Filename: RC1057.TXT
Source: "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception" by Max Heindel

[PAGE 2067]

                          THE PATH OF EVOLUTION:

   A word of warning in regard to diagrams used for purposes of illustration
may not be out of place.   The student should remember that anything that is
reduced  into  another dimension can never be accurate.   The picture  of  a
house  would mean little or nothing to us if we had never seen a house.   In
that  case  we would see in the picture only lines and blotches.   It  would
convey no meaning to us.  Diagrams used to illustrate super physical matters
are  much less true representations of the reality,  for the  simple  reason
that in the case of the picture, the three-dimensional house is only reduced
to two dimensions, while in the case of diagrams of the Periods,  Worlds and
Globes, the realities possess from four to seven dimension, and the diagrams
of  two dimensions by which it is endeavored to represent them are  thus  so
much further removed from the possibility of correctly portraying them.   We
must  constantly  bear in mind that these Worlds inter-penetrate,  that  the
Globes  inter-penetrate,  and that the way they are shown in the diagram  is
analogous  to taking all the wheels of a watch and laying them side by  side
in order to show how the watch keeps time.   If these diagrams are to be  of
any use to the student they must be spiritually conceived.   Otherwise  they
will be confusing instead of enlightening.

[PAGE 2068]

                       REVOLUTIONS AND COSMIC NIGHTS:

   The  Saturn Period is the first of the seven Periods,  and at this  early
stage the virgin spirits take their first step towards the evolution of Con-
sciousness  and Form.   By reference to diagram 7 it will be seen  that  the
evolutionary impulse travels seven times around the seven Globes, A,  B,  C,
D, E, F and G, the arrows showing the direction.

   First,  a part of the evolution is accomplished on Globe A,  situated  in
the  World of Divine Spirit,  the rarest of the five Worlds which  form  our
field  of evolution.   Then,  gradually the evolving life is transferred  to
Globe B, which is located in the somewhat denser World of Life Spirit.  Here
another stage of evolution is passed through.  In due time the evolving life
is ready to enter the arena on Globe C,  which is situated in and formed  of
the yet denser substance of the Region of Abstract Thought.   After learning
the lessons peculiar to that stage of existence,  the life wave travels  on-
ward to Globe D,  which is located in and formed of the substance of the Re-
gion of Concrete Thought.   This is the densest degree of matter reached  by
the life wave during the Saturn Period.

   From  this point the life wave is carried upward again to Globe E,  which
is situated in the Region of Abstract Thought, as is Globe C, yet the condi-
tions are not the same as on Globe C.  This is the Involutionary stage,  and
the substance of the Worlds is getting denser all the time.  The tendency in
everything is to become denser and more solid as times goes on; also, as the
path of evolution is a spiral, it will be clear that, though the same points
are gone over,  the conditions are never the same,  but are on a higher  and
more advanced plane.

   When the work on Globe E has been completed,  the  next  step is taken on

[PAGE 2069]

Globe F, which is situated in the World of Life Spirit, the same as Globe B;
thence it mounts to Globe G.  When the work there is done, the life wave has
traveled once around all the seven Globes; once down and up through the four
respective  Worlds.   This journey of life wave is called a Revolution,  and
seven Revolutions make one Period.   During one Period the life wave travels
seven times down and up through the four Worlds.

   When the life wave has traveled its full complement of seven times around
the seven times around the seven Globes,  completing the seven  Revolutions,
the  first Day of Creation closes and there follows a Cosmic Night  of  rest
and assimilation, after which the Sun Period dawns.

   Like  the night of sleep between two days of human life and the  interval
of rest between two earth lives, this Cosmic Night of rest after the comple-
tion of the Saturn Period is not a time of passive repose,  but a season  of
preparation for the activity to be unfolded in the coming Sun Period,  where
man-in-the-making  is  to take a further dip into  matter.   Therefore,  new
Globes are necessary, the positions of which in the seven Worlds are differ-
ent from those occupied by the Worlds of the Saturn Period.   The  providing
of these new Globes,  and other subjective activities,  occupy the  evolving
spirits during the interval between Periods--the Cosmic Night.   The  manner
of procedure is as follows:

   When  the  life wave has left Globe A in the Saturn Period for  the  last
tine,  the Globe begins to slowly disintegrate.   The forces which built  it
are  transferred from the World of Divine Spirit (where Globe A  is  located
during the Saturn Period) to the World of Life Spirit (where Globe A is  lo-
cated during the Sun Period).  This is shown on diagram 8.

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---------------------------------------------------------------------------   
|                            DIAGRAM NUMBER 8                             |
|                          THE 777 INCARNATIONS                           |
|                                  OR                                     |
|                   PILGRIMAGE OF THE VIRGIN SPIRITS                      |
|      7 REVOLUTIONS AROUND THE 7 GLOBES OF THE 7 WORLD PERIODS           |
|                                                                         |
|                  SATURN                                         VULCAN  |
|--------------------|----------------------------------------------|-----|
|                  A-|-G                                          A-|-G   |
|World of          |   |                                          |   |   |
|Divine Spirit     |   |    SUN                            VENUS  |   |   |
|---------------- -|---|-----|-------------------------------|----|---|---|
|                  B   F   A-|-G                           A-|-G  B   F   |
|World of          |   |   |   |                           |   |  |   |   |
|Life Spirit       |   |   |   |   MOON           JUPITER  |   |  |   |   |
|------------------|---|---|---|-----|---------------|-----|---|--|---|---|
|    T  Region of  C   E   B   F   A-|-G           A-|-G   B   F  C   E   |
|W   H  Abstract   |   |   |   |   |   |           |   |   |   |  |   |   |
|O O O   Thought   |   |   |   |   |   |   EARTH   |   |   |   |  |   |   |
|R F U ------------|---|---|---|---|---|-----|-----|---|---|---|--|---|---|
|L   G  Region of  |-D-|   C   E   B   F   A-|-G   B   F   C   E  |-D-|   |
|D   H  Concrete           |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |          |
|    T  Thought            |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |          |
|--------------------------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|----------|
|                          |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |          |
|                          |-D-|   C   E   B   F   C   E   |-D-|          |
|Desire World                      |   |   |   |   |   |                  |
|----------------------------------|---|---|---|---|---|------------------|
|P                                 |   |   |   |   |   |                  |
|H  W  Etheric                     |-D-|   C   E   |-D-|                  |
|Y  O  Region                              |   |                          |
|S  R -------------------------------------|---|--------------------------|
|I  L                                      |   |                          |
|C  D  Chemical              THE EARTH---->|-D-|                          |
|A     Region                                                             |
|L                                                                        |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

