The Solar Angels of Alice A. Bailey

As you can see below, Alice A. Bailey had quite a bit to say about Solar Angels. You can use our search engine here to search the writings of Alice A. Bailey. Links on these pages are to Lucis Trust, the home of her writings on the Internet. 


 By stimulating the egoic bodies of men so that the solar Angels may carry on with greater precision and force their conflict with the lunar gods.  This is the true war in heaven.  As the solar Gods [cclxxxvi] descend ever  nearer to the physical plane, and in their descent assume a steadily increasing control of the lunar natures, the thoughts and desires of men are consequently purified and refined.  The solar fires put out the lunar light, and the lower nature is eventually purified and transmuted.  In time the solar Angels blaze forth in all their glory through the medium of the lower nature on the physical plane, that lower nature providing fuel to the flames.  The hated “Dweller on the Threshold” thus gradually dies for lack of sustenance, and disintegrates for lack of vitality, and man is set free. 


 b. At present much of the manipulation of mental matter and its direction into forms of some kind or another emanates from lower levels, and is the result of powerful desire based on physical attraction.  The desire bodies, and not the mental bodies of the majority of men are the most powerful, and set up such a strong vibration (due to the force of two groups of lunar lords) that the third group of lunar entities who construct the mental body are swept into a willing response, and the whole threefold lower nature is immediately engaged in the dire process of feeding the dreaded “Dweller.”  This direction of energy follows the line of least resistance.  One of the primary works of the Ego, as we well know, is to impose a new rhythm upon his shadow and reflection, the lower man, and it is this imposition which in time deflects energy away from man’s distorted creation, and brings his vibration into tune with that of his solar Angel


 All that I have here said anent this “Dweller on the Threshold” of the Path between the two great kingdoms, the fourth and the fifth, can be studied by the student with a personal application.  Facing each earnest aspirant to the Mysteries is that vitalised form which he has himself constructed and nourished during the course of his previous incarnations, and which represents the sum total of his evil desires, motives and thoughts.  For ages it has vampirised him, and for ages it has represented that which he has failed to achieve.  It affects not only himself but also all those units whom he contacts and meets.  In its destruction he has to pursue methods similar to those followed by the Great Ones, and through the increasing power of his solar Angel, through the force of his Ego, and through a study of law, the knowledge of the power of sound, and the control of speech, he will eventually bring about its disintegration.  The old Commentary says: 


 “The solar Angel must put out the light of the lunar angels and then for lack of warmth and light, that which has served to hinder no longer is.” 


 In a previous division, we dealt somewhat with the transmission of the will of the Ego to the physical brain, and we saw how only in those persons who (through evolutionary development) had the sutratma and the antaskarana connected, and whose three physical head centres were more or less awakened, was the will of the Ego capable of transmission.  In the other cases, such as the average man and little developed man, the purpose [964] affecting the physical brain emanated from the astral or lower mental levels, and was, therefore, more likely to be the impulse of some lunar Lord, even if of a high order, than the divine will of the solar Angel, who is the true man. 


 a. To contact or communicate with the Ego, or solar Angel


 He has, first of all, to hold the idea sufficiently long for it to be faithfully registered in the physical brain.  Frequently the Ego will “get through” to the brain some concept, some portion of the plan, and yet will have to repeat the process continuously over quite a long period before the physical response is such that the solar Angel can rest assured that it is intelligently registered and recorded.  It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the entire process is greatly facilitated if the “shadow,” or the man, pursues regular meditation, cultivates the habit of a daily and hourly recollectedness of the higher Self, and before retiring at night endeavours to “hold the thought” of bringing through at the time of awakening as much as possible of any egoic impress.  When the reaction between the two factors, the Ego and the receptive physical brain, is established, the interplay is reciprocal, and the two are keyed or tuned to each other, the second stage is entered upon.  The idea is conceived. 


 Let not the would-be student of magic proceed in his investigations and his experiments until he has attended to these injunctions, and until the whole bent of his thought is towards their manifestation and their demonstration [996] in his every day life.  When he has so worked, ceaselessly and untiringly, and his physical plane life and service bear witness to the inner transmutation, then he can proceed to parallel this life with magical studies and work.  Only the solar Angel can do the work of the white magician, and he effects it through the control of the lunar angels and their complete subjugation.  They are arrayed against him, until, through meditation, aspiration, and control, he bends them to his will and they become his servants. 


 The worker in white magic utilises ever the energy of the Solar Angel to effect his ends.  The dark brother works through the inherent force of the lunar lords, which are allied in nature to all that is objective.  In an old book of magic, hidden in the caves of learning, guarded by the Masters, are the following conclusive words, which find their place in this Treatise on Fire through their very appropriateness: 


 b. That much of the fire of the solar Angel (solar fire) or the egoic aspect which the Ego is able to transmit.  This is but little in average man, a good deal in the man on the probationary path, and a full downpour by the time the third Initiation is reached. 


 These rules will necessarily be of an esoteric nature, and the student will need to remember that the terminology is in the nature of a blind, which ever carries [997] revelation to those who have the clue, but tends to perplex and to bewilder the student who as yet is unready for the truth.  I would also remind the student to bear in mind that all that is here imparted concerns “white magic,” and is given from the standpoint of the solar Angel, and of solar Fire.  Bearing these two points in mind the student will find much in these rules to produce eventual internal illumination.  We will divide them into three groups of aphorisms or occult phrases; of these, the first will concern itself with the work of the magician on the mental plane, with his manipulation of solar energy, and his ability to sweep the Builders into co-operation with his purposes. 


 RULE I.  The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not his force, but in meditation deep communicates with his reflection. 


 The significance of this rule is easily to be seen.  The white magician is ever one who, through conscious alignment with his Ego, with his “Angel,” is receptive to his plans and purposes, and therefore capable of receiving the higher impression.  We must remember that [998] white magic works from above downwards, and is the result of solar vibration, and not of the heating impulses emanating from one or other of the lunar Pitris; the downflow of the impressing energy from the solar Pitri is the result of his internal recollectedness, his indrawing of his forces prior to sending them out concentratedly to his shadow, man, and his steady meditation upon the purpose and the plan.  It may be of use to the student if he here remembers that the Ego (as well as the Logos) is in deep meditation during the whole cycle of physical incarnation.  This solar meditation is cyclic in nature, the Pitri involved sending out to his “reflection” rhythmic streams of energy, which streams are recognised by the man concerned as his “higher impulses,” his dreams and aspirations.  Therefore, it will be apparent why workers in white magic are ever advanced, and spiritual men, for the “reflection” is seldom responsive to the Ego or the solar Angel until many cycles of incarnation have transpired.  The solar Pitri communicates with his “shadow” or reflection by means of the sutratma, which passes down through the bodies to a point of entrance in the physical brain. 


 Here the work of the two, the Ego on its own plane, and its instrument in the three worlds, is shown as linked and co-ordinated.  As we well know, the main function of meditation is to bring the lower instrument into such a condition of receptivity and vibratory response that the Ego, or solar Angel, can use it, and produce specific results.  This involves, therefore, a downflow of force from the upper levels of the mental plane [999] (the habitat of the real Man) and a reciprocal vibration, emanating from Man, the Reflection.  When these two vibrations are attuned, and the interplay is rhythmic, then the two meditations proceed synchronously, and the work of magic and of creation can proceed unimpeded.  It will, therefore, be apparent that the brain is the physical correspondence to the force centres upon the mental plane, and that the vibration has to be consciously set up by the man when meditating.  When this is effected, the man can be a conscious creator, and the work proceeds therefore in a triple manner; the force circulates freely via three points of centralised activity: 


 Hence, the first thing the solar Angel does is to form a triangle, consisting of himself, the man on the physical plane, and the tiny point of force which is the result of their united endeavour.  It will be of value to students of meditation to ponder upon this procedure, and to study the correspondence between it and the work of the solar Logos as He created “the Heavens and the Earth.”  The [1000] Highest and the lowest aspects met, spirit and matter were brought into contact with each other; the consequence of this interplay was the birth of the Son, or the great solar thought form.  In the three worlds, man, the lesser Deity, within his limits, proceeds along analogous lines.  The three who are illumined by the light of the One are the three persons of the lower Triad, the mental body, the astral body, and the physical body.  They, with the Illuminator, make the “Four” referred to, and thus becomes apparent the microcosmic Tetraktys. 


 The magical words are only communicated under the seal of secrecy, to men working under the Brotherhood of Light, to initiates, and to pledged chelas, owing to the great danger involved.  Occasionally, too, they are ascertained by men and women who have brought about a condition of alignment with the Ego, and are, therefore, in touch with the inner centre of all knowledge within themselves.  When this is so, the knowledge is safe, for the Ego ever works on the side of law and righteousness, and the words being emanated by the Ego are “lost in His sound” (as it is occultly termed) and will not be remembered by the physical brain when not under the influence of the solar Angel


 RULE V.  Three things engage the solar Angel before the sheath created passes downward:  the condition of the waters, the safety of the one who thus creates, and steady contemplation.  Thus are the heart, the throat, and the eye, allied for triple service. 


 The focal point of energy that the man, the magician, has now created upon the mental plane, has reached a vibratory activity which makes it certain that response will be called forth from the matter required for the providing of the next, and denser sheath.  This vibration will result in an aggregation of a different type of divine life-substance around the central nucleus.  The form, occultly, is made to be sent forth, to descend, to [1005] fly as a bird forth upon its mission, and a critical moment is near for the magician.  One of the things the magician has to see to is that this form which he has constructed, and which he holds linked to him by a fine thread of animated substance (a correspondence on a minute scale of the sutratmic thread whereby the Monad or the Ego holds in connection its “form of manifestation”) shall neither die for lack of vital sustenance nor return to him with its mission unfulfilled.  When this latter catastrophe is the case, the thought form becomes a menace to the magician, and he becomes the prey of that which he has created.  The devas who form the body of the idea which has failed in its purpose form a drain upon his vital force.  He, therefore, sees to it that the motive or desire lying back of the “idea,” now clothed with its first sheath, retains its pristine purity; that no trace of selfish intent, no perversion of the initial purpose of the solar Angel has been permitted to bring in an unworthy vibration.  This is what is meant by attending to the “condition of the waters.”  As we well know, water stands for matter, and the substances of the astral plane which are now under consideration are of prime importance in all form-building.  According to the substance used and the nature of the Builders who respond to the note of the form in mental matter, will the purpose be accomplished.  This is the most important stage in many ways, for the astral body of any form conditions: 


 Provided the man on the physical plane can hold the purpose steady, and refuse to permit its distortion by the influences and vibrations emanating from the lower man, then the “devas of kama” can carry on their work. [1006] I would remind students at this juncture that any thought form necessarily finds its way into greater streams of force or energy, emanating from advanced thinkers of every grade, from the planetary Logos downward, and according to its nature and motive so the work of evolution is assisted or retarded.  It is in this connection that the Nirmanakayas work, manipulating streams of thought energy, vitalising the forms created by men, and thus carrying on the work of construction or destruction.  They have to use that which exists; hence the necessity for clear thinking.  Having “purified” the waters, or safeguarded his desires, the thinker next proceeds (through the use of certain words which are imparted to him by the solar Angel) to protect himself from the devas of elemental nature with which he is purposing to work.  On the mental plane, the nature and vibration of the solar Angel proved sufficient protection, but he is now proposing to work with the most dangerous elementals and existences in the three worlds. [ccc]2 


 These protective formulas are sounded forth by the thinker, in conjunction with the solar Angel, at the moment the thought form is ready to receive its astral sheath.  The mantram deals with the forces which impel activity in the Agnisuryans, and starts a stream of protective energy from one of the heart petals of the Egoic lotus.  This circulates through the throat centre of the man, and sets up a circulatory stream of energy around him which automatically repulses the devas who might (through their blind unintelligent work) menace his peace.  These two matters attended to—desire adjusted and the identity guarded—both the solar Angel and the worker in magic maintain an attitude of contemplation, [1007] or that profound condition which succeeds that called meditation. 


 In proceeding with the “Rules for Magic,” we will take up those concerned with the second set, which deal with the form-building impulses, and those attractive tendencies which are the basis of physical plane manifestation.  We have considered certain rules which deal with the work of the solar Angel, who (in all true magical work of any kind), is the active agent.  We have [1013] considered the rules whereby He constructs a thought form upon the mental plane, or that germ body which will (through accretion and vibratory sound), take to itself other forms. 


 RULE VII.  The dual forces on the plane whereon the vital power must be sought, are seen; the two paths face the Solar Angel; the poles vibrate.  A choice confronts the one who meditates. 


 Upon the astral plane the thought form must now function, and a body must be provided so as to make this possible.  The energy of desire enters it, and “he who meditates” has to energise the form with one of two types of force before it passes into objectivity.  Upon the action taken depends the construction of the etheric body, and the consequent physical manifestation.  This point is but little realised by the average thinker, but the parallel with his own life experience is exact, as is the correspondence with the cosmic process.  The “nature of the deva” (as it is called), enters in, and upon the quality of its love nature, and the specific type of that which is the object of love will depend the nature of the thought form.  If the deva, or solar Angel, is as yet in love with manifestation, and has a desire for objective existence, thus identifying himself voluntarily with substance, there ensues the phenomenon of reincarnated physical life.  If the deva, or solar Angel, is no longer attracted by matter, then there is no identification, and objective life is no longer the law of his existence.  He identifies himself then with quality, or energy, and becomes an expression of the divine attributes.  Objectivity may then ensue as a voluntary offering to the good of the group or planetary existence, but identification with the separated form is no longer the case.  The human vehicle then created is as much a thought form in this case as any other particularised idea, and [1014] the greatest act of conscious magic is to be seen.  All other magical creations are subsidiary to this.  Through manipulation of negative and positive energy, thus bringing them to the point of equilibrium before informing them, the perfected body of the Adept is formed.  All magical work on the astral plane has to be along the line of equilibrising activity, and the distinctive nature of this type of work on the three planes in the three worlds might be summed up as follows: 


 On the mental plane, the positive force of the solar Angel drives the substance needed into the correct form. 


