Evil can not be defeated without an understanding of what it is and what it relies on, the conditions which promote its growth. This knowledge can enable us, collectively, to bring about its defeat and to “seal the door where evil dwells”. Below will be found some of this knowledge. Much to think about here! Completed rebuild on 2/19/25.

 The Hierarchy thus took advantage of the discriminative faculty of mind, which is the distinctive quality of humanity, to enable him, through the balancing of the pairs of opposites, to reach his goal, and to find his way back to the source from whence he came.
 This decision led to that great struggle which distinguished the Atlantean civilization, and which culminated in the destruction called the flood, referred to in all the Scriptures of the world. The forces of light, and the forces of darkness, were arrayed against each other, and this for the helping of humanity. The struggle still persists, and the World War through which we have just passed was a recrudescence of it. On every side in that World War two groups were to be found, those who fought for an ideal as they saw it, for the highest that they knew, and those who fought for material and selfish advantage. In the struggle of these influential idealists or materialists many were swept in who fought blindly and ignorantly, being thus overwhelmed with racial karma and disaster.
Initiation, Human and Solar by Alice Bailey, p. 35.

 Let us now specify and enumerate certain dangers that must be guarded against by the man who progresses in meditation. Some of them are due to one cause and some to another, and we shall have to specify with accuracy.
 1––Dangers inherent in the Personality of the pupil. They can, as you foresee, be grouped under the three heads:––physical dangers, emotional dangers, and mental dangers.
 2––Dangers arising from the karma of the pupil, and from his environment. These also may be enumerated under three divisions:
  a––The karma of his present life, his own individual "ring-pass-not," as represented by his present life.
  b––His national heredity and instincts as, for instance, whether he possesses an occidental or an oriental type of body.
  c––His group affiliations, whether exoteric or esoteric.
 3––Dangers arising from the subtle forces that you ignorantly call evil; such dangers consist in attack on the pupil by extraneous entities on some one plane. These entities may simply be discarnate human beings; they may be the denizens of the other planes who are nonhuman; later on, when the student is of sufficient importance to attract notice, the attack may come from those who deal purely with matter to the hindrance of spiritual growth,––the black magicians, the dark brothers, and other forces that appear destructive. This appearance is only such when viewed from the angle of time and in our three worlds, and is but incidental to the fact that our Logos Himself is also evolving, and (from the standpoint of the infinitely greater Ones Who assist Him in His development) it is dependent upon His transitory imperfections. The imperfections of nature––as we term them––are the imperfections of the Logos, and will eventually be transcended.
Letters on Occult Meditation by Alice Bailey, pp. 91-2.

The Kinds of Obsessing Entities.

These are too numerous to mention in detail but I might enumerate a few.
 1––Discarnate entities of a low order awaiting incarnation, and who see, in cases one and two, their wanted opportunity.
 2––Suicides, anxious to undo the deed and to again get into contact with earth.
 3––Earth-bound spirits, good and bad, who from anxiety over loved ones, over their business affairs, or eager to do some wrong or to undo some evil act, rush in and take possession of cases one and two.
 4––Dark Brothers as aforesaid, who avail themselves principally of the third and fourth cases already cited. They require highly developed bodies, having no use for weak or unrefined bodies. In case three the weakness is entirely relative, due to over-accentuation of the mental vehicle.
 5––Elementals and subhuman entities of a malicious nature who rush in on the slightest opportunity and where kindred vibration may be felt.
 6––Some of the lower devas, harmless but mischievous who, from sheer freakishness and fun, enter another body in much the same way that a child loves to dress up.
 7––Occasional visitors from other planets who enter certain highly evolved bodies for purposes of their own. This is very, very rare....
p. 126.

The Dark Brotherhood.

 Today I seek to speak to you on the powers of the Dark Brotherhood. Certain laws that govern their actions, certain methods employed by them in work need to be realized and certain methods of protection apprehended and utilised. As before I have told you the danger is as yet inappreciable to the majority, but more and more as time elapses shall we find it necessary to teach you, the physical plane workers, how to shield and guard yourselves from attack.
 The Dark Brothers are––remember this always––brothers, erring and misguided yet still sons of the one Father though straying far, very far, into the land of distances. The way back for them will be long, but the mercy of evolution inevitably forces them back along the path of return in cycles far ahead. Anyone who over-exalts the concrete mind and permits it continuously to shut out the higher, is in danger of straying on the left-hand path. Many so stray... but come back, and then in the future avoid like errors in the same way as a child once burnt avoids the fire. It is the man who persists in spite of warning and of pain who eventually becomes a brother of darkness. Mightily fights the Ego at first to prevent the Personality so developing, but the deficiencies of the causal body (for forget not that our vices are but our virtues misused) result in a lop-sided causal body, over-developed in some direction and full of great gulfs and gaps where virtues should be.
 The dark brother recognizes no unity with his species, only seeing in them people to be exploited for the furtherance of his own ends. This then, on a small scale, is the mark of those who are being used by them wittingly or unwittingly. They respect no person, they regard all men as fair prey, they use everyone to get their own way enforced, and by fair means or foul they seek to break down all opposition and for the personal self acquire that which they desire.
 The dark brother considers not what suffering he may cause; he cares not what agony of mind he brings upon an opponent; he persists in his intention and desists not from the hurt of any man, woman or child, provided that in the process his own ends are furthered. Expect absolutely no mercy from those opposing the Brotherhood of Light.
 On the physical plane and on the emotional plane, the dark brother has more power than the Brother of the Light,––not more power per se but more apparent power, because the White Brothers choose not to exert Their power on those two planes, as do the Dark Brothers. They could exert Their authority but They choose to refrain, working with the powers of evolution and not of involution. The elemental forces to be found on these two planes are manipulated by two factors.
 a––The inherent forces of evolution that direct all on to eventual perfection. The White Adepts co-operate in this.
 b––The Dark Brothers who occasionally employ these elemental forces to wreak their will and vengeance on all opponents. Under their control work sometimes the elementals of the earth plane, the gnomes and the elemental essence as found in evil form, some of the brownies, and the fairy folk of colours brown, grey and sombre-hued. They cannot control the devas of high development, nor the fairies of colours blue, green and yellow, though a few of the red fairies can be made to work under their direction. The water elementals (though not the sprites or sylphs) move on occasion to their assistance, and in the control of these forces of involution they at times damage the furtherance of our work.
 Oft too the Dark Brother masquerades as an agent of the light, oft he poses as a messenger of the gods, but for your assurance I would say that he who acts under the guidance of the Ego will have clear vision, and will escape deception.
 At this time their power is ofttimes mighty. Why? Because so much exists as yet in the Personalities of all men that respond to their vibration, and so it is easy for them to affect the bodies of men. So few of the races, comparatively speaking, have as yet built in the higher vibration that responds to the key-note of the Brotherhood of Light, who move practically entirely on the two highest levels (or the atomic and sub-atomic subplanes) of the mental, emotional and physical planes. When moving on these subplanes the attacks of elementals on lower planes may be felt but effect no harm, hence the necessity of pure living and controlled pure emotions and elevated thought.
 You will notice that I said that the power of the Dark Brotherhood is dominant apparently on the physical and emotional planes. Not so is it on the mental, which is the plane on which the Brothers of the Light work. Mighty dark magicians may be located on the lower mental levels, but on the higher, the White Lodge dominates, the three higher subplanes being the levels that They beg the evolving sons of men to seek; it is Their region, to which all must strive and aspire. The Dark Brother impresses his will on human beings (if analogous vibration exists) and on the elemental kingdoms of involution. The Brothers of Light plead as pleaded the Man of Sorrows for an erring humanity to rise upward to the light. The Dark Brother retards progress and shapes all to his own ends; the Brother of Light bends every effort to the hastening of evolution and––foregoing all that might be His as the price of achievement––stays amid the fogs, the strife, the evil and the hatred of the period if, in so doing, He may by all means aid some, and (lifting them up out of the darkness of earth) set their feet upon the Mount, and enable them to surmount the Cross.
 And now what methods may be employed to safeguard the worker in the field of the world? What can be done to ensure his safety in the present strife and in the greater strife of the coming centuries?
 1––A realization that purity of all the vehicles is the prime essential. If a Dark Brother gains control over any man it but shows that that man has in his life some weak spot. The door whereby entrance is effected must be opened by the man himself; the opening whereby malignant force can be poured in must be caused by the occupant of the vehicles. Therefore the need of scrupulous cleanliness of the physical body, of clean steady emotion permitted in the emotional body, and of purity of thought in the mental body. When this is so, coordination will be present in the lower vehicles and the indwelling Thinker himself permits no entrance.
 2––The elimination of all fear. The forces of evolution vibrate more rapidly than those of involution and in this fact lies a recognizable security. Fear causes weakness; weakness causes a disintegration; the weak spot breaks and a gap appears, and through that gap evil force may enter. The factor of entrance is the fear of the man himself, who opens thus the door.
 3––A standing firm and unmoved, no matter what occurs. Your feet may be bathed in the mud of earth, but your head may be bathed in the sunshine of the higher regions. Recognition of the filth of earth involves not contamination.
 4––A recognition of the use of common-sense and the application of this common-sense to the matter in hand. Sleep much and, in sleeping, learn to render the body positive; keep busy on the emotional plane and achieve the inner calm. Do naught to overtire the body physical, and play whenever possible. In hours of relaxation comes the adjustment that obviates later tension.
pp. 133-8.

 As may be imagined, the calling of either the devas or the elementals can only be safely undertaken by one who has the power to utilize them wisely when called, hence the mantrams we have enumerated above are only put into the hands of those who are on the side of the constructive forces of the system, or who can constructively control the destructive elements, bending them into line with the disintegrating forces that are themselves part of the great constructive scheme. Should anyone––not thus capable––be able to contact the devas, and, through the use of mantrams gather them to him, he would find that the force they carry would descend on him as a destructive one, and serious consequences might result in one or other of his bodies.
 Think this out, therefore, remembering that those dangers would lie along the line of over-stimulation, of sudden shattering, and of disintegration through fire or heat. Should he gather involutionary lives around him the dangers would be different or rather would demonstrate in the opposite effect,––such as loss of vitality due to vampirism, a sucking out of the forces of one or another of his bodies, an abnormal building in of material into some one body (due to the action of such involutionary lives as the physical or desire elementals), and death through water, earth or fire, understood in an occult sense.
 I have dealt here with the risks run by anyone who calls within his magnetic radius either of these two groups, without possessing the necessary knowledge to protect, to control and to use. Why have I dealt with this subject at all? Because these magic forms exist, and will be used and known when the student is ready, and the work requires it. Some day the lesser forms will be gradually given out to those who have prepared themselves and who unselfishly work for the helping of the race. As I said earlier, they were known in Atlantean days. They led to dire results at that time, for they were used by those of unclean life, for selfish ends and evil purpose. They called the elemental hosts to perpetuate their vengeance on their enemies; they called the lesser devas, and utilized their powers to further their ambitions; they sought not to cooperate with the law, but to wield that law for physical plane schemes which originated in their desires. The ruling Hierarchy deemed the danger too great, for the evolution of men and devas was threatened, so They withdrew gradually from the human consciousness the knowledge of the formulas and Words until such a time as the reason was developed somewhat, and the spiritual mind showed signs of awakening. In this way the two great evolutions, and the latent third evolution (composed of involutionary lives) were separated and shut off from each other. Temporarily the whole scale of vibration was slowed down, for the original purpose had been a parallel development. The secret of this apparent setting back of the plans of the Logos lies hid in the remnants of active cosmic Evil that had found their way into manifestation,––a remnant of the first or activity solar system, and the basis of this, the love system. Evil is but the sediment of unfinished karma and has its root in ignorance.
 This separation on a threefold scale of the evolving and the involving lives has continued up to date. With the coming in of this seventh Ray of Ceremonial Magic, a tentative approximation of the two evolving groups is to be somewhat permitted, though not as yet with the involving group. Remember this statement. The deva and human evolution will, during the next five hundred years, become somewhat more conscious of each other, and be able therefore more freely to cooperate. With this growing consciousness will be found a seeking after methods of communication. When the need of communication for constructive ends is sincerely felt, then, under the judicious guidance of the Masters, will certain of the old mantrams be permitted circulation. Their action, interaction and reaction will be closely studied and watched. It is hoped that the benefit to both groups will be mutual. The human evolution should give strength to the deva, and the deva, joy to the human. Man should communicate to the devas the objective point of view, while they in turn will pour in on him their healing magnetism. They are the custodians of prana, magnetism and vitality, just as man is the custodian of the fifth principle, or manas. I have given several hints here and more is not possible.
pp. 180-3.

 The first postulate to remember in considering the collective use of form in meditation is that those forms, in employing sound and rhythm, should open up a funnel of communication between those taking part in them and the Intelligences or Powers they are seeking to approach. By the means of this funnel which penetrates from the physical to the emotional, or still higher to one or other of the mental levels, the Intelligences or Powers are enabled to pour forth illuminating light or power of some kind or other into those who thus approach Them. The funnel forms a channel whereby the contact can be made. The whole process is purely scientific and is based on vibration, and on a knowledge of dynamics. It is dependent upon the accurate formation, through occult knowledge, of a vacuum. The occult statement that "Nature abhors a vacuum" is entirely true. When through the correct intoning of certain sounds, this vacuum or empty funnel between the higher and the lower is formed, force or power of some manifestation of fohatic energy pours into the funnel under the inevitable working of the law, and, via that funnel, reaches its objective.
 It is on the misuse of this knowledge that much of what we call black art or evil magic is based. By means of invocation and forms the Dark Brothers (or those who tamper with what you ignorantly term the powers of evil) tap forces connected with dark intelligences in high places. Thus they set in motion happenings on the physical plane that have their origination in the dark mysterious caves of cosmic evil as found within our solar system. Equally so, it is possible to tap the still greater forces of light and good and to make application of them on the side of evolution.
pp. 191-2.

