(A.A. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, pp. 1188-1211, 1925. — SECTION TWO, DIVISION F. THE LAW OF ATTRACTION, II. Its effects,<3>.)

"This is the process of gradually providing forms which are due expressions of the indwelling consciousness which is the great purpose of what we call "Mother Nature"; this she does, working under the Law of Attraction which we are considering. This law, therefore, governs two aspects of unfoldment, that which concerns the soul or consciousness aspect and that relating to the Spirit on its own plane. It is the cause of that continuous cycle of form taking, of form utilisation and of form rejection which characterises the incarnations of every kind and type of living being. The student should here remember that the Existences who are the attractive force in manifestation, the Dhyan Chohans, are seven in number, and that, therefore, the quality of the vehicles which form Their bodies will have the sevenfold variation according to the specific nature of the Lords of Life.

The only way to arrive at a realisation of the basic qualities of these planetary Logoi is through a consideration of the energy emanating from Them, and it is this which the true esoteric astrology will eventually reveal. The time is not yet; it will come when the scientific consideration of human magnetism, of the distinctions between the seven types of men, and the nature of the Ego is more truly followed. Then will be revealed the nature of planetary magnetism and the quality of any specific planetary soul as it is known through the aggregated nature of the men, responsive to and exponents of any particular planetary Ray. The mystery is increased by the fact that there are not only certain logoic qualities manifesting which are not included by the term "sacred," but that there are numerous other aspects of what we might term "secondary centres of fire," generated and making their presence felt. We have a correspondence to this in the fact that there are centres of energy in man which are not purely etheric centres but are the product of the interaction of the etheric centres and certain forms of negative energy of the lowest kind. Such, for instance, is the heart. There is the heart centre, one of the major centers on the etheric planes, but there is also the physical heart which is an energy generator also; there are the lower organs of generation which are equally a reflex product with an energy which is the resultant of the higher vibrations yet which has a quality all its own. This has its correspondence in the solar system. Many are the lesser planets and numerous are the planetoids which have an energy or attractive quality all their own and which, from the systemic standpoint, must be allowed for in the measuring of the attraction producing the forms of or upon any particular planet.

As we know from a study of the Secret Doctrine, certain of the planetary Logoi are pure and passionless whilst others are still under the domination of desire and of passion.{28} This quality of Theirs necessarily attracts to Them that which They need for the due expression of Their life in any scheme, and controls the nature of those egoic groups who are (for Them) generating force centres. Hence the nature of men upon earth. All human beings are paramountly governed by certain planetary attractions, impressions or influences which might be enumerated in the order of their importance.

There is, first of all, the attractive pull of the Life of the planetary Logos of this particular planet. This is necessarily the strongest and is one of the basic factors which have settled the lines the human form has taken upon this planet. There are human beings, or exponents of self-consciousness on other planets, but the forms they utilise are not the same as ours.

There is next, the attractive pull of the planetary Logos Who is the complementary Life to that of our Logos. This involves a planetary Logos responsive to a vibration which harmonises with that of our Logos but Who, when in union with Him, forms what might be called "the Third" or His dominant, as the case may be. It is not possible to reveal whether the blending of the note will mean that our scheme will absorb that which expresses the note of another scheme, or vice versa. It means that somewhere in the solar system is a planetary scheme of some kind (not necessarily one of the seven or of the ten) which has an interplay with ours and which, therefore, inevitably affects the egoic groups. We must note also the fact that—in connection with the expression of a Heavenly Man—the egoic groups are energy centres and make His dense physical body eventually an accomplished fact.

Finally, there is the attractive pull of that planetary scheme which is esoterically regarded as our polar opposite. (What is here said has reference to the other schemes, for the law persists throughout the solar system.)

It will be apparent, therefore, that the real and esoteric astrology will deal with four kinds of force, when it seeks to explain the nature of the Energies which influence any human being:

1. The quality of the solar system.
2. The quality of the Logos of the planet as it pours through the chains and globes and rounds in a sevenfold differentiation.
3. The quality of our earth's complementary planet.
4. The quality of the attraction of our earth's polar opposites.

