The Lords of the Flame

«The average occult student… is aware that the juncture of Spirit-matter and mind, or manas, was effected during the third root-race, and that the definitely human family became present upon earth from that date. He knows that this was brought about by the coming, in bodily Presence, of certain great Entities, and he has learned that these Entities came from the Venusian chain, that They achieved the necessary juncture, undertook the government of the planet, founded the occult Hierarchy, and that—though some remain with the chain—the remainder have returned to Their originating source. This in many ways sums up the totality of the present knowledge.» (A. A. Bailey – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire /386)

In light of today’s conjunction of «that stupendous Source of our entire planetary life, the sun Sirius, and… the Lodge of Divine Beings Who work from this heavenly Centre.» (A. A. Bailey – Rays and the Initiations /687) with the planet Venus, “the Earth’s alter ego”, which «in an occult sense… is to the Earth what the higher Self is to man.» (A. A. Bailey – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire /298), this article is dedicated to those spiritual Beings known as the Lords of the Flame.

«Lords of the Flame [one of the many terms found in occult texts to refer to these spiritual beings: the Agnishvatta, Solar Angels or Solar Pitris, Manasadeva or Manasa Dhyani]. One of the great Hierarchies of spiritual beings who guide the solar system. They took control of the evolution of humanity upon this planet about 18 million years ago, during the middle of the Lemurian, or third root race. (A. A. Bailey – Initiation, Human and Solar /220)

«Man becomes a conscious human being through the instrumentality of the Lords of the Flame, through Their enduring sacrifice.» (A. A. Bailey – Initiation, Human and Solar /19)

In the Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky the role and contribution of these spiritual Beings to the Intellectual evolution of humankind are described as follows:

«[…] there exists in Nature a triple evolutionary scheme, for the formation of the three periodical Upâdhis*; or rather three separate schemes of evolution, which in our system are inextricably interwoven and interblended at every point.
_____________
* Upâdhi (Sk.) – Basis; the vehicle, carrier or bearer of something less material than itself: as the human body is the upâdhi of its spirit, ether the upâdhi of light, etc.; a mould; a defining or limiting substance. [H. P. Blavatsky – Theosophical Glossary]
_____________

These are the Monadic (or Spiritual), the Intellectual, and the Physical evolutions. These three are the finite aspects or the reflections on the field of Cosmic Illusion of Atma, the seventh, the One Reality. Questi sono l’Evoluzione Monadica (o Spirituale), quella Intellettuale e quella Fisica.

1. The Monadic is, as the name implies, concerned with the growth and development into still higher phases of activity of the Monad in conjunction with:
2. The Intellectual, represented by the Mânasa-Dhyânis (the Solar Devas, or the Agnishwatta Pitris) the “givers of intelligence and consciousness” to man and:
3. The Physical, represented by the Chhâyâs of the lunar Pitris, round which Nature has concreted the present physical body. This body serves as the vehicle for the “growth” (to use a misleading word) and the transformations through Manas and – owing to the accumulation of experiences – of the finite into the Infinite, of the transient into the Eternal and Absolute.

_____________
* Chhâyâ (Sk.) – “Shade” or “ Shadow”… Chhâyâ is the astral image of a person in esoteric philosophy. [H. P. Blavatsky – Theosophical Glossary]
_____________

Each of these three systems has its own laws, and is ruled and guided by different sets of the highest Dhyânis or Logoi. Each is represented in the constitution of man, the Microcosm of the great Macrocosm; and it is the union of these three streams in him which makes him the complex being he now is.

Nature, the physical evolutionary Power, could never evolve intelligence unaided; she can only create “senseless forms” […]. The Lunar Monads cannot progress, for they have not yet had sufficient touch with the forms created by “Nature” to allow of their accumulating experiences through its means. It is the Mânasa-Dhyânis who fill up the gap, and they represent the evolutionary power of Intelligence and Mind, the link between Spirit and Matter – in this Round*.» (H. P. Blavatsky – The Secret Doctrine I – Cosmogenesis)
____________
*Round – The following tabulation should be borne in mind:
Seven branch races make     one subrace
Seven subraces make     one rootrace
Seven rootraces make     one world period
Seven world periods make     one round
Seven rounds make     one chain period
Seven chain periods make     one planetary scheme
Ten planetary schemes make     one solar system
[A. A. Bailey – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire /63]
____________