 Colours––such as we have now to do with in evolution––are the colours of light. Certain colours, which are the left-overs from the previous solar system, have been seized upon as modes of expression by that mysterious something which we call "cosmic evil" (in our ignorance so we term it). They are involutionary colours, and are media for the force of the Dark Brotherhood. With them the aspirant to the Path of Light has naught to do. They are such hues as brown, grey, the loathsome purple, and the lurid greens that are contacted in the dark places of the earth, on the emotional plane, and on the lower level of the mental plane. They are negations. Their tone is lower than the note of Nature. They are the offspring of night, esoterically understood. They are the basis of glamour, of despair, and of corruption, and must be neutralized by the pupil of the Great Ones by the admission the colours connected with light.
pp. 209-10.

 The problem of speaking clearly on this subject of transmutation is a very real one, owing to the vastness of the subject and the fact that in the transmutation process the magician or alchemist works with deva essence through the control of the lesser Builders in cooperation with the greater Devas. In order, therefore, to bring about clarity of thought and definiteness of conjecture in this respect, I desire primarily to lay down certain postulates which must be carefully borne in mind when considering this question of transmutation. They are five in number and concern specifically the field wherein the transmuting process is carried on. The student mustrecollect at this juncture the distinction that is made between the work of the black and the white magician. It might be helpful here before proceeding further to look at these distinctions as far as they concern the matter in hand:
 First.The white Brother deals with positive electrical energy. The dark Brother deals with the negative electrical energy.
 Second. The white Brother occupies himself with the soul of things. The black Magician centres his attention upon the form.
 Third. The white Magician develops the inherent energy of the sphere concerned (whether human, animal, vegetable or mineral) and produces results through the self-induced activities of the central life, subhuman, human or super-human. The black Magician attains results through the agency of force external to the sphere involved, and produces transmutation through the agency of resolvents (if so I might term it) or through the method of the reduction of the form, rather than through radiation, as does the white Magician.
 These differences of method need to be carefully considered and their reaction visualised in connection with different elements, atoms, and forms. To return to our statement of our five postulates anent the transmutation of substance, the resolution of the life, or the transference of energy into different forms.

THE FIVE POSTULATES

 Postulate I. All matter is living matter, or is the vital substance of deva entities. For instance, a plane, and forms built of that particular plane substance, is the material form or sheath of a great deva, who is the essence back of manifestation and the soul of the plane.
 Postulate II. All forms, vibrating to any keynote, are fabricated by the building devas out of the matter of their own bodies. Hence they are called the great Mother aspect, for they produce the form out of their own substance.
 Postulate III. The devas are the life which produces form-cohesion. They are the third and second aspects blended, and might be considered as the life of all forms that are subhuman. A magician, therefore, who transmutes in the mineral kingdom works practically with deva essence in its earliest form on the upward arc of evolution, and has to remember three things:
  a. The effect of the backward pull of the involutionary lives which lie back of the mineral, or, in effect, its heredity.
  b. The sevenfold nature of the peculiar group of devas which constitute its being in an occult sense.
  c. The next transition stage ahead into the vegetable kingdom, or the occult effect of the second kingdom on the first.
 Postulate IV. All deva essences and builders on the physical plane are peculiarly dangerous to man, for they work on the etheric levels and are––as I have earlier pointed out––the transmitters of prana, or the vital, animating substance, and hence they set loose upon the ignorant and the unwary, fiery essence which burns and destroys.
 Postulate V. The devas do not work as individualized conscious units through self-initiating purposes as does a man, a Heavenly Man or a solar Logos (viewed as Egos) but they work in groups subject to:
  a. Inherent impulse, or latent active intelligence.
  b. Orders issued by the greater Builders.
  c. Ritual, or compulsion induced through color and sound.
 When these facts are remembered and considered, some comprehension of the place the devas play in transmutation may be achieved. The position that fire occupies in the process is of peculiar interest here for it brings out clearly the difference of method between the two schools.
 In the transmutative process as carried on by the Brotherhood, the inner fire which animates the atom, form or man is stimulated, fanned and strengthened till it (through its own internal potency) burns up its sheaths, and escapes by radiation from within its ring-pass-not. This is seen in an interesting way as occurring during the process of the final initiations when the causal body is destroyed by fire. The fire within burns up all else and the electric fire escapes. The true alchemist therefore in days to come will in every case seek to stimulate the radioactivity of the element or atom with which he is working and will centre his attention upon the positive nucleus. By increasing its vibration, its activity, or its positivity, he will bring about the desired end. The Masters do this in connection with the human spirit and do not concern Themselves at all with his 'deva' aspect. The same basic rule will be found to apply in the case of a mineral as well as of a man.
 The process as carried on by the Dark Brotherhood is the reverse of this. They centre the attention upon the form, and seek to shatter and break that form, or the combination of atoms, in order to permit the central electric life to escape. They bring about this result through external agencies and by availing themselves of the destructive nature of the substance (deva essence) itself. They burn and destroy the material sheath, seeking to imprison the escaping volatile essence as the form disintegrates. This hinders the evolutionary plan in the case of the life involved, delays the consummation, interferes with the ordered progress of development, and puts all the factors involved in a bad position. The life (or entity) concerned receives a setback, the devas work destructively, and without participation in the purpose of the plan, and the magician is in danger, under the Law of Karma, and through the materialising of his own substance by affinity with the third aspect. Black magic of this nature creeps into all religions along this very line of the destruction of the form through outer agency, and not through the liberation of the life through inner development and preparedness. It produces the evils of Hatha Yoga in India and similar methods as practiced in certain religious and occult orders in the Occident also. Both work with matter on some plane in the three worlds, and do evil that good may come; both control the devas, and attempt to produce specific ends by manipulation of the matter of the form. The Hierarchy works with the soul within the form and produces results that are intelligent, self-induced and permanent. Wherever attention is centred on the form and not on the Spirit, the tendency is to deva worship, deva contact and black magic, for the form is made of deva substance on all planes.
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice Bailey, pp. 487-91.

 Evil is that which can be controlled and subdued but which is permitted to govern. The positive can always manipulate the negative. When the negative line is followed and the line of least resistance to that which is no principle, is pursued, then we have evil.
p. 618.

 Another factor in computation which must also be considered is the effect of the various moons upon any planetary scheme, and the true meaning of the eighth sphere in connection with dense substance. Every moon is occultly a "point of corruption," or that which is passing off in noxious gases. The transmutation of the form has been proceeded with in their case to a point where all that represents vital energy has left, all solar life has passed off, no remnants of pranic energy remain, and that which is to be seen is simply the decay of the physical body,––a decay which is proceeding on etheric levels as well as on physical. The decay of a moon has as great an evil effect upon all that contacts it as a decaying body on earth has upon its surroundings. It is occultly "offensive." This will be more truly apprehended when the etheric double of our moon is studied. As the moon becomes small through the process of disintegration, its effect upon the Earth will be correspondingly lessened, and this stage will be paralleled by a consequent greater freedom from evil impulse of the sons of men. Better conditions among the animals will be another result above all else, and the dying out of that which is noxious in the animal kingdom. By the time the seventh round is reached, the evil effect of the then moon (which will have to all intents and purposes practically disappeared) will be finished. During the fifth round, men will discover how to neutralize any remaining effects through scientific achievement and knowledge of the necessary sounds and mantrams, and thus much evil will be offset. The etheric moon is included in these remarks. The greatest effect of moon conditions is to be seen working out predominantly in the terror, and present distress in the animal kingdom.
pp. 794-5.

 "You have demanded also the origin of evil. This is a great subject, and we should have withheld it from you longer, but that it seems to us now that you are in need of it. Understand then that Evil is the result of Creation. For Creation is the result of the projection of Spirit into matter; and with this projection came the first germ of evil. We would have you know that there is no such thing as a purely spiritual evil, but evil is the result of the materialisation of Spirit. If you examine carefully all we have said to you concerning the various forms of evil, you will see that every one is the result of the limitation of the power to perceive that the whole Universe is but the Larger Self. . . . It is, then, true that God created evil; but yet it is true that God is Spirit, and being Spirit is incapable of evil. Evil is then purely and solely the result of the materialisation of God. This is a great mystery. We can but indicate it tonight. . . God is perception itself. God is universal percipience. God is that which sees and that which is seen. If we could see all, hear all, touch all, and so forth, there would be no evil, for evil comes of the limitation of perception. Such limitation was necessary if God was to produce aught other than God. Aught other than God must be less than God. Without evil, therefore, God would have remained alone. All things are God according to the measure of the Spirit in them."
p. 835.

 To return to the matter which we were considering:––just as the moon is a deterrent or malefic force where the Earth is concerned, and productive of evil "influences," so all such disintegrating bodies are equally destructive. Such bodies exist within the solar ring-pass-not,⁶⁷ unrecognised as yet, and disintegrating constellations (of which there are many in the universe, unknown and unrecognised by scientists) have an equally malefic effect upon our system, and upon all that passes into their sphere of influence.
 There is one such constellation, situated between the lesser Dipper and our system, and another, interrelated with the Pleiades and our system which still have a profound effect upon the physical body of the solar Logos.
 The above paragraph is specifically worded thus because the effects are felt in the lowest sheath of all, and are responsible for much that is ignorantly termed "black magic." These two constellations have run their cycles and are "dissolving." Some of their life force and energy has been transferred to our solar system,

 ⁶⁷Unseen Planets: "Not all of the Intra-Mercurial planets, nor yet those in the orbit of Neptune, are yet discovered, although they are strongly suspected. We know that such exist and where they exist; and that there are innumerable planets "burnt out" they say,––in Obscuration we say;––planets in formation and not yet luminous, etc.". . .
 "When so attached the `tasimeter' will afford the possibility not only to measure the heat of the remotest of visible stars, but to detect by their invisible radiations stars that are unseen and otherwise undetectable, hence planets also. The discoverer, an F.T.S., a good deal protected by M., thinks that if, at any point in a blank space of heavens––a space that appears blank even through a telescope of the highest power––the tasimeter indicates an accession of temperature and does so invariably; this will be a regular proof that the instrument is in range with the stellar body either non-luminous or so distant as to be beyond the reach of telescopic vision. His tasimeter, he says, `is affected by a wider range of etheric undulations than the Eye can take cognisance of.' Science will Hear sounds from certain planets before she Sees them. This is a Prophecy."––Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett, p. 169.

just as the lunar life force was transferred to our earth, and this it is that is the cause of much cyclic evil. The process of decay and the evil emanations induced still have power to influence forms which are responsive to what was for them an earlier vibration. The substance of these forms is magnetically linked with the decaying body, much as the etheric double is connected with its dense sheath, and effects are therefore manifested. Purificatory fire is the only cure for this magnetic corruption, and this is being utilised freely by the planetary Logoi in Their schemes, and by the solar Logos in the system.
pp. 837-8.

 One of the greatest impediments upon the Path of Return and one for which man is distinctly responsible within occult limits are those animated forms which he has produced ever since the middle of the Atlantean root race when the mind factor began slowly to assume increasing importance. The selfishness, the sordid motives, the prompt response to evil impulses for which the human race has been distinguished has brought about a condition of affairs unparalleled in the system. A gigantic thought form hovers over the entire human family, built by men everywhere during the ages, energised by the insane desires and evil inclinations of all that is worst in man's nature, and kept alive by the promptings of his lower desires. This thought form has to be broken up and dissipated by man himself during the latter part of this round before the conclusion of the cycle, and its dissipation will be one of the forces tending to the production of interplanetary pralaya. It is this piece of creative bungling, if so it might be called, which the Great Ones are occupied in destroying. Under the Law of Karma it has to be dissipated by those who have created it; the work of the Masters has to be carried on, therefore, indirectly, and must take the form of illuminating the sons of men in gradually increasing degree, so that they can see clearly this "Dweller on the Threshold" of the new life, and the antagonist who stands between the fourth kingdom of nature and the fifth. Every time a son of man stands upon the Probationary Path Their work is facilitate, for it means that one small stream of life-energy is directed into new channels, and away from the old stream, which tends to vitalise and feed the evil form, and one more conscious assailant can be trained to cooperate in the work of destruction. Every time an initiate is admitted to the Lodge degrees, it means that a new and powerful agent is available for the bringing down of force from higher levels to aid in the work of disintegration. In the comprehension of these two methods of aggressive work (that of the aspirant and the initiate) will come much of vital interest to the careful student of analogy. Here lies the clue to the present problem of evil, and to the vitality of the hold which the matter aspect has on the spiritual. This gigantic thought form, the product of man's ignorance and selfishness, is kept alive and vitalized in three ways:
 First, by the aggregate of the evil desires wicked intentions, and selfish purposes of each individual man. Every wrong thought, when embodied in speech or manifested in action on the physical plane goes to swell the proportions of this evil entity.
 Second, by the fostering care of the brothers of the shadow, and those representatives of what may be called "cosmic evil" who (under the karma of the fourth or human family, in this fourth round), assume stupendous responsibilities, make possible the secondary vitalisation of the thought form and produce conditions of such a dire description that under law rapid crystallisation supervenes, and ultimate destruction becomes possible. Students would do well to broaden their concept as to the purpose of evil and the place the evil forces play in the general scheme.
 Third, by the energy still extant and the vibration still to be felt which is the persistence of force from an earlier solar system, and an emanation from that which is no longer considered in this solar system to be a principle.
 These three factors are the main ones to be considered by the Great Ones in Their work of enabling men to break loose from the influence of this self-imposed form, to destroy that which they have themselves constructed, and to shake themselves free from the illusion cast by the persistent vampire which they have nourished and strengthened for millennia of years.
pp. 948-50.