This 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. The great signs of the zodiac concern the Heavenly Man, and necessarily, therefore, the Monads of every human being. The planetary influences must be studied to find out the quality of a man's Ray, and this in the above indicated threefold manner. Man is the Monad, therefore, he expresses a small part of his enfolding life. In this solar system he is essentially the Ego.

Astrologers should study the planetary schemes in the light of the Heavenly Man, viewing them as an incarnation of a planetary Logos, and thus strive to cast the horoscope of the planetary Logos. They cannot succeed in doing so, but in the attempt may learn much and achieve new light upon a most difficult subject.

In considering this question of the adaptation of the form to vibration, or the construction of a vehicle which will be a fitting instrument for spirit, the following factors must be borne in mind:

1. That it is the quality of the indwelling life which decides the type of form.
2. That these qualities are the sumtotal of the attributes of divinity which the indwelling life has succeeded in unfolding.
3. That these qualities—as may well be surmised—fall into the usual septennate.
4. That they fall also into two groups, those which concern the lower principles, and are, therefore, four in number, and those which concern the higher and middle and are, therefore, three.

This is true of all men, of the Heavenly Men and of the solar Logos likewise, and there is a mysterious analogy concerned in the manifestation of the three higher principles in man (which may be considered as demonstrating through the perfected Adept, the Bodhisattva) and the three higher principles of the solar Logos as they demonstrate through the major three aspects. They form but one principle showing forth in three ways. So it is with the unmanifested Monad (unmanifested from the standpoint of the lower man). That Monad can—at a certain very advanced stage in evolution, and one far beyond that of the Adept—have its triple simultaneous manifestation, and show forth as a Master in the three worlds, as a Bodhisattva on His own plane and as the emancipated Dhyani Buddha; yet these Three will be but One, will be the result of a great spiritual vibration and will perform the triple work which may (from the standpoint of the three worlds) appear as the work of three separate great Existences. They are forms of three monadic "vestures," worn by the one Monad as a man wears his three bodies simultaneously, and functions in them separately.{30}

One or other of these three can, if so He will, occupy a body on the physical plane which will not be simply a created mayavirupa. This is done in one of two ways: either through the occupancy of a willingly vacated body, as was the case when the Christ occupied the body of Jesus, or by a divine overshadowing of a disciple, as has been and will be the case. The quality of the form occupied or used, and the nature of its work depends upon which of the three higher aspects of the initiating impulse, is manifesting. Very rarely a more mysterious phenomenon occurs and the overshadowing Buddha, Bodhisattva, or Adept each makes His "appearance" upon earth thus demonstrating the three aspects of knowledge, love and will and all taking form.

This may seem to be a great complexity, but it is not so much stranger after all than the phenomenon of the Monad (in time and space and during evolution) demonstrating forth as the Triad, the Ego and the Personality. This type of triple Avatar only makes its appearance under a peculiar series of cycles concerned with a group of Monads who were the most progressed and advanced at the opening of the mahamanvantara. As yet, there are not many progressed enough to do this triple work; the Buddha and nine others being the only Ones as yet remaining in touch with our particular planet in this particular manner. A few are as Christ is, and have the power to make a dual appearance. This type of monad is only found on Rays two, four, six.

If the student bears in mind that the nature of the form is dependent upon the quality of the incarnating Life, he will have also to bear in mind the distinctions between the various groups of Hierarchies, for the Lives in those groups are of a quality diverse to each other and the forms through which they manifest are equally distinct and diverse. Therefore, we must distinguish between:

1. The involutionary groups.
2. The evolutionary groups.
3. The seven groups of lives which we call the lunar Fathers:
a. Three incorporeal who are the elemental kingdoms.
b. Four material who are the forms of the four kingdoms on the upward arc.
4. The seven hierarchies of Lives.
5. The seven groups of solar Angels.