The impress to be set by the first Ray upon our human family on this globe occurred during the phase known as «human individualisation in the middle of the third rootrace. This was produced by a vast destruction of the forms we call animal-man. This point has seldom been brought out in teaching. The advent of the Lords of the Flame, the electrical storm which ushered in the period of man, was distinguished by disaster, chaos, and the destruction of many in the third kingdom of nature. The spark of mind was implanted and the strength of its vibration, and the immediate effect of its presence caused the death of the animal form, thus producing the immediate possibility of the newly vitalised causal bodies vibrating to such purpose that new physical vehicles were taken. That was the Will aspect manifesting in the fourth round in connection with the human family.» (A. A. Bailey – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire /425)

Individualisation – The work of the Solar Angels

«Let us briefly consider the general construction of the body of the Ego enumerating its component parts and bearing in mind that the form is ever prepared prior to occupancy. From the study of this body, we can get some idea of, and some light upon macrocosmic Individualisation.

The causal body, called sometimes (though inaccurately) the “karana sarira”, has its place on the third subplane of the mental plane, the lowest abstract plane, and the one whereon the Ray of the third Logos provides the necessary “light for construction”. (This is because each subplane comes specially under the influence of its Number, Name, or Lord).

When the hour strikes and the vehicles for buddhi* are to be co-ordinated certain great Beings, Lords of the Flame, or Manasadevas, through driving external force, come in conjunction with the material of that subplane, and vitalise it with Their Own energy. They form a new and positive impulse which co-ordinates the material of the plane and produces a temporary balancing of forces. Hence the meaning of the “white”, or transparent condition of the new causal body. It remains with the new-born ego first to upset the equilibrium, and then to regain it, at the close of the process, producing a radiant form, full of primal colours.»
_____________
* Buddhi. The Universal Soul or Mind. It is the spiritual soul in man (the Sixth Principle) and therefore the vehicle of Atma, the Spirit, which is the Seventh Principle. [A. A. Bailey – Initiation, Human and Solar /217]
_____________

«[…] the method of individualisation through the coming in of the Lords of the Flame… is the prime method in this solar system; whatever methods may be pursued in the varying schemes and chains*, this—at the middle stage—is the universal rule. Karmic conditions having to do with a planetary Logos may effect modifications, and bring into action manasadevas whose activity may not be the same in working detail, but the results are ever similar, and the divine Egos in their causal bodies have analogous instruments to work through…»
_____________
* Chain—a series of seven globes or worlds which form the field of evolution during the planetary cycle or manvantara. [A. A. Bailey – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire /383]
_____________

«[…] the work of the Agnishvattas on the mental plane resulted in a downflow of force or energy from the Monad (or Spirit) and this, in conjunction with the energy of the lower quaternary produced the appearance of the body of the Ego on the mental plane. In ordinary electric light, we have a faint illustration of the thought I seek to convey. By the approximation of the two polarities, light is created. By an analogous type of electrical phenomena, the light of the Monad shines forth, but we have to extend the idea to the subtler planes, and deal with seven types of force or energy in connection with the one polarity and with four in connection with the other. A scientific formula for the process of individualisation conveys this dual approximation with its differing types of energy in one symbol and a number, but it cannot here be revealed.

The Manasadevas are themselves energised by force from the cosmic mental plane—a force which has been in operation ever since the individualisation of the solar Logos in kalpas* far distant. They, in Their corporate nature, embody the will or purpose of the Logos, and are the cosmic “prototypes” of our solar Angels.»
_____________
* Kalpa – A single day in the long life of Brahma is called a Kalpa; and a Kalpa is the time that elapses between a conjunction of all the planets on the horizon of Lanka [The Bhagavat Purāna identifies Lanka or Ceylon as the summit of Mount Meru – (H. P. Blavatsky – Theosophical Glossary)], at the first degree of Aries, and the recurrence of the same conjunction. [A. A. Bailey – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire /40]
_____________

«The solar Angels on the mental plane of the system embody as much of that will and purpose as the Logos can work through in one single incarnation and as They, in Their groups, can develop. They work, therefore, through egoic groups and primarily, after individualisation, upon the mental units of the separated identities who go to the constituency of the groups. This is Their secondary work. Their work in part might be described as follows:

Primarily, they bring about the union of the divine Ego and the lower personal self. […]

Secondly, they work through the mental units, impressing upon the atom that portion, microscopic as it may be, of the logoic purpose which the individual can work out on the physical plane. At first their influence is unconsciously assimilated, and the man responds to the plan blindly and ignorantly. Later, as evolution proceeds, their work is recognised by the man in a conscious co-operation with the plan of evolution. After the third initiation, the will or purpose aspect predominates.

