1

CONTENTS
Introduction .............................................................................................. 2
The Names of the Seven Rays .................................................................. 5
Basic Definitions of the Seven Ray Energies .......................................... 5
The 3-2-1 Sequence in the 21 Year Cycles and 7 Year Sub-Cycles ......... 7
Emphasis Upon the Quality Aspect .......................................................... 9
The Ray Lives Manifest Through the Planetary Lives............................... 9
Quality in the World of Appearances ......................................................... 12
Exoteric Science Studies the Form (Activity or 3rd Aspect) ..................... 13
Esoteric Sciences Enable Us to Penetrate to the Quality Aspect .................. 13
The Distinction Between the Worldly Person and the Spiritual Person....... 14
Every Human Being Has Come Forth Along
One Line or Other of the Seven Ray Forces ..................................... 15
Development of Personality is the Longest Period ............................................. 16
Rays of the Vehicles .................................................................................... 17
The Three Rays of Mind .............................................................................. 18
Additional Names of the Rays ................................................................... 18
Seven Types of Spiritual-Soul Service (or Discipleship) ........................... 20
Orchestration of Ray Energies ..................................................................... 23
Identifying the Ray EnergiesAn Exercise ................................................ 24
Three Types of Mind: Examples from Psychological Types ...................... 25
Important Distinction Between Mystic and Occultist ................................. 33
Excerpts from Students Papers ................................................................... 34
WORK TO BE DONE ................................................................................. 35
FUNDAMENTAL PRELIMINARIES of MEDITATION ........................ 36
Meditation: Gift from the Soul ................................................................... 37

Introduction
The School for the Study of the Seven Rays (SS7R) was founded in 1995 by Kurt
Abraham and was incorporated in 2005 (receiving its nonprofit tax exempt status as an
educational corporation also in that year).
The name of SS7R states its purpose simply and plainly. It could be called an
esoteric school in that the areas of exploration and research are not exactly within the
confines of modern academia. It is helpful to realize, however, that esoteric is a relative
term in that what is esoteric today becomes exoteric tomorrow. Knowledge that at
one time was hidden or for the few becomes available to the many.
One can hardly study the Seven Rays without an appreciation for and a growing
understanding of that level of consciousness called soul or Higher Self. This term is
most often used in the religious field but it is certainly not confined to religious doctrine.
Esoteric knowledge reaches a level where there is no separative departmental division
between Philosophy, Science, Religion, and Psychology. Philosophy, it can be noted,
uses primarily reason, science uses observation and experimentation, religion uses
primarily inspiration in order to arrive at Truth. Along with H. P. Blavatsky, we would
say that there is no religion higher than Truth, and one might add the other disciplines as
well to that statement.
Psychology is a more recent discipline. Psychology (psych + logia) has to do with
logical reasoning about the psychesoul, mind, or consciousness.
Psychology is essentially an attempt to combine something of the rigors of the
scientific approach with the abstractions of religious subject matter. Questions concerning
morality and goodness, for example, are outside of the domain of the hard sciences.
Why cannot these obviously important questions be addressed in a logical, reasoning, and
even observable fashionin a fashion that includes scientific data but is not limited to it?
Also, can one examine all matters spiritual and religious in such a way that there is
clarity of knowledge and where no leap of faith is required?
There are many schools of psychology. Psychology of the Personality might shy away
from questions concerning soul and spirit, or reincarnation and immortality, or healing
and enlightenment. Esoteric Psychology, on the other hand, shies away from nothing that
is related to Truth, no matter how abstract or subtle.
The prefix a in some languages means no. The word atheist means no-theo or
no-god. Logically it is an untenable position. Agnostic means no-gnosis, or noknowledge, which describes most of us most of the time on most subjects. The scientific
thinker has to guard against the assumption that something does not exist simply because
concrete evidence is lacking. Such an assumption is unscientific. The religious believer
has to guard against the assumption that something does exist, simply because he
believes that it does. He must admit the fact of no-knowledge when none exists. (Of
course one can have hunches and feelings on both sides of this spectrum, for hunches and
feelings on a good day can lead to knowing.) The psychologist is essentially more of a
free-thinker in that s/he can include both the concrete and the abstractscience, religion,
philosophyin the effort to know and in the quest for truth. Not that we are trying to
elevate any kind of disciple or profession above others, rather inclusiveness, instead of
separativeness, is the key point.

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Psychology, we affirm, speaks much to the inclusion and unification of several
disciplines in the effort to study and know the whole person. Esoteric Psychology
emphasizes spiritual dimensions of humankind in ways that are for the moment beyond
the reach of the more orthodox schools of psychology that confine their study to
personality.
It had seemed to me and still does that there is room in the world today for hundreds of true
esoteric schools and that they all should be able to work in cooperation with each other,
supplementing each other and helping each other. (Alice Bailey, Unfinished Autobiography 195)

Of the 25 books known as the Alice Bailey books, Alice herself wrote six of them
(including Light of the Soul, which was something of a collaborative effort), and the other
19 books were transmitted to and through Alice by the Tibetan Teacher and Adept, often
referred to as DK. These are monumental books on a great many esoteric subjects.
Blavatsky mentions the Seven Rays in the Secret Doctrine. C. W. Leadbeater goes into
some detail on the rays in some of his books. DK went on to give us a great deal of
knowledge on this vast, important, and fascinating subject matter in all of his books.
(Leadbeater gives a very interesting description of his experiences with the Adepts in his
book Master and the Path.) Our study material is drawn mainly from the Bailey books,
since this is the primary source for knowledge on this subject.
A key concept in this study has to do with what has been call the Soul (as opposed to
Personality), or the Self (as opposed to the Not-Self), or the Higher Self (as opposed to
the Lower Self), or the True Self (as opposed to the Great Pretender). This has to do with
the relatively esoteric or hidden aspect of a human being.
When approaching the esoteric subject matter, the learning process is one of gradual
assimilation, which takes into account the whole person, including the subtler spiritual
aspects. In other words, this is not simply an intellectual exercise. Gradual assimilation is
aided by regular, rhythmic study, and also by reflective, meditative, thoughtful study.
Clarity is another very important factor, for clarity suggests that one is clear about what
one knows and what one does not know.
So much of ray knowledge has to do with the language of the soul. This will be
clearer as we get into the fundamental definitions of the seven rays. The language of the
soul is not exactly an everyday language. The threefold method of approaching this study
(as it is in many esoteric schools) is Meditation, Spiritual Study, and Service. The first
three RaysWill-Purpose, Love-Wisdom, and Intelligent-Activityare themselves
behind the threefold approach. Meditation is a form of controlled mind filled with
purposeful direction. Spiritual study has much to do with the second ray of LoveWisdom. Spiritual study expands consciousness and facilitates understanding. It enables
one to penetrate to deeper levels of meaning. The Service work Intelligent-Activity, the
third rayensues as a result of soul wisdom and spiritual purpose.
Our primary focus in the study sets is on the second aspect of spiritual study. We
recommend that one also do the meditations, but these are optional, particularly when
students are following meditation work with another school. As a meditative adjunct to
the study work, however, we recommend our book Achieving Quiet Mind, Meditative
Techniques and Exercises. These exercises facilitate the alignment of Lower-Mind (3),
Soul (2), and Higher-Mind (1). This threefold alignment requires a stilling of the activityintellect aspect (the third aspect), in order to bring through soul insights. The soul
requires a quiet and calm vessel in order drop its pearls of wisdom into an appreciative,
receptive, and responsive field. Also, the quiet mind exercises reveal to one that the

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answers and the directions are indeed and in fact found within oneself. So much of our
lives is filled with distractions. We seek out the entertainment of distractions. In a quiet
moment we turn on the radio, turn on TV, or read a book. Seldom do we sit in utter
stillness in the effort to align with the Higher Self, the point of Wisdom within. With
meditation being one of the aspects of the threefold approach, it behooves one to make
effort along this line of endeavor on a regular basis.
The service work is left up to each individual person, since service opportunities, as
well as previous study and knowledge, vary so greatly from person to person. The
service work is usually plugged into the local environment in someway or another.
Service work circulates qualitative soul energy into the environment. Important as it is,
however, one should be in no hurry to rush into activities regarding new knowledge. As
D.K. states:
Up to the present time the majority of aspirants in the world express the results of little
and weak thought, but rapid action. The goal for students should at this time be rapid
concentrated thought and slow action. That slow action however will be potent in result;
there will be no lost motion, no delayed reactions, and no tendency towards hesitation.
The attention of the thinker being focused on the mental plane, the progress of his
manifested thought will be sure and inevitable. When the idea is clearly grasped, the
attention closely focused, and the energy or life aspect steadily applied, the result will be
irresistible appearance and potent action on the physical plane. (White Magic 266)

The soul has the intent, purpose, and rhythm of givingof asking nothing for the
separative self. The personality, on the other hand, has the rhythm of acquisition, which is
beneficial for development up to a certain point. The personality-soul alignment,
however, is filled with paradoxes and reversals. We have one clearly stated above. How
many times have we observed people sitting at a meeting wanting to make quick decision
so that the group can rush forward into action. More often than not such quick decisions
result in mistakes occurring soon enough because matters were not sufficiently thought
through. One is forced then back to the drawing board, and one often has to repair the
mistakes that have been made. Such quick action results in lost motion. Rudolf Steiner
said that one should postpone decisions wherever possible. The postponing of decisions
helps to get the personality away from the forefront, it helps to bring about a deeper
reflective attitude of mind, and helps to align with soul, so that the right decision can be
made and right action can be taken. Sleeping on a problem is also very beneficial
taking a question into the dream state is another way of tapping into the soul energy. DK
suggests slow action, but this soul-aligned thoughtful approach does not hesitate when
the right path is known. Meditative thought and soul alignment, rather than weak
thought, is one of the keys. We can see that the important factor of right thought and
right action is a middle path that enables one to determine the Way, the Tao.
Initially, the study of the seven rays seems abstruse and difficult to apply. The knowledge,
however, can be applied in so many areas and can shed considerable light on countless problems.
Like any other study, however, it takes time to learn both the science of the body of knowledge
and the art of its application.
The first three study sets provide something of a general overview of the seven rays, followed
by seven study sets, one on each of the rays. This second series of seven sets draws upon the lives
of historic personages, so that one can better see how the ray energies work out in a persons life.
Along with the first three study sets of introductory overview, we recommend the reading of
Psychological Types and the Seven Rays and Introduction to the Seven Rays. Along with the

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series of seven study sets we recommend the book Great Souls: The Seven Rays at the Soul Level
and Threefold Method for Understanding the Seven Rays.
Subsequent study sets go into a variety of topics related to the seven rays, including the
Masters and the Rays, the Glamours and the Rays, the Chakras and the Rays, Dream
Interpretation, Ray Cycles, the Subtle Bodies and the Rays, and many other topics.

The Names of the Seven Rays.