 All that I have here said anent this "Dweller on the Threshold" of the Path between the two great kingdoms, the fourth and the fifth, can be studied by the student with a personal application. Facing each earnest aspirant to the Mysteries is that vitalised form which he has himself constructed and nourished during the course of his previous incarnations, and which represents the sumtotal of his evil desires, motives and thoughts. For ages is has vampirised him, and for ages it has represented that which he has failed to achieve. It affects not only himself but also all those units whom he contacts and meets. In its destruction he has to pursue methods similar to those followed by the Great Ones, and through the increasing power of his solar Angel through the force of his Ego, and through a study of law, the knowledge of the power of sound, and the control of speech, he eventually bring about its disintegration.
p. 953.

 The thought forms of the majority of human beings are energised from no such high source, but find their active impulse emanating from either the solar plexus, or the still lower organs of generation.
 It is this constant stream of emotional or sexual energy which is responsible for the chaotic conditions of the present; the balance is not preserved, the interaction between the two, and the myriads of thought forms consequently produced of a low order and vibration are producing a condition which is going to require all the efforts of mental workers eventually to negate, offset, and transmute. These forms, which scarce merit the prefix "thought," being largely kamic with an admixture of the lowest grade of mental matter, are responsible for the heavy, slow vibrating or pulsating fog or cloak which envelops the human family, and which produces much of the present evil, crime and mental lethargy. People are mainly polarised in the astral body, as we know, and the lower centres are the most active; when an atmosphere or environment of thought-forms of a low key and vitalised by all the baser forms of astral energy is coupled to this, it will become apparent how stupendous is the task of lifting humanity to a clearer, purer and better atmosphere, and how easy it is for the lower aspects and appetites to flourish and to grow.
p. 973.

 In this connection, therefore, owing to the vital practical value of this section, and to the dangers attendant upon a comprehension of these matters by those who are as yet unready for the work of conscious manipulation of force, it is proposed to impart the necessary teaching under the formula of "Rules of Magic," with certain elucidating comments. In this way, the magical work is fully safeguarded, and at the same time sufficient is imparted to those who have the inner ear attentive, and the eye of wisdom in process of opening.
 a. Black Magicians and White. Much is said among occult students these days anent white and black magic,⁹⁴ and much that is said is without force, or truth. It has

 ⁹³Magic.––The very word Magic bears within itself proof of its high origin. The Latin Magus, the Greek Magos, a magician, gives us all those other words that are so indicative of authority, wisdom, superiority. Then we have magnitude, magnificent, magniloquent, to express greatness in position, in action and in speech. With the termination slightly changed the same words become majesty, implying dominion, and again, we have magistrate, anything that is magisterial which again has been simplified into Master, and finally by the process of word evolution has become plain Mister. But the Latin is only a transmitter of words. We can equally follow up the historical development of this root until we reach the Zend where we find it doing duty as the name for the whole priestly caste. The magi were renowned all over the world for their wisdom and skill in occultism and no doubt our word magic is mostly indebted to that source for its present existence and meaning. That we need not pause even here for back of the zend "mag," "looms up the sanskrit, maha, signifying great." It is thought by good scholars that maha was originally spelled magha. To be sure, there is in the Sanskrit the word Maga meaning a priest of the Sun, but this was evidently a later borrowing from the Zend which had originally derived its root from its neighbour the sanskrit.––Lucifer, Vol. X, p. 157.
 ⁹⁴Magic.––The art of divine Magic consists in the ability to perceive the essence of things in the light of nature (astral light), and––by using the soul-powers of the Spirit––to produce material things from the unseen universe, and in such operations the Above and the Below must be brought together and made to act harmoniously.––S. D., II, 538.
 Magic is the second of the four Vidyas, and is the great maha-Vidya in the Tantric writings. It needs the light of the fourth vidya (atma-vidya) thrown on it in order to be White magic.––S. D., I, 192.  The Secret Doctrine, 3rd edition: Volume I  Volume II  Volume III
 Black Magic is defined by H. P. B. as follows:
  a. Black magic employs the astral light for purposes of deception and seduction, whereas the white magician employs it for purposes of information, and the aiding of evolution.––S. D., I, 274.
  b. Black magic works with opposing poles. The white magician seeks the point of equilibrium or balance, and of synthesis.––S.D., I,448.
  c. Black magic has for its symbol the inverted 5-pointed star. White magic uses the same symbol with the point uppermost.
  d. Black magic is maha-vidya without the light of atma-vidya. White magic is maha-vidya illumined by atma-vidya.––S. D., I, 592.
  e. Black magic is ruled over by the moon. White magic is ruled over by the sun.
  f. Black and white magic arose during the great schism which started during the fourth root-race.––S. D., II, 221, 445, 520.
  g. Black magic is based on the degradation of sex and of the creative function. White magic is based on the transmutation of the creative faculty into the higher creative thought, the generative organs being neglected by the inner fire, which passes to the throat, the centre of creative sound.
  h. Black magic deals with the forces of involution. White magic works with the powers of evolution.
  i. Black magic is concerned with the form, with matter. White magic is concerned with the life within the form, with spirit.

been truly said that between the two types of workers, the line of demarcation is so slight as to be difficult of recognition by those who, as yet, merit not the term "knower."
 The distinction between the two exists in both motive and method, and might be summed up as follows:
 The white magician has for motive that which will be of benefit to the group for whom he is expending his energy and time. The magician of the left hand path ever works alone, or if he at any time cooperates with others, it is with a hidden selfish purpose. The exponent of white magic interests himself in the work of constructive endeavor in order to cooperate in hierarchical plans, and to further the desires of the planetary Logos. The Brother of Darkness occupies himself with that which lies outside the plans of the Hierarchy and with that which is not included in the purpose of the Lord of the planetary Ray.
 The white magician, as has been earlier said, works entirely through the greater Deva Builders, and through sound and numbers he blends their work, and thus influences the lesser Builders who form the substance of their bodies, and therefore of all that is. He works through group centres and vital points of energy, and from thence produces, in substance, the desired results. The dark brother works directly with substance itself, and with the lesser builders; He does not cooperate with the forces which emanate from egoic levels. The lesser cohorts of the "Army of the Voice" are his servants, and not the directing Intelligences in the three worlds, and he therefore works primarily on the astral and physical planes, only in rare cases working with the mental forces, and only in a few special cases, hidden in cosmic karma, is a black magician found working on the higher mental levels. Yet the cases which are there to be discovered are the main contributing causes of all manifesting black magic.
 The Brother of Light works ever through the inherent force of the second aspect as long as he is functioning in connection with the three lower planes. After the third Initiation, he works increasingly with spiritual energy, or with the force of the first aspect. He impresses the lower substances, and manipulates the lesser building lives with the vibration of love, and the attractive coherency of the Son, and through wisdom the forms are built. He learns to work from the heart, and therefore to manipulate that energy which streams from the "Heart of the Sun" until (when he becomes a Buddha) he can dispense somewhat the force emanating from the "Spiritual Sun." Therefore, the heart centre in the Brother of the right hand path is the transmitting agency for the building force, and the triangle he uses in this work is
 a. The centre in the head which corresponds to the heart.
 b. The heart centre itself.
 c. The throat centre.
 The Brothers of the left hand path work with the forces of the third aspect entirely, and this it is which gives them so much apparent power, for the second aspect is only in process of reaching its vibratory consummation, whereas the third aspect is at the height of its vibratory activity, being the product of the evolutionary processes of the preceding major solar system. He works from the throat centre almost entirely, and manipulates primarily the forces of the physical sun. This is the reason why he achieves many of his ends through the method of pranic stimulation or of pranic devitalisation, and why also most of his effects are carried out on the physical plane. He works therefore, through
 a. The centre in the head corresponding to the throat centre.
 b. The throat centre.
 c. The centre at the base of the spine.
 The white magician works always in cooperation with others, and is himself under the direction of certain group Heads. For instance, the Brothers of the White Lodge work under the three great Lords and conform to the plans laid down, subordinating Their individual purposes and ideas to the great general scheme. The black magician usually works in an intensely individualistic way, and can be seen carrying out his schemes alone, or with the aid of subordinates. He brooks usually no known superior, but is nevertheless frequently the victim of agents on higher levels of cosmic evil, who use him as he uses his inferior cooperators, that is, he works (as far as the bigger purpose is involved) blindly and unconsciously.
 The white magician, as is well known, works on the side of evolution or in connection with the Path of Return. The black brother occupies himself with the forces of involution, or with the Path of Outgoing. They form the great balancing force in evolution, and though they are occupied with the material side of manifestation and the Brother of Light is concerned with the aspect of soul or consciousness, they and their work, under the great law of evolution, contribute to the general purpose of the solar Logos, though (and this is of tremendous occult significance to the illuminated student) not to the individual purpose of the planetary Logos.
 Finally, it might be briefly said in connection with the distinctions between magicians that the magician of the Good Law works with the soul of things. His brothers of darkness work with the material aspect.
 The white magician works through the force centres, on the first and fourth subplanes of each plane. The black magician works through the permanent atoms, and with the substance and forms concerned. The white magician utilises in this connection the higher three centres. The black magician uses the energy of the lower three centres (the organs of generation, the spleen, and the solar plexus) synthesising their energy by an act of the will and directing it to the centre at the base of the spine, so that the fourfold energy is thence transmitted to the throat centre.
 The white magician uses the kundalini force as it is transmitted via the central spinal channel. The black magician uses the inferior channels, dividing the fourfold energy in two units, which mount via the two channels, leaving the central one dormant. Hence it will be apparent that one works with duality and the other with unity. On the planes of duality, therefore, it is apparent why the black magician has so much power. The plane of unity for humanity is the mental plane. The planes of diversity are the astral and the physical. Hence the black magician is of more apparent power than the white brother on the two lower planes in the three worlds.
 The white brother works under the Hierarchy, or under the great King, carrying out His planetary purposes. The dark brother works under certain separated Entities, unknown to him, who are connected with the forces of matter itself. Much more could be given in this connection, but what is here imparted suffices for our purpose.

 b. The Source of Black Magic. In touching upon this point, we are trespassing into the realms of the mystery and the domain of the inexplicable. Certain statements can, however, be made here which, if pondered upon, may throw a little light upon this dark subject.
 First. It should be remembered that the whole subject of planetary evil (and students must distinguish carefully between planetary and cosmic evil) lies hid in the individual life cycles and in the history of the Great Being who is the planetary Logos of the Earth. Therefore, until a man has taken certain initiations and thus achieved a measure of planetary consciousness, it is useless for him to speculate upon that record. H. P. B. has touched, in the Secret Doctrine,⁹⁵ upon the subject of "the imperfect Gods," and in these words lies the key to planetary evil.
 Second. It might briefly be said that, as far as our humanity is concerned, the terms planetary evil and cosmic evil might be interpreted thus:
 Planetary evil arises from certain relations existing between our planetary Logos and another planetary Logos. When this condition of polar opposition is adjusted, then planetary evil will cease. The adjustment will be brought about through the mediation (occultly understood) of a third planetary Logos. These three will eventually form an equilateral triangle, and then planetary evil will cease. Free circulation will ensue; planetary obscuration will become possible, and the "imperfect Gods" will have achieved a relative perfection. Thus will the karma of the manvantara, or secondary

 ⁹⁵S.D., III, 62; Section 6, page 67.

cycle, be adjusted, and so much planetary karmic evil be "worked off." All the above must be interpreted in its esoteric sense and not its exoteric.
 Cosmic evil from the standpoint of our planet consists in the relation between that spiritual intelligent Unit or "Rishi of the Superior Constellation" as He is called (who is the informing Life of one of the seven stars of the Great Bear, and our planetary prototype) and one of the forces of the Pleiades.⁹⁶ Students need here to remember that the "seven sisters" are occultly called the "seven wives" of the Rishis and that the dual forces (resultant from that relationship) converge and play through that one of the planetary Logoi who is the Logos of any particular planet, and is the "reflection" of any specific Rishi. In this relation, at present lacking perfect adjustment, lies the mystery of cosmic evil as it makes itself felt in any particular planetary scheme. Again, when the heavenly triangle is duly equilibrated, and the force circulates freely through
 a. One of the stars of the Great Bear,
 b. The Pleiad involved,
 c. The planetary scheme concerned,
then again cosmic evil will be negated, and a relative perfection achieved. This will mark the attainment of primary perfection, and the consummation of the greater cycle.
 Cyclic evil, or tertiary evil, lies hid in the relation between the globes in any particular scheme, two of them ever being in opposition until equilibrised by force emanating from a third. Students will only apprehend the significance of this teaching as they study the pairs of opposites in their own cycles, and the equilibrising work of the Ego.
 A fourth type of evil growing out of the above finds

