The Seven Rays

A study in esoteric psychology

This page of The Turtle Wheel is based on the work of Djwhal Khul "the Tibetan," Alice A. Bailey, Michael Robbins, the Buddha Maitreya and many other writers and teachers who have explored the profound and provocative world of The Seven Rays, a most cogent and comprehensive treatment of esoteric, spiritual, or transpersonal psychology. Esoteric psychology is a very complex subject; some people have devoted decades to its study. The intention of this page is to present a very basic treatment of the seven rays and esoteric psychology. No attempt or claim is made to providing a full or even working knowledge of them. Anyone nudged to undertake the study is encourgaged to use the resources listed at the end of the page.

What is The 7 Rays?
The theory of the 7 rays is not definitely known in terms of its origin. In the first part of the 20th century, a Tibetan mystic, Djwhal Khul, began teaching the 7 rays to a select number of students (or disciples as he called them although it is only fair to point out that they were disciples of the 7 rays and not him) and among them was a English woman, Alice A. Bailey. Over the next several years she wrote a series of books that contained the Tibetan's teachings. The information thus became introduced into the western world. Before the Tibetan's limited audience teaching, the information is assumed to have been the sole province of an esoteric mystery school. Bailey's derivative work on esoteric philosophy/psychology fills over twenty volumes and is not easily digested (at least by me!).

Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century continuing to this day, an American, Michael Robbins condensed much of Bailey's work into a series called Tapestry of the Gods which is a "beginner's guide" to the 7 rays. Volumes 1 and 2 are available (see Resources) and volumes 3 and 4 are in development. I am not attempting to repeat or even synopsize Robbins' work. My intention in this section of The Turtle Wheel is to provide the highlights of the 7 rays based on Robbins' work with the goal of stimulating interest in this subject which I find to be the most cogent and comprehensive treatment of esoteric, spiritual, or transpersonal psychology that I have found in my many years of seeking. The work is somewhat laborious but very rewarding for the person who commits to pursuing it.

The 7 rays according to the Tibetan are the seven foundational vibration "sets" from which the entire universe is constructed. This of course includes human beings and all other matter. The 7 rays are identified by the nature of their energy patterns:

The Seven Rays and the Chakras
Human beings are composed of a combination of the rays which are located in the five astral and etheric energy centers of human entities. The five centers are the Soul, personality, the mind, the emotions, and the actual physical body. Our behavior is shaped based on which rays are energizing which centers. Each of the rays has a "home" chakra (based on the 7 chakra system) where it rightfully exibits in an evolving human. As we mature and are influenced by the world, the rays "wander" to exhibit in other chakras , and by doing so, set up the lessons that we need in order to get back on track in our individual journeys. The proper match up of rays and chakras is:

Esoteric Psychology
Esoteric psychology is a complex body of knowledge and is associated with the alignment of the rays to their proper chakras with the eventual integration of the soul with the personality which is referred to as "taking the third initiation." At birth each human comes in with ray "equipment" corresponding to five energy centers: Soul, personality, mental, emotional, and physical. Each center contains all seven rays BUT only features (or principally "exhibits" one ray at a point in time). The format for stating a person's ray equipment is, as an example:
V 3(521) where:

V = the Soul (Ray 5 - Concrete Knowledge and Science)
3 = personality (Ray 3 - Active Intelligence )
5 = mental (Ray 5 - Concrete Knowledge and Science)
2 = emotional (Ray2 - Love-Wisdom)
1 = physical (Ray 1 - Will and Power)

The blending of these exhibited rays (subtly influenced by the other six rays also contained in the center) creates a tapestry of who we are at a point in time and also earmarks where we are on our spiritual path. A spiritual path consists of a series of initiations (or stages); each initiation may take many lifetimes to accomplish. Basically each of our Souls has progressed through some number of initiations; however, when we are born anew into human life, as humans (the personality, the mind, the emotions, and the body) although the Soul has advanced through, say the third initiation, as a human we are back to ground zero. The news is not all bad... Because our Soul has previously advanced in other lifetimes, we have the potential, not a guarantee, of rapidly moving through initiations to catch up with our Soul and moving on to the next initiation. This is called recapitulation. Prior to birth we choose our lower four rays (the Soul ray tends to stay the same from lifetime to lifetime but can change) to enable our rapid capitulation.

