Compilation Forty-Nine

(RI 722) It is of interest to have in mind also that at this sixth initiation a great moment of basically historic interest occurs. All the Masters Who are initiates of the sixth degree meet in conclave and together, and before making Their final decision (which will probably remove Them from the Path of Earth Service), decide what measures They propose the Hierarchy should take which will drastically and permanently affect the planet on which They have lived and for which They have worked. You will notice that I have here called Them "initiates of the sixth degree," bringing to your minds the fact that before a man takes an initiation of any degree, He is already an initiate of that degree. They in Their totality—at any given time—are the group which makes final decision anent human affairs. It was a decision made by this group of initiates during the ancient Atlantean civilisation which brought it to an end; the decision which They will make now will produce great changes in our modern civilisation. The Masters, however, do not "take this initiation" whenever They are ready to "make decision."

The opportunity comes to the Hierarchy every forty-nine years, and the year 1952 will see a group of these [Page 722] higher initiates choose the Path of Their future livingness and Being, but They will do so only after setting in motion certain energy forces which will creatively change matters on Earth. They thereby prove two things: Their grasp of world need and Their recognition of man's freewill to make decision. The last initiation of this kind was therefore held in 1903. Those prepared to pass through this initiation were faced with the fact of the emerging forces of cosmic evil; They had then to decide in what manner They should bring aid to humanity and what situation They should bring about so that mankind would be forced to recognise conditions and also make free choice and decision. What They decided to do led to the world war, to a demonstrated cleavage between right and wrong, between imprisonment and freedom, and which, in 1952 will lead to a decision—the outcome of which is hidden in the consciousness of Those Who will at that time, make it. (Written in 1949.)

At this sixth initiation the Masters Who participate in it no longer come under the jurisdiction of the Hierarchy. They have moved out from under it. Their long connection with the Hierarchy is translated to a higher centre and is transferred to Shamballa, unless (as in the case of the Christ) They choose the Path of Earth Service and return to work with the evolutions upon our planet; there are many such evolutions and several kingdoms in nature besides the human, including the deva or angel evolution.

(EH 72) The etheric body is a body composed entirely of lines of force and of points where these lines of force cross each other and thus form (in crossing) centres of energy. Where many such lines of force cross each other, you have a larger centre of energy, and where great streams of energy meet and cross, as they do in the head and up the spine, you have seven major centres. There are seven such, plus twenty-one lesser centres and forty-nine smaller centres known to the esotericists. However, we will confine ourselves at this time to the etheric body as a whole and to the seven major centres. It might be of interest to you, nevertheless, to be told where the twenty-one minor centres are to be found. They can be located at the following points:

(EH 468) Light which descends anchors itself upon the plane of temporary appearance. Seven threads it outward puts, and seven rays of light pulsate along these threads. Twenty one lesser threads are radiated thence, causing the forty-nine fires to glow and burn. Upon the plane of manifested life, the word goes forth: Behold! A man is born.

(EH 470) The second moment of brilliance comes in reverse of this process and heralds the period of restitution and the final abstraction of its own intrinsic energy by the soul. The prison house of the flesh is dissolved by the withdrawing of the light and life. The forty-nine fires within the physical organism die down; their heat and light are absorbed into the twenty-one minor points of light; these, in their turn, are absorbed by the major seven centres of energy. Then the "Word of Return" is uttered, and the consciousness aspect, the quality nature, the light and energy of the incarnating man, are withdrawn into the etheric body. The life principle withdraws, likewise, from the heart. There follows a brilliant flaring-up of pure electric light, and the "body of light" finally breaks all contact with the dense physical vehicle, focusses for a short period in the vital body, and then disappears. The act of restitution is accomplished. This entire process of the focussing of the spiritual elements in the etheric body, with the subsequent abstraction and consequent dissipation of the etheric body, would be greatly hastened by the substitution of cremation for burial.

(DINAII 103) I would like to arrest any tendency to consider one Ashram as superior to another. The forty-nine Ashrams which constitute the Hierarchy in this planetary period are some of them fully active; some are in process of formation, and some are, as yet, in a totally embryonic condition, awaiting the "focussing ability" of some initiate who is today preparing for the fifth initiation.

