Lesson
2: The Seventh Ray.
The Birth at Bethlehem.
The Energy of Order or Universal Law.
Color is Indigo.
Our Journey to Heaven through the wheel of The Seven Rays of
Life begins with the last ray, The Seventh Ray of Order and
Ceremonial Magic. The Lord of this ray is Saint Germain, the
great alchemist who created the Elixer of Life that conferred
immortality upon all who drank of it. But what exactly is immortality?
Are we not already immortal, being of Spirit? The only aspect
of ourselves which is not immortal is our physical body and
its daily existence on this physical plane. This physical life
is temporal. It has a beginning and, at some point in time,
will have an end. This fact is undeniable. There is nothing
we can do to change this scenario. So if we are already immortal,
what is the purpose of this temporal physical life?
It is through our physical life that we create a multitude
of experiences which allow us to understand the deeper Mysteries
of the Universe, such as Truth, Love, Joy, Birth, Death, Creation,
Transmutation, Cause and Effect, Relationships, and Divine Union.
In order for us to begin to perceive these Mysteries, we must
first work on and ultimately master our ability to see what
is Real. Remember, we live in a world of duality – Truth and
illusion, positive and negative, good and evil. At some point
in our life, we must exercise our sheer will to seek out and
discover that which is only Truth. This requires a skill of
great discernment, whose promptings come from our Higher Self
through the Intuition. Without the Intuition, we are lost. That
is why it is most important to bring the Intuition on line through
listening to that small still voice instead of our logical mind.
And if we listen to our Intuition, what is it that we will discover?
The answer is: The Absolute Truth of All Things.
How do we begin this process? What is our first step toward
Illumination of the Mysteries of the Universe? This is where
The Seventh Ray of Order and Ceremonial Magic comes into our
lives. Many call this ray, the Violet Ray of Transmutation but
in truth, this ray is Indigo in color. It has the capacity of
creating order from the chaos of duality in our lives. This
ray initiates a process of sorting what is real from that which
is illusion. It is only through Order that the fundamental premises
of this physical life can be revealed. Through this Order, life
becomes simpler and our vision becomes less obscure. We begin
to see things for what they truly represent. It is then that
we can begin to answer the critical questions of this life,
namely:
Who am I?
Why am I here?
Where did I come from?
Where am I going?
What is my purpose in life?
The Seventh Ray brings freedom from the control of the physical
body and its appetites. We are no longer driven by the desires
of our five senses. Much of our activity up until this time
has been spent satisfying the desires of our physical body.
Our freed attention now turns to those things which are more
spiritual in nature, things which are immortal, things which
are Truth. When the illusions fully fall away, there remains
only Truth. With this Truth, we can begin to create, for the
first time, a life which has satisfying meaning, a life which
is abundant in all things, a life which is full of Love and
Joy, and a life which fully embraces the Divine within ourselves
and others.
This is where Ceremonial Magic enters the picture. In the
tarot, Card I of the Major Arcana is the Magician This is a
person that has learned to control the physically based instincts
in man, the emotional nature of selfish desires, and the mental
nature of judgement and separation. The Magician has overcome
the desire to live for self alone and lives his life for the
advancement of all humanity. This unity consciousness allows
the Magician to tap into the powers of this Earth and control
the four elements of manifestation, namely earth, water, air
and fire. It is this principal energy that the Magician wields,
the Indigo Ray, that we now call into our lives to assist us
in the process of overcoming our instinctual nature of selfishness
and separation. This ray will move us toward a unity consciousness
with both the Above and the Below. As we become One with all
people and things around us, we too will move into the role
as the Magician and will be able to direct the powers of this
Earth to create all that is beautiful and blessed.
This incoming Seventh Ray always produces an intensified period
of initiatory activity. The major effect is that we can experience
the birth of Christ within ourselves and can realize that the
Christ life, the Christ nature, and the Christ consciousness
is ours. This "new birth" within ourselves takes place
in Bethlehem ("house of bread"), an occult term signifying
physical plane of existence. A new orientation to life and a
new world of thought are registered by us. Overall, the standard
of living will increasingly be adjusted to the Truth as it exists
in the teachings of the Christ.
The life of the personality, oriented to the attaining of material
and purely selfish ends, will be at war with the new and inner
realizations. The "carnal" aspect will be battling
the spiritual aspect within us – each aspect seeking to achieve
control. In the early stages, after the "birth" and
during the "infancy of the Christ-Child", the material
aspect is triumphant. Later, the Christ life triumphs. This
you well know. Each step along the Path of Return indicates
a stage in the growth and development of this new factor in
human consciousness and expression. This growth continues until
the Third Step when there emerges the "full-grown disciple
in Christ". We are then ready at the Fifth Step to register,
realize, and record the long awaited revelation.
The Seventh Ray is the medium of relationship. Its major function
is to bring together the negative and positive aspects of the
natural processes. It brings together the two fundamental aspects
of spirit and matter. It relates soul and form as well as soul
and personality. In Step 1, this ray makes the disciple aware
of these relationships and, through the process of merging duality,
we are able to produce upon the physical plane the manifestation
of the "new human". The personality and the over-shadowing
soul are consciously brought together to form a soul-infused
personality. Our task is now to grow into the likeness of what
essentially is.
The Seventh Ray governs the sacral center and the sublimation
of its energy into the throat and into the higher creative center.
This Ray is setting in motion tremendous creative activity through
the stimulation brought about when soul and form are consciously
related. Devotion to objects will eventually be superseded by
the creation of that which will more truly express the Real
as we are "led from the unreal to the Real".
