A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  The zodiacal sign concerned is Gemini, and the reason will be apparent to all trained initiates.

  A word here is necessary in explanation of the expression used earlier in connection with the passing of adepts from off this second Path on to the Seventh Path. It is stated that they “alchemise themselves” on to it. Some idea as to the meaning of this phrase may be gained through a consideration of the purposes of heat, when divorced from moisture, and of the method of employing such heat. The adepts use the “dry alchemical fires” to produce the results they desire in aiding the evolutionary process. As they use these “dry fires” the reaction upon themselves is such that they transmute the electrical spark (or the Monad within the flame of the planetary Life) and break it up in such a manner that it can pass through the systemic etheric web and on to that stream of cosmic energy emanating from the constellation mentioned above.

  They are then known as “Absolute sparks of parental love,” or (in the exoteric language of the initiates) they pass on to Path VII, that of “Absolute Sonship.”

  [1251] The attributes which the adept on this path has to possess prior to taking the needed training for the seventh cosmic method of approach is responsiveness to heat and a knowledge of rhythm. These words will, of course, mean nothing to the uninitiated but to some it will convey much and when it is noted that there will be found coupled with these two attributes an ability to “see the dancing of the particles of heat and the waves of warm vibration” (as it is called in an old manual which those in training for this path employ) it will be apparent that the effects of fire and the laws of fiery energy and vibration are here dealt with. Those sons of men who at this time search for the “heat of the love nature” of the human unit and who add to that search a cultivation of a vivid imagination and an intense power to visualise are laying a groundwork upon which this later knowledge may be superimposed. But this is not the easy thing it sounds, for it involves an identification at present impossible to the majority, and a power to realise the nature of that which is visualised which negates the idea of duality,—that which visualises and that which is visualised.

  The method employed can only be expressed as the “entering of the burning-ground.” The power to do this is gained through passing through three preliminary burning-grounds, as is easily to be seen:

  1. The burning-ground which lies between the Hall of Ignorance, and the Hall of Learning. This is the destructive fire which man creates under the working of the Law of Karma.

  2. The burning-ground of the dead personality which lies between the Hall of Learning and the Hall of Wisdom. It is found upon the shores of the river of life and has to be passed prior to the third Initiation. [1252]

  3. The burning-ground which is found when a man is ready to pass out of the Hall of Wisdom as a full adept. It is a triple burning-ground and is found “upon the mountain top, being kept alive and flaming by all the winds of heaven.” It is responsible for the destruction of the egoic or causal body.

  The third produces a spiritual alchemicalisation, whereas the other two produced results in the objective or form side and the subjective or consciousness aspect of his triple nature. When these three burning grounds are passed then the adept is prepared for another and fiercer experience.

  The hierarchies connected with this Path are mainly the third and the fourth. Only the human units can pass on to these two paths. The deva hierarchies of the third order have already passed upon them, and it is their previous work which enables man to do so. This is a great mystery and more must not be revealed about it. The group of the Silent Watchers of all degrees are closely connected with this second cosmic path. All of Them are Lords of Sacrifice, and are animated solely by love, and all have therefore passed through the sacrificial burning grounds.

  It is only possible to give the most elementary of the exoteric symbols. It takes the form of a funeral pyre in full conflagration, and with four flaming torches one at each corner. From the centre of the pyre a fivefold star mounts like a rocket towards a flaming sun of a predominantly rosy hue. [1253]

  PATH II. PATH OF MAGNETIC WORK

  Attributes Responsiveness to heat and knowledge of rhythm.

  Source An unknown constellation via Gemini.

  Method The entering of the burning-ground.

  Hierarchy The third and fourth.

  Symbol A funeral pyre, four torches, and a fivefold star mounting towards the sun.

  Quality gained Electrical velocity.

  Path III. Path of training for Planetary Logoi.

  This path is one that attracts to itself only a few comparatively of the sons of men. It involves a peculiar form of development and the faculty of continued awareness along with spiritual identification which is the distinguishing characteristic of the seven cosmic paths.

  The adept who chooses this path preserves in a peculiar way the faculty of sense-perception plus identification with the spiritual aspect. They are constantly spoken of in the occult archives as the “Lords Whose mayavirupa continuously recurs.” As they work with the psyche or the soul of manifestation and are primarily concerned with the subjective side of life they are connected with that centre in the Body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID which is the source of conscious sensation. Therefore, they are vitalised from the solar plexus of that great Existence Whose all-embracing vitality holds our Logos, along with other solar Logoi, within the sphere of His consciousness. As is well known, the solar plexus is the centre which synthesises the reactions and the essential virtues of the lower three centres. This point must be borne in mind when studying this cosmic path.

  These adepts are also called the “Lords of cosmic Maya” for they work with that faculty which is responsible for illusion and with the relation of the Knower to that which is to be known. Remember here that we are not considering the three worlds of human endeavour except in so far as they form a part of a whole.