Essentially and potentially all the Ashrams are equal, and their quality is not competitive; all of them differ as to their planned activity—an activity which is all part of a carefully formulated hierarchical activity. This you need most carefully to remember. The devotion of a disciple to some particular Master is of no importance to that Master or to His ashramic group. It is not devotion or predilection or any personality choice which governs the formation of a Master's group. It is ancient relationships, the ability to demonstrate certain aspects of life to demanding humanity and a definite ray expression of quality which determine the hierarchical placement of aspirants in an Ashram. This will perhaps be a new thought to you and is responsible for the reason why A.A.B. has never emphasised concentration on some one of the known Masters. She has always been aware that each central Ashram has associated with it six other Ashrams which are steadily and constantly being organised to meet planetary need. You will note that I did not say "human need," for the needs of the planet which the Hierarchy has to meet embrace more than those of the fourth kingdom in nature. I would have you ponder on these points.

(EOH 527) The Hierarchy works also through the seven major Ashrams and their affiliated Ashrams, and these "seven which are the forty-nine" represent in their totality the seven rays with their subrays, and are the custodians, transmitters and distributors of the seven ray energies to the seven planetary centres and—via these seven centres—to those in the fourth kingdom in nature (as they gradually unfold over the aeons) and then, via these, to the seven centres in individual man. Such is the synthesis.

The seven major centres or Ashrams within the Hierarchy are each presided over by Masters of Chohan rank; the seven subsidiary centres or Ashrams are presided over by Masters and Adepts (of the fifth and fourth initiations), aided by initiates of the third degree and certain picked and senior disciples. Several of the seven affiliated Ashrams are, as yet, incomplete as regards personnel, but vacancies are rapidly being filled as the spiritual effects of the world war (1914-1945) make themselves felt. These effects are very real and have been a source of great encouragement to hierarchical workers.

(EOH 528) Before the Hierarchy can emerge (as is the intention), the relation between a major Ashram and its subsidiary Ashrams must be firmly established, whilst that between a major Ashram and other major Ashrams has to be brought more definitely and unquestionably closer to Shamballa, and under the influence of that great first ray centre. The energy which will align and adjust the subsidiary forty-nine Ashrams is that of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. That, however, which will bring about a similar adjusting and aligning impetus in the seven major Ashrams is the energy of the first Ray of Will or Power. I have here given you a most important item of occult information, but one which is of no importance to you individually; it serves, however, to present proof of the significant occult relation between the three planetary centres. Just as the third planetary centre, Humanity, has now reached a point of intelligent development [Page 528] so that a closer rapport can be set up between it and the Hierarchy, so the Hierarchy also has moved forward as a unit so that a closer corresponding rapport can also be set up between It and Shamballa. Just as the rapport between the Hierarchy and Humanity is established via aspirants, disciples and initiates in physical existence who are responding to the love-wisdom of the universe in some measure and who work via the intelligent people in incarnation primarily, so rapport between Shamballa and the Hierarchy is being more closely established via the senior Ashrams, and not via the secondary ones. You have, therefore, a situation which might be depicted somewhat as follows:

I. First Planetary Centre Shamballa

1. The seven Rays or the seven Spirits before the Throne.

2. Certain great Intermediaries.

3. The Council Chamber of the Lord of the World.

II. Second Planetary Centre Hierarchy

1. The seven major Chohans and Their Ashrams.

2. The forty-nine Masters of the secondary Ashrams.

3. The sum total of the secondary Ashrams.

III. Third Planetary Centre Humanity

1. Disciples in manifestation—of the seven ray types.

2. The New Group of World Servers.

3. The sum total of humanitarians, educators and men of goodwill.

This is but a rough picture and one which is not totally correct; it will, however, show you certain direct lines of contact and of relationship which are true and which will suffice to [Page 529] give you a vague and general idea of the new alignment being set up between the three major planetary centres, requiring new adjustments.

At this particular time, the emphasis of the needed alignments and adjustments with which the Hierarchy is faced is being placed upon activity within the Hierarchy Itself. The secondary Ashrams are being stimulated; new ones are being gradually formed, for there are not as yet forty-nine minor Ashrams; vacancies in the major Ashrams are being filled as rapidly as possible from the ranks of those working in minor Ashrams and the places of these latter are being taken by accepted disciples who are being fitted for this work through experience, difficulties and the tension of world service. All these changes necessitate much adjustment. The interior work of hierarchical alignment is in the charge of the Chohans of the Major Ashrams, whilst the task of superintending the interior adjustments incident to new alignments and the admission of new personnel is being watched over and directed by the forty-nine Masters who are in charge of minor Ashrams—either Ashrams with what is regarded as a full complement of workers, or Ashrams in process of attaining that full complement, or embryonic Ashrams of which there are already quite a few.