 ⁹⁶S.D., II, 579-581

its main expression in the sorrows and troubles of the fourth or human kingdom, and will find its solution in two ways: by the balancing of the forces of the three kingdoms (the spiritual or fifth kingdom, the human, and the animal), and secondly, by the negation of the attractive power of the three lower kingdoms (the mineral, the vegetable, and the animal, who thus form one unit), by the spiritual kingdom, utilising the fourth or human kingdom. In all these cases, triangles of force are formed which, when balanced, procure the desired end.
 Black magic is spoken of as making its appearance upon our planet during the fourth root race.⁹⁷ It should be borne in mind here that this means strictly in connection with the fourth kingdom and its conscious use by wrongly developed men. The forces of evil of the planetary and cosmic kind have been present since manifestation set in, being latent in the karma of the planetary Logos, but human beings began consciously to work with these forces and to use them for specified selfish ends in this round during the fourth root race.
 Black magicians work under certain great Entities, six in number, who are spoken of, for instance, in the Christian Bible as having the number 666.⁹⁸ They came in (being cosmic, not systemic) on that stream of force emanating from cosmic mental levels which produced the three worlds of human endeavor. Students should remember here the fact that the three lower planes of our solar system are not considered as embodying a cosmic principle for they form the dense physical body of the Logos, and the dense physical body is not considered a principle. There is an occult significance in the expression "unprincipled." These entities are the sumtotal of the substance of the three lower subplanes of the cosmic physical plane (our three lower systemic

 ⁹⁷S.D.,I,451,452;II,221,234,519.
 ⁹⁸Bible. Rev. 13:18.

planes), and it is under them that the black magicians are swept into activity, often unconsciously, but rising to power as they work consciously.⁹⁹
 In the early stages of human unfoldment all men are unconscious black magicians, but are not occultly "damned" thereby. As evolution proceeds they come under the force of the second aspect, and the majority respond to it, escaping from the meshes of the black magicians, and coming under the force of a different number. The few who do not do so in this Manvantara are the "failures" who have to continue the struggle at a later date. A tiny percentage willfully refuse to "pass on," and they become the true "black magicians." For them the end is ever the same, first, severance of the Ego from the Monad, entailing a wait for many aeons until another solar system has its being. In the case of the "failures" the Ego severed itself from the personality or lower self, entailing a setback for a lesser period, but still having opportunity within the system. Second, a cycle of existence, spent in unlimited evil, and dependent upon the vitality of the severed egoic body and its innate persistence. These are the ordinary "lost souls" spoken of in the Secret Doctrine.¹ If students will study these conditions, and will extend the same concept to an earlier and more matured solar system, they will get some light upon the problem of the origin of evil in this solar system.

 ⁹⁹It might here be asked what, if any, relation there may be in this connection with the inner round? The inner round has many meanings, some impossible to give, but two things may here be said: That it concerns itself with the effect of the triangular balancing of forces towards the close of the cycle, when the force or energy involved is circulating unimpeded, even if slowly, through:
 1. Two constellations of the solar system,
 2. The planetary schemes,
 3.Three globes in the scheme.
It should be remembered that all these three are interdependent. The force begins thus to flow when any cycle is two thirds run. It deals with the greater Initiations, and is the correspondence on the higher planes to the occult short cut to wisdom and knowledge which we call the Path of Initiation.
 ¹No soul can be lost where:
  a. One good aspiration is present.
  b. One unselfish deed is done.
  c. The life is strong in virtue.
  d. The life is righteous.
  e. The life is a naturally pure life.––Isis Unveiled, II, 368. Read S.D., III, 528, 529.  Isis Unveiled, 6th edition: Volume I  Volume II

 c. Conditions for White Magic. In considering the factors requiring adjustment prior to undertaking the work of magic, we are dealing with that which is of eminently practical value. Unless students of magic enter upon this pursuit fortified by pure motive, clean bodies, and high aspiration they are foredoomed to disappointment and even to disaster. All those who seek to work consciously with the forces of manifestation, and who endeavor to control the energies of all that is seen, need the strong protection of purity. This is a point which cannot be too strongly emphasised and urged, and hence the constant injunctions to self control, comprehension of the nature of man, and devotion to the cause of humanity. The pursuit of magical investigation is dangerous in three ways.
 If a man's bodies are not sufficiently purified and their atomic vibration is not sufficiently high, he is in danger of over-stimulation when brought in contact with the forces of nature, and this inevitably entails the destruction and disintegration of one or other of his bodies. At times it may entail the destruction of two or more, and when this is the case, it involves a definite setback to egoic unfoldment, for it requires, in such cases, a much longer interval between incarnations, owing to the difficulty of assembling the needed materials in the sheaths.
 Further, unless a man is strengthened in his endeavor by right motive he is liable to be led astray by the acquisition of power. Knowledge of the laws of magic puts into the hands of the student powers which enable him to create, to acquire, and to control. Such powers are fraught with menace to the unprepared and unready, for the student can, in this case, turn them to selfish ends, use them for his own temporal material advancement, and acquire in this way that which will feed the desires of the lower nature. He takes, therefore, the first step towards the left hand path, and each life may see him progressing towards it with greater readiness, until (almost unconsciously) he will find himself in the ranks of the black masters. Such a state of affairs can only be offset through the cultivation of altruism, sincere love of man, and a steady negation of all lower desire.
 The third danger which menaces the unwary student of magic lies in the fact that when he tampers with these forces and energies he is dealing with that which is akin to his own lower nature. He, therefore, follows the line of least resistance; he augments these energies, thereby increasing their response to the lower and to the material aspects of his nature. This he does at the expense of his higher nature, retarding its unfoldment and delaying his progress. Incidentally also, he attracts the attention of those masters of the left hand path who are ever on the lookout for those who can be bent to their purposes, and he becomes (unwittingly at first), an agent on the side of evil.
 It will be apparent, therefore, that the student has need of the following qualities before he undertakes the arduous task of becoming a conscious Master of Magic:
 Physical Purity. This is a thing not easily to be acquired, but entailing many lives of strenuous effort. Through abstinence, right continence, clean living, vegetarian diet, and rigid self-control, the man gradually raises the vibration of his physical atoms, builds a body of ever greater resistance and strength, and succeeds in "manifesting" forth in a sheath of greater refinement.
 Etheric Freedom. This term does not convey all that I seek to impart, but it suffices for need of a better. The student of magic who can safely undertake the enterprise, will have constructed an etheric body of such a nature that vitality, or pranic force and energy, can circulate unimpeded; he will have formed an etheric web of such tenuosity that it forms no barrier to consciousness. This is all that can be said on this subject owing to the danger involved, but it suffices for the conveyance of information to those who are beginning to know.
 Astral (Emotional) Stability. The student of magic aims, above all, to purify his desires and so to transmute his emotions that the lower physical purity and the higher mental responsiveness and transmutative power may equally be available. Every magician has to learn the fact that, in this solar system, during the cycle of humanity, the astral body is the pivotal point of endeavor, having a reflex effect on both the other sheaths, the physical and the mental. He, therefore, aims at transmuting (as has often been said) lower desire into aspiration; at changing the lower cruder colors which distinguish the astral body of average man, for the clearer, purer tones of the spiritual man, and of transforming its normal chaotic vibration, and the "stormy sea of life," for the steady rhythmic response to that which is highest and the centre of peace. These things he effects by constant watchfulness, unremitting control, and steady meditation.
 Mental Poise. These words are used in the occult sense, wherein the mind (as it is commonly understood) becomes the keen steady instrument of the indwelling thinker, and the point from which he can travel onwards to higher realms of comprehension. It is the foundation stone whence the higher expansion can be initiated.
 Let not the would-be student of magic proceed in his investigations and his experiments until he has attended to these injunctions, and until the whole bent of his thoughts towards their manifestation and their demonstration in his every day life. When he has so worked, ceaselessly and untiringly, and his physical plane life and service bear witness to the inner transmutation, then he can proceed to parallel this life with magical studies and work. Only the solar Angel can do the work of the white magician, and he effects it through the control of the lunar angels and their complete subjugation. They are arrayed against him, until, through meditation, aspiration, and control, he bends them to his will and they become his servants.
 This thought brings us to the vital and real distinction between the white brother and the brother of darkness, and in this summation we will conclude the present discussion and proceed with the rules.
 The worker in white magic utilises ever the energy of the Solar Angel to effect his ends. The dark brother works through the inherent force of the lunar lords, which are allied in nature to all that is objective. In an old book of magic, hidden in the caves of learning, guarded by the Masters, are the following conclusive words, which find their place in this Treatise on Fire through their very appropriateness:
 "The Brothers of the Sun, through the force of solar fire, fanned to a flame in the blazing vault of the second Heaven, put out the lower lunar fires, and render naught that lower 'fire by friction.'
 "The Brother of the Moon ignores the sun and solar heat; borrows his fire from all that triply is, and pursues his cycle. The fires of hell await, and lunar fire dies out. Then neither sun nor moon avails him, only the highest heaven awaits the spark electric, seeking vibration synchronous from that which lies beneath. And yet it cometh not."
pp. 984-96.

 There are, in connection with human evolution certain factors which produce definite and important results, when connected with each other through linking streams of energy and therefore consciously functioning. These factors might be considered as follows, dividing them into two groups, each of them emphasising the duality of the microcosmic manifestation:

 Group I.
  1. The Knowledge Petals.
  2. The knowledge petal in each of the two inner circles.
  3. The centers on the mental plane.
  4. The throat centre in etheric matter.
  5. The alta major centre.
  6. The physical brain.

 Group II.
  1. The Love Petals.
  2. The love petals in each circle.
  3. The centers on the astral plane.
  4. The heart centre in etheric matter.
  5. The pituitary body.
  6. The sympathetic nervous system.

 These various alignments (when functioning with due adjustment) result in the transmission of energy in the first case from the manasic permanent atom, and in the second case from the buddhic permanent atom. It will be apparent, therefore, how important it is that the student duly considers the process of bringing about a uniform alignment, and a conscious appreciation of the vibratory processes of these two groups. As he brings this adjustment about, the effect upon the physical plane will be the manifestation of the powers of the Soul, and of the healing capacity; the man will become a focal point for egoic energy and a server of his race. The black magician brings about similar results by means of the first group, only with the exception that he cannot align the knowledge petals in the two inner groups, as the love-wisdom aspect is atrophied in his case. He does, however, bring through the energy of the manasic permanent atom, for the forces of Mahat (of which Manas is an expression) is closely connected with what is erroneously called "evil." Mahat and cosmic Evil have a close connection.
 The great Existences Who are the principle of Mahat in its cosmic sense are connected with the lesser existences who express systemic evil. They are the sum total of the separative instrument, and where separation in any form exists, there is to be found ignorance, and therefore evil. Separation negates comprehension, or knowledge of that which is to be found outside the separated consciousness, for separative knowledge entails identification with that which is expressing itself through the medium of a form. Therefore, the Brothers of the Shadow can, and do, reach high levels along one aspect of consciousness, and touch certain specific heights of spiritual evil, going a great way along the line of Mahat, or knowledge, the principle of Universal Mind. They can reach, in their later stages expansions of consciousness and of power that will take them far beyond the confines of our solar system, and give them attributes and capacities which prove a menace to the unfolding of the second Aspect.
 The first group of alignments, when not balanced by the second group, is the line of the black magician; it will lead him eventually out of the stream of fivefold energy we call manasic on to the cosmic path of fohatic energy, the strictly mahatic. When on that Path two directions are possible to him; one will keep him in touch with the natural substance aspect concerned with the cosmic incarnations of our solar Logos; the other will sweep him on to that centre in the universe which is the emanating source of the mahatic principle; it is the focal point where is generated that type of energy which makes possible the dense physical manifestation of Gods and men.
 In making this statement, it is necessary to bear in mind that the dense physical sheath is never considered a principle. It is ever deemed occultly evil. The matter might be more simply expressed by stating that the black adept is frankly concerned with what is termed "the residue of that which earlier was." He responds to the vibration of the solar system of an earlier greater cycle in which the knowledge, or the manasic principle, was the goal of achievement. He does not respond to the impulse of this solar system, but this lack of response is hid in the karma of the earlier manifestation. As we know, the Sons of Mind or the incarnating jivas are the returning nirvanis of a previous logoic incarnation. They have achieved mind, and need love. Some few, through a mysterious cycle of events inexplainable to man in this solar system, repudiated opportunity and linked themselves with that great deva existence which is the impulse of the dense physical, and they cannot loose themselves. Their destination, as well as his, is hidden in the plans of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID, and in this solar system there is no hope for them. Fortunately, they are little likely to make themselves known to average man; it is the Adepts of the Good Law Who meet them the most often.
 The subject is most intricate, but some light may come if we remember that manas on the mental plane is found in two expressions:––the mental unit on the form levels and the manasic permanent atom on the formless planes. These two types of manas may be regarded as embodying the qualities of the two kinds, white and black. The mental unit or the mind aspect of a man, for instance, is after all but the sixth sense, and has to be transcended by the higher mind and the intuition. The black brother carries the evolution of the senses on to a stage inconceivable to man now and this sixth mahatic sense is of vaster extent and service to them than it ever is to the white Adept. Therefore, it will be apparent that for a long cycle of time, the black magician can persist and develop his powers because one-third of the force of the egoic lotus is his and he knows well how to utilise it to the best advantage. He builds also an antaskarana, but of quality and objective different to that of the student of the white magic. It is called "the path of manasic evil," and bridges a gap between the mental unit of the magician concerned, and certain correspondences on mental levels in the vehicles of the devas of that plane. Through this medium, and through identification with the devas, he can escape from the three worlds to spheres of evil incomprehensible to us. The point to be remembered here is that the black magician remains ever a prisoner; he cannot escape from substance and from form.
 There is no need to enlarge further on this subject. I would like to enumerate the lines of alignment of the third group which eventually transcends the other two, and effects the final illumination and liberation of the man.