I. The First Ray of Will, Purpose, or Power.
II. The Second Ray of Love Wisdom.
III. The Third Ray of Intelligent Activity or Adaptability.
IV. The Fourth Ray of Harmony Through Conflict or Beauty and Art.
V. The Fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge or Science.
VI. The Sixth Ray of Idealism and Devotion.
VII. The Seventh Ray of Organization or Ceremonial Magic.
Basic Definitions of the Seven Ray Energies.
There is one Life, which expresses Itself primarily through seven basic qualities or aspects, and
secondarily through the myriad of forms.
These seven radiant qualities are the seven Rays, the seven Lives, who give Their life to the
forms, and give the form world its meaning, its laws, and its urge to evolution.
Life, quality and appearance, or spirit, soul and body constitute all that exists. They are
existence itself, with its capacity for growth, for activity, for manifestation of beauty, and for full
conformity to the Plan. This Plan is rooted in the consciousness of the seven ray Lives.
These seven Lives, Whose nature is consciousness and Whose expression is sentiency and
specific quality, produce cyclically the manifested world; They work together in the closest union
and harmony, and cooperate intelligently with the Plan of which They are the custodians. They
are the seven Builders, Who produce the radiant temple of the Lord, under the guidance of the
Mind of the Great Architect of the Universe. (Esoteric Psychology I, 141)

The Three Rays of AspectWILL-LOVE-LIGHTare the Essential Three, the Primary

Colors from which the other colors or energies are derived.
The Four Rays of Attribute are more visible, more identifiable.
4. Harmony, Beauty, Art.
5. Science or Concrete Knowledge.
6. Idealism, Devotion.
7. Organization and Ceremonial Magic.
For those who are interested in exploring in depth some ideas concerning the manifestation of the
ONE LIFE, we recommend Blavatskys Secret Doctrine and the Treatise on Cosmic Fire (one of
the Bailey books). Our own purposes center primarily within the field of esoteric psychology in
the effort to determine the profound usefulness of the ray energies in ones own life and within
the human drama.
The following passages from Cosmic Fire will give one a brief taste of the profundities
involved:

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There is one Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality which, antecedes all
manifested conditioned Being. It is beyond the range and reach of any human thought or
expression.
The manifested Universe is contained within this Absolute Reality and is a conditioned
symbol of it.
In the totality of this manifested Universe, three aspects are to be conceived.
1. The First Cosmic Logos, impersonal and unmanifested, the precursor of the Manifested.
2. The Second Cosmic Logos, Spirit-Matter, Life, the Spirit of the Universe.
3. The Third Cosmic Logos, Cosmic Ideation, the Universal World-Soul.
From these basic creative principles, in successive gradations there issue in ordered sequence
the numberless Universes comprising countless Manifesting Stars and Solar Systems.
Each Solar System is the manifestation of the energy and life of a great Cosmic Existence,
Whom we call, for lack of a better term, a Solar Logos.
This Solar Logos incarnates, or comes into manifestation, through the medium of a solar
system.
This solar system is the body, or form, of this cosmic Life, and is itself triple.
This triple solar system can be described in terms of three aspects, or (as the Christian
theology puts it) in terms of three Persons.
ELECTRIC FIRE, or SPIRIT.
1st Person ... Father...... Life................... Will. Purpose.......... Positive energy.
SOLAR FIRE, OR SOUL.
2nd Person... Son........... Consciousness. Love-Wisdom.......... Equilibrized energy.
FIRE BY FRICTION, or Body, or Matter.
3rd Person...
Holy Spirit... Form............ Active Intelligence.... Negative energy.
Each of these three is also triple in manifestation, making therefore
a. The nine Potencies or Emanations.
b. The nine Sephiroth.
c. The nine Causes of Initiation.
These, with the totality of manifestation or the Whole, produce the ten (10) of perfect
manifestation of the perfect MAN.
These three aspects of the Whole are present in every form.
a. The solar system is triple, manifesting through the three above mentioned.
b. A human being is equally triple, manifesting as Spirit, Soul and Body, or Monad, Ego and
Personality.
c. The atom of the scientist is also triple, being composed of a positive nucleus, the negative
electrons, and the totality of the outer manifestation, the result of the relation of the other two.
The three aspects of every form are inter-related and susceptible of intercourse, because
a. Energy is in motion and circulates.
b. All forms in the solar system form part of the Whole, and are not isolated units.
c. This is the basis of brotherhood, of the communion of saints, and of astrology.
These three aspects of God, the solar Logos, and the Central Energy or Force (for the terms
are occultly synonymous) demonstrate through seven centres of force,three major centres and
four minor. These seven centres of logoic Force are themselves so constituted that they form
corporate Entities. They are known as
a. The seven planetary Logoi.
b. The seven Spirits before the Throne.
c. The seven Rays.
d. The seven Heavenly Men.
The Seven Logoi embody seven types of differentiated force, and in this Treatise are known
under the names of Lords of the Rays. (Treatise on Cosmic Fire 3-5)

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There is Nothing that Does Not Belong to One or Other of the Seven Rays.
We are told that seven great rays exist in the cosmos. In our solar system only one of these
seven great rays is in operation. The seven sub-divisions constitute the seven rays which,
wielded by our solar Logos, form the basis of endless variations in His system of worlds. These
seven rays may be described as the seven channels through which all being in His solar system
flows, the seven predominant characteristics or modifications of life, for it is not to humanity only
that these rays apply, but to the seven kingdoms as well. In fact there is nothing in the whole
solar system, at whatever stage of evolution it may stand, which does not belong and has not
always belonged to one or other of the seven rays. (EP I, 163)
Our Solar Logos, we are told, is on the Second Ray of Love Wisdom. The seven ray energies
in our system are actually seven sub-rays of the Second Ray. This is viewing the matter from the
cosmic perspective. This present system is the second solar system in the evolution of three
systems. In terms of the rays, the sequence is three, two, and one. The first system developedevolved-manifested the Form Aspect via the Third Ray of Intelligent Activity. This second
system is evolving-developing the Consciousness Aspect via the Second Ray of Love-Wisdom.
The next system, the third in the sequence, will evolve the First Aspect of the First Ray of Will.

We can appreciate in some small degree this important sequence of 3-2-1 (Form,
Consciousness, Purpose) if we consider the life-cycle of a human being. First the form
aspect is the primary focus, next the consciousness aspect, and finally the crowning of the
will-purpose aspect of ones life. We can see this in terms of the 21 year cycles, each
composed of three 7 year cycles. We consider this in some depth in the book Threefold
Method for Understanding the Seven Rays.
AGE..........7 Year Sub Cycles......21 Year Cycles.......Three-Two-One Sequence
63
1st aspect
56
1st ASPECT - Maturity
2nd aspect
Will-Purpose
49
3rd aspect
42
1st aspect
35
2nd ASPECT - Middle year
2nd aspect
Consciousness-Quality
28
3rd aspect
21
1st aspect
14
3rd ASPECT - Youth
2nd aspect
Activity-Form
7
3rd aspect
0

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The first 21 year cycle has the three 7 year sub-cycles of physical development (0-7),
emotional development (7-14), and mental-intellectual development (14-21). As DK tells
us in Education in the New Age: First of all, in teaching children up to fourteen years of
age, it is necessary to bear in mind that they are emotionally focused. They need to feel,
and rightly to feel beauty, strength and wisdom. They must not be expected to rationalize
before that time, even if they show evidence of the power so to do. After fourteen years
and during adolescence their mental response to truth should be drawn out and counted
upon to deal with presented problems. Even if it is not there, an effort should be made to
evoke it. (ENA 13-14)
We look at how these sub-cycles relate to education in our book Balancing the Pairs
of Opposites; The Seven Rays and Education.
63 Three aspects of Will development 42-63
1st aspect Crowning achievement, position of power.
Accomplishment, establishment
56
2nd aspect Heart of Will, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
By their fruits ye shall know them.
49
3rd aspect Activity of will, a new enterprise. Self directed.
New beginning, more control, more responsibility.
42 Three aspects of Consciousness focus 21-42
1st aspect The purpose of Consciousness, life choices. More focus.
Narrowing options. Burning bridges behind one.
35
2nd aspect The heart of consciousness, soul opportunity. Deeper thought.
Meditation, spiritual vision quest. Craftsman
28
3rd aspect Intellect, activity aspect of consciousness. Reading, studying,
apprenticeship, learning job, travel. Thinking for self.
Breaking away from family and up-bringing.
21 Three aspects of Form focus 0-21
1st aspect Development of mental body
14
2nd aspect Development of astral body
7
3rd aspect Growth-development of physical body primarily.
0

One of the main ideas that we are tying to grasp in the overview of the seven rays is
that the rays are everywhereeverything belongs to the raysbut in order to see them
one must look at life from the qualitative angle (as the next quote indicates).

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Emphasis Upon the Quality Aspect.
There has been for long in esoteric circles much idle and oft foolish talk anent the ray upon
which a man may be found. People are as ignorantly excited over being told which is their ray as
they are over the portrayal of their past incarnations. The new teaching on the rays vies with
astrology in its interest. Like the Athenians, men are always searching for the novel and the
unusual, forgetting that every new truth and every new presentation of an old truth carries with it
the onus of increased responsibility.
However, it is interesting to trace parallels, and it is becoming obvious to the careful student
that the emergence of the teaching on the rays has happened at a time when the scientist is
announcing the fact that there is naught to be seen and known save energy, and that all forms are
composed of energy units and are in themselves expressions of force. A ray is but a name for a
particular force or type of energy, with the emphasis upon the quality which that force exhibits
and not upon the form aspect which it creates. This is a true definition of a ray. (EP I, 315-16)

This is an extremely helpful definition in terms of understanding the seven rays. It

also suggests how it could be a problem for the strictly scientific or concrete thinker. It
is not easy for some types to get a clear handle on the Qualitative. This struggle is
portrayed brilliantly in Pirsigs book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
In the passage from Cosmic Fire quoted earlier, some sets of triplicities were
indicated.
1. Electric Fire, Spirit ................... Father...... Life................... Will. Purpose......... Positive energy.
2. Solar Fire, Soul........................ Son........... Consciousness. Love-Wisdom........ Equilibrized energy.
3. Fire by Friction, Body-Matter.... Holy Spirit... Form........... Active Intelligence. Negative energy.

1. Spirit .... Monad ............ Purpose ... the Significance, the Motive
2. Soul...... Ego ................. Wisdom ... the Qualitative, the Meaning
3. Body .... Personality ...... Activity .... the Quantitative, the Measurable

When considering the names of the seven raysWill, Wisdom, Intelligence, Science,
Beauty, Idealism, and Ceremonial Magicwe are obviously looking at qualitative
factors. The qualitative factors create the form aspect. In the studying of the rays we are
moving towards Cause and Meaning.
The Ray Lives Manifest Through the Planetary Lives.
We are not at this point taking up the study of the Rays and Astrology, but a few basic
points are mentioned as part of the overview.
Each ray Life is predominantly expressing Itself through one of the seven sacred planets, but
the life of all the seven flows through every planet, including the Earth, and thus qualifies every
form. On each planet is a small replica of the general scheme, and every planet conforms to the
intent and purpose of the whole. (EP I, 142)

The student of Astrology might very well marvel at the additional dimensions that the
esoteric science of the seven rays brings to that important discipline. DK refers to
astrology as the greatest and oldest of all the sciences. Astrology is a science which must
be restored to its original beauty and truth before the world can gain a truer perspective
and a more just and accurate appreciation of the divine Plan, as it is expressed at this time
through the Wisdom of the Ages. (Esoteric Astrology 5. Also see p. 395.)

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Astrology is essentially the purest presentation of occult truth in the world at this time,
because it is the science which deals with those conditioning and governing energies and forces
which play through and upon the whole field of space and all that is found within that field. When
this fact is grasped and the sources of those energies are better comprehended and the nature of
the field of space is correctly understood, we shall then see a far wider and at the same time a
more closely related horizon; the relationships between individual, planetary, systemic and
cosmic entities will be grasped, and we shall then begin to live scientifically. It is this scientific
living which it is the immediate purpose of astrology to bring about. (EA 5)

When the etheric body (the energy body, the dual physical) can be identified in
measurable terms, then dramatic advances in a field of knowledge that bridges the
relatively abstract with the dense physical should rapidly come about. The etheric energy
bodies of groups, planets, and constellations have much to do with the scientific basis of
astrology.
Space is an entity and the entire vault of heaven (as it has been poetically called) is the
phenomenal appearance of that entity.... [T]he ether of space is the field in and through which the
energies from the many originating Sources play. We are, therefore, concerned with the etheric
body of the planet, of the solar system, and of the seven solar systems of which our system is one,
as well as with the general and vaster etheric body of the universe in which we are located. I
employ the word located here with deliberation and because of the inferences to which it leads.
This vaster field, as well as the smaller and more localized fields, provides the medium of
transmission for all the energies which play upon and through our solar system, our planetary
spheres and all forms of life upon those spheres. It forms one unbroken field of activity in
constant ceaseless motionan eternal medium for the exchange and transmission of energies.
In connection with this, and in order more correctly to understand, it will be useful to study
individual man; in this way we can arrive at a faint comprehension of the basic and underlying
truth. Students should never forget the Law of Analogy as an interpretive agency. Esotericism
teaches (and modern science is rapidly arriving at the same conclusion) that underlying the
physical body and its comprehensive and intricate system of nerves is a vital or etheric body
which is the counterpart and the true form of the outer and tangible phenomenal aspect. It is
likewise the medium for the transmission of force to all parts of the human frame and the agent of
the indwelling life and consciousness. It determines and conditions the physical body, for it is
itself the repository and the transmitter of energy from the various subjective aspects of man and
also from the environment in which man (both inner and outer man) finds himself. (EA 8, 9-10)

