Compilation Round

 

 

The highest development of manas in this 4th round will take place during the next 500 years

(CF 499) b. Synthesis.  We have seen that during the coming races and subraces certain very definite development may be looked for in connection with manasic unfoldment; and it is worth while to note particularly that as far as the evolution of manas in this round is concerned its highest efflorescence may be looked for during the next five hundred years.  The coming in of the two final root races marks the point of synthesis, and the gradual utilisation of that which has been manasically achieved; this will be brought about by a development of abstract thought, and of intuitive recognition……..

 

The highwatermark for each round for the 3 Monadic Rays

3rd Ray Monads-relative achievement-5th Root-Race of 4th Round

2nd Ray Monads-relative achievement-6th Root-Race of 4th Round

1st Ray Monads-relative achievement-7th Root-Race of 4th Round

(EPI 318) The fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict leads from the period of that terrific balancing of forces in Atlantis (the [Page 318] fourth race) to the sanctified and free devotion of one-pointedness in the next or sixth race, with two lines of energy consummating in it.  It marks the point of achievement of the Monads of Love, Who arrive at the expression of Love-Wisdom.  The final race marks the point of achievement for the Monads of Will, just as the present Aryan race marks, and will mark, the achievement of the Monads of Intelligence.  This warrants thought.  It is a relative achievement, for this is the fourth round, but there is necessarily a "highwater mark," if I might so call it, for each round.

 

(EPI 243) Towards the close of this round, the monadic ray of the advanced units of humanity will be so powerful that there will be a marked pouring in of ray one, with its stimulation of the individual will.

 

The many thousand Monads taking the 5th initiation in the near future are most likely 3rd ray Monads because this 5th root-race is essentially their root-race

(RI 648)  It must not be inferred from the above that humanity as a whole, will be taking the fifth initiation, for such is not the case. Many advanced souls (perhaps amounting to many thousands) may and will take this initiation…

 

 

Cessation of the activities of the Black Lodge in the 6th Round

(WM 543)  It is perhaps as well, [Page 544] for their destiny is tied up with the future race, the sixth, and their end and the cessation of their activities will come about in that far distant aeon which is technically called the Sixth Round.  The final break or division between the so-called black and white forces, for this particular world cycle, will take place during the period of the sixth root race in the present round……..

 

The next (5th) round is several million years away from us at this time

(HIS 35) 2. To open another door, and permit members of the human family who were willing to undergo the necessary discipline and to make the required stupendous effort, to enter the fifth or spiritual kingdom.  In this way the ranks of the Hierarchy could be filled by the members of earth's humanity who qualified.  This door is called the Portal of Initiation, and still remains open upon the same terms as laid down by the Lord of the World in Atlantean days.  These terms will be stated in the last chapter of this book.  The door between the human and animal kingdoms will again be opened during the next great cycle, or "round" as it is called in some books, but as this is several million years away from us at this time, we are not concerned with it.

 

The fifth round will be the round of supreme mental development

(OM 287) The next or fifth round will show the greatest exposition of this method.  It will be the round of supreme mental development, and will carry its evolving Monads to heights undreamed of now.

 

The Venus scheme is in her 5th round and last round

(CF 368) The Venusian scheme is—as stated in the Secret Doctrine35—in its fifth and last round; its humanity is very far ahead of ours in certain particulars, but the momentous occurrence in the third root-race was due to the following causes, and not to the factor of the greater advancement of a certain group of human beings….

 

(CF 686)  One logoic centre is responding fully to the heart stimulation, and that is Venus, who is passing through the final round.

 

 

Earth should be in her 5th round now

(CF 392) …….It is an interesting occult fact that our Earth should now be in her fifth round, and paralleling the Venusian scheme, but the moon chain of our scheme saw a period of temporary retardation of the evolutionary process of our Heavenly Man; it resulted in a temporary slowing down of His activities, and caused "lost time," if such an expression might reverently be permitted.  The Lords of the Dark Face, or the inherent forces of matter for a time achieved success, and only the fifth round of our chain will see their ultimate defeat……

 

 

The three planetary schemes wherein the great experiment of initiation is being tried are the Earth, Venus, and one other

(HIS 96)  The three planetary schemes wherein the great experiment of initiation is being tried are the Earth, Venus, and one other.  Venus was the first sphere of experiment, and the success of the endeavour and the force generated was the cause of a similar effort being made on our planet.  No planet increases its store of force, and consequently its sphere of influence, without incurring obligations and affecting other schemes; the interchange of force and energy between these two planets, Earth and Venus, is continuous.  A similar process has but lately been instituted on another planetary scheme, and when, in the next round, our Earth attains a point in evolution analogous to that of the Venusian scheme at the time its influence was felt by us, then we shall aid in the stimulation of still another group of planetary Egos; we shall assist in the institution of a similar procedure among the sons of men in another scheme.

 

(CF 1076) It is interesting to note that during this round, owing to planetary decision, the process of producing human radiation or "release" is being artificially stimulated through the method which we call initiation, and the [Page 1076] short cut to intensive purification and stimulation is open to all who are willing to pass through the divine alchemical fire.

 

The artificial process of initiation enabled Venus to complete her evolution in five rounds-same should happen with planet Earth

(CF 1076) This intensive culture is not proceeding upon all the planets but only upon a very few.  The others will run a longer cycle.  The initiatory cultural process which has in view the stimulation of magnetic radiation or transmutation is but an experiment.  It was tried first on Venus, and on the whole proved successful, resulting in the consummation of the planetary purpose in five rounds instead of seven. 

 

 

This round (the 4th) marks the height of the second method, that through love or wisdom.  It is the fourth round, that wherein the emotional reaches a high point of vibration, and there is direct connection between the fourth plane of harmony, between the emotional body, or the fourth principle, the quaternary, the fourth root-race or the Atlantean which co-ordinated the astral.  I give you food for thought in these correspondences.

 

The fourth ray is the dominant ray of the fourth round

(CF 441) the fourth Ray of Harmony, which is the dominant ray of the greater cycle which includes the fourth round and globe, and the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Magic, which is one of the foremost influences concerned in all objective manifestations.  These two Rays, or the force of these two planetary Logoi, are largely instrumental in bringing about coherency in our chain, the fourth of the fourth scheme, and on our physical globe, the Earth.  The fourth and the seventh interact, one acting temporarily as a negative force and the other as a positive.

 

The seventh ray is one of the three major rays in this 4th round

(OM 224) ……………It has special application now in the coming in of the violet ray, the seventh ray being one of the three major rays in this round; it wields power in ratio to the four, on the four and under the four.

 

Usually four rays active at any one time

(OM 243) In this fourth round usually four rays are in flux at any one given time………

 

(CF 425) d. During the remainder of this round and the entire fifth round these four rays of attribute will circulate into and out of power ceaselessly; towards the end of the fifth round the third Ray of Aspect will predominate………….

 

at no time in this round are more than four types of men in incarnation at any one time”

(EPI 124) These violet devas of the four ethers form, as you may imagine, four great groups with seven subsidiary divisions. These four groups work with the four types of men now in incarnation, for it is a statement of fact that at no time in this round are more than four types of men in incarnation at any one time.  Four rays dominate at any given period, with one in excess of the other three.  I mean by this, that only four rays are in physical incarnation; for on the plane of the soul all [Page 124] seven types are of course found. 

 

Crucial ref- “The ray of the ego varies from round to round, and, in more evolved souls, from race to race, and comprises one of the five rays of our present evolution.”

(WM 112) The sub-ray on which a man is found, that minor ray which varies from incarnation to incarnation, largely gives him his coloring for this life.  It is his secondary hue.  Forget not, the primary ray of the Monad continues through the aeon.  It changes not.  It is one of the three primary rays that eventually synthesise the sons of men.  The ray of the ego varies from round to round, and, in more evolved souls, from race to race, and comprises one of the five rays of our present evolution.  It is the predominating ray to which a man's causal body vibrates.  It may correspond to the ray of the monad, or it may be one of the complementary colours to the primary.  The ray of the personality varies from [Page 112] life to life, till the gamut of the seven sub-rays of the Monadic ray has been passed through.

 

Definition of the inner round

(CF 1164) These centres, with no dense physical globe, constitute what has sometimes been called "the inner round" and transmit their force through those greater centres which have been spoken of in occult books as having a connection with the inner round.

 

(HIS 129)  It has its place and function in certain ceremonies connected with the inner round, and the triangle formed by the Earth, Mars, and Mercury.

 

Mars, Mercury and Earth, in connection with the inner round are considered only as existing in etheric matter

(CF 1176) ……………This [Page 1176] round is followed only by a prepared percentage of humanity, and is closely associated with a group who pass with facility and develop with equal facility on the three planets that make a triangle with the earth, namely Mars, Mercury, and Earth.  These three planets—in connection with this inner round—are considered only as existing in etheric matter, and (in relation to one of the Heavenly Men) hold a place analogous to the etheric triangle found in the human etheric body.  I have here conveyed more than has as yet been exoterically communicated anent this inner round and by the study of the human etheric triangle, its function, and the type of force which circulates around it, much may be deduced about the planetary inner round…………. 

 

“The "coming-in" of advanced Egos from the inner round”

(CF 851) The "coming-in" of advanced Egos from the inner round, or from other planetary schemes, or from subtler spheres where they have been in pralaya awaiting opportunity is produced in a triple manner and is the result of a triple activity.  It is caused by an understanding between the planetary Logos of a scheme, and a brother planetary Logos whereby an exchange is effected.  The student must here think in terms of force and energy, of magnetic interaction and the conscious transmission of energy out of the body of the planetary Logos, via centres or a centre, into the body of another planetary Logos.  The cause here is the will or purpose, the object is sensation, and the method is force transference.  Exactly the same understanding lies back of the coming in of egos from the inner round, only this time the energy is sent forth by certain existences (working in connection with any planetary Logos) who are the "custodians of the inner circle."  This touches upon a mystery and deals with the coming-in of high Egos, of Avatars, of Buddhas, [Page 852] of masters, of initiates, and of disciples, and of all who have to wait for group, and not individual, urge for the fulfillment of cyclic karma on a large scale, and whose "wheels" are controlled by cosmic forces and not by purely systemic forces.

 

 

 

The basic astrological lineup no matter what your personal ray structure is

Monad=Sun (veiling Uranus) (head chakra)

Soul=Venus (heart chakra)

Personality=Earth (base chakra)

(CF 1076) This intensive culture is not proceeding upon all the planets but only upon a very few.  The others will run a longer cycle.  The initiatory cultural process which has in view the stimulation of magnetic radiation or transmutation is but an experiment.  It was tried first on Venus, and on the whole proved successful, resulting in the consummation of the planetary purpose in five rounds instead of seven.  This was what made it possible to utilise Venusian energy upon the Venus chain and the Venus globe of our scheme and thus cause the phenomenon of forced individualisation in Lemurian days.  It was the intensive stimulation of the third kingdom of nature during the third root race which artificially unified the three aspects.  The process of stimulating through the medium of Venusian energy was really begun in the third round when the triangle of force was completed, and ready to function.  It is this factor which occultly makes the third Initiation of such tremendous importance.  In it the human triangle is linked, the Monad, the [Page 1077] Ego and the personality, or Venus, the Sun and the Earth are symbolically allied.

 

(EA 25)  This is repeated in the human frame and the four lower centres eventually return that which has come to them. They thus reverse the process normally followed and the centres above the diaphragm become radio-active, dynamic and magnetic. This is an intricate occult study and is concerned with the response of the etheric body to the incoming energies. It relates finally the lowest centre at the base of the spine to the highest centre, the head centre. This is a correspondence to the relation of the Earth to the Sun. Think this out.

 

(CF 774)  In each round one of the spirillae has been 'created,' and in this fourth round (through the creation of the fourth spirilla) the fourth or human kingdom can come into being.  The word 'creation' must be occultly understood, and means the appearance in active manifestation of some form of energy.  Only in the next round will the fifth spirilla be an active functioning unit in a sense incomprehensible now.

 

(CF 740) This period of conscious activity in etheric substance (of which the planetary body is formed) persists according to the karma of the planetary Lord, for the unit is now consciously associated with planetary karma, and is a participant in the working out of the will and purpose of the Lord of His Ray.  On the higher planes of the system, this stage persists for the length of the life of a scheme; to which a period of pralaya succeeds that has its beginning towards the end of the seventh round in any scheme or of the fifth if the Law of Persistence of a scheme is working out through cycles of five.  I am [Page 740] here generalising and speaking in broad terms; the karma of the units differ and a man—according to the path he chooses after the fifth initiation—stays and works within his own scheme, but changes may occur through the following factors:

 

 

Two of the schemes complete in five rounds

(CF 744) Between Two Solar Systems.  This covers the period of one hundred years of Brahma, and through the study of the planetary cycles comprehension of these greater cycles may come.  Complication comes to the student nevertheless in the fact that two of the schemes cover their cyclic periods in five rounds, while others have seven; one scheme has but three rounds, but a mystery is hidden here:  on the inner round one planet has nine cycles to run before the purpose of its Lord is completed.

 

(CF 742) Manasadevas in the solar system.  In every scheme They have Their place, but in some—as in the Jupiter scheme—They are just beginning Their work, and in others—as in the Vulcan and Venus schemes—Their work is nearly completed.  Venus is in her last round, (the 5th) and has nearly developed her fourth kingdom to perfection, or as much as it is possible in the system.  In the Earth scheme, They are in full tide of work, and only in the next round will They demonstrate the height of Their activity

 

(CF 719) .  In the next round,  (5th-round) during the fourth root race, and for a very brief period, a fresh cycle will reach its zenith, and will again open the door of individualisation in order to permit the entry of certain very advanced Egos who are seeking [Page 719] incarnation in order to carry out a special piece of work.... The Egos awaiting opportunity will not, of course, enter in until the human type of that era is sufficiently refined for their purpose.  They are concerned with the unfoldment of the sixth petal of the logoic egoic Lotus, and are of such a nature that we can scarcely conceive of them.  They are on the line of the Buddhas of Activity, but the above named are free for this mahamanvantara, whereas these particular Egos have yet somewhat to work out.  They could only "come in" in the middle of the fifth round, and were a group of initiates who arrested their own evolution (technically speaking) in order to take up a special piece of work on the planet Vulcan; therefore, they must return to continue and complete that which has been left undone.  Owing to the results of their experience on Vulcan, the physical vehicle necessitated is of such an order that they could not at this time, and in this round, incarnate without disaster.

 

(CF 706) The planetary chains embody centres, and as they are awakened and come under stimulation, they swing into physical incarnation certain types of manasaputras.  The type dominated by the fifth chain energy is little known as it is yet in process of evolution within another scheme, the fifth, so it is waste of our time to consider it.  It is connected with the unfoldment of the fifth egoic petal of a planetary Logos on His Own plane and consequently with the activity of the fifth spirilla.  When the hour strikes, these units of energy will "come in" from another scheme on a stream of cosmic energy which will swing through a particular systemic triangle, just as when the egos came in this round.

 

 (CF 647)   At each initiation of the great Being Who is manifesting through our planet, one of these petals becomes unfolded on etheric levels, so that at individualisation, the four became active, and His selfconscious activity was brought right down on to the physical plane.  The analogy can be seen typified at His great Initiation which took place in the fourth round and the third rootrace; the correspondence between the third kingdom and the fourth, and their production of the esoteric seven is one of the lines of study for the occultist.

 

(CF 571) The system of the Sirian Logos is on the cosmic mental plane.....We have the three laws of the cosmic higher planes, holding in a synthesis of beauty the greater and the lesser system.  Next we have the great law of Sirius, the Law of Karma, on the third subplane of the cosmic mental plane, which law really controls our Logos,

 

(CF 499) b. Synthesis.  We have seen that during the coming races and subraces certain very definite development may be looked for in connection with manasic unfoldment; and it is worth while to note particularly that as far as the evolution of manas in this round is concerned its highest efflorescence may be looked for during the next five hundred years.  The coming in of the two final root races marks the point of synthesis, and the gradual utilisation of that which has been manasically achieved; this will be brought about by a development of abstract thought, and of intuitive recognition

 

(CF 570) As we have been told, our seven major vibrations are the vibrations of the lowest cosmic plane; there is our habitat.  Our Logos Himself, the heart of His system, is on the cosmic astral plane; he is polarised there.  Just as the units of the fourth Creative Hierarchy, the human, are evolving through the use of physical bodies, but are polarised at this time in their astral vehicles, so we have seen that the objective solar system forms the physical body of the Logos, though His polarity is in His astral body.  It is significant that in this greater manvantara, the Logos is to take the fourth cosmic Initiation.  A hint which may enlighten lies in the correspondence which exists between this statement and the [Page 571] fourth root-race development, and this, the fourth or astral round.81

 

(CF 380) The fact therefore, that  in each chain the planetary Logos takes a different

initiation, affecting different centres; and so bringing into manifestation different entities.

 

(CF 384)  It might be here stated in connection with the planetary Logos of our scheme that:

b. He is midway through His career upon the  cosmic Path of Initiation, and consequently is to take the fourth Initiation in this chain. Well may this globe, therefore, be considered the globe of sorrow and of pain, for through it our planetary Logos is undergoing what the mystic calls "the crucifixion."

 

The Solar Logos has for objective nine initiations, the third cosmic Initiation being his goal.

Our planetary Logos has for objective seven initiations, the second cosmic Initiation being his goal.

Man has for objective five initiations, the first cosmic Initiation being his goal.

 

(CF 390) They depict only one cycle in logoic evolution, and cover only the present greater period in the working out of which we are engaged.  They might be roughly described as embracing that period in the system which began for us in the middle of the third root-race of this round and continues until the period called "the Judgment" [Page 390] in the coming fifth round.  When that time comes our planetary Logos will have attained the initiation which is His present goal; the fifth round of the Venusian scheme will be closing, and the Venus scheme will begin to pass into obscuration, preparatory to transferring her life to the synthesising planet with which she is connected; Mercury will be reaching the apotheosis of achievement, and with Mars and the Earth, will form a systemic triangle.  We are speaking here of schemes and not of chains.