 Group III.
  1. The Sacrifice Petals.
  2. The sacrifice petals in the two outer groups.
  3. The three major centers in each of the three planes of the three worlds,
   producing thus absorption of the lower four centres on each plane.
  4. The head centre, or the thousand-petalled lotus.
  5. The pineal gland, producing the vivification and irradiation of the entire lower nature.

 These three groups of forces in man, when synthesised, produce eventually that perfect coordination and adaptation to all conditions, forms and circumstances which eventuate in the escape of the liberated vital spark. This is technically accomplished when the "bud" opens, and it becomes possible for the Hierophant at initiation to liberate the energy of the Monad, and to direct that energy (through the agency of the Rod) so that eventually it circulates free and untrammelled through every part of the lower threefold manifestation. As it circulates it destroys by burning, for it arouses the kundalini aspect perfectly by the time the fifth Initiation is taken. The destroyer aspect becomes dominated, and the form is "burnt upon the altar."
 These ideas can also be studied in their larger aspect; a clue to the mystery of cosmic evil may be found in the difference existing between the sacred and non-sacred planets, and in the purpose and place, hitherto unrecognised, of the lives of the informing existences of the many planets and planetoids in the solar system. Some are purely mahatic or of the third Aspect, dominated by the devas. Others (of which the sacred planets are examples) are controlled by the second Aspect, and that second aspect will work through unconquerably into manifestation. A few, like our Earth planet, are battlegrounds, and the two Aspects are in collision, with the indication of the eventual triumph of the "white" magic.
pp. 1123-8.

 Evil and its effects are largely dependent upon humanity for a functioning channel. Humanity's function is to transmit and handle force. This is done in the early and ignorant stages destructively and with harmful results. Later when acting under the influence of the soul, force is rightly and wisely handled and good eventuates. True indeed it is that "the whole creation travaileth in pain until now, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God."
A Treatise on White Magic by Alice Bailey, p. 99..

 May I speak a word here so as to make this consummation a practical goal in your life? Harmful magnetic conditions, as the result of man's wrong handling of force are the causes of evil in the world around us, including the three sub-human kingdoms. How can we, as individuals, change this? By the development in ourselves of Harmlessness. Therefore, study yourself from this angle. Study your daily conduct and words and thoughts so as to make them utterly harmless. Set yourself to think those thoughts about yourself and others which will be constructive and positive, and hence harmless in their effects. Study your emotional effect on others so that by no mood, no depression, and no emotional reaction can you harm a fellow-man. Remember in this connection, violent spiritual aspiration and enthusiasm, misplaced or misdirected, may quite easily harm a fellow-man, so look not only at your wrong tendencies but at the use of your virtues.
p. 101.

 It might be said that human beings fall into three main groups:
 1. The vast majority, who are neither good nor bad, but simply unthinking, and entirely submerged in the evolutionary tide, and in the work of developing a true self consciousness and the needed equipment.
 2. A small, a very small number, who are definitely and consciously working on the side of materiality or (if you prefer so to express it) on the side of evil. Potent are they on the physical plane, but their power is temporal and not eternal. The law of the universe, which is the law of love, is eternally against them, and out of the seeming evil good will come.
 3. A goodly number who are the pioneers into the kingdom of the soul, who are the exponents of the new age ideas, and the custodians of that aspect of the Ageless Wisdom which is next to be revealed to mankind. This group is constituted of the unselfish and intelligent men and women in every field of human endeavor, of the aspirants and disciples, of the initiates who sound the note for the various groups and types, and of the Occult Hierarchy itself. The influence of this band of mystics and knowers is exceedingly great and the opportunity to work in cooperation with it at this time is easier of attainment than at any other time in racial history.
p. 482.

 But what of the two fears with which the aspirant has peculiar concern? What of the fear of public opinion, and fear of failure? These are two potent factors in the life of service, and hinder many.
 Those who are beginning to work in cooperation with the plan and are learning the significance of service are prone to fear that what they do will be criticised and misjudged, or fall a victim to the reverse idea, that what they do will not be sufficiently liked, appreciated and understood. They demand liking and praise. They gauge success by numbers and by response. They dislike to have their motives impugned and misjudged, and rush violently into explanation; they are unhappy if their methods, the personnel of their group, and the way in which their service is rendered comes under the tongue of criticism. The false objectives of numbers, of power or of a formulated doctrine control them. Unless what they do measures up to the standards or conforms to the technique of the group of minds which surrounds them or appeals the most to them, they are unhappy and consequently frequently change their plans, alter their viewpoint, and lower their standard until it conforms to their immediate mass psychology, or their chosen counsellors.
 The true disciple sees the vision. He then seeks to keep so closely in touch with his soul that he can stand with steadiness whilst he endeavors to make that vision a reality; he aims to achieve what, from the standpoint of the world seems to be impossible, knowing that the vision is not materialised through expediency and undue adaptation of the suggested ideas of worldly or intellectual counsellors. Public opinion and the advice of those who are Piscean in their tendencies and not Aquarian are carefully considered but not unduly so and when advice is found to be separative and tends to eliminate harmony, and produces a lack of brotherly love and understanding, it is discarded at once. When there is evidenced a constantly critical attitude towards other workers in the field of world service and where there is a capacity to see only selfishness and fault and to impute wrong motives and to believe evil, then the true aspirant refuses to be swayed and goes serenely on his way.
 In the coming cycle I emphatically tell you that the true work will be carried forward (the work of spiritually welding the world into a synthesis and the production of a recognised brotherhood of souls) only by those who refuse to be separative and whose words are watched so that no evil is spoken; these are the workers who see the divine in all and refuse to think evil and impute evil; they work with sealed lips; they deal not with their brothers' affairs, nor reveal that which concerns them; their minds are colored by understanding and by love; their minds are characterised by a trained spiritual perception and that spiritual awareness which employs a keen intellect as the corollary of a loving spirit.
pp. 630-1.

It is wise for human beings to realise that mankind is free. Even the Hierarchy Itself does not know which forces––those of good or those of evil––will ultimately prevail because even if the forces of good triumph where the war is concerned, will they triumph where the peace is concerned? Good must ultimately triumph but the Hierarchy does not know what the immediate future holds for humanity because men determine their own destiny. The Law of Cause and Effect cannot be offset. In those cases where it has been offset, it has required the intervention of Forces, greater than those available at this time upon our planet.
Discipleship in the New Age-Vol. I by Alice A. Bailey, p. 74.

 February 1939(Relevant today)

MY BROTHER
 The tension of fear is great in the world today. People everywhere are living under great strain. Forget not that it is the few in every land (and when I say "in every land" I make no exception) who bring about world evil. But I would have you remember also that the will of the masses of the people unless misled, is towards good and understanding. I am talking here in connection with world affairs. Stand steady, therefore, and permit no thoughts of hatred and fear to find lodging in your mind. Stand firmly for good, looking for it in all peoples and races and thus seek to swell the rising tide of those who aspire to right human relations, knowing that the potency of love rightly expressed is great and is––at this time––the only factor that can offset hate.
pp. 668-9.

Before the Hierarchy can work more openly and with fuller recognition by mankind, there must be the elimination of all hate and all sense of separateness and the evocation of good will and right human relations as the result of the activities of all disciples. The widespread recognition of the evil of the present war and of errors in every national policy make it possible eventually to produce a general attitude which will clear the way for the needed right adjustments.
pp. 685.

 September 1943

MY BROTHER
 I have given you much in this instruction. I seek to make my Ashram useful at this time of crisis. We have had a great crisis of materialism and the powers of darkness have very nearly assumed control. But we are seeing the slow domination of the good. Humanity has been the battleground for a major conflict between the two great Lodges––the great White Lodge and the Black Lodge. The former is now gradually gaining control.
Discipleship in the New Age-Vol. II by Alice A. Bailey, p. 41.

 January 1946

TO MY GROUP OF AFFILIATED DISCIPLES
 Since I last communicated with you the outer aspects of the world war, the carnage and the slaughter are over, except in a few sporadic instances. The struggle now being waged is to reach a point of stabilisation in human thinking and understanding from which a true and reliable peace can emerge. On the emotional plane, there is as yet no peace. On the mental plane, a great and deep-seated cleavage is going on and the occult significance of certain words, enunciated by the Christ when in Palestine, is being worked out. He gave them as the keynote for the particular subjective happening which is taking place at this time. He said: "He that is not with Me is against Me." This refers to the after effects of the conflict between the Forces of Light and the Forces of Evil. Great decisions have to be made all over the world, as to whether humanity moves forward into a New Age of cooperation and of right human relations or whether the materialistic groups will reassert their control and succeed in winning the day. This great cleavage is now in process of settlement.
p. 59.

THE GREAT INNVOCATION

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let Light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men––
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

 Through humanity, alone and unaided (except by the divine Spirit in every human being), can the "door where evil dwells be sealed." It is not Sanat Kumara who seals that door; it is not the Hierarchy which forces evil back into the place from whence it comes. It is struggling, aspiring and suffering humanity to whom the task is committed and, my brother, humanity is adequate to the task.
pp. 149, 159.

 There has never been a period in our planetary history in which opportunity has loomed so large or when so much spiritual light and force could be contacted and utilised by humanity.
 The first indication of this massed and available energy produced coordination of the New Group of World Servers upon the physical plane.
 The second indication produced a pronounced cleavage between the forces of evil and the Forces of Light; this cleavage resulted in the world war (1914-1945) and initiated the seething emotional and psychic turmoil in which humanity today finds itself.
 The third indication was the release of atomic energy and the discovery of how to transmute energy into matter and matter into energy.
pp. 162-3.

Above everything else required at this time is a recognition of the world of meaning, a recognition of Those Who implement world affairs and Who engineer those steps which lead mankind onward towards its destined goal, plus a steadily increased recognition of the Plan on the part of the masses. These three recognitions must be evidenced by humanity and affect human thinking and action if the total destruction of mankind is to be averted. They must form the theme of all the propaganda work to be done during the next few decades––until the year 2025––a brief space of time indeed to produce fundamental changes in human thought, awareness, and direction, but––at the same time––a quite possible achievement provided the New Group of World Servers and the men and women of goodwill perform a conscientious task. Evil is not yet sealed. The spread of the Christ consciousness and His recognised Presence with us is not yet attained. The Plan is not yet so developed that its structure is universally admitted. Evil has been driven back; there are enough people aware of the possibility of divine enlightenment and of the interdependence (which is the basis of love) to form a potent nucleus, provided again that the inertia so prevalent among spiritual people is overcome. There is divine indication of coming events and a planned progress towards them, and this is already arousing interest among thinkers in many lands. However, the necessary responsive planning is still lacking.
p. 164.

 The final line of the last stanza is also perhaps in need of explanation. It speaks of the task of the Plan as implemented by humanity to "seal the door where evil dwells." This is (needless to say) a symbolic way of expressing the idea of rendering evil purposes both inactive and ineffectual. There is no particular location where evil dwells; the New Testament in the Book of Revelations speaks of evil and of the destruction of the devil and of the rendering of Satan impotent. Those passages all refer to the same time cycle with which this Invocation deals and which it seeks to bring about.
 The "door where evil dwells" is kept open by humanity through its selfish desire, its hatreds and its separateness, by its greed and its racial and national barriers, its low personal ambitions and its love of power and cruelty. As goodwill and light stream forth into the minds and hearts of men, these evil qualities and these directed energies which keep the door of evil open will give place to a longing for right human relations, to a determination to create a better and more peaceful world and to a worldwide expression of the will-to-good. As these qualities supersede the old and undesirable ones, the door where evil dwells will symbolically slowly close through the sheer weight of public opinion and through right human desire. Nothing can possibly stop it.
pp. 173-4.

September 1943

BROTHER OF MINE

 It seems to me that so oft I have to say this year to hardpressed chelas: The way has been difficult. But so it is, and your way in life has been no exception. Great waves of karmic impact have beaten upon our Earth––that little ship adrift in time and space and sailing the great ocean of the cosmos. The Lords of Karma have looked towards our planet. Energy follows thought and that, my brother, is all that karma is––the impact of directed energy upon the Earth, upon the kingdoms in nature, upon man and upon the individual disciple. Much of this karma, especially now, is not individual in purpose, nor is it generated in any way by the individuals affected by it, be it an individual disciple, or an ordinary human being. It is largely incident at this time to the karma of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being: It is primarily also in the sphere of Shamballa, and has small relation in the first instance to humanity at all. This means but little to you, I realise. This karma working out in Shamballa has, however, led to the vitalising of the activities of certain "will-ful" men; they have loosed great evil upon the Earth. But this karma will also produce the stimulation of goodwill, and thus lasting good will offset temporary evil. This must not be forgotten.
p. 578.