(IHS 51) The workers, or adepts, concerned with the evolution of the human family, comprise sixty-three, if the three great Lords are counted in making the nine times seven necessary for the work. Of these forty-nine work exoterically, if it might be so expressed, and fourteen esoterically, being more concerned with the subjective manifestation. Not many of Their names are known to the public, nor would it be wise in many cases to reveal Who They are, where They dwell, and what is Their particular sphere of activity. A very small minority, through group karma and a willingness thus to sacrifice Themselves, have come before the public eye during the past one hundred years, and therefore concerning these, certain information may be given out.

(IHS 153) Seven Great Words, again based on the sacred three sounds A U M. These produced creation, or the manifestation of the seven planes of our solar system. They are committed not to human entities, but to the seven great Devas or Raja-Lords who are the ensouling lives of a plane; hence in the various initiations their collaboration is necessary, before these key words can be committed to the initiate.

4. Forty-nine Words related to the forty-nine subplanes or Fires. These again are committed to the forty-nine Builders of the Sacred Fires.

(IHS 187) The Path of Training for Planetary Logoi.

This Path is trodden by those who will take up the work of the seven Planetary Logoi of the next system, and of the forty-nine sub-planetary Logoi, Their assistants, and of certain other Entities working in that particular department. There will be seven systems, though we are only concerned with the three major systems, of which our present system is the second major system. Each Chohan of a ray takes a certain number of initiates of the sixth initiation and trains them specially for this work; special aptitude in colour and sound predisposes the choice, and the ability to work with "psyche," or the spirits in evolution marks a man out for this high post. We might say that the Planetary Logoi are the divine psychologists, and therefore in the training for this post psychology is the basic subject, though it is a psychology inconceivable as yet to us. Every Planetary Logos has, in His own special planet, schools for the development of subordinate Logoi, and there trains Them for this high office, giving Them opportunity for wide experience. Even [Page 188] the Logoi Themselves progress onward, and Their places must be taken.

(OM 29) The polarisation shifts during the fifth period (the period of the Path of Initiation) entirely from the Personality to the Ego, until, at the close of that period, liberation is complete, and the man is set free. Even the [Page 29] causal body is known as a limitation and the emancipation is completed. The polarisation then shifts higher into the Triad—the shifting beginning at the third Initiation. The physical permanent atom goes and the polarisation becomes higher mental; the emotional permanent atom goes and the polarisation becomes intuitional; the mental unit goes and the polarisation becomes spiritual. The man then becomes a Master of the Wisdom and is of the symbolic age of forty-two, the point of perfected maturity in the solar system.

A still later period comes, corresponding to the ages forty-two to forty-nine, wherein the sixth and seventh Initiations may be taken, but this period concerns not the readers of these letters....

(TEV 132) Statement Three.

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.

(TEV 151) 3. These channels or tubes—according to the type of energy they carry—pass to certain areas of the body, via three main stations:

a. The seven major centres, of which you have heard much.

b. The twenty-one minor centres, which I outlined for you earlier.*

c. The forty-nine focal points, scattered all over the body.

4. All these centres and focal points for the transmission of energy are connected each with each by larger channels than the mass of channels which constitute the etheric body as a whole, because many lesser channels and lines of force or energy merge and blend as they near a centre or a focal point.

(CF 31) The matter of Fohat circulateth, and its fire hardeneth all the forms. The wheel that is not glimpsed moveth in rapid revolution within the slower outer case, till it weareth out the form.

The forty-nine fires burn at the inner centre. The thirty-five circulating fiery vortices extend along the circle of the periphery. Between the two passeth in ordered sequence the various coloured flames.

The great Triangles in their just arrangement hold hid the secret of the wheel of life. The cosmic fire radiates as directed from the second sphere, controlled by the Ruler of the merging ray. The cohorts of the third encircling sphere in varied ranks mark out the lesser threes.