There must not be confusion as to the distinction between the hierarchies of Beings and the seven Rays, for though there is close connection, there is no resemblance. The "Rays" are but the primordial forms of certain Lives who "carry in their Hearts" all the Seeds of Form. The Hierarchies are the manifold groups of lives, at all stages of unfoldment and growth who will use the forms.{31} The Rays are vehicles and are, therefore, negative receivers. The Hierarchies are the users of the vehicles, and it is the nature of these lives and the quality of their vibration which under this great Law of Attraction brings to them the needed forms. These are the two primal distinctions, Life and Form, and these two are the "Son of God," the second Person of the Trinity in His form-building aspect. They are the Builders and equally exist in three groups with their lesser differentiations. It is not necessary here to place these groups on certain planes in the solar system.

These hierarchies of Beings Who come in on the Ray of Light from the centre are the seeds of all that later is and it is only as they pass out into manifestation and the forms which they are to occupy are gradually evolved, that consideration of the planes becomes necessary. The planes are to certain of these hierarchies what the sheaths of the Monad are to it; they are veils for the Life indwelling; they are media of expression, and exponents of force or energy of a specialised kind. The quality of a Ray is dependent upon the quality of the hierarchy of Beings who use it as a means of expression. These seven hierarchies are veiled by the Rays, but each is found behind the veil of every ray, for in their totality they are the informing lives of every planetary scheme within the system; they are the life of all interplanetary space, and the existences who are expressing themselves through the planetoids, and all forms of lesser independent life than a planet. Let me briefly give certain hints concerning these hierarchies which may serve to elucidate that contained in the Secret Doctrine concerning them.

What is here imparted is not in itself new, but is the synthesising of much already known and its gathering together in the form of brief enunciated facts.

Each of these seven hierarchies of Beings Who are the Builders or the Attractive Agents are (in their degree) intermediaries; all embody one of the types of force emanating from the seven constellations. Their intermediary work, therefore, is dual:

1. They are the mediators between Spirit and matter.
2. They are the transmitters of force from sources extraneous to the solar system to forms within the solar system.

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

Hierarchy I. The first great Hierarchy is emanated from the Heart of the central Spiritual Sun.{32} It is the Son of God Himself, the First Born in a cosmic sense, even as the Christ was the "Eldest in a vast family of brothers," and the "first flower on the human plant." The symbol of this Hierarchy is the Golden Lotus with its twelve petals folded.

It should be remembered that this Hierarchy is literally the sixth, for five hierarchies have passed on, being the product of the earlier system, that wherein Intelligence or Manas was the goal. The five liberated hierarchies are in their totality the sumtotal of manas. It is the Hierarchy which is the fifth in order, and which we are told is in process of achieving final liberation, or taking its fourth Initiation, which is the cause of certain phenomena upon our planet which has merited our planet being called the "Star of Suffering." There is a karmic link between the animal kingdom and the fifth Creative Hierarchy of the earlier system which makes itself felt in man in the necessary crucifixion of the animal physical nature, particularly along sex lines. We must remember that the hierarchies work under the Law of Attraction; it is the law of the Builders.

This first (sixth) Hierarchy has for its type of energy the first aspect of the sixth type of cosmic electricity, and wields special power, therefore, in conjunction with the lowest fire, or "fire by friction," as it makes itself felt on the sixth plane. These lives are called "the burning Sons of Desire" and were the Sons of Necessity. It is said of them in the old Commentary:

"They burned to know. They rushed into the spheres. They are the longing of the Father for the Mother. Hence do they suffer, burn, and long through the sixth sphere of sense."

Hierarchy II. The second Hierarchy is closely allied with the Great Bear. We are told that They entered through the second ventricle within the Sacred Heart, and are (as we are told in the Secret Doctrine) the prototypes of the Monads. They are the source of monadic Life, but They are not the Monads; They are far higher.

This Hierarchy, which is literally the seventh, is the influx into our system of those Lives who in the first solar system remained on their own plane, being too sinless and holy to find opportunity in that very material and intellectual evolution. Even in this, they will find it impossible to do more than influence the incarnating Jivas, imparting to them ability to realise the nature of group consciousness, the quality of the seven Heavenly Men, but not being able to express themselves fully. Some clue to this mystery will come if the student carefully bears in mind that in our solar system and our seven planes, we have only the physical body of the Logos, and that that physical body is a limitation of the expression of His threefold nature. The first (sixth) Hierarchy might be viewed as endeavouring to express the mental vibration of the solar Logos and the second, His emotional, or cosmic astral, nature.