November 1948

MY BROTHER:

. . . Those disciples who work today in the world and do so consciously in order to aid the Christ and His mission, come within the protecting aura with which the Head of the Hierarchy at all times surrounds certain work undertaken by the Hierarchy in connection with our planet. This work of preparation for His coming is curiously fraught with danger because of the immense and constant antagonism it arouses (and is arousing increasingly) in the opposing forces of evil. The main attack of these forces is upon disciples and particularly those in a position and at the point in evolution where they can act with potency and greatly help in the task of reaching others. This you can do, and along with all disciples are, therefore, marked "for protection," as it is esoterically called. This does not mean that you will be free from attack and––because you are a disciple––attack on all three bodies simultaneously, but it means that such attack will arouse in you no fear. Remember always, brother of mine, that it is fear that permits the entry of wrong potencies, and that such an attack may not be aimed at your weakest point but preferably at your strongest; it is there where disciples are often caught unawares and thus suffer a temporary setback.
pp. 748-9.

 The key to humanity's trouble (focusing as it has in the economic difficulties of the past two hundred years and in the theological impasse of the orthodox churches) has been to take and not give, to accept and not share, to grasp and not to distribute. This has involved the breaking of a law which has placed humanity in a position of positive guilt. War is the dire penalty which mankind has had to pay for this great sin of separateness. Impressions from the Hierarchy have been received, distorted, misapplied and misinterpreted and the task of the New Group of World Servers is to offset this evil.
 Humanity has never really lived up to the teaching given it. Spiritual impression, whether conveyed by the Christ, by Krishna or by Buddha (and passed on to the masses by Their disciples) has not yet been expressed as it was hoped. Men do not live up to what they already know; they fail to make practical their information; they short circuit the light; they do not discipline themselves; greedy desire and unlawful ambition control and not the inner knowledge. To put it scientifically and from the esoteric angle: Spiritual impression has been interrupted and there has been interference with the divine circulatory flow. It is the task of the disciples of the world to restore this flow and to stop this interference. This is the major problem facing spiritual people at this time.
The Problems of Humanity by Alice A. Bailey, p. 7.

 The wars, aggressions and thefts which have distinguished every great nation without exception are facts and cannot be denied. Surely, however, the lessons of the evils which they wrought (culminating in the war 1914-1945) can be pointed out and the ancient causes of present day prejudices and dislikes can be shown and their futility emphasised. Is it not possible to build our theory of history upon the great and good ideas which have conditioned the nations and made them what they are? To emphasise the creativity which has distinguished all of them? Can we not present more effectively the great cultural epochs which––suddenly appearing in some one nation––enriched the entire world and gave to humanity its literature, its art and its vision?
p. 44.

 First, there is the spirit of nationalism with its sense of sovereignty and its selfish desires and aspirations. This, in its worst aspect, sets one nation against another, fosters a sense of national superiority and leads the citizens of a nation to regard themselves and their institutions as superior to those of another nation; it cultivates pride of race, of history, of possessions and of cultural progress and breeds an arrogance, a boastfulness and a contempt of other civilisations and cultures which is evil and degenerating; it engenders also a willingness to sacrifice other people's interests to one's own and a basic failure to admit that "God hath made all men equal". This type of nationalism is universal and everywhere to be found and no nation is free from it; it indicates a blindness, a cruelty and a lack of proportion for which mankind is already paying a terrible price and which will bring humanity down in ruins if persisted in.
p. 88.

 The wonder of the present situation and its outstanding opportunity is that for the first time, and on a planetary scale, men are aware of the evil which must be eliminated; everywhere there is discussion and planning; there are meetings and forums, and conferences and committees, ranging all the way from the great deliberations of the United Nations down to the tiny meetings held in some remote village.
p. 117.

 Unity, peace and security will come through the recognition––intelligently assessed––of the evils which have led to the present world situation, and then through the taking of those wise, compassionate and understanding steps which will lead to the establishing of right human relations, to the substitution of cooperation for the present competitive system, and by the education of the masses in every land as to the nature of true good-will and its hitherto unused potency.
p. 171.

 Today men and women everywhere––in high place and in low, in every nation, community and group––are presenting a vision of right human relations which must constitute the standard for the future of mankind. Everywhere they are exposing the evils which must be eliminated and they are educating ceaselessly in the principles of the new age.
p. 173.

 Why this triumph of the Christ consciousness must always be spoken of in terms of religion, of church-going and of orthodox belief is one of the incredible triumphs of the forces of evil. To be a citizen of the Kingdom of God does not mean that one must necessarily be a member of some one of the orthodox churches. The divine Christ in the human heart can be expressed in many different departments of human living––in politics, in the arts, in economic expression and in true social living, in science and in religion. It might be wise here to remember that the only time it is recorded that Christ (as an adult) visited the Temple of the Jews, He created a disturbance!
The Reappearance of The Christ by Alice A. Bailey, p. 52.

 It is not the evil rampant in the world today which is hindering the revelation and hindering the unfoldment of the spiritual life. That evil is the result of the misapprehension and the wrong orientation of the human mind, of the emphasis upon material things which ages of competitive activity have brought about; it rests upon the failure of the religious organisations throughout the world to preserve the truth in its purity and to avoid the fanatical idea that anyone's individual interpretation of truth must necessarily be the only and correct one. Theologians have fought (and with sincerity of intention) for forms of words which they believed were the only true and correct formulation of the divine idea, but Christ was forgotten behind the words; churchmen have expended effort and executive ability in raising funds for the building of stone edifices whilst God's children everywhere went hungry and unclothed and so lost their belief in divine love.
p. 141.

 . . . The opposing forces of entrenched evil must be routed before He for Whom all men wait, the Christ, can come.

 The knowledge that He is ready and anxious publicly to appear to His loved Humanity only adds to the sense of general frustration, and another very vital question arises: For what period of time must we endure, struggle and fight? The reply comes with clarity: He will come unfailingly when a measure of peace has been restored, when the principle of sharing is at least in process of controlling economic affairs, and when churches and political groups have begun to clean house. Then He can and will come; then the Kingdom of God will be publicly recognised and will no longer be a thing of dreams and of wishful thinking and orthodox hope.
p. 163.

 Men of goodwill and of spiritual inclination must reject the thought of their relative uselessness, insignificance and futility, and realise that now (in the critical and crucial moment that has come) they can work potently. The Forces of Evil are defeated, though not yet "sealed" behind the door where humanity can put them and which The New Testament foretold would happen. Evil is seeking every avenue available for a new approach but––and this we can say with confidence and insistence––the little people of the world, enlightened and selfless in their viewpoint, exist in sufficient numbers to make their power felt––if they will. There are millions of spiritually-minded men and women in every country who, when they come to the point of approaching in mass formation this question of money, can permanently re-channel it. There are writers and thinkers in all lands who can add their powerful help, and who will, if correctly approached. There are esoteric students and devoted church people to whom appeal can be made for aid in preparing the way for the return of Christ, particularly if the aid required is the expenditure of money and time for the establishing of right human relations and the growth and spread of goodwill.
pp. 176-7.

 All of us can do something to bring the present terrible world situation to an end and to better conditions: the least of us can play our part in inaugurating the new era of goodwill and understanding. It must be realised, however, that it is no millenium for which we work but that our main objective is, at this time, twofold:

 1. To break the ancient and evil rhythms and establish a new and better one. It is here that time is a paramount factor. If we can delay the crystallisation of the ancient evils which produced the world war, and arrest the reactionary forces in every nation, we shall be making way for that which is new and opening the door to the activities of the New Group of World Servers in every land––that group which is the agent of the Christ.
 2. To fuse and blend the united aspiration and longing of the people everywhere so that the sound of humanity's demand may be strong enough to reach the spiritual Hierarchy.

 This will require sacrifice, understanding and a deep love of our fellowmen. It will also require intelligence and wisdom and a practical grasp of world affairs. As the work goes forward in the establishing of right human relations (which is the basic world need) and as the method of so doing––goodwill––is developed, the Christ and His disciples will steadily approach closer to mankind. If the initial premise is accepted that He is on His way, then all spiritually oriented people and the disciples and aspirants of the world will inevitably work––but the premise must be accepted if the incentive is to prove adequate. It is with this thought that we look into the future. The fiat of the Lord has gone forth; Christ stands attentive to the demand of humanity. That demand is rising and mounting every day and "in such an hour as you think not, He will come."
pp. 188-9.

 The Forces of Darkness are powerful energies, working to preserve that which is ancient and material; hence they are preeminently the forces of crystallization, of form preservation, of the attractiveness of matter, and of the lure of that which is existent in the form life of the three worlds. They consequently block deliberately the inflow of that which is new and life-giving; they work to prevent the understanding of that which is of the New Age; they endeavor to preserve that which is familiar and old, to counteract the effects of the oncoming culture and civilization, to bring blindness to the peoples and to feed steadily the existing fires of hate, of separateness, of criticism and of cruelty. These forces, as far as the intelligent peoples of the world are concerned, work insidiously and cloak their effort in fair words, leading even disciples to express hatred of persons and ideologies, fostering the hidden seeds of hatred found in many human beings. They fan to fury the fear and hate of the world in an effort to preserve that which is old and make the unknown appear undesirable, and they hold back the forces of evolution and of progress for their own ends. These ends are as inscrutable to you as are the plans of the Ruler of Shamballa.
The Externalisation of the Hierarchy by Alice Bailey, pp. 75-6.

 The Modern Era

 I would like to pause here and remind you of one or two points which should be recognized as we approach this modern era in which all these culminating effects are taking place. Let me state them concisely and clearly.

 The lines of cleavage between materialism and spirituality (as we now understand the terms) have become increasingly clear. Two things have tended to bring this about. First, the pronouncement of the Ten Commandments. These, though negative in their form and dogmatic in their attitude, have made the issues and the required attitudes adequately clear. Owing to the relatively low stage of the universal human intelligence at the time that they were given (for the Biblical dates are not correct and the date of their pronouncement is far older than is thought) they were expressed by the formula, "Thou shalt not," thus turning human attention to the material expression of material tendencies. In days to come, the Ten Commandments will be expressed in a reversed form of which the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes are the embryonic form.

 Second, the Hierarchy withdrew in order that humanity, on reaching maturity and years of discretion, should not be handicapped and hindered by coercion and undue safeguarding but should express its major divine characteristics. Of these, free will and the discriminating use of the mind are the outstanding qualities. There was no free will in Atlantean days. There is a tendency to free will (note that term) today and we call it liberty and independence, freedom of thought and the right of the individual to determine the issues which control or should control the group of which he is a part. These are all attributes and qualities of free will but not the divine principle of free will per se. Of that we know as yet but little. Only the disciples of the world and the initiates know the true significance and implications of freedom of choice, and the right use of the will, and this because they are motivated by group good and the need of the majority.

 The test to which humanity was to be subjected and which is today the controlling factor was whether––given mental development and knowledge––it would consecrate that knowledge and its scientific and mental attainment to group good or to selfish ends, to material issues or to spiritual incentives and impulses. This ancient conflict has now been carried through into another field of human expression, that of the mind and––as the race has progressed and the personalities of human beings have reached a high stage of integration and achievement––the conflict has become acute, the issues clearer and the ranging of the opponents into two clearly defined groups is now so complete that the final struggle has become possible.

 Intelligent appreciation of the situation and a general capacity to present to the mind the underlying conditions has now been achieved by the bulk of the intelligent people upon the planet and, though the point of view is necessarily colored by national traditions, inherited ideas and policies as well as by environmental control and bias, the race has gone a long way towards its final emancipation. There is, therefore, a certain measure of free will displayed, and this constitutes an entirely new factor and a most satisfactory development. But I would remind you of a most important point and that is that the masses of the people––the middle classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (I use these words in their general sense and simply because of their significance and meaning)––are still victims of authority, of control, and remain relatively unthinking and childlike. This means that the true conflict is between a small minority to whom the issues are illuminatingly clear and who have definitely ranged themselves on one side or other of the embattled forces. A mere handful of men, the direct descendants or rather the reincarnations of the leaders in the ancient Atlantean conflict, are now on earth direct ing the forces of light or of darkness and bringing into being a direct line-up of millions of men whose will is that of their leaders.

 The lines of cleavage have grown steadily until now they can be expressed in terms of a humanity which is oriented towards the higher spiritual and altruistic values and whose keynotes are sacrifice, group good and world understanding, and those whose focus is predominantly material and whose aims are selfish, animated by ambition and the spirit of acquisition.