The wheel of life still moves within the form. The devas of the fourth connect the thirty-five, and blend them with the central forty-nine. Above they work, seeking to merge the whole. Upward they strive, who in their myriad forms revolve within the wheels of lesser magnitude. The whole is one, yet on the lower spheres only the forms appear. They seem in their divisions more than can be grasped or met.

(CF 166) This force originates on cosmic mental levels, from certain great foci there, descends to the cosmic astral, forming corresponding cosmic focal points, and on the fourth cosmic etheric level (the buddhic plane of our solar system) finds its outlet in certain great centres. These [Page 166] centres are again reflected or reproduced in the three worlds of human endeavor. The Heavenly Men, therefore, have centres on three solar planes, a fact to be remembered.

a. On the monadic plane, the plane of the seven Rays.

b. On the buddhic plane, where the Masters and their disciples form the forty-nine centres in the bodies of the seven Heavenly Men.

c. On the fourth etheric physical plane, where the sacred planets, the dense bodies in etheric matter of the Heavenly Men, are to be found.

(CF 273) d. The Heavenly Men form the seven centres in the body of the Logos. Therefore, They are the spheres of fire which animate His body, and each of Them expresses one form of His force manifestation, according to Their place within the body.

e. Human beings, when centred within their groups on causal levels, form one or other of the seven centres in the body of a Heavenly Man.

f. The solar Logos forms one centre in the body of a still greater cosmic ENTITY. Human beings therefore [Page 273] find their place within one of the forty-nine centres (not groups, for a centre may be made up of many groups, corresponding to the different parts) of the seven Heavenly Men.

A Heavenly Man, with His seven centres, forms one centre in the body of the solar Logos. I would here point out to you the close connection existing between the seven Rishis of the Great Bear and the seven Heavenly Men. The seven Rishis of the Great Bear are to Them what the Monad is to the evolving human unit.

(CF 331) The question of the electrical manifestation of the akasha on the seven planes has therefore to be studied in its three main divisions, then plane by plane or the sevenfold consideration, and finally as the forty-nine [Page 331] fires. Throughout it must be recollected that the subject is still further complicated by the factor of time which brings these forty-nine fires at different stages under different spheres of influence and under the three laws of the cosmos. Thus the same fire at different periods will show itself forth as constructive light, or again bring about combustion and eventual obscuration as the result of burning out.

(CF 367) Perhaps a hint may be given in pointing out that there is an analogy between the coming in of the Ego in full sway and its taking hold at certain periods in the life of a human being. At seven years we are told the Ego "takes hold," and again at adolescence; at twenty-one that hold may be made still firmer. Again, as lives are passed, the Ego (in connection with a human being) grips its vehicles and so sways them to his purpose with more effect and fullness. The same procedure can be seen in relation to a Heavenly Man and His body of manifestation, a scheme. It must be remembered that every scheme has seven chains; that each chain has seven globes, making a totality of forty-nine globes; [Page 367] that each globe is again in turn occupied by the life of the Logos during what we call seven rounds, making literally three hundred and forty-three incarnations, or fresh impulses to manifest. We must add to these major manifestations such lesser ones as those named by us root-races, and subraces, also branch races, and thus we are faced with a complexity that is enough to stagger the average student. The planetary wheel of life turns on its lesser scale the wheel of life of the little pilgrim we call man; as it turns, it sweeps the life of the evolving planetary Logos into ever new forms and experiences until the fire of Spirit burns up all lesser fires.

(CF 382) The planetary angle. This point of view concerns itself with the history of the individual scheme, and with the consciousness, and evolution of some particular Heavenly Man. The student in studying along these lines must endeavour to get some grasp of the scheme as a unit, as a body corporate with its seven centres and forty-nine globes, and with the triangle formed between them.

(CF 510) It might be of value here if I pointed out that the Egoic Ray of the human unit67 with which we are concerning [Page 510] ourselves, manifests as regards each ray just as does the logoic manifestation. Each of the seven Rays, viewed in connection with the causal bodies of men, demonstrates as a unity on the first subplane, as a triplicity on the second and as seven on the third, forming there the forty-nine groups which most concern evolving man. According to the angle of vision, this numbering of groups may be increased or lessened, but for purposes of studying the aspects of mind, the above enumeration suffices. In the course of his many septenary lives, and as the cyclic sevens pass over him, man passes under the influence of the seven sub-rays of his own Ray. Then he begins to synthesise and merge the seven into the major three sub-rays, returning thus to unity on his own egoic Ray.