 On the astral plane, the equilibrising force of the solar Angel gathers the needed material and energy from all directions and builds it into the necessary astral sheath. 


 On the physical plane the negative force of the solar Angel is all that is needed to gather the desired etheric substance.  By this I mean the form has now achieved a vitality and distinction of its own, so that no aggressive action emanating from the egoic centre is required to continue the work.  The note and vibration of the form itself suffices. 


 Under this symbology much is hidden anent the life-giving energy, the centres symbolised to focalise it, and to drive it forth, and the place the various types of receptive matter play in the magical work.  As is ever the case in all white magic, the activity of the solar Angel is the primary factor and the work of the man upon the physical plane is regarded as secondary; his physical body, and the work engendered therein, being frequently referred to as “fuel and its warmth.” This needs careful remembering, and will give the clue to the necessity of egoic alignment, and to the problem of the extinction of certain workers in magic, who were “destroyed by their own fire” or energy.  The discreet magician is one who sees to the readiness of his lowest vehicle to carry the fire wherewith he works, and this he accomplishes through discipline and strict purity. 


 This last set of formulas is of exceeding interest, and were they not so powerful the magician might find himself cumbered with the produce of his thought, and the prey of a vital form, and of certain “devas of the waters” who would never leave him until they had completely drained from him all the “waters of his nature,” absorbing it into their own nature, and producing his astral death.  The curious phenomenon would then be seen of the Ego or solar Angel being incarnated in the mental sheath, yet separated from the physical body, owing to the occult “drowning” of the magician.  There is nothing left for the Ego to do then but to snap the sutratma [1017] or thread, and sever all connection with the lowest sheath.  This lowest sheath then may persist for a short time, according to the strength of the animal life, but more probably death would immediately ensue. [cccii]4  Several magicians have perished thus. 


 c. Four Rules for the Physical Plane.  In the magical work of form creation, we have carried the thought form down from the mental plane where the solar Angel initiated the work, through the astral, where the equilibrising work was done, to the physical plane, or to the etheric levels.  Here the work of producing objectivity is carried forward, and here the worker in magic is in critical danger of failure should he not be cognisant of the forms and mantrams by which the new group of builders can be reached, and the gap between the astral plane and the gaseous subplane of the physical be bridged.  It might be useful here to remember that in the work of creation [1022] the white magician avails himself of the current Ray influence.  When the third, fifth and seventh rays are in power, either coming in, at full meridian, or passing out, the work is much easier than when the second, sixth or fourth are dominant.  At the present time, the seventh Ray, as we know, is rapidly dominating, and it is one of the easiest of the forces with which man has to work.  Under this Ray it will be possible to build a new structure for the rapidly decaying civilisation, and to erect the new temple desired for the religious impulse.  Under its influence the work of the numerous unconscious magicians will be much facilitated.  This will eventuate in the rapid growth of unconscious psychic phenomena, in the spread of mental science, and the consequent ability of thinkers to acquire and to create those tangible benefits they desire.  Nevertheless, this magic of the unconscious or selfish kind leads to karmic results of a deplorable nature, for only those who work with the law and who control the lesser lives through knowledge, love and will, evade the consequences entailed on those who manipulate living matter for selfish ends. 


 This means literally that the magician must be in a position to discriminate between the different ethers, and to note the special hue of the different levels, thereby ensuring a balanced building of the “shadow.”  He “recognises” them in the occult sense; that is, he knows their note and key, and is aware of the particular type of energy they embody.  Enough emphasis has not been laid upon the fact that the three higher levels of the etheric planes are in vibratory communication with the three higher planes of the cosmic physical plane, and they (with their ensphering fourth level) have been called in the occult books “the inverted Tetraktys.”  It is this knowledge which puts the magician in possession of the three types of planetary force and their combination, or the fourth type, and thus releases for him that vital energy which will drive this idea into objectivity.  As the different types of forces meet and coalesce, a dim shadowy form clothes itself upon the vibrating astral and mental sheath, and the idea of the solar Angel is attaining definite concretion. 


 RULE XIV.  The sound swells out.  The hour of danger to the soul courageous draweth near.  The waters have not hurt the white creator and naught could drown nor drench him.  Danger from fire and flame [1025] menaces now, and dimly yet the rising smoke is seen.  Let him again, after the cycle of peace, call on the solar Angel


 Secondly, the Agnichaitans, being allied to the “fire devas” of the mental plane, have much power, and can only be controlled properly by the solar Angel Himself. 


 The solar Angel must, therefore, now again be invoked.  This means that the magician (when his “shadow” is completed, and prior to the final stages of concretion) must see to it that his alignment with the Ego is just and unimpeded, and the communicating currents in full play.  He must literally “renew his meditation,” and make direct contact afresh before proceeding with the work.  Otherwise, the fires of his own body may get out of control, and his etheric body suffer in consequence.  He, therefore, fights fire with fire, and draws down solar fire for his protection.  This was not necessary on the astral plane.  For the magician, the moments of the greatest danger in the work of creating are at certain junctures on the astral plane, where he is in danger of occult drowning, and at the transition from etheric levels [1026] to the planes of tangible concretion, when he is menaced by “occult burning.”  In the one case, he does not call on the Ego, but stems the tide by love and the equilibrising powers of his own nature.  In the latter case, he must call in that which represents the will aspect in the three worlds, the impulsive, dynamic thinker or solar Angel.  He accomplishes this by means of a mantram.  No clue can be given to this, owing to the powers it confers. 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 1 


 We start here upon the consideration of the Agnishvattas, or the Fire devas of the mental plane, and are [680] thus launched upon the most stupendous subject in connection with our planetary evolution; it is the one having the most occult significance for man, for these solar Angels [ccxviii]19 concern his own essential nature, and are also the creative power by which he works.  For all practical purposes, and for the elucidation of the spiritual evolution of man, this immediate section is of the greatest interest and importance; it should be one of the most widely studied sections of this treatise.  Man is ever profoundly interested in himself, and before he can duly develop must comprehend scientifically the laws of his own nature, and the constitution of his own “mode of expression.”  He must realise likewise somewhat of the inter-relation of the three fires in order that he may himself at some future date “blaze forth.” 


 d. Solar angels, or solar Pitris. 


 This life vibration emanates from the soul of the mother (the correspondence to the Pleroma or universal soul) and is coincident with the awakening of the third spirilla in the permanent physical atom of the infant.  It must be borne in mind that just as in each round all the preceding stages are rapidly recapitulated, and just as in the prenatal period the foetus recapitulates during the formative process the history of the preceding kingdoms, so in the solar system a similar procedure can be seen.  When a certain point is reached and the lower three planes are vibrating, or energised, then cosmic incarnation becomes a possibility; the “Heart” occultly awakens, and the “Son of God,” the expression of the desire and love of the Logos, is born. [ccxxiii]24, [ccxxiv]25  The cosmic incarnation of certain exalted Beings is consummated, and one of the indications of this is the appearance of the egoic groups [686] on mental levels, and the resultant individualisation.  Method and time may vary according to the nature of any particular planetary Logos, but for each and all the “Heart of the Body” has to thrill with awakening life before the response comes from the lower.  The lunar Pitris have to carry on their work in our scheme and system before the solar angels, thrilling with expectancy, take possession of the forms prepared through their endeavour, and stimulate them into self-conscious life and separated existence.  Thus the four great schemes in the solar system, which are the vehicles for four of the planetary Logoi (Who constitute the logoic Quaternary), have to reach a certain stage of vibratory capacity, and of consciousness before a similar happening occurs in its fullness in the solar system, and the lower four and higher three are synthesised.  The logoic heart is thrilling, and response comes already from all the schemes, as three spirillae are vibrating in all of them, but the Son of God is not yet fully and cosmically self-conscious.  As response comes the centres awaken.  One logoic centre is responding fully to the heart stimulation, and that is Venus, who is passing through the final round. 


 Our present solar Angels or fire devas will then have a position analogous to that of the lunar Pitris now, for all will form a part of the divine consciousness, and yet, will be esoterically considered as “below the threshold” of consciousness.  Man has to learn to control, guide and use the deva substances of which his lower sheaths are made; this goal involves the development of full self-consciousness, which is brought about through the agency of the solar Angels or builders and vitalisers of the egoic body; they are those through whom self-consciousness becomes a fact.  In the next solar system they too will no longer embody the type of consciousness towards which man aspires; he will have to rise to still greater realisations, and again by occultly “putting his foot upon” them these higher realisations will become possible.  In this solar system he has to mount by the putting his foot upon the serpent of matter.  He rises by domination of matter and becomes himself a serpent of wisdom.  In the next solar system he will mount upward by means of the “serpent of wisdom,” and by the domination [689] and control of the Agnishvattas, achieve something of which even the illuminated mind of the highest Dhyan-chohan can not yet conceive. 


 The solar Angels are the Pitris, the builders of the body of the Ego, and the producers of individualisation or the realised consciousness, the Agnishvattas, the great devas of Mind. 


 (c.) The Solar Angels and the Fifth Principle.  We can now study the Entities concerned with this fifth principle and their effect upon the evolution of consciousness. 


 Where man is concerned these solar Angels, the Agnishvattas, produce the union of the spiritual Triad, or divine Self, and the Quaternary, or lower self.  Where the Logos is concerned, whether solar or planetary, they produce conditions whereby the etheric, and the dense physical become a unit. 


 They represent a peculiar type of electrical force; their work is to blend and fuse, and above all else they are the “transmuting fires” of the system, and are those agents who pass the life of God through their bodies of flame as it descends from the higher into the lower, and again as it ascends from the lower into the higher.  They are connected in their highest groups with that portion of the logoic head centre which corresponds to the heart, and here is the clue to the mystery of kama-manas.  The kamic angels are vitalised from the “heart” centre and the manasic angels from the logoic head centre, via the point within that centre connected with the heart.  These two dominating groups are the sumtotal of kama-manas in all its manifestations.  The solar angels exist in three groups, all of which are concerned with the self-consciousness aspect, all of which are energised and connected with the fifth spirilla of the logoic permanent atom, and all of which work as a unit. 


 The question of the coming of the Lords of Flame is discussed hereafter under the heading “Individualisation.”  At this point we are only dealing with the work of these chohanic forces in a systemic and cosmic sense.  These solar entities, being liberated intelligent Essences were in pralaya of a secondary nature when the time came for their reappearance in manifestation.  When the WORD sounded forth which produced desire in the Triad for self-expression, and when the sound of the lower manifestation had blended with it, and had risen up into the Heavens, as the occult books express it, [702] an effect was produced which caused a response in certain allied constellations; this set loose energy which swept into the solar system, carrying with it those solar angels who “rested in the Heart of God until the hour was come.”  Their appearance upon the mental plane brought about the union of Spirit and matter, and from this union was born a self-conscious Identity, the Ego.  On cosmic levels, an analogous process occurs in connection with such stupendous Identities as a solar Logos, and the septenary Lives. 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 2 


 It might here be pointed out that the solar Angels concerned with the fifth Hierarchy are naturally a potent factor in the evolution of the fifth or spiritual kingdom; they are that which make it possible, for they not only [707] bridge the gap between the fourth and third kingdoms, but bridge that found between the fourth and fifth. 


 (a.) The Work of the Solar Angels.  Let us briefly consider the general construction of the body of the Ego enumerating its component parts and bearing in mind that the form is ever prepared prior to occupancy.  From the study of this body, we can get some idea of, and some light upon macrocosmic Individualisation. 


 The Manasadevas are themselves energised by force from the cosmic mental plane—a force which has been in operation ever since the individualisation of the solar Logos in kalpas far distant.  They, in Their corporate nature, embody the will or purpose of the Logos, and are the cosmic “prototypes” of our solar Angels.  The solar Angels on the mental plane of the system embody as much of that will and purpose as the Logos can work through in one single incarnation and as They, in Their groups, can develop.  They work, therefore, through egoic groups and primarily, after individualisation, upon the mental units of the separated identities who go to the constituency of the groups.  This is Their secondary work.  Their work in part might be described as follows: 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 3 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 4 


 Concealed at the very centre or heart of the lotus is a brilliant point of electric fire of a blue-white hue (the [762] jewel in the lotus) surrounded, and completely hidden, by three closely folded petals.  Around this central nucleus, or inner flame, are arranged the nine petals in circles of three petals each, making three circles in all.  These petals are formed out of the substance of the solar angels, as are the central three,—substance which is not only sentient as is the substance of the forms in the three worlds and the lunar bodies, but which has an added quality of “I-ness” or of self-consciousness, enabling the spiritual unity at the centre (by means of it) to acquire knowledge, awareness, and self-realisation.  These nine petals are of a predominant orange hue, though the six other colours are found as secondary colours in a varying degree.  The inner three petals are of a lovely lemon-yellow hue.  At the base of the lotus petals are the three points of light which mark the position of the permanent atoms, and which are the medium of communication between the solar Angels and the lunar Pitris.  By means of these permanent atoms the Ego, according to its state of evolution can construct his lunar bodies, acquire knowledge on the lower three planes, and thus buy his experience, and becomes aware.  On a higher turn of the spiral, the Monad through the egoic petals, and thus with the aid of the solar Angels, acquires knowledge and equally on more exalted levels becomes aware. 