 

(EOH 568) Therefore, my brothers, the closer relation of the Hierarchy to Shamballa, the stimulation of its own interior life, and the readiness of humanity for revelation and for certain unexpected development, will condition the cycle into which we are now entering. This is, therefore, the most amazing period in the history of humanity. Added to this, it must be borne in mind that we are entering another greater round of the Zodiac, and this coincides with the lesser zodiacal activity because Aquarius governs the greater immediate cycle of 25,000 years and is also the sign into which the sun is now moving for a period of 2300 years—a most amazing happening and full of import in our planetary history; it is a coincidence of which our planetary Logos is well aware and of which He is making full and intelligent use. It is a cycle also wherein, for the first time, the three major planetary centres—Shamballa, Hierarchy and Humanity—are in direct and unimpeded relation, for today the alignment is correct and adjusted for the first time in planetary history. Even if this be only temporarily so, something has been initiated, the effects of which will never be lost. It is a cycle also in which the planetary Logos, having successfully taken initiation and thus affected His entire planetary life, has also established certain extra-planetary relationships which are necessarily incomprehensible to you and of no moment whatsoever to the individual human being, but which will eventually create a situation in which our planet will become [Page 568] a sacred planet. This process, as it unfolds and develops, will have a potent subjective and deeply spiritual effect upon every kingdom in nature and in the realm also of supernature.

 

The next (5th) round is several million years away from us at this time

(HIS 35) 2. To open another door, and permit members of the human family who were willing to undergo the necessary discipline and to make the required stupendous effort, to enter the fifth or spiritual kingdom.  In this way the ranks of the Hierarchy could be filled by the members of earth's humanity who qualified.  This door is called the Portal of Initiation, and still remains open upon the same terms as laid down by the Lord of the World in Atlantean days.  These terms will be stated in the last chapter of this book.  The door between the human and animal kingdoms will again be opened during the next great cycle, or "round" as it is called in some books, but as this is several million years away from us at this time, we are not concerned with it.

 

The artificial process of initiation began during the Atlantean root-race at the end of the fourth root-race and will continue until the middle of the next round

(HIS 94) t has been emphasised many times in the occult teachings that the process of initiation, as it is usually understood, is an abnormal and not a normal one.  All progression in the realm of consciousness is naturally by a graded series of awakenings, but this would proceed much more gradually and cover a longer period of time than is the case under our present planetary conditions.  This particular mode of developing the consciousness of the human family was initiated by the Hierarchy during the Atlantean root-race at the latter end of the fourth sub-race, and will persist until the middle of the next round.  At that time the needed stimulus will have been imparted, and as three-fifths of the human family will then have esoterically "set their feet upon the path," and a large percentage of them will then be in process of becoming the Path itself, the more normal routine will again be resumed.

 

The process of stimulation of the human Egos by means of graded instructions, and the application of the dynamic electrical force of the Rod is employed on three of the planets of our system at this time.  It is instituted during every fourth round, and its peculiar interest lies in the fact that the emphasis for the fourth Creative Hierarchy in every fourth chain and globe during the fourth round is laid upon the fourth initiation, that of the Crucifixion.  The fourth Creative Hierarchy is the great expression of the conscious [Page 95] will and sacrifice of the Solar Logos, and the great symbol of the intelligent union of spirit and matter.  Hence the fourth initiation, with its presentation of these cosmic truths, and its epitomising of the purpose of this fundamental sacrifice, has a pre-eminent place.

 

(IHS 95) c. The seasons of initiation.  The Egos in incarnation on any planet will—according to ray type—be easily stimulated or not as the case may be, according to astrological conditions, and this will produce shorter or more protracted periods of development prior to or between each initiation.

 

 

(IHS 96)   the three great planetary schemes, Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn, the method of initiation will not be employed.  They will be the recipients of those who are esoterically "saved" from among the other schemes.  That is to say that all those who, in any scheme, achieve the needed expansions of consciousness (such as will be achieved by the majority of the human family prior to the middle of the next great cycle, or round), will be considered "saved," whilst the remainder will be held to be failures, and will be held over for further development during later periods, or will be transferred to those planetary schemes which from the point of view of time are not so far advanced as our Earth scheme.  These three major schemes are the absorbers and synthesisers of the energy of the others.

 

(HIS 129) The Rod of Initiation known as the "Flaming Diamond," is used by Sanat Kumara, the One Initiator.  This Rod lies hidden "in the East," and holds the fire hidden that irradiates the Wisdom Religion.  This Rod was brought by the Lord of the World from Venus, and once in every world period it is subjected to a similar process to that of the lesser Rod, only this time it is recharged by the direct action of the Logos Himself, the Logos of the solar system.  The exact location of this Rod is known only to the Lord of the World and to the Chohans of the rays, and being the talisman of this evolution the Chohan of the second ray is—under the Lord of the World—its prime guardian, aided by the deva Lord of the second plane.  The Buddhas of Activity are responsible for its custody, and under Them the Chohan of the ray.  It is produced only at stated times, when specific work has to be done.  It is used not only at the initiating of men, but at certain planetary functions of which nothing is at present known. (HIS 129)  It has its place and function in certain ceremonies connected with the inner round, and the triangle formed by the Earth, Mars, and Mercury.

 

(HIS 169) The secret of the coherence of the atom is revealed to the initiate, and he then is in a position to study the microcosm under the law of correspondences in a new and illuminating manner.  Similarly, through this revelation concerning the densest part of the logoic body, he can ascertain much concerning the previous solar system, and the facts anent the first round of our scheme.  This secret is also called "the mystery of matter."

 

(IHS 207) The "mark of the messenger" in the feet, is a reference to that well-known symbol of the wings on the heels of Mercury.  Much upon this subject will be revealed to students in occult schools who will gather together all that can be found concerning the Messenger of the Gods, and who also will study with care information which astrological [Page 207] students have gleaned anent the planet Mercury, and which occult students have gathered concerning the inner round.

 

(OM 51) These postulates are five in number—five out of a number too vast for your apprehension.  These postulates themselves are based on certain fundamental facts, and these facts (seven in number) are not as yet all comprehended.  H.P.B. touched on three in his statement of the fundamentals of the Secret Doctrine.  Four yet remain hid, though the fourth is emerging somewhat through the study of psychology and mental science.  The other three fundamentals will emerge during the next three rounds.  This round will see the apprehension of the fourth fundamental.

 

These postulates are as follows:

 

l—That all that exists is based on sound or on the Word.

2—That differentiation is the result of sound.

3—That on each plane the Word has a different effect.

 

[Page 52]

4—That according to the note of the Word, or the vibration of the sound, will the work of building-in or casting-out be accomplished.

5—That the one threefold Word has seven keys, and these seven keys have their own subtones.

 

In the apprehension of these basic facts lies hid much light on the use of the Word in meditation.

 

In the great original sounding forth of the Sacred Word (the three original Breaths, with their seven sounds,—one Breath for each of the three solar systems) the note was different, and the sounds pitched to a different key.

 

In system one, the completion of the First Breath, the culmination, was the sounding forth, in note majestic, of the note FA,—the note which forms the basic note of this system, the note of manifested nature.  This note is, and to it must be supplemented the second note for this the second system.  It is not fully sounded or rounded out, nor to the end of the greater cycle will it be completed.  The Logos sounds it now, and should He cease to breathe it forth, the whole system would disappear into complete obscuration.  It would mark the end of manifestation.

 

In system two, the present system, the keynote may not be disclosed.  It is one of the secrets of the sixth Initiation, and must not he revealed.

 

In system three the final third note will be added to the basic notes of the first and second systems, and then what will you have?  You will have the major third of the Logoic Personality in its completeness, a correspondence to the major third of the microcosm,—one note for each plane.  We have been told that the solar Logos, on the cosmic planes, works at the problem of cosmic mind; that He functions in His physical solar system, is polarised in His cosmic astral, or emotional body, and is developing [Page 53] cosmic mind.  So, on the planes of the solar system, is it as with the microcosm.  In the realisation of this correspondence and its wise application lies illumination on the use of the Sacred Word in meditation.

 

System I........corresponds to the physical body.

System II.......corresponds to the emotional body.

System III......corresponds to the mental body.

 

 

(OM 214) That each of these three colours and the other two are only understood as yet through four of their lesser sub-rays.  This is the fourth round and only four sub-rays of these colours have as yet been glimpsed.  By remembering these three points undue emphasis will not be laid upon apparent information, and the student will wisely reserve his opinion.

 

(OM 223) 3. That he remembers ever that perfection, as we know it, is only partial and not real, and that even perfection itself—as grasped by the mind of man, is but illusion, and that only the next logoic manifestation will reveal the ultimate glory in view.  As long as there is differentiated colour there is imperfection.  Remember, colour as we know it is the realisation by the man using a fifth root-race body in the fourth round on the fourth chain, of a vibration that contacts the human eye.  What then will [Page 223] colour be as visioned by a man of the seventh round in a seventh root-race body?  Even then a whole range of colours of wondrous beauty will be outside and beyond his comprehension.  The reason being that only two great aspects of logoic life are being thoroughly demonstrated and the third will be but partially revealed, waiting for the still greater "Day be with us" to flash forth in perfect radiance.  This word "radiance" has an occult meaning worthy of your consideration.

 

The seventh ray is one of the three major rays in this 4th round

(OM 224) Exoteric                Esoteric

                 Purple                   Blue

                Yellow                   Indigo

                Cream                   Yellow

                White                   Violet

 

Only four as yet can be communicated, but if rightly understood they hold the key to the present fourth round, and to its history.  This being the fourth chain and the fourth round you will note therefore how in the number four lies the history of the present.  Especially would I urge you who are the teachers and students of the coming generation to ponder upon the significance of white being esoterically violet.  It has special application now in the coming in of the violet ray, the seventh ray being one of the three major rays in this round; it wields power in ratio to the four, on the four and under the four.

 

(OM 232) The point I seek specially to emphasise is the life side and not the form side of colour.  As I wrote earlier, colour is but the form assumed by force, of some kind, when that force is moving at a certain measure, and when its action and movement is impeded or unimpeded by the material through which it plays.  In this sentence lies the key to the solution of the problem as to the colour differences on the higher planes and on the lower.  The resistance of matter to the downflow of force or life, and its relative density or rarity accounts for much of the colour distinction.  One of the distinctions has, necessarily, a cosmic basis and is consequently difficult of apprehension by three-dimensional man in this, the fourth round.  But the basic reason of the difference can be apprehended sufficiently to permit the pupil to realise the absolute necessity of steadily refining his vehicles so that the force may radiate through with greater facility.  It is therefore on the three lower planes a question of practical living and a bringing of all the three bodies under edict rules of refinement.

 

(OM 243) The second point I seek to make is that these influences (which show forth as colours when they contact matter) move in their own ordered cycles.  These cycles we describe as the coming in or the going out of a ray. (OM 243) In this fourth round usually four rays are in flux at any one given time; by this I seek to impress upon you that though all rays manifest in the solar system, at certain stages of manifestation more or less of them will be dominating simultaneously.  These rays, forces, influences, or [Page 234] co-ordinations of qualities, when expressed in terms of light, colour the matters they impinge upon with certain recognisable hues, and these give the tone to the life of the personality or to the Ego.  They are recognized by you as the composite character and are seen by the clairvoyant as colour.

 

(OM 284) c. The place of lower mind in the scheme of things will be studied, and the quality of discrimination developed.  Discrimination and fire are occultly allied and just as the Logos by fire tries every man's work of what sort it is, so the microcosm on a lesser scale has to do the same.  Just as the Logos likewise does this paramountly in the fifth round of judgment and of separation, so the microcosm on his lesser scale does the same in the last and fifth period of his evolution,—touched upon and described earlier in these letters.  Every power of the mind will be utilised to the uttermost for the furtherance of the plans of evolution; first in the man's own development, then in the special field of work wherein he expresses himself, and lastly in his relationship with other units of the race, as he constitutes himself their guide and servant.

 

(OM 287) Only when the student, who progresses by intellectual application, has learned the secret of the fifth plane, will he live the life of sanctified service, and so blend the three rays.  Always synthesis most be attained, but always the fundamental colouring or tone remains. (OM 287) The next or fifth round will show the greatest exposition of this method.  It will be the round of supreme mental development, and will carry its evolving Monads to heights undreamed of now.

 

This round (the 4th) marks the height of the second method, that through love or wisdom.  It is the fourth round, that wherein the emotional reaches a high point of vibration, and there is direct connection between the fourth plane of harmony, between the emotional body, or the fourth principle, the quaternary, the fourth root-race or the Atlantean which co-ordinated the astral.  I give you food for thought in these correspondences.

 

(OM 304) This fundamental school has three main branches and a fourth that is in process of forming and which will make the four branches of this fourth round.  These branches are as follows:—

 

1. The trans-Himalayan Branch.

2. The southern India Branch.  (these are Aryan Branches)

3. A Branch that works with the fourth root-race and has two fourth root-race adepts at its head.

4. A Branch in process of forming that will have its headquarters in the Occident at some place not yet disclosed.  It has for its main object the instructing of those connected with the coming sixth root-race.

 

(OM 140) Ignorance (avidya) must be supplanted by the true vidya or knowledge, and as is well-known, in this fourth race on this fourth globe and in the fourth round, the four vidyas and the four noble truths and the four basic elements form the sum total of this knowledge.

 

The four vidyas of the Hindu philosophy might be enumerated as follows:

 

1. Yajna Vidya.—The  performance of religious rites in order to produce certain results.  Ceremonial magic.  Is concerned with sound, therefore with the Akasa or the ether of space.  The "Yajna" is the invisible deity who pervades space.

 

2. Mahavidya.—The great magic knowledge.  It has degenerated into Tantrika worship.  Deals with the feminine aspect, or the matter (mother) aspect.  The basis of black magic.  True maha-yoga [Page 141] has to do with the form (2nd aspect) and its adaptation to Spirit and its needs.

 

3. Guhya vidya.—The science of mantrams.  The secret knowledge of mystic mantrams.  The occult potency of sound, of the Word.

 

4. Atman vidya.—True spiritual wisdom.

 

(LOS 310) These details have been given and the above information collated, owing to the importance of the solar plexus in this fourth round of the fourth creative Hierarchy (the Hierarchy of human monads or spirits), the fourth centre in man whether considered upward or downward.

 

(CF 63) The fire of Spirit is the essential fire of the first Lord of Will plus the fire of the second Logos of Love.  These two cosmic Entities blend, merge, and demonstrate as Soul, utilising for purposes of manifestation the aid of the third Logos.  The three fires blend and merge.  In this fourth round and on this fourth globe of our planetary scheme, the fires of the third Logos of intelligent matter are fusing somewhat with the fires of cosmic [Page 64] mind, showing as will or power, and animating the Thinker on all planes.  The object of Their co-operation is the perfected manifestation of the cosmic Lord of Love.  This should be pondered upon for it reveals a mystery.

 

(CF 101) Second.  In this fourth chain and fourth round, the fourth ether is beginning to be studied, and—viewed as a separating web—it permits occasional exit to those of suitable vibration.

 

(CF 114) This fourth earth chain is in this connection one of the most important, for it is the appointed place for the domination of the etheric body by the human monad, with the aim in view of both human and planetary escape from limitations.  This earth chain, though not one of the seven sacred planetary chains, is of vital importance at this time to the planetary Logos, who temporarily employs it as a medium of incarnation, and of expression.  This fourth round finds the solution of its strenuous and chaotic life in the very simple fact of the shattering of [Page 115] the etheric web in order to effect liberation, and permit a later and more adequate form to be employed.

 

A further chain of ideas may be followed up in the remembrance that the fourth ether is even now being studied and developed by the average scientist, and is already somewhat harnessed to the service of man; that the fourth subplane of the astral plane is the normal functioning ground of the average man and that in this round escape from the etheric vehicle is being achieved; that the fourth subplane of the mental plane is the present goal of endeavor of one-fourth of the human family; that the fourth manvantara will see the solar ring-pass-not offering avenues of escape to those who have reached the necessary point; that the four planetary Logoi will perfect Their escape from Their planetary environment, and will function with greater ease on the cosmic astral plane, paralleling on cosmic levels the achievement of the human units who are the cells in Their bodies.

 

(CF 161) 4. The Circle divided into four.  This is the true circle of matter, the equal armed cross of the Holy Spirit, Who is the personification of active intelligent matter.  This shows the fourth dimensional quality of matter and the penetration of the fire in four directions, its threefold radiation being symbolised by the triangles formed by the fourfold cross.  This portrays the fourfold revolution of any atom.  By this is not meant the ability of any atom to make four revolutions, but the fourth dimensional quality of the revolution which is the goal aimed at, and which is even now becoming known in matter during this [Page 161] fourth round, and in this fourth chain.  As the fifth spirilla or fifth stream of force in an atom becomes developed, and man can conceive of a fourth-dimensional rotary movement, the accuracy of this symbol will be recognised.  It will then be seen that all sheaths in their progress from inertia to rhythm, via mobility, pass through all stages, whether they are logoic sheaths, the rays in which the Heavenly Men veil Themselves, the planes which form the bodies of certain solar entities, the causal body (or the sheath of the Ego on the mental plane), the human physical body in its etheric constitution, or a cell in that body etheric.  All these material forms (existent in etheric matter which is the true matter of all forms) are primarily undifferentiated ovoids; they then become actively rotating or manifest latent heat; next they manifest duality or latent and radiatory fire; the expression of these two results in fourth dimensional action or the wheel or rotary form turning upon itself.