The Seventh Ray energy is the energy needed to bring order
out of chaos and rhythm to replace disorder. It is this energy
which will bring in the New World for which humanity awaits.
It will restore the ancient landmarks, indicate new institutions
and forms of cultures which human progress demands, and nurture
the new states of consciousness which advanced humanity will
increasingly register. Nothing can arrest this activity. All
that is happening today as humanity searches for the new ways,
for organized unity and peace, is being implemented through
the incoming Ray of Order or Ceremonial Magic. The manifestation
of right human relationships through Truth, Love, Peace, Right
Conduct, and Non-violence cannot be stopped. It must inevitably
demonstrate effectively because the energy of this Seventh Ray
is present. And in the end, as Jesus the Christ foretold so
long ago, each of us will love thy neighbor as thyself.
The Attributes of the Seventh Ray
"I seek to bring the two together. The plan is in my hands.
How shall I work? Where lay the emphasis? In the far distance
stands the One Who Is. Here at my hand is form, activity, substance,
and desire. Can I relate these and fashion thus a form for God?
Where shall I send my thought, my power the word that I can
speak?
I, at the center, stand, the worker in the field of magic.
I know some rules, some magical controls, some Words of Power,
some forces which I can direct. What shall I do? Danger there
is. The task that I have undertaken is not easy of accomplishment,
yet I love power. I love to see the forms emerge, created by
my mind, and do their work, fulfill the plan and disappear.
I can create. The rituals of the Temple of the Lord are known
to me. How shall I work?
Love not the work. Let love of God's eternal Plan control your
life, your mind, your hand, your eye. Work towards the unity
of plan and purpose which must find its lasting place on Earth.
Work with the Plan; focus upon your share in that great work.
The word goes forth from soul to form: ‘Stand in the center
of the pentagram, drawn upon that high place in the East within
the light which ever shines. From that illumined center work.
Leave not the pentagram. Stand steady in the midst. Then draw
a line from that which is without to that which is within and
see the Plan take form.' "
The task to be carried out and the nature of the work to be
done by us is to produce those forms on Earth which will embody
the spirit of God and, in our particular time, this necessitates
the building of new forms. We must create an alignment with
the Above and the Below (with spirit and matter) which will
result in a tremendous inflow of power, of energy from both
the aligned points, from both directions, converging upon us,
as we stand in the midway place. We must stand steady at the
center within the pentagram, and there suffer until the light
in the East rises upon our darkness, discovering us still at
the midway point. Then comes the revelation of the Plan, for
this has ever to be the motivating power of the Seventh Ray
disciple.
We work on earth, upon the outer plane of manifestation, with
the construction of those forms through which the Divine Will
can express itself. In the field of religion, we work in collaboration
with the second and sixth ray disciples. In the field of government,
we labor, building those forms which will enable the first ray
activity to be expressed. In the field of business, we cooperate
with third ray energies and the executives of the Plan. In the
field of science, we aid and assist fifth ray workers. We are
the expression of the builder, and the creator, bringing into
outer manifestation God's Plan. We begin, however, with ourselves
and seek to bring into expression the plan of the soul into
our own setting and worldly situation. Until we can do this,
we are unable to stand in the East within the pentagram.
It is occultly said that the pentagram is open and a place
of danger when we know not order within our own life, and when
the ritual of the soul is not imposed and its rhythm not obeyed.
The pentagram is closed when order is restored and the ritual
of the Master is imposed. If we enter through the open pentagram,
we die. If we pass over into the closed pentagram, we live.
If we transmute the pentagram into a ring of fire, we serve
the Plan.
Special Virtues Strength, perseverance, courage, courtesy,
extreme care in details, self-reliance.
Vices of the Ray Formalism, bigotry, pride, narrowness, superficial
judgments, self-opinion over-indulged.
Virtues to be acquired Realization of unity, wide-mindedness,
tolerance, humility, gentleness and love.
A disciple on the Seventh Ray is absolutely determined to do
the right thing and say the right word at the right moment;
hence great social success.
The Direction of the Seventh Ray
"Under an arch between two rooms, the seventh Magician
stood. One room was full of light and life and power, of stillness
which was purpose and a beauty which was space. The other room
was full of movement, a sound of great activity, a chaos without
form, of work which had no true objective. The eyes of the Magician
were fixed on chaos. He liked it not. His back was towards the
room of vital stillness. He knew it not. The arch was tottering
overhead....
He murmured in despair: ‘For ages I have stood and sought to
solve the problem of this room; to rearrange the chaos so that
beauty might shine forth, and the goal of my desire. I sought
to weave these colors into a dream of beauty, and to harmonize
the many sounds. Achievement lacks. Naught but my failure can
be seen. And yet I know there is a difference between that which
I can see before my eyes and that which I begin to sense behind
my back. What shall I do?
Above the head of the Magician, and just behind his back, and
yet within the room of ordered beauty, a magnet vast began to
oscillate.... It caused the revolution of the man, within the
arch, which tottered to a future fall. The magnet turned him
around until he faced the scene and room, unseen before....
Then through the center of his heart the magnet poured its
force attractive. The magnet poured its force repulsive. It
reduced the chaos until its forms no longer could be seen. Some
aspects of beauty, unrevealed before, emerged. And from the
room a light shone forth and, by its powers and life, forced
the Magician to move forward into light, and leave the arch
of peril."
Know where we stand? Do we realize what we have to do? As we
strive to enter into Light, let us count no price too great
to pay for that revelation.
