A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  “The garment of God is driven aside by the energy of His movements, and the real Man stands revealed, yet remains hidden, for who knows the secret of a man as it exists in his own self-recognition.”

  The mystery of electricity deals with the “garment” of God, just as the mystery of polarity deals with His “form.”

  In the mystery of Polarity, we have three different types of force manifesting and thus it is apparent that the two mysteries deal with the six forces. These three types of force are manipulated by the Buddhas of Love. They, through Their sacrifice, concern Themselves with the problem of sex, or of “magnetic approach” on all the planes. The Buddha of Whom we speak and Who contacts His people at the full moon of Wesak, is one of the three connected with our globe, having taken the place of One Who passed on to higher work in connection with the Chain, for the same hierarchical grading is seen as in connection with the Buddhas of Action. One group might be considered the divine Carpenters of the planetary system, the other the divine Assemblers of its parts and the Ones Who, through the magnetic influence They wield, unite the diversities and build them into form.

  The present ideas anent Sex must be transmuted and raised from the existing lower connotation to its true significance. Sex—in the three worlds—has to do with the work of the lunar Pitris and the solar Lords. It signifies essentially the form-building work in substance, and its energising by the spiritual aspect. It signifies the elevation of the material aspect through the influence of Spirit as the two together perform their legitimate function in co-operation and thus—by their mutual union and blending—produce the Son in all His glory. This method of interpreting it is equally true of all the Existences manifesting on any plane, systemic and cosmic. Certain [875] factors enter into the thought of sex which might be enumerated as follows:

  a. Mutual attraction,

  b. Complementary suitability,

  c. Instinctual appeal,

  d. Approach, and recognised co-operation,

  e. Union,

  f. The next stage is the temporary importance of the material aspect, that of the Mother, the feminine aspect,

  g. The withdrawal into a temporary retirement of the Father,

  h. The work of creating the Son,

  i. The evolution and growth of the Son, both materially and in consciousness,

  j. Emancipation of the Son from his Mother, or the liberation of the soul at maturity from matter,

  k. Recognition by the Son of the Father and his return to that Father,

  The final result of all these successive stages being that all the three aspects have performed their functions (their dharma) on the physical plane and all three have demonstrated certain types of energy.

  The Father aspect manifests in giving the initial impulse or the positive electrical demonstration which is the germ of the created Son, and Whose Life is embodied in the Son. The occult significance of the words of the Christ in answer to the cry “Lord, show us the Father” is little appreciated. “He that has seen Me has seen the Father, for I and my Father are One,” He said. (Bible. John XIV, 8.)

  The Mother, or the negative aspect, builds and nourishes, guards and cherishes the Son through the ante-natal, and the infant stages, and stands around Him during later stages, giving of the energy of her own body and activity in ministry to His need.

  [876] The Son, the combined energy of Father and of Mother, embodies both types and all the dual sets of qualities, but has a character all His Own, an essence which is His peculiar nature, and an energy which leads Him to fulfil His Own ends and projects, and which will eventually cause Him to repeat the process of producing,—

  1. Conception,

  2. Creation,

  3. Conscious growth,

  as did His Father.

  When we reach the mystery of Fire, we are concerned with that mysterious extra-systemic energy which is the basis of both the activity of Mother and the Life of the Son. The Son in very deed “becomes His Mother’s husband,” as say the ancient Scriptures. This is but an enigmatical phrase unless interpreted in terms of the combination of energy. Only when the Son has reached maturity and knows Himself as essentially the same as the Father can He consciously perform His Father’s function, and produce and perpetuate that which is needed for the sustaining of cosmic generation.

  The electricity of substance, the electricity of form, and the electricity of Life itself must blend and meet before the true Man (whether Logos, or human being) realises himself as creator. Man at this stage knows somewhat of the electricity of substance, and is coming to the belief as to the electricity of form (even though as yet he calls it magnetism) but as yet he knows nought of the electrical reality of life itself. Only when the “jewel in the Lotus” is about to be revealed, or the third circle of petals is about to open up, does the initiate begin to have a realisation of the true meaning of the word “life” or spirit. The consciousness has to be fully awakened before he can ever understand that great energising something of which the other types of energy are but expressions.

  [877] There are only two more points to be considered in connection with the petals and initiation.

  First, it should be noted that the words “knowledge, love and sacrifice” mean much more occultly than the apparent significance of the terms. Each circle of petals stands for one of these three ideas, and each circle again embodies these three aspects of existence in a greater or lesser degree. These three concepts are the modes of expression of the three great qualities which (from the standpoint of the Past, the Present and the Future) characterise the natures of all the manifesting entities—Gods, men and devas. From the standpoint of the central factor in manifestation, man, it should be realised that knowledge was inherent in the previous solar system, and is the faculty of which he has to avail himself. It is there available for his use. It is the hidden energy of the planetary Logos which he has to learn to focus through his physical brain, and thus apply.