 

(CF 164) By the time the fifth round is reached, three-fifths of the human family will have attained this point and will have their five senses fully functioning on the three planes in the three worlds, leaving the two other planes to be subjugated during the remaining two rounds.  I would here point out a fact that is little realised, that in this fivefold evolution of man and in this solar system, the two remaining rounds in any planetary cycle, and the sixth and seventh root-races in those cycles are always synthetic; their function is to gather up and synthesise that which has been achieved in the earlier five.  For instance, in this root-race, the sixth and seventh sub-races will synthesise and blend that which the earlier five have wrought out.  The analogy lies in the fact that in this solar system the two higher planes (the logoic-and the monadic) are synthetic.  One is the synthesising plane for the Logos from whence He abstracts the essence in manifestation; the other for the Monad, from whence the Monad abstracts and garners the fruits of objectivity.

 

(CF 172) 4. The circle divided into four.  We come now to the point where the centre is exceedingly active, with the cross within its periphery rotating as well as the wheel itself, and causing an effect of great beauty and activity.  The man has reached a stage of very high development [Page 172] mentally, corresponding to the fifth root-race, or to the fifth round in the larger cycle; he is conscious of two activities within himself, symbolised by the rotating wheel and the inner rotating cross.  He is sensing the spiritual, though actively functioning in the personal life, and the development has reached a point wherein he is nearing the Probationary Path.

 

the two earliest root-races in this round are not definitely human

(CF 187) In the two lower planes in the three worlds—the astral and the physical—the five subplanes of human endeavour are the five highest.  The two lowest subplanes, the sixth and seventh, are what we might express as "below the threshold," and concern forms of life beneath the human altogether.  We have a corroborating analogy in the fact that the two earliest root-races in this round are not definitely human, and that it is the third root-race which is really human for the first time.  Counting, therefore, from the bottom upwards it is only the third subplane on the physical and the astral planes which mark the commencement of human effort, leaving five subplanes to be subdued.  On the mental plane the five lower subplanes have to be subjugated during purely human evolution.  When the consciousness is centred on the fifth subplane (counting from below upwards) then the planes of abstraction—from the standpoint of man in the three worlds—supervene the two subplanes of synthesis, demonstrating through the synthesis of the five senses.  In the evolution of the Heavenly Man we have exactly the same thing:  the five planes of endeavour, the five lower planes of the solar system, and the two higher planes of abstraction, the spiritual or monadic and the divine, or logoic.

 

(CF 196) Sight follows on this, the third sense, and the one definitely marking the correlation of ideas, or the relation between; it parallels the coming of Mind, both in time and function.  We have hearing, touch or feeling, and then sight.  In connection with the correspondence it is to be noted that sight came in with the third root-race in this round, and that the third race saw also the coming in of Mind.  The Self and the not-self were immediately correlated, and co-ordinated.  Their close partnership became an accomplished fact, and evolution hastened forward with renewed impetus.

 

(CF 253) Only four principles in the Heavenly Men are as yet manifesting to any extent, though One of Them is rather in advance of the others, and has the fifth principle vibrating adequately, while certain others are in process of perfecting the fourth.  The Heavenly Man of our chain is vibrating somewhat to the fifth principle, or rather is in process of awakening it to life.  His fourth vibration or principle in this fourth round or cycle, and on this fourth globe, is awakened, though not functioning as it will in the fifth round.  Much of the trouble present in the planet at this time arises from the coming into activity of the higher or fifth vibration, which will be completed and transcended in the next or fifth cycle.  The analogy, as in man and the atom, again holds good but not in exact detail.

 

(CF 277) 2. Rotation around an orbit.  This is the revolution of a sphere of life, not only on its axis, but along a spheroidal path or orbit around a central point.

 

a. In connection with man this might be considered as the revolution of the wheel of life, or the passage of an entity through the three lower planes down into incarnation and back again.

b. In connection with a Heavenly Man it might be considered as the cycle which we call a round in which the life of the Heavenly Man cycles through all the seven globes. (this is a Chain round)

c. In connection with the solar Logos it is the complete revolution of the solar system around its cosmic centre.

 

(CF 291) a. To attain to full self-consciousness, or to individual consciousness on the five planes; to vibrate with conscious activity within Their Own ring-pass-not, a planetary scheme.  This covers a period in the scheme of involution, and of that period during the evolutionary stage which is comprised within the first three rounds up to the entrance upon the fourth round.

 

b. To attain to the consciousness of the solar Logos, within Whose body They form the centres.  It entails the attainment by a Heavenly Man of a group consciousness of a sevenfold nature, or the achievement of accurate vibratory relationship with the other Heavenly Men Who form the other centres.  It carries with it the capacity to have full conscious control on the seven planes of the solar system, and covers that period of development which is undergone in a planetary chain during the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds.  It should be borne in mind that a paralleling recognition should here be given to the fact that the solar Logos holds an analogous position in the body of a cosmic Entity to that held by a Heavenly Man in the body of a solar Logos.

 

c. To attain to the consciousness of a greater centre on cosmic levels.  This covers the period of the seventh round, and gives to a Heavenly Man (when these rounds are viewed in the light of the Eternal Now, and not from the standpoint of time and of space) the consciousness of [Page 291] the cosmic astral, or the second lowest plane of the cosmic planes.  A great deal of the problem to be seen slowly working out at this time to a solution is due to the fact that the control of the Heavenly Man, Whose body our scheme may be, is as yet but partial, and His cosmic experience is as yet but imperfect.  This necessarily affects the cells in His body in the same way that lack of astral control in the case of a human being, affects his vehicle.  It might here be pointed out that the evolution of the Heavenly Men is unequal, and that our planetary Logos has not the control, for instance, that the Heavenly Man of the Venus chain has achieved.  In each round one subplane of the cosmic astral plane is brought under control, and the consciousness of the Heavenly Man expands to include one subplane more.  The planetary Lord of Venus has dominated and controlled the five subplanes and is working on the sixth.  Our planetary Logos is engaged in a similar work on the fourth and fifth.  The work, as in all cycles, overlaps and it might be explained thus:

 

He is perfecting the control of the fourth subplane on the cosmic astral plane, and has nearly completed it.  He is beginning to work at the control of the fifth subplane—a control which will be perfected in the fifth round.

 

He is sensing and responding to the vibration of the sixth subplane, but is not as yet fully conscious on that subplane.

 

We have a corresponding reflection to this in the fourth and fifth root-races on this planet, in which the astral consciousness of the Atlantean cycle is being perfected, the fifth principle is being developed, and the sixth is being gradually sensed.  This deserves thoughtful consideration.

 

(CF 296) A solar Logos on His Own plane holds an analogous place to that of a Heavenly Man in a solar system, and from a still higher standpoint to that of a man within the solar system.  When the place of the solar planes within the cosmic scheme is duly apprehended it will be recognised that on cosmic levels of a high order the solar Logos is an Intelligence as relatively low in the order of cosmic consciousness as man is in relation to solar consciousness.  He is but a cell in the body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID.  His work parallels on cosmic levels the work of man on the solar planes.  He has to undergo on the three lower cosmic planes a process of developing an apprehension of His environment of the same nature as man in the three worlds.  This fact should be remembered by all students [Page 296] of this central division of our subject; above all the analogy between the cosmic physical planes and the solar physical planes must be pondered upon.  It holds hid the fourfold mystery:

 

1. The mystery of the Akasha.

2. The secret of the fifth round.

3. The esoteric significance of Saturn, the third planet.

4. The occult nature of cosmic kundalini, or the electrical force of the system.

 

(CF 297) e. The three higher centres, or the Heavenly Men Who correspond to the head, the heart and the throat of the solar Logos, have Their etheric analogies on the three higher etheric levels of the cosmic physical plane, just as the Heavenly Man Who embodies the logoic solar plexus finds His manifesting source on the fourth etheric.

 

f. This Heavenly Man, with His etheric vortex or wheel of force on the fourth cosmic ether, is in this fourth round, a vital factor in planetary evolution.

 

(CF 299) Three of the sacred planets, it should be remembered, are the home of the three major Rays, of the embodied forms of the three logoic aspects or principles.  Other planets are embodiments of the four minor rays.  We might consider—from the standpoint of the present—that Venus, Jupiter and Saturn might be considered as the vehicles of the three super-principles at this time.  Mercury, the Earth and Mars are closely allied to these three, but a hidden mystery lies here.  The evolution of the inner round has a close connection with this problem.  Perhaps some light may be thrown upon the obscurity of the matter by the realisation that just as the Logos has (in the non-sacred planets) the correspondence to the permanent atoms in the human being, so the middle evolution between these two (God and man) is the Heavenly Man, whose body is made up of human and deva monads, and Who has likewise His permanent atoms.  Always the three higher principles can be distinguished in importance from the four lower.

 

The key is hidden in the fact that between the number of a globe in a chain and its corresponding chain lies a method of communication.  The same is true likewise of the correspondence between a chain of globes and a scheme of analogous number.  The connection between Venus and the Earth lies hid in number, and it took a moment of mysterious alignment between a globe, its corresponding chain and the scheme of allied number to effect the momentous occurrence known as the coming of the Lords of Flame.  It occurred in the third rootrace in the fourth round.  Here we have an analogy between the quaternary and the Triad, carrying the interpretation up to a Heavenly Man.  The chain was the fourth chain and the globe, the fourth.  The fourth [Page 300] chain in the Venus scheme and the fourth globe in that chain were closely involved in the transaction.

 

h. The progress of development of the Heavenly Men is by no means uniform.  One point has not been emphasised hitherto, and that is, that the problem before each of Them is dissimilar, and, therefore, it is not possible for man correctly to gauge the work done by Them and Their relative point of attainment.  It has been said that as Venus is in the fifth round, the Venusian Lord is further progressed than His brothers.  This is not altogether so.  Just as in the development of humanity three main lines may be seen with four lesser lines merging into one of the three main lines, so in connection with the Heavenly Men, there are three main lines of which the Venusian is not one.  The Lord of Venus holds place in the logoic quaternary, as does the Lord of Earth.

 

The main idea underlying the question we have been endeavoring to answer has to do with the relationship between the schemes, chains, rounds, and races, and it should be borne in mind that these manifestations bear the same relationship to a Heavenly Man as incarnations do to a human being.  This gives the opportunity here to bring out perhaps a little more clearly the place of cycles in the evolution of all these Entities from a man up to a cosmic Logos, via a Heavenly Man and a solar Logos.18  Just as it is pointed out in the Secret Doctrine that there are greater and lesser cycles in the evolution of a solar system, so it can be predicated equally of a Heavenly Man, of a human being, and of an atom.  This brings us, therefore, to another statement:

 

i. The cycles in the evolutionary process of all these Entities may be divided mainly into three groups, though necessarily these groups can be extended into septennates and into an infinity of multiples of seven.

 

[Page 301] In connection with a solar Logos the cycles might be called:

 

1. One hundred years of Brahma.

2. A year of Brahma.

3. A day of Brahma.

 

These periods have been computed by the Hindu students and are the sumtotal of time as we understand it or the duration of a solar system.

 

In connection with a Heavenly Man we have the corresponding cycles to those of the Logos:

 

1. The period of a planetary scheme.

2. The period of a planetary chain.

3. The period of a planetary round.

 

Within these three divisions, which are the differentiations of the three great cycles of incarnation of a planetary Logos, are numerous lesser cycles or incarnations but they all fall within one or other of the three main divisions.  Such lesser cycles might be easily comprehended if it were pointed out that they mark such periods as:

 

a. The period of manifestation on a globe.

b. The period of a root-race.

c. The period of a sub-race.

d. The period of a branch race.

 

(CF 303) As yet, owing to the small point of development of the average man, the astral incarnations or cycles count for little, but they are by no means to be discounted, and are oft relatively of more importance than the physical.  In due course of time the astral cycles will be better comprehended and their relation to the physical.  When it is realised that the physical body is not a principle but that the kama-manasic principle (or desire-mind principle) is one of the most vital to man then the period or cycle in which a man functions on the fifth subplane of the astral (the fundamentally kama-manasic plane) will assume its rightful place.  It is so again with the mental cycles and so with the causal.  The causal cycles or the egoic cycles, which include all the groups of lesser [Page 304] cycles in the three worlds correspond to a complete round in the cycles of a Heavenly Man.  There are seven such cycles, but the number of lesser cycles (included within the seven) is one of the secrets of Initiation.

 

The egoic cycles proceed in groups of sevens and of threes, and not in groups of fours and sevens as do the personality cycles, and the same ratio must be predicated of the central cycles of a Heavenly Man and of a solar Logos.

 

(CF 327) [Page 327] g. This fourth ether in this fourth round and on this fourth chain has to be completely mastered and controlled by the Human Hierarchy, the fourth creative.  Every unit of the human family has to attain this mastery before the end of this round.

h. It is the sphere wherein the initiations of the threshold are undergone, and the fivefold initiations of the physical plane are entered upon.

 

(CF 348) That the earlier method was seen in the moon-chain is only evidence of the steadfastness of the Law of Repetition by which every large cycle includes, in its earlier [Page 348] stages, all the lesser, and repeats the earlier procedure.  This is a recognised fact, for instance, in the building of man's physical body, for the foetus reproduces all earlier stages and forms till the human is achieved; again, as we know, the fourth round reproduces briefly the earlier three but has its own distinctive quality.

 

(CF 351) a. Consciousness and Existence.  From the wider point of view the terms initiation and individualisation are synonymous; they both express the idea of an expansion of consciousness, or of entrance into a new kingdom of nature.  The faculty of acquiring knowledge [Page 351] must be realised as paralleling the development of the sense of sight, or vision, as earlier pointed out.  The fire of mind shone forth and illuminated animal man in Lemurian days, during that vast cycle wherein sight opened up for him the physical plane.  The relationship between sight and mind is a very close one, and must not be lost from sight.  In the first round, and in the first root-race of this round, hearing was the sense developed.  In the second round and the second root-race touch was evolved.  In the third round and corresponding root-race sight was added to the other two, and the Self which hears, and the Not-self which is touched, or apprehended as tangible, are related and connected by sight,—the correspondence to the intelligence that links.

 

(CF 354) All these questions, and numbers of others, will arise in the mind of the interested student, but beyond the formulation of them he may not as yet go, though the fifth round will see the realisation, by men, of the nature of the karma of the Logos of our chain.  Words, as oft we have been told, blind and stultify.

 

(CF 362) Again within the chain, the globe at present receiving planetary polarisation, or at present embodying in a special sense the life of the planetary Logos is the Earth, the fourth in order.  This brings about a still further alignment.

 

Add to the above facts the accepted knowledge that this is the fourth round and we have a fivefold alignment which is of paramount significance to us all, though it had even greater significance and force in the fourth root-race, and brought about that stupendous psychic event—the opening of the door of Initiation to the human Hierarchy.

 

These very important facts merit close attention, and the consideration of all occult students.  They hold the key whereby some comprehension of manas and of planetary evolution may come about.  What have we, therefore, in this special cyclic alignment?

 

[Page 363]

1. A solar system of the fourth order.

2. The fourth scheme in the system.

3. The fourth chain in the scheme.

4. The fourth globe in the chain.

5. The fourth round.34

 

All these are found active within the same cycle, and all therefore bring about a simultaneous alignment which results in the clearing of a channel direct from the heart of our scheme through every ring-pass-not to the cosmic correspondence, found outside the solar sphere.

 

(CF 364) In occupying ourselves with these various statements anent our scheme and its Ruler we have seen that this particular cycle, or incarnation of His, is one of great importance, not only to Himself but to the entire system.  The planetary Logos of this scheme is primarily occupied with a particular group of units, or with those Monads who vibrate to His key, are colored by the same colour as Himself, answer to the same number, and are esoterically known by the same Name.  One point here needs emphasis:  all Monads pass at different times under the influence of the different planetary Logoi, and all are found at some time in each scheme.  This does not mean that every human unit passes a period of incarnation in each scheme.  It means that on some one globe in every scheme, human units will be found either prior to physical incarnation, between different egoic cycles (a totally different thing to periods between physical lives), between different rounds or manvantaras, or between the various root-races and subraces.  As stated in various occult books, many of the present advanced humanity individualised on the moon chain, and only took physical bodies in the earth chain during the fourth root-race, thus escaping incarnation during the first three rounds, and the first two races of the fourth round.  In the interim, they came under the planetary influence of another Logos of a scheme, and were occupied during that immense period of time in fanning the manasic flame, and developing [Page 365] the attributes of manas, so that the Atlantean root-race found them adequately equipped to cope with life conditions.

 

This participation in the life and influence of the different schemes is effected in four different ways:

 

First, through passing the interim between egoic cycles of physical incarnation on the particular globe of their scheme, which numerically coincides with the particular other scheme whose influence is desired, either from deliberate choice or karmically necessitated.  Each globe in a chain is occultly linked with the chain of its own number, and with the scheme of a similar number.  For instance:  Globe 2, Chain 2, and scheme 2 during round 2 are specially linked and vitalised, and are the focal point of peculiar attention on the part of the Logos of that scheme.  Similarly (again in illustration) globe 2, chain 2 during round 2 in any scheme such as the fifth, for instance, are aligned or connected esoterically with the second scheme.  This gives opportunity for the units in the body of any Logos to come under the influence of another Logos, and within his vibratory radiation.

 

Second, through a direct transference of the units in incarnation in any scheme (during an interlude) to some globe in another scheme where they are subjected to the stimulation and vibration peculiar to that scheme.  These two methods are the most usual.  This transference will seem mysteriously impossible unless the student is careful to realise that it is the transference of the individualised lives and not the transference of the forms which they occupy. 