 By the time the fourth Initiation is reached, the activity of this triangle is so great that it looks more like a wheel in rapid revolution.  It has a fourth dimensional aspect.  The three petals at the centre are opening up, revealing the “blazing jewel.”  At this initiation, through the action of the Hierophant wielding the electric Rod of Power, the three fires are suddenly stimulated by a downflow of electric, or positive force, from the [764] Monad, and their blazing out in response produces that merging which destroys the entire sphere, dissipates all appearance of form, and produces a moment of equilibrium, or of suspension, in which the “elements are consumed with fervent heat.”  The moment of highest radiation is known.  Then—through the pronouncement of a certain Word of Power—the great solar Angels gather back into themselves the solar fire, thus producing the final dissipation of the form, and hence the separation of the life from the form; the fire of matter returns to the general reservoir, and the permanent atoms and the causal body are no more.  The central electric fire becomes centralised in atma-buddhi.  The Thinker or spiritual entity stands free of the three worlds, and functions consciously on the buddhic plane.  Between these two stages of quiescent (though self-conscious) inertia and of that radiant activity which produces a balancing of forces, is a long series of lives. 


 Therefore, though the originating impulse comes from the central point, it is not at first apparent.  At the moment of individualisation, the dim outline of a form such as earlier described has made its appearance on mental levels, and (which is a point not as yet recognised by students) it becomes apparent that a period on mental levels has transpired given over to a preparation for the imminent event.  Through the activity of the solar Angels the twelve petals have gradually taken form, as the point of electric fire at the heart has begun to make itself felt even though not as yet localised.  Then the first three petals take shape, and close down upon the vibrant point, or “jewel” under the potency of the Law of Attraction.  One by one the nine other petals take shape as the vibrations begin to affect solar substance, the three types of petals being each under the influence of one or other of the major Rays; these, in their turn, come under the influence of force from cosmic centres. 


 As earlier said, these petals form a bud, each being closely folded.  Only faint vibrations are to be seen pulsating in the bud, just enough to testify to its being a living organism.  Shadowy and dim can the ring-pass-not be seen, the encircling limit of the activity of the coming Consciousness.  It is an ovoid or sphere, and very small as yet.  This process of forming the egoic lotus has gone on silently from the moment that the lower animal man, or the lower four principles, had reached a point where the energy (generated by him) could begin to make itself felt on mental levels.  When the fire of the lower prepared sheaths (the threefold fire of substance itself) becomes radioactive, this nebulous appearance on the third subplane of the mental plane begins to be organised, as the result of the downward pull of the higher by the lower, and as the response of the Spirit aspect to the radiations, or attraction, of matter.  But individualisation as we understand it is not yet effected.  This process of radioactivity on the part of the lower, and of a downflow of energy from the higher, covers a long period wherein the solar Angels are working on Their Own plane and the lower Pitris are also working on theirs; one group is producing the nucleus of the egoic body, and the other the receptacle for the life of God, or the Monad in the three worlds. 


 From the group centre, therefore, emanates an urge to renewed activity, and this spreads throughout the group lotus until the units who respond to that particular ray vibration occultly “awaken.”  All this time (as far as the jivas are concerned) this aspect of force has been that of the first aspect, and has passed from the central points to other central points.  The positive nuclei in each case are affected by this flashing forth of electric fire, or energy.  Each point concerned responds by a primary contraction followed by an outgoing or expansive display of energy.  Each Identity concerned proceeds to sound a WORD.  This sound expands into a mantram and the solar angels vibrate in response.  There is a point of interest to be noted here. 


 Having sounded the Word the first aspect, represented by the electric fire at the centre of the lotus, sinks back into quiescence, and becomes an abstraction as far as the self-conscious unit is concerned.  The work has been begun, the necessary vibration has been set up, and the whole process then proceeds under law.  The solar angels have begun their activity, and until their work has reached a very high stage, the Spirit aspect must become, in the causal body, an analogy to the Silent Watcher.  As the solar Angels continue sounding out the mantram which is the basis of their work, the lunar Pitris respond [772] to certain sounds in that mantram (not to all by any means at first) and gather out of those sounds the formula under which their work must proceed.  So the Word is the basis of the mantram, and the mantram is the basis of the formula. 


 At each incarnation, finer forms are required, and the formulas therefore grow more complicated, and the sounds on which they are based become more numerous.  In time, the formulas are completed, and the lunar Pitris respond no more to the sounds or mantrams chanted on the mental plane.  This is indicative of the stage of perfection, and shows that the three worlds have no more a downward pull for the jiva concerned.  Desire for lower manifestation and experience has no more sway, and only conscious purpose is left.  Then, and only then, can the true Mayavirupa be constructed; the Master then sounds the mantram for Himself, and builds without formulas in the three worlds.  At the time too that man begins to tread the Probationary Path, the mantrams of the solar Angels begin to die down, and slowly (as the petals of the inner circle open up) the true Word emerges until the three enshrining petals burst open, and the central spark is revealed.  Then the Word is fully known, and mantrams and formulas have no further use.  Thus is the beauty of the scheme revealed.  When the planetary Logos is concerned, the Word sounded on cosmic levels is being resolved into mantrams on the cosmic etheric planes, for He is in a position to create consciously on those levels; He works nevertheless through formulas on the dense physical planes of His scheme, our three worlds of endeavour. 


 To return to the reincarnating jivas:  When the initiatory impulse has been given, the vibration thrills through the petals, and activity starts in those of them which respond to the note of that Word.  The solar Angels direct the vibration, and the mantram for that particular [773] type of Ego is begun.  Finally the vibration reaches the mental unit at the base of the lotus bud, and the lunar Pitris are called into activity.  They begin to work out their formulas for the particular type of vehicle which is required. 


 The work of the solar Angels is of a triple nature: 


 In the early stages this work is comparatively small but as the third stage of development is reached, and the man is demonstrating character and ability, their work is rapidly increased, and they are kept fully occupied in the work of perfecting the egoic body, in expanding the egoic consciousness, if metaphysical terms are preferred.  All [777] this is accomplished by means of the material furnished by the lower self.  When that lower Personality becomes gradually radioactive, these radiations are attracted to the positive ego, and are absorbed into its nature through the activity of the solar Angels. 


 The three groups of Agnishvattas concerned with the evolution of man on the mental level have each a specific function, as we have already seen, and the lowest of the three deal primarily with the transmission of force or energy to the three permanent atoms.  In the dual sounding of the egoic mantram by the lowest of the three groups changes are brought about and the lunar Pitris (who concern themselves with the lower three vehicles) enter upon their work, the key being given to them by the solar Angels. 


 There are also in connection with our peculiar Earth scheme, those lunar Pitris who reached their present stage of activity in the moon chain.  They are deva groups but (unlike the Agnishvattas) they have not passed through the human stage; for them it has yet to be achieved, and their present experience in connection with the human Hierarchy has that end in view.  It should be remembered that it is a fundamental law in occult development that any life can only give out that [781] which it has possessed, and possession of the varying attributes of consciousness from that of the atom up to the consciousness of a solar Logos, is the result of long cycles of acquirement.  The solar Pitris, therefore, could give to man his consciousness; the lunar Pitris could give to him the instinctual consciousness of his vehicles.  In their aggregate in all the kingdoms of nature, on this planet and elsewhere, they give to the planetary Logos and to the solar Logos the sumtotal of the form consciousness of Their respective bodies.  This is the case in every scheme in the system, but in the Earth chain a peculiar condition of affairs was brought about through the planetary failure coincident with the moon chain; this is the cause of the present balancing of forces on this chain.  The fourth chain in every scheme sees the work of the solar Pitris in connection with man begun.  It sees also the Pitris of his sheaths in activity through the impulse given by the solar Angels.  The matter of those sheaths has passed through three chains and three rounds and is vibrant to a note which is tuned to the….To word it otherwise, the third can be clearly sounded, and is followed naturally by the fifth, or the dominant.  The simultaneous sounding of the third and the fifth, basing it upon the planetary keynote, produces the effect of a threefold chord, or a fourth tone, a complex sound.  I am here dealing with the chord of the human hierarchy as a whole.  Within the hierarchy there is again diversity, based upon the hierarchical chord, and this produces the many egoic chords and notes; these produce in their turn objective manifestation. 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 5 


 We enter now upon one of the most vitally practical parts of our Treatise on Fire, that which deals with the building of the causal body, or body of manifestation of the Ego.  It concerns the work of the solar Angels, or the true self-conscious Identity, man.  If the student has in any way apprehended the general trend of the earlier pages, he will now be in a condition of mind which will enable him to interpret all that is said in terms of energy, or of that vibratory activity which is produced by the three major phases of electrical phenomena, the union which produces that divine manifestation called Man, or, when the aggregated units are considered, the human kingdom. 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 6 


 The problem of the devas may be somewhat better understood if it is remembered that they in themselves embody the two types of energy.  For instance, the solar Pitris are the substance of the egoic bodies and groups, and the medium of expression for the Spirit aspect, for Spirit manifests by means of soul.  The lunar Pitris, who form the personal lower self, being the aggregate of the lower sheaths, are energised and used by the solar Lords.  These solar Angels again are in many groups and express within their own ranks a dual energy, both positive and negative.  There is the positive life of the egoic lotus which co-ordinates, preserves, and actuates the petals, and there is also the energy of the petal substance itself, or the negative aspect which is swept by the positive force of the greater solar Lords into living whorls or wheels which we symbolically call “petals.”  There is a close analogy in connection with the planetary Logos, and the solar Logos between prana, the life force which animates the etheric body of man, and by means of that [834] force coheres the dense physical body, and that synthesising life force of the Logos which animates every atom on every plane of the system.  If this is meditated upon, and the fact of all our planes being the etheric and dense manifestation of the solar Logos is realised, then the place played by the solar Angels may become somewhat elucidated, and their relation to the planetary Logos and to the solar Logos may become also clearer. 


 a. The solar Angels of a planetary scheme. 


 b. The solar Angels of the solar system. 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 7 


 Lotuses of passion or desire.  They are so called because their fundamental nature is embodied love in some one or other form.  The bulk of the Monads of Love are among this large group and they are to be seen incarnating in the bulk of the well-to-do, kindly people of the world.  They are divided into five groups, of whom three individualised upon this planet, and two were the very latest to individualise upon the moon chain.  They have two petals unfolded and the third is for them at this time the object of their attention.  Many may succeed in unfolding it before the seventh rootrace of this round but the bulk of them will unfold it in the second rootrace of the next round, and will stand ready before the close of the round to pass on to the probationary path, having unfolded one tier of petals, and organised the second.  All these lotuses of the first circle are divided into groups but interplay goes on between them; energy in any centre [843] produces reflex energy in another.  It must be remembered that in closing the door in Atlantean times to the animal kingdom, and the consequent temporary cessation of the forming of any more “bud lotuses” the effect was dual, in directions other than the human or the animal.  It was the result of the internal decision on the part of the planetary Logos to turn His attention away from the act of creation on the systemic mental plane to the work of progressive evolution.  This caused a cessation of certain types of activity, producing a quiescence in certain of His centres, and an increased activity in others.  It also had an effect upon the solar Angels, and consequently upon the Heart of the solar system from whence they are drawn.  Floods of energy or streams of force from the heart of the sun (the subjective Sun) were arrested and directed elsewhere, while the Pitris already active began to centre their attention upon the work begun, and temporarily new beginnings were out of order.  It must not be forgotten here that the work of the solar Pitris from their point of view, is not primarily the evolution of man, but is the process of their own development within the plan of the solar Logos.  The evolution of the human race is, for them, but a method. 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 8 


 c. The history of any particular group of solar Angels concerned with the formation of the lotus. 


 c. The first group of solar Angels affected. 


 Again, the solar Angels complete their initial sacrifice by a final one, and offer themselves upon the fiery altar.  The causal body is completely destroyed.  The four lower groups of solar Pitris return to the heart of the subjective sun, or to that inmost centre of the system from whence they came, whilst the three higher groups are carried (by the force and energy generated in the fiery furnace and blaze, and through the stimulation produced by the blazing forth of the central jewel) straight to the central spiritual sun, there to abide until another kalpa calls them forth to sacrifice Themselves, this time as planetary Logoi.  The student must bear in mind that [879] in thinking of the Pitris, he must ever think in group terms.  The Pitris who formed the egoic body of a human being do not—alone and isolated—form planetary Logoi.  The forty-nine groups of solar fires concerned in the great work are those spoken of, and they become the forty-nine planetary Logoi in connexion with seven solar systems.  In them is hid the mystery of the three who become the sixteen—united or synthesised by the seventeenth—a correspondence upon cosmic levels of the seven with the eighth sphere.  This must remain practically an insoluble mystery to man at present. 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 9 


 The material effect, or the result of this stimulation upon the forms and upon the atoms in the forms, is to render them radioactive, or to set loose the energy of substance.  This is the liberating of the energy imprisoned within the form, and concerns the Brahma aspect, and [886] the evolution of matter itself.  It affects the lunar bodies, and therefore relates to the lunar Lords or Pitris, causing a weakening of their hold upon the lesser builders, bringing them more under the force streams from the solar Angels, and leading to a situation which will eventually result in a return of the lunar Pitris of all degrees to the central point for force substance.  In a psychic sense the result of the downflow is a stimulation of consciousness, and the acquisition (through that stimulation) of the psychic powers latent in man.  His three higher physical centres, the pineal gland, the pituitary body, and the alta major centre are affected, and man becomes psychically aware in the physical brain of the higher influences, happenings and powers.  According to the ray concerned, so is the centre affected.  The force of the lunar Lords, which has succeeded in keeping these three organs quiescent, is superseded and the solar Angels pour in their energy. 