 It was the acuteness of this situation, and the wide extent of the cleavage, which induced the watching Hierarchy to permit a direct inflow of the Shamballa force (in spite of its attendant risks) to pour into the world. The objective was to stimulate the free will of the masses; the result upon them has been relatively good as it has led to the formulation and expression of the great world ideologies––Fascism, Democracy and Communism as well as that peculiarly distorted blend of Fascism and Communism which goes by the name of Hitlerism or Nazism. All these ideologies are fostered by the desire of the masses for the betterment of the condition in which the populace in any country lives and it has become focused, expressive and creative by the force of the Shamballa influence. But another result of this inflow of the will to-power has been to stimulate a certain group of outstanding personalities in many lands so that they have assumed control of the masses and can thus determine the policies and methods––religious, political and social––of the different nations. In every nation a relatively small group of people decide all important issues and determine all major national activities. This they do either by force, terror and deception or by persuasion, fair words and the application of ideological motives. Of this situation in the world the Lords of Destiny are availing themselves in order to bring the ancient conflict to an end and so enable humanity to pass into the new Aquarian Age relatively free and with clearer understanding of right human aims, right relationships and man's predestined future.

 It will serve no purpose for me to trace the relation of the present world conflict and the present world leaders to the conflict and the leaders in Atlantean times. Suffice it to say that many of the same personalities (on a higher turn of the spiral) are again playing their various parts in the great drama. It is no service to you and to your mental grip upon the situation for me to emphasize the details of that great war and its modern correspondences; it is of no value for me to compare the old methods and the modern usages whereby one side or the other carries forward the struggle for supremacy. You are in no position to verify what I say or to check the accuracy of my statements. The point which is, however, of major importance is for you to arrive at a clear understanding of what is at stake and a just appreciation of the values involved and also a correct grasp of the ideals animating the two groups of opponents.

 In Atlantean days, it was stated that the battle was between the Forces of Darkness (the so-called "Black Lodge of Adepts") and the Forces of Light (the so-called Great White Lodge, the Hierarchy of Masters). That was then approximately true for the conflict was between two small groups and the masses of the people were simply the blind and miserable victims of the fight and of the situation.

 Today, it is not possible to make such a clear distinction between the forces engaged, nor is it properly admissible. No nation or group of nations can be classed in a broad generalization as either black or white. Bear this in mind. Only those with no vision and an intolerant and prejudiced spirit will speak thus. All nations have within them those who belong in their thousands to the category of those who are swayed by the Forces of Light and who, therefore, respond normally and easily to the concept of goodwill, to the desire for right relationship between all men and to the ideal of true international and world understanding. In all nations there are those to whom this position makes no appeal at all and they are still in darkness and blinded to the true issues. This is a statement of fact. Those who seek to see the establishment of goodwill and understanding are in the majority but are––as I pointed out in earlier writings ––relatively futile to control the situation as yet or to force their leaders to follow the mass will-to-good. They are either inspired or protected by the Hierarchy of Light and it is with them that the task of stimulating the free expression of this goodwill must be carried forward when the conflict ends.

 As for the other group, they are those who through inclination or ancient karma are the descendants of the Lords of darkness; their actions and ideals make possible the activity of the forces of materialism. I would have you note that phrasing. Even the most dangerous of them are nevertheless conscious of some form or another of idealism, but they are misguided and full of response to the will-to-power (power upon the physical plane and through the medium of form activity). This is stimulated by the inflow of the Shamballa energy. Because of these reactions and tendencies, they constitute focal points for those lives and Energies which are inherent in matter itself and whose influence and work are dedicated to the preservation of form, and of that which is. They endeavor constantly to negate the new and to hold back the evolution and development of the human consciousness. Forget not that the real issue is in the field of consciousness and that the struggle is between form and the life within the form, and between progress, leading to the liberation of the human spirit, and reactionary activity leading to the imprisonment of the human consciousness and the restriction of its free expression.
pp. 124-9.

 1. The Forces of Evil, working through Germany and Japan. To date, they are holding their own and they arenot yet defeated. They are terrorizing the world. Within their own national borders they do not possess enough people with courage, understanding, or with the ability to think clearly, who hate evil and who can hold to a vision. There is little in either nation to bring assistance to the Forces of Light. The Germans were deceived from the beginning, and a widespread national deception, backed by a terror campaign, argues a general weakness, lack of courage and a natural predilection for evil guidance. The tendency to be led along aggressive, selfish and evil lines has been characteristic of the German mentality for great length of time. This negative nation with its arrogant psychology (one of the great paradoxes of the ages), must be taught the ways of positive good, and a courageous championing of righteousness must take the place of the present negative acceptance of evil. With humility and intelligence must the German nation be taught to take a proper place in the community of nations. The Japanese nation, in spite of its great age, must go back into the nursery state; it must be taught, as children are taught, to be social and not antisocial, and it will be long before it will be safe to trust this nation. The Italian nation presents no greater problem than does any other nation in the world. It is normal, as are the United Nations; the German nation and the Japanese race are not normal, and must be brought back to normality by careful, kindly, but firm handling and by applied educational processes.

 2. The Forces of Light. I would here correct an impression which exists among esotericists. By this phrase, (the Forces of Light), they are apt to mean that the Hierarchy is literally fighting against the Axis nations. This is not so in the physical sense. The Hierarchy works––as you well know––with the souls of men and with those minds which are so oriented and disposed that they react to soul impression. When I use the expression "the Forces of Light" I mean those enlightened nations upon whom the light of Freedom shines and who will refuse, at all costs, to relinquish that light. There is no freedom in Germany or in Japan. In a lesser sense and for a brief time, there was no freedom in Italy, but Italy must be counted among the enlightened nations, for it could not be held in duress. The Forces of Light comprise those nations (working through their armies and in the diplomatic arena) who are today fighting for the freedom of humanity, for the eternal rights of man, for liberty of conscience, for the position of the individual in any nation, and for freedom of religion or the right of man's self-chosen approach to the spiritual realities. Behind these nations stands the Hierarchy. Freedom is the birthright of mankind, and free will is the highest of the divine characteristics. Freedom is misinterpreted and misused by many, owing to the point in evolution of the mass of humanity, but it is a fundamental, divine principle; and where principles are involved the Hierarchy knows no compromise. There is no spiritual principle behind any of the activities of the Axis Powers, behind German activity or Japanese aggression. Therefore, the Hierarchy does not stand with power or strength behind any of their efforts.

 3. Humanity as a whole. The men, women and children of the world are all implicated in and affected by this universal war. The effects reach into the most isolated village, the most extensive desert and the highest mountain top, as well as into the cities and congested areas of all the nations. No one is exempt from the consequences of this present catastrophe. The bulk of humanity are universal and innocent sufferers. The majority scarcely realize what it is all about; they view this great historical climax from the purely self-centered angle and from the point of view of how it affects them as individuals and their nation as a whole. An increasing number are coming to realize that this war must be fought to a successful finish because there is no peace or hope or right world relationships as long as two nations––one in the Western hemisphere and the other in the Eastern––can precipitate disaster upon countless millions. A minority are realizing that the war has precipitated the condensed evil of the ages and that humanity is faced with the opportunity of erasing past errors, ancient selfishness and ingrained wickedness, and of inaugurating a new and better world. In this new world there will be freedom of approach to God, opportunity for individual expression, freedom to live in right relations and scope for creative living. A few––a very few––know that this is a climaxing point in an ancient conflict between Christ with His Hierarchy of Masters and "spiritual wickedness in high places." A mere handful of knowers and disciples know, past all controversy and discussion, that, heading up those unhappy lands––Germany and Japan––are ancient leaders who have again sought to bring planetary disaster and to deflect the ends and the aims of the Great White Lodge.

 Among all these are thousands who stand bewildered, sensing the truth but feeling helpless in the face of the gigantic horror which the evil gang now ruling Germany has precipitated upon humanity. They tend to right thinking but are still the prey of the unscrupulous and the selfish. When their thinking has been guided into right lines through a process of right presentation of the situation, they will constitute a powerful asset to the Forces of Light.

 Such is the situation with which the Hierarchy and humanity is today faced. The strength of the Forces of Light is growing; the power of the Forces of Darkness may be waning but is still vastly strong––upon the physical plane. Their main hold is upon the minds of men and that is exceedingly potent and unweakened, for it is aided by the mild, unthinking person, by the bewildered, the pacifist, the appeaser and the isolationist. The idealism of this group is turned to the aid of Germany by the skillful evil workers. The German armies are still unbeaten: central Europe is a mighty fortress, dominated by the arch enemy of mankind, sitting on his mountain-top. There, symbolically, he is to be found, the initiator into evil conditions, and into slavery. The armies of the Lord stand poised, and victory will be theirs when there is complete unity of purpose, concentrated attention upon right human relations, and a spread of idealistic aspiration to all who are fighting this battle for freedom. For this unity of purpose all the enlightened people of the world must work. It is not yet adequately present.
pp. 427-31.

 But another great "division" of those Forces (if I may symbolically use a military term) is being mobilized and can be brought into active service at the Full Moon of May (Taurus) if the demand is strong enough, is mentally powerful and adequately focused. These Forces work entirely upon the level of the mind and with the minds of men; it is their task to bring the battle between the Forces of Light and the Forces of Darkness to an end––not only physically, but through the inauguration of an era of right thinking. This will end the present cycle of emotional distress, of agony, of glamour and illusion, and of materialistic desires which today form the pattern of men's lives. This has to be done by means of the spiritual will, working as enlightenment upon the mental plane and demonstrating as wisdom, and as skill in action, motivated by loving understanding. These three aspects of light––mental enlightenment, the illumination which wisdom confers, and loving understanding––all find their perfect expression in the Lord of the World (Whom the orthodox call God) and in His reflections, the Buddha and the Christ––the One Who brought Illumination to the world and the Other Who demonstrated the actuality of the Love of God. These three great expressions of divinity (One so divine that we can only know Him through His representatives) can be called into a new and most potent activity through right invocation at the time of the Full Moon of May. Those who can carry out this great act of invocation are the spiritually minded people everywhere, the enlightened statesmen, the religious leaders, and the men and women of goodwill, if they can stand with massed intent, particularly throughout the entire month of April. Their assistance can also be invoked by the dire need of men, women and children everywhere who can voice no cry, for they know not where to turn, but whose appeal is heard and noted.
p. 465.

 I might here touch upon the paralleling activity of the forces which are working to prevent the externalization of the Hierarchy of Light since such a happening as that would mean increased––because proven––power. As you know, on the astral and mental planes centres exist which are called "dark centres" because the emphasis of their activity is upon the material aspect of manifestation and upon the activity of material substance; all energy is subordinated to purely selfish purpose. As I have before stated, the Forces of Light work with the soul, hidden in every form. They are concerned with group purposes and with the founding of the kingdom of God on earth. The dark forces work with the form side of expression and with the founding of a centre of control which will be theirs entirely and which will subdue all the living forms in all kingdoms to their peculiar behests. It is the old story, familiar in Biblical phraseology, of the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of the Christ, of the power of anti-Christ and the power of Christ. This produced a great climax in Atlantean days and, though the Hierarchy of Light triumphed, it was only by the merest margin. The battle was fought out on the astral plane, though it had its correspondence upon the physical plane, in a great world conflict of which the ancient legend tells us. It ended in the catastrophe of the Flood. The seeds of hate and of separation have been fostered ever since that time and the three modes whereby the forces of darkness seek to control humanity are hatred, aggression and separativeness. The three great spiritual counterparts are love, selfless sharing and synthesis.

 However, the hold of the forces which are working against the living principle of love (as embodied in the Hierarchy) is not gaining ground at this time, for the response of humanity to that which is good and synthetic is much more rapid and general than it was a few hundred years ago. There is much reason to hope that there will be a steady waning of the undesired control. The dark forces are ruled on the physical plane by a group of six oriental leaders and six occidental leaders; of these the oriental are the most powerful because they are the oldest racially and therefore the most experienced. They work by the intensification of glamour and by the stimulation of the lower psychic powers. Their particular point of attack at this time is the group of world disciples and initiates, for these latter are responsible for the fostering of love in the world and for the binding of men together in the spirit of unity. If they cannot succeed with this task now, it should be possible to externalize the Hierarchy and thereby greatly lessen the control of the so-called evil forces.

 If these evil forces cannot induce the disciples everywhere, in group formation or individually, to succumb in some form to glamour, then they will endeavor to utilize group glamour to negative their efforts and force those with whom the disciples work to believe evil, to impugn motives, and to produce such a convincing story that the struggling disciple will be left to fight almost singlehanded. If this cannot be done, they may then attack the physical bodies of the workers and agents for the Hierarchy, and seek, through the distress of the physical body, to control the disciple's output. This does not always prove successful, as the Master can, and often does, protect His disciple. The dark forces work also through the intensification or stimulation of the psychic mechanism, so that the lower psychic powers become abnormally developed and prematurely assume proportions which are almost uncontrollable. This happened on a large scale in Atlantean days and led to the entire astral plane standing revealed, but not understood. Its undesirable potencies were then let loose upon the physical plane and this led to the war between the two great schools of the mysteries––the Light and the Dark––which culminated in the destruction of the then known world.

 Today these potencies, light and dark, are again struggling for physical plane expression and supremacy but this time the result is vastly different. The effort to produce soul contact or to hinder it is working out in the form of nervous diseases and pathological conditions and this is affecting potently the group activity of man. The effort by the dark forces to stimulate the lower psychic powers seems able to reach no deeper into matter and form than the etheric vehicles and from there to condition the physical body physiologically in the form of diseases, lesions, nervous troubles and brain afflictions and the many other ways in which the human being is rendered helpless and unfitted to cope with daily living and modern world conditions. But the mind nature has reached a stage of protective usefulness and some of the great guarding barriers which are flung up around humanity at this time are the spirit of skepticism, and the refusal to recognize the existence or the usefulness of the psychic powers. This is a point to be remembered.