 

(CF 368) c. Venus and the Earth Chain.  This question of the coming of the Lords of Flame to the planet Earth is deeply involved (as stated above) in the relationship existing between the Heavenly Man of the Earth scheme and the Lord of the Venus scheme.  Until more detailed information is permitted publication anent these two great Entities, little more can be done beyond indicating some probabilities, and pointing out certain factors which students should carefully bear in mind.  The statement [Page 368] has been made that (owing to the Venusian scheme being in its fifth round) its humanity is consequently further advanced than ours, and can help us, and that this help came in Lemurian days.  This is an instance of a partial truth and its misinterpretation.  (CF 368) The Venusian scheme is—as stated in the Secret Doctrine35—in its fifth and last round; its humanity is very far ahead of ours in certain particulars, but the momentous occurrence in the third root-race was due to the following causes, and not to the factor of the greater advancement of a certain group of human beings:

 

First, the Venus Scheme, viewed as a logoic centre, is more active than ours, and therefore its radiatory magnetism is far more widely spread.  Its radiation is such that on the buddhic plane it swept within its magnetic radius that chain in our scheme which is composed predominantly of buddhic matter.  Then, via that chain, it magnetised the corresponding globe in our chain, and this resulted in a specific vitalisation in the dense planet itself.

 

Second, just as in the case of man, certain triangles of force are found at different stages of evolution, or (to word it otherwise) different centres become geometrically linked, such as the

 

a. Base of the spine,

b. Solar plexus,

c. Heart;

 

or again,

 

a. Solar Plexus,

b. Heart

c. Throat

 

a major event in this 4th round in relation to the base chakra (ruled by planet Earth)

so, in the case of a Heavenly Man, or of a solar Logos, a similar event occurs.  Such an event transpires in this round in relation to the centre which our planetary Logos [Page 369] embodies.  It became geometrically linked with two other centres, of which Venus was one, and logoic Kundalini—circulating with tremendous force through this adjusted Triangle—brought about that intensification of vibration in the human family which resulted in individualisation.  We might here enumerate the schemes as a basis for our further work:

 

The seven planets, centres, or schemes:

 

1. Vulcan (the sun, exoterically considered).

2. Venus.

3. Mars.

4. Earth.

5. Mercury.

6. Jupiter.

7. Saturn.

 

The three synthesising planets:

 

1. Uranus.

2. Neptune.

3. Saturn.

 

The One Resolver.

 

The SUN.

 

I would caution you here against attaching any importance to the sequence followed in numbering these seven schemes, either in connection with their order of development or importance, or their position in relation to the central planet, the sun, or to each other.  Only two are to be considered numerically accurate at this stage and in this round, i.e., our Earth, the fourth scheme, and Venus, the second.  Venus is either the second or the sixth scheme, according to whether the schemes are counted mystically or occultly.  Inversely, Jupiter will be either the second or the sixth, and it must be remembered that:

 

[Page 370]

a. The planets Venus and Jupiter are exceedingly closely connected with the Earth, and form eventually an esoteric triangle.

b. Saturn is the synthesising scheme for the four planets which embody manas purely and simply, or is the major resolution of the minor four, and eventually for all the seven.

 

See figure

 

c. Mercury, the star of the intuition, or of transmuted manas, is, at this stage, considered as the fifth scheme.

 

Therefore, the Heavenly Men of Venus and Jupiter are magnetically linked with the Heavenly Man of our scheme.  The relationship of the Logos of Jupiter and His influence will not be realised nor felt until the sixth [Page 371] round is in full force, though during the sixth root-race His vibration will be acknowledged and sensed; in the middle of the fifth round the Logos of Mercury will, with the Logos of the Venus scheme, and of our Earth, form a temporary triangle of force.  We have here information given that has only been hinted at hitherto but for which, in this fifth subrace and in this fourth round, the world is now ready; it holds the solution of the mystery of this round.

 

Third, the statement that the great Kumara or the One Initiator came to this planet from Venus is true in so far as it embodies the fact that He came to this dense planet (the fourth) in the fourth chain from that chain in our scheme which is called the "Venus" chain, and which is the second chain.  He came via the second globe in our chain; His scarcely felt vibration was sensed (occultly) in the second round, but only in the third root-race of the fourth round did conditions permit of His physical incarnation and of His coming as the Avatar.  Very reverently might it be said that the first three rounds and the two succeeding root-races in this chain correspond to the period prior to birth; and that His coming in the fourth round with the subsequent awakening of manas in the human units find their analogy in the awakening of the life principle in the unborn infant at the fourth month.

 

The analogy holds good, for a Heavenly Man at the end of the seventh round reaches full maturity, but requires the final process of rounding out and perfecting which He attains during the two final periods

 

a. Of synthesis into the major three schemes.

b. Of resolution into the final one;

 

making again—with reverence may it be said—the nine cycles which cover the gestation of a Heavenly Man, and which precede His birth into yet higher worlds.  In this lies much food for thought, and much of moment [Page 372] for the profound student.  We might couple with these suggestions the recollection that we are speaking here only of the Logos of our own scheme, and must carefully differentiate other cycles for the other Logoi—a thing as yet impossible for us.  As this is meditated upon and studied, the wonder and beauty of the plan will become apparent.

 

(CF 374) The Logos of our scheme, Sanat Kumara, will take a major initiation in the middle of the fifth round, but is preparing for a minor one at this time.

 

The Logos of our scheme has been in physical incarnation (having a body of etheric matter) since the middle of the Lemurian root-race, and will remain with us until what is called "the judgment day" in the next round.  At that point in His career He will have achieved the necessary vitalisation of the particular centre which is occupying His attention, will have "seen of the travail of His Soul" in connection with the units of the human [Page 375] Hierarchy who go to the composition of this centre, and will drop His present form, will turn His attention to another and higher centre, and give of His force to the units of a different calibre, from another branch of the human Hierarchy, who respond to the vibration of that centre.

 

(CF 376) The Venus scheme, being in the fifth round, had the fifth principle of manas co-ordinated and developed, the minor four manasic aspects had been synthesised, and the buddhic aspect was being provided with a means of expression through the medium of the perfected fifth.  Our Heavenly Man, in the fifth round, will have attained a paralleling point in evolution, and the fifth principle will, as stated, be no longer the object of His attention as regards the human units.

 

Five stages of activity mark the development and utilisation of the mind principle; there are three stages of acquisition, and two wherein that which has been acquired is used.  This is too intricate a calculation for us to enter into it here, and it cannot be undertaken except by an initiate, for it involves ability to study the cycles of the earlier solar system, but it might be noted that (judging from the microcosm on the earth planet) this is just what might be expected.  Man developed manas in this round during the third, fourth and fifth root-races, and utilises it for the development of the intuition and of the higher consciousness during the sixth and seventh.  During an incarnation by a planetary Logos in a chain, during one round He demonstrates through His seven centres or globes manas on three globes, and utilises it for specific purposes on the final two.  This is a lesser cycle to that in which we view the seven chains as His seven centres.  These words are chosen with care; I say not "acquires manas"; He but produces that which is inherent.  It must be remembered that just as the planes of a solar system stand for a different purpose, vibrate to a different key, and serve their own specific ends, so do the globes serve an analogous function.

 

(CF 380)   The cosmic angle.  This involves the study of the place of the solar Logos within His greater sphere, the study of extra-systemic psychology and astronomy, and the consideration of the relation existing between our system and other constellations, and of our path in the vast arc of the heavens.  It bears on the relation of the various suns with their circulating attendants, and of the planets with each other; it concerns the study of their individual polarisation, and their interaction with their polar opposites.  It will lead the student into regions of logical speculation, into the study of cosmic electricity, and the universal Law of attraction, and is as yet much beyond the comprehension of even the most advanced students at this time, and will only become a science (reduced to form and text-book if I might so express it) during the final part of the next round.

 

The systemic angle.  This deals with the place of the Heavenly Men within the body logoic, Their mutual [Page 381] interplay, and Their rational interdependence, and with the cycles wherein each in turn, or in dual formation, is the recipient of logoic force.  It necessitates the study of the solar system as a unit, of the astronomical and orbital relation of the Sun to the planets.  The systemic triangles will eventually become a subject of popular speculation, then of investigation, of scientific demonstration, and finally be known to be proved and authenticated fact,—but the time is not yet.  The different polarities of the schemes will be studied, and information, that is now imparted only to initiates of the third Initiation, will eventually become exoteric.  In due course of time systemic information along the lines of:

 

a. The vitalisation of the schemes

b. Interaction between two schemes

c. The periods of incarnation of a planetary Logos on the physical plane

d. The initiation of the planetary Logos,

 

will be reduced to law and order.  As yet but dim speculations and hints that appeal only to the spiritual and the intuitive are in any way possible.  The early part of the next round will see more widespread knowledge and interest in this matter.

 

(CF 390) They depict only one cycle in logoic evolution, and cover only the present greater period in the working out of which we are engaged.  They might be roughly described as embracing that period in the system which began for us in the middle of the third root-race of this round and continues until the period called "the Judgment" [Page 390] in the coming fifth round.  When that time comes our planetary Logos will have attained the initiation which is His present goal; the fifth round of the Venusian scheme will be closing, and the Venus scheme will begin to pass into obscuration, preparatory to transferring her life to the synthesising planet with which she is connected; Mercury will be reaching the apotheosis of achievement, and with Mars and the Earth, will form a systemic triangle.  We are speaking here of schemes and not of chains.

 

We must recognise another triangle within the Earth scheme, of the chains called "the Earth chain," the Venus chain, and the Mercurian chain, but this triangle entirely concerns the centres of the planetary Logos of our scheme.  A systemic formation of great importance in the next round should be pointed out which will bring three schemes:

 

The Earth scheme,  (5th Round/5th sub cosmic astral)

Mars,

Mercury,

 

into such a position in relation to each other that the following results will eventuate:

 

1. A systemic triangle will be formed.

 

2. Logoic kundalini will circulate freely between these three points.

 

3. A certain great logoic centre will be vitalised and the attention of logoic kundalini will pass from the present triangle in process of forming (the Earth, Venus, and a scheme whose name it is advisable to withhold) to the other.

 

4. An entirely new group of human beings will sweep into incarnation in our Earth scheme.  Three fifths of the present humanity, being on the Probationary Path, or the Path of Initiation, at that time, will have their centre of consciousness definitely on the mental plane [Page 391] whilst two fifths will remain focussed on the astral.  These two fifths will pass into temporary pralaya, preparatory to their transference to another scheme, as the Earth scheme will no longer provide for them an adequate place of nurture.

 

5. Entities will come in from Mars to the Earth scheme, and will there find their necessary field of endeavour.

 

6. Mercurian life will begin to synthesise, and to be transferred to its synthesising planet.  In the case of Mercury this synthesising planet is not Saturn, but one of the other two higher major centres.

 

7. The "Judgment Day" in the fifth round, or the point of attainment of our Heavenly Man, will see a period of planetary strife on mental Ievels which will cause the present world unrest to seem as nothing.  As pointed out earlier, this present struggle has been to test the ability of the entities within the present human forms to appreciate their mental forces, and through the power of MIND to transcend feeling, or pain.  The struggle in the fifth round will be between higher and lower mind, and the battle ground will be the causal body.38  The [Page 392] struggle now being waged on the planet is between a few Egos (or the leaders of the many races who are necessarily in place and position owing to their egoic  polarisation) and many personalities, who are swept into the vortex through group association; it is necessarily terrific, and forces the destruction of the form.  The struggle in the fifth round, being on mental levels, will be between Egos and egoic groups, each working consciously, and with intellectual application, to bring about certain group results.  It will result in the triumph (the ultimate triumph) of Spirit over matter, in the driving out of certain groups as yet unable to shake themselves free from the trammels of matter, and who prefer captivity to the life of the Spirit; it will mark the beginning of the obscuration of our scheme, and the gradual passing into pralaya, during the remaining two and a half rounds of our entire seven chains. (CF 392)  It is an interesting occult fact that our Earth should now be in her fifth round, and paralleling the Venusian scheme, but the moon chain of our scheme saw a period of temporary retardation of the evolutionary process of our Heavenly Man; it resulted in a temporary slowing down of His activities, and caused "lost time," if such an expression might reverently be permitted.  The Lords of the Dark Face, or the inherent forces of matter for a time achieved success, and only the fifth round of our chain will see their ultimate defeat.  The Venusian scheme also had its battleground, but the planetary Logos of that scheme overcame the antagonistic forces, triumphed over material forms, and was consequently in a position—when the right time came—to apply the needed stimulation or an [Page 393] increased fiery vibration to our Earth scheme.  The fact that outside aid was called in during the third root-race of this chain, and that the evolution of manas brought about the individualisation, in physical form, of the  Avatar, needs to be pondered on.  The Divine Manasaputra, the Lord of the World, took form Himself through the driving impulse of manas, inherent in His nature, and in some mysterious way this was aided by another Heavenly Man of another scheme.  His co-operation was required.

 

(CF 406) When the process of transmutation is effected by the five Heavenly Men, then the whole system is reaching a very high stage of evolution, and with the two schemes which will be entering into the stage of obscuration, the resolving process will commence.  The plan, viewed largely, will be as follows:

 

The four schemes which form the logoic Quaternary [Page 406] will merge into their synthesising scheme, that of Saturn, while Venus and Mercury will merge into Uranus and Neptune.  No importance need be attached to the sequence of these names.  The dual fact is all that is necessary to grasp.

 

Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn will, therefore, have absorbed the essence of manifestation and (in connection with the solar Logos) they correspond to the three permanent atoms in the causal body of a man.  We say "correspond" for the analogy is not in detail.  Uranus and Neptune are reflections of the logoic astral and mental permanent atoms. Saturn is in fact the correspondence to the logoic physical permanent atom.  This is an occult mystery and must not be separated from its allied truth in the cosmic scheme.

 

Viewing manas as the vibratory activity of all atoms and narrowing our concept down to our own scheme it is interesting to note that some correspondences can be traced as we study this fifth principle during the present round, the fourth.  The manasic principle is the basis of the coming into activity and the mental recognition of the following facts in nature.

 

The fifth spirilla within the atom of matter will become active.  This fifth spirilla is beginning faintly to vibrate, while the fourth spirilla in this fourth round is assuming a vibration that will cause the intense vitalisation of the vehicles, and eventually bring about the shattering of the form, and the subsequent escape of the Spirit into a form composed of matter which responds to the vibration of the fifth spirilla.

 

The fourth ether is coming into recognition, and along with it will come the knowledge of the lives which it embodies.  Hence the success of spiritualistic endeavour, for the larger number of the average discarnate entities at this stage who are willing to make contact with the physical plane are clothed in matter of this ether.  The devas [Page 407] of this ether will also come to be known before the end of this round, and alliance will be made between the fourth Creative Hierarchy of men, and the devas of the fourth ether.

 

The fourth plane, the buddhic, by the aid of manas, will gradually be realised.  This will be done as manas is transmuted into wisdom.  By a few in this round the fifth principle will be superseded by the principle of buddhi.  Right on from now till the middle of the next round there will be an overlapping of the four and the five—manas and the buddhic principle—thus making the nine, or perfected man, the initiate...

 

The work of the four Maharajahs who apportion karma within the ring-pass-not will reach its culminating point during the fourth round.  In the next round, the work of the Lipikas who handle affairs in connection with our system outside the ring-pass-not will become more prominent.  This is necessarily so, as the Lipika Lords dispense the law to those who have merged themselves with their divine principle, and are no longer held by the material forms of the three worlds.  The Lords of Karma, or the Maharajahs, work with the sons of men in the three worlds, and through manasic principle.

 

(CF 414) The enumeration of the chains and of the schemes as given in the two charts is entirely for the present, and covers a period comparatively recent, carrying forward the history of evolution to the middle of the next round in our chain.  Had we been given the charts embracing pre-Lemurian days, and extending back a distance into the (humanly speaking) unfathomable past, we would have seen the moon chain portrayed with the Neptune chain omitted.  In the chart as given two chains are apparently lacking, the moon chain and the Uranus chain.  The reasons are abstruse, but something may be hinted at as follows:

 

(CF 422) The time for the sounding of the final mantric phrase by ordered active groups lies ahead in the sixth and seventh rounds, and will not reach its full vibration in this solar system at all.  "I am That" will peal forth fully consummated in this system of duality, for the third initiation sees the initiate comprehending its mantric force.  Nevertheless, initiates of the sixth and seventh Initiations will not preponderate in this system.  After the fifth round and the passing into temporary obscuration of two fifths of the human family, the remaining units will achieve an approximate standing as follows:

 

One fifth will mantrically sound the words "I am That I am. "

 

Two fifths will achieve the fifth Initiation and will know themselves as "I am That."  They will also be cultivating response to the higher note.

 

One fifth and a half will attain the third Initiation, and will know themselves as "I am That" in full consciousness.

 

The remaining units will be those who are treading the Path, and beginning to know themselves as the group.

 

(CF 425) d. During the remainder of this round and the entire fifth round these four rays of attribute will circulate into and out of power ceaselessly; towards the end of the fifth round the third Ray of Aspect will predominate, having begun its work of synthesising and its influence will be paralleled in the sixth round by the gradually growing power of the second Ray of Aspect,—the two types of influence overlapping.  In the seventh round, the power of the second Ray will predominate and the influence of the third will weaken.  The first Ray will make itself felt.  The first Ray, that of [Page 425] Mahadeva49 or the Destroyer, will set its second great impulse upon our planetary evolution by the obscuration of two fifths of the human family.  The impress to be set by the first Ray upon our human family on this globe might be considered as threefold:

 

First.  At human individualisation in the middle of the third rootrace.  This was produced by a vast destruction of the forms we call animal-man.  This point has seldom been brought out in teaching.  The advent of the Lords of the Flame, the electrical storm which ushered in the period of man, was distinguished by disaster, chaos, and the destruction of many in the third kingdom of nature.  The spark of mind was implanted and the strength of its vibration, and the immediate effect of its presence caused the death of the animal form, thus producing the immediate possibility of the newly vitalised causal bodies vibrating to such purpose that new physical vehicles were taken.  That was the Will aspect manifesting in the fourth round in connection with the human family.

 

Second.  In the fifth round, at the so-called Judgment.  This will bring about the apparent destruction of two-fifths of the human family, and the translation of the indwelling units of consciousness to other spheres, more [Page 426] suited to their stage of evolution.  This event will be regarded at the time as a catastrophe, but the Knowers will see and know, and three fifths of the human family will understand the reason.

