Esoteric Astrology

by Alice A Bailey

  Speculation along these lines is profitless. A vast system of interlocking energies is in active and rapid circulation throughout the whole cosmic etheric body—of which our systemic etheric body is an integral part—but speculative research along the indicated lines and the following of obscure trails are utterly futile until the main highway of approach has been constructed and followed. The general outline of the astrological way is all that is possible today, until the time when man can think in larger wholes and has a more synthetic capacity. We shall confine ourselves to the vast field of energies which I have outlined for your consideration and shall consider only the major forces which are in circulation. This will suffice for our day and generation. We are concerned with energies which can and do evoke response and of which man can be aware and, in many cases, is today aware.

  It might be useful here to comment in a wide and general way, and with many necessary reservations, upon the broad sweep of some of these responses:

  1. Undeveloped humanity is primarily conditioned in its life and circumstances by the influence of the lesser zodiac and thus by the position of the planets in the twelve houses.

  2. Average intelligent humanity and those nearing the Path of Discipleship and upon the Probationary Path respond consciously to [31]

  a. The planets, affecting their personalities.

  b. The Sun sign, as indicating life trends which are already established and which constitute the line of least resistance.

  c. The rising sign in a small measure. This indicates the life goal for that particular life cycle or else over a period of seven lives. The last two constitute the Greater Zodiac.

  3. Disciples and initiates can begin consciously to respond to all the above influences, handling them constructively, plus those potent yet infinitely subtle forces which pour into our solar system from the three major constellations referred to above. In the early stages, the response is in the subtler bodies and the brain fails to register them, but after the third initiation, there is a recognition of them upon the physical plane.

  Bringing the theme back to the subject of this treatise, which is that of the seven rays, I would point out that these rays have a close connection with the seven stars of the Great Bear (again always the four and the three as a secondary differentiation) and to the seven Sisters, the Pleiades. The first constellation is the agent of positive force to the planetary Logos and the other the relayer of the negative aspect. There is, therefore, a direct interchange of energies between the lives of the seven planetary Logoi and the stupendous and unfathomable Lives Who inform these major constellations. Great interlocking triangles of force can be found existing between the seven planets and these two groups of seven stars each. It will eventually be discovered that the innermost secret of astrological deduction in the planetary sense is connected with these “sacred triangles,” and they are—in their turn—represented by the triangles [32] (shifting and changing) which can be constructed in connection with the seven centres.

  In casting the horoscope of the planet (which will some day be possible) it will be found that the line of these forces and of our planetary response to them is of a more potent effect than is the influence of the zodiacal constellations upon the human unit. This is due to the immeasurably advanced point in evolution of the planetary Spirits Who have (in Their individual lives) largely transcended the influence of the twelve constellations and are becoming rapidly responsive to the higher vibrations of their great Prototypes, the “three intimate constellations,” as they have esoterically been called. This is a correspondence in the lives of these great Entities to the manner in which an advanced individual can offset the influence of the planets and thus so dominate his personality life that prediction and certainty, as to activity and circumstance, are no longer possible. The soul is dominating, and the planets cease to condition the life. So it is with the constellations and the planetary Logoi. They can offset the lower influences as They awaken to and respond to the infinitely higher vibrations of the three major constellations.

  2. The Creative Hierarchies.

  It might here be appropriate if I interpolated a chart or a tabulation which may be found suggestive of some of these interlocking energies which play through, traverse, return, stimulate and energise every part of our solar system. They only evoke conscious response where the vehicle of expression and of response is adequate to the impact, and this statement is true of the solar Logos, the planetary Logoi, and of all forms in all the kingdoms upon our planet. [33] Unconscious reaction will of course exist, but it will be on a general or mass scale, and much of it pours through to us from these distant constellations, via the fifth Creative Hierarchy. This Hierarchy, being on the verge of liberation, is to be found on the intellectual level of consciousness and can, therefore, be used as a focal point and a transmitter of the higher energies to our solar system and to the planet. If you make a careful study of the chart of the twelve Creative Hierarchies, page 34, you will note that this Hierarchy is influencing, and is influenced by, the seventh Ray of Magical Order and of Ceremonial Organisation. The basic function of this ray is to relate spirit and matter and produce the manifested form. The sign of the zodiac with which it is closely connected is that of Cancer, the Crab, which is a mass sign and one of the “gates” into manifested life.