[PAGE 2071]

   When  the  life wave has left Globe B in the Saturn Period for  the  last
time,  it also commences to disintegrate, and the forces thereof,  like  the
seed-atom of a human vehicle,  are used as a nucleus for Globe B in the  Sun
Period, this Globe being then located in the Region of Abstract Thought.

   In  like  manner the forces of Globe C are transferred to the  Region  of
Concrete Thought and draw upon the substance of that Region for the material
wherewith  to  build a new Globe C for the coming Sun Period.   Globe  D  is
similarly transmuted and placed in the Desire World.  Globes E, F, and G, in
order named,  are analogously transferred.   The result is (as reference  to
diagram  8 will show) that in the Sun Period all the Globes are located  one
step further down into denser matter that they were in the Saturn Period, so
that the life wave,  upon its emergence from the Cosmic Night of Rest inter-
vening between the last activity on Globe G of the Saturn Period and the re-
newed  activity on Globe A of the Sun Period finds a new  environment,  with
the opportunity thus afforded for new experiences.

   The life wave now circles seven times around the seven Globes during  the
Sun Period,  tranversing seven times down and up the four Worlds or  Regions
in  which these Globes are located.   It makes seven Revolutions in the  Sun
Period, as it did in the Saturn Period.

   When  the life wave leaves Globe A in the Sun Period for the  last  time,
that Globe begins to disintegrate.  Its forces are transferred to the denser
Region of Abstract Thought,  where they form a planet to be used during  the
Moon  Period.   In the same way,  the forces of the other Globes are  trans-
ferred  and serve as nuclei for the Globes of the Moon Period,  as shown  in
diagram  8,   the  process  being  exactly  the  same  as  when  the  Globes

[PAGE 2072]

are removed from their locations in the Saturn Period to the positions  they
occupied  during  the Sun Period.   Thus the Globes of the Moon  Period  are
placed one step further down in matter that they were during the Sun Period,
the  lowest (Globe D) being situated in the Etheric Region of  the  Physical
World.

   After the interim of Cosmic Night between the Sun Period and the Moon Pe-
riod,  the life wave starts its course on Globe A of the latter,  completing
in due time its seven Revolutions, as before.   Then there is another Cosmic
Night,  during which the Globes are again transferred one step further down,
and  this  time the densest Globe is located in the Chemical Region  of  the
Physical World, as reference to diagram 8 will show.

   This,  then,  is the Earth Period and the lowest and densest Globe (Globe
D) is our present Earth.

   The life wave here, as usual, started on Globe A,  after the Cosmic Night
succeeding  the  Moon Period.   In the present Earth Period it  has  circled
three  times around the seven globes and is now on Globe D,  in  its  fourth
Revolution.

   Here on earth and in this present fourth Revolution, the greatest density
of  matter--the nadir of materiality--was reached a few millions years  ago.
The  tendency  henceforth will be upward into rarer substance.   During  the
three  and  one-half Revolutions which remain to complete this  Period,  the
condition of the Earth will gradually become more and more ethereal,  and in
the  next--the Jupiter Period--Globe D will again be located in the  Etheric
Region,  as it was in the Moon Period,  the other Globes being also elevated
correspondingly.

   In the Venus  Period  they will be located in the same Worlds as were the

[PAGE 2073]

Globes  of the Sun Period.   The Globes of the Vulcan Period will  have  the
same  density  and be located in the same Worlds as were the Globes  of  the
Saturn Period.  This is all shown on diagram 8.

   When  the  life wave has completed its work in the Earth Period  and  the
Cosmic Night which follows in past, it will go through its seven Revolutions
on the Globes of the Jupiter Period.  Then will come the usual Cosmic Night,
with its subjective activities; after which the seven Revolutions of the Ve-
nus Period;  then another rest,  succeeded by the last of the Periods of the
present  scheme of evolution--the Vulcan Period.   The life wave also  makes
its  seven Revolutions here,  and at the end of the last Revolution all  the
Globes are dissolved and the life wave is reabsorbed by God, for a period of
time  equal in duration to that occupied by all the seven Periods of  activ-
ity.   God Himself then merges into the Absolute during the Universal  Night
of assimilation and preparation for another Great Day.

   Other and grander evolutions will then follow,  but we can deal only with
the seven Periods described.

[PAGE 2074]

                          THE WORK OF EVOLUTION:

                             ARIADNE'S THREAD:

   Having become acquainted with the Worlds,  the Globes and the Revolutions
which constitute the path of evolution during the seven Periods,  we are now
in a position to consider the work which is done in each Period,  as well as
the methods employed to accomplish it.