This second (seventh) Hierarchy has for its type of force the second aspect of the seventh type of force from out of the many. Some idea of the relative point in evolution of the solar Logos may be gained by study of the varying aspects of force which He is demonstrating in this particular incarnation. It is this energy which drives the Monads through into physical incarnation for it makes itself felt on the seventh plane. The energies which are functioning are those which the Logos has unfolded, and are the gain of previous incarnations. Gaps necessarily occur, and certain types of force are lacking, because He has as yet much cosmically to gain.

It is the energy of this Hierarchy (whose numbers are two and seven) which results in the manifestation of the Divine Androgyne, and in the seven centres of force which are the seven Spiritual Energies.

Hierarchy III. The third Creative Hierarchy (or the eighth) is a peculiarly interesting one. They are called "the Triads" for they hold in themselves the potencies of triple evolution, mental, psychical, and spiritual. These Triads of Life are inherently the three Persons and the flower of the earlier system from a certain angle. From another angle, when studied as the "flower of the earlier Eight," They are the eightfold points awaiting opportunity to flame forth. They are the devas who are ready for service, which is to give to another hierarchy certain qualities which are lacking. This Hierarchy is regarded as the great donors of immortality whilst themselves "standing aloof from incarnation." Lords of Sacrifice and Love are They, but They cannot pass out of the logoic etheric body into the dense physical vehicle.

This third Hierarchy wields the third aspect of electric force of the first type of cosmic energy. They stand for a recurrent cycle of that first type symbolised by the number 8. The formulae for these electrical energies are too complicated to be given here, but the student should bear in mind that these hierarchies express:

1. Septenary cosmic energy.
2. Cosmic prana.
3. Solar energy or electric fire, solar fire and fire by friction.

Each hierarchy manifests a triple energy or an aspect of each of the above, and that necessitates a ninefold differentiation, for the two first are triple as is the third. It is the rejection of the Triadal Lives by units in the fourth Hierarchy, that of the human Monads, which precipitates a man eventually into the eighth sphere. He refuses to become a Christ, a Saviour and remains self-centred.

We have dealt with the first three hierarchies which are regarded as ever "seeing the Face of the Ruler of the Deep," or as being so pure and holy that Their forces are in realised contact with Their emanating source.

We now take up for brief consideration two hierarchies which closely concern ourselves, the human self-conscious entities. These two groups are literally three, as the fifth Hierarchy is a dual one and it is this which has led to some confusion and is the occult significance behind the ill-omened number thirteen. They are the "Seekers of satisfaction" and the cause of the second fall into generation, the fact behind the taking of a lower nature by the Ego. The fourth and the fifth Hierarchies are the ninth and tenth, or the "Initiates" and the "Perfect Ones." All human beings, or "Imperishable Jivas," are those who evolve through a graded series of initiations either self-induced or brought about on our planet with extraneous aid. This they achieve through a "marriage" with the order next to them, the fifth. They are then completed or perfected, and it is owing to this occult fact that the fourth Hierarchy is regarded as masculine and the fifth as feminine.

Hierarchy IV. The fourth Creative Hierarchy is the group wherein the highest aspect of man, his "Father in Heaven" finds place. These lives are the points of fire who must become the flame; this they do through the agency of the fifth Hierarchy and the four wicks, or the two dual lower hierarchies. Thus it can be seen that where man is concerned, the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh hierarchies are, during the cycle of incarnation, his very self. They are the "Lords of Sacrifice" and "Lords of Love," the flower of Atma-buddhi.

In studying these hierarchies, one of the most valuable lessons to be learned is the place and importance of man in the scheme. The hierarchy, for instance, which is the essence of the intangible Life of Spirit, and principle of Buddhi, is the esoteric cause of the cosmic marriage of spirit and matter, based on the love and desire of the Logos, but each hierarchy also expresses itself through one particular manifestation which comes to be regarded by the finite mind of man as the hierarchy itself. This is not so, and care must be taken to distinguish between these hierarchies.

