A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

2. Produce bodies resistant to the fire elementals of the lower kind which work in the mineral kingdom.

  3. Comprehend the inner meaning of radioactivity, or the setting loose of the power inherent in all elements and all atoms of chemistry, and in all true minerals.

  4. Reduce the formulas of the coming chemists and scientists to SOUND, and not simply formulate through experiment on paper. In this last statement lies (for those who can perceive) the most illuminating hint that it has been possible as yet to impart on this matter.

  It may seem that I have not communicated much information anent this conscious manipulation of the fires. That lies in the inability of the student to read the esoteric background of the above communicated statements. Conscious transmutation is possible only when a man has transmuted the elements in his own vehicles; then only can he be trusted with the secrets of divine alchemy. [487] When through the latent internal fires of the matter of his own sheaths he has transmuted the chemical and mineral atoms of those sheaths, then can he safely—through affinity of substance—aid the work of mineral transmutation of the first order. Only when (through the radiatory fires of the sheaths) he has transmuted the correspondence to the vegetable kingdom within his own organism can he alchemically do work of the second order. Only when the fires of mind in himself dominate, can he work with the transmutative processes of the third order, or with the transference of life into the animal forms. Only when the Self within, or the Ego in the causal body, is in control of his threefold personality can he occultly be permitted to be an alchemist of the fourth order, and work in connection with the transmutation of the animal monad into the human kingdom, with all the vast knowledge that is included in that idea. Much lies ahead to be accomplished, but in the appreciation of the magnitude of the task need be no place for discouragement, for in the wise outlining of the future, in the cautious promulgation of knowledge concerning the necessitated stages, will come strenuous effort and aim on the part of many aspirants, and the evolutionary bringing in of those who can achieve.

  The problem of speaking clearly on this subject of transmutation is a very real one, owing to the vastness of the subject and the fact that in the transmutation process the magician or alchemist works with deva essence through the control of the lesser Builders in co-operation with the greater Devas. In order, therefore, to bring about clarity of thought and definiteness of conjecture in this respect, I desire primarily to lay down certain postulates which must be carefully borne in mind when considering this question of transmutation. They are five in number and concern specifically the field wherein the transmuting process is carried on. The student must [488] recollect at this juncture the distinction that is made between the work of the black and the white magician. It might be helpful here before proceeding further to look at these distinctions as far as they concern the matter in hand:

  First. The white Brother deals with positive electrical energy. The dark Brother deals with the negative electrical energy.

  Second. The white Brother occupies himself with the soul of things. The black Magician centres his attention upon the form.

  Third. The white Magician develops the inherent energy of the sphere concerned (whether human, animal, vegetable or mineral) and produces results through the self-induced activities of the central life, subhuman, human or super-human. The black Magician attains results through the agency of force external to the sphere involved, and produces transmutation through the agency of resolvents (if so I might term it) or through the method of the reduction of the form, rather than through radiation, as does the white Magician.

  These differences of method need to be carefully considered and their reaction visualised in connection with different elements, atoms, and forms. To return to our statement of our five postulates anent the transmutation of substance, the resolution of the life, or the transference of energy into different forms.

  THE FIVE POSTULATES

  Postulate I. All matter is living matter, or is the vital substance of deva entities. For instance, a plane, and forms built of that particular plane substance, is the material form or sheath of a great deva, who is the essence back of manifestation and the soul of the plane. [489]

  Postulate II. All forms, vibrating to any keynote, are fabricated by the building devas out of the matter of their own bodies. Hence they are called the great Mother aspect, for they produce the form out of their own substance.

  Postulate III. The devas are the life which produces form-cohesion. They are the third and second aspects blended, and might be considered as the life of all forms that are subhuman. A magician, therefore, who transmutes in the mineral kingdom works practically with deva essence in its earliest form on the upward arc of evolution, and has to remember three things:

  a. The effect of the backward pull of the involutionary lives which lie back of the mineral, or, in effect, its heredity.

  b. The sevenfold nature of the peculiar group of devas which constitute its being in an occult sense.

  c. The next transition stage ahead into the vegetable kingdom, or the occult effect of the second kingdom on the first.