  The following information anent the Hierarchies may prove useful. It has been gathered from various sources.

  I might here remind you that the seven planes of our solar system are the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane. The four Creative Hierarchies which have achieved liberation are now to be found focussed upon the cosmic astral plane; hence their potency even when out of manifestation. The fifth Creative Hierarchy exists on the highest etheric level and will join the other four Hierarchies when the sixth Creative Hierarchy has measured up to cosmic opportunity and is itself nearing liberation. The following is a tabulation showing some of the astrological relationships in connection with

  1. The constellation of the Great Bear.

  2. The Pleiades or the Seven Sisters.

  3. Sirius.

  4. The seven solar systems. [34]

  [35]

  [36] 1. The Hierarchy of Creative Powers is divided esoterically into seven (4 and 3) within the Twelve Great Orders.

  2. Three Hierarchies are—in this greater cycle—of profound significance, the fourth or human Creative Hierarchy and the two deva Hierarchies, the fifth and the sixth.

  3. The fourth Creative Hierarchy is in reality the ninth and that is why it is called the Hierarchy of Initiates. This can be seen by referring to the chart.

  4. We are told in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire that in the ninth, tenth and eleventh Hierarchies (counting from the bottom upwards) lies the clue to the nature of Agni, the Lord of Fire, the sum total of systemic vitality.

  5. Much light can come to the earnest student through a study of the numbers connected with these Hierarchies.

  a. The first 5 are regarded as pure abstractions.

  b. Hierarchy One has the numbers—6.1.7.

  Hierarchy Two has the numbers—7.2.6.

  Hierarchy Three has the numbers—8.3.5.

  Hierarchy Four has the numbers—9.4.4.

  Hierarchy Five has the numbers—10.5.3.

  Hierarchy Six has the numbers—11.6.2.

  Hierarchy Seven has the numbers—12.7.1.

  It is necessary to take note of this as in The Secret Doctrine reference will be found to the Hierarchies under different numbers. This serves to conceal, but it will also confuse the student.

  6. The first four Hierarchies achieved liberation in the first solar system. Their influence reached our Earth through the medium of the fifth Creative Hierarchy. [37]

  7. These are, therefore, related to the four rays which work as minor rays of Attribute under the great major third Ray of Active Intelligence.

  8. Pisces is seen at the head of the list of zodiacal signs because it is governing the present great astrological
world cycle of 25,000 years. It was also one of the dominant signs, influencing our planet at the time of individualisation when the human kingdom came into being. It is basically related to the first or highest Creative Hierarchy which is, in its turn, related to the third Ray of Active Intelligence. It was the product of the first solar system. The development of illumination through an awakened intelligence is the first goal of humanity.

  9. The fifth Creative Hierarchy (also numbered 8) is on the verge of liberation. It is peculiarly connected with the tenth Creative Hierarchy, with the constellation Capricorn and with the human personality which veils and temporarily hides the Christ principle behind both form and mind. Eight is, under some numerical systems, regarded as the number of the Christ.

  10. The Greater Builders and the Lesser Builders, working on the second and third planes of our solar system, have their activities reflected in the work of the Lunar Lords and the elemental lives.

  11. You will note that the human Hierarchy (on chart 9-IV-4) is assigned no particular element as it has to fuse and synthesise them all. This is part of the great tests of initiation under Scorpio.

  12. This chart is drawn up in relation only to the fourth Creative Hierarchy, the human. It is not drawn in relation to the other planetary manifestations.

  [38] (The chart has been compiled from the very limited stock of knowledge that has thus far been revealed on the subject, and it is as correct as possible under the circumstances.)