One way that the rays affect, influence, and condition a person is through the planets.
One must be careful in this regard, however, since many people try to determine a
persons rays via the horoscope and this cannot be done. DK mentions that the Sun sign
holds the secret of the personality ray (EA 16-17), but he also mentions the following:
In dealing with the horoscope of the personality and with the average non-aspiring man, the
astrologer should endeavor to discover the personality ray from a study of character, of the
physical indications, of the emotional qualities, of the type of mind and the nature of the
environment. He will then be able to lay out a far more useful chart with the orthodox planets
ruling the life. In the case of the horoscope of a disciple, he should do the same, endeavoring to
discover the ray of the soul. The soul ray only sets its mark and emphasizes its quality and nature
in the case of advanced people, and when that emerges clearly, the man is obviously a disciple
and the esoteric planets will then govern his chart. (EA 222)

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(We might parenthetically add here, for those unfamiliar with the work of Alice Bailey
and the Tibetan DK, that the word disciple is used in a technical sense. It refers not to
the devotee of a particular religion. It refers to a manifesting soul in contrast to a
personality, no matter what the discipline. For example, DK refers to Franklin D.
Roosevelt and that great disciple, great because he was a true soul server of the people.
DK is evidently trying to translate a Sanskrit term, perhaps Lanoo, and western languages
are sparse in this regard.)
DK tells us that Aries is the zodiacal sign through which the first Ray of Will or
Power reaches our planetary life, and the influence of Aries strengthens the will of the
man (no matter what his ray)... (EA 91, 119)
If one is not a student of astrology, it is helpful to know something of the Sun Signs.
Our book Astrology as Path to Higher Consciousness takes an in-depth look at each of
the Signs of the Zodiac.
I cannot too strongly repeat that esoteric astrology is entirely concerned with the forces and
energies which affect the consciousness aspect of the human being, and condition the personality
life. This is the point which must be considered above all else. In other words, esoteric astrology
is concerned with the soul and not with the form and, therefore, all that I have to say refers to
consciousness, to its expansion, to its effect upon its vehicles, the form, andin the last analysis
(as will be later established)with the Science of Initiation. This I have earlier pointed out, but
the idea is so new and the approach so universal or cosmic, that it is not easy for those trained in
modern exoteric astrology truly to comprehend the significance of this teaching. In considering
the Triangles, which I have chosen to use as the theme in elucidating this immense subject, this
emphasis upon the consciousness aspect must not be forgotten. (EA 484)
The Seven Soul Types are the Expression of the One Life.
The mode or method of development for humanity is self-expression and self-realization. When
this process is consummated, the self expressed is the One Self or the ray Life, and the realization
achieved is the revelation of God as the quality of the manifested world and as the Life behind
appearance and quality. The seven ray Lives, or the seven soul types, are seen as the expression of
one Life, and diversity is lost in the vision of the One and in identification with the One.
The method employed to bring about this realization is experience, beginning with
individualization and ending with initiation, thus producing the perfect blending and expression
of life-quality-appearance. (EP I, 142-143.)
Additional Triplicities.

1. Monad.........................Bliss.......................God Consciousness
2. Soul..............................Joy........................Group Consciousness
3. Personality...................Happiness...............Self-Consciousness
1. SPIRIT ..................... The synthesis of life
2. SOUL ....................... The unity of consciousness
3. PERSONALITY ....... The integration of forms
The true disciple sees the vision. He then seeks to keep so closely in touch with his
soul that he can stand with steadiness whilst he endeavors to make the vision a reality; he
aims to achieve what, from the standpoint of the world seems to be impossible, knowing

12
that the vision is not materialized through expedience and undue adaptation of the
suggested ideas of worldly or intellectual counselors. (White Magic, 630-1)
God, Ray, Life, and Man are all psychological entities and builders of forms. Therefore
a great psychological life is appearing through the medium of a solar system. Seven
psychological lives, qualified by seven types of force, are appearing through the medium
of the seven planets. Each planetary life repeats the same technique of manifestation
life-quality-appearanceand in its second aspect of quality demonstrates as a
psychological entity. Every human being is a miniature replica of the entire plan. He is
also spirit-soul-body, life-quality-appearance. He colours his appearance with his quality
and animates it with his life. Because all appearances are expressions of quality and the
lesser is included in the greater, every form in nature and every human being is found
upon one or other of the seven qualifying rays and his appearance in a phenomenal form
is coloured by the quality of his basic ray. It is qualified predominantly by the ray of the
particular life upon whose emanation he issued forth, but it will include also in a
secondary measure the six other ray types. (EP I, 21)

Quality in the World of Appearances

Quality, the Second Aspect, Love and the Law of Attraction. We now take up the
definition of the word quality, which embodies the second ray aspect. This second
aspect is the determining ray or the second manifesting aspect of divinity. It is the Christ
or Vishnu aspect; it is the sentient consciousness aspect of deity in form. I stated also that
we would consider its expression in the world of phenomena, meaning by this the world
of external appearance and of tangible forms.
The quality that emerges through the process of manifestation, and under the
impulse of divine Life, is love, which functions through the medium of the Law of
Attraction, with the aim of producing an ultimate synthesis in consciousness. Let us not
forget that the objective in our present evolutionary process is directed towards that
consummation.
Quality, in the last analysis, is neither more nor less than the nature of that
awareness, and the response in terms of quality to sentient contact. Through the
gradually unfolding mechanism of contact (itself the result of active quality, determining
the life of the unit cells which compose the form) the range of contacts extends
indefinitely, and the response of the living entity to contact becomes more vital, more
understanding in its capacity, and more synthetically comprehended. (EP I 190)
The important thing to realize in the above definition is that, as the second aspect,
quality is related to:
awareness, consciousness, and therefore has to do with
response to sentient contact, which has to do with
relationship between units (living entities),
which increases in vitality at the etheric level,
understanding at the levels of feeling and soul,
and leads to a synthesizing or at-oneing process
on levels of spirit or analogous levels.

13
Exoteric Science Studies the Form (Activity or 3rd Aspect). It is this interplay
between consciousnesses using the mechanism that confers an understanding of quality.
This interplay confers an understanding of the activity underlying the appearance, and
motivating it. Exoteric science enables the activity aspect of the phenomenal forms to be
apprehended and studied, and all the many manifestations of the many schools of human
thought, which enlarge through their researches the range of human knowledge, have the
same objective. At the same time, they increase our capacity to grasp the intense activity
of every form in every kingdom in nature, and of every atom and cell within the forms.
Science has led us on from pinnacle to pinnacle of achievement, till today we are lost in a
world of energies. We have been taught to picture ourselves a world of vibrating points
of force which constitute in the aggregate all forms of life, and which present to our
astonished and bewildered intellects a planetary life which is the sum total of all known
forms. Each form is a universe unto itself, and all forms are alive, vibrating within the
divine activity. We use the word energy to express this activity, and beyond that we are
as yet unable to pass. Energy is life, and energy is also death. Activity is to be sensed
and known in the organic and in the inorganica vast series of atomic lives built up into
structure after structure and found to be in ceaseless motion. A vast series of living
structures, built up into still greater and more inclusive forms, are all found, again, to be
in equally ceaseless motion. These greater structures, in their turn, are found to be
vibrant organisms, and so there unfolds before man's conscious vision nothing but life
and activity, naught but motion and energy, and always a coherence [the 2nd aspect of
love and relationship], a growing synthesis, a Plan, and a Will. To this, science sets its
seal, for scientific knowledge is the indication of man's response, through the collective
response apparatus of humanity as a whole, to the mechanism of awareness of the great
Life in which we live and move and have our being, the planetary Logos of our Earth."
(EP I, 195.)
The Esoteric Sciences Carry Us within the Form or Forms and Enable Us to
Penetrate to the Quality Aspect. Students would do well to remember that occultism
may be the study of forces, and that the occultist moves in the worlds of force, but these
are also the worlds of quality and those qualifying energies which are seeking to manifest
through the world of appearances. As they achieve this, they will dominate the activity of
the form units which constitute the phenomenal world. There are energies which lie
behind the phenomena produced by the activity of the atomic structures, these are latent
and unseen and often unfelt; they are subjective. The esoteric sciences have one purpose
in view, and that is to produce the gradual emergence of these energies, so that the skilled
occultist can eventually work in a dual yet unified world of force, and be the creative will
which guides, blends and utilizes the world of appearances and the realm of qualities.
These two types of active creative energies must be controlled by the creating Will or
Life aspect so that they function as one." (EP I, 195.)
Behind the Form Look for Quality, the Hidden Note Sounded, the Unrevealed
Beauty. Therefore the aspirant is taught to turn within; to study motives; to acquaint
himself with the qualities which are seeking expression in the outer world through the
medium of his outer mechanism. As he learns to do this, the nature of that outer
mechanism alters, and he increasingly becomes aware of the qualities struggling for
expression behind the outer forms. Thus the range of his contacts extends, and he passes

14
(through scientific research) from an exoteric understanding of the world of phenomenal
appearances to an esoteric comprehension of the world of qualities. Never forget,
therefore, that this dual apprehension must be emphasized, and that as a man learns to
'know himself,' he automatically learns to know the quality underlying all appearances.
Look therefore for quality everywhere. This is what we mean when we speak of seeing
divinity on every hand, of recognizing the note sounded by all beings, and of registering
the hidden motif of all appearing. The unawakened man or woman sees the form, notes
its forms of activity, and 'judges by appearances.' The awakening aspirant begins to sense
some of the beauties that lie unrevealed behind all forms; the awakened disciple lays the
focus of his attention upon the emerging world of qualities, and becomes steadily aware
of color, of new ranges of sound, of an inner evolving and newer response apparatus
which is beginning to enable him to contact the unseen, the intangible, and the
unrevealed. He becomes aware of those subjective impulses which condition the quality
of the life, and which are slowly and gradually revealing themselves." (EP.I, 196.)
The Distinction Between the Worldly Person and the Spiritual Person.
It is this unrevealed inner beauty which lies back of the emphasis laid by the churches
upon the cultivation of the virtues, and by the occultists upon the use of a seed thought in
meditation. These seed thoughts and virtues serve a valuable and constructive purpose.
The biblical truism that 'as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,' is based on the same
basic realization, and the distinction between the spiritual man and the man of worldly
and material purpose consists in the fact that one is attempting to work with the quality
aspect of the life, and the other is focusing his attention upon the appearance aspect. He
may and does employ certain qualities as he works, but they are those qualities which
have been developed during the evolutionary process of the divine Life as It has cycled
through the subhuman and human kingdoms. (E.P.I 197, italics added.)
Quality and the Ladder of Evolution. In our study of the seven rays the words Quality,
Soul, Consciousness, will come up again and again. As we seek understanding of the
rays, we are also seeking to unfold our higher spiritual possibilities. The evolutionary
frontier, we are told, is no longer in the development of form, for this has reached a
relative point of perfection. Rather it is in the development of consciousness. The rays in
themselves constitute something of a rainbow bridge leading back to the spiritual source.
That bridge is built in consciousness. Knowledge of the rays helps us approach this
bridging-unfolding work not only in a mystical but also in a scientific waywith clear
understanding of the use of energy. Both the heart and the head are required for this
work.
The recognition is emerging that it is man's quality which outwardly determines his
place on the ladder of evolution, but modern psychology of the extreme materialistic
school erroneously supposes that man's quality is determined by his mechanism, whereas
the reverse condition is the determining factor. (EP II, 9.)
The race has evolved now to a point where we think of effects primarily in terms of
quality rather than in terms of matter. A thought-form exists for us in order to produce an
effect. The raison-d'tre of all forms we have come to feel is to express some subjective
quality which will give us the key to its creators purpose. Ponder on these words.
(Treatise on White Magic, 480.)

