosmos. He writes:

These days, spiritual development, popularly understood, often means learning to concentrate on the chakras, do various forms of meditation, search for one’s higher self …Very little attention is given to inner moral development, in spite of the fact that every spiritual tradition places priority on the importance of character and very little on the kinds of experience many present-day spiritual practices seek… Another way of seeing the Virtues would be that they are the soul medium of our spiritual relationships with others. The Virtues constitute the way of sacred service in the world for they are the means through which we serve the soul and spirit.

The Twelve Virtues of the Soul

Sardello lists the Virtues as:

Devotion	Balance	Faithfulness	Selflessness
Compassion	Courtesy	Equanimity	Patience
Truth	Courage	Discernment	Love

When used as tools of transformation the Virtues become more than Ideals. They have the potential to carry the power of the Aquarian energy to embody the Soul. The practices or transformations associated with the Virtues are:

Virtue:

Practice:

Devotion – Balance – Faithfulness – Selflessness – Compassion – Courtesy – Equanimity – Patience – Truth – Courage – Discernment – Love –

Ability to love in a steady, ongoing deep way Right relation between effort and grace Standing firm in soul and spirit Adhering to inner soul while serving Feeling suffering of others while allowing it to be Holding back emotion to give soul life of others a place Evenness of emotion; honoring all emotion Waiting with open expectation Attention, Focus, Concentration Facing abyss and continuing Creative thinking Universal friendliness

Sardello was inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s discussion on the power of the Virtues and includes Steiner’s list of how the practice of the virtues act as transformation energies:

Devotion becomes the force of Sacrifice
Balance becomes Progress
Perseverance becomes Faithfulness
Selflessness becomes Catharsis
Compassion becomes Freedom
Courtesy becomes tact of Heart
Contentment becomes Equanimity
Patience becomes Insight
Control of speech becomes feeling for Truth
Courage becomes Redemptive Power
Silence becomes Meditative Power
Magnanimity becomes Love

The art and science of Esoteric Astrology falls within the working of Group 8. In relating astrology to the Virtues, Sardello is inspired by H.P Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner, who both suggested that there is a relationship between the 12 astrological constellations and the 12 Virtues:

Virtue:	Astrological Sign:
Devotion – Balance – Faithfulness – Selflessness – Compassion – Courtesy – Equanimity – Patience – Truth – Courage – Discernment – Love –	Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius Pisces

Meditation on the Twelve Virtues of the Soul

Sardello offers a meditation in which an individual invokes the image (devic life) of the Virtue and offers it to a situation/need that calls for the Virtue. This meditation helps the individual to embody the Virtue in their daily actions. The central alignment of this exercise is a deep listening to the voice of the Heart. Sardello calls this form of meditation, Imaginal Meditation. A few years ago I took a course on Sardello’s approach to the Virtues and can report that I did experience the power of Virtues as a transformative presence. I hope to continue learning and using the Virtues as part of my spiritual path.

The Tibetan teacher offers in his closing remarks on the struggle of humanity to transform the idealism of the Piscean energy:

This brings us to one of the most interesting parts of our treatise, which is the influence of the rays today and in the Aquarian age, which is now upon us. This should prove of practical value. Let us bring to the work of the new cycle which is opening before us a renewed aspiration, a deepened love and a livelier faith, remembering, as we study the future, that Faith is one of our major needs, beings the Substance of things hoped for, the Evidence of things not seen.- Esoteric Psychology.

– by Corrine Cunningham, Natural Psychology Therapist, California, reproduced by kind permission – the original published here at www.seedgroups.com.

One Response to “The Power of Living the Twelve Virtues of the Soul”

1. Robert Kelder says:

   October 19, 2019 at 09:45

   See the study blog below with a preface entitled “Power to the Virtues – Towards a threefold World Peace Union of Oases of Humanity through Social Organics” to the book “The Virtues – Seasons of the Soul” by Herbert Witzenmann on the same 12 Virtues highlighted in this site.

   Reply