(CF 522) Each of the three Persons of the Trinity manifests equally as does a man, as Spirit, Soul or Ego, and Substance. In connection with Brahma, we have the Spirit aspect animating the three higher subplanes of every plane, or the first fire aspect. His soul aspect is found on the fourth subplane of each plane whereon are situated the etheric centres of all manifested entities. His substance aspect is primarily contacted on the three lower subplanes. Hence we have the forty-nine fires of matter, or the seven fires of each plane, the union of the higher three and the lower three producing that blaze which we call the wheels of fire or the centres on the fourth subplane of each plane.

(CF 533) 14. It should be noted that in this solar system the following entities manifest through:

I. One permanent atom . . . the physical.

2. The three major Rays, or Lords of Aspect.

3. The seven Heavenly Men.

4. The forty-nine Regents of the planetary chains.

II. Two permanent atoms . . . the physical and the astral.

1. The seven Lords of the globes in every chain.

2. The forty-nine Root Manus.

3. The seventy-seven Embodiers of form—a group of solar Lords Who are concerned with form building, working primarily on the first ray.

4. Certain of the Avatars, Who are selected by the Logos to carry a certain type of force at stated intervals and thus further the evolution of the psyche.

1V. Through four permanent atoms . . . physical, astral, mental and buddhic.

1. Eight groups of solar Entities Who form the subjective life of the seven centres in the body of Brahma, viewing Him as a separate cosmic Entity, [Page 534] dissociated from His two brothers. They are the seven Sons of Fohat, with the eighth Son included, and They are the final differentiation of the forty-nine fires, prior to Their union with the fire of Eros. Thus is it expressed by H. P. B.74

(CF 535) The entities who are the sum-total of group consciousness on egoic levels, remembering that these groups are differentiated and are formed of aggregates of seven, until there are formed forty-nine groups of seven egoic vehicles forming one group which is the body of this lesser solar Deity. There is a multiplicity of these groups of forty-nine. This has been somewhat stated before when it has been [Page 535] announced that a Master with His particular band of disciples and initiates form a group or force centre. These groups have their permanent atoms as do all lives seeking objective expression.

(CF 602) We proceed now to take up the consideration of the Ruler of Fire, AGNI, and are brought to the study of the vitality that energises and the Life that animates; to the contemplation of the Fire that drives, propels, and produces the activity and organisation of all forms. The realisation of this will reveal the fact that what we are dealing with is the "Life and the lives,"86 as it is called87 [Page 602] in the Secret Doctrine; with Agni, the Lord of Fire, the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer; and with the forty-nine fires through which He manifests. We are dealing with solar fire per se, with the essence of thought, with the coherent life of all forms, with the consciousness in its evolving aspect, or with Agni, the sumtotal of the Gods. He is Vishnu and the Sun in His glory; He is the fire of matter and the fire of mind blended and fused; He is the intelligence which throbs in every atom; He is the Mind that actuates the system; He is the fire of substance and the substance of the fire; He is the Flame and that which the Flame destroys.

a. The seven Fires form the forty-nine Fires.

b. The seven Heavenly Men manifest through forty-nine lesser Rays.

c. The seven Spirits shew forth as forty-nine Existences.

In connection with the Spirit aspect it will prove unprofitable to carry the thought any further. Of Spirit per se we can know nothing, and beyond predicating the forty-nine solar Manus (each of the Heavenly Men is expressing Himself on the physical plane through seven Manus) it is impossible to go. Therefore, in discussing these abstract questions, we will concern ourselves only with the seven Rays of Light, or Heavenly Men, and the seven Fires.

Each of the seven Rays of Light differentiates into seven making the forty-nine aspects of the logoic psychic nature, as it shews itself on the cosmic physical plane, and each of the seven Fires manifests as seven lesser Fires, making the forty-nine Fires referred to by H. P. B. in the Secret Doctrine.6 The seven Heavenly Men manifest each through seven lesser Entities, Who form the psychic centres in Their body in the same manner as They—in Their turn—form the psychic centres in the logoic vahan or vehicle. Each of the seven Fires, or Deva Lords, of a plane manifest through seven lesser devas, who form the central fire, and consciousness of the substance of a subplane. It is with their mutual interplay and work that we are now concerned, or with the study of matter as it is affected and built into form through the medium of Divine Thought or Will.