  Postulate IV. All deva essences and builders on the physical plane are peculiarly dangerous to man, for they work on the etheric levels and are—as I have earlier pointed out—the transmitters of prana, or the vital, animating substance, and hence they set loose upon the ignorant and the unwary, fiery essence which burns and destroys.

  Postulate V. The devas do not work as individualised conscious units through self-initiating purposes as does a man, a Heavenly Man or a solar Logos (viewed as Egos) but they work in groups subject to:

  a. Inherent impulse, or latent active intelligence.

  b. Orders issued by the greater Builders.

  c. Ritual, or compulsion induced through colour and sound.

  [490] When these facts are remembered and considered, some comprehension of the place the devas play in transmutation may be achieved. The position that fire occupies in the process is of peculiar interest here, for it brings out clearly the difference of method between the two schools.

  In the transmutative process as carried on by the Brotherhood, the inner fire which animates the atom, form or man is stimulated, fanned and strengthened till it (through its own internal potency) burns up its sheaths, and escapes by radiation from within its ring-pass-not. This is seen in an interesting way as occurring during the process of the final initiations when the causal body is destroyed by fire. The fire within burns up all else and the electric fire escapes. The true alchemist therefore in days to come will in every case seek to stimulate the radioactivity of the element or atom with which he is working and will centre his attention upon the positive nucleus. By increasing its vibration, its activity, or its positivity, he will bring about the desired end. The Masters do this in connection with the human spirit and do not concern Themselves at all with his ‘deva’ aspect. The same basic rule will be found to apply in the case of a mineral as well as of a man.

  The process as carried on by the Dark Brotherhood is the reverse of this. They centre the attention upon the form, and seek to shatter and break that form, or the combination of atoms, in order to permit the central electric life to escape. They bring about this result through external agencies and by availing themselves of the destructive nature of the substance (deva essence) itself. They burn and destroy the material sheath, seeking to imprison the escaping volatile essence as the form disintegrates. This hinders the evolutionary plan in the case of the life involved, delays the consummation, interferes with the ordered progress of development, and puts all [491] the factors involved in a bad position. The life (or entity) concerned receives a setback, the devas work destructively, and without participation in the purpose of the plan, and the magician is in danger, under the Law of Karma, and through the materialising of his own substance by affinity with the third aspect. Black magic of this nature creeps into all religions along this very line of the destruction of the form through outer agency, and not through
the liberation of the life through inner development and preparedness. It produces the evils of Hatha Yoga in India and similar methods as practised in certain religious and occult orders in the Occident also. Both work with matter on some plane in the three worlds, and do evil that good may come; both control the devas, and attempt to produce specific ends by manipulation of the matter of the form. The Hierarchy works with the soul within the form and produces results that are intelligent, self-induced and permanent. Wherever attention is centred on the form and not on the Spirit, the tendency is to deva worship, deva contact and black magic, for the form is made of deva substance on all planes.

  This must be considered well in connection with every form for it holds the key to many mysteries.

  We have seen how in this question of the transference of the life from form to form, the work proceeds under rule and order, and is effected through the co-operation of the devas in the first instance, and the application of external agents to the atom or form involved, and in the second place (involving the most important and lengthy stage of the procedure) through the subsequent reaction within the atom itself, which produces an intensification of the positive burning centre, and the consequent escape (through radioactivity) of the volatile essence.