   The  "Ariadne's thread"  which will guide us through the maze of  Globes,
Worlds, Revolutions and Periods will be found when it is remembered and kept
steadily in mind that the virgin spirits which constitute the evolving  life
wave become entirely UNCONSCIOUS when they commenced their evolutionary pil-
grimage through the five Worlds of substance denser than the World of Virgin
Spirits.   The purpose of evolution is to make them fully conscious and able
to master the matter of all the Worlds, therefore the conditions embodied in
Globes, Worlds, Revolutions and Periods are ordered with that end in view.

   During the Saturn,  Sun and Moon Periods and the past half of the present
Earth Period,  the virgin spirits have unconsciously built their  difference
vehicles  under the direction of exalted Beings who guided  their  progress,
and  have gradually awakened until they have attained the present  state  of
waking consciousness.  This period is called "Involution".

   From the present time to  the  end  of  the  Vulcan  Period,  the  virgin

[PAGE 2075]

spirits,  who are now our humanity, will perfect their vehicles  and  expand
their  consciousness  in the five Worlds by their own  efforts  and  genius.
This period is called "Evolution."

   The above is the key to the understanding of what follows.

   A  thorough comprehension of the scheme of planetary evolution which  has
been  outlines  in the preceding pages is of immense value to  the  student.
Although some believers in the laws of Consequence and Rebirth seem to think
that  the possession of such knowledge is quite non-essential and of  little
use,  it is nevertheless of very great importance to the earnest student  of
these  two  laws.   It trains the mind in abstract thought and  elevates  it
above  the sordid things of concrete existence,  helping the imagination  to
soar beyond the hampering toils of self-interest.  As stated in our study of
the Desire World,  Interest is the mainspring to action,  yet at our present
stage  of  progress,  Interest is generally aroused by selfishness.   It  is
sometimes of a very subtle nature,  but it spurs to action of various kinds.
All  action inspired by Interest generates certain effects which act on  us,
and  in  consequence we are bound by action having to do with  the  concrete
Worlds.  But, if our minds are occupied with such subjects as mathematics or
study  of the planetary phases of evolution, we are in the Region of  purely
Abstract Thought,  beyond the influence of Feeling, and the mind is directed
upward towards the spiritual realism and liberation.  When we are extracting
cube  root,  or multiplying figures, or thinking  of  Periods,  Revolutions,
etc.,  we have no Feeling about it.  We do not quarrel about twice two being
four.   If our feelings were involved we should perhaps try to make it  five
and quarrel with the one who,  for personal reasons,  said it was but three,

[PAGE 2076]

but in mathematics Truth is most clearly apparent and Feeling is eliminated.
Therefore, to the average man, desiring to live in the feelings, mathematics
is dry and uninteresting.  Pythagoras taught his pupils to live in the World
of  Eternal Spirit and he demanded that those who desired  instruction  from
his  should  first study   A mind capable of  understanding  mathematics  is
above the average and is capable of rising into the World of Spirit, because
it is not fettered in the World of Feeling and Desire.  The more we accustom
ourselves to think in terms of the Spiritual Worlds,  the better we shall be
able  to rise above the illusions which surround us in this concrete  exist-
ence,  where the twin feelings, Interest and Indifference, obscure the Truth
and bias us,  as the reflection of the light rays through the Earth's  atmo-
sphere  gives  us incorrect ideas of the position of the  luminary  emitting
them.

   Therefore the student who wishes to know Truth;  to enter and investigate
the realms of Spirit;  to free himself from the toils of the flesh,  as rap-
idly as is consistent with safety and proper growth, is earnestly advised to
study what follows as throughly as possible;  to assimilate it and draw men-
tal  conceptions  of these Worlds,  Globes and Periods.   If  he  wishes  to
progress in this way,  the study of mathematics and of Hinton's "The  Fourth
Dimension"  are also admirable exercises in abstract thought.   This work of
Hinton's  (though basically incorrect, because the  four-dimensional  Desire
World cannot be actually found by three-dimensional methods), has opened the
eyes  of  several persons who have studied it,  and made  them  clairvoyant.
Moreover,  remembering  that logic is the nest teacher in any world,  it  is
certain that the individual who succeeds in entering into the  superphysical
World by means of such studies in abstract thought, will not become confused

[PAGE 2077]

but will be able to give a good account of himself under all circumstances.

   A  stupendous  scheme is here unfolded,  and as more and more  detail  is
filled in,  its complexity becomes almost inconceivable.   Anyone capable of
comprehending it will be well rewarded for taking the utmost pains to do so.
Therefore,  the student should read slowly,  repeat often,  think deeply and
much.

   This book,  particularly this chapter, cannot be read in a casual manner.
Every sentence has weight and bearing upon what follows,  and presupposes  a
knowledge  of what precedes it.   If the books is not studied throughly  and
systematically,  it will grown more and more incomprehensible and  confusing
with every page.   On the other hand,  if it is studied and well thought out
as the student proceeds,  it will be found that each page is illuminated  by
the increased knowledge gained by study of what went before.

   No work of this kind,  dealing with the deepest phases of the Great World
Mystery that the human mind, at its present stage of development, it capable
of grasping,  can be written in such a manner that it will be light reading.
Yet  the deepest phases now comprehensible to use are but the A B C  of  the
scheme  as it will be revealed to us when our minds have become  capable  of
understanding more, in later stages of our development as Supermen.

                             THE SATURN PERIOD:

   The  Globes of the Saturn Period consisted of much rarer and  finer  sub-
stances than our Earth, as it will be evident from a study of diagrams 7 and
8, which the student is advised to keep close at hand for frequent reference
while studying this subject.  The densest Globe  of  that Period was located

[PAGE 2078]

in the same portion of the World of Thought occupied by the rarest of Globes
of the present Period--the Region of Concrete Thought.   These Globes had no
consistency  such  as we can sense.   "Warmth"  is the only  word  that  ap-
proximates  the idea of the ancient Saturn Period.   It was dark;  and if  a
person  could have entered into the space it occupied,  he would  have  seen
nothing.  All about him would have been darkness, but he would have felt its
warmth.