  Love is the faculty inherent in the present. It is the hidden energy of the planetary Logos of which he must avail himself and focus in his heart centre and thus apply.

  Sacrifice is the faculty which will be his in the future, which he will intelligently focus through the highest head centre and thus apply. It is dependent upon his development of consciousness, and therefore upon his recognition of the esoteric purpose of his group, and of the planetary existences. As it involves what is termed “a solar and lunar act of abnegation” it involves, therefore, a due comprehension of solar and of lunar energy, and a bringing of both these two groups to a stage of co-operative activity. It concerns, therefore, the nature of the Jewel in the lotus, and it is only when the three sacrifice petals in the three tiers are unfolded that this particular type of energy is released. The lunar Lords of the three bodies have been controlled, and their vibration synchronised, so that the great act of sacrifice finds them ready [878] for the final process of renunciation. The solar Lords, in their three major groups, are equally ready for the final sacrifice, which involves the “rupture between the sun and the moon” as it is called. This results in the breaking of the magnetic link between the true man, and the vibratory sensitive substance of which his three world bodies are made. The need for incarnation is no longer felt, the chains of karma are broken, and the man is liberated. The “lunar Lords return to their own place” or—as the Christian expresses it—”Satan is bound for a thousand years,” (Bible. Rev. XX, 2. ) this meaning only that pralayic peace is the lot of these entities until the return of manvantaric opportunity.

  The final sacrifice involves also the disappearance of the lower triangle, or the severing of the connection between the three permanent atoms in the lower part of the causal body or egoic lotus, and the central unit of energy. The energy of these atoms is set loose through the intense heat produced by the union of the three fires and is reabsorbed into the general reservoir in interplanetary space. The fiery triangle is lost sight of in the general blaze, and the deva essences who tem
porarily formed it cease their activity.

  Again, the solar Angels complete their initial sacrifice by a final one, and offer themselves upon the fiery altar. The causal body is completely destroyed. The four lower groups of solar Pitris return to the heart of the subjective sun, or to that inmost centre of the system from whence they came, whilst the three higher groups are carried (by the force and energy generated in the fiery furnace and blaze, and through the stimulation produced by the blazing forth of the central jewel) straight to the central spiritual sun, there to abide until another kalpa calls them forth to sacrifice Themselves, this time as planetary Logoi. The student must bear in mind that [879] in thinking of the Pitris, he must ever think in group terms. The Pitris who formed the egoic body of a human being do not—alone and isolated—form planetary Logoi. The forty-nine groups of solar fires concerned in the great work are those spoken of, and they become the forty-nine planetary Logoi in connexion with seven solar systems. In them is hid the mystery of the three who become the sixteen—united or synthesised by the seventeenth—a correspondence upon cosmic levels of the seven with the eighth sphere. This must remain practically an insoluble mystery to man at present.

  The four groups who found their way to the Heart of the system will reappear as the four planetary Logoi who are the twenty-eight and who thus produce the possibility of the ten of perfection in another series of manifesting systems.

  The seven types of solar energy find the “path of return” to their central emanating source; by the disruption of the tie between them and the lunar lords (who are esoterically spoken of as “dead or dying on the field of battle”) the great sacrifice is consummated, and they are free to return in triumph.

  The occult significance of these words in connection with the energy standing behind and working through all appearance might be expressed as follows:

  Knowledge (279) is the right apprehension of the laws of energy, of the conservation of force, of the sources of [880] energy, of its qualities, its types and its vibrations.

  It involves an apprehension of:

  a. The different key vibrations.

  b. The centres whereby force enters.

  c. The channels along which it circulates. [881]

  d. The triangles and other geometrical figures which it produces during evolution.

  e. The cycles and the ebb and flow of energy in connection with the different types of planetary manifestation, including all the kingdoms of nature.

  f. The true significance of those force aspects which we call “periods of pralaya” and those we call “periods of manifestation.” It also involves a right realisation of the laws of obscuration.

  All this the man has been learning in the various Halls through practical experience, involving pleasure and pain; these, in the final initiations, bring him to a realisation not only of the existence of these forces but of how to wield and manipulate them. This is knowledge: to rightly direct force currents, first in the three worlds of human endeavour, and then in the solar system.

  Love is the right apprehension of the uses and purposes of form, and of the energies involved in form-building, the utilisation of form, and the eventual dissipation of the superseded form. It involves a realisation of the Laws of Attraction and Repulsion, of the magnetic interplay between all forms, great and small, of group relationships, of the galvanizing power of the unifying life, and the attractive power of one unit upon another, be it atom, man, or solar system. It involves an understanding of all forms, form purposes, and form relationships; it concerns the building processes in man himself, and in the solar system; and it necessitates the development of those powers within man which will make him a conscious Builder, a solar Pitri of a coming cycle. This [882] is one of the great revelations at initiation: the unveiling to the initiate of the particular cosmic centre whence emanates the type of force or energy which he, the initiate, will be concerned with when he becomes in due course of time a solar Pitri, or divine manasaputra to coming humanity. Hence he must have, not only knowledge, but the energy of love likewise to enable him to perform the function of linking the higher three and the lower four of a future race of men at some distant period, thus permitting of their individualising through the sacrifice of his own fully conscious middle principle.