 From another point of view, we may be considered as studying the action of the solar Angel, or Lord, upon the lunar angels, and the process whereby the solar Lord imposes a certain rhythm and vibration upon different aspects of lower manifestation.  Esoterically, this is all hidden in the words of a very ancient writing, which says: 


 The devas of the permanent atoms.  This particular group of devas are the aggregate of the lives who form the mental unit and the two permanent atoms.  They, as we know, have their place within the causal periphery, and are focal points of egoic energy.  They are the very highest type of building devas, and form a group of lives which are closely allied to the solar Angels.  They exist in seven groups connected with three of the spirillae of [940] the logoic physical permanent atom.  These three spirillae are to these seven groups of lives what the three major rays are to the seven groups of rays on the egoic subplanes of the mental plane.  This phrase will bear meditating upon, and may convey much information to the intuitional thinker.  There is a correspondence between the three permanent atomic triads, and the appearance of man in the third root race.  A curiously interesting sequence of the three lines of force can be seen in: 


 2. The transmission of this note by the solar Angel, and the three groups of devas connected with the three permanent atoms. 


 It will, therefore, be apparent to the student how intricate this subject is and how truly each man is the outcome of force of some kind—egoic primarily, but also [946] planetary, and even systemic.  Yet withal, no man is ever put into circumstances which are insurmountable, once he has reached the point where he has intelligently put himself on the side of evolution, or of God.  Prior to that he may, and will, be driven by the gales of circumstance; the press of group and racial karma will force him into situations necessary for the process of awakening him to his own innate possibilities.  Once he becomes the conscious builder himself, seeking to control the forces and builders of his lower nature, and to construct the Temple of Solomon, then he is no longer subject to the earlier conditions.  He becomes a ruler, a builder, and a transmitter, until the time comes when he is one with the solar Angels, and the work of human evolution is accomplished. 


 Solar Angel 


 [lxxxvii] 85: Manasaputras:  These are the Sons of Mind, the individual principle in man, the Ego, the solar Angel, in his own body on the abstract levels of the mental plane. 


 [cxcii] 92: The Lunar Pitris created the physical man.—S. D., I, 114, 197. They exist in three great classes. 1. The most developed.  They form, in Round one, the sumtotal of the three kingdoms, and achieve a human form.—S. D., I, 203. In Rounds two and three they are the sumtotal of that which will eventually be human. In Round four at the beginning they form the etheric bodies of our Earth humanity. 2. Those whose bodies are taken by the Solar Angels.—S. D., I, 203. 3. The sum total of the three kingdoms at present known. 


 [cci] 2: The Solar Angels are dual in Nature. “Manas is dual—Lunar in the lower, Solar in its upper portion.”—S. D., II, 520, 675. a. The solar aspect is attracted towards Buddhi. b. The other descends into, or is attracted by the lower animal. c. The Solar Angels form the “Soul” or Second Aspect. d. The chief “Soul” is Manas, or mind.”—S. D., II, 521. 


 [ccvi] 7: The Lunar Angels have to reach the plane of the Solar Angels.—S. D., I, 203. They have to win immortality.—S. D., III, 518, 519. Self-consciousness is their goal.—S. D., I, 205; II, 622. 


 [ccxviii] 19: Solar angels are therefore entities of a high spiritual order—with a refined consciousness that corresponds to the material substance in which they are clothed.  In order to connect this with what I have said already, you may consider the solar angels as collectively forming the Lord Brahma of the lotus isle.  The angels are called by various names as planetary spirits, Asuras, etc., but in order to get a proper idea of their nature, you may consider them as standing in the same relation to the spiritually regenerated and released world Brahmins or the Nirmanakayas as these stand to the ordinary humanity.  The angels were such Brahmins in previous Mahamanvantaras, who spent those enormous periods in suffering and toil for the sake of rearing wisdom in the world and hence they emerged as angels from the infinite womb of Aditi under their karmic impulse after a period of Mahapralaya.—Some Thoughts on the Gita, page 137. 


 [ccxix] 20: The Lunar Pitris are all Nature Spirits.—S. D., II, 107. 1. They possess, or are the containers of the fire of the third aspect.—S. D., II, 81. 2. Their work precedes that of the Solar Angels.—S. D., I, 268. 3. They exist in seven classes as do the Solar Angels.—S. D., II, 96. a. Three incorporeal, which are the three elemental kingdoms of nature, providing man with his etheric, astral and mental bodies. b. Four corporeal which are the forms of the four kingdoms of nature.—S. D., II, 93. c. See S. D., II, 233. 


 [cclv] 56: The solar Angels (Sons of Wisdom) are entities seeking fuller consciousness.—S. D., II, 176, 177; II, 643. a. They had intellect through previous contact with matter. b. They were incarnated under the law of Karma.—S. D., III, 517. c. They had to become all wise. Read carefully S. D., II, 243 note. d. These solar Angels are high intelligences.—S. D., II, 259. e. They are Nirmanakayas.—S. D., II, 266. f. They are the celestial yogis.—S. D., II, 257. 


 [cclxxxvi] 87: The Solar Gods are the “Fallen Angels.”—S. D., II, 287. a. They warm the shadows…the human bodies. b. They in their turn are warmed by the Monad, or Atma.—S. D., II, 116, 117, 284. c. They are the Serpents of Wisdom.—S. D., II, 240. d. Their nature is Knowledge and Love.—S. D., II, 527. e. They come in from the cosmic mental plane.—S. D., III, 540. The Ego, or Solar Angel is imprisoned.–S. D., I, 621. a. It has to liberate itself from the thraldom of sensuous perception. b. It has to see in the light of the one Reality. c. See S. D., II, 578. d. To redeem humanity.—S. D., II, 257. e. To endow him with human affections and aspirations.—S. D., II, 257. f. They give to men intelligence and consciousness.—S. D., I, 204 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 1 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 2 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 3 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 4 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 5 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 6 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 7 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 8 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 9 


 3. The Solar Angels . . . the Agnishvattas. 


 Solar Angel 


 5. The seven groups of solar Angels. 


 Students must bear in mind that from the standpoint of the Logos, the solar Angels on the mental plane (the fifth subplane of the cosmic physical plane) are in physical incarnation, and what is called the “second fall” applies to this.  The first fall has reference to the taking of a form of cosmic etheric matter, such as is the case with the Heavenly Men, the prototypes of the human jivas.  In this latter case the bodies used are called “formless” from our standpoint, and are “vital bodies” animated by cosmic prana.  In the case of ourselves and the remaining groups, the forms are composed of substance of the three lower planes (that which the Logos does not regard as principle) and, therefore, matter responding still to the vibration of the earlier system.  This means that the four lower hierarchies are links between the life of the past and of the future.  They are the present.  They had not finished their contacts with the active intelligent principle of the preceding kalpa, and so must continue such contacts in this.  They will work out of it in this system, the four will become the three and they will then be the three, higher arupa hierarchies of the next system. 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 1 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 2 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 3 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 4 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 5 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 6 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 7 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 8 


 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. – Part 9 


 11. Stimulation of the solar Angels, or the manasic principle. 


 We might consider that the Monad of the human being passes through cycles analogous to those through which the Heavenly Man travels.  There is, first, the vast cycle of unfoldment through which a “spark” passes.  This covers the period of three major solar systems—that preceding this one, the present, and the succeeding one.  In these three, the totality of the cosmic Past, Present, and Future, embodying the three aspects of the divine Life of the solar Logos, are carried to the point of perfection in an individualised Monad.  It must be remembered that in this solar system, for instance, certain developments are only recapitulations of evolutionary processes undergone in an earlier solar system; the clue to this lies in the consideration of the manasic or mind principle.  The solar Angels, the intelligent individualising factor, were (from certain angles of vision) the product of an earlier system, and only waited for the time in the present system when the forms in the three kingdoms had reached the point of synthetic development which made it possible for them to be impressed and influenced from on high.  We [1089] have in this concept an idea analogous to the entering in of those Monads, during Atlantean days, who, having individualised upon another chain, tarried in the inter-planetary spaces until earth conditions were such that the occupation of adequate forms became possible.  The correspondence is not exact but is indicative of the truth.  The vast cycle of unfoldment (which rendered later evolution possible) preceded this solar system, and might be regarded as the monadic correspondence to a cosmic wheel.  In the old Commentary this point of development is hinted at in the words: 


 3. The energies of the solar Angel, or Father, which is the co-ordinating principle behind manifestation in the three worlds. 


 Students will note, therefore, that the goal for the mental body is simply that it should become a transmitter of the thoughts and wishes of the solar Angel, and should act as the agent for the Triad.  The goal for the astral body is that it should be the reflector in a similar way of the buddhic impulses, which reach the emotional body via certain petals in the egoic lotus, and the astral permanent atom.  The process of equilibrising the forces in the personality (thus producing stability, and alignment) is brought about through the scientific manifestation of the electrical reactions of the three sheaths. 


 1. The direct increasing influence of the solar Angel


 It should here be remembered that in considering the causal body, we are dealing specifically with the vehicle of manifestation of a solar Angel who is its informing life and who is in process of constructing it, of perfecting it, and of enlarging it, and thus reflecting on a tiny scale the work of the Logos on His own plane. 


 b. Another stream of energy emanates in time from the second tier of petals when in activity; this second tier is peculiarly instinctive with the life and quality of the Manasaputra in manifestation.  The second tier of petals in any egoic lotus is the one that gives us the key to the nature of the solar Angel, just as the outer tier is—to the inner vision of the Adept—a clue to the point in evolution of the personality.  By looking at the egoic lotus, the seer can tell the nature of the: 


 Higher Self, through the colour and arrangement of the central tier of petals.  This tier gives the “family” of the solar Angel through the arrangement of atomic lives which form the petals, and the circulation of the streams of forces in those petals. 


 2. Ego……………….Solar Angel……………Love petals. 


 f. Energy also pours in upon the knowledge petals from the egoic group, or from the aggregated knowledge petals of all the other lotuses in the group affiliated with any particular solar Angel.  These groups have been earlier dealt with. 


 g. Energy is transmitted also to the petals via the groups and emanations from those planetary schemes and streams of force which form the outer petals of that great centre which is our solar system, and which we are told is seen from the higher planes as a twelve-petalled lotus.  These streams [1114] do not emanate from the seven sacred planets but from other planetary bodies within the solar Ring-Pass-Not.  Streams of force from the Sacred Planets play upon the central tier of petals.  Herein lies a hint to the wise student, and a clue to the nature of the lower aspect of the solar Angel


 It is thus apparent what numerous energising agencies are responsible for the “motion,” occultly understood, of the egoic lotus.  There is the inherent life of the atomic units forming each petal, and the circulatory life of the petal itself, regarding it as an individual unit.  There is likewise the life of the circle of three petals and to this we must add the unified activity of the outer three circles, or the blending of knowledge forces absorbed from the personal self, of love forces which are the natural energies of the solar Angel, and of sacrifice forces pouring in from the Monad.  Thus we have a marvellous aggregate of streams of energies, all representing interior and still greater (because cosmic) energies. 


 Thirdly, they bring about the stimulation of certain of the glands of the body which are deemed at present purely physical, and thus enable the solar Angel to grip and hold to His purpose the dense physical body. 


 It may be helpful if the student bears in mind the fact that every centre may be considered as an evidence of solar energy or fire, manifesting as a medium of lower energy or fire by friction.  Where these centres exist the solar Angel is enabled gradually to impose his rhythm and vibration upon that which vibrates to what is regarded as a lower rhythm.  Thus He gradually swings the entire lower form-substance into His control. 


 d. From the seven Rishis of the Great Bear; this pours in via the Monad and is transmitted downward, merging on the higher levels of the mental plane with seven streams of energy from the Pleiades which come in as the psychical force demonstrating through the solar Angel


 b. Force from the Pleiades, via the solar Angel or Ego. 


 Another hint of interest lies in the fact that there exist between these spinal centres, certain gaps (if I may so express it) which have (in the course of evolution) to be bridged by the energetic action of the rapidly growing vibration of the force unit.  Between the triple energy of the spinal column and the alta major centre, there is a hiatus, just as there exists that which must be bridged between the triple lower man and the egoic body, or between the mental unit on the fourth subplane of the mental plane and the solar Angel on the third subplane.  Though we are told that the permanent atomic triad is enclosed in the [1160] causal periphery, nevertheless, from the standpoint of consciousness there is that which must be bridged.  Again, between the alta major centre and the supreme head centre, exists another gulf—a correspondence to the gulf found between the plane of the Ego and the lowest point of the Triad, the manasic permanent atom.  When man has constructed the antaskarana (which he does during the final stages of his evolution in the three worlds) that gulf is bridged and the Monad and the Ego are closely linked.  When man is polarised in his mental body, he begins to bridge the antaskarana.  When the centre between the shoulder blades, referred to earlier in this Treatise as the manasic centre, is vibrating forcefully, then the alta major centre and the head centre, via the throat centre can be united. 


 A solar Logos uses for His energy centres the planetary schemes, each of which embodies a peculiar type of energy, and each of which, therefore, vibrates to the key of the logoic solar Angel, of which the human solar Angel is a dim reflection.  It is interesting here to note that as the human solar Angel is a unity, manifesting through three tiers of petals, the logoic correspondence is even more interesting, for that great cosmic Entity demonstrates on the cosmic mental plane as a triple flame working through seven tiers of petals, and it is the energy from these seven circles of energy which pulsates through the medium of any scheme.  All this is hidden in the mystery of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID, and it is not possible for men to solve it,—the truth being obscure to even the highest Dhyan Chohan of our system. 


 b. Buddhic force…..fourth plane………….the solar Angels. 


 The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not his force but, in meditation deep, communicates with his reflection 


 Three things engage the Solar Angel before the sheath created passes downward; the condition of the waters, the safety of the one who thus creates, and steady contemplation.  Thus are the heart, the throat, and eye, allied for triple service. 


 The sound swells out.  The hour of danger to the soul courageous draweth near.  The waters have not hurt the white creator and naught could drown nor drench him.  Danger from fire and flame menaces now, and dimly yet the rising smoke is seen.  Let him again, after the cycle of peace, call on the Solar Angel


 The dual forces on the plane (whereon the vital power must be sought) are seen; the two paths face the solar Angel; the poles vibrate.  A choice confronts the one who meditates. 