  The attributes which predispose a man for the work of training himself for the path of a planetary Logos are three in number and may be expressed thus: [1254]

  1. Cosmic vision. These adepts are connected with the logoic third eye.

  2. Deva hearing.

  3. Psychic correlation.

  All the senses are, as we know, connected with some centre, and these centres are in turn connected with planetary centres which are themselves energised from an analogous cosmic source. The adept on this third Path has a specific connection with the energy which emanates from those cosmic centres which are related to spiritual vision and spiritual hearing. The sense of touch has primarily to do with the objectivity of the dense physical form, and with it this particular group of adepts has nothing to do. Sight, hearing and the power to correlate the relation between the Self and the Not-Self is theirs, but the Not-self comes specifically under the guidance and the stimulation of a totally different group of cosmic workers. It is difficult to convey a clear meaning in this connection and the student must remember that we are dealing with spirit and with the other two types of cosmic energy.

  This path is trodden by those who will take up the work of the seven planetary Logoi of the next solar system, and of the forty-nine sub-planetary Logoi, Their assistants and of certain other entities working in that particular department. There will be seven systems, though we are only concerned with the major three, of which our present solar system is but the second.

  Each Chohan of a Ray takes a certain number of initiates of the sixth Initiation and trains them specially for this work. Special aptitude in colour and sound predisposes the choice, and the ability to work with “psyche,” or with the Spirits in evolution, marks a man out for this high post. We might say that the planetary Logoi are the divine psychologists, and therefore in the training for [1255] this post psychology is the basic subject, though it is a psychology inconceivable as yet to us.

  Every planetary Logos has, in His own special planet, schools for the development of subordinate Logoi, and there trains them, giving them opportu
nity for wide experience. Even the Logoi Themselves progress onward, and Their places must be taken.

  Students may be surprised to know that the source of the peculiar cosmic energy which is found streaming towards our system along this cosmic Path is that of the sun Betelgeuse. This name is, however, a blind. The reason that certain facts connected with this sun have lately come more prominently before the public is in reality a subjective one. The science of the soul in its various aspects (mental, psychical, and spiritual) is making much headway now in the world, and is absorbing more and more the attention of thinkers. This is the result of certain waves of energy impinging upon our solar system and thus eventually finding their way to our planet. Betelgeuse from the occult standpoint is a system of the second order, just as our solar system is one of the fourth order. There is consequently a relation between these two numbers both in the system and the cosmos. This influence reaches our system via the sign Sagittarius.

  The work that adepts on this path have to accomplish primarily is to make possible the manifestation of the Monad of the solar Logos through the medium of the body of consciousness, or through the soul-form. They thus repeat on a higher level the work of those Builders who create and make manifest the body through which the soul seeks to express itself. They are not concerned with objectivity, and have a relation to that fifth Hierarchy which gives to man his egoic body.

  The adepts on our Earth planet who seek this path do so through the department of the Mahachohan, which [1256] works with the intelligence or mental aspects of manifestation. From this third department they pass under the direct training of one of the Buddhas of Activity, and in the final stages are personally taught by Sanat Kumara, functioning as the embodied planetary Logos. This training concerns itself with three main subjects:

  1. With colour, that which veils the Spirit aspect, as dense form veils the soul.

  2. With sound, that which Spirit utters in order to make itself conscious, and to produce psychic awareness. The whole science of mantra yoga is mastered by them, but only in connection with the higher planes and where the cosmic planes are concerned.

  3. With the nature of duality, that which is basically the science of the soul.

  It is difficult to express in words the method employed by a Master of the Wisdom as he enters this cosmic Path. It has been called the method of prismatic identification, for it concerns the colour veils which shroud the spiritual energy. Another mode of expressing the same truth is to say that it is the method of understanding the song of life. As the “stars sing together,” as the “chant of the Gods” peals forth in the great choir of the Heavens, it produces a corresponding colour symphony. This particular mode of identification enables the adept to act as a director in the chorus and to produce the needed colour effects and chords. When he can do this to perfection he is then in a position to take up office as a planetary Logos. More it is not permitted to say and the above is but a symbolic way of expressing a basic and difficult truth.

  The symbol of this Path (and the only one it is possible to make exoteric) is a radiant Cross of coloured light; it [1257] has the long limb formed of the seven colours of the solar spectrum, and the transverse limb is composed of twelve gradations of colours as yet unknown to man. In the centre of the Cross is to be seen a five-pointed star in a deep indigo shade, and behind it is a blazing sun of a warm dark blue. Above the whole are certain Sensa characters, depicted in gold, and conveying to the initiated adept the name of one or other of the planetary Schools in which this particular line of study is undertaken. There are, as has been already said, seven such schools and candidates for this Path from our planetary scheme are transferred to the inner round and from thence to the Jupiter scheme.

  The quality gained is cosmic etheric vision, the extent of the vision developed being within the seven systems which form (along with our solar system) the seven centres in the cosmic Life with whom our solar Logos is allied. This is sometimes called septenary cosmic clairvoyance.