   To the materialist it will,  of course, seem insanity to call such a con-
dition a "Globe",  and to assert that it was the field of evolution of  Form
and Life.  Yet, when we consider the Nebular Theory, we can realize that the
nebula  must have been dark before it glowed with light,  and that  it  must
have  been  hot  before it could become fiery.   This heat  must  have  been
brought about by motion, and motion is life.

   We  may say that the virgin spirits who were to evolve consciousness  and
form were embedded in this Globe,  or perhaps better,  that the whole  Globe
was composed of virgin spirits,  as a raspberry is made of a great number of
small  raspberries.   They  were  incorporated in the  Globe,  as  the  life
ensouling  the mineral is in our Earth.   Therefore it is said among  occult
scientists that in the Saturn Period man went through the mineral stage.

   Outside  this "warmth-Globe"--in its atmosphere,  we might say--were  the
great creative Hierarchies,  who were to help the evolving virgin spirits to
develop form and consciousness.   There were many Hierarchies,  but for  the
present we shall concern ourselves with the principal ones only--those which
did the most important work of the Saturn Period.

   In the Rosicrucian terminology these are called "Lords of the Flame," be-
cause of the brilliant luminosity of their bodies and their great bodies and

[PAGE 2079]

their great spiritual powers.  They are called "Thrones"  in the Bible,  and
worked on man of their own free will.   They were so far advanced that  this
evolutionary manifestation could give them no new experiences, and therefore
no added wisdom, and the same may be said of two still higher order of Hier-
archies,  to be named later.  The rest of the creative Hierarchies, in order
to complete their own evolutions, were compelled to work  on,  in  and  with
man.

   These  Lords  of the Flame were outside the dark Saturn Globe  and  their
bodies emitted a strong light.   They, so to say,  projected their  pictures
upon the surface of that ancient Saturn Globe,  which was so  impressionable
that it reflected,  in a multiple or echo-like manner,  everything that came
in contact with it, giving back the images manifolded.  (This is told in the
Greek myth wherein it is said that Saturn destroyed his children.)

   However,  by repeated efforts during the first Revolution,  the Lords  of
the  Flame succeeded in implanting in the evolving life the germ  which  has
developed our present dense body.   This germ was somewhat developed  during
the remainder of the first six Revolutions, being given the capacity for de-
veloping the senses organs, particularly the ear.  Therefore, the ear is the
most highly developed organ we possess.  It is the instrument which  carries
with the greatest accuracy the impressions of outside conditions to the con-
sciousness.   It is less subject to the illusions of the Physical World that
the other sense organs.

   The  consciousness of the evolving life of that Period was like  that  of
the mineral of today--a state of unconsciousness similar to that attained by
mediums  in  the deepest trance--yet during the first six  Revolutions,  the
evolving life worked on the germ of the dense body under the  direction  and

[PAGE 2080]

with the help of the different creative Hierarchies.   In the  middle of the
seventh  Revolution  the Lords of the Flame,  Who had  been since  They gave
the germ of the dense  body in the first  Revolution,  again become  active,
this time to awaken the highest spiritual principle.   They aroused the ini-
tial activity of the divine spirit in man.

   Thus, man owes his highest and lowest vehicles--the divine spirit and the
dense body to the evolution of the Saturn Period.   These,  the Lords of the
Flame  of their own free will helped him to manifest,  not being  under  the
slightest compulsion to do so.

   The  work of the various creative Hierarchies is not started on Globe  A,
at the commencement of a Period or a Revolution.  It commences in the middle
of one Revolution,  growing in strength and reaching its highest  efficiency
in the middle of the Cosmic Night--which is between Revolutions,  as well as
between Periods.   Then it gradually declines, as the life wave sweeps on to
the middle of the next Revolution.

   Thus  the work of the Lords of the Flame in awakening the  germinal  con-
sciousness, was most active and efficient during the rest Period between the
Saturn and Sun Periods.

   We reiterate that a Cosmic Night is not to be regarded as a time of inac-
tivity.   It is not inert existence, as we saw in the case of the individual
passing  from  death to a new birth.   So with the great death  of  all  the
Globes of a Period.  It is a cessation of active manifestation,  that a pro-
portionately keener subjective activity may be unfolded.

   Perhaps  the best idea of the nature of this subjective activity  may  be
gained by observing what happens when a ripe fruit is buried  in the ground.

[PAGE 2081]

Fermentation and decay of the flesh sets in, but out of that chaos comes the
new plant,  sprouting forth into the air and sunshine.  So, when a Period is
past, all is resolved into conglomerate chaos, apparently incapable of being
reduced to order.   At the proper time, however,  the Globes of a new period
are formed and made ready for occupancy as man-bearing Worlds.   Hither  the
evolving life is transferred from five dark Globes which it traverses during
the Cosmic Night, to commence the activities of a new creative day in an al-
tered  environment,  prepared and externalized during the activities of  the
Cosmic Night.  As the forces of fermentation in the fruit stimulate the seed
and  fertilize  the  soil  in which it grows,  so the  Lords  of  the  Flame
stimulated the germ of divine spirit,  particularly during the Cosmic  Night
between  the Saturn and Sun Periods,  continuing their activities until  the
middle of the first Revolution of the Sun Period.

                              RECAPITULATION:

   Before the activity in any Period can be started,  there is a recapitula-
tion of all that has been gone through before.   Owing to the spiral path of
evolution,  this activity takes place each time on a higher scale  that  the
stage in progression which it rehearses.  The necessity will become apparent
when the actual work in recapitulation is described.