They are latent germs of force centres and manifest subjectively; they warm and vitalise groups of forms; they flower forth and express themselves through the medium of a form, or another hierarchy. These hierarchies are all interrelated and are negative or positive to each other as the case may be.

As is stated in the Secret Doctrine, this hierarchy is the nursery for the incarnating Jivas;{33} and it carried in it the germs of the Lives which achieved the human stage in another solar system, but were not able to proceed beyond that owing to the coming in of pralaya, which projected them into a state of latency. The condition of the hierarchy is similar, only on a cosmic scale, to the condition of the seeds of human life held in a state of obscuration during an interchain period. The three other hierarchies dealt with (first, second, and third) were those who have (in previous kalpas of logoic manifestation) passed beyond the human stage altogether. They are, therefore, the formless groups, as the remaining are the rupa groups or those having forms.

The fourth Creative Hierarchy, or the ninth, must ever be regarded in this solar system as occupying what might be considered as the third place,

First, the Lives or the three Persons of the Trinity.
Second, the Prototypes of man, the seven Spirits.
Third, man or the lowest manifestation of the self-conscious Spirit aspect.

This needs to be carefully considered and has no reference to the form aspect but solely to the nature of the lives expressing themselves through other lives who are also self-conscious, or fully intelligent. This, certain of the hierarchies are not.

The four lower hierarchies are all concerned with manifestation in the three worlds, or in the dense physical body of the solar Logos. They are those who can discard or pass through the etheric body of the solar Logos and take forms composed of either gaseous, liquid, or dense substance. The others cannot. They cannot fall into physical generation.

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

Before continuing our consideration of the particular hierarchies, it is necessary to point out that in these hierarchies, certain of them are termed "dominant hierarchies" and others "subsidiary hierarchies." By this is meant that certain of them are in this solar system expressing themselves more fully than the others, and this necessarily entails the consequence that their vibration is more to be felt than that of the subsidiary groups. The dominant groups are the second, fourth and fifth, and this because:

a. The second is the great expression of duality, of the Son as He vitalises the Sun.
b. The fourth is the hierarchy of human Monads who are the mediators or the synthesisers; they express the gain of System 1 and the goal of System 2.
c. The fifth or tenth is closely linked with the five liberated hierarchies, and is an expression of their synthesised life. It might, therefore, be said that the fifth Hierarchy serves as the representative of the five liberated groups and the fourth is the representative group in this system, whilst the second represents (for man, or these two groups united) that which is the Spirit aspect, the Father, the Unknown.

Hierarchy V. The fifth Creative Hierarchy is, as we know from study of the Secret Doctrine, a most mysterious one. This mystery is incident upon the relation of the fifth Hierarchy to the five liberated groups. This relation, in connection with our particular planet, which is not a sacred planet, can be somewhat understood if the history of the Buddha and his work is contemplated. This is hinted at in the third volume of the Secret Doctrine.{34}

The relation of the fifth Hierarchy to a certain constellation has also a bearing upon this mystery. This is hidden in the karma of the solar Logos, and concerns His relationship to another solar Logos, and the interplay of force between them in a greater mahakalpa. This is the true "secret of the Dragon," and it was the dragon-influence or the "serpent energy" which caused the influx of manasic or mind energy into the solar system. Entangled closely with the karma of these two cosmic Entities, was that of the lesser cosmic Entity Who is the Life of our planet, the planetary Logos. It was this triple karma which brought in the "serpent religion" and the "Serpents or Dragons of Wisdom" in Lemurian days. It had to do with solar and planetary Kundalini, or serpent fire. A hint lies in the fact that the constellation of the Dragon has the same relation to the ONE greater than our Logos as the centre at the base of the spine has to a human being. It concerns stimulation, and vitalisation with a consequent coordination of the manifesting fires.

A clue to the mystery lies also in the relation of this fifth group to the two contracting poles. They are the fivefold Links, the "Benign Uniters" and "the Producers of the Atonement." Esoterically, they are the "Saviours of the Race" and from Them emanates that principle which—in conjunction with the highest aspect—lifts the lower aspect up to Heaven.