 The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not his force, but, in meditation deep, communicates with his reflection. 


 Three things engage the Solar Angel before the sheath created passes downward; the condition of the waters, the safety of the  one who thus creates, and steady contemplation.  Thus are the heart, the throat, and eye, allied for triple service. 


 The dual forces of the plane whereon the vital power must be sought are seen; the two paths face the solar Angel; the poles vibrate.  A choice confronts the one who meditates. 


 The sound swells out.  The hour of danger to the soul courageous draweth near.  The waters have not hurt the white creator and naught could drown nor drench him.  Danger from fire and flame menaces now, and dimly yet the rising smoke is seen.  Let him again, after the cycle of peace, call on the solar Angel


 It will be seen from a consideration of the above analysis that a very clear summation is given and that the student is started in his study of magic with a brief understanding of the past situation, his equipment and the method of approach.  Let us realize from the start the simplicity of the idea intended to be conveyed by my remarks hitherto.  Just as in the past the instrument and its relation to the outer world has been the paramount fact in the experience of the spiritual man, so now it is possible for a readjustment to take place wherein the outstanding fact will be the spiritual man, the solar angel or soul.  It will also be realised that his relationship (through the form side) will be to the inner as well as the outer worlds.  Man has included in his relation only the form side of the field of average human evolution. 


 This literally means that when the soul (symbolized as the Solar Orb) the mind, and the light in the head form one unit, the creative power of the solar Angel can express itself in the three worlds, and can construct a form through which its energy can actively express itself.  The lunar orb is a symbolic way of expressing the solar plexus which eventually must do two things: 


 4. The blending of the deva or angel evolution and the human.  This is a mystery which will be solved as man arrives at the consciousness of his own solar Angel, only to discover that that too is also but a form of life which, [101] having served its purpose, must be left behind.  The angel or deva evolution is one of the great lines of force, contained in the divine expression and the solar Angels, the Agnishvattas of The Secret Doctrine and of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire belong—in their form aspect—to this line. 


 “When the radiant light of the Solar Angel is fused with the golden light of the cosmic intermediary, it awakens from darkness the rush light of anu, the speck.” 


 “Then the Bull of God carries the light in his forehead, and his eye transmits the radiance; His head, with magnetic force, resembles the blazing sun, and from the lotus of the head, the path of light issues.  It enters into the Greater Being, producing a living fire.  The Bull of God sees the Solar Angel, and knows that Angel to be the light wherein he walks.” 


 Then the work of the four proceeds.  The four are at-one.  The Solar Angel is identified with his instrument; the life of the sheaths is subordinated to the life of the inner divinity; the light of the sheaths is fused with the light of the soul.  The head, the heart, and the base of the spine are geometrically aligned and certain developments then become possible. 


 1. The Solar Angel begins the work of initiating the Personality. 


 The nearer we approach in our thought to the physical plane, the more difficulty is experienced by the magician, whether he be the solar Angel occupied with the magical work of manifestation, or an expert worker under the plan.  This is due to two causes: 


 There are many ways in which this Rule can be interpreted.  We can study the work of the solar Angel as he approaches the dense physical plane to take incarnation and thus arrives at that critical point in his creative work wherein the threefold sheath is at the stage where it must, inevitably and unavoidably, make a contact with the matter aspect.  It is the stage during which, expressing this truth in occult terms, it is literally called upon to “clothe itself and disappear into the light of day.”  The spiritual man is now veiled by a mental or by a fire sheath.  He is clothed “in a watery mist”, which is an ancient way of referring to the great illusion.  This term conveys not only the concept of the possession of an astral or watery body, but also presents to the mind the effect which that body must have upon the hidden solar Angel.  The latter looks out through the fire and through [566] the mist and sees distortion and reflection.  He sees that which must mislead. 


 When this clothing has been assumed by the solar Angel, a final stage is reached, and solar fire and fire by friction must be brought into contact with three “most ancient fires”.  These are the fires of the dense physical objective matter or of those material energy units which we normally cover by the words “gaseous, liquid and dense”, a meaningless phrase and only of use to us, through its teaching of differentiation.  These three ancient fires are an aspect of fire by friction. 


 We can also study this Rule from the point of view of the initiate who is occupied with the wielding of forces and who, through the power of his thought, may have created a thought-form.  This thought-form he has clothed with an astral or desire sheath, deliberately vitalized with his energy, and now seeks to give it objective existence and send it forth to accomplish his purpose and his intent.  The crucial moment in all creative work is ever to be found at this stage.  It is the stage wherein the vibrant subjective form has to attract to itself that material which will give it organization upon the physical [567] plane.  This fact has to be remembered, no matter what the magician is seeking to render objective.  It refers equally to an organization, to a group or to a society; it may refer to the materialization of money or to the clothing or exteriorization of an idea.  The moment of danger to the magician comes at this final stage.  A point of fine discrimination is reached and the magician has to proceed now with caution.  Many good plans fail to materialize and the reason lies right here.  A plan is, after all, an idea let loose in time and space to seek a form and do its work.  Many come to naught because their creator, or the creative mind from which they emanate, understands not this critical period.  A right adjustment of forces has here to be arranged, so that neither too much energy is used in the work, nor too little.  When too much energy is released through the medium of the vital body, then a fire blazes forth when the gaseous energy of the dense physical plane is brought in contact with vital etheric energy.  Thus the embryo form is destroyed.  Where there is not sufficient energy, or adequate persistent attention, and when the thought of the magician wavers, then the idea comes to naught, then the infant is still-born, and nothing comes into objective manifestation.  This has a literal correspondence on the physical plane.  Many infants are still-born for this very reason that the solar Angel wavers in his intent and is not sufficiently interested.  Many fine ideas equally fail to materialize or have no persistent living existence “in the light of day,” because there was not sufficient energy to generate that spark of living flame which must ever burn at the center of all forms.  The danger, therefore, is twofold: 


 An harmonious cooperation with his own solar Angel, so that solar force may impose its rhythm upon the lunar forces. 


 Students would find it of value to take these three vital words and trace their relation to all embodied thought forms—a cosmos, a plane, a kingdom in nature, a race, a nation, a human being.  Consider the diverse groups of creating agencies—solar Logoi, solar Angels, human beings, and others.  Consider the spheres of the creative process and see how true the Old Commentary is when it says: 


 As the man seeks to reach control of the mind, the soul in its turn becomes more actively aggressive.  The work of the solar Angel has hitherto been largely in its own world and concerned with its relation to spirit, and with this the man, working through his cycles on the physical plane, has had no concern.  The main expenditure of energy by the soul has been general, and outward-going into the fifth kingdom.  Now the solar Angel approaches a time of crisis and of re-orientation.  In the early history of humanity there was a great crisis which we call individualisation.  At that time the solar Angels, in response to a demand or a pull from the race of animal-men (as a whole, note that), sent a portion of their energy, embodying the quality of mentalisation, to these animal-men.  They fecundated, if I might so express it, the brain.  Thus was humanity brought into being.  This germ, however, carried within it two other potentialities, that of spiritual love and spiritual life.  These must in due time make their appearance. 


 The flowering forth of the mind in men, which so distinguishes the present age, indicates to the solar Angel a second crisis, of which the first was but the symbol.  That for which the solar Angel exists is making its presence felt within humanity, and another strong pull is being exerted upon the solar Angel which this time will produce a second fecundation.  This will give to man those qualities which will enable him to transcend human limitations, and become a part of the fifth or spiritual Kingdom in nature.  The first effort of the solar Angel turned animal-men into human beings; the second will [89] turn human beings into spiritual entities, plus the gains of experience in the human family. 


 For this the solar Angel, the soul, is organising itself and re-orienting itself so that its power can be redirected into the world of men.  Contact must be made by the soul between the lower aspect of its triple nature and the aspect which has already found lodgment in the brain of man.  Intelligent activity and love wisdom must be united, and the union must take place on the physical plane.  In order to do this the soul is entering into “meditation deep”, in union with all other souls who may have brought their instrument into a responsive state.  This is the basic group meditation, and when a man achieves what the oriental books call “samadhi”, he has succeeded in participating, as a soul, in this group meditation, and enters upon that cycle of service which expresses itself through the planetary Hierarchy.  The rational mind and the abstract mind function as a unit, and the motivating principle is love.  The soul, expressing love and abstract intelligence, is at one with its expression on the physical plane through the brain, and, when this is the case, the lower man has synchronised his meditation with that of the soul. 


 The Knowers of God in that era will preponderate over those who are simply aspiring to that knowledge, and their contact and the results of the force they transmit will be felt in all the kingdoms of nature.  Dominion over all forms, and the power to act as transmitters of that spiritual energy we call love is the promised reward of the triumphant solar Angels, and the prized goal of their meditation work.  The Sons of God will triumph on earth in full incarnated expression, and will bring light (therefore life) to all the manifested forms.  This is the “life more abundant” of which the Christ speaks.  This is the achievement of the true Nirvanee who, living in unbroken meditation in the spiritual realm yet can work on earth.  The work of initiation is to enable a man to live ever at the centre, but to act as a distributor of divine energy in any direction and—after the later initiations—in all directions. 


 We will now, in our consideration of the next rule, take up the work of the “lesser light” of man on the physical plane.  I, who have entered somewhat into an understanding of the life of the solar Angel, seek to assure my fellow pilgrims that the passing things of the senses are but trivial, and of no value compared to the rewards, here and in this life, to the man who seeks to merge his everyday consciousness with that of his own soul.  He enters then into the community of souls, and stands not alone.  The only lonely periods are the result of wrong orientation and the holding on to that which hides the vision, and fills the hands so full that they cannot grasp what has been called “the jewel in the lotus.” 


 The same recognitions, on a lesser scale, govern the activities of the solar Angel as he proceeds with the work of incarnation and of manifestation upon the physical plane.  He has in his turn to recognize the matter of the three planes of human expression which are already, through past association, colored by his vibration; he has to recognize the groups of lives with which he has had relation and with which he again must work.  Finally, he has, throughout the tiny cycle of an incarnation, to hold his purpose steady and to see that each life carries that purpose forward into fuller manifestation and completion. 


 Down the great cycle upon the wheel of rebirth “the idea of the solar Angel is attaining definite concretion”.  A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 1024.  Each life sees the initial purpose clarified and time is literally the length of a thought.  This same basic truth underlies the creation of all forms on the physical plane, whether it is a thought-form embodying the urgent desire of a man for selfish acquisition or that thought-form which we call a group or an organization and which is animated by the unselfish purpose and embodies some disciple’s mode of helping humanity.  It underlies group work, regarding a group as an entity.  If a group could appreciate the power of this fact, and “recognize” its opportunity, it could, by its one-pointed fixity of purpose and its focussed attention to the spiritual objective, perform miracles in salvaging the world.  I here appeal to all who read these words to reconsecrate themselves and to recognize the opportunity they have of an united effort towards world usefulness. 


 c. The sons of mind, human souls, solar Angels, the divine sons of God who in full self-consciousness work out certain well seen ends through the medium of the human family. 


 “This means literally that the magician must be in a position to discriminate between the different ethers and to note the special hue of the different levels, thereby insuring a balanced building of the `shadow.’  He `recognizes’ them, in the occult sense; that is, he knows their note [546] and key and is aware of the particular type of energy they embody.  Enough emphasis has not been laid upon the fact that the three higher levels of the etheric plane are in vibratory communication with the three higher planes of the cosmic physical plane, and they (with their ensphering fourth level) have been called in the occult books `the inverted Tetraktys.’  It is this knowledge which puts the magician in possession of the three types of planetary force and their combination, or the fourth type, and thus releases for him that vital energy which will drive this idea into objectivity.  As the different types of forces meet and coalesce, a dim shadowy form clothes itself upon the vibrating astral and mental sheath, and the idea of the solar Angel is attaining definite concretion.” 


 1. Re-create his instrument or mechanism of contact, so that the solar Angel has a vehicle, adequate for [582] the expression of Reality.  This involves, we noted, right type, quality, strength and speed. 


 The white magician is ever one who, through conscious alignment with his ego, with his “angel”, is receptive to his plans and purposes, and therefore capable of receiving the higher impression.  We must remember that while magic works from above downwards, and is the result of solar vibration, and not the impulses emanating from one or the other of the lunar pitris, the downflow of the impressing energy from the solar pitri is the result of his internal recollectedness, the indrawing of his [61] forces, prior to sending them concentratedly to his shadow, man, and his steady meditation upon the purpose and the plan.  It may be of use to the student if he here remembers that the ego (as well as the Logos) is in deep meditation during the whole cycle of physical incarnation.  This meditation is cyclic in nature, the pitri involved sending out to his “reflection” rhythmic streams of energy, which streams are recognised by the man concerned as his “high impulses,” his dreams and aspirations.  Therefore, it will be apparent why workers in white magic are ever advanced and spiritual men, for the “reflection” is seldom responsive to the ego or the solar angel until many cycles of incarnation have transpired.  The solar pitri communicates with his “shadow” or reflection by means of the sutratma, which passes down through the bodies to a point of entrance in the physical brain, if I might so express it, but the man, as yet, cannot focus or see clearly in any direction. 


 It is perhaps well to remember that the stage of discipleship is in many ways the most difficult part of the entire ladder of evolution.  The solar angel is unceasingly in deep meditation.  The impulses of energy, emanating from him are increasing in vibratory rate and are becoming more and more powerful.  The energy is [62] affecting more and more the forms through which the soul is seeking expression, and endeavouring to control. 


 To contemplate involves steady vision, one-pointedly directed towards a specific objective.  The soul or solar angel might be regarded as gazing in three directions. 