   The  first Revolution of any Period is a recapitulation of the work  upon
the dense body in the Saturn Period, and is spoken of among Rosicrucians  as
the "Saturn Revolution."

   The Second Period is the Sun Period,  and therefore the second Revolution
of any Period subsequent to the Sun Period would be the "Sun Revolution."

[PAGE 2082]

   The  third Period is the Moon Period,  therefore the third Revolution  of
any subsequent Period will be a recapitulation of the work done in the  Moon
Period, and is called the "Moon Revolution."

   Not until after the recapitulatory Revolutions does the proper work of  a
Period begin.   For instance,  in the present Earth Period,  we have  passed
through  three and one-half Revolutions.   That means that in the first,  or
Saturn  Revolution of the Earth Period,  the work done in the Saturn  Period
was repeated,  but on an advanced scale.  In the second,  or Sun Revolution,
the work of the Sun Period was gone through again.   In the third,  or  Moon
Revolution, the work of the Moon Period was repeated; and it was only in the
fourth--the present Revolution--the real work of the Earth Period commenced.

   In  the  last  of the seven Periods--the  Vulcan  Period--only  the  last
Revolution  will be concerned with real Vulcan work.   In the preceding  six
Revolutions  the  work  of the preceding six Periods will  have  been  reca-
pitulated.

   Moreover  (and  this will particularly help the student to  remember),  a
Saturn  Revolution  in any Period has always to do with the  development  of
some  new  feature of the dense body, because that was started  in  a  first
Revolution;  and ANY seventh,  or Vulcan Revolution,  has for its particular
work  some activity in connection with the divine spirit,  because that  was
started in a seventh Revolution.   In the same way,  we shall see that there
is  a  connection  between the different Revolutions and all the vehicles of
man.

                              THE SUN PERIOD:

   Conditions  during  the Sun Period differed radically from those  of  the
Saturn Period.  Instead of  the  "warmth-Globes"  of  the  latter,  the  Sun

[PAGE 2083]

Period  Globes were glowing light-balls,  of the consistency of gas.   These
great gasballs contained all that had been evolved in the Saturn Period, and
similarly, in the atmosphere were the creative Hierarchies.

   Instead of the echo-like, reflecting quality of the Saturn Period,  these
Globes,  to some extent, had the quality of absorbing and working over sight
or  sound  projected against their surfaces.   They,  as it  were,  "sensed"
things.   The Earth does not seem to do this,  and a materialist would scoff
at the idea,  yet the occultist knows that the Earth feels everything on and
in it.   This lighter Globe was much more sensitive that the Earth,  because
it was not limited and bound in such hard and fast conditions of materiality
as is our present habitat.

   The  life,  of course,  was different,  because no forms such as we  know
could have existed there.  But life can express itself in forms of fiery gas
as  well as--in fact better than--in forms of hard chemical matter  such  as
the present dense forms of mineral, plant, animal and man.

   As the evolving life appeared upon Globe A in the first or Saturn Revolu-
tion  of the Sun Period,  it was still in charge of the Lords of  the  Flame
who,  in the middle of the last Revolution of the Saturn Period, awakened in
man the germ of the divine spirit.

   They  had previously given the germ of the dense body and,  in the  first
half of the Saturn Revolution of the Sun Period, were concerned with certain
improvements to be made upon it.

   In  the Sun Period the formation of the vital body was to  be  commenced,
with  all thereby implied of capability for assimilation,  growth,  propaga-
tion, glands, etc.

   The Lords of the Flame incorporated in the germ of the  dense  body  only

[PAGE 2084]

the  capability of evolving sense organs.  At the time now  under  consider-
ation  it became necessary to change the germ in such a way as to  allow  of
interpenetration by a vital body,  also capability of evolving glands and an
alimentary  canal.   This was done by the joint action of the Lords  of  the
Flame,  who gave the original germ, and the Lords of Wisdom, who took charge
of material evolution in the Sun Period.

   The Lords of Wisdom,  who were not so highly evolved as the Lords of  the
Flame,  worked to complete their own evolution;  therefore they received the
assistance of an order of exalted Beings who,  like the Lords of the  Flame,
order of exalted Beings who, like the Lords of the Flame, acted of their own
free will.   In esoteric parlance they are called the Cherubim.   These  ex-
alted Beings did not, however, become active in the work until it was neces-
sary  to  awaken  the  germ  of  the  second  spiritual  principle  of   our
man-in-the-making,  as the Lords of Wisdom were quite capable of  doing  the
work connected with the vital body which was to be added to the constitution
of  man in the Sun Period,  but not of awakening the second spiritual  prin-
ciple.

   When  the Lords of the Flame and the Lords of Wisdom had,  in the  Saturn
Revolution  of the Sun Period, conjointly reconstructed the  germinal  dense
body, the Lords of Wisdom, in the second Revolution, started the proper work
of the Sun Period,  by radiating from their own bodies the germ of the vital
body,  making it capable of inter-penetrating the dense body and  giving  to
the germ the capability of furthering growth and propagation and of exciting
the sense centers of the dense body and causing it to move.  In short,  they
gave,  germinally,  to the vital body all the faculties which it is now  un-
folding  to  become  a  perfect  and pliable instrument for  the  use of the
spirit.

[PAGE 2085]

   This work occupied the second, third, fourth and fifth Revolutions of the
Sun Period.   In the sixth Revolution the Cherubim entered and awakened  the
germ  of the second aspect of the threefold spirit in man--the life  spirit.
In  the  seventh  and last Revolution the newly awakened germ  of  the  life
spirit was linked to the germinal divine spirit,  and this was still further
worked upon.

   We  remember that in the Saturn Period our consciousness was  similar  to
the  trace condition.   By the activity of the Sun Period this was  modified
until it became like the consciousness of dreamless sleep.