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

  1. They are the mediators between Spirit and matter.

  2. They are the transmitters of force from sources extraneous to the solar system to forms within the solar system.

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

  Hierarchy I. The first great Hierarchy is emanated from the Heart of the central Spiritual Sun. It is the Son of God Himself, the First Born in a cosmic sense, even as the Christ was the “Eldest in a vast family of brothers,” and the “first flower on the human plant.” The symbol of this Hierarchy is the Golden Lotus with its twelve petals folded. The Secret Doctrine I. 233-250. III. 565.

  It should be remembered that this Hierarchy is literally the sixth, for five hierarchies have passed on, being the product of the earlier system, that wherein Intelligence or Manas was the goal. The five liberated Hierarchies are in their totality the sum total of manas. It is the Hierarchy which is the fifth in order, and which we are told is in [39] process of achieving final liberation, or taking its fourth Initiation, which is the cause of certain phenomena upon our planet which has merited our planet being called the “Star of Suffering.” There is a karmic link between the animal kingdom and the fifth Creative Hierarchy of the earlier system which makes itself felt in man in the necessary crucifixion of the animal physical nature, particularly along sex lines. We must remember that the Hierarchies work under the Law of Attraction; it is the law of the Builders.

  This first (sixth) Hierarchy has for its type of energy the first aspect of the sixth type of cosmic electricity, and wields special power, therefore, in conjunction with the lowest fire, or “fire by friction,” as it makes itself felt on the sixth plane. These lives are called “the burning Sons of Desire” and were the Sons of Necessity. It is said of them in the Old Commentary: “They burned to know. They rushed into the spheres. They are the longing of the Father for the Mother. Hence do they suffer, burn, and long through the sixth sphere of sense.”

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

  This Hierarchy, which is literally the seventh, is the influx into our system of those Lives who in the first solar system remained on their own plane, being too sinless and holy to find opportunity in that very material and intellectual evolution. Even in this, they will find it impossible to do more than influence the incarnating Jivas, imparting to them ability to realise the nature of group consciousness, the quality of the seven Heavenly Men, but not being able to express [40] themselves fully. Some clues to this mystery will come if the student carefully bears in mind that in our solar system and our seven planes, we have only the physical body of the Logos, and that that physical body is a limitation of the expression of His threefold nature. The first (sixth) Hierarchy might be viewed as endeavouring to express the mental vibration of the solar Logos and the second, His emotional, or cosmic astral, nature.

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

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

  Hierarchy III. The third Creative Hierarchy (or the eighth) is a peculiarly interesting one. They are called “the Triads” for They hold in themselves the potencies of triple evolution, mental, psychical, and spiritual. These Triads of Life are inherently the three Persons of the Trinity and the flower of the earlier system from a certain angle. From another angle, when studied as the “flower of the earlier Eight,” They are the eightfold points awaiting opportunity to flame forth. They are the devas who are ready for service, which is to give to another Hierarchy certain [41] qualities which are lacking. This Hierarchy is regarded as the great donors of immortality whilst Themselves “standing aloof from incarnation.” Lords of Sacrifice and Love are They, but They cannot pass out of the logoic etheric body into the dense physical vehicle.

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

  1. Septenary cosmic energy.

  2. Cosmic prana.

  3. Solar energy or electric fire, solar fire and fire by friction.

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

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

  We now take up for brief consideration two Hierarchies which closely concern ourselves, the human self-conscious entities. These two groups are literally three, as the fifth Hierarchy is a dual one, and it is this which has led to some confusion and is the occult significance behind the ill-omened number thirteen. They are the “Seekers of satisfaction” and the cause of th
e second fall into generation, the fact [42] behind the taking of a lower nature by the Ego. The fourth and the fifth Hierarchies are the ninth and tenth, or the “Initiates” and the “Perfect Ones.” All human beings, or “Imperishable Jivas,” are those who evolve through a graded series of initiations, either self-induced or brought about on our planet with extraneous aid. They achieve through a “marriage” with the order next to them, the fifth. They are then completed or perfected, and it is owing to this occult fact that the fourth Hierarchy is regarded as masculine and the fifth as feminine.

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