15

Every Human Being Has Come Forth Along

One Line or Other of the Seven Ray Forces
Every human being has come forth along one line or other of the seven ray forces....
(EP I 142)
At the third initiation there is revealed to the initiate the purpose of the subray of the ray to
which he belongs, that upon which his Ego [soul] finds itself. All egoic units are upon some
subray of the monadic ray. This knowledge is conferred upon the initiate so as to enable him
eventually to find for himself (along the line of least resistance) the ray of his Monad. This
subray bears upon its stream of energy many groups of Egos, and the initiate is therefore made
aware not only of his egoic group and its intelligent purpose, but of many other groups, similarly
composed. Their united energy is working towards a clearly defined goal. (IHS 121

The term monad is essentially a meaningless term, but we use it because it has been
adopted in the esoteric literature. Spirit, from our perspective, is a perfectly good term.
The Monad is on one of the three rays of aspectWill, Love-Wisdom, or Active
Intelligence. Prior to the third initiation, all emphasis is on the soul ray and on the
relationship between the personality and the soul. The first three initiations have to do
with bringing the personality under control of the soul. In the Upanishads they are called:
1. First initiation, from darkness into light.
2. Second initiation, from the unreal to the real.
3. Third initiation, from death to immortality.
One does not really need to concern himself with the monadic ray prior to the third
initiation. At that initiation one learns that the soul ray (egoic ray) is actually a subray of
the monadic ray.
This Ray-subray relationship has an analogy with the soul and personality. The
personality ray looms large at first and for the developing personality this can be
considered the dominant tone or ray. When the personality has developed to the point
where it is beginning to align more consciously with soul, however, the personality life is
significantly altered and often goes through dramatic changes and reversals. The tone or
ray quality of the life changes. The personality ray is seen then as a subray of the soul
ray.
Consider, for example two personalities who are on the sixth ray of idealismdevotion. As personalities they might very well express qualities of high ideals and
spiritual devotion. But let us say that one has a first ray soul and the other has a second
ray soul. The !-6 combination would be far different than the 2-6 combination. The 1-6
combination could lead to a political worker with high ideals trying to bring about
meaningful change in the field of government. A strong will would color the idealism. A
2-6 combination would tend to be a much gentler soul. The idealism of the sixth ray
personality would lose something of its zealousness under the expansive and more
inclusive wisdom of the second ray. As personalities, the two might early on find much in
common. As the soul unfolds, however, their lives would part ways.
At first the particular unit of consciousness develops as an individualized personage.
As time goes by, however, the larger unit comes to embrace the sub-unit, bringing in and
imposing the larger Purpose. The sub-ray unit would then be less of an entity unto itself

16
and more a server of the higher purpose. The personality could be observed then as
dramatically changing course.
Development of Personality is the Longest Period.
The life of the Pilgrim can be, for purposes of discussion, divided into three main periods:
1. That period wherein he is under the influence of the Personality Ray.
2. That wherein he comes under the Ray of the Ego.
3. That wherein the Monadic Ray holds sway.
The first period is by far the longest, and covers the vast progression of the centuries
wherein the activity aspect of the threefold self is being developed. Life after life slips away
during which the aspect of manas or mind is being slowly wrought out, and the human being
comes more and more under the control of his intellect, operating through his physical brain.
This might be looked upon as corresponding to the period of the first solar system, wherein the
third aspect logoic, that of Brahma, Mind, or Intelligence, was being brought to the point of
achievement. Then the second aspect began in this present solar system to be blended with, and
wrought out through it. Centuries go by and the man becomes ever more actively intelligent, and
the field of his life more suitable for the coming in of this second aspect.... The Vishnu or the
Love-Wisdom aspect is latent in the Self, and is part of the monadic content, but the Brahma
aspect, the Activity-Intelligence aspect precedes its manifestation in time. The Tabernacle in the
Wilderness preceded the building of the Temple of Solomon; the kernel of wheat has to lie in the
darkness of mother Earth before the golden perfected ear can be seen, and the Lotus has to cast its
roots down into the mud before the beauty of the blossom can be produced.
The second period, wherein the egoic ray [soul ray] holds sway, is not so long
comparatively; it covers the period ... wherein the man throws his forces on the side of evolution,
disciplines his life, steps upon the Probationary Path, and continues up to the third Initiation....
The egoic ray can always be one of the seven, but we need to remember that, in this astralbuddhic solar system, wherein love and wisdom are being brought into objectivity, the bulk of the
monads are on the love-wisdom ray..... This is the system of the SON, whose name is Love. This
is the divine incarnation of Vishnu. The Dragon of Wisdom is in manifestation, and He brings
into incarnation those cosmic Entities who are in essence identical with Himself. After the third
Initiation all human beings find themselves on their monadic ray, on one of the three major
rays...
The third period, wherein the monadic ray makes itself felt on the physical plane, is by far
the shortest.... It marks the period of achievement, of liberation, and therefore, although it is the
shortest period when viewed from below upward, it is the period of comparative permanence
when viewed from the plane of the Monad. (Cosmic Fire 174-8)
Only initiates are in a position to sense, determine, or discover the nature of their monadic ray
or that of their disciples. The monadic ray is that life element in man with which They have
definitely to deal as They seek to prepare him for initiation. It is the unknown quantity in a
man's nature. It does not, however, greatly complicate his problem in the three worlds of
ordinary human endeavor, as it remains relatively quiescent until after the third initiation, though
it basically conditions the etheric body itself. (EP II 295)
The rays of the monad, the ego and the personality, and are essentially three streams of
energy, forming one great life stream. These relate a human being to the three aspects or
expressions of divinity in manifestation:
a. The monadic ray is the energy which, when consciously employed, relates the initiate to the
Father or Spirit aspect and gives Him the freedom of the solar system.
b. The egoic ray, when consciously utilised, relates the disciple to the second aspect of divinity
and gives him the freedom of the planetary sphere.

17
c. The personality ray, again when consciously governed and employed, relates a man to the
matter or substance aspect of divinity and gives him the freedom of the three worlds and of
the subhuman kingdoms in nature.
(EP II 296)

A human has freedom of the three worldsthe physical-emotional-mental worlds.

The Mineral Kingdom is primarily physical.
The Vegetable Kingdom is physical and beginning to develop emotion.
The Animal Kingdom is physical-emotional with advanced animals touching the plane of
mind.
The Human Kingdom has freedom of the three worlds (physical-emotional-mental) and
aspires to soul consciousness. The advanced ones, developing soul consciousness, have
freedom of the planetary sphere. The spiritual evolution of the whole planet becomes a
factor in consciousness and a labor that engrosses the attention. The personal life is no
longer the focus, the point of interest, or the labor. Like a body it becomes a vehicle,
an automaton, that is for the most part below the threshold of consciousness. The
personality life in and of itself needs no further development, it is simply used in the
Work. The personal individuality is such that one can think for oneself and is in no way
controlled or influence by strong personalities. The true group work (the soul group, the
Brotherhood) becomes the all absorbing life and work.
The Rays of the Vehicles. The Monad is on one of the three rays of aspect. The Soul
(Ego) can be on any one of the seven rays (although this would depend on which rays are
in manifestation at any given time). The Personality can be on any of the seven rays (this
could relate to astrological factors).
Of major interest to us also is the fact that the mental body tends to be on either ray 1,
4, or 5; the emotional body tends to be on either ray 2, or 6; the physical tends to be on
either 3 or 7. We have then:
SPIRIT (MONAD).......Ray I, II, or III
SOUL...........................Ray I, II, III, IV, V, VI, or VII
PERSONALITY...........Ray 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7
mental body................ray 1, 4, or 5
emotional body...........ray 2 or 6
physical body..............ray 3 or 7
The soul ray is of primary importance, for it colors not only the rays of all of its
vehiclespersonality, mental, astral, and physical bodiesbut it is also the true Self, the
true individuality. When it is said that a ray is in manifestation, that also means that souls
on that ray are incarnating. Not all seven rays are in manifestation at the same time, so at
any given time one will not find souls on all the rays. We are told, for example, that the
Fourth Ray is not in manifestation at this time (within the cycle of the Age of
approximate 2000 years), but that it is due to re-enter around 2025. We can see that a
flowering of the arts has occurred in earlier centuries, but that the present state of the arts
is very much dominated by commercial interests (of the third ray). What appears to
matter is having a best seller or large gross receipts at the box office. Art becomes then
a business rather than a cultural event or a revealer of Truth and Beauty. We have the
promise, however, of a new and true cultural flourishing in the not too distant future.

18
The Three Rays of Mind.
In terms human psychology there are five rays that influence and condition the life of
each person: The soul ray, personality ray, ray of the mental body, ray of the emotional
body, and ray of the physical body.
The fact that the mind tends to be on either the 1st ray of power (skill in
administration, take-charge type of person), the 4th ray of harmony through conflict (the
artistic, creative, sometimes intuitive type of thinker), or the 5th ray of science (the
detached, observing, scientific type of thinker) is a considerable help in understanding the
ray energies and in understanding the psychological nature of a human being.
The above information is very helpful in bringing the subject matter of the seven rays
into areas of immediate relevance and usefulness.
Great Strides Will Be Made in the Handling of People. It will be obvious that when
the psychologist takes into consideration the various types of energy which go to the
constitution of a human being and can distinguish (from study and investigation, plus an
understanding of the rays) what the energies are which are conditioning a patient, then
great strides will be made in handling people. The nature of the human equipment and its
internal relationship, as well as the external effects, will be better comprehended.
(Esoteric Psychology II 294.)

Additional Names of the Seven Rays

FIRST RAY OF WILL AND POWER:
The Lord of Death...............The Opener of the Door
The Liberator of the Form........The Great Abstractor...The Most High
The Fiery Element, producing shattering......The Crystallizer of the Form
The Power that Touches and Withdraws.
SECOND RAY OF LOVE-WISDOM
The Displayer of Glory......The Lord of Eternal Love....The Cosmic Christ
The Light Bringer.....The Radiance in the Form...........The Master Builder
The Conferrer of Names......The Son of God Incarnate

THIRD RAY OF ACTIVE INTELLIGENCE or ADAPTABILITY

The Keeper of the Records...The Lord of Memory...The Lord of Balance
The Interpreter of That which is seen...The Unifier of the Four
The Divine Separator...The Discriminating Essential Life...The Universal Mind
The One Who produces Alliance...The Forerunner of the Light
The Dispenser of Time....The Lord of Space...Great Architect of the Universe
FOURTH RAY OF HARMONY, BEAUTY, ART
The Perceiver on the Way....The Link between the Three and the Three
The Divine Intermediary...The Seed, that is the Flower
The Mountain whereon Form dies...The Light within the Light
The One Who marks the parting of the Way....The Master.....The Dweller
in the Holy Place...The Lower than the Three, the Highest of the Four

19

FIFTH RAY OF CONCRETE KNOWLEDGE OR SCIENCE

The Revealer of Truth....The Great Connector....The Dividing Sword
The Winnower of the Chaff...The Three-Fold Thinker...The Guardian of the Door
The Door into the Mind of God...The Dispenser of Knowledge.. The Rose of God
The Master of the Hierophants...The Beloved of the Logos...Brother from Sirius
SIXTH RAY OF DEVOTION AND IDEALISM
The Negator of Desire...The One Who Sees the Right...The Divine Robber
The Visioner of Reality...The Devotee of Life...The Hater of Forms
The Warrior on the March...The Sword Bearer of the Logos
The Upholder of Truth...The Crucifier and the Crucified...The Breaker of Stones
The Imperishable Flaming One...The One Whom naught can turn.
The Implacable Ruler...The General on the Perfect Way.. One Who Leads the 12
SEVENTH RAY OF CEREMONIAL MAGIC, ORGANIZATION
The Unveiled Magician...The Worker in the Magical Art....Creator of the Form
The Bestower of Light from the Second Logos...The Manipulator of the Wand
The Watcher in the East...The Custodian of the Seventh Plan...The Fiery Unifier
The Invoker of Wrath...The Keeper of the Magical Word...The Temple Guardian
The Representative of God...Divine Alchemical Worker...The Orienting Force
The Builder of the Square...Key to the Mystery...The Expression of the Will
The Revealer of Beauty.
The One Who Marks the Parting of the WayThe Fourth Ray.
This seems to relate to another fourth ray aphorism: The Lower than the Three, the
Highest of the Four. There is an old Scottish song that says: You take the high road and
Ill take the low road and Ill get to Scotland before thee
The Sixth Ray draws a line in the sand and says, Either you are with me or against
me. The Fourth Ray comes to a fork in the road. There is a high drama, and a low
drama. Which drama does one want? The Sixth Ray believes and has faith that it is on
the right road. The Fourth Ray stands at the beginning of an adventure, a drama; standing
at the beginning, there is a choice. It is a scary moment. The heart beats in anticipation.
There is risk involved. The outcome is not assured. Against all odds, the Fourth Ray
intuits the right road and knows which way to go. No matter the cost, he knows the right
road to take, although the outcome is not assured. His way defies the conventional way.
His friends shake their heads. There is a parting of the ways.
The Winnower of the ChaffThe Fifth Ray.
Winnowing has to do with removing husks or chaff from the grain. This is done through
tossing the grain in the air, so that the wind blows the husks away from the heavier grain
kernels. It is a differentiating, separating process. One removes the irrelevant and the
unessential, and goes to the important part. The husk is recycled, the grain brings
nutrition. The Fifth Ray does this on the mental plane. Think of all the chaff, all the
useless chatter, that is thrown about by scatter-brains and busy minds, while the Fifth Ray
patiently and mentally sorts through it all to the meaningful kernel. It is probably almost a

20
constant process for the fifth ray thinker. The fifth ray is noted for its careful observation
and clear thinking.
The One Who leads the TwelveThe Sixth Ray.
Twelve is a whole, a completion. At the end of a cycle, there is a new beginning. The
beginning begins with a dream and a vision. I have a dream, and then you also have a
new beginning that starts off with faith. The 12 of the zodiac begins with Aries and Mars
a sixth ray planet. The energy here to be appreciated is that it doesnt look back.
Sometimes the only way to begin is to never look back. So at the beginning of a new
cycle there is a Dream or a Vision, which is followed by Faith or Belief. There is
leadership because there is zeal, direction, and forward movement that never looks back.
Mars and Youth go hand-in-hand. Saturn is for mature people of the establishment.
Where Saturn rules, the dream has faded and only the work remains.
Seven Types of Spiritual-Soul Service (or Discipleship).
It would be well to remember that disciples on the first ray understand discipleship
largely in terms of energy, or force, or activity, whilst disciples on the second ray
understand it more in terms of consciousness or initiation. Hence the divergence of
expressions in ordinary use, and the lack of comprehension among thinkers. It might
prove useful to express the idea of discipleship in terms of the different raysmeaning
by this, discipleship as it manifests on the physical plane in service:
1st Ray
2nd Ray
3rd Ray
4th Ray
5th Ray
6th Ray
7th Ray

Force..................
Consciousness....
Adaptation..........
Vibration............
Mentation............
Devotion............
Incantation..........