 

Third.  At the final reabsorption of the perfected monads into their emanating source in the seventh round.  This will be marked by obscuration and the destruction of the form.  Suffering will be practically nil, as the human units involved will have reached a stage where they can consciously co-operate in the process of abstraction.  It is evident therefore that as regards the human family (the manasaputras in incarnation), the fourth, fifth, and seventh rounds hold hid the key to the first aspect.  For the devas it is the first, second and sixth.  For the involutionary entity, whom we call the "spirit of the planet" it is simply the third.

 

The third Ray holds sway all the time, for the second Ray only came into power in the second round.  It holds sway simultaneously with the second Ray until the end of the age, when it begins gradually to obscure as the first Ray swings into influence again.  Remember, nevertheless, that all three are at all times present.  It is simply a question of degree and of cyclic evolution.

 

(CF 434) During the coming subraces His cycle will begin to pass out, and the influence of His Brother, the fourth Logos of Harmony, will reach its zenith for this round.  During the fifth round the power or electrical radiation of the fifth Logos will again be strongly felt, for it is His round, and just as He was largely responsible for the manasic stimulation of animal man in the third rootrace, so in [Page 435] the fifth round will he be instrumental in causing that great separation which we call the "Judgment."  Remember in this connection that these Logoi—when pouring Their influence through a scheme or other septenary—work through Their numerical correspondence in the chains and globes.  In the fifth round, for instance, the fifth chain (a centre in the body of the Heavenly Man) will be the recipient of this fifth type of force and will transmit and circulate it to the other chains via their fifth globe.  Until the race has further evolved the mystery lies securely hid, and the inability of man to find out the enumeration of the schemes, chains, and globes, or to discover whether they are counted from within outwards, or vice versa, conceals that which must be hid.

 

(CF 441) The fifth principle of manas is at this time beginning to demonstrate mainly through the seventh type of force (or the fifth when considering only the Brahma aspect of manifestation).  It will be immediately apparent, therefore, that this incoming Ray is peculiarly situated at this time, and that its influence will be manifested under very favorable conditions.  It is pouring its force out upon the [Page 441] seventh plane, the physical, during the fifth rootrace and the fifth subrace, and consequently the opportunity is great.  In all that has been said anent the Rays it will be apparent that from the present standpoint two are paramountly concerned with the evolution of man:  the fourth Ray of Harmony, which is the dominant ray of the greater cycle which includes the fourth round and globe, and the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Magic, which is one of the foremost influences concerned in all objective manifestations.  These two Rays, or the force of these two planetary Logoi, are largely instrumental in bringing about coherency in our chain, the fourth of the fourth scheme, and on our physical globe, the Earth.  The fourth and the seventh interact, one acting temporarily as a negative force and the other as a positive.

 

(CF 457) The intuition will be awakening, and will be more prominent than now, but the outstanding characteristic will be the ability of the units of the sixth subrace to think in abstract terms, and to use the abstract mind.  Their function will be to perfect (as far as may be in this round) [Page 457] the group antaskarana,53 or the link between the mental and the buddhic.  This bridge will be of a usable nature during the sixth rootrace in which the intuition will show real and general signs of existing.  In this rootrace, units only show signs here and there of real intuition, having built the necessary bridge in their individual selves.  In the sixth rootrace small groups will be intuitive.

 

(CF 459) In this chain, individualisation took place during the third rootrace and in the fourth round, speaking in this connection of a round through a chain of globes, and not the life force of a planetary Logos circulating through the seven chains in a scheme.  It is of peculiar interest at this time that we are in the fourth round in a chain as well as in the fourth round as regards the scheme of seven chains.  It has led to evolutionary possibilities of great import.  On the moon chain individualisation took place during the fifth race of the third round, and in the next chain to ours on the evolutionary arc individualisation will take place during the sixth race of the second round,—in each case this refers to a planetary round through a chain of globes.

 

(CF 461) The remainder were rejected, and as a group they became temporarily quiescent, and will not manifest in physical form until the next round.

 

In the fifth round, a corresponding division will take place in the fourth kingdom, and the lives in that kingdom will be subjected to an analogous test; some will be passed and will continue their evolution on this planet, while others will be rejected, and will go into temporary pralaya.

 

Animal monads who were passed in this round will achieve individualisation during the fifth and enter the fourth kingdom

After the rejection in the fourth rootrace of three-fourths of the animal units, the remaining triads (or one-fourth) proceeded on their way holding the promise of opportunity for all in time, and the guarantee of their [Page 462] own attainment in the next round.  Just as the human Monads, who are passed in the fifth round, will enter into the fifth kingdom, or respond to its vibration before the climax of the seventh, so the animal monads (if I may employ such a term) who were passed in this round will achieve individualisation during the fifth and enter the fourth kingdom.  This will be brought about by the strong manasic impulse which will characterise the whole cycle of the fifth round, and will thus be effected normally and as the result of due evolutionary growth.  An electrical stimulation of the nature of the occurrence in Lemurian days will not be required.

 

Since the great division in the fourth rootrace, the animal kingdom has been primarily occupied with the stimulation and development of kama.  This is the basis of the endeavour being made by the Brotherhood by the aid of man to fan the emotional instinct (or the embryo love aspect) through the segregating of the domestic animals, and the consequent play made upon the third spirilla in the animal atoms by human magnetism or radiatory energy.  The sumtotal of the domestic animals—the animal units brought into closest connection with man—form the heart centre in the body of that great Entity Who is the life of the animal kingdom.  From the heart flow all the influences which will eventually permeate the entire body.  These units are those which will be finally separated from the group soul at the reopening of the door into the human kingdom in the next round.

 

Let us now consider the immediate present, and the advent of this seventh ray of ceremonial magic.  The effect upon the animal kingdom of the force of this ray will be far less than upon the human, for it is not yet ready to respond to the vibration of this planetary Logos, and will not be until the sixth round when His influence will bring about great events.  Nevertheless, certain effects might here be noticed.

 

(CF 463) Thus by the turning by man of his thought force upon the animals, stimulation of their latent mentality will ensue, leading in due course of time to the crisis in the next round.  More attention should be paid by occult students to the effect of the consciousness of one group upon another group, and the advancement of the lesser, by the means of the stimulating power of the greater, should be studied.  The following facts should be realised:

 

(CF 492) Nevertheless, it is only when the third factor is comprehended, and science admits the agency of mental fire as embodied in certain groups of devas, that the force of energy that is triple, and yet one in the three worlds, will become available for the helping of man.  This lies as yet far ahead, and will only become possible towards the end of this round; and these potent forces will not be fully utilised, nor fully known till the middle of the next round.  At that time, much energy will become available through the removal of all that obstructs.  This is effected, in relation to man, at the Judgment separation, but it will produce results in the other kingdoms of nature also.

 

(CF 499) b. Synthesis.  We have seen that during the coming races and subraces certain very definite development may be looked for in connection with manasic unfoldment; and it is worth while to note particularly that as far as the evolution of manas in this round is concerned its highest efflorescence may be looked for during the next five hundred years.  The coming in of the two final root races marks the point of synthesis, and the gradual utilisation of that which has been manasically achieved; this will be brought about by a development of abstract thought, and of intuitive recognition.  In other words, manas has (during the past three root races) been principally applied to the understanding of objective existence, to the adaptation of the Dweller in the form to his [Page 499] environment on the physical plane.  From now on the trend of activity will be towards the understanding of the subjective side of manifestation, and towards the comprehension of the psyche of the individual life, divine, planetary, or human.  In the next round, all the previous stages will be recapitulated, and manas will demonstrate in ways inconceivable as yet to the half awakened consciousness of man.  In that round three-fifths of the human family will be fully aware, functioning with uninterrupted continuity of recollection on the physical, astral, and lower mental planes.  The emphasis of manasic evolution will be laid upon the achievement of causal consciousness, and upon the scientific construction of the bridge which should unite the causal vehicle and the permanent manasic atom on the abstract levels.

 

During the sixth and seventh rounds we shall again have the synthesising process at work in a manner analogous to that which lies ahead in the sixth and seventh root races of this round.

 

(CF 524) When man has found out how to contact and utilise positive solar electricity in combination with negative planetary electricity, we shall have a very dangerous condition brought about, and one of the factors which will eventually manifest in the destruction of the fifth root race by fire.  At that great cataclysm—as the Bible says "the Heavens will melt with fervent heat."70  This will be seen in a still greater degree in the next round, and will cause that destruction by fire of the forms of the men who have failed, which will liberate the lives on a stupendous scale, and thus temporarily 'purify' the Earth from elements which would tend to hinder the evolutionary process.

 

(CF 525) In due course of time, it will be found that the self-induced efforts whereby a man consciously prepares his centres for the application of the Rod of Initiation at the first Initiation, will be the subject of books, and of lectures, and form part of the ordinary thought of the masses.  This again will eventuate in a cleavage between the two groups in the middle of the fifth round.  It must be remembered that this cleavage will be part of a natural process, and not a drastic ruling, imposed upon an unwilling people.  The KNOWERS and the students of the Knowledge—actuated by group consciousness, and working consciously—will separate themselves in group formation from those who know not, and from those who care not.

 

(CF 532) 11. The permanent atoms of men are upon the atomic subplane of each plane, with the one exception of the mental unit.  Those of the animal groups are upon the second subplane; those of the vegetable groups are upon the third subplane; those of the mineral groups are upon the fourth subplane.  There is, therefore, a close analogy between these focal points of force of the group—human or otherwise—and a chain, a globe, and a round, and in their due application comes enlightenment.  The sumtotal of the permanent atoms of any particular kingdom form the streams of force or spirillae in the greater atoms of solar entities or of lunar entities, while the sumtotal of the permanent atoms of man in the spiritual kingdom (the three triadal atoms, atma-buddhi-manas) form the spiral streams of force within certain centres.

 

(CF 558) Later His desire for that will be less and will become transmuted into desire for creation on mental levels only.  This is what brings the Destroyer aspect into activity, leading to eventual obscuration, and the physical "death" of the solar system.  Indication that this aspect is coming into power will be seen when two great events transpire:

 

[Page 558]

a. The ability of man consciously to create on mental levels, and the consequent transmutation of his lower sex impulses into higher.

b. The mental vitalisation of another large section of the animal kingdom.

 

When these two things can be seen working out in any round, it will be indicative of a decided mental polarisation of the Logos; we can only become cognisant of this by studying His body of manifestation in its component parts.

 

(CF 570) We have therefore:

 

1. The three cosmic laws of Synthesis, Attraction and Economy.

2. The Sirian law of Karma.

3. The seven laws of the solar system.

 

(CF 570) As we have been told, our seven major vibrations are the vibrations of the lowest cosmic plane; there is our habitat.  Our Logos Himself, the heart of His system, is on the cosmic astral plane; he is polarised there.  Just as the units of the fourth Creative Hierarchy, the human, are evolving through the use of physical bodies, but are polarised at this time in their astral vehicles, so we have seen that the objective solar system forms the physical body of the Logos, though His polarity is in His astral body.  It is significant that in this greater manvantara, the Logos is to take the fourth cosmic Initiation.  A hint which may enlighten lies in the correspondence which exists between this statement and the [Page 571] fourth root-race development, and this, the fourth or astral round.81

 

(CF 574) The fourth law, Magnetic Control, for instance, holds sway on the fourth subplane of each plane, in the fourth round, and in the fourth root-race specially.  We shall then have the correspondence as follows:

 

4th Law  Magnetic Control.

4th Ray  Harmony or beauty.

4th Plane                The buddhic.

[Page 574]

4th Subplane         Buddhic Magnetic Control.

4th Round             Dense Physical Magnetism, controlling sex manifestation on the physical plane, and inspired by astral desire, the reflection of the buddhic.

4th Root-Race       The Atlantean, in which the above qualities specially demonstrated.

 

(CF 579) We might now briefly trace the correspondence in the second round and the second root-race, showing how the Law of Cohesion was specially active at these periods.  A condition of nebulosity of a pronouncedly volatile condition, marked the first round and race.  Movement, and the accompaniment of heat, is their distinguishing quality, much as in System I, but in the second round, and also in the second race, a definite cohesion is noticeable, and form is more clearly recognisable in outline.  Cohesion is also plainly to be seen as the distinguishing feature of our present system, the second.  It is the aim of all things to unite; approximation, unification, a simultaneous attraction between two or more is ever to be seen as a governing principle, whether we look at the sex problem, or whether it demonstrates in business organisation, in scientific development, in manufacture, or in politics.  Well might we say that the At-one-ment of the many separated is the keynote of our system.

 

(CF 586) In this system the fifth Ray is of paramount importance in the development of all egos.  Each must pass some time on it before definitely remaining on his monadic Ray.  In many incarnations much time is spent on the fifth subplane of each plane, which is governed principally by the fifth Ray.  All pass [Page 586] then on the fourth subplane governed by the fourth Ray, and in this particular period of the fourth round in the fourth chain, more time is spent on the fourth subplane by evolving Egos than on any other.  Many come into incarnation directly on to this plane, and it is here that they begin to think harmoniously.

 

(CF 590) The Ray of Concrete Science has a peculiar relationship to the animal kingdom, in that it is the Ray that governs the merging of that kingdom into the human.  The planet, Venus, in her fifth round, gave the impetus which produced the spark of mind in animal man—a fact well known.  It is also the fifth Ray, and has an interesting connection with the fifth Law of Fixation.  We might study, too, with profit, the analogy that can be seen between these factors and the fifth root-race, the race of peculiarly strong development of the concrete mind.  The Law of Analogy always holds good.

 

(CF 591) This law of the fifth, or mental plane is one of the most important laws with which we have to do at any time, and it will find its most complete demonstration in the next, or fifth round.  In relation to this fourth round the following facts may be gathered about its working:

 

(CF 592) In the fifth round this law will act as the divider, temporarily crystallising and fixing into two great classes the human Monads, as they evolve.  One group then (containing those who will reach the goal), will pass gradually out from under the domination of this law, and will come under the Law of Magnetic Control.  The other will remain under the law in a static condition, until in a later period a fresh opportunity will come; old forms will break, and in another mahamanvantara, and in its fifth period, will come the chance for which they will have waited, when they can again swing into the current of evolution and the imprisoned spirits may mount again towards their source.

 

In an occult sense this law is for us the one with which we are the most intimately concerned.  It plays an important part in the hands of the Lords of Flame, and is one of Their main factors in controlling the three worlds.  Note here an interesting fact, that Venus is the sixth planet (esoterically the second), and is in her [Page 593] fifth round, and hence is ahead of us along every line.

 

(CF 596) In the sixth chain of each scheme, this sixth law and the sixth Ray have a very important significance, whilst the seventh chain of each scheme is always synthetic—Love and Activity in a perfect balance.  The same effect can be demonstrated in the sixth Round.  In the sixth Round of the present chain of the Earth scheme, the sixth law will demonstrate with great clarity and force, as love shown in brotherhood, love translated or transmuted from the astral to the buddhic.  So in the sixth rootrace and the sixth subrace a similar analogy will be seen.  Out of the shattered form of the fifth subrace of the fifth root race, built up under the fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge, with the aid of the fifth Law of Fixation, will emerge the sixth subrace of brotherly love—love shown in the realisation of the one life latent in each Son of God.

 

(CF 598  It is not easy for us to do more than grip as a mental concept the fact that the rays, schemes, planets, chains, rounds, races and laws form a unit; seen from the angle of human vision the confusion seems unimaginable, and the key of its solution to be so hidden as to be useless; yet, seen from the angle of logoic sight, [Page 598] the whole moves in unison, and is geometrically accurate.  In order to give some idea of the complexity of the arrangement, I would like here to point out that the Rays themselves circulate, the Law of Karma controlling the interweaving.  For instance, Ray I may pass around a scheme (if it is the paramount Ray of the scheme) with its first subray manifesting in a chain, its second in a round, its third in a world period, its fourth in a root race, its fifth in a subrace, and its sixth in a branch race.  I give this in illustration, and not as the statement of a fact in present manifestation.

 

(CF 599) There is constant rotation in the Rays and planes, in their relative importance from the standpoint of time which is the standpoint most closely associated with us.  But we can rest assured that there is some fundamental principle directing all the activities of the Logos in His system, and by wrestling to discover the basic principle on which our microcosmic lives rest, we may discover aspects of this inherent logoic principle.  This opens to our consideration a wide range of vision, and [Page 599] though it emphasises the complexity of the subject, it also demonstrates the divine magnitude of the scheme, with its magnificent intricacies.  The reason the fourth is a major round is because in this round two things happened—the spark of mind was implanted and the door was opened from the animal kingdom into the human; and later, another door opened, on to the Path leading from the human kingdom into the spiritual—again a dual reason.  The fifth round is a major round because it marks a point in evolution where those who will achieve the goal, and those who will not, are sharply differentiated into two groups; the seventh is a major round because it will mark the merging of the two evolutions, the human and the deva.

 

The major root races are chosen under the Law of Correspondence.  In the third root race came the third Outpouring, the merging and the point of contact between the Spiritual Triad and the Lower Quaternary.  The fifth root race marks a point where higher and lower manas approximate, and where the concrete mind, meeting its highest development of this round, gives place to the intuition from above.  Here again we have a twofold reason.  The seventh root race again demonstrates dual attainment, love in activity, the basis of the third system of Will or Power.