  At all the different stages, the fire elementals perform their part, aided by the fire devas who are the controlling [492] agents. This is so on all the planes which primarily concern us in the three worlds—different groups of devas coming into action according to the nature of the form concerned, and the plane on which the transmutation is to take place. Electric fire passes from atom to atom according to law, and “fire by friction” responds, being the latent fire of the atom, or its negative aspect; the process is carried on through the medium of solar fire, and herein lies the secret of transmutation and its most mysterious angle. Fire by friction, the negative electricity of substance, has been for some time the subject of the attention of exoteric science, and investigation of the nature of positive electricity has become possible through the discovery of radium.

  Keely, as H. P. B. hinted, (S.D., I, 172, 607-611) had gone far along this path, and knew even more than he gave out, and others have approached, or are approaching, the same objective. The next step ahead for science lies in this direction, and should concern the potential force of the atom itself, and its harnessing for the use of man. This will let loose upon earth a stupendous amount of energy. Nevertheless, it is only when the third factor is comprehended, and science admits the agency of mental fire as embodied in certain groups of devas, that the force of energy that is triple, and yet one in the three worlds, will become available for the helping of man. This lies as yet far ahead, and will only become possible towards the end of this round; and these potent forces will not be fully utilised, nor fully known till the middle of the next round. At that time, much energy will become available through the removal of all that obstructs. This is effected, in relation to man, at the Judgment separation, but it will produce results in the other kingdoms of nature also. A portion of the animal kingdom will enter into a temporary obscuration, thus releasing energy for [493] the use of the remaining percentage, and producing results such as are hinted at by the prophet of Israel (Bible, Isiah 11:6) when he speaks of “the wolf lying down with the lamb”; his comment “a little child shall lead them” is largely the esoteric enunciation of the fact that three fifths of the human family will stand upon the Path, ‘a little child’ being the name applied to probationers and disciples. In the vegetable and mineral kingdoms a corresponding demonstration will ensue, but of such a nature as to be too obscure for our comprehension.

  The central factor of solar fire in the work of transmutation will come to be understood through the study of the fire devas and elementals, who are fire, and who are, in themselves (essentially and through active magnetic radiation), the external heat or vibration which produces:

  The force which plays upon the spheroidal wall of the atom.

  The response within the atom which produces radiation or the escape of volatile essence.

  Speaking cosmically, and regarding the solar system as itself a cosmic atom, we would consider that:

  The abstractions or entities who indwell the form are “electric fire.”

  The material substance which is enclosed within the ring-pass-not viewing it as a homogeneous whole, is “fire by friction.”

  The fire devas from the cosmic mental plane (of whom Agni and Indra are the embodiers along with one whose name is not to be given) are the external agencies who carry on cosmic transmutation.

  This triple statement can be applied to a scheme, a chain, or a globe also, remembering ever that in connection [494] with man the fire which is his third aspect emanates from the systemic mental.

  We have dealt in broad and general manner with this question of electricity and have seen that fire essence or substance is resolved through internal activity and external heat in such a manner that the electric fire at the centre of the atom is liberated and seeks a new form. This is the aim of the transmutative process and the fact that hitherto alchemists working in the mineral kingdom have failed to achieve their objective has been due to three things:

  First. Inability to contact the central electric spark. This is due to ignorance of certain of the laws of electricity, and above all, ignorance of the set formula which covers the range of the electrical influence of that spark.

  Second. Inability to create the necessary channel or “path” along which the escaping life may travel into its new form. Many have succeeded in breaking the form so that the life has escaped but they have not known how to harness or guide it and all their labour has consequently been lost.

  Third. Inability to control the fire elementals who are the external fire which affects that central spark through the medium of its environment. This inability is especially distinctive of the alchemists of the fifth root race who have been practically incapable of this control, having lost the Words, the formulas, and the sounds. This is the consequence of undue success in Atlantean days, when the alchemists of the time, through colour and sound so entirely controlled the elementals that they utilised them for their own selfish ends and along lines of endeavours outside their legitimate province. This knowledge of formulas and sounds can be comparatively [495] easily acquired when man has developed the inner spiritual ear. When this is the case, the transmutative processes of the grosser kind (such as are involved in the manufacture of pure gold) will interest him not at all and only those subtler forms of activity which are connected with the transference of life from graded form to form will occupy his attention.