(CF 635) The Agnichaitans—Physical Plane Devas.

These devas are the sumtotal of physical plane substance. This plane is, as we know, divided into two parts:

The four ethers, four subplanes.

The demonstrably concrete or dense three subplanes.

We have here a subdivision of the seventh subplane of the cosmic physical plane making the lowest manifestation one that is divided into forty-nine subplanes or states of activity. For purposes of active work, the devas of the system are divided into forty-nine groups—the forty-nine fires. The Agnichaitans in turn are also divided into forty-nine groups, thus reflecting the whole.

1. The Raja-Lord. Kshiti. The life of the physical plane.

2. Three groups of Agnichaitans concerned with:

A. The force or energy of physical substance. That electrical aspect which produces activity.

B. The construction of forms. They produce the union of negative and positive substance, and thus bring into being all that can be seen, and touched in the exoteric and ordinary connotation.

C. The internal heat of substance which nourishes and causes reproduction. They form the purely mother aspect.

These three groups are subdivided again into seven groups which form the matter of each subplane, viewing that matter as the body of manifestation of one of the seven devas through whom the Raja-Lord of the plane is manifesting.

These seven groups are again divided into seven, making forty-nine.

(CF 857) These records are mostly used by the Lord of the World and His pupils to ascertain information in connection with the planetary centres. They are arranged in such a way that the entire record of any group, however vast and extensive, is embodied in seven sheets of symbols, each containing forty-nine symbols. These sheets are changed and corrected once every seven years, and are precipitated on astral matter by an effort of will by the Chohan responsible for the particular group involved.

(CF 879) 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 [Page 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.

(CF 902) The devas of the sixth physical subplane can be divided into three groups, and these again into seven and into forty-nine, thus corresponding with all groups in the solar system. These groups (in their essential nature) respond to that "which lies above more than that which lies below," which is only an occult way of expressing a relationship of an intimate nature between the devas of fire and the devas of water, and a negation of a close connection between the water devas and the earth. Occultly expressed, through the action of the fire devas, the water devas find liberation.

(CF 906) Just as each plane has its seven subplanes, so likewise each subplane can be subdivided, thus making forty-nine fires on every plane, or the three hundred and forty-three fires of the solar system. Herein can be found the clue to the mystery of the "fourth between the three" [Page 906] which has at times bewildered students of the occult records. There are several ways of reading these figures, 3 4 3, but the only occult method which can be hinted at here, lies in the recognition of the three higher planes, the three lower planes, the fourth plane of meeting between them. This fourth plane has occultly been called "the meeting place." When it is remembered that the goal for these gaseous devas is the fourth cosmic ether, or the buddhic plane and that they (in their major and minor groups) are the internal macrocosmic and microcosmic fires, some idea may be gained as to the true significance of the eventual at-one-ment between the two lines of evolution for the goal for man likewise is the buddhic plane.

(CF 927) The logoic septenary word...The fourth plane...The seven syllabled Word. The logoic etheric Centres become active

The etheric body of the solar system is now complete, though it will not be perfected till the end of another manvantara. The greater body of vitality is ready to energise the dense physical vehicle. The seven centres with their forty-nine major petals are vibrant, and consciousness thrills through every atom in the system.

(CF 929) The logoic Song of Love or Desire...The Sixth plane...A poem in forty-two verses. The logoic liquid body.

This song or vibration causes the bringing in of a body of devas from the logoic heart centre to swell the efforts of those already active. The liquid body of the solar Logos appears, and the form exists in its six differentiations. Concretion is very rapid, and activity is considerably more violent owing to the greater density of the accruing substance.

The logoic Book of Life...Seventh plane...Exists in forty-nine chapters.

The entire form stands revealed. During evolution it must manifest its purpose and its nature. A third group [Page 929] of devas from the logoic throat centre appear, and cooperate with their brothers. All the fires are burning, all the centres are active, and every petal, forty-nine in number, on the fourth plane of Buddhi is producing a reflex activity upon the dense physical plane.

