Compilation Ninth Initiation
Oct 2004

(DINAII 402) Passing on to the fourth Point of Revelation, we find it covered in the following words:

"Purpose itself is only an energy, released within the Council Chamber at Shamballa. There it must take shape."

This point of revelation carries the initiate to one of the highest points of contemplation; we are here concerned with his sudden apprehension—at the fourth Initiation of Renunciation—of another phase of the divine, conditioning Will. He has begun to recognise and to interpret—even though in [Page 402] an elementary fashion compared to what he will recognise at the ninth initiation—the destroying aspect of the Will as it expresses itself through the Law of Sacrifice. Now, for the first time (as a result of destruction), he can begin to grasp the essential building aspect of this same Will and to appreciate his future function as a creative Builder. The building here to be carried forward, I would remind you, is not the building which is distinctive of the second divine aspect—that of Love-Wisdom. It is strictly connected with that of the first aspect of Purpose, Power or Will; it deals with the processes which precede the actual creative building, the drawing up of the blueprints (if I may use such a term) "within the confines of Shamballa," where high spiritual Beings must lay Their plans. This is a different process to the creative building process, and is related to a mysterious undertaking which is carried forward under the "Law of Assembly."

(DINAII 432) The moment, therefore, that a disciple enters upon the Path of Initiation, he is—from the second to the ninth initiation—to be found functioning at one or other of these stages. He is either penetrating into new areas of divine awareness and penetrating deeply into the Mind of God, or he is learning to live and function from a point therein attained to which we give the name of polarisation, or else he is serving to the utmost of his ability in the precipitation of the energies which will make possible the manifestation of the Kingdom of God upon the physical plane.

To take the 8th and 9th initiations, the 7th degree initiate must pass from the Earth to another planetary scheme

(HIS 162) Two more initiations can be taken, but little is ever said about them on our earth scheme, for the reason that our scheme is not a "sacred" scheme, and few, if any, of our humanity achieve the eighth and ninth initiations.  To do so, they must first pass to another scheme for a lengthy period of service and instruction.  All that can be hinted at is [Page 162] that at the eighth initiation the duality of the triple AUM is brought out, and at the ninth the one sound of the Absolute stands revealed, and its significance is heard and seen.  This brings into the consciousness of the initiate somewhat of the energy and power of the "One about Whom Naught may be Said" or the Logos of our Solar Logos.  The unit of consciousness is then perfect, as the Logos is perfect, and passes on to work paralleling that of the Solar Logos.  Such is the great program and the opportunity reaching out before the sons of man, aye, and before every atom everywhere.

(TEV 89) When the disciple has mastered to some degree the significant difference between messages from his own subconscious or the subconscious of other people with whom he may be en rapport, and the messages coming from his own soul, his life then becomes more self-directed and organised, more fruitful from the angle of service, and therefore of definite use to the Hierarchy. He learns to distinguish the messages coming from his own soul from those which are hierarchical; his life becomes more clearly directed; he next distinguishes definitely and accurately the communications which come to him from the Ashram and which are sent out to make impression upon the minds of aspirants and disciples of all degrees and of all ray types. When he can distinguish between these various communications, then and only then does the third type of communication become possible—direct messages which are due to contact with the Master of his Ashram in person. He, by that time, possesses what has been called "the freedom of the Ashram" and "the keys to the Kingdom of God"; he can then be trusted with some of the directive potency of the Ashram itself. His thinking will then affect and reach others. This developing effectiveness grows with rapidity when the fourth type of impression is familiar to the disciple: [Page 90] that coming from the Spiritual Triad, and therefore from the Monad and Shamballa. There are consequently (to this final stage of impression) three lesser though definite states, each marking an expansion in the realm of service and each related to the last three initiations of the total possible nine initiations which confront developing humanity. The sixth initiation, in which only Masters can participate, marks a transition from the first three stages of impressibility required by the disciples as preludes to the fifth initiation—or in reality to the third, fourth and fifth—and are related to the three stages of Triadal communication, each of which is related to the seventh, the eighth and the ninth initiations.