Energy........... Action...........
Expansion..... Initiation........
Development.. Evolution.......
Response....... Expression....
Knowledge.... Science..........
Abstraction.. Idealism........
Magic........... Ritual............

The Occultist.
The true Psychic.
The Magician.
The Artist.
The Scientist
The Devotee.
The Ritualist.

Remember carefully that we are here dealing with disciples. Later on as they progress,
the various lines approximate and merge. All have been at one time magicians, for all
have passed upon the third ray. The problem now is concerned with the mystic and the
occultist, and their eventual synthesis. A careful study of the foregoing will lead to the
realization that the difficulties between thinkers, and between disciples of all groups,
consist in their identifying themselves with some form, and in their inability to
understand the different points of view of others. As time elapses, and they are brought
into closer relationship with the two Masters with whom they are concerned (their own
inner God and their personal Master), the inability to cooperate and to merge their
interests in the good of the group will pass away, and community of endeavor, similarity
of object, and mutual co-operation will take the place of what is now so much seen,
divergence. We might well ponder on this, for it holds the key to much that is puzzling
and, to many, distressing. (IHS 80-81)
The contrast between the fist and second rays is especially interesting. The distinction
is between the Occultist and the True Psychic. The word occultist is used because it is

21
apparently the best word available to distinguish between the spiritual approach of a
thinker (mental approach) and one who is predominantly emotionally focused. The word
esotericist would not distinguish between the two since both could be called
esotericists. The contrast is between:
occultist .......... mystic
rational .............. emotional
raja yoga ........... bhakti yoga
The occultist is well-versed in a variety of energies, whereas the mystic is strongly within
the love-devotional energy. The occultist has more knowledge of energies, whereas the
mystic hopes and prays. This is not to belittle the mystic in any way, for any approach
that leads with the heart is viable and sound. The most advantageous approach is to blend
the two.
The second ray type, interestingly, in the above classification is not called the Mystic,
but rather the True Psychic. These terms, it must be recognized, can easily make the
novice wonder, for occultist, psychic, and magician are terms that are not exactly grasped
in an unprejudiced way. The term true psychic does not take for its opposite the untrue
psychic. The distinction is between higher psychism and lower psychism. Lower
psychism has to do with the astral plane, astral body, and solar plexus center. Higher
psychism is sensitive to soul and to phenomena related to the group good, the good of the
whole. The former is replete with the distortions of the astral plane, whereas the latter is
a sure guide.
The occultist (first ray) is concerned with action, while the true psychic (second
ray) is concerned with initiation. Initiation has to do with the expansion of
consciousness. The second ray type is concerned with consciousness, which can be seen
in the lives of the Christ and the Buddha. The occultist is more of an executive, almost a
politician, an organizer, a leader. The first ray makes things happen (action, force,
prepares the form), whereas the second ray awakens and inspires (expansion of
consciousness).
The Magician is something else. DK tells us: All have been at one time magicians,
for all have passed upon the third ray. He takes the mystique out of the magic, saying
that all of us have been-there-and-done-that. He may be referring to once-upon-a-time, as
in Atlantean days of long-ago-and-far-away. One gets a little glimpse of the third ray
energy manipulation of the magician in various works found in occult lore. The story of
the Tibetan saint Milarepa illustrates the transition from the magician to the true psychic.
Words of power can control the elemental forces in order to bring about certain
phenomenal effects. All these ways, however, can be distorted by self-serving personality,
sometimes with dire results. Thus, there is the reiterated emphasis on soul, serve, and
selflessnessdoing the greatest good for the greatest number.
The four types on the rays of attribute are more easily recognizedthe Artist, the
Scientist, the Devotee, and the Ritualistbut there are a few points to ponder.
For the Artist we have Vibration, Response, Expression. Vibration seeks harmony,
unity, and alignment. The artist tries to vibrate in unison with the Muse (the intuition).
This is far different than any of the other ray types. Response is the alignment or a
result of the alignment. The connection is with the fourth plane of intuition. This is an

22
experience of Beauty, which is not exactly of this world. The Beauty beyond wordsthe
revelatory perfect Harmonyis something that demands expression and something that
the artist labors to express, knowing all the time how impossible it is. The Arts endeavor
to build a ladder to the stars. We can all sit in awe and wonder at some of these heavenly
creations.
The Scientist is very clear. No mystery there. The remarkable thing is the degree of
mentation and the incredible probe of knowledge. When it comes to such mastery of
a body of knowledge, most people will shake their heads and simply move on. When it
comes to solid evidence and concrete knowledge, the scientist probes deeper and further
than any of the other types.
The sixth ray Devotee is also very clear. The sixth ray has been with us a very long
time. The word of special interest, however, is abstraction. If we take the three words
that relate to the 2-4-6 line of abstract energies, and if we put them in the 6-4-2 order, we
arrive at: Abstraction-Response-Expansion. In order to get up there, up to the heavenly
domains, one has to cut loose from the obsessive preoccupation with the form world
through Abstraction. One has to become strangely and strongly other-worldly. Looking
at it in the old tradition, one has to renounce the world and take a vow of poverty. One
has to look inward, constantly pray, even live like a hermit, in order to abstract and find
the Truth of Spirit. If and when one gets a Response, one can count oneself among the
very fortunate. One momentary Vision can carry one an awfully long waysuch is the
power of the Reality of the Spirit. Expansion, second ray, follows upon the heels of six
and four. Expansion enables one to live in the relatively abstract realms as a matter of
courseno big deal. The frantic search ends in wise distribution, as in healing, salvation,
showing the way, or simply lending a helping hand. The higher psychism recognizes the
unspoken need and how to extend the helping hand. Thus, we have the Abstraction of the
sixth ray, aspiring to new dimensions, the Response of the fourth ray, pulling through
intuitive sparks of revelation from the above, followed by the Expansion of the second
ray, sharing, building, and healing with the new found knowledge and energy.
The seventh ray Ritualist is not at all clear. What does anybody really know about
Incantation, Magic and Ritual? There is required such a true group effort in order to
bring this about, and true groups are almost nowhere to be found. One can at best find
hints and whispers of them when things just happen momentarily to come together.
Things come together sometimes at the very beginning of a new spiritual or serving
enterprise. Or during great crises everyone forgets self long enough and cooperates
deeply enough that the magic actually happens. The Seventh Ray is a great promise of the
future. The Incantation pulls it downa group endeavor. The Magic happens right on the
physical-etheric plane and phenomenal are the results. The Ritual has to do with the
power and rhythm of the meaningful repetition. It is not so much fire by friction and not
so much solar fire, but rather electric fire. One can see how the seventh ray is linked to
the first ray. The seventh ray is a ray of synthesis. The power is grounded on the physicaletheric plane. Kundalini rises.

23

An Orchestration of Ray Energies

by Kurt Abraham.

A symphonic work unfolds in stages or movements. Each movement has its theme
and tempo. An instrument, or group of instruments, may have their individual highlight
as a particular point in the theme is accentuated. Using this as an analogy and cosmically
speaking, there must be a great orchestration of ray energies. In any particular period of
manifestation and within the ring-pass-not of the particular cohesive purpose, certain rays
vibrate and cyclically issue forth, creating, developing, and modifying the time-spaceform notes that express the Composers theme and Purpose.
Each individualized soul has its qualitative theme as it incarnates through the long
series of lives. The first movement encompassing many incarnations is a sprightly one,
an allegro. It is a movement in which the soul draws upon the third ray energy of
activity, in order to build new forms and to initiate the long developmental process. It
must impact upon other little forms and establish itself through activity and fresh
liveliness. It is the energetic spring and youth of the symphonic theme.
The second movement is an andante. The soul in this movement or series of lives is
sending forth an energy that will cause the manifested personality to slow down the outer
activity and to look within. Strength of form and intelligence have been built into the
equipment; now it is time for perfect love and wisdom to come about. The theme is
reflective, moody, quietly up-lifting, and inspirational. The activity of the first movement
is pondered in a deeper way during the reflective second movement.
In the third and final movement a new energy, a new vibration, is sent forth. It is
neither an allegro nor an andante. Here the soul calls upon the energy and note of the
first ray of will. This movement vibrates with resolution, with authority, and with
synthesis. The earlier themes suggested ideas that emerge now with clarity and with
truth. All the instruments and notes harmonize in beauty and power. The music is
intelligent, wise, and powerful. No longer is there the confusion and sometimes wasted
energy of exploratory activity. Nor is there the ponderous self-questioning of
introspection. Purpose is now known and revealed and made manifest. Resolution
causes all dangling and undetermined themes to fall into perfect place. If we stretch the
analogy from an individualized souls series of incarnating lives to a group of souls, to a
nation, to a race, to a kingdom, to a planetary logos, to a solar logos, then we might get
some faint and analogous picture of how one symphony is but a single note in a still
Greater Symphony; one personality life but a measure in the symphony of the soul.
If I know the ray note of my soul, then as a personality I can intelligently
harmonize with it and thereby facilitate the evolutionary process and live a more
purposeful life. If I know the ray note of a particular soul group, then I may also be able
to determine a way of cooperating with that energy and blending with the groups
purpose. Or I may be able to determine what energy the group lacks and what it needs for
wholeness and balance. If I know the soul ray of the nation, and if I see the problems
engendered by the nations personality ray, then Ill be able to play my little role in
facilitating the work of those who touch the soul of the nation. And if I know the ray of
the Aquarian Age, in contrast to the Piscean ray, then I may be able to augment that
transition in a less dissonant, more harmonious way.

24

Identifying the Ray EnergiesAn Exercise

An individual is both a unified flow of many energies and also an integration of
separate energies that contribute a part or special function to the whole. An analogy
would be the physical body with its lungs, heart, brain, etc.all organs with distinct
functions, yet all part of the whole body.
In considering the ray of the mind, we realize that a person thinks or is conscious with
his/her whole being, spiritual and physical. Can we determine the ray of the mind4th
ray, 5th ray or 1st rayas we carefully observe the way we and others think?
The 4th ray mind is often either looking to the feeling-emotional plane or towards the
intuitive-buddhic plane. Creativity, Beauty, Sensitivity, Harmony, and Insight are
keywords here.
The 1st ray mind tends towards issues of responsibility, control, power, the handling
of men and measures, and administrative and legal matters. Orderly relationships are a
concern here, as are discipline, self-control, status, and poise. One can see that the eye of
the mind is more on the physical plane than on the emotional plane. This type of mind
can bring in a detached, impersonal demeanor. On the negative side this type can be cold
and somewhat harsh, even cruel; on the positive side this type can be seen as a quality of
strength and responsibility. Poise, Power, Strength, Responsibility, and Control are
keywords here.
The 5th ray mind is most at home on the 5th plane of mind. Detachment, reasoning,
observing are keywords here. The 5th ray mind tends not to jump to conclusions, tends to
be vary cautious about judgment. This type of mind tends to be somewhat skeptical. This
type likes to specialize, to delve deeply into matters, to master a field of knowledge.
Knowledge, Clarity, Detachment, Observation are keywords here.
At this point we have hardly begun to explore the rays. Nevertheless we all have a
feeling for and some knowledge about the three types briefly described above. This
exercise requires above all else detached observation. This means also that we must not
rush to judgment. The effort is to note subtle differences in the way people think. Where
the person is a pronounced type, this can sometimes be done fairly quickly. Even when it
can be done quickly, however, it is still necessary to observe the differences and the style,
the quality, the mode, with detachment and patience.
When a person is not a pronounced type, but rather a balanced type with many skills,
gifts, and qualities, then it may be very difficult to determine the ray of the mind. The
highly developed person will be able to shift the mode of thought from one energy to the
next, depending on the situation. This for most people, however, is very difficult to do.