 1. Towards the Light Supernal, towards that central Life or Energy which holds hid within Itself the purpose and plan towards which all Being tends.  I know not how to express this more clearly.  What that directive force may be, what is the secret of Being Itself is only revealed during the more advanced initiations, and is only finally grasped when the causal body itself, the karana sarira, disintegrates and the final limitation slips away.  With this direction of the solar Angel‘s vision we need not concern ourselves. 


 2. Over the kingdom wherein the solar Angel reigns supreme, over the world of souls, or egoic impulses, of hierarchical work and of pure thought.  This is the Kingdom of God, the world of heavenly Being.  It is the state whereof disciples are becoming increasingly aware, wherein initiates work, and from which the Masters in Their graded ranks direct the evolutionary process of [212] the planet.  These two directions in which the soul looks constitute the world of its spiritual experience and the object of its aspiration.  Let it not be forgotten that the spiritual man, the solar Angel, has also his goal of endeavour, and that his becomes the predominant impulse once the subjugation of the vehicle in the three worlds is brought about.  Just as the fully intelligent human being can only begin consciously to function as a soul and to contact the kingdom of the soul, so only the fully active and dominant soul, in which the buddhic principle is potentially controlling, can begin to contact the state of pure Being in which the monad or spirit eternally rests. 


 The development of the intellect in man marks his fitness for the work of treading the Path, back to full soul consciousness.  The development of the buddhic or wisdom-love aspect in the solar Angel demonstrates his fitness for further progression in the awareness of the state of pure Being. 


 As you know, you have a peculiar combination of dominant rays, the second Ray of Love-Wisdom being your soul ray and the fifth Ray of Concrete Science being your personality ray. I would have you ponder on the relationship which necessarily exists in your case between knowledge and wisdom. You would find it of value to put a considerable amount of thought into the relation of the three aspects of intelligent manifestation: the higher, abstract mind, the intelligent solar angel, and the lower concrete mind. Intuitive understanding, love-wisdom and concrete knowledge should be and can be developed and related by you in your daily life; to this I call your attention. 


 It is said that “thoughts are things” and produce tangible results. It is also said that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” and that, therefore, these tangible thought manifestations definitely produce effects in him. In these ancient platitudes lie, for you, much instruction, much light and understanding and the clue to your immediate problem. What is the situation, my brother? You, a soul in incarnation, are consciously aware of the fact—subjectively and ofttimes dimly sensed—of your real Self, of the solar Angel, who is the Angel of the Presence. Your problem is to deepen this realisation, and to know yourself to be the Angel, standing between you, the physical plane man, and the Presence. It might elucidate matters if we considered for a moment what reality is represented by that word Presence. 


 2. To recognise the Presence, I must function as the solar Angel. Can I, at this time, discriminate between myself and that solar Angel


 3. To recognise the Presence means that I am preparing to pass, as a solar Angel, through the gate, on to the Path of Initiation. Can I, in view of this, state clearly to [392] myself what are my major assets and my major weaknesses? 


 1. It concerns the relation of the Solar Angel to the lunar forces, of the Sun and the Moon and their work in synthesis. 


 2. That Son of Mind, which we call the Ego or Soul.  This is the intelligence principle, and is called by many names in the esoteric literature, such as the Solar Angel, the Agnishvattas, the Christ principle, etc.  With this, religion in the past has professed to deal. 


 b. The fusion of the personality and the soul.  This has to be carried out consciously and deliberately, with the willingness of these related parts of a great divine whole to see the personality subjected to changes and transmutations, produced as a result of soul contact.  This will lead to the manifestation of the indwelling soul, the Christ consciousness, the Solar Angel


 The antahkarana, therefore, is the thread of consciousness, of intelligence, and the responsive agent in all sentient reactions.  The interesting point to bear in mind, and where we must now lay the emphasis, is that this thread of consciousness is evolved by the soul and not by the monad.  The World Soul pours its gossamer thread of sentient consciousness into all forms, into all body cells and into all atoms.  The human soul, the solar angel, repeats the process in relation to its shadow and reflection, the personality.  This is part of the creative work of the soul.  But, in its turn, the human being has also to become creative in the mental sense of the term and must repeat the process, for in all points the microcosm resembles the macrocosm.  Therefore, through the life thread, the soul creates and reproduces a personality through which to function.  Then through the building of the antahkarana, the soul first of all develops sentiency down upon the physical plane, and later bridges the gap—through meditation and service—between the three mental aspects.  It thus completes the creation of the path of return to the Centre, which must parallel the path of outgoing. 


 Students must bear in mind that from the standpoint of the Logos, the solar Angels on the mental plane (the fifth subplane of the cosmic physical plane) are in physical incarnation, and what is called the “second fall” applies to this. The first fall has reference to the taking of a form of cosmic etheric matter, such as is the case with the Heavenly Men, the prototypes of the human jivas. In this latter case the bodies used are called “formless” from our standpoint, and are “vital bodies,” animated by cosmic prana. In the case of ourselves and the remaining groups, the forms are composed of substance of the three lower planes (that which the Logos does not regard as a principle) and, therefore, matter responding still to the vibration of the earlier system. This means that the four lower Hierarchies are links between the life of the past and of the future. They are the present. They had not finished their contacts with the active intelligent principle of the preceding kalpa, and so must continue such contacts in this. They will work out of it in this system, the four will become the three and they will then be the three higher arupa Hierarchies of the next system. 


 Three Creative Hierarchies condition the man in incarnation, the 4th (or 9th) the 5th (or 10th) and the 6th. These, in collaboration, create man and, at the same time, constitute the field of his expression. Man is consequently a blend of electric fire, being a divine Flame, and becomes eventually responsive to the three major controlling influences; he is also solar fire, being a solar Angel in manifestation. He then becomes increasingly responsive to the influences of the twelve constellations. He is likewise fire by friction and comes under the influence of the planets. The tabulation below may make this somewhat clearer: 


 2. The power of Venus is lessened in this sign. It is a detrimental sign to Venus. The reason for this is that when the Sun is exalted and blazes forth in all its glory, [105] the other lesser luminaries fade out. Just as the personality is lost sight of in the light of the soul, the solar Angel, so the soul itself disappears and its power and radiance fade out when the Presence, which it has hitherto veiled, appears and dominates the scene at the end of the greater world cycle. We are told that the incarnating Minds, human beings, the solar Angels, came originally from Venus, but they in turn give place to the monad, the One. Mind gives place to intuition and reason to pure perception. 


 1. The mystery of the Sphinx, connected with the relation of Leo and Virgo, and tied up with the secret of the solar Angels. This is not the mystery of soul and form, but the mystery of the higher and the lower mind and their relation to each other. 


 As regards the three decanates of Sagittarius, Sepharial gives us the three governing planets as Mercury, the Moon and the Sun, whilst Alan Leo gives us Jupiter, Mars and the Sun, emphasising as he always does the way of the esotericists. He usually tunes in on the esoteric significances but not always. Jupiter gives expansion, superseding Mercury, for the mercurial mind is ever a limitation even if only a temporary one. The Moon gives place to Mars, which confers the quality of devotion and the capacity to fight for an ideal. This idealistic concept and method of work is always the characteristic of discipleship during the early stages of unfoldment upon the Path. The Sun, typifying the solar Angel remains constant both through the exoteric and the esoteric processes and therefore astrology recognises it as a constant pressure and presence. This fact in itself indicates a significant truth. The soul remains eternally present—in the past, in the present and on into the future. 


 First, Mars is definitely the planet which rules and controls the physical vehicle. Mars appears first of all as the orthodox ruler in Aries, the sign in which the first move is made towards bringing about objective manifestation, or physical incarnation. In Scorpio, the result of all the struggles carried forward during the seemingly endless pilgrimage around the zodiac or wheel of life is brought to a point of climax, again through the activity of Mars which has not appeared actively in the intervening signs between Aries and Scorpio as far as the reversed wheel is concerned. The disciple has now to demonstrate the strength, character and quality which he has unfolded and developed within himself during his long pilgrimage. He started in Aries with Mars ruling, and the great war between the dualities which constitute the man began. The pairs of opposites were thus brought into relation with each other. In Scorpio, with the same planet ruling his interior life, the war is on and in this case Mars rules not only the physical body but the entire form vehicle, which we call the personality in the three worlds. All aspects of the lower nature are involved in this crisis, for Mars is the esoteric ruler in Scorpio and the tests applied involve the form nature—gross and subtle, integrated and potent. Mars, therefore, rules Aries from the orthodox angle and Scorpio esoterically, and does not again appear in the life of the individual except as that individual responds to mass vibration in Sagittarius, where Mars appears as ruling the sixth Creative Hierarchy, the lunar lords of the form nature who must eventually be sacrificed to the higher spiritual aspect and brought under the control of the solar Angel. The effect of Mars is, therefore, largely mass effect and group results, producing great struggles but leading finally to great revelation. In Aries, it is the final revelation of the nature of knowledge and the purpose of [211] incarnation; in Scorpio, it is the revelation of the vision of liberation and service; in Sagittarius, it is the revelation of the purpose of soul control over the lower kingdoms in nature, via the human centre of energy. It must consequently never be forgotten that Mars establishes relations between the opposites and is a beneficent and not a malefic factor, as is so often supposed. When we come to study the Hierarchies and their relation to the signs, certain points which are at present obscure will be clarified. This we shall do when dealing with our final point in this section upon astrology and the rays. We shall then find that Scorpio rules and governs the fourth Creative Hierarchy, the human from the angle of the soul and not from the angle of the lower nature. The final struggle in Scorpio only takes place when the point of balance between soul and body has been reached in Libra and it is in Scorpio that the preponderance of the spiritual energy is imposed upon the lower personal forces. Scorpio governs “the initiates,” which is the true esoteric name of man, and through its hierarchical planetary ruler, the Sons of Mind, the Messengers of Deity are revealed, but it is through Mars and the Martian activity that the revelation comes about. 


 A great mystery is veiled and hidden in the above relationship, for Cancer-Neptune is expressive of the seventh [218] ray which rules and controls the eighth Creative Hierarchy. This is one of the five Hierarchies whose names are unknown to us and this particular one stands upon the verge of liberation. At the same time it is closely connected with the mind principle as it works out through the solar Angels or through the human hierarchy. It is related to the birth of the fourth Creative Hierarchy in a sense not to be understood by anyone below the stage of the fourth initiation, but it is an interesting fact to remember for it is in the connection between the sixth and seventh rays that that potent “desire for incarnation” was aroused which resulted in the fall of the angels in primordial times. This sixth ray influence coming from three angles—orthodox, esoteric and hierarchical—and hence involving both Neptune and Mars—predisposes the race and individual man as well to become one-pointed disciples in Sagittarius. This latter constellation is ruled by Mars, bringing the man into control or closer touch with the lunar lords, the sixth Creative Hierarchy. Students should study their charts with care, remembering to differentiate between the five Hierarchies which are the non-manifesting Hierarchies, and the seven Hierarchies which are in expression now, and of which the sixth Creative Hierarchy is a part. This Hierarchy, from the larger angle of the entire twelve hierarchies and not simply the seven manifesting hierarchies, is the eleventh or the second. The sixth Ray of Devotion is consequently most powerful in this age or cycle and hence the expression in every land today of its best and its worst features, of which the intense devotion to material things and the intense devotion to spiritual values are dramatic instances. 


 Venus, the intelligent mind, has its power lessened in this sign because the intellect—having been developed and used—must now be subordinated to a higher power of the soul, the spiritual intuition. The Son of Mind, the solar Angel, must now manifest as a Son of God. This solar Angel, when in control, must give place eventually to the Presence. This it has hitherto veiled or hidden. Venus must wane and the Sun—as a symbol of Deity—must wax in influence and finally take its place. Such are the symbolic and esoteric significances. 


 The present method is based upon the temporary truth that ordinary man is subject to the illusory nature of manifestation and “as he thinks, so is he.” When, however, he becomes Hercules, the Sun God (or solar Angel), he begins to reverse the process (again only apparently) and a definite reorientation takes place. The Teachers on the [59] inner side, therefore, study the horoscope only in its relation to the following three entities: 


 All this time the energy of the sun (veiling a sacred planet, hitherto unknown) is steadily and persistently reaching the man via the solar angel


 From the standpoint of our theme (the evolution of consciousness) it must never be forgotten that the aim is to bring the solar Angel, the Son of Mind (called in The Secret Doctrine, the Divine Manasaputra) into the seat of power. This task is pre-eminently entrusted to the three great Lives Who function through Gemini-Libra-Aquarius. 


 At this point, I would remind you that nothing I have said negates the charting of the personality horoscope as at present done in the case of the average man who is proceeding clockwise around the Wheel of Life. I have but brought into your field of astrological research, the astrology [498] of the human consciousness, of the solar angel, of the son of mind, the spiritual man. 


 25. “Those who are working in the Uranus, the Neptune and the Saturn scheme work somewhat differently to those functioning in the Venus, the Vulcan, the Mars, the Mercury, the Jupiter, the Earth and the exoteric Saturn scheme, and so do the Manasadevas (the solar Angels) of the inner round. We should note here that we again have a triplicity of groups, representing a triplicity of forces and herein lies a hint. In the others, the higher group and the middle group hold sway as these planets are the most occult and sacred in manifestation, and are concerned with egos who are on the Path, and who are therefore group-active. In connection with Uranus, Neptune and Saturn, this might be expected as they are the synthesising planetary schemes, and provide conditions suitable only for the very advanced stages. They are called the `reaping’ planets.” (C.F. 777.) 


 For those of you who are students of The Secret Doctrine, there is much to be unfolded anent the relation of the “lunar Lords,” the Barhishad Pitris, to the solar Lord or Angel.  The field of work of the former is the sacral centre, par excellence; that of the solar Angel is the throat centre. 


 1. A moment (long or short, according to the attained point in evolution) wherein contact will be made with the soul or with the solar angel


 c. The control by the soul is the final phase, leading, to the death and destruction of the personality.  This death begins when the personality, the Dweller on the Threshold, stands before the Angel of the Presence.  The light of the solar Angel then obliterates the light of matter. 


 In the human being you have, therefore, two major energies anchored; one unrealised, to which we give the name of the PRESENCE, the other realised, to which we give the name of the Angel of the PRESENCE. These are the soul (the solar angel) and the monad.  One embodies the monadic ray and the other the soul ray, and both of these energies actively or subtly condition the personality. 


 In these three propositions you have summed up the basic teaching of this Section.  Here I can point out with success, I believe, the practical efficacy of a true understanding of these rather advanced occult teachings.  If, for instance, you study the first proposition, you will note how a ray Life is an expression of a solar Life.  Now take this broad idea and make it personally specific by referring the same proposition to an individual man, grasping the fact that every personality is intended to be an expression of a solar angel, and is consequently linked to every other solar angel in the kingdom of souls.  Each is animated by the energies coming from all the seven groups of solar angels, and is likewise in touch with the life of the planet, of the solar system, and with extra-systemic [192] force also.  Is this not of vital, practical import?  Does it not warrant close study and consideration of the attitude of the personality towards life, and of the measure of success of the solar angel at any given point in time and space (which is all that the personality is, in the last analysis) as it builds and qualifies its phenomenal appearance?  Here we can see the scientific value of the study of ideals, of concentration upon the virtues and divine qualities, and upon an intellectual analysis of the divine attributes of any of the great sons of God. 


 The first proposition relates to the ego, or solar angel, and its realisation. 


 The second proposition relates to the mental grasp of the “inspired” man—inspired from on high by his solar angel


 Man is innately and truly divine, but the quality of the solar angel only makes its presence felt slowly and during the evolutionary cycle; it demonstrates only dimly as yet, and only emerges occasionally; though the sum total of characteristics in any one life is coloured by divine quality according to the egoic capacity to control or express, it is distorted by [193] substance in the early stages almost past all recognition.  These three propositions warrant careful thought and even meditation, for as they express the laws under which the seven creative Builders work, so do they express the laws under which the aspirant can now begin to work. 


 3. The soul pattern.  This is the predisposing goal, the ring-pass-not or destiny which the immortal principle, the solar angel, succeeds eventually and much later in time in imposing upon the form life.  This soul pattern finally supersedes and obliterates the two earlier pattern-producing processes. 


 If, for instance, the fifth ray of the solar angels, the ray of mind, which is the egoic ray of the French nation, can make its potency felt through the stress and toil of the present world condition, then to France may be given the ultimate glory of proving to the world the fact of the soul and the demonstration of the technique of egoic control.  The soul pattern may be translated by the genius of the French intellect into terms which humanity can understand and the true soul psychology may come into being.  Again, the genius of Germany has often in the past manifested along the line of its fourth ray soul, and through that soul pattern has been given to the world much of the outstanding music and philosophies.  When this is again manifested, and the soul pattern is more strongly impressed upon the German consciousness, we shall begin to comprehend the significance of the superman.  Germany has caught a vision of this ideal.  It is as yet misinterpreting it, but Germany can give us the pattern of the superman, and this is its ultimate destiny. 


 3. The ego or solar Angel, the pure Son of Mind, Who expresses intelligence, both abstractly and concretely, and is the point of unification. 


 This fifth ray has so many names, owing to His close connection with man (since man was originally created), that it has not been easy to choose those which are of the most use in enabling the student to form an idea of the fifth ray characteristics and mission; but the study of the six aphorisms, and the qualities which they indicate, will show how potent and important is this ray Lord.  These six aphorisms were chanted by His six Brothers at that momentous crisis wherein the human family came into existence and the solar Angels sacrificed themselves.  Esoterically speaking, they “went down into hell, and found their place in prison.” On that day souls [78] were born.  A new kingdom of expression came into being, and the three highest planes and the three lower were brought into a scintillating interchange. 


 2. Stimulation of the solar Angels, or the manasic principle. 11. 


 4. A glimpse of the “Guardian Angel,” who is the dim reflection of the Angel of the Presence, the Solar Angel, which walks with each human being from the moment of birth until death, embodying as much of the available light as the man—at any given moment upon the path of evolution—can use and express. 


 3. The solar angel


 In the first place, as the third aspect is consciously developed, man arrives at a knowledge of matter, of substance and of outer creative activity.  Then he passes on to a realisation of the underlying qualities which the form is intended to reveal, and identifies himself with the ego, the soul or solar angel.  This he comes to know as his true self, the real spiritual man.  Later, he arrives at the realisation of the purpose which is working out through the qualities, as they express themselves through the form.  The above paragraphs are only a summation of what has been earlier said, but it is necessary that there should be real clarity of thought on these matters.  It is apparent as we study, how this entire sequential process of realisation pivots around form manifestation, and has relation to the quality and purpose of the divine Mind.  This will inevitably be clear to the man who has studied the theme of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, which deals specifically with the creative process and with manifestation.  It deals therefore with the outer personality expression of that great all-encompassing Life, which we call God, for lack of a better term.  We need to bear in mind that our universe (as far as the highest human consciousness can as yet conceive of it) is to be found on the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane, and that our highest type of energy, embodying for us the purest expression of Spirit, is but the force manifestation of the first subplane of the cosmic physical plane.  We are dealing, therefore, as far as consciousness is concerned, with what might be regarded symbolically as the brain reaction and response [6] to cosmic purpose,—the brain reaction of God Himself. 


 2. With the egoic consciousness, which is that of the solar angel as it begins with the preparation for initiation on the Path of Discipleship and consummates in the perfected Master. 


 Man, the Solar Angel, is the sum total of those energies and forces which are unified, blended and controlled by that “tendency to harmony” which is the effect of love and the outstanding quality of divinity. 


 We must hold the following statements firmly in our minds.  The personality is a triple combination of forces, impressing and absolutely controlling the fourth aspect of the personality which is the dense physical body.  The three personality types of energy are the etheric body, which is the vehicle of vital energy, the astral body which is the vehicle of the feeling energy or sentient force, and the mental body which is the vehicle of the intelligent energy of will that is destined to be the dominant creative aspect.  It is upon this truth that Christian Science has laid the emphasis.  These forces constitute the lower man.  The solar angel is a dual combination of energies—the energy of love, and the energy of will or purpose—and these are the qualities of the life thread.  These two, when dominating the third energy of mind, produce the [9] perfect man.  They explain the human problem; they indicate the objective before man; they account for and explain the energy of illusion; and they point out the way of psychological unfoldment, which leads man (from the triangle of triplicity and differentiation) through duality to unity. 


 What, therefore, is individualisation from the standpoint of the psychological unfoldment of man?  It is the focussing of the lowest aspect of the soul, which is that of the creative intelligence, so that it can express itself through the form nature.  It will eventually be the first aspect of divinity thus to express itself.  It is the emergence into manifestation of the specific quality of the solar angel through the appropriation, by that angel, of a sheath or sheaths, which thus constitute its appearance.  It is the initial imposition of an applied directed [10] energy upon that triple force aggregation which we call the form nature of man.  The individual, on the way to full co-ordination and expression, appears upon the stage of life.  The self-aware entity comes forth into physical incarnation.  The actor appears in process of learning his part; he makes his debut and prepares for the day of full personality emphasis.  The soul comes forth into dense form and on the lowest plane.  The self begins the part of its career which is expressed through selfishness, leading finally to an ultimate unselfishness.  The separative entity begins his preparation for group realisation.  A God walks on earth, veiled by the fleshly form, the desire nature and the fluidic mind.  He is a prey temporarily to the illusion of the senses, and dowered with a mentality which primarily hinders and imprisons but which finally releases and liberates. 


 When initiation becomes possible, it indicates that two great groups of energies (those of the triple integrated personality [14] and those of the soul or solar angel) are beginning to fuse and blend.  The energy of the soul is beginning to dominate and to control the lower types of force, and—according to the ray of the soul—so will be the body in which that control will begin to make its presence felt.  This will be elaborated later in the section dealing with the rays as they govern the various bodies,—mental, emotional and physical.  It should be remembered that very little egoic control need be evidenced when the first initiation is taken.  That initiation indicates simply that the germ of soul life has vitalised and brought into functioning existence the inner spiritual body, the sheath of the inner spiritual man, which will eventually enable the man at the third initiation to manifest forth as “a full-grown man in Christ”, and present at that time the opportunity to the Monad for that full expression of life which can take place when the initiate is identified consciously with the One Life.  Between the first and second initiations, as has been frequently stated, much time can elapse and much change must be wrought during the many stages of discipleship.  Upon this we will later dwell as we study the seven laws of egoic unfoldment. 


 Initiation carried to its consummation, as far as humanity is concerned, produces the liberated Master of the Wisdom, free from the limitations of the individual, garnering the fruits of the individualisation process and functioning increasingly as the solar angel, because focussed primarily in the inner spiritual body.  Awareness of the Presence is thus steadily developed.  This fact merits the deep study and meditation [17] of all disciples.  As the three rays which govern the lower triplicity blend and synthesise and produce the vital personality, and as they in their turn dominate the ray of the dense physical body, the lower man enters into a prolonged condition of conflict.  Gradually and increasingly, the soul ray, “the ray of persistent and magnetic grasp”, as it is occultly called, begins to become more active; in the brain of the man who is a developed personality, an increased awareness of vibration is set up.  There are many degrees and stages in this experience, and they cover many lives.  The personality ray and the egoic ray at first seem to clash, and then later a steady warfare is set up with the disciple as the onlooker—and dramatic participator.  Arjuna emerges into the arena of the battlefield.  Midway between the two forces he stands, a conscious tiny point of sentient awareness and of light.  Around him and in him and through him the energies of the two rays pour and conflict.  Gradually, as the battle continues to rage, he becomes a more active factor, and drops the attitude of the detached and uninterested onlooker.  When he is definitely aware of the issues involved, and definitely throws the weight of his influence, desires, and mind on to the side of the soul, he can take the first initiation.  When the ray of the soul focusses itself fully through him, and all his centres are controlled by that focussed soul ray, then he becomes the transfigured Initiate, and takes the third initiation.  The ray of the personality is occultly “extinguished” or absorbed by the ray of the soul, and all the potencies and attributes of the lower rays become subsidiary to and colored by the soul ray.  The disciple becomes a “man of God”,—a person whose powers are controlled by the dominant vibration of the soul ray and whose inner, sensitive mechanism is vibrating to the measure of that soul ray which—in its turn—is being itself [18] reoriented to, and controlled by, the monadic ray.  The process then repeats itself:— 


 b. The energy of the soul itself, or of the solar angel, as that energy pours forth upon the vehicles and produces reciprocal energy in the solar form. 


 It was earlier pointed out that we can profitably use the words,—Life, Quality, Appearance—in lieu of Spirit, Soul and Body, for they express the same truth.  The quality of matter, built up into human form and indwelt by the soul or solar angel, is that which normally colours the appearance.  Later, this inherent quality of the appearance changes, [22] and it is the quality nature of Deity (as expressed in the soul) which obliterates the quality of the forms.  During the stage wherein it is the quality of matter which is the paramount influence, that material radiance makes itself felt in a triple form.  These—from the angle of the entire sweep of the evolutionary process, and as far as the human personality is concerned—appear sequentially, and qualify the matter aspect with its three major presentations: 


 3. The quality of the mental body.  This, as far as the race is concerned, is just beginning to wax in power in this Aryan race to which this era belongs.  It corresponds to the stage of maturity in the individual.  The ray of the mind has a very close relation to the solar angel, and there is a peculiar affiliation between the Angel of the Presence and the mental man.  It is this deep-seated, though oft unrecognised, interplay and cultivated intercourse, which produces the at-one-ment between the soul and its mechanism, man in the three worlds. 


 I could here point out a constant misconception on the part of esotericists.  This Fourth Ray of Harmony, Beauty and Art is not the ray, per se, of the creative artist.  The creative artist is found equally on all rays, without exception.  This ray is the ray of the intuition and of the harmonising of all that has been achieved through the activity of form life, as later synthesised and absorbed by the solar angel; it manifests [42] eventually as all that can be evoked and evolved through the power of the One Life (the Monad) working through form expression.  It is the point of meeting for all the energies flowing through the higher spiritual triad and the lower triplicity. 


 The sacrifice of the solar angels brought the fourth kingdom in nature into being.  The “returning nirvanis” (as they are called in esoteric literature), with deliberation and full understanding, took human bodies in order to raise those lower forms of life nearer to the goal.  These were and are ourselves.  The “Lords of Knowledge and Compassion and of ceaseless persevering Devotion” (who are ourselves) chose to die in order that lesser lives might live, and this sacrifice has made possible the evolution of the indwelling consciousness of Deity.  This consciousness, having worked its way through [93] the subhuman kingdoms in nature, needed the activity of the solar angels to make further progress possible.  Herein lies 


 All this involves the death and sacrifice of a Son of God, a solar angel, for, from the angle of Deity, descent into matter, manifestation through form, the taking of a body, extension of consciousness through the process of incarnation, are all occultly considered to be death.  But the angels “chose to die, and in dying, lived.”  Through their sacrifice, matter is lifted up into Heaven.  It is this theme which fills the pages of The Secret Doctrine, and which is discussed in greater elaboration in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.  The sacrifice of the angels, the death of the Sons of God, the immolation of the mystic Christ, the crucifixion in time and space of all living entities, called souls—this is the theme of those books.  This is the mystery hinted at in the world of Scriptures, and this is the secret of the ages, which is only discovered by the souls of men as each of them enters individually into conscious relation with his own soul and discovers that which he has joyously done in the past, and so arrives at the realisation of that supreme sacrifice which he made with deliberation.  in the early dawn of time itself and which, at some point in his career as a soul on earth, he consciously and symbolically re-enacts for the benefit of other souls, in order to hasten their progress towards their goal.  Then comes a life wherein, in some form or another, he portrays or works out within himself, but also before the watching world, that great symbolic drama which we call 


 The Sacrifice of a World Saviour.  This is the theme of the [94] historical romance of all those great Sons of God who down the ages, have arrived at an understanding of the significance of the divine purpose of God, of the Word incarnated through a planet, of those solar angels who are themselves, the Word incarnate through a human form.  Whether they enact this drama, as did the Christ, so as to present to man the symbolism of death and sacrifice, or whether they enact this drama, as did the Buddha, so as to demonstrate to man the sacrifice and death of personal desire (to mention only two of the manifested Sons of God, the Christ and the Buddha), the theme remains the same,—the death of that which is lower in order to release that which is higher, or—on a larger scale—the death of that which is higher in the order and scale of being, in order to release that which is lower. 