   Evolution in the Sun Period added to the constitution of the evolving em-
bryonic man,  the next highest and the next lowest of his present  vehicles.
As  the result of the Saturn Period he possessed a germinal dense  body  and
divine spirit.   At the end of the Sun Period he possessed a germinal  dense
body,  vital body, divine spirit and life spirit, i.e., a twofold spirit and
a twofold body.

   We also note that,  as the first, or Saturn Revolution,  of any Period is
concerned  with work in the dense body (because that was started in a  first
Revolution),  so the second,  or Sun Revolution,  of any Period is concerned
with  improvements  on the vital body,  because it was started in  a  second
Revolution.  In like manner, the sixth Revolution of any Period is dedicated
to some work on the life spirit,  and any seventh Revolution is particularly
concerned with matters connected with the divine spirit.

   In  the Saturn Period man-in-the-making went through a mineral  stage  of
existence.  That is to say, he had a dense body only in the sense as had the
mineral.  His consciousness was also similar to that of the present mineral.

[PAGE 2086]

   In the same way,  and for analogous reasons,  it may be said that in  the
Sun Period man went through the plant existence.   He had a dense body and a
vital body,  as plants have, and his consciousness, like theirs, was that of
dreamless sleep.   The student will fully grasp this analogy by referring to
diagram  4 in the chapter on the four kingdoms,  where the vehicles of  con-
sciousness  possessed by mineral,  plant, animal and man  are  schematically
shown,  with the particular consciousness resulting from their possession in
each case.

   When the Sun Period was past there came another Cosmic Night of assimila-
tion,  together with the subjective activity necessary before the opening of
the Moon Period.  This was equal in length to the preceding Period of objec-
tive manifestation.

                             THE MOON PERIOD:

   As  the  chief characteristic feature of the dark Saturn Globes  was  de-
scribed by the term "warmth,"  and that of the Sun Period Globes as  "light"
or  glowing heat,  so the chief characteristic feature of the Globes of  the
Moon Period may be best described by the term "moisture."   There was no air
such as we know.  In the center was the hot fiery core.   Next to that,  and
consequent  upon  contact with the cold of outside space,  there  was  dense
moisture.   By  contact with the fiery central core the dense  moisture  was
changed into hot steam, which rushed outward to cool,  and sink again toward
the center.  Therefore the occult scientist calls the Globes of the Moon Pe-
riod "water" and describes the atmosphere of that time as "fire-fog."   That
was the scene of the next forward step of the evolving life.

   The Moon Period work was that of acquiring  the germ of a desire body and

[PAGE 2087]

starting  the germinal activity of the third aspect of the threefold  spirit
in man--the human spirit--the Ego.

   In the middle of the seventh Revolution of the Sun Period,  the Lords  of
Wisdom took charge of the germinal life spirit given by the Cherubim in  the
sixth Revolution of the Sun Period.   They did this for the purpose of link-
ing  it  to the divine spirit.   Their greatest activity in  this  work  was
reached  in the Cosmic Night intervening between the Sun and  Moon  Periods.
In the first dawn of the Moon Period, as the life wave started upon its  new
pilgrimage,  the Lords of Wisdom reappeared,  bearing with them the germinal
vehicles of the evolving man.  In the first or Saturn Revolution of the Moon
Period,  they co-operated with the "Lords of Individuality," who had special
charge of the material evolution of the Moon Period.   Together they  recon-
structed the germ of the dense body, brought over from the Sun Period.  This
germ had unfolded embryonic sense organs,  digestive organs,  glands,  etc.,
and was inter-penetrated of life into the embryonic dense body.   Of course,
it was not solid and visible as it is now, yet in a crude sort of way it was
somewhat organized and is perfectly distinguishable to the trained clairvoy-
ant  sight of the competent investigator who searches the memory  of  nature
for scenes in that far-off past.

   In the Moon Period it was necessary to reconstruct the dense body to make
it capable of being inter-penetrated by a desire body,  and also capable  of
evolving  a nervous system,  muscle, cartilage and a  rudimentary  skeleton.
This  reconstruction was the work of the Saturn Revolution of the  Moon  Pe-
riod.

   In the second, or Sun Revolution, the vital  body  was  also  modified to

[PAGE 2088]

render it capable of being inter-penetrated by a desire body, also of accom-
modating itself to the nervous system, muscle, skeleton, etc.   The Lords of
Wisdom, who were the originators of the vital body, also helped the Lords of
Individuality with this work.

   In the third Revolution the proper Moon work commenced.  The Lords of In-
dividuality radiated from themselves the substance which they helped the un-
conscious,  evolving  man to appropriate and build into  a  germinal  desire
body.   They also helped him to incorporate this germinal desire body in the
compound  vital body and dense body which he already possessed.   This  work
was carried on all through the third and fourth Revolutions of the Moon  Pe-
riod.

   As with the Lords of Wisdom, so with the Lords of Individuality;  through
exalted  far  above man,  they worked on and in him to  complete  their  own
evolution.  While they were capable of dealing with the lower vehicle,  they
were powerless in regard to the higher.   They could not give spiritual  im-
pulse necessary to the awakening of the third aspect of the threefold spirit
in man.   Therefore another class of Beings who were beyond the necessity of
evolving in such an evolution as we are passing through--who also worked  of
their own free will, as did the Lords of the Flame and the Cherubim--came in
during  the  fifth Revolution of the Moon Period,  to help  man.   They  are
called  "Seraphim."   They  awakened the germ of the  third  aspect  of  the
spirit--the human spirit.

   In  the sixth Revolution of the Moon Period the Cherubim  reappeared  and
co-operated with the Lords of Individuality to link the newly acquired  germ
of the human spirit to life spirit.