When these mysteries are carefully studied, and due application made to the lives of the greatest exponents of the at-one-ing principle, it will become apparent how great and all-important is their place in the scheme.

It is for this reason that the units of the fifth Hierarchy are called "The Hearts of Fiery Love"; they save through love, and in their turn these lives are peculiarly close to the great Heart of Love of the solar Logos. These great redeeming Angels, who are the Sons of Men on their own true plane, the mental, are ever, therefore, pictured as taking the form of twelve-petalled lotuses—this symbology linking them up with "the Son of Divine Love," the manifested solar system, which is said to be a cosmic twelve-petalled lotus, and with the logoic causal lotus, equally of a twelve-petalled nature.

We have, therefore, a direct flow of energy flowing through:

a. The logoic twelve-petalled egoic Lotus. Cosmic mental plane.
b. The solar twelve-petalled Lotus.
c. The planetary logoic Heart, also a twelve-petalled Lotus.
d. The twelve-petalled human egoic lotus on the mental plane.
e. The twelve-petalled heart centre in a human being.

Or, to word it otherwise, energy flows directly from:

a. The solar Logos via three great cosmic centres:
1. The central spiritual Sun.
2. The heart of the Sun.
3. The physical Sun.
b. The heart centre of the planetary Logos, situated on the fourth cosmic etheric plane (our buddhic plane).
c. The egoic lotus of a human being on the mental plane, which is literally a correspondence to the "heart of the sun." The monadic point is a reflection in the human system of the "central spiritual sun."
d. The heart centre of a man on the etheric plane of the physical plane, which is in its turn a correspondence to the physical sun.

Thus the tiny atom man is linked with the great central Life of the solar system.

This Fifth Hierarchy is equally, under the law, a distributor of energy to the fifth subplane of each plane in the system, only it must be borne in mind that in the three worlds, it is the fifth subplane counting from above downward whilst in the worlds of superhuman evolution, it is the fifth counting from below upwards. This hierarchy wields, as we know, the dual aspects of manas, one in the three worlds and one which makes itself felt in higher spheres.

It is necessary to bear in mind that all these groups are (even when termed "formless") the true forms of all that persists, for all are in the etheric body of the solar Logos or planetary Logos. This is a point requiring careful emphasis; students have for too long regarded the form as being the dense physical body, whereas to the occultist the physical body is not the form, but a gross maya, or illusion, and the true form is the body of vitality. Therefore, these hierarchies are the sumtotal of the vital lives and the substratum or the substance of all that is. We might regard the subject as follows:

a. The four superior groups are the hierarchies expressing themselves through the three cosmic ethers, the second, third and fourth.
b. The two lowest groups are the lives which are found functioning as the involutionary matter (organised and unorganised) of the logoic dense physical body, the liquid and gaseous, with the living substance of the four higher subplanes of the systemic dense physical body.
c. The fifth Hierarchy has an interesting position as the "mediating" body between the higher four and those which are found on the lower three subplanes. There is a vital and significant correspondence to be found between the seven head centres and the seven groups of Egos on the mental plane, and there is an occult analogy between the three head centres (pineal gland, pituitary body, and the alta major centres) and the expression of these seven groups of Egos in the three worlds. This is a most important esoteric fact, and all students of meditation upon the laws of at-one-ment must take this analogy into consideration.

It is useful to remember the place of these hierarchies in the scheme, and to realise that upon the sumtotal of these vital bodies is gradually gathered the dense manifestation which we regard as the evolutionary matter. The forms are built (from the form of all atoms to the body of the Ego, from the form of a flower to the vast planetary or solar lotus) because the hierarchies exist as the aggregate of germ lives, giving the impulse, providing the model, and procuring, through their very existence, the entire raison d'être of all that is seen on all planes.

Hierarchies VI and VII. These sixth and seventh Hierarchies which provide the substance forms of the three worlds have a vital use and a most interesting place. From the logoic standpoint, they are not regarded as providing principles, but from the standpoint of man they do provide him with his lowest principles. They hold the same relation to the Logos as the dense physical body does to man, and all that concerns the evolution of man must (in this particular place) be studied as going on within the physical, logoic vehicle. They deal with the display of physical energy; with the working out in the physical vehicle, of all divine purposes, and with the physical organisation of a certain great cosmic Life.