  Sacrifice involves even more than what has been already pointed out. It involves the following factors:

  a. Knowledge of the purposes and intentions of the planetary Logos,

  b. Realisation of the particular and peculiar type of energy, and of the quality of his own Ray Lord,

  c. Comprehension of the different groups of existences who are participating in planetary evolution and in solar manifestation,

  d. A revelation as to certain cosmic enterprises in which our planetary Logos is acting as an intelligent co-operator. Thus is brought in the factor of extra-systemic force.

  When all these and other factors are considered, it is evident that the energy set loose in sacrifice to these plans and intentions involves such a vast field of comprehending wisdom that it is not possible for the average man ever to sense it. It deals with the purposes and plans of the Silent Watchers over the three planes—the five, and the seven; it deals with the dynamic force of the great Destroying Angels on all the planes, who will eventually—through the manipulation of the three forms of energy—bring to an end all that is. These angels are a mysterious group of fohatic Lives Who sound forth the [883] trumpets of destruction, and by means of the notes sounded produce that shattering which will set loose the energy of forms.

  The second point is very briefly given. It concerns the innermost circle of petals, or that set of three petals, or those three streams of whirling energy, which immediately surround the “jewel in the lotus.” Each of these three petals is related to one of the three circles, and is organised as each of the three circles is unfolded. They form, therefore, a synthesis of knowledge, love or sacrifice, and are closely connected through the type of force flowing through them with one of the three higher centres of the planetary Logos of a man’s particular ray. This central unit of threefold force is dealt with in a specific manner at initiation.

  At the first, the second, and the third Initiations, one of the three petals opens up, permitting an ever freer display of the central electric point. At the fourth Initiation, the jewel (being completely revealed) through its blazing light, its intense radiatory heat, and its terrific outflow of force, produces the disintegration of the surrounding form, the shattering of the causal body, the destruction of the Temple of Solomon, and the dissolution of the lotus flower. The work of the Initiator in this connection is very interesting. Through the medium of the Rod of Initiation and of certain Words of Power, He brings about results of a co-ordinating, transmuting and liberating nature.

  Through the action of the Rod as wielded at the first two Initiations, the two outer circles unfold, the energy of the two is set free and the two sets of force as embodied in the six petals are co-ordinated and become interactive. This stage of petal adjustment succeeds upon that called earlier “unfoldment” and has to do with the simultaneous action of the two tiers of petals. The interplay between the two circles is completed, and the circulation [884] of the force currents perfected. According to a man’s ray and subray, so is the Rod applied to what might be termed the “key” petal. This of course differs according to the unit of force involved. It is of interest to note here that, as the petal substance is deva substance and as the energy of the petals is the energy of certain manasadevas (one of the three higher orders of Agnishvattas) the initiate is overshadowed (the word is not entirely satisfactory in explaining the type of deva service here necessitated, but it must suffice) by a great deva who represents the equilibrium of substantial vibration which is brought about by the efforts of the initiate, aided by the adepts who present him, and who each represent one of the two polarities of force. This is temporarily stabilised by the Initiator. These three factors,

  1. The representing deva
,

  2. The two adepts,

  3. The initiator,

  form, for a brief second, a triangle of force with the initiate at the centre. Through them circulates the terrific power, the “fire from Heaven,” which is brought down from the higher triad through the agency of the electrical rod.

  This application of extra-egoic force is in itself of a threefold nature, as symbolised by the three protective agencies and the threefold nature of the Rod itself. It emanates in a primary sense from the planetary Logos of a man’s ray, and proceeds from that one of the planetary centres which corresponds to either the head, heart, or throat centre in a human unit. This energy is applied to the corresponding tier of petals and to the corresponding petal in a tier according to the initiation taken, and according to the primary and secondary ray. A close connection can be traced here between the petals and the centres of the etheric level of the physical plane, [885] and thus it can be seen how (when the necessary work is done) it is possible to have a direct transmission of force from the higher planes to the lower in the following order:

  a. From the logoic centre, or the planetary Logos, to the Monad on its own plane.

  b. From that Monad to one of the three tiers of petals, according to the aspect or ray concerned.

  c. From the tier of petals, viewed as a unit, to one of the petals in the circle, according to the quality and type of force, using the petal as a transmitting agency.

  d. From the particular petal in which the force is momentarily centred to one of the permanent atoms, again according to ray and type of force.