   In the seventh Revolution of the Moon Period the Lords of the Flame again

[PAGE 2089]

came to the aid of man, helping the Lords of Individuality to link the human
spirit  to  the  divine  spirit.   Thus  the  separate  Ego--the   threefold
spirit--came into existence.

   Before the beginning of the Saturn Period the virgin spirits who are  now
man, were in the World of Virgin Spirits, and were "All-conscious" as God in
who (not from whom),  they were differentiated.   They were not "SELF"  con-
scious  however.   The attainment of that faculty is partly  the  object  of
evolution which plunges the virgin spirits into a sea of matter of gradually
increasing density which eventually shuts it from All-consciousness.

   Thus,  in the Saturn Period the virgin spirits were immersed in the World
of  Divine  Spirit and encased in the tiniest film of that  substance  which
they partially penetrated by the help of the Lords of Flame.

   In the Sun Period the virgin spirit was plunged into the denser World  of
Life Spirit and more effectively blinded to the All-consciousness by a  sec-
ond veil of the substance of the World of Life Spirit.   Still,  by the help
of the Cherubim it partially penetrated this second veil also.   The feeling
of the Oneness of All was not lost either,  for the World of Life Spirit  is
still a universal World common to and inter-penetrating all the planets of a
Solar System.

   In the Moon Period,  however,  the virgin spirits take a further dip into
the still denser matter of the Region of Abstract Thought and here the  most
opaque  of  its  veils,  the  human  spirit,   is  added.    Henceforth  the
All-consciousness of the virgin spirit is lost.   It can no longer penetrate
its  veils,  look OUTWARDS and perceive OTHERS, so it is forced to turn  its
consciousness  INWARDS and there it finds its SELF,  as the  Ego,  separated
apart from all others.

   Thus the virgin spirit is  encased  in  a  threefold  veil,  and  as  its

[PAGE 2090]

outermost veil,  the human spirit,  effectively blinds it to the oneness  of
Life,  it becomes the Ego by entertaining the illusion of separateness  con-
tracted during involution.   Evolution will gradually dissolve the illusion,
bring  back  the All-consciousness,  and Self-consciousness will  have  been
added.

   Thus  we see that at the close of the Moon Period man possessed a  three-
fold body in varying stages of development; and also the germ of the  three-
fold spirit.   He had dense, vital, and desire bodies, and divine,  life and
human spirit.  All he lacked was the link to connect them.

   It has been stated that man passed through the mineral stage in the  Sat-
urn Period;  through the plant stage in the Sun Period,  and his  pilgrimage
through the conditions of the Moon Period corresponds to the phase of animal
existence, for the same reason that the two other similes are applicable--he
had the dense,  vital,  and desire bodies, as have our present animals,  and
his consciousness was an internal picture-consciousness,  such as the  lower
animals  have today.   This resembles the dream consciousness of  man,  save
that  it is perfectly rational,  being directed by the group-spirit  of  the
animals.   The student is again referred to diagram 4 in the chapter on  the
four kingdoms, where this is shown.

   These  Moon  beings were not so purely germinal as in the previous  Peri-
ods.  To the trained clairvoyant they appear suspended by strings in the at-
mosphere of the fire-fog,  as the embryo hangs from the placenta by the  um-
bilical cord.  Currents (common to all of them), which provided some sort of
nourishment  flowed  in and out from the atmosphere,  through  those  cords.
These currents were thus,  to some extent,  similar in their function to the
blood of the present day.  The  name  "blood"  as applied to these currents,

[PAGE 2091]

however, is used merely to suggest an analogy, because the Being of the Moon
Period  possessed nothing like our present red blood,  which is one  of  the
very latest acquisitions of man.

   Towards  the  end of the Moon Period there was a division  of  the  Globe
which  was the field of our and other evolutions,  which,  for the  sake  of
greater implicity, we have not heretofore mentioned, but with which we shall
presently become acquainted.

   Part  of that great Globe was crystallized by man on account of  his  in-
ability  to keep the part which he inhabited in the high state of  vibration
maintained by the other beings there, and as this part became more inert the
centrifugal force of the revolving Globe sent is spinning into space,  where
it began to circle around the glowing fiery central portion.

   The  spiritual  reason for the throwing off of such  crystallizations  is
that the highest beings on such a Globe require for their evolution the  ex-
ceedingly rapid vibrations of fire.  They are hampered by condensation,  al-
though such a condition is necessary to the evolution of other and less  ad-
vanced beings required lower rates of vibration.   Therefore,  when part  of
any Globe has been consolidated by a group of evolving beings to the  detri-
ment of others,  that part is thrown off to exactly the proper distance from
the central mass, so that it circles as a satellite around its primary.  The
heat vibrations which strike it are of the rate and strength suitable to the
peculiar  needs of the beings evolving upon that satellite.   Of course  the
law  of gravitation accounts quite satisfactorily for the phenomenon from  a
PHYSICAL viewpoint.   But there is always a deeper cause, that yields a more
complete explanation and which we will find if  we  consider  the  spiritual

[PAGE 2092]

side  of things.   As a physical action is but the visible manifestation  of
the  invisible  thought which must precede it, so is the throwing off  of  a
planet  from a central Sun simply the visible and unavoidable effect of  in-
visible spiritual conditions.

   The  smaller  planet which was thrown off in the Moon  Period,  condensed
with comparative rapidity and remained the field of our evolution until  the
end of that Period.  It was a moon to the parent planet,  circling around it
as our Moon circles around the Earth, but it did not show phases as our Moon
does.   It revolved in such a manner that one-half was always light and  the
other always dark,  as is the case with Venus.  One of its poles was pointed
directly towards the large fiery Globe,  as one of the poles of Venus points
directly towards the Sun.