Particularly is this so when we view the two hierarchies under consideration. They are the lowest residue of the previous system, and the energy of that matter (liquid, gaseous and dense) which the vibration of the logoic permanent atom (on the plane adi) attracts to itself in the building of the divine form. For purposes of clarification and of generalisation, it might be noted that the seventh Hierarchy is the life or energy found at the heart of every atom, its positive aspect, and the sixth Hierarchy is the life of the forms of all the etheric bodies of every tangible object. The function of this Hierarchy is well described in the words of the old Commentary:

"The devas hear the word go forth. They sacrifice themselves and out of their own substance they build the form desired. They draw life and the material from themselves, and yield themselves to the divine impulse."

It is not possible to say much more anent these two last Hierarchies. Much that concerns them has been covered in the section of this Treatise which deals with the fire of matter. I would only point out that just as we teach in the occult wisdom that there is a definite progression from one kingdom into the next higher above, so there is a similar activity in the realm of the hierarchies. The lives which compose a Hierarchy pass in ordered cycles into the next above, though the word "above" but serves to mislead. It is consciousness and realisation which must be considered as being transferred and the consciousness of one hierarchy expands into that of the next higher.

This can also be viewed in terms of energy. The negative lives of a hierarchy follow the following sequence:

1. Negative energy.
2. Equilibrised energy.
3. Positive energy.

The positive lives of one hierarchy become the negative lives of another when they pass into it, and this it is which leads to the general confusion of ideas under which the average student labours. If he is to comprehend the matter with accuracy, he must study each hierarchy in a threefold manner, and view it also in its transitional state, as the negative blends and merges into the positive, and the positive becomes the negative pole of a higher vibratory stage. There are, therefore, nine states of consciousness through which each hierarchy has to pass, and some idea of the significance of this and their relativity can be gained by a consideration of the nine Initiations of the fourth Creative Hierarchy. Within these nine distinct expansions through which each life in each hierarchy must pass, are to be found lesser expansions and it is here that the main difficulty for the student of divine psychology lies. The whole subject concerns the psyche, or second aspect, of every life—superhuman, human and subhuman—and only when the true psychology is better understood will the subject take on its true importance. Then the nine unfoldments of each hierarchy will be somewhat comprehended, and their relative importance assigned.

Study of the matter in each kingdom will not as yet bring full enlightenment regarding the constitution of the elements of the human kingdom and its principles, which are the manifestations of the different hierarchies. The true revelation will only come as the following points are recognised:

1. The triple nature of man.
2. The distinctions between the vehicle and that which utilises the vehicle.
3. The distinction between a Ray which is the expression of logoic energy and a positive emanation, and a hierarchy which is a negative emanation of the Logos, upon which His positive energy impresses itself, driving that hierarchy on to self expression and forcing the "marriage of the poles."

The whole subject is very involved and difficult but light will begin to dawn before long when science recognises the nature, place and responsibility of the etheric body in man, or of his vital body, and its position as the true form, and basic unit of the dense physical body. When this has been admitted, and the illuminating facts recorded and known, when the connection between the two is grasped, and the necessary deductions and correlations are made, the whole subject of logoic manifestation and the work of the Lives on the four higher planes, with their effect upon the Logoic dense physical plane (our three worlds of expression) will take on a new colouring. The thoughts of men will be revolutionised on the subject of creation; the terms and expressions now used will be corrected, and all will be expressed in terms of form-building energy, and the three modes of electrical phenomena. This realisation is rapidly on its way but only the generation after the one which the children of the present age are expressing, will see it demonstrated to such an extent as to place etheric electrical phenomena beyond all dispute. This will be done by the coming in of egos who are fully conscious on the etheric levels and who can see all that which is now the subject of speculation. They—from their great numbers and high stage of intellectuality—will rescue the whole matter from the realm of controversy and demonstrate the facts.