(CF 1018) One of the fundamental concepts which is grasped by all magical workers, is that both will and desire are force emanations. They differ in quality and vibration, but are essentially currents of energy, one forming an initial vortex or centre of activity, being centrifugal, and the other being centripetal, and the main factor in the accretion of matter into a form around the central vortex. This can be seen demonstrating in an interesting way in the case of the egoic lotus, where we have the will aspect forming the "jewel in the lotus," or the inner [Page 1018] centre of electrical energy, and the desire or love aspect forming the egoic lotus itself, or the form which hides the centre. The analogy in all form building holds good for gods, men and atoms. The solar system is (from the higher cosmic planes), seen as a vast blue lotus, and so on down the scale; even the tiny atom of substance can be so considered. The distinction between these various lotuses exists in the number and arrangement of the petals. The solar system is literally a twelve-petalled lotus, each petal being formed of forty-nine lesser petals. The planetary lotuses differ in each scheme, and one of the secrets of initiation is revealed when the number of the petals of

(CF 1086) A cosmic wheel, or a group of seven constellations. These are grouped according to:

d. Their influence upon each other.

These cosmic wheels, according to the esoteric books, are divided into forty-nine groups, each comprising millions of septenary constellations. For purposes of study by the Adepts, they are each known by a symbol, and these forty-nine symbols embody all that can be apprehended anent the size, magnitude, quality, vibratory activity, and objective of those great forms through which an Existence is experiencing. The Chohans of high degree [Page 1086] know the forty-nine sounds which give the quality of the consciousness aspect of these great Beings Who are as far removed from the consciousness of our solar Logos as the consciousness of man is removed from that of a crystal. The knowledge thus appreciated by the Chohans is naturally but theoretical and conveys only to their relatively limited consciousness the general nature of the group of constellations, and the force occasionally emanating from them which has at times to be taken into calculation. For instance, the interest awakened in the public mind lately by the giant star Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion is due to the fact that at this particular time there has been an interplay of force between our tiny system and this giant one, and communication between the two informing Existences.

(CF 1093) here is also, the Wheel of a race, or the lesser cycle of incarnations—forming a definite series—wherein the incarnating Monad cycles through a number of lives in a particular race.

All these cycles of periodic manifestation are concerned primarily with the appearance, or the manifesting of the "sparks" upon one or other of the three planes in the three worlds, or in some part of the physical body of the planetary Logos. The lesser cycles deal with this; the greater turning of the wheel concerns also the appearance, or flashing forth, of the sparks in the planetary or systemic etheric body, or on the four higher planes of our solar system. We can picture to ourselves the glory of this concept; the downpouring of the streams of fiery sparks; their flashing forth into points of intensified fire as they meet conditions which produce occult "ignition"; and the constant circulation of the forty-nine fires constructed of the sixty thousand million human Monads and the countless streams of deva monads: fire on every side—a network of fiery rivers of living energy, focal points of intensified brilliancy and everywhere the sparks.

(CF 1196) Each of these groups of beings is likewise septenary in nature, and the forty-nine fires of Brahma are the lowest manifestation of their fiery nature. Each group also may be regarded as "fallen" in the cosmic sense, because involved in the building process, or the occupiers of forms of some degree of density or another.

(EPI 7) The energies into which the three distribute themselves, thus becoming seven, in their turn produce the forty-nine types of force which express themselves through all the forms in the three worlds and the four kingdoms in nature. You have therefore:

a. Three monadic groups of energies. The essential Unity expresses, through these three, the qualities of Will, Love and Intelligence.

b. Seven groups of energies which are the medium through which the three major groups express the divine qualities.

c. Forty-nine groups of forces to which all forms respond and which constitute the body of expression for the seven, who in their turn are reflections of the three divine qualities.

(EPI 20) The seven ray types must be dealt with entirely from the human angle, for this treatise is intended to give the new psychological approach to man through an understanding of the energies, seven in number, with their forty-nine differentiations, which animate him and make him what he is. Later, as we take up each ray [Page 20] type, we shall subject man to a close analysis and study his reactions in these three directions.

(EPI 316) We speak of him technically as Monad-ego-personality. We define him as spirit-soul-body. I should like to point out here that in studying the human family as a unit and as a whole, it also will be discovered to be essentially a Monad, with seven egoic groups, within which all souls (in incarnation and out of incarnation) find their place, and with forty-nine corresponding racial forms through which the seven groups of souls cyclically express themselves.