   On this satellite of the Moon Period there were currents which  encircled
it,  as the group-spirit currents encircle the Earth.   The Moon beings fol-
lowed  those currents instinctively from the light to the dark side of  this
old Moon.  At certain times of the year, when they were on the light side, a
sort of propagation took place.  We have the atavistic residue of those moon
travels from propagation in the migrations of the birds of passage which, to
the present day,  follow the group-spirit currents around the Earth at  cer-
tain  seasons of the year,  for identical purposes.   Even the (honey)  moon
trips of human beings show that man himself has not yet outgrown the  migra-
tory impulse in connection with mating.

   The Moon beings at this last stage were also capable of giving  utterance
to  sounds,  or cries.   These were Cosmic sounds--not expressions of  indi-
vidual joy or sorrow,  for as yet there was no individual.   The development
of the individual came later--in the Earth Period.

[PAGE 2093]

   At  the end of the Moon Period once more came the interval of  rest,  the
Cosmic  Night.   The divided parts were dissolved and merged in the  general
Chaos which preceded the reorganization of the Globe for the Earth Period.

   The  Lords of Wisdom had now evolved so far,  that they were  capable  of
taking  charge as the highest creative Hierarchy.   They were given  special
charge of the divine spirit in man during the Earth Period.

   The  Lords of Individuality were also sufficiently advanced to work  upon
the spirit in man and the life spirit was therefore put under their charge.

   Another  creative  Hierarchy had special care of the three germs  of  the
dense,  vital,  and desire bodies as they were evolving.  They were the ones
who,  under the direction of the higher orders,  actually did the  principal
work on these bodies, using the evolving life as a kind of instrument.  This
Hierarchy is called the "Lords of Form."  They were now evolved so far  that
they  were given charge of the third aspect of the spirit in man--the  human
spirit--in the coming Earth Period.

   There  were  twelve great Creative Hierarchies  active  in  the  work  of
evolution  at the commencement of the Saturn Period.   Two of these  Hierar-
chies did some work to help at the very beginning.   No information has been
given as to what they did, nor anything about them,  except that they helped
of their own free will,  and then withdrew from limited existence into  lib-
eration.

   Three more of the Creative Hierarchies followed them at the beginning  of
the  Earth Period,  the Lords of the Flame,  the Cherubim and the  Seraphim,
leaving seven Hierarchies in active service when  the  Earth  Period  began.

[PAGE 2094]

(Diagram  9  will give a clear idea of the twelve Creative  Hierarchies  and
their status).

                                DIAGRAM 9:

                   THE TWELVE GREAT CREATIVE HIERARCHIES:

ZODIACAL SIGN:       NAME:                               STATUS:

1]  Aries -------- Nameless ------------- The first and  second  orders  are
2]  Taurus ------- Nameless ------------- said to  have  passed  beyond  the
                                          ken  of  anyone  on  Earth.  It is
                                          known that they gave  some  assis-
                                          tance  at  the  beginning  of  our
                                          evolution.
                                The three following orders worked  of  their
                                own free will to help man during  the  three
                                periods which  preceded  the  Earth  Period.
                                They have also passed to liberation:
3]  Gemini ------- Seraphim ------------- who,  in  the Moon Period, aroused
                                          in  man-in-the-making  the germ of
                                          the human spirit--the Ego,
4]  Cancer ------- Cherubim ------------- who, in the  Sun  Period,  aroused
                                          the germ of the life spirit.
5]  Leo ---------- Lords of Flame ------- who, in the Saturn Period, aroused
                                          the germ of the divine spirit  and
                                          gave the germ of the dense body.
                                The following Seven Creative Hierarchies are
                                active in the Earth Period:
6]  Virgo -------- Lords of Wisdom ------ who,  in  the  Sun Period, started
                                          the vital body.
7]  Libra -------- Lords of Individuality-who,  in  the Moon Period, started
                                          the desire body.
8]  Scorpio ------ Lords of Form -------- who  have  special charge of human
                                          evolution in the Earth Period.
9]  Sagittarius -- Lords of Mind -------- the humanity of the Saturn Period.
10] Capricorn ---- Archangels ----------- the  humanity  of  the Sun Period.
11] Aquarius ----- Angels --------------- the humanity of the  Moon  Period.
12] Pisces ------- The Virgin Spirits --- who are the humanity of  the  pre-
                                          sent Earth Period.

[PAGE 2095]

     The Lords of Mind became experts at building bodies of "mind-stuff"  as
we  are becoming experts at building bodies of chemical matter,  and  for  a
similar reason:  The Region of Concrete Thought was the densest condition of
matter  reached  during  the Saturn Period where they  were  human  and  the
Chemical Region is the densest state to be contacted by our humanity.

     In  the Earth Period the Lords of Mind reached the  Creator-stage,  and
radiated  from themselves into our being the nucleus of material from  which
we  are now seeking to build an organized mind.   They are called "Power  of
Darkness"  by  Paul because they came from the dark Saturn Period,  and  are
considered  evil on account of the separative tendency appertaining  to  the
plan  of Reason as contrasted with the unifying forces of the World of  Life
Spirit;  the realm of Love.   The Lords of Mind work with humanity;  but not
with the three lower Kingdoms.

     The  Archangels became experts at building a body of desire-stuff:  the
densest  matter  of the Sun Period.   Therefore they are able to  teach  and
guide  such  less  evolved beings as man and animal how to mold  and  use  a
desire-body.

     The Angels are thoroughly experienced in building a vital body for  the
Moon period when they were human the ether was the densest condition of mat-
ter.   On  account of this ability they are properly the  teachers  of  man,
animal and plant with regard to the vital functions: propagation, nutrition,
etc.

Continued with file "RC1058.TXT"

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