The work of building forms will never be understood till the true function of the etheric body is realised. It is the attractive agent for those lives which are so low an order as to be occultly inert. These lives, which are not included in the list of hierarchies, are acted upon by the sixth and seventh groups and by the energy emanating from them. They are stirred from the inertia in which they have rested, and are driven to take their place, and to form the concrete vehicles of all that is. They are the lowest manifestation of that which is abstract; they are the densest concretion of Spirit; they are the failures of the system preceding this, and their failure is so complete (from the standpoint of consciousness) that all the response they can make to the positive vibration of the seventh Hierarchy is simply to be attracted. They can be occultly drawn into place but only at the close of this solar system will they be in a condition to pass into and become the seventh Hierarchy of the next solar system.

The goal for that which is not a principle is that it shall become a vital principle through the play of energy upon it. We are dealing here with that mysterious something which has been called "the refuse of that which earlier was seen," with that latent energy which hid the lowest vibration of the system before ours, and which was so heavy, and so inert, as to be regarded beyond the ken of the Logos. He was unaware of it, and the object before these peculiar lives which live (and yet are occultly dead) is that they must force themselves into the range of His conscious control by response to those lives which are consciously directed by Him, and who are, therefore, the Saviours of the lowest." [1211]

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{28} S. D., I, 214, 449; II, 223.
{29} S. D., I, 42-46.
{30} The Three Vestures.—"The stream is crossed. 'Tis true thou hast a right to Dharmakaya vesture; but Sambhogakaya is greater than a Nirvani, and greater still is a Nirmanakaya—the Buddha of Compassion."—Voice of the Silence, p. 97.
"The three Buddhic bodies or forms are styled: Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya, Dharmakaya.
The first is that ethereal form which one would assume when leaving his physical he would appear in his astral body—having in addition all the knowledge of an Adept. The Bodhisattva develops it in himself as he proceeds on the path. Having reached the goal and refused its fruition, he remains on earth, as an Adept; and when he dies, instead of going into Nirvana, he remains in that glorious body he has woven for himself, invisible to uninitiated mankind, to watch over and protect it.
Sambhogakaya is the same, but with the additional lustre of three perfections, one of which is entire obliteration of all earthly concerns.
The Dharmakaya body is that of complete Buddha, i.e., no body at all, but an ideal breath; consciousness merged in the universal consciousness, or soul devoid of every attribute. Once a Dharmakaya, an Adept or Buddha leaves behind every possible relation with, or thought for, this earth. Thus to be enabled to help humanity, an Adept who has won the right to Nirvana, 'renounces the Dharmakaya body' in mystic parlance; keeps, of the Sambhogakaya, only the great and complete knowledge, and remains in his Nirmanakaya. The esoteric school teaches that Gautama Buddha, with several of his Arhats, is such a Nirmanakaya, higher than whom, on account of his great renunciation and sacrifice for mankind, there is none known."—Voice of the Silence, p. 98.
{31} The Twelve Creative Hierarchies. Students are often puzzled in trying to account for the "twelves" in the cosmos. A correspondent sends the following suggestion: In a Study in Consciousness, the three, by an arrangement of internal groupings, show seven groups; these may be represented as ABC, ACB, BCA BAC, CAB, CBA, and a seventh, a synthesis in which the three are equal. A second six would be represented by (AB) C, C (AB), A (BC), (BC) A, (CA) B, B (AC), the two bracketed being equal and the third stronger or weaker. The two groups of six, and the group in which the three are equal, would make thirteen. "This thirteen may be arranged as a circle of twelve, with one in the centre. The central one will be synthetic, and will be that class in which all three are equal. The physical correspondence of this will be the twelve signs of the Zodiac with the Sun at the centre, synthesising all of them. The spiritual correspondence will be the twelve Creative Orders with the Logos at the centre, synthesising all." The arrangement is quite legitimate.—The Theosophist, Vol. XXIX, p. 100.
Compare also the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac.
{32} S. D., I, 233-250; III, 565-566.
{33} S. D., I, 238.
{34} S. D., I, 239; III, Sections 43, 44, 45.

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