  One more fact of interest might here be added. This Path is sometimes called the “Lotus Path,” as it concerns itself with the construction of the logoic Lotuses of solar Logoi. The schools which prepare for this work are called in the mystic parlance of the adepts the “lotus lands.” The curriculum is termed at times the “Lotus sleep,” as it involves a condition of complete negation where the form side of manifestation is concerned and an entire abstraction, thus producing a type of solar samadhi. Whilst this is being undergone the adept functions in a form or vehicle which is a correspondence upon the plane of atma to the mayavirupa on the plane of mind.

  PATH III. THE PATH OF TRAINING FOR PLANETARY LOGOI

  Attributes cosmic vision, deva hearing and psychic correlation.

  Source Betelgeuse, via the sign Sagittarius.

  Hierarchy the fifth.

  Method prismatic identification.

  Symbol a coloured Cross, with a star at the centre, and backed by a blazing sun, surmounted by a Sensa Word.

  Quality cosmic etheric vision or septenary clairvoyance.

  [1258] Path IV. The Path to Sirius.

  This path is of all the Paths the most veiled in the clouds of mystery. The reason for this mystery will only be apparent to the pledged initiate, though a clue to the secret may be gained if it is realised that in a peculiar and esoteric sense the sun Sirius and the Pleiades hold a close relation to each other. It is a relation analogous to that which lower mind holds to higher mind. The lower is receptive to, or negatively polarised to the higher. Sirius is the seat of higher mind and mahat (as it is called, or universal mind) sweeps into manifestation in our solar system through the channel of the Pleiades. It is almost as if a great triangle of mahatic energy was thus formed. Sirius transmits energy to our solar system via that

  “...sevenfold brooding Mother, the silver constellation, whose voice is as a tinkling bell, and whose feet pass lightly o’er the radiant path between our worlds and hers.”

  Within the solar system there is an interesting correspondence to this cosmic interplay in the relation between the Venus scheme, our Earth scheme and the Venus chain in our scheme.

  Curiously enough it will be through a comprehension of the human antaskarana, or the path which links higher and lower mind and which is constructed by the Thinker during the process of evolution, that light on this abstruse matter will come. There is (in connection with our planetary Logos) just such an antaskarana, and as He builds and constructs it, it forms part of the fourth Path, and permits the passage of the bulk of our humanity to this [1259] distant objective, and this without obstruction. A clue to the nature of this Path and as to the reason why so many of the human Monads seek this particular stream of energy lies in the right understanding of the above suggestion.

  The initiates who tread this way are primarily those of the fourth and the sixth order. As earlier pointed out, this is the Path that the “lords of compassion” most frequently follow, and at this time the Egyptian Master and the Master Jesus are preparing Themselves to tread it. The mystics of the Occident who have come into incarnation during the past one thousand years are a peculiar group of Egos whose impulse is towards this type of cosmic energy. In this system they have developed certain basic recognitions and the “ecstasy” of the occidental mystic is the germ, latent within him, which will some day flower forth into that cosmic rapture for which we have as yet no name.

  Cosmic rapture and rhythmic bliss are the attributes of the fourth path. It is a form of identification which is divorced from consciousness altogether. The reason also why the majority of the sons of men follow this Path lies in the fact of its numerical position. These units of the fourth kingdom, the bulk of the fourth Creative Hierarchy on this fourth globe of the fourth scheme in a solar system of the fourth order are innately compelled to seek this fourth WAY in order to perfect themselves. They are called the “blissful dancing points of fanatical devotion.” This is as near as we can get to the true description. They have also been de
scribed as the “revolving wheels which turn upon themselves, and find the open door to perfect bliss.”

  The energy of Path IV reaches us from Sirius via the Sun. This must be understood as a blind behind which one of the signs of the zodiac veils itself.

  The hierarchies concerned with this specific type of [1260] cosmic force hide themselves under the numbers fourteen and seventeen. This will serve as a complete blind to the average reader, but will carry to the pledged chela the hint needed to produce illumination.

  The method whereby the adept fits himself to pass upon this path is termed that of duplex rotary motion and “rhythmic dancing upon the square.”

  The symbol, which is first given to the pledged disciple to study but which may, however, be described, is a duality of interlocked wheels revolving at a great pace in opposite directions, and producing a unified whole. These wheels are portrayed as manifesting electric blue flame, rotating and revolving with great rapidity around an equal-armed Cross. The Cross is pictured in orange fire with a deep emerald green circle, flaming at the point in the centre where the four arms of the Cross meet. The symbolism of these colours links this fourth path to the solar system preceding this one. In that system the Sirian influence was more potent than in the present one.

  It is not possible to add more to this beyond pointing out that the quality gained by the adept who treads this path may not be revealed. He comes under the concentrated influence of the energy which is identified with the planetary antaskarana. It is not permitted, therefore, to state what its specific quality may be, as it would convey too much information to the intelligent reader as to the nature and the objective of our particular planetary Logos.