The Universal Will is fully developed by the ninth initiation

(RI 170) Embracing, fusing and unifying the endeavour of all these groups of Ashrams, stands the living Christ, the Head of all Ashrams and the Master of the Masters, the Mediator between Shamballa and the Hierarchy and between the Hierarchy and Humanity.  Will you gain some insight into the all-pervading conditions if I state that His work of mediating between humanity and the Hierarchy was perfected by Him and carried to a conclusion when He was last on Earth, and that He is now achieving facility in the higher mediatorship which will bring about a closer relation of the Hierarchy with Shamballa at this time.  This mediatory work, based on the blending of the spiritual will (which He has already developed) with the universal will (which He is developing), marks for Him a goal which will be consummated when He takes the ninth initiation.  These are great mysteries and I only indicate them in order to convey to you a sense of the synthesis of the whole scheme and a recognition of the urge-to-good which pervades every aspect of the planetary Life from the smallest atom of substance, through all the intermediate living forms, on and up to the planetary Logos Himself.

(RI 339) This, on a tiny scale, is true of the centres in the etheric body of the disciple; they too evidence the same dual activity, once the Path of Discipleship is trodden and the Path of Initiation is entered.  The zodiacal wheel is itself essentially a cosmic centre; it is a twelve-petalled lotus, but it is a twelve-petalled lotus within the thousand-petalled lotus of an unknown cosmic Entity, the One referred to in my earlier books as the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID.

The multiplicity of zodiacal influences have eventually a dual effect:  one upon Shamballa (the planetary head centre) and the other upon the Hierarchy (the planetary heart centre); the effect is also felt in the head centre and the heart centre of every initiate.  This final dual activity is registered by the initiate of the highest degrees when he undergoes the eighth and ninth initiations; the other seven initiations are governed by the seven rays.

(RI 341) 1. The soul—in its own nature—is group conscious and has no individual ambitions or individual interests, and is not at all interested in the aims of its personality.  It is the soul which is the initiate.  Initiation is a process whereby the spiritual man within the personality becomes aware of himself as the soul, with soul powers, soul relationships, and soul purpose.  The moment a man realises this, even in a small measure, it is the group of which he is conscious.

2. Only the man whose sense of identity is beginning to expand and become inclusive can "take initiation" (as it is erroneously termed).  If initiation were a purely personal achievement, it would throw the man back into the separative consciousness, out of which he is endeavouring to escape.  This would not be spiritual progression.  Every step upon the Path of Initiation increases group recognition.  Initiation is essentially an expanding series of inclusive recognitions.

3. Initiation admits the aspirant into membership in the Hierarchy.  This involves, speaking esoterically, the relinquishing of all separative personality reactions in a series of progressive renunciations; these culminate in the fourth initiation, and are again mysteriously emphasised at the ninth initiation.

(RI 535) The first three initiations are definitely and in a most mysterious way concerned with the creative work, and with the spiritual expression in a human being of the third aspect of divinity, that of intelligent activity.  The fourth, fifth and sixth initiations are as definitely related to the second aspect of love-wisdom as it expresses itself through created forms; the seventh, eighth and ninth initiations are occultly "inspired" by the first divine aspect, that of the Will.  Only, therefore, at the ninth initiation is the human being a full and true expression of divinity; he then realises that in him all the divine aspects meet.  Through them he is consciously, creatively and constructively en rapport with the consciousness of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being.  All this is the result of a process and the effect of the inherent livingness which is found in all forms of life from the tiny atom up to Those great Lives Who are little more than names to the disciple.

(RI 608) The Principle of Conflict is the prime factor lying behind the evolution of form as the field of experience for the soul in the four kingdoms in nature: the human and the three subhuman.  It is based on the intellectual factor of discrimination which is inherent in the smallest atom of substance, and which reaches its fullest expression in advanced humanity; the indications that it has achieved its purpose, as far as humanity is concerned, are to be found in the passing through the Initiation of Renunciation.  The Principle of Decision which controls the Master governs His work within the Hierarchy, in relation to Shamballa and in connection with all the service rendered in the three worlds; it is based on the energy of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom, just as the Principle of Conflict is based on the energy of the third Ray of Active Intelligence.  [Page 609] This Principle of Decision, as a controlling factor, is put to the test at the sixth initiation, the Initiation of Decision; at that time, the will aspect of divinity summarises in a unique manner all past achievements of the two principles and brings in a final cycle of unfoldment to which I can give no truly appropriate name, but which climaxes in the ninth Initiation of Refusal.  You have, therefore, in relation to these principles (which are all related to the Law of Karma) three great initiations at which the effectiveness of the liberation brought about by their inherent action is finally tested:

1. The Initiation of Renunciation...  4th Initiation

The Principle of Conflict
Governed by Ray IV
Active in the Human Kingdom, the 4th
Leading to right Discrimination

2. The Initiation of Decision...  6th Initiation

The Principle of Decision
Governed by Ray III
Active in the Hierarchy
Leading to right Perception
and Participation

3. The Initiation of Refusal...  9th Initiation

The Principle of liberated Being (shall we call it thus?)
Governed by all three major Rays
Active in Shamballa
Leading to one or other of the 7 Paths

(RI 660) The eighth and the ninth initiations (of which neither you nor I can know practically anything) relate to the initiations of those methods and techniques whereby the "seed of will," which will later flower into the third solar system, can be nurtured and fostered and its growth promoted.  This nurturing and fostering will be the task of a group of Masters (to be developed in the next major race) Who, at the Initiation of Decision, the sixth initiation, will dedicate Themselves, as a group, to the Path of Earth Service.  They will specifically and with full enlightenment pledge Themselves to the promotion of Sanat Kumara's project.  With this our present group of Masters are not specifically [Page 661] concerned; Their task is the application of the evolutionary process with a view to the preparation of the field of the world for the future divine sowing.

(RI 696) I have hinted earlier to you that this fourth or Renunciation Initiation is closely linked with the sixth initiation and with the ninth.  The sixth initiation is only possible when the initiate has definitely made the needed renunciations; the reward is that he is then permitted to make a [Page 696] perfectly free choice and thus demonstrate his essential and gained freedom.  The ninth initiation (that of the Refusal) has in it no element of renunciation.  It is not a refusal to hold, for the initiate is at the point where he asks and holds nothing for the separated self.  At that final planetary initiation the Master is brought face to face with what might be called cosmic evil, with that reservoir of evil which cyclically overflows the world, and also with the massed group of masters of the Black Lodge.  He refuses recognition.  This I will deal with later when we take up that particular initiation.

(RI 698) This initiation is therefore, in a unique sense, a culminating experience and a point of entrance into a new life for which all the past has been a preparation.  After the ninth initiation, the Refusal Initiation, there comes a cosmic repetition of the Renunciation experience, this time [Page 698] devoid of the crucifixion aspect; the initiate at that great moment renounces or refuses contact with the cosmic physical plane on all its seven levels of awareness, unless he has chosen (at the sixth Initiation of Decision) the Path of World Service.

The seventh degree initiate needs no energy centres/chakras

And can choose to take a physical vehicle or not

(RI 699) The three lower centres are related to the three worlds of personality evolution; the three higher centres are related to hierarchical work and living and are under the control of the initiate—a control which becomes increasingly perfect until the seventh Initiation of Resurrection.  At that momentous [Page 699] resurrection, they become no longer of service; the Master needs no energy centres, and His consciousness is transcended and transformed into a type of awareness of which those who have not experienced these initiations know nothing.  If He chooses to take a physical vehicle (as many will when the Christ reappears and the Hierarchy is externalised on Earth), the Master will "function from the above to the below" and not (as is the case today with all disciples, though naturally not with the Masters) on "the below towards the above."  I am here quoting ancient phrases to be found in the archives of the Hierarchy.  They will therefore need no centres on the etheric levels of our planetary physical plane.

(RI 711) 2. The energy of the intuition, which is the word we use to describe a direct contact with the Mind of God at some relatively high level of experience.  The effect of this energy upon the soul-infused personality is to give to the mind (already receptive to the energy of ideas) some faint glimmering and brief revelation of the purpose of the ideas which underlie all hierarchical activity on behalf of humanity.  The intuition is entirely concerned with group activity; it is never interested in or directed to the revelation of anything concerned with the personality life.  The growth of what we might call the buddhic vehicle (though that is a misnomer) prepares the man for the ninth or the final initiation, which enables the initiate—in a manner incomprehensible [Page 712] to us—to "intuit" (in a blazing light) the true nature of the cosmic astral plane.  Forget not, the buddhic plane is closely allied with the cosmic astral plane, and that all intuitions when regulated require the use of the creative imagination in their working out or in their presentation to the thoughts of men.  Speaking generally, the Masters intuit those phases of the divine intention which are immediate; these constitute the "overshadowing cloud of knowable things."  These They transform into the Plan; then Their disciples—with their intuitional capacity developing slowly but steadily—begin themselves to intuit these ideas, to present them as ideals to the masses, and thus precipitate the needed aspects of the Plan on to the physical plane.

(RI 725) The revelation accorded to the Initiate in the first stage of the initiation gives Him a complete picture "in a flash of endless time" of the processes which have brought Him to this creative moment of decision.  Immediately He achieves a point of tension which He will continue to hold until the final or ninth initiation, the Initiation of Refusal, wherein He rejects, refuses or repudiates His entire past and enters upon His chosen path entirely "free of recollected concepts, but exhibiting to Those Great Lives Who welcome Him upon the new and untried path all that He is and the essence of His Being."

At the ninth initiation the initiate becomes a stationary point of light

(RI 725) This initiation is therefore governed by the third ray, the Ray of Intelligent Activity.  This ray is closely related to the mental plane of our planetary life, to the Law of Fixation and the Law of Cleavages.  Much anent this I have written earlier, and a search for the significance of certain passages in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire may bring enlightenment.  Fixation is not permitted to the eternal pilgrim upon our little planet, the Earth, but when that is left behind entirely at the ninth initiation the initiate becomes a "fixed or stationary point of light within his chosen Place, the Place of the Most High and the point of fire upon the mountain-top.  From that point he will no more go out."

At the ninth initiation the Master receives his initial contact with the Central Spiritual Sun

(RI 728) At the ninth Initiation of Refusal, the revelation presented to the Master concerns the nature of Being and of existence.  There is naught I can say to you which could be in any way explanatory of Being, for Being is related to THAT which creates, to the universal point of planetary or solar Life which is, and has ever been, responsible for the life of all forms from the greatest manifestation to the smallest.  When that revelation is accorded to the initiate, he for the first time receives his initial contact with what is called in the occult and esoteric books "the Central Spiritual Sun."  He realises for himself that those words concern a basic fact and are related to the purpose of the solar system, just as "the Heart of the Sun" revealed to him the quality of the solar system.  When it is realised that our planetary purpose is mysteriously related to the revelation of love upon our little planet, the Earth, through the process of creation, the concept emerges that there is the probability that our planet has a unique relation to the Heart of the Sun.  There are many hints for you in what I have said; they are hints to me also, only I can bring to their expansion into ascertained fact a wider knowledge than is as yet your possession.

(RI 736) Two more initiations remain to be considered, but so high is their potency and so mysterious their working that I find myself unable to deal with them in any way.  They are:

Initiation VIII.  The Great Transition

Initiation IX.  The Refusal

It will of course be apparent that the Transition referred to is related to the sixth Initiation of Decision, when the Master decides which of the seven Paths He will follow to His destined place.  I know not what the Great Refusal involves.  One thing only I know:  It indicates the Initiate's last contact with what we understand as cosmic evil, manifesting on this planet and in relation to the planet.  He is accorded this last contact, but such a contact is not based upon anything analogous to evil within Him, but is based upon the "planetary appeal for liberation."  This appeal is so strong that the Initiate—because His heart is on fire with love—is tempted to go back upon His decision and stay upon the planet with Those World Saviours Who have chosen the Path of Earth Service.  This He may not do, and in the sight of the assembled Initiates He makes His refusal and "does His whole duty as He journeys to the sacred Feet of the ONE WHO stands at the end of His chosen Path."

Again, we come up against the outstanding planetary characteristic which has been presented to us under many differing words, i.e., the sensitivity which in some form or another distinguishes each initiation.  We know it also as attraction, the sensitivity which moves outward until it attracts and draws to itself those forms of being which the initiate can instruct or aid; we know it also as the overall [Page 737] activity conferring that spiritual sensory perception which makes the initiate aware—in a universal sense—of all that concerns the sphere of influence of the Will of God.  This demonstrates particularly at the eighth Initiation of Transition.  In the ninth Initiation of Refusal, this heightened spiritual perception is presented to us under the word "Existence," for existence is a livingness coupled with awareness which "finds its own place and the spiritual house of its Being which is the true home of all Beings, but of this—our planetary forms know naught."  This the initiate has at last learnt to find, after the struggle with evil in himself, after the struggle with materialism and with evil in the human family, and after his struggle to aid in the "closing of the door where evil dwells" and his refusal to make any contact (even with good intention) with cosmic evil.

The planetary Lodge of Masters has absorbed Him and, at the final initiation, the Great Lodge on Sirius has recognised Him, and with the Black Lodge of Adepts He will have nothing to do.  He will mitigate its evil effects and will struggle to offset its results, but He knows that the final overcoming of cosmic physical evil must be undertaken by Existences much further advanced than even the Members of the Council Chamber at Shamballa; certain solar Entities and certain great Lives from Sirius are dealing with the problem.