It might here be noted that it is the positive force of the Manasadevas that produces initiation. Their function is embodied by the Hierophant. He, seeing before Him the vehicle for buddhi, passes the voltage from the higher planes through His body, and by means of the Rod (charged with positive manasic force) transmits this higher manasic energy to the initiate so that he is enabled to know consciously and to recognise the plan for his group-centre through the immensely increased stimulation. This force descends from the manasic permanent atom via the antaskarana and is directed to whichever centre the Hierophant—under the Law—sees should be stimulated. He stabilises the force, and regulates its flow as it circulates throughout the egoic Lotus, so that when the work of unfoldment is accomplished the sixth principle at the Heart of the Lotus can stand revealed.

After each initiation the Lotus is more unfolded and light from the centre begins to blaze forth—a light or fire which ultimately burns through the three enshrining petals, and permits the full inner glory to be seen, and the electric fire of spirit to be manifested. As this is brought about on the second subplane of the mental plane (whereon the egoic lotus is now situated) a corresponding stimulation takes place in the dense substance which forms the petals or wheels of the centres on the astral and etheric levels.» (A. A. Bailey – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire /708-14)

The content of the causal body

«Just what do you mean when you speak of the causal body? Say not glibly, the body of causes, for words thus spoken are oft but nebulous and vague.

Let us now consider the causal body and find out its component parts.

On the involutionary path you have what is termed the Group Soul, aptly described (as far as earth words permit) as a collection of triads, enclosed in a triple envelop of monadic essence. On the evolutionary path, groups of causal bodies correspond and are similarly composed, three factors entering in.

The causal body is a collection of permanent atoms, three in all, enclosed in an envelop of mental essence…. What happens at the moment when animal-man becomes a thinking entity, a human being?  The approximation of the self and the not-self by means of mind, for man is “that being in whom highest spirit and lowest matter are linked together by intelligence”.

What do I mean by this phrase? Just this: that when animal-man had reached a point of adequacy; when his physical body was sufficiently co-ordinated, when he had an emotional or desire nature sufficiently strong to form a basis for existence, and to guide it by means of instinct, and when the germ of mentality was sufficiently implanted to have donated the instinctive memory and correlation of ideas that can be seen in the average domesticated animal, then the descending Spirit (which had taken to itself an atom on the mental plane) judged the time ripe for taking possession of the lower vehicles. The Lords of the Flame were called in and they effected the transfer of polarisation from the lower atom of the Triad to the lowest atom of the Personality. Even then, the indwelling Flame could come no lower than the third subplane of the mental plane. There the two met and became one and the causal body was formed. All in nature is interdependent, and the indwelling Thinker cannot control in the three lower worlds without the aid of the lower self. The life of the first Logos must be blended with that of the second Logos and based on the activity of the third Logos.

Therefore, you have at the moment of individualisation, which is the term used to express this hour of contact, on the third subplane of the mental plane a point of light, enclosing three atoms, and itself enclosed in a sheath of mental matter.

The work then to be done consists of:

1. Causing that point of light to become a flame, by steadily fanning the spark and feeding the fire.
2. Causing the causal body to grow and expand from being a colourless ovoid, holding the Ego like a yolk within the egg-shell, to a thing of rare beauty, containing within itself all the colour of the rainbow. This is an occult fact. The causal body will palpitate in due course of time with an inner irradiation, and an inner glowing flame that will gradually work its way from the centre to the periphery. It will then pierce through that periphery, using the body (that product of millennia of lives of pain and endeavour) as fuel for its flames. It will burn all up, it will mount upward to the Triad, and (becoming one with that Triad) will be re-absorbed into the spiritual consciousness,—will carry with it—using heat as the symbol—an intensity of heat or quality of colour or vibration that before were lacking. Therefore the work of the Personality—for we have to view all from that angle until egoic vision may be ours,—is first to beautify, build and expand the causal body; secondly to withdraw within it the life of the Personality, sucking the good out of the personal life and storing it in the body of the Ego. We might term this the Divine Vampirism, for always evil is but the other side of good. Then, having accomplished this, comes the application of the flame to the causal body itself and the joyous standing by whilst the work of destruction goes on, and the Flame—the live inner man and the spirit of divine life—is set free and mounts to its source.» (A. A. Bailey – Letters on Occult Meditation /29-31)