 But the lesson needs to be learned (and it is the lesson which man is now engaged in learning) that death as the human consciousness understands it, pain and sorrow loss and, disaster, joy and distress, are only such because man, as yet, identifies himself with the life of the form and not with the life and consciousness of the soul, the solar angel, whose awareness is potentially that of the planetary Deity, Whose greater awareness (in His turn) is potentially that of the solar Deity.  The moment a man identifies himself with his soul and not with his form, then he understands the meaning of the Law of Sacrifice; he is spontaneously governed by it; and he is one who will with deliberate intent choose to die.  But there is no pain, no sorrow, and no real death involved. 


 This law is of major importance because of the fact that Deity itself is on the second ray; because this is a second ray solar system, and therefore all rays and the varying states or groupings of consciousness, and all forms, in or out of physical [111] manifestation, are coloured and dominated by this ray, and therefore again finally controlled by this law.  The Law of Magnetic Impulse is in the soul realm what the Law of Attraction is in the world of phenomena.  It is, in reality, the subjective aspect of that Law.  It is the Law of Attraction as it functions in the kingdom of souls, but because it is functioning on those levels where the “great heresy of separateness” is not to be found, it is difficult for us—with our active, discriminating minds—to understand its implications and its significance.  This Law governs the soul realm, to it the Solar Angels respond, and under its stimulation, the egoic lotuses unfold.  It could perhaps be best understood if it is considered as— 


 3. The solar angel


 When the discriminating sense (the spiritual correspondence of the sense of smell, the last of the five senses to emerge in humanity)  has been adequately developed in the aspirant, and he knows the pairs of opposites and has gained a vision of that which is neither of them, then he can pass on to the Path of Discipleship and enter upon the arduous task of cooperating with the spiritual laws, particularly with the Law of Repulse.  At first, he hardly recognises the influence of this Law.  It is as difficult for him to grasp its implications and to measure its possible effects as it would be for the average working man, with a mediocre education and a total [160] ignorance of esotericism, to grasp the significance of such an occult truth as that expressed in the words:  “The construction of the antaskarana between higher and lower manas by the divine Agnishvatta, the solar angel, functioning through the egoic lotus, is the task to be carried forward during the contemplative stage of meditation.”  This statement is relatively simple to grasp intellectually by the average occult student, but is utterly meaningless to the man of the world.  The Law of Repulse is equally difficult of understanding by the disciple as he enters upon the Path.  He has to learn to recognise its influence; then he must himself learn to do three things:— 


 When the glamour of authority transfers itself into the spiritual consciousness of man, we have such a state of affairs as the period of the Inquisition in its worst forms, of Church authority, with the emphasis upon organisation, government and penalties, or the unquestioned rule of some teacher. In its highest forms we have the recognition of the right of the solar Angel, of the soul or ego, to rule. Between these two extremes, which express the infancy of the race and the freedom which comes when mankind achieves its majority and the freedom of the soul, lie all the many types and kinds of intermediate reactions. In illustration of our point, and thus emphasising the glamour aspect as it affects the disciple and the problem which he faces, what do we find? The disciple has freed himself somewhat from the imposed control of an orthodox teaching and from the rule of a teacher. He stands (as far as he can tell) free from such control. Knowing however his essential weakness and the lure of the personality, he is on guard against himself, and against the ancient rules of control and learns steadily to stand on his own feet, to come to his own decisions, to distinguish truth for himself. He learns to choose his way. But, like all persons who have not taken some of the higher initiations, he can (in due time) become enamoured of his freedom, and automatically then swing into the glamour of his ideal of freedom,—an ideal which he has created. He becomes the prisoner of freedom. He rejects all rule except [47] that which he calls the “rule of his own soul,” forgetting that his contact with his soul is still intermittent. He demands the right to stand alone. He revels in his new found freedom. He forgets that, having given up the authority of a teaching and of a teacher, he has to learn to accept the authority of the soul and of the group of souls with which he is affiliated through his karma, his ray type, his choice, and the inevitability of the effects of the at-one-ment. Having relinquished the guidance of another person upon the Path, and having his eyes partially opened, he now seeks to tread that Path to the goal, forgetting however that he treads the Path in unison with others, and that there are certain “Rules of the Road” which he must master, and which he must master in unison with others. He has exchanged the individual law for the group law, but does not yet know that group law as it should be known. He marches on as best he can alone, glorying in the freedom from authority which he has succeeded in achieving. He promises himself that he will brook no authority or guidance. 


 At the first initiation the initiate becomes aware of the third, or lowest, aspect of the Ego, that of active intelligence.  He is brought face to face with that manifestation of the great solar angel (Pitri) who is himself, the real self.  He [115] knows now past all disturbance that that manifestation of intelligence is that eternal Entity who has for ages past been demonstrating its powers on the physical plane through his successive incarnations. 


 As a radiant angelic existence.  This is seen by the inner eye with the same accuracy of vision and judgment as when a man stands face to face with another member of the human family.  The great solar Angel, Who embodies the real man and is his expression on the plane of higher mind, is literally his divine ancestor, the “Watcher” Who, through long cycles of incarnation, has poured Himself out in sacrifice in order that man might BE. 


 As a sphere of radiant fire, linked with the initiate standing before it by that magnetic thread of fire which passes through all his bodies and terminates within the centre of the physical brain.  This “silver thread” (as it is rather inaccurately called in the Bible, where the description of its loosing of the physical body and subsequent withdrawal is found) emanates from the heart centre of the solar Angel, linking thus heart and brain,—that great duality manifesting in this solar system, love and intelligence.  This fiery sphere is linked likewise with many others belonging to the same group and ray, and thus it is a literal fact in demonstration that on the higher planes we are all one.  One life pulsates and circulates through all, via the fiery strands.  This is part of the revelation which comes to a man who stands in the “Presence” with his eyes occultly opened. 


 In all these words, “solar angel,” “sphere of fire,” and “lotus,” lies hid some aspect of the central mystery of human life, but it will only be apparent to those who have eyes to see.  The mystic significance of these pictorial phrases will prove only a snare or a basis for incredulity to the man who [117] seeks to materialise them unduly.  The thought of an immortal existence, of a divine Entity, of a great centre of fiery energy, and of the full flower of evolution, lies hidden in these terms, and they must be thus considered. 


 This Monad has expressed itself on the mental plane through the Ego in a triple fashion, but now all aspects of the mind, as we understand it, are lacking.  The solar angel hitherto contacted has withdrawn himself, and the form through which he functioned (the egoic or causal body) has gone, and naught is left but love-wisdom and that dynamic will which is the prime characteristic of Spirit.  The lower self has served the purposes of the Ego, and has been discarded; the Ego likewise has served the purposes of the Monad, and is no longer required, and the initiate stands free of both, fully liberated and able to contact the Monad, as earlier he learned to contact the Ego.  For the remainder of his appearances in the three worlds he is governed only by will and purpose, self-initiated, and creates his body of manifestation, and thus controls (within karmic limits) his own times and seasons.  The karma here referred to is planetary karma, and not personal. 


 First, the student should bear in mind the interesting significance of the fact that he, on the physical plane, is a functioning personality, with known and realised characteristics, and yet withal, that he is a subjective Life, who [136] uses that personality as a medium of expression, and who—through the agency of the physical, emotional, and mental bodies which comprise the threefold lower man—makes his contacts with the physical plane and thus develops.  The same general idea of development must be now extended to the higher Self, the Ego on its own plane.  This Ego is a great solar angel, who is the medium of expression for the Monad or pure spirit, just as is the personality for the Ego on the lower level.  From the point of view of man in the three worlds, this Ego, or Solar Lord, is eternal; he persists throughout the entire cycle of incarnations, just as the personality persists during the tiny physical life cycle.  Nevertheless, this period of existence is only relatively permanent, and the day dawns when the life which expresses itself through the medium of the Ego, the Thinker, the Solar Lord or Manasadeva, seeks to loose itself from even this limitation, and to return to the source from which it originally emanated. 


 The life then, which manifested as a solar angel, and which, through inherent energy, held together through long ages the form egoic, withdraws itself gradually, and the form slowly dissipates; the lesser lives of which it has been constituted, return to the general fount of deva substance, plus the increased consciousness and activity which is theirs through the experience of being built into a form, and utilised by a still higher aspect of existence.  Similarly, in the case of the personality, when the life egoic withdraws, the threefold lower self dissipates; the little lives which form the body of what has been called the lunar self (in contradistinction to the solar self, being but its reflection) are absorbed into the general reservoir of deva substance of a lower vibration to that which composed the body egoic.  Similarly, also, their evolution has been furthered through [137] having been built into a form for the use of the higher Self. 


 By the time the fourth initiation has been reached, the work of destruction is accomplished, the solar angel returns to his own place, having performed his function, and the solar lives seek their point of emanation.  The life within the form mounts up then in triumph to the bosom of its “Father in Heaven,” just as the life within the physical body at the moment of death seeks its source, the Ego, and this likewise in four stages:— 


 Let the applicant see to it that the solar angel dims the light of the lunar angels, remaining the sole luminary in the microcosmic sky. 


 For Applicants:  Let the applicant see to it that the Solar Angel dims the light of the lunar angels, remaining the sole luminary in the microcosmic sky. 


 The manifestation of the solar Angel


 III. A Re-alignment of the Lower Sheaths so that the contact with the Real Man, the Thinker, the Solar Angel, on the higher levels of the mental plane may become complete and continuous.  This only becomes possible as the other two points are beginning to be grasped and the theory as to man’s constitution and purpose is somewhat understood.  As meditation is practiced, as the lower bodies are painstakingly dominated, and as the nature of the Sutratma or Thread is better comprehended it will become increasingly possible to bring into the lower personality on the physical plane that spiritual illumination and that divine energy which is the soul’s heritage.  Little by little the light will shine forth, year by year the strength of the higher contact will grow, gradually the downpour of divine love and wisdom into the head centres will be increased until eventually the entire lower man will be transformed, his sheaths will be refined, controlled and used, and he will demonstrate upon earth the powers of Director, Teacher or Manipulator according to the major ray upon which his Monad may be found. 


 Let the applicant see to it that the solar Angel dims the light of the lunar angels, remaining the sole luminary in the microcosmic sky. 


 The soul must be seen by the probationer as the sun of the life.  All lesser lights must be put out by the light of the central luminary; all little fires must be obliterated by solar fire.  The solar Angel controls the personality life and its forces.  This, in the New Age, is the goal of the probationary path and of the applicant for discipleship.  Hitherto it has been the goal of all the teaching given anent the Path of Discipleship, but the higher rate of intelligence of the modern applicant warrants a change, and as time goes on the present requirements for disciples, up to and including the second initiation, will be the requirements for the Probationary Path. 


 This process of expansion set up another focal point of energy, and the heart centre of the planet, the Hierarchy came into being; thus two centres were created and en rapport, which constitutes a major event upon the involutionary arc; to this, little attention has hitherto been paid. It coincided with” the advent or the arrival of the Lords of Flame from the alter ego of our Earth, the planet Venus. They created the nucleus of the Hierarchy which—in that far, very distant time—consisted of only forty-nine members; these were advanced human beings and not souls awaiting incarnation in human form on Earth, as was the case with the vast majority of these visiting Solar Angels. 


 1. Belief.  On his own plane the soul rehearses a condition analogous to the belief of the aspirant in the soul or Christ aspect, only in this case the objective is the realisation of that which the Christ or soul is seeking to reveal, the spirit or Father in Heaven.  First the disciple arrives at a realisation of the angel of His Presence, the solar angel, ego or soul.  This is the achievement of the previous group.  Then the Presence itself is later contacted and that Presence is pure spirit, the absolute, the Father of Being.  The self and the not-self have been known by this group of initiates.  Now the vision of the not-self dims and passes away and only spirit is known.  Belief must ever be the first stage.  First the theory, then the experiment, and lastly realisation. 


 Here we have the picture of the spiritual man as he is in reality.  His relation to the three worlds is shown.  This is the state of the master or the adept, of the soul who has come into its birthright, and is no longer under control of the forces and energies of the lower nature.  There is given in this and the following three sutras, a picture of the liberated man who has passed through the cycle of incarnation and through [48] struggle and experience has found the true self.  Here is depicted the nature of the solar angel, the son of God, the ego or the higher self.  He is stated to be 


 6. It is also the Word of the fifth, the Aryan race, in a special sense.  The work of that race is to reveal in a newer and fuller way the nature of the inner Identity, of the soul within the form, the son of mind, the solar angel, the fifth principle. 


 There is, first of all, the act of the ego, solar angel, higher self or soul, as he sounds out the Word from his own place, on the abstract levels of the mental plane.  He directs that sound, via the sutratma and the vestures of consciousness to the physical brain of the man in incarnation, the shadow or reflection.  This “sounding forth” has to be constantly repeated.  The Sutratma is that magnetic link, spoken of in the Christian Bible as the “silver cord,” that thread of living light which connects the Monad, the Spirit in man, with the physical brain. 

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