25

The Three Types of Mind: Some Examples from the Book

Psychological Types and the Seven Rays
Career Choices. Thomas Huxley was 26 years old when he wrote the following to a
friend: It is equally clear to me that for a man of my temperament the sole secret of
getting through life with anything like contentment is to have full scope of the
development of ones faculties. Science alone seems to afford this scopeLaw, Divinity,
Physic, and Politics being in a state of chaotic vibration between utter humbug and utter
skepticism.
Huxley apparently regarded Divinity with utter skepticism and politics as utter
humbug. Physic we now call Medicine. He was able to judge this field from his own
knowledge and experience. The observation of the chaotic vibration of the fields other
than science was definitely a bias due to ray type. He did qualify his statement, however,
with for a man of my temperament, at any rate.... There is the tendency to assume that
an intelligent person can scan the various fields of endeavor and career opportunities and
choose the best one, as if that were some true and objective selection. Actually we are
dealing here with certain propensities and affinities and certain repulsions due largely to
ray type. (Psychological Types 134.)
Verse-Making. As a school boy, Charles Darwin had difficulty writing poetry....
Especial attention was paid to verse-making, and this I could never do well. I had many
friends, and got together a grand collection of old verses, which by patching together,
sometimes aided by other boys, I could work into my subject.
Verse-making or writing poetry is something that the creatively and artistically
inclined 4th ray mind generally finds more appealing than does the 5th ray mind.
Webster defines poetry as writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness
of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response
through meaning, sound, and rhythm. Scientific minds are generally not concerned with
creating an emotional response. It is more specifically the 4th ray type that employs
the creative imagination to bring about an emotional response and to affect
consciousness.
It is interesting to note the circuitous route the young Darwin settled upon in order to
meet the academic requirement of verse-making. Instead of using the imagination and
exploring the subtleties of ones inner feelings and then working creatively, he patched
together fragments from a collection of old verses. It was as if he were endeavoring to
solve a 4th ray problem with a 5th ray method. An exaggerated example of a similar
situation in reverse is the well-known satire on the Medieval religious scholars who were
endeavoring to discern the number of teeth in a horses mouth by an intuitive method.
When an apparently simple minded man suggested: Why dont you count the teeth?
they brushed aside the annoyance as if a secular approach were beneath their dignity.
The scholars in the exaggerated tale were endeavoring to use a 4th ray method to solve a
problem readily accessible to a 5th ray method. The scholars were endeavoring to know
intuitively when outer investigation would easily have sufficed. In order to create poetry,
however, how equally absurd it is to take fragments of existing poems and rearrange them
into a new piece. The assignment required an introspective approach; the young Darwin,
however, turned it into an outer gathering, collecting, examining, classifying, arranging,
much in the manner of a naturalists field excursion.
(Psych. Types 54-5.)

26

Natural HistoryHasty Schedules and Inventories. Part of the scientific inquiry

requires careful observation of the form in the greatest possible detail and the
classification of the form. Looking at this type of work through the eye Henry David
Thoreaus 4th ray mind, we find the following interesting judgment:
Books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules, or inventories of Gods
property, by some clerk. They do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the
popular view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and make haste to conduct
the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell:
To Athens gownd he goes, and from that school
Returns unsped, a more instructed fool.
They teach the elements really of ignorance, not of knowledge, for to speak deliberately
and in view of the highest truths, it is not easy to distinguish elementary knowledge.
There is a chasm between knowledge and ignorance which the arches of science can
never span. (Thoreau, On the Concord and Merrimack.)

Once again, there is something true and there is a distortion due to type in Thoreaus
statement. First of all, classification of the form is not a hasty endeavor. Patient,
persistent, and painstaking effort characterizes the developed scientific type. Secondly,
classification (schedules and inventories) is one of the first steps, not the goal, of
scientific endeavor. The scientist is not merely taking an inventory of parts; s/he wants to
know how it all workswhich is a divine intent. Anatomy, for example, deals with the
inventory aspectthe categorizing of the parts, the structure, the position, etc. It forms
a necessary basis for physiology, which deals with the chemical processes, the functions
and interrelationships of organs. One of the results of these long and painstaking
endeavors is knowledge that can restore a diseased body to a whole and healthy state.
Another level is to see the symbolic value of the intricate form nature that we might come
to understand the human psyche, and on yet a higher level that we might gain insight into
the nature of Deity.
There is a chasm, wrote Thoreau, between knowledge and ignorance which the
arches of science can never span. I believe it would be more accurate to say that there is
a chasm between wisdom and ignorance which science can never span alone. But science
can and does make a great contribution in work of dispelling ignorance. (Psych. Types
120-1.)
Intensely Direct Action of the Buddha and the Christ. Gandhis interpretation of
religion was clearly colored by the first ray of will and power. I do not believe that the
spiritual law works on a field of its own. On the contrary, it expresses itself only through
the ordinary activities of life. It thus affects the economic, the social and the political
fields. (Gandhi, Selected Writings.) Not the world of abstract meaning so much as the
world of vital energies is the way in which Gandhi comprehended Deity. Gandhi
interpreted the lives of the great avatars not in terms of quiet and secluded wisdom but in
terms of political action: Jesus, in my humble opinion, was a prince among politicians,
he wrote. Buddha fearlessly carried the war into the enemys camp and brought down
on its knees an arrogant priesthood. Christ drove out the money-changers from the
temple of Jerusalem and drew down curses from Heaven upon the hypocrites and the
Pharisees. Both were for intensely direct action. But even as Buddha and Christ

27
chastised, they showed unmistakable gentleness and love behind every act of theirs.
(Gandhi, Select Writings.) There are clear similarities between Gandhis interpretation
and Jane Addams interpretation of knowing the doctrine through the will and that
revelation, to be retained and made manifest, must be put into terms of action. (p.94)
Jane Addams, First Ray Mind. There is a tendency among many who have first ray
minds to have an interest in science but to lack the zeal (as she called it) or the
capability of going into sufficient depth to carve out a career in a scientific field. In her
twenties Jane Addams came to a point where she could cling to only one thing and that
was the desire to live in a really living world, rejecting any shadowy intellectual
reflection of it. She felt that lumbering our minds with literature was an interference
with right conduct and practical action. In art she preferred the human documents of
Albrecht Drer to the imaginative, idyllic scenes of beauty and harmony. She identified
with young people who feel nervously the need of putting theory into practice.
Generally speaking, the 1st ray mind tends to be attracted to the really vital situation
spread before our eyes and tends to want to put theory into practice and to do
something about the concrete situation. In the case of Jane Addams this demonstrated as
an urge and an ability to institutionalize a great variety of social service programs.
Frequently, with people who have 1st ray minds, there tends to be a mental-physical
alignment and a control of the emotional factor. In contrast to this, many 4th ray minds
tend to aspire to an emotion-intuitive interplay-alignment. As a result, the 4th ray type
may bring a needed sensitivity and insight into a particular situation-problem but may
tend to be vague or neglectful regarding practical physical plane details. This, however,
can be offset by the personality and/or soul ray. (pp 33-4)
Strong PassionHighest Pitch of Enthusiasm. In his early twenties Vincent wrote to
his brother Theo: "I have a more or less irresistible passion for books, and I continually
want to instruct myself, to study if you like, just as much as I want to eat my bread....
When I was in other surroundings, in the surroundings of pictures and works of art, you
know how I had a violent passion for them, reaching the highest pitch of enthusiasm.
Instead of distrusting or cautiously observing his passions and enthusiasms, van
Gogh was using them as a sort of guide. The "highest pitch of enthusiasm" is indicative
of a mind more mystically than practically oriented. This suggests the strong possibility
of a fourth ray mind in combination with a sixth ray emotional body striving for some
transcendent or ideal state of consciousness. "Strong passions" is given as one of the
vices of the fourth ray type in Esoteric Psychology I, 206.
In the effort to determine the ray of the mind, everything has to be weighed very
carefully. Generally speaking, enthusiasm is a very positive quality shared by all the
types. In using such words as violent passion, highest pitch of enthusiasm, and
irresistible passion we definitely see quite an emotional charge that inclines us towards
the 6th and 4th rays as possible key influences. His very strong living into the field of art,
literature, religion, and philosophy, also tend to suggest a 4th ray mind. In determining
the ray of the mind, we look to see how the person thinks. Van Goghs thirst is for the
world of meaninghe wants to know what life is all about. He is asking the Big
Questions. He is also enthralled with the world of Beauty. These quests are far different

28
than the strictly scientific quest or the political-administrative quest. Special care must
always be given, however, when there is a blending of types along the two major rays. In
such cases, the rays generally cannot be easily or quickly determined.
Picturesque Word-Painting, Exaggeration. Van Gogh described an illness he had in the
following terms:
I had been ill: my mind was tired; my soul disillusioned; and my body, suffering. I whom God has
endowed at least with moral energy and a strong instinct for affectionI fell into an abyss of the
most bitter discouragement, and with horror I felt a deadly poison penetrate my smothered heart. I
spent three months on the moors, you know that beautiful region where the soul retires within
itself and enjoys a delicious rest, when everything breathes calm and peace, where the soul, in the
presence of God's immaculate creation, throws off the yoke of conventions, forgets society and
loosens its bonds with the strength of renewed youth; where every thought forms a prayer, where
everything that is not in harmony with fresh, free nature disappears from the heart. Oh, there the
tired souls find rest, there the exhausted man regains his youthful strength. So I passed my days of
illness.. (Complete Letters of Van Gogh, I, 69.)

We are learning little of fact about van Gogh's illness. We are learning again about
mood and tone, about his emotional world that mirrors in its highest moments
something of a mystical or transcendent state of being. Once again there is inaccuracy
and exaggeration: I felt a deadly poison penetrate my smothered heart. Also
characteristic of the fourth ray type is a fluctuation between extremesthe overactive
rajas (activity) and the under-active tamas (inertia). Van Gogh went from the most bitter
discouragement to that beautiful region where the soul enjoys a delicious rest and
where every thought forms a prayer. The fourth ray type may have to struggle with a
dramatic imbalance of extremes, particularly during youth. Van Gogh recognized his
endowment of moral energy and a strong instinct for affectiononce again
emphasizing dramatically a sentient or feeling consciousness. Some of the virtues to be
acquired by the fourth ray type are serenity, self-control and accuracy, which replace
the fluctuating moods, the periodic loss of control through excessive feeling, the
exaggeration and extravagance.
In the above quote, it is important to remember that van Gogh is speaking as a very
young man. It seems very appropriate that he felt life in such a deep way. It is also
important to realize that sensitivity to mood, to pain, to turmoil, to peace, etc., all serve
the artist well as he or she develops a sentient body that becomes an organ of sight (an
eye) with which to see the subtler planesat first the astral plane and later the buddhic
plane. Exaggeration is often employed in order to convey feeling. Thus, exaggeration is
often used as a device in literature and the arts in order to affect consciousness.
"Fine Sentiment" More Than Definition.
Since the Reverend... translated Goethe's Faust, Father and Mother have read that book, for now
that a clergyman has translated it, it cannot be so very immoral???... But they consider it nothing
but the fatal consequences of an ill-timed love. Now take Mauve [a fellow artist], for instance.
When he reads something that is deep, he does not say at once, That man means this or that. For
poetry is so deep and intangible that one cannot define everything systematically. But Mauve has
a fine sentiment, and, you see, I think that sentiment worth so much more than definitions and
criticism. Letters I, 238.