 

(CF 646) Class 5.  We have here a very important group of devas, who are peculiarly active and esoterically dominant during this round; they are the Agnichaitans who form the centre which vibrates to the measure of kundalini in its many forms and demonstrations; this is the centre at the base of the spine.  In this centre we have a very effective display of the two polarities, for the petals of the centre which is the seat of kundalini, and the fire or vitality which animates them are negative and positive to each other.  This centre is to be found in some form or other in all sentient beings and upon it largely depends:

 

(CF 647) It might be of interest here to note that this centre is literally a fourfold radiation, and the "Cross of the Holy Spirit," the equal armed Cross, is its symbol.  This four-petalled lotus is the result of evolution.  In the first kingdom of nature, the mineral, through which a specific Entity is manifesting, this centre is a unity on etheric levels, for only one petal is to be seen.  In the vegetable kingdom, viewing it as the expression of a great Existence, two petals are becoming active.  In the third kingdom, the animal, the centre at the base of the spine will be found to have three petals, whereas in man, the lotus is vibrating in a fourfold manner.  At each initiation of the great Being Who is manifesting through our planet, one of these petals becomes unfolded on etheric levels, so that at individualisation, the four became active, and His selfconscious activity was brought right down on to the physical plane.  The analogy can be seen typified at His great Initiation which took place in the fourth round and the third rootrace; the correspondence between the third kingdom and the fourth, and their production of the esoteric seven is one of the lines of study for the occultist.

 

(CF 649) In planetary manifestation, one of the chains performs a similar work in the evolutionary process of the planetary Logos.  Again the same can be predicated of one of the globes in a chain.  In this fourth round, therefore, it can be seen why the fire at the base of the spine (viewing it in its esoteric significance, and in connection with the Logos, and the Logoi, and not only in connection with man) plays so dominant a part in the stimulation of [Page 649] the logoic Quaternary, or of His Lower Self.  Herein is found the mystery of present evil, the source of present distress, and the basis of planetary experience.  The kundalini fire in the logoic body is at the height of its activity in stimulating His physical body—our lower three systemic planes—and the four petals of that particular centre are coming into full activity in this fourth round.  It must be remembered that He is the sum-total of all the centres in manifestation, and the aggregate of all the fires of kundalini in every department of nature.  The trouble in our planet, and likewise the hope for our planet, lies in this very fact.  The etheric centre of our planetary Logos being in matter of the fourth cosmic ether (the buddhic plane) stimulates at present His lower quaternary, our three worlds of human endeavour.  The direction of the force lies here, and not until the next round (when three-fifths of the human kingdom will be developing the buddhic vehicle), will the point of equilibrium for Him be reached, and the direction of the serpent fire be directed higher.

 

(CF 652) Through this stimulation of the fourth spirilla of the units of the fourth Creative Hierarchy in this fourth round on the fourth globe in this fourth scheme, a tremendous push onward along the evolutionary path has been effected, and hence one of the great objects of the war has been achieved.

 

(CF 669) These three orders are (in this solar system) the most potent, especially in this fourth round.  They influence particularly the fourth kingdom of nature, and are the basis of that search for balance, of that aspiration towards harmony, union and yoga which distinguishes man in all grades; it shows in its lower manifestation as the sex instinct as we know it, and in its higher as longing for union with God.

 

(CF 670) This will as yet prove an insoluble mystery to the student, but in the significance of numbers much can be discovered.  This angle of the matter should be studied in order to bring out the true meaning of this sixth order of devas, whose symbol is the six-pointed Star set at a particular angle and in full manifestation.  The six-pointed star is the sign that a "Son of Necessity" [Page 670] (no matter whether God or man) has sought physical incarnation.  The devas of the sixth order, the Agnisuryans, are a prime factor in bringing this about.  In the sixth round these devas will begin to make their presence felt more and more potently, but the strength of their vibration will be very gradually turned upwards, and not downwards into the physical plane.  This will involve the transmutation of desire into aspiration, and will produce eventually the liberation of the planetary Logos, and bring a manvantara (or His cycle of physical incarnation) to a close.  Withdrawal of the force of desire results likewise in the cessation of man's physical existence.

 

(CF 671) It should be remembered also that each round sees the deva substance or the deva evolution changing; they also evolve and, therefore, the subject of the devas in their dual aspect as the negative and positive substance which produces objectivity must be studied in a threefold manner if a true idea is to be approximated.  Therefore, the devas—who are the sum-total of substance—must be considered from:

 

The standpoint of round development.

The standpoint of any particular planetary Logos as they form His body of manifestation, a scheme.

The standpoint of the human kingdom.

 

(CF 685) 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.

 

(CF 686) 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. (CF 686)  One logoic centre is responding fully to the heart stimulation, and that is Venus, who is passing through the final round.

 

(CF687) Our solar Logos, and the Heavenly Men, are polarised on the cosmic astral plane, and the effect of Their life energy as it flows through the systemic "Heart" can be seen in the activity of the astral plane, and in the part sex and passion play in the development of man.  At the close of this mahamanvantara there will be ready for manifestation in the coming third system nirvanis who will be, in very essence, "active intelligent love"; they will have to wait until the five lower planes of the system have reached a stage of vibratory development which will permit them to enter, as the nirvanis in this system waited until the three lower planes became adequate in vibratory response.  We are here speaking in terms of the Heavenly Men.  In the Earth scheme, the analogy is hidden in the advent of the Egos in the third round, in the third root race and in the third chain.  Individualisation, as we understand it, was not possible until the "third state of pleroma" was reached, either universally where a Heavenly Man is concerned, or relatively in connection with a human unit.

 

(CF 691) What we understand by the fifth principle is but the expression on the causal plane of that force or energy which emanates from the logoic causal body on the fifth cosmic plane, via the logoic correspondence to the mental unit.  (These correspondences involve a concept far in advance of what is possible even to an initiate at this time).  In the fifth round, the inner significance may become more apparent to the disciple.  As the logoic will is gradually transmuted into desire and thus the physical incarnation is produced, a tremendous downflow of vitalising force from the fifth cosmic plane takes place, until it arrives at our fifth plane, the mental.

 

(CF 699) A hint may here be given to those who have power to see.  Three constellations are connected with the fifth logoic principle in its threefold manifestation:  Sirius, two of the Pleiades, and a small constellation whose name must be ascertained by the intuition of the student.  These three govern the appropriation by the Logos of His dense body.  When the last pralaya ended, and the etheric body had been co-ordinated, a triangle in the Heavens was formed under law which permitted a flow of force, producing vibration on the fifth systemic plane.  That triangle still persists, and is the cause of the continued inflow of manasic force; it is connected with the spirillae in the logoic mental unit and as long as His will-to-be persists, the energy will continue to flow through.  In the fifth round, it will be felt at its height.

 

In considering the Entities33 who gave the manasic principle to man, we must remember that they are the beings who, in earlier manvantaras have achieved, and who—in this round—waited for a specific moment at [Page 700] which to enter, and so continue their work.  A parallel case can be seen at the entry—in Atlantean days—of Egos from the moon-chain.  The parallel is not exact, as a peculiar condition prevailed on the moon, and a peculiar karmic purpose brought them all in at that time.

 

It should here be remembered that in the moon the fifth principle of manas incubated normally, and instinct gradually developed until it imperceptibly merged into manas, being of a similar nature; in this round a peculiar condition necessitated extra-planetary stimulation, and this special group of Pitris effected a transition of the lower into the higher through a downflow of energy via the Earth's Primary from an extra-systemic centre.

 

The central three rounds, as in the planes and principles, are the most important for the evolution of the self-conscious units in this system, and this working towards perfection of the three, the four, and the five, mark, for the planetary Logos, as for man, the cycle of maturity.  The earlier and later cycles mark that of growth towards maturity, and the garnering of the fruits of earlier experience.  The three Halls again can be here considered from this aspect, and the central period allocated to the Hall of Learning.

 

(CF 703) These five Kumaras are the channels for this force and one of Them, the Lord of the planet Venus, embodies in Himself the function of the fifth Hierarchy.  This accounts for the activity of Venus at the moment of individualisation in this round.  In the next round, this fifth Hierarchy will be utilising our Earth scheme in this way, and we shall then see manas in full fruition working out in the human family.  This fifth Hierarchy of Agnishvattas in their many grades embody the "I principle" and are the producers of self-consciousness, and the builders of man's body of realisation.  In time and space, and on the mental plane, they are Man himself in essential essence; they enable him to build his own body of causes, to unfold his own egoic lotus, and gradually to free himself from the limitations of the form which he has constructed, and thus to put himself—in due course of time—into the line of another type of energy, that of buddhi.  To word it otherwise, through Their work man can become conscious without the manasic vehicle, for manas is but the form through which a higher principle is making itself known.  The life of God comes cyclically under the influence of the different Hierarchies or forces, all of which temporarily build for it a vehicle, pass it through their substance, give to it in this way a certain quality or colouring, and increase thereby its vibratory capacity until eventually the life is set free from hierarchical limitation.  It then returns to its eternal Source plus the gain of its experiences and with the increased energy which is the result of its various transitions.

 

(CF 705) This should be pondered on, and His close connection therefore, as a transmitter of force within the Moon chain, the third chain, in connection with the third kingdom, the animal, and with the third round, must be borne in mind.  One symbol that may be found in the archaic records in lieu of His Name or description is an inverted five-pointed star, with the luminous Triangle at the centre.  It will be noted that the points involved in this symbol number eight—a picture of that peculiar state of consciousness brought about when the mind is seen to be the slayer of the Real.  The secret of planetary avitchi35 is hidden here, just as the third major scheme can be viewed as systemic avitchi, and the moon at one time held an analogous position in connection with our scheme.  This must be interpreted in terms of consciousness, and not of locality.

 

In the fifth round, at its middle point, certain things will eventuate.

 

The fifth Hierarchy will rise to its full power.  This will precede the Judgment Day, and will mark a point of tremendous struggle, for the manasic vehicle "manas" (which they embody) will rebel against the translation of the life within (the buddhi).  There will, therefore, be seen on a racial scale and involving millions simultaneously, a repetition of the self-same struggle which embroils the man who seeks to transcend mind and to live the life of Spirit.  This will be the final Armageddon, the planetary kurukshetra, and will be succeeded by the Judgment Day when the Sons of Manas will be cast out and the Dragons of Wisdom rule.  This only means that those in whom the manasic principle is over-potent or under-developed will be considered as failures and will [Page 706] have to wait for a more suitable period for development, while those who are living the buddhic life, and in whom it is waxing stronger—spiritual men, aspirants, disciples of various degrees, initiates and adepts—will be left to pursue the natural course of evolution on this scheme.

 

The mystery of Capricorn is hidden in these five and in the Biblical words "the sheep and the goats."36  The Christian hints at this when he speaks of the Christ reigning on earth a thousand years during which the serpent is imprisoned.  The Christ principle will triumph for the remainder of the manvantara, and the lower material nature and mind will be held in abeyance until the next round, when fresh opportunity will arise for certain groups of the discarded, though the majority will be held over until another system.  Something similar again will take place on the fifth chain but as it concerns a centre in the planetary Logos of which we know but little, we need not here enlarge upon it.

 

(CF 706) The planetary chains embody centres, and as they are awakened and come under stimulation, they swing into physical incarnation certain types of manasaputras.  The type dominated by the fifth chain energy is little known as it is yet in process of evolution within another scheme, the fifth, so it is waste of our time to consider it.  It is connected with the unfoldment of the fifth egoic petal of a planetary Logos on His Own plane and consequently with the activity of the fifth spirilla.  When the hour strikes, these units of energy will "come in" from another scheme on a stream of cosmic energy which will swing through a particular systemic triangle, just as when the egos came in this round.

 

(CF 719) It also brings about a setting loose of force from the cosmic mental plane which is cyclic in character.  In this round, the fourth, the maximum force of this cycle was felt in the third root race.  In the next round, during the fourth root race, and for a very brief period, a fresh cycle will reach its zenith, and will again open the door of individualisation in order to permit the entry of certain very advanced Egos who are seeking [Page 719] incarnation in order to carry out a special piece of work.  This round will provide no bodies adequate to their need.  The next round may do so if the plans proceed as anticipated.  In this case the Manasadevas concerned will not individualise animal men as in the previous round, but will stimulate the mental germ in those members of the present human family who—as H. P. B. says—though apparently men, are without the spark of mind.40  During the next seven hundred years, these low aboriginal races will practically die out and will not—in this round—reincarnate.  They will be rejected.  In the next round opportunity will again occur, and the Manasadevas will again renew their work of forming individualistic nuclei for the development of self-consciousness.  The Egos awaiting opportunity will not, of course, enter in until the human type of that era is sufficiently refined for their purpose.  They are concerned with the unfoldment of the sixth petal of the logoic egoic Lotus, and are of such a nature that we can scarcely conceive of them.  They are on the line of the Buddhas of Activity, but the above named are free for this mahamanvantara, whereas these particular Egos have yet somewhat to work out.  They could only "come in" in the middle of the fifth round, and were a group of initiates who arrested their own evolution (technically speaking) in order to take up a special piece of work on the planet Vulcan; therefore, they must return to continue and complete that which has been left undone.  Owing to the results of their experience on Vulcan, the physical vehicle necessitated is of such an order that they could not at this time, and in this round, incarnate without disaster.

 

Individualisation in the next round will begin to show indications of the third method,—that of the next system. [Page 720] This method has been described as that of "occult abstraction."

...Thus, in the mahamanvantara, the three methods of individualisation in connection with our planetary scheme are to be seen

 

a. In the Moon chain, the gradual evolution of self-consciousness under natural law.

b. In the Earth chain that of achieved self-consciousness through the aid of extraneous agencies.  It is the distinctive method of this system.

c. In the next round and chain the method will be abstraction through will power, but this in an embryonic manner.

 

(CF 724) One such Entity, the "Karmic Avatar" appeared upon the second logoic vibration, being swept in on the second Breath; He has stayed until now:  He will remain with us until all the schemes have entered upon their fifth round, and are nearing their "Judgment Day."  At that time, He can withdraw, leaving the planetary Logoi concerned to fulfil the karmic purpose unwatched.

 

(CF 727) Once in the history of each scheme, an avatar from the constellation Capricorn appears on mental levels.  This level is the lowest one on which these interplanetary deities appear.  No more can be communicated on this matter.  "The mystery of the goat" lies hidden here.  This avatar makes His appearance in the third round of the third chain, and disappears in the fifth round of the fourth chain.

 

(CF 739) (3) Next comes the period wherein the man has attained freedom.  A man has at this stage succeeded, under law, in "abstracting" himself, the freed soul, from out of the matter of the three worlds.  He has used and worked with deva substance and has gained all the vibratory [Page 739] contact possible, and has secured all the intended "realisations" and "revelations"; he can no longer be held imprisoned by the devas.  He is free until, consciously and willingly, and in another round, he can return as a member of a Hierarchy to continue His work of service for the little evolved humanity of that distant time.  As this concerns the seven paths of opportunity for a Master we will not deal with it here.47  This is the great human pralaya.

 

(CF 740) This period of conscious activity in etheric substance (of which the planetary body is formed) persists according to the karma of the planetary Lord, for the unit is now consciously associated with planetary karma, and is a participant in the working out of the will and purpose of the Lord of His Ray.  On the higher planes of the system, this stage persists for the length of the life of a scheme; to which a period of pralaya succeeds that has its beginning towards the end of the seventh round in any scheme or of the fifth if the Law of Persistence of a scheme is working out through cycles of five.  I am [Page 740] here generalising and speaking in broad terms; the karma of the units differ and a man—according to the path he chooses after the fifth initiation—stays and works within his own scheme, but changes may occur through the following factors:

 

(CF 741) Atomic substance will then individualise (which, as we know, is the goal for the atom) and after the great pralaya the next solar system will start with the threefold Spirit manifesting through substance which is essentially distinguished by active intelligent love.  This is necessarily incomprehensible to our fourth round minds.

 

(CF 742) Before we take up planetary and cosmic pralaya, we might here consider the relationship of the Agnishvattas [Page 742] (who caused the individualisation of animal man on this planet), to other and previous cycles of evolution, and why we have only dealt with them from the point of view of a mahamanvantara, and of a kalpa.  The reason we have not considered specifically the group of Agnishvattas, Kumaras and Rudras connected with the Earth has been because we have handled the entire subject from the planetary standpoint, and not from that of the human family.  The student who seeks detailed information as to the Agnishvattas of the Earth chain has but to study the Secret Doctrine.  We have attempted to carry the thought of the student beyond his own tiny sphere to the consideration of the work of the Manasadevas in the solar system.  In every scheme They have Their place, but in some—as in the Jupiter scheme—They are just beginning Their work, and in others—as in the Vulcan and Venus schemes—Their work is nearly completed.  Venus is in her last round, and has nearly developed her fourth kingdom to perfection, or as much as it is possible in the system.  In the Earth scheme, They are in full tide of work, and only in the next round will They demonstrate the height of Their activity.  They pass cyclically through the schemes and under Law—the Law of Karma for the planetary Logos, for They are essentially concerned with His Life as it actuates His centres.  They come into a scheme on a wave of manasic energy from the head centre of the Logos, and in the process of passing through his Heart centre three things occur:

 

(CF 744) Between Two Solar Systems.  This covers the period of one hundred years of Brahma, and through the study of the planetary cycles comprehension of these greater cycles may come.  Complication comes to the student nevertheless in the fact that two of the schemes cover their cyclic periods in five rounds, while others have seven; one scheme has but three rounds, but a mystery is hidden here:  on the inner round one planet has nine cycles to run before the purpose of its Lord is completed.

 

(CF 747) But when a man has thus freed himself from the objects of sense in the three worlds he again becomes aware of the need of further meditation, and it is this (to man in the three worlds), inconceivable form of meditation that engrosses the attention of the Adept, and which is undertaken by Him in two great stages, each preceding the two final Initiations, the sixth and the seventh.  I refer not here only to Adepts who "make the sacrifice," and choose rebirth for service on the planet, but to all adepts.  Freedom to work on any Path must be gained by occult [Page 747] meditation; freedom to escape beyond the ring-pass-not is also thus attained, and likewise the curious state of quiescence which is achieved by Those Who have offered for service as the occult Hierarchy in the next round.  In Them have to be stored the psychic seeds of knowledge (permanent atoms) which will be available in the fifth round; this necessitates for Them an attitude of receptivity to occurrences at the close of each root-race, when there is, on subtler levels, a gathering in of psychic force, and its storing with Those prepared for its reception.  Their work is analogous to that of the Seed-Manu, Who Himself works through a septenate as do these storers of the psychic life-forces.

 

(CF 769) Then comes a set time in the life of the planetary Logos wherein His centres become active in a particular manner; this is coincident with the incarnation of the Monads, and their descent into the three worlds.  A systemic triangle is formed (for ever the three produce the seven), and through this setting loose of threefold energy, the work of the solar and lunar Pitris is co-ordinated, and the three permanent atoms are appropriated by the jiva concerned, and appear at the base of the egoic lotus.  Individualisation has taken place and the work of at-one-ment is completed; the fourth kingdom [Page 769] in nature is a "fait accompli;" the Monad has clothed itself in material sheaths, and the self conscious unit appears on the physical plane.  If all that H. P. B. has to say anent the first three rounds of our Earth scheme is read as dealing with the period of condensation of the causal body upon the mental level, and as covering the time leading up to the appearance in the fourth round of man as we now have him, some light may be thrown upon this difficult matter.

 

(CF 774) (f.) Activity of the Pitris.  The joint activity of the solar and the lunar Pitris53  in the process pursued by the reincarnating Ego is our next subject of consideration.  The Ego, driven by desire for physical experience, has made the initial move and a vibration, emanating from the centre of the lotus bud, has reached the lotus petals, and has consequently vibrated in deva substance, or in [Page 774] matter vitalised by the Agnishvattas.  As they are galvanised into activity (according to the group affected) the vibration is increased, and a dual sound is emitted.  This dual sound is the basis of the mantram upon which the Ego's cycle of incarnation is founded.  The vibration, pulsating through the outer circle of petals (for the two inner circles and the three central petals are not as yet responsive) arrives at the triangle formed by the three permanent atoms, and vivifies the three lower spirillae, causing a slight response in the fourth, and leaving the higher three yet dormant.  In each round one of the spirillae has been 'created,' and in this fourth round (through the creation of the fourth spirilla) the fourth or human kingdom can come into being.  The word 'creation' must be occultly understood, and means the appearance in active manifestation of some form of energy.  Only in the next round will the fifth spirilla be an active functioning unit in a sense incomprehensible now.

 

Students should bear in mind that this applies primarily to the humanity individualised on this globe, and was also equally true in the earlier chain; units, however, which come into this fourth or Earth Chain from the earlier ones are much ahead of earth's humanity, and their fifth spirilla is awakening into organised activity in this round.  All in Nature overlaps.

 

(CF 775) The work of the solar Angels is of a triple nature:

 

(1.) Directing the vibration towards the atomic triangle.  Here a very interesting fact must be borne in mind.  The three permanent atoms, or the three points of the triangle, do not always hold the same relative position as regards the centre of the lotus, but according to the stage of development so will be the position of the atoms, and so will be the apprehension of the inflowing force.  In the earlier stages, the physical permanent atom is the first to receive the inflow, passing it through its system to the astral permanent atom and the mental unit.  This force is circulated four times around the triangle (this being the fourth round) until the mental unit is again contacted and the energy becomes centralised in the fourth spirilla of the mental unit.  Then and only then do the lunar Pitris begin their work, and commence the co-ordination of the substance which will form the mental sheath, next working with the astral body and finally with the etheric body.

 

(CF 777) These three activities are the main work of the solar Pitris where man is concerned.  Where the group, and not the individual, is concerned, their work lies along the line of adjusting the egoic units in their groups, and of making them group conscious, but this is only possible towards the final stages of evolution when the work of the highest group of Agnishvattas is in order.  The middle group who form the nine petals are always the most active.  They work in connection with the lower group who are the direct transmitters of energy to the atomic triangle, receiving it from the middle group.  More of their work it is not possible to detail, for the work of the Agnishvattas is vast and intricate, and differs also in the various schemes in certain particulars.  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 of the inner round.  We should note here that we again have a triplicity of groups, representing a triplicity of force, and herein lies a hint.  In the central list of schemes the middle and lower group  of Agnishvattas are active.  In the others the higher group and middle group hold sway as these planets are the most occult and sacred in manifestation, and are concerned only 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 the "reaping" planets.

 

(CF 783) As they all have the gift of occult hearing, they are characterised as the "Pitris with the open ear"; they work entirely under the influence of the egoic mantram.  If these differentiations are studied a great deal may become apparent anent a very important group of deva workers.  They are a group who only come into manifestation as a co-ordinated triplicity in the fourth round in order to provide vehicles for man; the reason for this lies hid in the karma of the seven Logoi, as They energise the fourth, fifth and sixth Hierarchies.  In the earlier round in each scheme these three groups attain a certain stage of necessitated growth, and embody the highest evolution of the substance aspect.  Only the highest and most perfected of the atoms of substance find their way into the vehicles of man,—those which have been the integral parts of the higher evolutionary forms.

 

(CF 793) The three major planetary schemes (Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn) have not, as yet, received their fullest stimulation, and will not do so until the "energy of the sacred seven" has been transferred to Them.  Figures, therefore, as regards their duration and persistence are not in order.

 

The figures for the planets concerned with the "inner round" differ as to length of time but not as to space location from those of other planets.

 

(CF 795) Better conditions among the animals will be another result above all else, and the dying out of that which is noxious in the animal kingdom.  By the time the seventh round is reached, the evil effect of the then moon (which will have to all intents and purposes practically disappeared) will be finished.  During the fifth round, men will discover how to neutralise any remaining effects through scientific achievement and knowledge of the necessary sounds and mantrams, and thus much evil will be offset.  The etheric moon is included in these remarks.  The greatest effect of moon conditions is to be seen working out predominantly in the terror, and present distress in the animal kingdom.58

 

(CF 807) In the third stage, the law of karma works through a man's mental nature, and awakens in him recognition of the law, and an intellectual apprehension of cause and of effect.  This is the shortest stage but is also the most powerful; it concerns the evolution of the three inner [Page 807] petals shielding the "jewel," and their ability to disclose at the right moment that which lies hidden.  It covers the period of the evolution of advanced man, and of the man upon the Path.  In connection with the human family it covers the first half of the next round, prior to the great separation.  Electric fire is beginning to make its radiations felt, and the will or purpose of the Ego is now consciously realised upon the physical plane.  The three permanent atoms form a triangle of light, and the petals of the lotus are rapidly unfolding.  When the will and purpose of the Ego are realised by man in his waking consciousness in the physical brain, then the law of karma in the three worlds is becoming neutralised, and man is on the verge of liberation.  He has exhausted the initial vibration, and there is no response within his sheaths to the threefold vibration of the three worlds; he stands freed from the three kingdoms and the fourth.

 

(CF 824) In the mystery of these subsidiary colours and of the gradual shining forth within the lotus of five colours in any one petal at one time, is veiled the mystery of the five Kumaras.62  The student who seeks the significance of the preponderance of orange and of rose is approaching the secret of the two Kumaras Who fell.  More it is not possible to say, but the colours hold the esoteric key to this great occurrence.  This inner circle of petals is organised and vitalised in the Hall of Wisdom, and simultaneously the middle circle unfolds, so that two rows of petals are duly opened, and only the third remains to be unclosed.  This final opening is effected during the period of treading the stages of the Path of Initiation, and in this round it is hastened by the rites of initiation and by the strenuous and abnormal efforts of the man himself, aided by the electrical work of the Initiator, wielding the Rod of Power.

 

(CF 825) For advanced man at this time these incarnations took place upon the moon chain and in some cases upon certain planets connected with the inner round.  This is the circumstance which necessitated his "coming-in" during the Atlantean root-race.  Men of this type refused to incarnate earlier, as the bodies were too coarse; this was the cyclic reflection (on the lowest plane) of the refusal of the Monads to incarnate at the dawn of manvantaric opportunity.

 

(CF 829) Initiation is in the nature of a great experiment which our planetary Logos is making during this round.  In earlier and perhaps in later rounds the whole process will follow natural law.  In this round and on this chain, our planetary Logos on His high level is what is esoterically called "sitting for yoga," and is definitely undergoing certain processes of training in order to stimulate His centres.  This fact is being taken advantage of by the Hierarchy on Earth to produce certain results in the races under Their guidance.  The whole process is optional, and a man may—if he so choose—follow the normal process, and take aeons of time to effect what some are choosing to do in a briefer period, through a self-chosen forcing process.

 

(CF 842) Primary lotuses.  These are a group of special interest brought in under the influence of the Lord of the fifth Ray.... They were quiescent during the Atlantean root-race but have come in during the fourth and fifth subraces of this rootrace.  They are a group a good deal more advanced than the earlier classes but need much to develop the second petal.  With them the first and the third petals in the first circle are opening, but the middle petal is yet shut.  The middle tier also shows no signs of vitality.... Their work for the race has at present a deleterious effect, but when the second petal is opened, the wonders then to be achieved by them in loving service along their own particular line will be one of the factors which will regenerate the fourth kingdom.  They will achieve emancipation in the fifth round, four fifths of them passing on to the Path and one fifth set back for another cycle.

 

(CF 843) 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,  (5th 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 [Page 843] produces reflex energy in another.

 

(CF 851) The "coming-in" of advanced Egos from the inner round, or from other planetary schemes, or from subtler spheres where they have been in pralaya awaiting opportunity is produced in a triple manner and is the result of a triple activity.  It is caused by an understanding between the planetary Logos of a scheme, and a brother planetary Logos whereby an exchange is effected.  The student must here think in terms of force and energy, of magnetic interaction and the conscious transmission of energy out of the body of the planetary Logos, via centres or a centre, into the body of another planetary Logos.  The cause here is the will or purpose, the object is sensation, and the method is force transference.  Exactly the same understanding lies back of the coming in of egos from the inner round, only this time the energy is sent forth by certain existences (working in connection with any planetary Logos) who are the "custodians of the inner circle."  This touches upon a mystery and deals with the coming-in of high Egos, of Avatars, of Buddhas, [Page 852] of masters, of initiates, and of disciples, and of all who have to wait for group, and not individual, urge for the fulfillment of cyclic karma on a large scale, and whose "wheels" are controlled by cosmic forces and not by purely systemic forces.

 

(CF 893) The secret of the reptile kingdom is one of the mysteries of the second round, and there is a profound significance connected with the expression "the serpents of wisdom" which is applied to all adepts of the good law. [Page 893] The reptile kingdom has an interesting place in all mythologies, and all ancient forms of truth impartation, and this for no arbitrary reason.  It is not possible to enlarge upon the underlying truth which is hidden in the karmic history of our planetary Logos, and is revealed as part of the teaching given to initiates of the second degree.

 

(CF 893) For all animal life can be seen passing through it during the prenatal stage, or returning to it when the form is in advanced decomposition.  The connection is not purely a physical one, but it is also psychic.  When the real nature and method of the kundalini, or serpent fire, is known, this relation will be better understood, and the history of the second round assume a new importance.

 

(CF 894) All this physico-psychical occurrence is possible to man owing to certain events which happened to the Heavenly Serpent in the second, or serpent, round.  These happenings necessitated the formation and evolution of that peculiar and mysterious family we call the reptilian.  These forms of divine life are very intimately connected with the second planetary scheme, being responsive to energy emanating from that scheme, and reaching the earth via the second globe in the second chain.  A group of special devas (connected with a particular open sound in the planetary Word), work with the reptile evolution.

 

(CF 905) As the race becomes clairvoyant, as it surely will in a great degree before the close of this rootrace, these gaseous devas will stand revealed, and men will realise that they are working with fiery lives, and that they are themselves closely allied to these lives through the fires of their own bodies.  The clairvoyance which is in process [Page 905] of developing in this rootrace is entirely physical, and, under the law, its development is to be anticipated, for the Aryan rootrace is that one wherein man—in this fourth round—comes to full self-consciousness.  This involves complete physical vision, and the use in perfection of the three physical plane senses of hearing, touch, and sight.  In the next rootrace, astral clairvoyance will be prevalent, though not universal, and thus contact with the buddhic plane will be more easily achieved.  In the earlier rootraces of the next round, the fifth, there will be a recapitulation of the activities of this round, until, in the fifth rootrace, the sumtotal of that achieved in this round will be seen.  Men will then begin to demonstrate mental clairvoyance.  Thus the cycles mingle and overlap, in order that no unit of life, however small and unimportant, may fail in opportunity.

 

(CF 906) There will also be seen a paralleling increased vibration of the human spirillae which will result, before the end of the round, in the awakening to full activity of the fifth spirilla of the human physical permanent atom.

 

(CF 913) For the green devas the path of service is seen in magnetisation, of which the human race knows nothing as yet.  Through this power they act as the protectors of the vegetable plant life, and of the sacred spots of the earth; in their work lies the safety of man's body, for from the vegetable kingdom for the remainder of this round comes the nourishment of that body.

 

(CF 932) Second.  The builders of the vegetable kingdom.  They exist in many groups and are termed "the surface alchemists" and "the bridging units."  They build the doubles of every form of vegetable life, and just as the "alchemists" of the mineral kingdom are mostly concerned with the action of fire, these other alchemical workers are concerned with the liquid action of divine [Page 932] manifestation.  They work, therefore, in co-operation with the devas of the waters, or liquid substance, whilst the earlier mentioned group work with the gaseous devas.  A hint is here conveyed, but greater expansion of the statement is not possible, owing to the danger of the knowledge to be reached.  With them is hidden three secrets:  One is concerned with the earlier solar system, or the green solar system; another deals with the laws of bridging, or the interaction between the kingdoms of nature, and the third is connected with the history of the second round; this secret when revealed will make clear why man (under the law) should be a vegetarian and not carnivorous.  Scientists are learning already certain things connected with the second secret, and they may hope, as the knowledge of the significance of colour is extended, to glean hints as to the first.  The third secret will not be indicated more clearly till the sixth race is living upon earth.

 

(CF 933) a. The materialisation of the web.  This is only perfected by the fourth round, and was purposely hurried in connection with our planet owing to karmic conditions, and under the law of spiritual necessity.  A correspondence to this can be seen in the case of man himself.  The etheric web was very loosely co-ordinated in man at the beginning of the fourth rootrace.  Spiritual necessity forced its rapid consolidation, and it is now so constituted that it forms a barrier between the physical and the astral plane.

 

b. The preservation of the planetary web.  This will be continued until the sixth round.  During this period spiritual evolution proceeds with a certain degree of planetary safety, for the web protects from certain solar influences, and acts largely as a sifter and a distributor of solar forces.

 

(CF 936) The substance of the highest physical form of a human being is therefore atomic.  The Master's physical body is made of atomic matter, and when He wishes to materialise it on the dense physical plane, He forms a sheath of gaseous substance upon that atomic matter, perfect in its delineation of all the known physical traits.  The substance of the highest form of animal body is that of the second ether, and herein is to be found a clue as to the relation between all sea and watery forms to the animal.  The highest form of body possible for the vegetable form of life is that of the third ether.  These facts will be demonstrated in the seventh round when the present three kingdoms of nature—the human, the animal, and the vegetable will objectively exist in etheric matter; that will be for them their densest manifestation.  The mineral kingdom will find its highest manifestation in matter of the fourth ether, and this transmutation is already taking place, for all the radioactive substances now being discovered are literally becoming matter of the fourth ether.  The mineral kingdom is relatively nearing its possible manvantaric perfection, and by the time the seventh round is reached all mineral lives (not forms) [Page 936] will have been transferred to another planet.  This will not be so with the other three kingdoms.

 

(CF 948) A gigantic thought form hovers over the entire human family, built by men everywhere during the ages, energised by the insane desires and evil inclinations of all that is worst in man's nature, and kept alive by the promptings of his lower desires.  This thought form has to be broken up and dissipated by man himself during the latter part of this round before the conclusion of the cycle, and its dissipation will be one of the forces tending to the production of interplanetary pralaya.  It is this piece of creative bungling, if so it might be called, which the Great Ones are occupied in destroying.

 

(CF 949) Second, by the fostering care of the brothers of the shadow, and those representatives of what may be called "cosmic evil" who (under the karma of the fourth or human family, in this fourth round), assume stupendous responsibilities, make possible the secondary vitalisation of the thought form and produce conditions of such a dire description that under law rapid crystallisation supervenes, and ultimate destruction becomes possible.  Students would do well to broaden their concept as to the purpose of evil and the place the evil forces play in the general scheme.

 

(CF 921) Black magic is spoken of as making its appearance upon our planet during the fourth root race.97  It should be borne in mind here that this means strictly in connection with the fourth kingdom and its conscious use by wrongly developed men.  The forces of evil of the planetary and cosmic kind have been present since manifestation set in, being latent in the karma of the planetary Logos, but human beings began consciously to work with these forces and to use them for specified selfish ends in this round during the fourth root race.

 

(CF 1076) It is interesting to note that during this round, owing to planetary decision, the process of producing human radiation or "release" is being artificially stimulated through the method which we call initiation, and the [Page 1076] short cut to intensive purification and stimulation is open to all who are willing to pass through the divine alchemical fire.

 

The artificial process of initiation enabled Venus to complete her evolution in five rounds-same should happen with planet Earth

(CF 1076) This intensive culture is not proceeding upon all the planets but only upon a very few.  The others will run a longer cycle.  The initiatory cultural process which has in view the stimulation of magnetic radiation or transmutation is but an experiment.  It was tried first on Venus, and on the whole proved successful, resulting in the consummation of the planetary purpose in five rounds instead of seven.  This was what made it possible to utilise Venusian energy upon the Venus chain and the Venus globe of our scheme and thus cause the phenomenon of forced individualisation in Lemurian days.  It was the intensive stimulation of the third kingdom of nature during the third root race which artificially unified the three aspects.  The process of stimulating through the medium of Venusian energy was really begun in the third round when the triangle of force was completed, and ready to function.  It is this factor which occultly makes the third Initiation of such tremendous importance.  In it the human triangle is linked, the Monad, the [Page 1077] Ego and the personality, or Venus, the Sun and the Earth are symbolically allied.

 

(CF 1106) It should be borne in mind by students that all egoic groups come under the Law of Karma, but only as it affects the Heavenly Man, and not the law as it demonstrates in the three worlds.  This karmic law, which is the governing impulse of His centres, will show itself in peculiar ways, and as the human monads compose those centres, each group will have its own "activity" problems, will spiral through the round of Being in its own peculiar manner, and will demonstrate qualities and motions different from its brothers.  For instance, through withdrawal of energy and not through basic inertia those monads who are the sum total of the centre of creative force of the Heavenly Man show qualities of violent [Page 1106] reaction on the physical plane against certain "laws of nature" and in the period of their transition from the lowest centre to the throat centre of the Heavenly Man, betray qualities of revolt which make them a puzzle to their brothers.

 

(CF 1140) It might be said that the appearance of any life in manifestation is due to primary activity on the part of some Entity, which activity is largely the expression of the first Ray.  This concerns the periodical manifestation of the life or lives of any round just as it concerns also the ephemeral existence of a dragon fly; it deals with the form through which what we call a race is evolving and concerns itself with the tiny life of an individual in that race.  The same laws govern all, though the response to the law may be relative and in degree.  This law has the generic name of the "Law of Cycles," and is expressed in terms of time; [Page 1141] but the secret to the cycles may not as yet be given as it would convey to the intuitive too much dangerous information.  It is the knowledge of this law as it concerns rounds, races, subraces, groups (involutionary and evolutionary) and individuals (human and superhuman) which enables the Lords of Karma, and the Adepts of the good Law, to manipulate force or energy, and so carry all that is, on to its triumphant conclusion.

 

(CF 1164) These centres, with no dense physical globe, constitute what has sometimes been called "the inner round" and transmit their force through those greater centres which have been spoken of in occult books as having a connection with the inner round.

 

(CF 1175) It is not possible at this stage to convey to students the information as to the nature of each planetary school.  They exist in five great groups:

 

1. The exoteric non-sacred planets, called in occult parlance "the outer round" or outer circle of initiates.  Of these our earth is one, but being aligned in a peculiar fashion with certain spheres on the inner round, a dual opportunity exists for mankind, which facilitates, whilst it complicates, the evolutionary process.

 

2. The sacred planets, called sometimes (when this Law of the Schools is under consideration) the "seven grades of psychic knowledge" or the "seven divisions of the field of knowledge."

 

3. The inner round, which carries with it vast opportunity for those who can surmount its problems and withstand its temptations.  This inner round has a peculiar appeal to units on certain Rays, and has its own specific dangers.  The inner round is the round that is followed by those who have passed through the human stage and have consciously developed the faculty of etheric living and can follow the etheric cycles, functioning consciously on the three higher etheric planes in all parts of the system.  They have—for certain occult and specific purposes—broken the connection between the third etheric and the four lower subplanes of the physical plane.  (CF 1176) This [Page 1176] round is followed only by a prepared percentage of humanity, and is closely associated with a group who pass with facility and develop with equal facility on the three planets that make a triangle with the earth, namely Mars, Mercury, and Earth.  These three planets—in connection with this inner round—are considered only as existing in etheric matter, and (in relation to one of the Heavenly Men) hold a place analogous to the etheric triangle found in the human etheric body.  I have here conveyed more than has as yet been exoterically communicated anent this inner round and by the study of the human etheric triangle, its function, and the type of force which circulates around it, much may be deduced about the planetary inner round.  We must bear in mind in this connection that just as the human etheric triangle is but the preparatory stage to a vast circulation within the sphere of the entire etheric body, so the etheric planetary triangle—passing from the Earth to Mars and Mercury—is but the preparatory circulatory system to a vaster round included within the sphere of influence of one planetary Lord.

 

(CF 1192) his involves information as yet veiled in deepest mystery, but which will unfold as the true psychology is studied, and which will eventually embody itself in a fourth fundamental of the Secret Doctrine so that later students will have the three as they are now found in the Proem to that book, plus the fourth.29  This might be expected in this fourth round.  The true astrology will reveal the nature of this fourth proposition at some later date.  More attention will eventually be paid to the planetary influences, and not so much to the signs of the zodiac where the nature of an Ego is concerned.

 

(CF 1257) The symbol of this Path  (Path III Training for Planetary Logoi)  (and the only one it is possible to make exoteric) is a radiant Cross of coloured light; it [Page 1257] has the long limb formed of the seven colours of the solar spectrum, and the transverse limb is composed of twelve gradations of colours as yet unknown to man.  In the centre of the Cross is to be seen a five-pointed star in a deep indigo shade, and behind it is a blazing sun of a warm dark blue.  Above the whole are certain Sensa characters, depicted in gold, and conveying to the initiated adept the name of one or other of the planetary Schools in which this particular line of study is undertaken.  There are, as has been already said, seven such schools and candidates for this Path from our planetary scheme are transferred to the inner round and from thence to the Jupiter scheme.

 

(CF 1261) This Path (Path V The Ray Path) is one of the great distributing paths of the system, and is trodden by the adept who has a clear understanding of the laws of vibration.  It leads to the next cosmic plane with great facility and is therefore called "the outer door of entry."  As we know, the seven Rays which manifest throughout our solar system, are but the seven subrays of one great ray, that of Love-Wisdom.  This ray Path is the one upon which the majority of the "Masters of the Wisdom" pass.  In the same way many of the "Lords of Compassion" pass on to Path IV.  Five-eighths of the former pass on to this path just as four-fifths of the adepts of suffering pass on to Path IV.  In considering these numbers it must be borne in mind that the figures are of very great magnitude.  One-fifth of the Compassionate Lords is a vast number, whilst three-eighths is a stupendous number of monads.  We must remember in this connection also that we are only dealing with the adepts of the fifth Initiation, and are not taking into consideration initiates of lower degrees nor disciples of many grades.  It is useless for average man to ponder upon these figures.  They are too difficult to compute and involve calculations most abstruse and intricate.  This can be demonstrated by pointing out that from these figures must be subtracted that two-fifths which (in the next round) pass before the Judgment Throne and are rejected.  Out of the remaining three-fifths only a percentage which may not be revealed reach final adeptship, though all pass upon the Path.  The five-eighths above referred to and the four-fifths have reference only to the two great groups of asekha initiates.

 

(CF 1278) Seek ye the same on lesser scale within the inner round and on the plane of density see the lesser primary manifest.  The law holds good; the mystery dissolves in TIME.

 

(EPI 124) These violet devas of the four ethers form, as you may imagine, four great groups with seven subsidiary divisions. These four groups work with the four types of men now in incarnation, for it is a statement of fact that at no time in this round are more than four types of men in incarnation at any one time.  Four rays dominate at any given period, with one in excess of the other three.  I mean by this, that only four rays are in physical incarnation; for on the plane of the soul all [Page 124] seven types are of course found.  This idea is brought out in the four castes in India, and you will find that these four are found universally.  The four groups of devas are a band of servers to the Lord, and their special work is to contact men and to give them definite and experimental teaching.

 

(EPI 243) Towards the close of this round, the monadic ray of the advanced units of humanity will be so powerful that there will be a marked pouring in of ray one, with its stimulation of the individual will.

 

 

 

 

 

3rd Ray Monads-relative achievement-5th Root-Race of 4th Round

2nd Ray Monads-relative achievement-6th Root-Race of 4th Round

1st Ray Monads-relative achievement-7th Root-Race of 4th Round

(EPI 318) The fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict leads from the period of that terrific balancing of forces in Atlantis (the [Page 318] fourth race) to the sanctified and free devotion of one-pointedness in the next or sixth race, with two lines of energy consummating in it.  It marks the point of achievement of the Monads of Love, Who arrive at the expression of Love-Wisdom.  The final race marks the point of achievement for the Monads of Will, just as the present Aryan race marks, and will mark, the achievement of the Monads of Intelligence.  This warrants thought.  It is a relative achievement, for this is the fourth round, but there is necessarily a "highwater mark," if I might so call it, for each round.

 

(CF 320) Two rays of divine energy are peculiarly active in bringing this kingdom into manifestation.  These are:

 

1. The fourth Ray of Harmony, beauty and unity, attained through conflict.

 

2. The fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge, or the power to know.

 

The fourth ray is the ray par excellence which governs humanity.  There is a numerical relation to be noted here, for the fourth creative Hierarchy of human monads, the fourth ray, in this fourth round, on the fourth globe, the Earth, are extremely active.  It is their close interrelation and interplay which is responsible for the emergence into prominence of humanity.  In other rounds, humanity has not been the dominant evolution or the most important.  In this round it is. In the next round, the dominant evolution will be that of souls on the astral level, and the deva kingdom. Humanity now walks in the light of day, symbolically speaking, on Earth, and these two rays were responsible for the process of initiating the human evolution in this major cycle.  Our objective is the harmonising of the higher and the lower aspects, or principles, both in the individual and in the whole.  This involves conflict and struggle, but produces eventually beauty, creative power in art, and synthesis.  This result would not have been possible had it not been for the potent work of the fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge which—in conjunction with the fourth ray—produced that reflection of divinity we call a man.

 

(EPI 344) This is essentially the true apostolic succession, for it provides a triple line of directed energy.  This produces the human manifestation on the fourth globe of our Earth chain, and in this fourth round is responsible for the tremendous crisis with which our present humanity is confronted.  The conflict aspect of the process is at its height, nay, has passed its height, from the angle of physical plane expression.  This situation and this triple influence, producing the manifestation of the sons of God, is summed up for us in the terse words of the Old Commentary, when we remember that they express the long agony of humanity's test, and the opening to man of the door into the fifth kingdom of spiritual being.  They include therefore, in their meaning, his goal and objective and the process whereby he attains:

 

(EPII 209) In connection with individualisation the following points should be remembered:—

 

1. Individualisation upon the moon chain took place in the fifth race of the third round.

 

2. In Lemurian days, individualisation took place because it was the third root race and the fourth round.

 

3. In Atlantis, the door of initiation opened, and forced initiation became the objective of the best of the human family.  Those who could or can thus become initiate are the "lights which ever radiate."  In Lemurian days it was the "lights which ever burn" that came into being.

 

4. In our race we find the "lights which ever shine."  This is the individualisation of the sixth race types who came in the second round.

 

(EA 130) Sagittarius, which is governed esoterically by Mother Earth, produces those conditions whereby the Path itself achieves glorification. Consequently, you have at the end of the age (I refer here to a greater round of the zodiac and to no shorter cycle), the glorification of Venus, of Virgo, the Virgin, and of Mother Earth—two planets and one constellation—and all these are potencies which produce definite changes in the solar system.

 

(EA 230) This sign is sometimes called "the place of judgment" for it is here that the decision is made and the die is cast which separate the "sheep from the goats" or those constellations ruled by Aries (the Ram or Lamb) and those ruled by Capricorn, the Goat. It really marks the distinction between the ordinary wheel of life and the reversed [Page 230] wheel. In the days before Leo-Virgo were divided into two signs, Libra was literally the midway point. The situation was then as follows:

 

Aries.                     Taurus.                  Gemini.                   Cancer.   Leo-Virgo.            

                                                                LIBRA

Scorpio. Sagittarius.            Capricorn.              Aquarius.              Pisces.

 

and in this round of the zodiac (as far as humanity is concerned) you have depicted the entire history of the race.

 

(EA 352) In that far-off time when the greater round of the zodiac was started in Gemini, as now it is in Pisces, there was a relation between the waxing and the waning moon, due to the pulsating power of Gemini. This is now greatly lessened, owing to the removal of the responsive life from the Moon, but the rhythm then set up still remains, producing the same basic illusion. I am talking here in terms of ancient facts and not in terms of reflection, as is now the case. I refer to realities and not to shadows.

 

(EA 409) 3. The great sweep of the sun around the greater zodiac (a period of 250,000 years, or a complete round) came to an end when the sun entered Pisces over two thousand years ago. This process of passing out of, or entering into, a particular sign and cyclic influence covers a period of five thousand years where this greater round or cycle is concerned. This period of five thousand years covers the complete cycle of transition until complete freedom to function under the inspiration of the new sign is completed. We are, therefore, not yet free from incidental turmoil.

 

(EA 467) Their peculiar nature, objective in evolution and basic purpose is only revealed to initiates above the fifth initiation. They are concerned with the problem of desire (which is to humanity a problem but not in its higher octaves) and with its transmutation into spiritual will and divine purpose. They are the originators of conflict, are closely connected with the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict and are, therefore, in a peculiar relation to the fourth Creative Hierarchy, the human, and to our Earth in this fourth round.

 

9. "The seven Builders graft the divine and the beneficent forces on to the gross material nature of the vegetable and mineral kingdoms every Second Round." (S.D. III. 162; Note, I.)

 

15. "In the middle of the fifth round, the Lord of Mercury will, with the Logos of the Venus scheme and of our Earth, form a temporary triangle of force." (371.)

 

14. "The Lord of Venus:

 

a. Holds place in the Logoic Quaternary.

b. Venus is in the fifth round and is therefore further progressed than the other planets." (C.F. 300.)

 

19. "Venus and Jupiter are closely connected with the Earth and form eventually an esoteric triangle." (C.F. 370.)

 

20. "Venus, being in the fifth round, had the mind principle coordinated and developed and four minor mental aspects had been synthesised and the buddhic aspect was being provided with a means of expression through the medium of the fifth principle." (C.F. 376.)

 

22. "Venus is in her last round and has nearby brought the fourth kingdom to perfection." (C.F. 742.)

 

7. "Once in the history of each scheme, an avatar from the constellation Capricorn appears on mental levels. This level is the lowest one on which these inter-planetary deities appear. No more can be communicated on this matter. The mystery of the goat lies hidden here. This avatar makes His appearance in the third round of the third chain and disappears in the fifth round of the fourth chain." (727.)

 

(RI 439) In the Master, all the divine aspects are proved capable of expression in accordance with this particular time, in this particular round and chain (reverting to the old symbolism of The Secret Doctrine) and through any particular racial expression.

 

Crucial ref- “The ray of the ego varies from round to round, and, in more evolved souls, from race to race, and comprises one of the five rays of our present evolution.”

(WM 112) The sub-ray on which a man is found, that minor ray which varies from incarnation to incarnation, largely gives him his coloring for this life.  It is his secondary hue.  Forget not, the primary ray of the Monad continues through the aeon.  It changes not.  It is one of the three primary rays that eventually synthesise the sons of men.  The ray of the ego varies from round to round, and, in more evolved souls, from race to race, and comprises one of the five rays of our present evolution.  It is the predominating ray to which a man's causal body vibrates.  It may correspond to the ray of the monad, or it may be one of the complementary colours to the primary.  The ray of the personality varies from [Page 112] life to life, till the gamut of the seven sub-rays of the Monadic ray has been passed through.

 

(WM 262) All life is vibration and the result of vibration is form, dense or subtle, and ever subtler as ascension takes place.  As the pulsating life progresses its rate of vibration changes, and in this changing of vibration lies hid the secret of form-shattering and form-building.  Forms are of four kinds in this era of the fourth round:

 

(WM 374) In all I have said anent the etheric body of men, anent the planet, anent the spirit of the earth, the crux of the whole situation lies in the fact that the five rays at this time have the seventh ray as their predominating ray.  The seventh ray is the ray that controls the etheric and the devas of the ethers.  It controls the seventh sub-plane of all planes but it dominates at this time the seventh sub-plane of the physical plane.  Being in the fourth [Page 374] round also, when a ray comes into definite incarnation, it not only controls on planes of the same number but has a special influence on the fourth sub-plane.  Note how this works at this time in the three worlds:

 

1. The fourth ether, the lowest of the ethers, is to be the next physical plane of consciousness.  Etheric matter is even now becoming visible to some, and will be entirely visible at the end of this century to many.

2. The fourth sub-plane of the astral holds the majority of men when they pass over and consequently much work on the greatest number can therefore be accomplished.

3. The fourth mental sub-plane is the plane of devachan.

 

(WM 437) Owing to the precession of the equinoxes, a situation is brought about in which a fourth type of force makes itself felt.  The sun is, in reality, many degrees [Page 437] away in the great round of the heavens from where it is stated to be, as far as the greater zodiac is concerned.  This is, of course, from the standpoint of time.  As the sweep of the sun through a constellation covers a period of approximately two thousand two hundred years, the shift in the course of the centuries is very slight, so slight that little difference would be noted in the casting of the planetary horoscope.  In the casting of the horoscope of a solar system it would be of vital importance, but this is so far beyond the capacity of the wisest astrologer on our planet that discussion is immaterial.

 

Cessation of the  activities of the Black Lodge in the 6th Round

(WM 543)  It is perhaps as well, [Page 544] for their destiny is tied up with the future race, the sixth, and their end and the cessation of their activities will come about in that far distant aeon which is technically called the Sixth Round.  The final break or division between the so-called black and white forces, for this particular world cycle, will take place during the period of the sixth root race in the present round.  Towards the close of the sixth root race, before the emergence of the seventh, we shall have the true Armageddon about which so much has been taught.  A small cycle, corresponding to this final battle and cleavage, will appear during the sixth subrace which is now in process of formation.  The world war which has just taken place and our present cycle of separativeness and upheaval, do not constitute the real Armageddon.  The war which is told to us in the Mahabharata and the present war had the roots of their trouble and the seeds of the disasters which they brought about, one in the lower and one in the higher astral world.  Selfishness and desire of a low order were the impulses back of them both.  The coming great division will have its roots in the mental world and will consummate in the sixth subrace.  In the sixth root race it will have the seeds of portentous disaster in the coordinated triplicity of mind, astralism, and physical nature, which will bring about a climaxing moment for the planetary duality.

 

Beyond that we need not go, for the humanity of the sixth round will be so different in nature to ours and those who will differentiate into the black and the white forces will be so unlike what we now understand by the words, that we need not concern ourselves with that far distant problem.