 I have several times used the expression "the premature awakening" of the psychic powers. By that I mean the abnormal unfoldment of the powers of clairvoyance and of clairaudience so that the entire lower levels of the astral plane stand revealed, though the possessor of these powers can neither control the phenomena of subtle sight and hearing, nor interpret correctly what he sees and hears. In the earlier animal or savage stage, these faculties are frequently normal and there is no mental reaction of any kind and, therefore, no undue strain is put upon the nervous system and the brain. There is what I might call a flat or unemotional acquiescence in the condition which is due to the complete lack of the interpretative sense and of the dramatic self-conscious attitude of the man who is beginning to use his mind. The moment the "I-consciousness" becomes uppermost then the possession of these lower psychic powers becomes a hindrance and a complication. Temporarily, they must be thrust into the background in order that the mind principle may assert its control and the life of the soul can then flow out into matured and considered expression upon the physical plane. This relegation of the psychic powers to a position below the threshold of consciousness is the intent of the development planned for the Aryan race.
Esoteric Psychology II by Alice Bailey, pp.576-80

 This fourth ray, as you have several times been told, is out of incarnation, as far as the reincarnating egos or souls of men are concerned. From another angle, however, it is always active and ever present, because it is the ray which governs the fourth kingdom in nature, the human kingdom in the three worlds of strictly human evolution.

 It is the dominant energy, always exerting pressure upon the fourth kingdom; this pressure began to exert itself primarily towards the end of the fourth human race, the Atlantean race of men; at that time men began to give evidence of a growing sense of responsibility, and therefore of the power to demonstrate discriminative choice. This led to the great war in the fourth race which culminated in the Flood, to which all parts of the world testify and to which the majority of the world Scriptures bear evidence. In that era, in which the then known world of men was extensively involved, the Black and the White Lodges of adepts were also implicated, and the first major fight between the demonstrators of evil and the Forces of Light took place; it was inconclusive, with the evidence for defeat to be found on the side of the good more than on the side of evil. Under the symbolism of the Flood, it is apparent to students that the fight was focused primarily upon the astral plane, though fought out historically upon the physical plane; it resulted in the destruction of the world by water, as it might be symbolically expressed.
The Rays and the Initiations by Alice Bailey, p. 603.

The Place that the Will plays in inducing Revelation

 There are three words connected with this initiation which are of real importance to its correct understanding. They are: Emergence. Will. Purpose. With the emergence aspect we have already dealt under the term "raising up" or the "transition" from the darkness of matter to the light of the Spirit. But of the Will, its uses and its function, as yet we know little. Knowledge as to the nature of the will in any true sense only comes after the third initiation. From that time on the initiate demonstrates increasingly and steadily the first divine aspect, that of the Will and the right use of Power. This first aspect of divinity is necessarily closely associated with the first Ray of Power or Will. I shall, however, only consider the ray angle incidentally, for I want to elucidate for you the nature of the will in some clear measure, though complete understanding is not possible.
 The Lord of the World is, we are told, the sole repository of the will and the purpose of His overshadowing, cosmic soul. These two words––will and purpose––are not identical in meaning. Sanat Kumara and His Council at Shamballa are the only Beings upon our planet Who know just what is the nature of the divine purpose. It is Their function and obligation to work that purpose out into manifestation, and this They do by the use of the will. The will ever implements the purpose. The repository of the will aspect of man's innate divinity is to be found at the base of the spine; this can only function correctly and be the agent of the divine will after the third initiation. The head centre is the one which is the custodian of the purpose; the centre at the base of the spine indicates the will as it implements the purpose. The purpose is slowly, very slowly, revealed to the initiate during the final five initiations and this only becomes possible after the Initiation of Renunciation. At that time the initiate says, in unison with the great head of the Hierarchy, the Christ: "Father, not my will but Thine be done." Then comes the initiation of emergence out of matter and from that point on, the initiate begins to glimpse the purpose of the planetary Logos; hitherto he has only seen the plan, and to the service of the plan he has been dedicated. Hitherto also, he has only sought to be an exponent of the love of God; now he must express, with increasing fullness, the will of God.

 Earlier in these pages (Page 410) we are told that the problem which confronts the Hierarchy as it seeks to prepare disciples for the successive initiations is the right use of the will, both Their Own use of the will in relation to the initiate, and the initiate's use of the will as he works for the Plan as that Plan implements Purpose. To produce this, a direct, understanding and powerful expression of this first aspect is demanded. There are several reasons why the will presents a problem. Let us list a few of them and thereby get understanding.
 1. This energy of the will is the most potent energy in the whole scheme of planetary existence. It is called the "Shamballa Force," and it is that which holds all things together in life. It is, in reality, life itself. This life force or divine will (implementing divine intention) is that by means of which Sanat Kumara arrives at His goal. On a tiny scale it is the use of one of the lowest aspects of the will (human self-will) which enables a man to carry out his plans and attain his fixed purpose––if he has one. Where the will is lacking, the plan dies out and the purpose is not achieved. Even in relation to self-will, it is veritably the "life of the project." The moment Sanat Kumara has attained His planetary purpose, He will withdraw this potent energy, and (in this withdrawing) destruction will set in. This Shamballa force is steadily held in leash for fear of too great an impact upon the unprepared kingdoms in nature. This has reference to its impact also upon humanity.
 You have been told that this force has––during this century––made its first direct impact upon humanity; heretofore, it reached mankind in the three worlds after being stepped down and modified by transit through the great planetary centre to which we give the name of the Hierarchy. This direct impact will again take place in 1975, and also in the year 2000, but the risks will then not be so great as in the first impact, owing to the spiritual growth of mankind. Each time this energy strikes into the human consciousness some fuller aspect of the divine plan appears. It is the energy which brings about synthesis, which holds all things within the circle of the divine love. Since its impact during the past few years, human thinking has been more concerned with the production of unity and the attainment of synthesis in all human relations than ever before, and one result of this energy has been the forming of the United Nations.

 2. It will be apparent to you, therefore, that this energy is the agent for the revelation of the divine purpose. It may surprise you that this is regarded as presenting a problem to the Hierarchy, but if this power––impersonal and potent––should fall into the hands of the Black Lodge, the results would be disastrous indeed. Most of the members of this centre of cosmic evil are upon the first ray itself, and some of the divine purpose is known to a few of them, for––in their due place and in the initiatory regime––they too are initiates of high degree, but dedicated to selfishness and separativeness. Their particular form of selfishness is far worse than anything which you can imagine, because they are completely detached and divorced from all contact with the energy to which we give the name of love. They have cut themselves off from the spiritual Hierarchy, through Whom the love of the planetary Logos reaches the forms in the three worlds and all that is contained therein. These evil but powerful beings know well the uses of the will, but only in its destructive aspect.
 We have spoken much of the purpose of the planetary Logos. When I use the word "purpose" I am indicating the answer to the question: Why did the planetary Logos create this world and start the evolutionary, creative process? Only one answer has as yet been permitted to be given. Sanat Kumara has created this planet and all that moves and lives therein in order to bring about a planetary synthesis and an integrated system whereby a tremendous solar revelation can be seen. Having said that, we have not really penetrated any distance into the meaning of the divine purpose; We have only indicated the method whereby it is being attained, but the true objective remains still an obscure mystery––guarded rigidly in the Council Chamber of Sanat Kumara. It is this mystery and this divine planetary "secret" which is the goal of all the work being done by the Black Lodge. They are not yet sure of the purpose, and all their efforts are directed to the discovery of the nature of the mystery. Hence the hierarchical problem.
pp.714-717.

 The fear of death is one of the great abnormalities or distortions of divine truth for which the Lords of Cosmic Evil are responsible. When in early Atlantean times they emerged from the place where they had been confined, and forced temporarily the retirement of the Great White Lodge to subjective levels, their first great act of distortion was to implant in human beings fear, beginning with the fear of death. From that time on, men have laid the emphasis upon death and not life, and have been ridden by fear all their days.
 One of the initial acts of the reappearing Christ and of the Hierarchy will be to erase this particular fear and to confirm in peoples' minds the idea that incarnation and the taking of a form is the true place of darkness to the divine spirit which is man; it is death to the spirit temporarily, and imprisonment. Evolution, men will be taught, is in itself an initiatory process leading from one living experience to another, culminating in the fifth Initiation of Revelation and in the seventh Initiation of Resurrection.
pp.732.

 4. The partial Sealing of the Door where Evil dwells

 Just what do these words mean? More than I can tell you or put into words, for the problem of evil is too difficult a one for the average man to grasp. The problem of the Hierarchy (if I may put it both accurately and yet symbolically) is to liberate the good, free the beautiful, release the true and "immure in prison under seal" that which is not good, that which breeds ugliness and hate, and that which distorts the truth and lies about the future. I have chosen all these words with care; their meaning is obvious, but there are significances far too deep and dangerous for you to grasp.
 It has been humanity––cumulatively and over millions of years––which has released evil into the world. Thoughts of hate, deeds of cruelty, lying words, sadistic action, selfish intentions and the foulest kind of ambitious selfishness have created a pathway to the "door where evil dwells." Evil is in reality of two kinds: There is that innate tendency to selfishness and to separation which is inherent in the substance of our planet; of it all forms are made and our planetary Logos inherited it from the residue left over from a previous solar system. That is something unavoidable and something that provides mankind with a needed opportunity and one which men are well equipped to handle and control. There is that in them which can transmute and change it, and it is this that basically constitutes the Science of Redemption.
 But humanity has not chosen to exert itself in this redemptive activity, and for thousands of years has been controlled by that which is material; it has thus constructed the "broad and easy way" which leads to the place where another kind of evil dwells––an evil which is not indigenous to our planet, an evil with which it was never intended that men should deal. For untold aeons, the Hierarchy has stood like a shield, guarding humanity. But with the coming of a greatly increased mental development, with the repudiation of the Hierarchy by the bulk of humanity, and by the prostitution of religion to material ends and narrow theological and mental tenets, the Hierarchy has been forced (much against its will) to withdraw some measure of its protecting power (though not all of it fortunately for mankind). The way to the door where evil dwells was unimpeded and humanity opened wide the door. The entrance for what might be regarded as cosmic evil was first opened in the decadent days of the Roman Empire (which was one reason why the Christ chose to manifest in those days), was opened wider under the corrupt regime of the Kings of France and, in our own day, has been opened still wider by evil men in every land.
 Remember that the evil to which I refer here is not necessarily the foul and vile things about which people speak with bated breath. These are largely curable and the processes of incarnation eventually purify them. The true nature of cosmic evil finds its major expression in wrong thinking, false values and the supreme evil of materialistic selfishness and the sense of isolated separativeness. These (to speak again in symbols) are the weights which keep the door of evil open and which precipitated upon the world the horrors of war, with all its attendant disasters.
 The realisation of what was happening did more temporarily to unify the world and heal the cleavages among nations than any other thing. The nations of the world allied themselves with the Forces of Light to a very large extent, and little by little, cosmic evil was forced back and the door which "conceals the place of endless death and hides the countenances of the Lords of wicked pride and hateful lust" was partially closed, but not entirely shut; its final closing and sealing is not yet accomplished.
 There are certain areas of evil in the world today through which these forces of darkness can reach humanity. What they are and where they are I do not intend to say. I would point out, however, that Palestine should no longer be called the Holy Land; its sacred places are only the passing relics of three dead and gone religions. The spirit has gone out of the old faiths and the true spiritual light is transferring itself into a new form which will manifest on earth eventually as the new world religion. To this form all that is true and right and good in the old forms will contribute, for the forces of right will withdraw that good, and incorporate it in the new form. Judaism is old, obsolete and separative and has no true message for the spiritually-minded which cannot be better given by the newer faiths; the Moslem faith has served its purpose and all true Moslems await the coming of the Imam Mahdi who will lead them to light and to spiritual victory; the Christian faith also has served its purpose; its Founder seeks to bring a new Gospel and a new message that will enlighten all men everywhere. Therefore, Jerusalem stands for nothing of importance today, except for that which has passed away and should pass away. The "Holy Land" is no longer holy, but is desecrated by selfish interests, and by a basically separative and conquering nation.
 The task ahead of humanity is to close the door upon this worst and yet secondary evil and shut it in its own place. There is enough for humanity to do in transmuting planetary evil without undertaking to battle with that which the Masters Themselves can only keep at bay, but cannot conquer. The handling of this type of evil and its dissipation, and therefore the release of our planet from its danger, is the destined task of Those Who work and live in "the centre where the Will of God is known," at Shamballa; it is not the task of the Hierarchy or of humanity. Remember this, but remember also that what man has loosed he can aid to imprison; this he can do by fostering right human relations, by spreading the news of the approach of the spiritual Hierarchy, and by preparing for the reappearance of the Christ. Forget not also, the Christ is a Member of the Great Council at Shamballa and brings the highest spiritual energy with Him. Humanity can also cease treading the path to the "door where evil dwells" and can remove itself and seek the Path which leads to light and to the Door of Initiation.
pp.752-755.