29
The scientific mind would generally not be inclined to say that fine sentiment is
worth more than definitions. On the contrary, the developed fifth ray mind relies heavily
on precise definition. Van Gogh, on the other hand, valued most highly a certain fine
sentiment that enables one to perceive something that is deep and intangible. The
intellect is involved with clear definition, which is a process of isolation and separation.
The fine sentiment used to discern the deep and intangible involves the feeling-intuitive
interplay. There is no reason why both intellect and fine feeling cannot be used in the
effort to arrive at intuitive knowledge. Fine feeling can be highly valuable in scientific
work, and precise definition can also be highly valuable in the more abstract disciplines.
In the above quote van Gogh was discussing an approach to understanding a literary
worka work created by Goethe, who undoubtedly had a 4th ray mind. Van Goghs and
Mauves approach seems clearly to be the correct one. As true artists, they are discussing
something within the domain of the arts. Not only is it something within their field, it is
also something of comparable levelboth Goethe and van Gogh were men of
extraordinary level and being. To the 4th ray mind fine sentiment tends to be worth
more than definition because the 4th ray mind is often pursuing something that will
forever elude definition. To the developed 4th ray mind, one cannot say what Spirit is,
one can only say what Spirit is likethus, the play, the allegory, the work of art, the
metaphor.
Fifth Ray Mind: Clear and Cautious Conclusions. The type of older people one is
attracted to as a youth often indicates ones own latent type. The young and
impressionable Darwin made the following analysis of an older colleague: His mind was
characterized, as it appeared to me, by clearness, caution, sound judgment and a good
deal of originality. When I made any remark to him on Geology, he never rested until he
saw the case clearly and often made me see it more clearly than I had done before. He
would advance all possible objections to my suggestion, and even after these were
exhausted would long remain dubious. (Autobiography 100.) The developed fifth ray
type is characterized by clearness, caution, dubiousness, sound judgment and exhaustive
analysis.
In a letter to L. Jenyns, Darwin wrote: I have continued steadily reading and
collecting facts on variation of domestic animals and plants, and on the question of what
are species. I have a grand body of facts, and I think I can draw some conclusion.... I shall
not publish on this subject for several years. In another letter to the same person he
wrote: With respect to my far distant work on species, I must have expressed myself
with singular inaccuracy if I led you to suppose that I meant to say that my conclusions
are inevitable. They have become so after years of weighing puzzles, to myself alone; but
in my wildest day-dream, I never expect more than to be able to show that there are two
sides to the question of the immutability of species. (Selected Letters.)
After long years of collecting a grand body of facts, Darwin cautiously drew some
conclusions, which merely showed that there was at least two sides to the question.
Darwin presents a refined and very pronounced scientific type. It is possible that both the
mind and the personality or soul were on the fifth ray of concrete or scientific knowledge.
A difference between the fifth and first ray mind is that the fifth ray type tends to see fact
leading to knowledge and knowledge as being an end in itself. The first ray type tends to
see fact and knowledge as a means to some other end. The first ray type tends to be quick
to take knowledge and apply it to social action, service, business or some institutional-

30
administrative activity. As a result of these tendencies, the knowledge of the scientific
type tends to be more comprehensive, more thorough, whereas the knowledge of the first
ray type may be lacking in terms of a grand body of facts but may be greater in terms
of application or skill-in-action.
There are some extremely important points here regarding the 5th ray mind that can
hardly be overemphasized: Clarity, Observation, Cautious Conclusion. Here we see a
person who never rested until he saw the case clearly. We see a person who collected a
grand body of facts and was still hesitate to draw any conclusions. The energy here is a
far different energy than that of the 4th ray or the 1st ray. The trick, if we could call it
that, is to carefully observe how people think in the effort to begin to see how the rays
condition and influence the psychological make-up of a person.
Atrophying of the Higher Aesthetic Tastes. Darwin's intensive, specialized scientific
labors bore their fruits but also took their toll. In the following passage Darwin made
some interesting observations of his own psychological processes.
This curious and lamentable loss of the higher aesthetic tastes is all the odder, as books on
history, biographies and travels (independently of any scientific facts which they may contain),
and essays on all sorts of subjects interest me as much as ever they did. My mind seems to have
become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why this
should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I
cannot conceive. A man with a mind more highly organized or better constituted than mine, would
not I suppose have thus suffered; and if I had to live my life again I would have made a rule to
read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week; for perhaps the parts of my
brain now atrophied could thus have been kept active through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss
of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral
character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature. (Autobiography 139.)

Darwin felt a definite lack in the following areas: higher aesthetic tastes, poetry,
music, moral character, the emotional part of our nature, and he felt an unhappiness that
stems from a feeling of incompleteness or lack of wholeness. Van Gogh, as we have seen,
was out of balance along that line of aesthetic tastes and emotional sensitivity and,
although achieving specialized excellence, could well have used such fifth ray qualities
as clarity of thought, reason, detachment, analysis and careful observation. Gandhi was
well balanced along both of these two major lines (2-4-6 and 1-3-5-7) and participated
intelligently in the three types of energies under discussion (1-4-5).
It is questionable whether "reading some poetry and listening to some music at least once
every week" would be sufficient to prevent the "atrophy of that part of the brain on which the
higher tastes depend." Reading and listening are generally passive and, therefore, not as effective
in developing capacity to attune to and manipulate certain energies as more active processes
would be, such as composing music and writing poetry. Similarly, listening to a scientific lecture
once a week would generally not be sufficient to develop the scientific attitude, whereas
undertaking a scientific project involving experimentation, precise observation, etc., would
provide a much better opportunity for activating certain energies.
Francis Darwin wrote of his father Charles; His literary tastes and opinions were not on a
level with the rest of his mind. He himself, though he was clear as to what he thought good,
considered that in matters of literary tastes he was quite outside the pale, and often spoke of what
those within it liked or disliked, as if they formed a class to which he had no claim to belong.
(Selected Letters.)

31
It is interesting that Darwin was able to discern these two different domains of knowledge
and he was able to see that they functioned in a different way. It wasnt a matter of intelligence
alone, it was a matter of typea factor of type that he attributed to parts of the brain. It is also
interesting that he was unable to activate the aesthetic part of the brain. This suggests that he
was indeed a pronounced type, probably a 5th ray soul along with the 5th ray mind. The
pronounced type generally has special assets, special abilities, but must work very hard to
develop balance and wholeness.
First Ray Mind: Insensitive Rules and Regulations. One of the institutions established at HullHouse was a "relief station," which gave food and clothing to the unemployed family. To
maintain a just distribution of their limited resources, however, certain rules and regulations had
to be drawn up. Of a shipping clerk who had come to the relief station four or five times Jane
Addams wrote:
I told him one day of the opportunity for work on the drainage canal and intimated that if any
employment were obtainable, he ought to exhaust that possibility before asking for help. The man
replied that he had always worked indoors and that he could not endure outside work in winter. I
am grateful to remember that I was too uncertain to be severe, although I held to my instructions.
He did not come again for relief, but worked for two days digging on the canal where he
contracted pneumonia and died a week later. I never lost trace of the two little children he left
behind him, although I cannot see them without a bitter consciousness that it was at their expense I
learned that life cannot be administered by definite rules and regulations; that wisdom to deal with
a man's difficulties comes only through some knowledge of his life and habits as a whole; and that
to treat an isolated episode is almost sure to invite blundering.

Life cannot be administered by definite rules and regulationsa difficult lesson for many
first ray types. Rules and regulations are needed if anarchic chaos is to be avoided. Rules and
regulations are most necessary in order to maintain a functioning institution. The supply of food
and clothing was limited, and therefore the rule was established that they would be distributed
to the most needy. Without this rule, the supply would have dwindled to nothing in a very short
time. Yet, at the same time, the rules and policies cannot cover all needy cases. New rules need
then to be developed; each case, wherever possible, must be considered on its own merits. The
main point here is that rules are at best guidelines but not rigid decrees etched in stone. The 1st
ray mind, generally speaking, understands very well the need for rules and loves to develop them.
It facilitates the functioning of any organization. A danger occurs when the rules are applied in a
rigid and insensitive way. Rules can be stretched without the institution crumbling. Jane Addams
was wise enough to see and then to learn from her mistake.
First Ray Mind: Impersonal. This capacity to be impersonal has been greatly developed in you
by your first ray lower nature which renders you easily impersonalif you so choose. But for
you the lesson of all disciples must be learned which is to be impersonally personal. That is not
easy of attainment. (Discipleship in the New Age I, 216. Written to ISG-L who had a 1st ray
personality and 1st ray mind, and also a 1st ray physical body.)
First Ray Mind: Spiritual Insulation and Spiritual Indifference. I wonder, my brother, if it is
possible for me to indicate to you the life of spiritual insulation which is in no way the life of
personal isolation? In this state of insulated being lies, for you, the solution of many of your
problems. This insulation is brought about by emotional indifference to your environment and to
people, but it is a spiritual indifference, founded on spiritual detachment and dispassion. When it
is present, there comes the fulfillment of obligation and the performance of duty, but no
identification with people or circumstance. The soul stands free, unattached, unafraid, and is not
controlled by that which exists in the three worlds. This is the true spiritual indifference andfor
your own release and for greater usefulness in serviceI would have you meditate on

32
indifference, during the coming six months as the method to be followed, in order to produce
spiritual insulation. I give you no other theme for meditation and no set form. I would suggest
that each morning, when you awaken, that you give five minutes to an intensive consideration of
spiritual insulation, after a brief alignment and dedication, and that throughout the day you brood
and reflect upon this theme. Then at night, or earlier in the evening if more suitable, use divine
indifference as a theme for review.
(Discipleship in the New Age I, 429. Written to D.H.B.
who had a 1st ray mind, and also a 1st ray astral body.)
Fourth Ray Mind: Creative Worker. You are a creative worker and have also the ability to
work in several creative ways. You are both an artist and a writer. This means that your soul can
reach expression and usefulness along two channels. You have, therefore, two definite assets to
contribute to world service and two points of expression whereby your soul and your brain are
en rapport. Such channels are necessarily media of relation and down them light can flow,
irradiating dark places. I would like to point out that creative workers in any field are primarily
those who can destroy those glamours to which humanity is prone. These are found in those fields
of illusory activity which men have themselves created. (Discipleship in the New Age I, 132.
Written to L.D.O. who had a 4th ray mind, and also a 4th ray personality.)
Fourth Ray Mind: Pliability, Sense of Relationship, Rapid Grasp of Mental Truth. Your
mental body is on the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict and hence your pliability, your
sense of relationship and your rapid grasp of mental truth. Illusion will ever be a more ready
snare to you than glamour. This Ray of Harmony through Conflict is that bridging ray which will,
in your case and through the mind, bring about an increasingly rapid establishment of contact
between your soul and your personality. (Discipleship in the New Age I, 133. Also written to
L.D.O.. She had a 2nd ray soul.)
Fourth Ray Mind: Power to Harmonize. Your mental body is on the fourth ray; hence your
power to harmonize and to avert conflict, thus acting as a calm centre in the whirlpool of activity
with which you are surrounded. This is your dominant contribution to the work; I would have you
ponder on this and intensify your effort to play this part and above all to play it dynamically. It is
a vital service which you can render, my brother, and you have hitherto rendered it with success. I
would have you render it more consciously and, therefore, more dynamically. (Discipleship in
the New Age I, 275. Written to R.V.B. who had a 4th ray mind and also a 4th ray personality.)
Fifth Ray Mind: Good Mental Focus, Need to Integrate with Feeling. Your mental
polarization is good and your work in the world greatly aids you in this respect. Its integration
with the life of feeling could be stronger and more dynamic, and for this we will work for a little
while.
(Discipleship in the New Age I, 308. Written to D.L.R. who had a 5th ray mind and also a 5th ray
personality.)
Fifth Ray Mind: Ability in Field of Knowledge, Need for Intuition. The ray of your mental
body is the fifth, and because it is the same ray as that of your personality, you will have to guard
with care against mental crystallization, and the undue influence of the critical mind. This ray
gives you ability in the field of knowledge, but it must be balanced by the unfoldment of the
intuition; it gives you the power to master your chosen field of knowledge, but that power must
be balanced by the simultaneous mastering of the world wherein love and wisdom control.
(Discipleship in the New Age I, 315. Written to D.L.R. who had a 5th ray mind and also a 5th ray
personality.)
Fifth Ray Mind: Enquiring Nature. Your mental body is on the fifth ray. This is definitely
what I might call a left over from the fifth ray personality in which you functioned in your
previous incarnation. This fifth ray mind gives you the enquiring, questioning nature which is one
of your outstanding characteristicsa great asset when rightly used; a major problem and real
deterrent to the inflow of soul light when over-emphasized. Eight years ago it was thus overemphasized. (Discipleship in the New Age I, 350. Written to P.G.C. who had a 5th ray mind.)