  The following facts might also be pointed out:

  First. That every kingdom of nature has its note or tone, and the mantric sounds, which concern any transmutative process within that kingdom, will have that note as the key or base note.

  Second. That the note of the mineral kingdom is the basic note of substance itself, and it is largely the sounding of the note combinations, based on this key, which produces the great world cataclysms, wrought through volcanic action. Every volcano is sounding forth this note, and, for those who can see, the sound and colour (occultly understood) of a volcano are a truly marvellous thing. Every gradation of that note is to be found in the mineral kingdom which is itself divided into three main kingdoms:

  a. The baser metals, such as lead and iron, with all allied minerals.

  b. The standard metals, such as gold and silver, which play such a vital part in the life of the race, and are the mineral manifestation of the second aspect.

  c. The crystals and precious stones, the first aspect as it works out in the mineral kingdom—the consummation of the work of the mineral devas, and the product of their untiring efforts.

  When scientists fully appreciate what it is which causes the difference between the sapphire and the ruby, they will have found out what constitutes one of the stages [496] of the transmutative process, and this they cannot do until the fourth ether
is controlled, and its secret discovered. As time progresses, the transmutation, for instance, of coal into diamonds, of lead into silver, or of certain metals into gold, will hold no appeal for man, for it will be recognised that the outcome of such action would cause deterioration of the standard, and result in poverty instead of the acquirement of riches; man will eventually come to the realisation that in atomic energy, harnessed to his need, or in the inducing of increased radioactivity, lies for him the path to prosperity and riches. He will, therefore concentrate his attention on this higher form of life transference and

  a. Through knowledge of the devas,

  b. Through external pressure and vibration,

  c. Through internal stimulation,

  d. Through colour applied in stimulation and vitalisation,

  e. Through mantric sounds

  he will find the secret of atomic energy, latent in the mineral kingdom, and will bend that inconceivable power and force to the solution of the problems of existence. Only when atomic energy is better understood and the nature of the fourth ether somewhat comprehended, shall we see that control of the air which lies inevitably ahead.

  Third. By the discovery of the note of the vegetable kingdom, by its conjunction with other of nature’s notes, and by its due sounding forth in different keys and combinations will come the possibility to produce marvellous results within that kingdom, and to stimulate the activities of those devas who work with flowers, fruits, trees and herbs.

  Every root race has its own particular style of vegetation, or certain basic forms and designs which can be traced in all countries where the race locates. These [497] results are brought about by the interaction between the basic note of the vegetable kingdom itself, and the note of the race of men who are evolving simultaneously. The union of these two notes is that which produces distinctive vegetation, though it should be remembered that when the human note dominates too strongly it is apt to drive out the life of the forms of this second kingdom. The devas who work in this kingdom are a special group, and have a closer and more peculiar relation to it than have the builders or devas in any other kingdom. The transmutative process is effected more easily in the vegetable kingdom than in any other owing to this very factor, and also to the incentive given to this second kingdom and its evolutionary process by the coming of the Lords of the Flame from the second or Venus globe—pre-eminently the globe with which this kingdom has a mysterious connection. If I might express it in other words: the cosmic Entity, Who is the life of the second globe and its informing principle, has a close connection with the solar Entity Who is the informing life of the entire vegetable kingdom. This analogy can be worked out in connection with the other kingdoms, globes and other forms and accounts somewhat for the fact that this fourth (S. D., I, 107.) (163) globe is above everything else the globe of human evolution in this scheme; it gives also the clue to the mystery of the Presence of the great Kumara Himself upon earth. These thoughts merit close attention. [498] The note of the human kingdom, sounded in quadruple intensity on this globe, has produced portentous happenings, and I would suggest to all occult investigators the close study and scrutiny of the following manifestations in time and space: