A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  When the point of rhythm or balance is reached in a solar system, in a plane, in a ray, in a causal body, and in the physical body, then the occupier of the form is loosed from prison; he can withdraw to his originating source, and is liberated from the sheath which has hitherto acted as a prison; and he can escape from an environment which he has utilised for the gaining of experience and as a battle ground between the pairs of opposites. The sheath or form of whatever kind then automatically disintegrates.

  IV. ROTARY MOTION AND SYMBOLISM

  Every rotating sphere of matter can be pictured by using the same general cosmic symbols as are used for the portrayal of evolution.

  1. The circle. This stands for the ring-pass-not of undifferentiated matter. It stands for a solar system or the body logoic, viewed etherically; it stands for a planet or the body of a Heavenly Man viewed etherically; it stands for a human body, viewed likewise, etherically and it stands for them all at the prime or earliest epoch of manifestation. It stands finally for a single cell within the human vehicle, and for the atom of the chemist or physicist.

  2. The circle with the point in the centre. This signifies the production of heat in the heart of matter; the point of fire, the moment of the first rotary activity, the first straining of the atom, motivated by latent heat, into the sphere of influence of another atom. This produced the first radiation, the first pull of attraction, and the [160] consequent setting up of a repulsion and therefore producing

  3. The circle divided into two. This marks the active rotation and the beginning of the mobility of the atom of matter, and produces the subsequent extension of the influence of the positive point within the atom of matter till its sphere of influence extends from the centre to the periphery. At the point where it touches the periphery it contacts the influence of the atoms in its environment; radiation is set up and the point of depression makes its appearance, marking the inflow and outflow of force or heat.

  We are here only showing the application of cosmic symbols to matter, and are not dealing with manifestation from any other angle than that of the purely material. For instance, we are applying the symbol of the point within the circle to the sphere of matter, and the point of latent heat. We are not handling at this point matter as informed by an entity who is to matter, when so informing, a point of conscious life.

  We are dealing only with matter and latent heat, with the result produced by rotary movement of radiatory heat and the consequent interplay of bodies atomic. We are therefore dealing with the point we set out to consider while studying our fifth division, motion in the sheaths.

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

  5. The swastika, or the fire extending not only from the periphery to the centre in four directions, but gradually circulating and radiating from and around the entire periphery. This signifies completed activity in every department of matter until finally we have a blazing, fiery wheel, turning every way, with radiant channels of fire from the centre to the ring-pass-not,—fire within, without and around until the wheel is consumed and there is naught remaining but perfected fire.

  V. MOTION AND THE CENTRES

  We can take up this matter of the centres along three lines. Much has been written and discussed anent the centres, and much mystery exists which has aroused the curiosity of the ignorant, and has tempted many to meddle with that which does not concern them. I seek to elucidate somewhat and to give a new angle of vision to [162] the study of these abstruse matters. I do not in any way intend to take up the subject from such an angle as to convey rules and information that will enable a man to vivify these centres and bring them into play. I sound here a solemn word of warning. Let a man apply himself to a life of high altruism, to a discipline that will refine and bring his lower vehicles into subjection, and to a strenuous endeavor to purify and control his sheaths. When he has done this and has both raised and stabilised his vibration, he will find that the development and functioning of the centres has pursued a parallel course, and that (apart from his active participation) the work has proceeded along the desired lines. Much danger and dire calamity attends the man who arouses these centres by unlawful methods, and who experiments with the fires of his body without the needed technical knowledge. He may, by his efforts, succeed in arousing the fires and in intensifying the action of the centres, but he will pay the price of ignorance in the destruction of matter, in the burning of bodily or brain tissue, in the development of insanity, and in opening the door to currents and forces, undesirable and destructive. It is not the part of a coward, in these matters concerning the subjective life, to move with caution and with care; it is the part of discretion. The aspirant, therefore, has three things to do:

  1. Purify, discipline and transmute his threefold lower nature.

  2. Develop knowledge of himself, and equip his mental body; build the causal body by good deeds and thoughts,

  3. Serve his race in utter self-abnegation.

  In doing this he fulfils the law, he puts himself in the right condition for training, fits himself for the ultimate application of the Rod of Initiation, and thus minimises the danger that attends the awakening of the fire.

  [163] All that is intended to do in this treatise, is to cast some further light upon these centres, to show their interrelation, and to trace the effects produced by their rightful development. To do this, as before stated, the subject will be divided into the following divisions:

  1. The nature of the centres.

  2. The centres and the rays.

  3. The centres and kundalini.

  4. The centres and the senses.

  5. The centres and initiation.

  As can be seen from the above tabulation, the subject is not only vast but abstruse. This is principally owing to the fact that until the race is normally clairvoyant, it is not in a position to verify what is said, and has to accept the statements of those who profess to know. Later when man can see and prove for himself, it will be possible to check up these statements; the time is not yet, except for the few.

  1. The Nature of the Centres.

  Let us take the first point: I wish to enumerate the centres to be dealt with in this treatise, keeping the enumeration very closely to that laid down earlier, and dealing not with all the centres, but simply with those closely concerned with man’s fivefold evolution.

  As before stated, man, at the close of his long pilgrimage, will have passed through the five kingdoms of nature on his way back to his source:

  1. The mineral kingdom,

  2. The vegetable kingdom,

  3. The animal
kingdom,

  4. The human kingdom,

  5. The superhuman, or the spiritual kingdom,

  and will have developed full consciousness on the five planes: [164]

  1. The physical plane,

  2. The emotional or astral plane,

  3. The mental plane,

  4. The intuitional, or the buddhic plane,

  5. The spiritual, atmic, or nirvanic plane,

  by means of the five senses and their correspondences on all the five planes:

  1. Hearing,

  2. Touch,

  3. Sight,

  4. Taste,

  5. Smell.

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

  We will therefore only concern ourselves here with those centres which relate to the evolution of the subtler bodies, the evolution of the psyche, and not with those connected with the evolution and propagation of the dense physical body. These centres are five in number: [165]

  1. That at the base of the spine, the only one dealt with that has a physical effect.

  2. That situated at the solar plexus, the most important one in the body from the standpoint of the astral plane.

  3. That found at the throat, the most important from the standpoint of the mental plane.

  4. That in the region of the heart, which has an occult link with the buddhic plane.

  5. That above the top of the head, which is the crown, and has relation with the atmic plane.

  We do not deal with the lower centres of generation, nor with the spleen which has a direct connection with the etheric, and is the transmitter of prana; they have been dealt with earlier.

  The centres in the human being deal fundamentally with the FIRE aspect in man, or with his divine spirit. They are definitely connected with the Monad, with the will aspect, with immortality, with existence, with the will to live, and with the inherent powers of Spirit. They are not connected with objectivity and manifestation, but with force, or the powers of the divine life. The correspondence in the Macrocosm can be found in the force which manipulates the cosmic nebulae and which by its whirling rotary motion eventually builds them into planets or spheroidal bodies. These planets are each of them an expression of the “will to live” of some cosmic entity, and the force that swirled, that rotated, that built, that solidified, and that continues to hold in form coherent, is the force of some cosmic Being.

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

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

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

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

  Here again we can trace the microcosmic correspondence: In the human being the centres are found on the mental plane from which originates the impulse for physical plane existence, or the will to incarnate; from thence they can be traced to the astral level, and eventually to the etheric levels, to the fourth ether, where they practically go through the same evolution that the planetary centres went through, and are instrumental in bringing about objectivity,—being the force centres.

  The centres are formed entirely of streams of force, pouring down from the Ego, who transmits it from the Monad. In this we have the secret of the gradual vibratory quickening of the centres as the Ego first comes into control, or activity, and later (after initiation) the Monad, thus bringing about changes and increased vitality within these spheres of fire or of pure life force.

  The centres, therefore, when functioning properly, form the “body of fire” which eventually is all that is left, first to man in the three worlds, and later to the Monad. This body of fire is “the body incorruptible” (Bible. I Cor., XV, 53.) or indestructible, spoken of by St. Paul, and is the product of evolution, of the perfect blending of the three fires, which ultimately destroy the form. When the form is [167] destroyed there is left this intangible spiritual body of fire, one pure flame, distinguished by seven brilliant centres of intenser burning. This electric fire is the result of the bringing together of the two poles and demonstrates at the moment of complete at-one-ment, the occult truth of the words “Our God is a consuming Fire.” (Bible. Deut. IV, 24; Hebrews XII, 29.)

  Three of these centres are called major centres, as they embody the three aspects of the threefold Monad—Will, Love and Intelligence:

  1. The Head centre The Monad. Will or Power.

  2. The Heart centre The Ego. Love and Wisdom.

  3. The Throat centre The Personality. Activity or Intelligence.

  The other two centres have to do primarily with the etheric body and with the astral plane. The throat centre synthesises the entire personality life, and is definitely connected with the mental plane,—the three planes, and the two higher planes, and the three centres with the two other centres, the heart and head. Yet, we must not forget that the centre at the base of the spine is also a synthesiser, as would normally be expected, if it is recognised that the lowest plane of all manifestation is the point of deepest reflection. This lowest centre, by synthesising the fire of kundalini and the pranic fires, eventually blends and merges with the fire of mind, and later with the fire of Spirit, producing thus consummation.

  We must disabuse our minds of the idea that these centres are physical things. They are whirlpools of force that swirl etheric, astral and mental matter into activity of some kind. Because the action is rotary, the result produced in matter is a circular effect that can be seen by the clairvoyant as fiery wheels situated:

  1. In the region of the spine, the lowest part.

  2. Between the ribs, just below the diaphragm. [168]

  3. In the region of the left breast.

  4. In the centre of the throat.

  5. Just above the top of the head.

  I would like to describe these centres in greater detail, dealing with them as seen in etheric matter, and basing what I say upon a similar statement by Mr. C. W. Leadbeater in “Inner Life,” Vol. 1, page 447-460. We will note the colours and petals:

  1. The base of the spine, four petals. These petals are in the shape of a cross, and radiate with orange fire.

  2. The solar plexus, ten petals rosy color with admixture of green.

  3. The heart centre, twelve petals glowing golden.

  4. The throat centre, sixteen petals of a silvery blue, with blue predominating.

  5. The head centre in its twofold divisions:

  a. Between the eyebrows, consisting of ninety-six petals, one-half of the lotus being rose and yellow, and the other half blue and purple.

  b. The very top of the head. A centre co
nsisting of twelve major petals of white and gold, and nine hundred and sixty secondary petals arranged around the central twelve. This makes a total of ten hundred and sixty-eight petals in the two head centres (making the one centre) or three hundred and fifty-six triplicities. All these figures have an occult significance.

  Just as the Monad is the sumtotal of all the three aspects, and of the seven principles of man, so is the head centre a replica of this, and has within its sphere of influence seven other centres with itself for synthesis. These seven centres are likewise divided into the three major and the four minor centres, with their union and consummation seen in the gorgeous centre surmounting and enveloping them all. There are also three physical centres, called [169]

  a. The alta major centre,

  b. The pineal gland,

  c. The pituitary body,

  with four lesser centres. These four lesser centres are blended in that centre which we call the alta major centre and need not concern us. I would here also point out that there is a close connection:

  a. Between the alta major centre and the throat centre.

  b. Between the heart centre and the pituitary body.

  c. Between the head centre and the pineal gland.

  It would repay the student to contemplate the interesting succession of triangles that are to be found and the way in which they must be linked by the progression of the fire before that fire can perfectly vivify them, and thence pass on to other transmutations. We might enumerate some of these triangles, bearing always in mind that according to the ray so will proceed the geometric rising of the fire, and according to the ray so will the points be touched in ordered sequence. Herein lies one of the secrets of initiation, and herein is found some of the dangers entailed in a too quick publication of information concerning the rays.