(RI 65) The third great demand has in it a different implication, and sounds forth, we are told, "through the fires." In this solar system there is no evading the fire. It is found at all levels of divine expression as we well know from our study of the three fires—fire by friction, solar fire and electric fire, with their differentiations, the forty-nine fires—of the seven planes. Always, therefore, whether it is the cry of the disciple or the demand of the initiate, the sound goes forth "through the fire, to the fire, and from the fire."

(RI 142) Few of the great Lives Who form the inner group of the Council Chamber at Shamballa are now of [Page 142] greater advancement than he; the "Supernal Three," the "Radiant Seven," the "Lives embodying the forty-nine Fires," the "Buddhas of Activity," and certain "Eternal Spirits" from such centres of dynamic spiritual life as Sirius, or from the constellation which at any one time forms a triangle with our Sun and Sirius" and a Representative from Venus are of greater—far greater—advancement. Otherwise, all initiates of the sixth degree, and a few of the Masters Who have undergone specialised training because They are upon the first Ray of Will or Power (the ray conditioning Shamballa itself), form part of the Great Council. Many Masters and Chohans, however, after serving upon the planet in various capacities, working with the Law of Evolution, pass out of our planetary life altogether.

(RI 370) It must be borne in mind that the Council Chamber of the Lord at Shamballa is a unit, but that the Hierarchy is a differentiation of this basic unity into the seven major Ashrams and the forty-nine Ashrams which are gradually forming. The Hierarchy is, however, a unity within itself, for the entire ashramic life is guarded by a ring-pass-not, created by its radiation; the seven and the forty-nine Ashrams are held together by the magnetic interplay of the whole. It is this radiation which affects by its quality the senior aspirants in the world, and draws them gradually into relationship with itself and finally into its magnetic field. This is aided by the clarity of perception, the intensification of the livingness of the rightly oriented aspirant. I prefer the word "livingness" to that of "vibration," so widely used in modern occultism.

(CF 378) To return to our theme, which is the expression of the great Ashram through the medium of the seven Ashrams, it is this magnetic energy of the first aspect which is found at the heart of the seven Ashrams, energised and enlightened from the reservoir of will energy found at the heart of the great Ashram itself. This reservoir is fed from the "centre where the will of God is known," and the directing agent of this energy, within the Hierarchy itself, is the Christ and His two Associates, the Manu and the Mahachohan. The forty-nine subsidiary Ashrams (not all of which are yet functioning) are energised by the potency of will from the reservoir of energy at the heart of each major Ashram, these in their turn being fed from the central reservoir. The correspondence of this in the human centres is called the "jewel in the lotus."

Let us now study the formation of the great Ashram and then (this will have more meaning for you) the gradual formation of the seven Ashrams under direct ray activity. This process lies in the past history of humanity and I shall only briefly touch upon it. Once formed, it became the task of these seven Ashrams to produce the forty-two Ashrams. These seven Ashrams express ray qualities, and the whole forty-nine are expressive of the forty-nine fires, referred to in The Secret Doctrine; through these fires, the God of Fire seeks to make Himself known.

(CF 388) As the centuries have slipped away and the potency of the rays has increased on Earth, humanity has become more and more invocative; this has necessitated the expansion of [Page 388] the Hierarchy itself, and each Ashram has become the creator of six other Ashrams (few of them as yet complete, and some entirely embryonic), so that, in fact, all the forty-nine Ashrams are in the making. The second ray, for instance, has five affiliated Ashrams and one of which only the nucleus exists, and all these are working under its inspiration and through the effect of the second ray central fire. All have at their centre a second ray disciple. The third ray has already two subsidiary Ashrams; the sixth has four, and so on. The first ray is the only one at this time with no subsidiary fully functioning Ashram, and this because the will aspect is as yet very little understood and few initiates can meet the requirements of the first ray initiation. This is no reflection upon humanity. It is a question of divine timing and expediency, and Shamballa is not yet prepared for an influx of first ray initiates. Ages must pass before this Will aspect will have reached the stage of unfoldment and expression on the physical plane and through the medium of mankind which will warrant the fusing of six first ray fires—the purest fires there are.