33

Important Distinction Between Mystic and Occultist.

The subject of this letter today will interest you for we are to take up form as used by the
occultist and the mystic.
It might be of value to us if we first differentiated with care between the two types. I would
begin by a statement of fact. The mystic is not necessarily an occultist, but the occultist embraces
the mystic. Mysticism is but one step on the path of occultism. In this solar systemthe system
of love in activitythe path of least resistance for the majority is that of the mystic, or the path of
love and devotion. In the next solar system the path of least resistance will be that which we now
understand as the occult path. The mystic path will have been trodden. Wherein lies the
difference between these two types? The mystic deals with the evolving life; the occultist deals
with the form.
The mystic deals with the God within; the occultist with God in outer manifestation.
The mystic works from the centre to the periphery; the occultist reverses the process.
The mystic mounts by aspiration and intensest devotion to the God within or to the Master
Whom he recognizes; the occultist attains by the recognition of the law in operation and by the
wielding of the law which binds matter and conforms it to the needs of the indwelling life. In this
manner the occultist arrives at those Intelligences Who work with the law, till he attains the
fundamental Intelligence Himself.
The mystic works through the Rays of Love, Harmony and Devotion, or by the path of the
second, the fourth and the sixth rays. The occultist works through the Rays of Power, Activity,
and Ceremonial Law, or the first, the third and the seventh. Both meet and blend through the
development of mind, or through the fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge (a fragment of cosmic
intelligence), and on this fifth ray the mystic is resolved into the occultist and works then with all
the rays.
By finding the kingdom of God within himself and by the study of the laws of his own
being, the mystic becomes proficient in the laws which govern the universe of which he is a part.
The occultist recognises the kingdom of God in nature or the system and regards himself as a
small part of that greater whole, and therefore governed by the same laws.
The mystic works as a general rule under the department of the World Teacher, or the Christ,
and the occultist more frequently under that of the Manu, or Ruler, but when both types have
passed through the four minor rays in the department of the Lord of Civilization, then a
completion of their development may be seen, and the mystic becomes the occultist and the
occultist includes the characteristics of the mystic. To make it more simple for general
comprehension:after initiation the mystic is merged in the occultist for he has become a student
of occult law; he has to work with matter, with its manipulation and uses, and he has to master
and control all lower forms of manifestation, and learn the rules whereby the building devas
work. Before initiation the mystic path might be expressed by the term, Probationary Path.
Before the occultist can manipulate wisely the matter of the solar system he must have mastered
the laws that govern the microcosm, and even though he is naturally on the occult path yet he will
still have to find the God within his own being before he can safely venture on the path of occult
law.
The mystic seeks to work from the emotional to the intuitional, and thence to the Monad, or
Spirit. The occultist works from the physical to the mental, and thence to the atma or Spirit. One
works along the line of love; the other along the line of will. The mystic fails in the purpose of
his beingthat of love demonstrated in activityunless he co-ordinates the whole through the
use of intelligent will. Therefore he has to become the occultist.
The occultist similarly fails and becomes only a selfish exponent of power working through
intelligence, unless he finds a purpose for that will and knowledge by an animating love which
will give to him sufficient motive for all that he attempts. (Letters on Occult Meditation 147-9.)

34

Excerpts from Students Papers

I also started thinking about this question in relation to yoga. I take a lot of yoga classes and have
tried many different styles. I have noticed that some styles tend to be very precise about body
alignment and exactly which muscles are to be activated, etc. These teachers seldom take time
for direct instruction about spiritual matters. This seems like a very scientific approach, like a
Ray 5 style of yoga. Other styles are more introspective, and encourage people to feel what is
happening. Classes of this type tend to be more creative, and may include incense, music, or
other enhancements. This seems like a Ray 4 type of yoga. I have also tried styles that are
extremely active, moving quickly from one pose to the next with some explanation, but not nearly
the level of detail in the Ray 5 yoga. I think this movement-oriented type of yoga could be
classified as Ray 1 yoga.
*
*
*
As an example of a ray 4 mind: A friend of long standing is an architect whose mind is highly
imaginative and creative. He will take a word or phrase from conversation and build an entire
series of themes and variations, usually in a humorous fashion. This creativity and sensitivity to
language spills over into personal relationships and probably into his business endeavors. I
suspect, without knowing that he creates in an intuitive mode rather than an emotional mode. He
is a balancing factor in his environment and in his family.
His wife may have a 5th ray mind. She is very logical, moving from one point to the next in
an orderly fashion, asking intelligent questions, all in a somewhat detached manner. When she
has the information and understanding needed to solve a problem, she terminates the
conversation. She may have some first ray equipment in that her mind reflects a well organized,
in-charge person who appears to be in control and to some extent controlling. Maybe she has a
first ray personality which influences the mind.
*
*
*
Minds on the first ray appear to seem controlling and hopefully knowledgeable too. Without
truth and knowledge permeating the individual, the power that person wields in their personality
hurts and oppresses their fellow beings. A person with a dominant first ray would seem to be a
person that could be efficient in the workplace, but would have to be extremely careful to
cooperate instead of compete or dominate.
The fourth ray mind is very creative, artistic, musically inclined, and spiritual. To me this
person seems to have their head in the clouds. Too much of any ray seems like it could create
problems. This mind might possibly lack responsibility toward others or even their own family.
They could suffer from the fourth ray minds intense drive for creativity. Although concentrated
on feelings and emotions, this mind might benefit from reality checks or physical plane checks to
be sure all is well with the individual and those in the individuals surroundings.
The fifth ray mind: Knowledgeable and an excellent observer, this is wonderful as long as
there is some degree of balance. A mind that is so cautious that it would never accept something
it couldnt touch, feel, or quantify would be very boring. This mind may not ever experience a
full life unless it can feel more, be more artistic, or use the intuition more.
*
*
*
My husbands thinking seems to reflect a rational, intellectual quality. He appears to rely
more on evidence than on intuition for information. He is inclined towards skepticism. But on
other occasions he will be quite strong in his opinions and form conclusions based on his
convictions. He describes himself as a generalist, but he is a specialist in his profession. My
husband is highly capable and experienced in handling administrative responsibilities. He is also
able to delegate responsibilities to others effectively. He is strong and reliable in word and action.
I perceive him as having the qualities of a statesman.

35
My fathers thinking seems at times to be rational, intellectual and skeptical. He often
exhibits what seems as a one-track mind. Whenever he accomplishes a project, he proceeds with
such skill and exactitude that hes been called a perfectionist. His thinking seems detail oriented.
He is also a specialist in his hobby. Whenever he involves himself in a new interest or project
such as a computer program, hell learn everything he can about it, including taking classes.
Knowledge appears to be a keynote here.
*
*
*
It is very gratifying to view people according to the rays influencing them and to come to a
deeper understanding of what makes them click. Working in a hospital provides ample
opportunity to witness so many opposing reactions to the same diagnosis. Some people ask for all
the scientific explanations for the cause and treatment of their disease process. Others assume it is
karma related and assume responsibility is tied to some past event or thought process theyve
gone through. Some rely on faith and devotion and accept whatever happens as Gods plan for
them. Its always interesting to see half the patients putting all responsibility for themselves upon
a source they see outside, while the other half believes that they have created what their life
becomes. 2-4-6 has become an adjective in my mind. Its commonplace to catch myself thinking,
thats a 2-4-6 person. I tend to view these rays as female or negative polarity, magnetizing more
than radiating, sort of flowing, where the 1-3-5-7 appears as a straighter line. A beauty is found
when the flowing lines meet with the straighter lines and create a fuller, more expansive being
who encompasses so much.

WORK TO BE DONE
Once again, our recommendation is to read through the study material carefully and
reflectively at least twice. Reflection for insight is much more important that skimming
for information. At the end of the study-reflection period (which is left up to the student's
own rhythm and schedule) send in a response to the following questions:
1. Write a paper (short or long as time permits) on your observations of the different
modes in which people think (the three types of minds, Ray 1, 4, and 5). Clear, detached
observation is necessary in order to note subtle differences. Developed types and
balanced types seem to be able to think along more than one mode of thought. In such
cases it is very difficult to determine the ray of the mind. Pronounced types often think
in a developed way along one of the three modes discussed above. Young people often
show a clear inclination to think along one of the three basic ways.
Sometimes it is interesting to ask a scientific mind a scientific question and then
carefully observe how they think and respond. Often we can confirm a hypothesis in this
fashion. This, of course, can be done with the other types as well.
2. Comment on some point or aspect of this study set. Again, this can be very short or
long, depending on time and inclination. This may be simply the asking of some
thoughtful questions. It may be further research on a particular point of interest. It may
be commenting upon some of the things said or quoted, and elaborating upon them from
one's own research, experience, and/or study.
3. Any comments on the meditation work

36

FUNDAMENTAL PRELIMINARIES of MEDITATION

The meditation work is suggested but optional. If one chooses to experiment with the
meditations given in the study sets, the following fundamental factors should be kept in
mind:
1. The purpose of meditation is to aligned the lower self (personality) with the Higher
Self (or soul).
2. The energy of the Higher Self can best be accessed in a rhythmic way:
a. Sunrise (or just before), noon, and the hour of sunset are high energy points.
b. At first one should meditate once a day, preferably in the morning when one is fresh
from the rejuvenation of sleep and the mind is relatively clear.
d. The high points of the monthly rhythm are the five days around the Full Moon
period.
e. The high points of the yearly meditation are the Spring Full Moons of Aries,
Taurus, and Gemini.
3. Regular daily meditation of short periods (5, 10, 15, 20 minutes) is much better than
long meditations done irregularly.
4. Sit with spinal column erect. Do not lay down and do not sit in a slouched position.
As the subtle energy of the soul circulates up and down the spinal column one will feel
the urge to sit with the spinal column erect. Initially one can think of breathing
along the spine.
5. The physical body should be comfortable so that one can forget about it. There should
be no tight clothing.
6. Next one should relax or calm the emotional body. A few initial deep breaths help
to calm the emotions.
7. Careful attention should be paid to VISUALIZATION. Visualization helps one stand
clearly above emotion and on the mental plane.
8. Energy follows thought. As a person thinketh in his heart, so is he. These two
ancient statements succinctly sum up the importance of meditation based on the Raja
Yoga system.
9. Meditation is generally not something that one does for oneself, rather one does it
primarily as a service to other people. Benefit to self comes as a secondary factor.

37
GIFT FROM THE SOUL
STAGE I. RELAXATION.
Relax the physical body. Take several deep breaths. Calm the emotions.
STAGE II. A PEACEFUL PLACE.
Visualize a clearing in the woods. Visualize it in some detail. Note the trees on the edge
of the clearing. There are hills or mountains in the distance. Note the grasses in the
clearing. The sky, the clouds.
In the center of the clearing is a large stone or rock. The stone comes up to waist or
chest level. The stone serves as an alter in the center of the clearing. It is flat on top.
Note the shape of the stone.
Everything is very still, quiet. It is a place of peace and reverence.
STAGE III. A GIFT ON THE STONE ALTER.
Visualize yourself on the periphery of the clearing. You can see the alter standing in the
center of the clearing. As you approach the alter, you notice that there is an object in the
center of the alter. This object is a gift from your soul. It is a special gift that is from
your soul, that reminds you of soul, and that connects you consciously with soul.
STAGE IV. MEDITATION ON THE GIFT.
The gift has special meaning and significance. Meditate on the meaning and the
significance of the gift.
The form of the object. The color of the object.
The quality of the object - its meaning.
The purpose of the object - its significance.
STAGE V. BRING THE GIFT INVISIBLY TO OTHERS.
With Gratitude,
with Reverence,
with Solemnity
you take the gift with you. This is a gift from soul. In that sense it is a secret gift. This
gift is something that you can carry with you, wear, or put in a special place in your
room. It is an invisible gift, none know of it, none can see it. Yet it is real for it contains
energy, energy that can be used in soul service to the world.
STAGE VICLOSE WITH THE MANTRAM
I am a messenger of Light. I am a pilgrim on the way of love. I do not walk alone but
know myself as one with all great souls, and one with them in service.
THEIR STRENGTH IS MINE.
THIS STRENGTH I CLAIM.
MY STRENGTH IS THEIRS AND THIS I FREELY GIVE.
A soul, I walk on earth. I represent the ONE