The First Three Initiations
The first initiation occurs when the Soul (Ego with a capital E) has developed sufficient communication with the physical body through the personality, mind, and emotions to gain ascendency over the body such that the purely carnal and physical survival aspects of human life are no longer ruling the human. This initiation may be thought of as the beginning of spiritual awarenss, not awakening, but the awareness that there is more to "life" than the physical. In terms of Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (survival, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization) the needs being addressed with the completion of the first initiation are survival, safety, and the awakeing of love which marks the realization of ray 2 (Love-Wisdom) being the rightful ruler of the heart chakra or center. The first initiation does not infer that the aspirant or disciple (read "seeker") has achieved unconditional self-love but has opened the door to the heart. There are many Souls in incarnation at this time who have "taken" (accomplished) the first initiation.

The second initiation marks the beginning of spiritual awakening such that the disciple is not only aware of the Soul but also of spirit as well. Typically the human will begin yearning for greater experience and knowlege of spiritual pursuits. Thoughts will begin to occur (from the still-cloaked Soul but whose will is becoming more strongly expressed) about being in service to one's fellow humans. The level being addressed in Maslow's hierarchy is level four, esteem. The center or chakra being enlivened is the throat, and whose rightful ray (ray three, active intelligence), is properly (for spiritual growth) being exhibited or dominant. During the process of the second initiation, the disciple will become increasingly aware of the necessity for unconditional self-love, and achieving that state leads to taking the second initiation. There are many people on the Earth today who have taken the second initiation and many more who are on the doorstep.

The third initiation is pivotal in the spiritual path of spiritual evolution because it first involves integrating the lower three rays (mental, emotional, physical) with the personality ray, and only then, integrating the personality ray with the Soul ray. With taking the third initiation, Maslow's last level of self-actualization is possible. It is at that time that the Soul can fully express itself through the personality and the person (or disciple) can begin to fully come into its own and spiritual evolution is accelerated through a series of other initiations. The first ray of will and power becomes exhibted in the crown center of chakra, and the first three rays are all now active in their appropriate centers:
Ray 1 - Will and Power - Crown chakra "access to the Divine"
Ray 2 - Love-Wisdom - Heart chakra "love"
Ray 3 - Active Intelligence - Throat chakra "speaking one's truth"
Taking the third initiation raises the disciple to a higher level of being in which the four lower centers are now under control and expressing the will of the Soul. Although there are four more levels of initiation, taking the third enables the progression through higher levels. Taking the third level constitutes what is often referred to as enlightenment or existing in the light of Spirit. Although the number of third level initiates is increasing, they are relative rare at present. It is the "honor duty" of third level initiates to support others in taking the third initiation. As the number of third level initiates expands, the world and humanity will truly experience a renaissance heretofore unknown on Earth.

The Intelligent Use of the Seven Rays
One of the most powerful aspects of the seven rays is the ability to pinpoint the lesson that is most prevalent to the disciple at a point in time and so is the greatest obstacle to moving toward taking the third initiation. This is accomplished through the determination of which ray is most active and which chakra or center is that ray "exhibiting" in and thereby influencing the person to address his or her lesson. Since a "lesson" is going to dominate a particular chakra, the "home" ray for that chakra will be repressed by the ray that is temporarily overshadowing the home chakra's ray thus setting up the lesson.

For example, the home chakra for the first ray of will and power is the crown or seventh chakra. If instead of the first ray exhibiting in the crown chakra it is exhibiting in the first chakra of survival then the disciple's use of will and power will not be "right" for it will be oriented toward survival issues thereby causing a preoccupation with safety and suspicion leading to greed, hoarding, and isolation from others, a mostly service to self life. The right use of first ray energy in the crown chakra leads to doing that which is in the disciple's highest and best interest and in the practice of service to others. By the disciple's awareness of this placement of the first ray in his first chakra (instead of the seventh chakra), he can begin to understand that the catalysts and triggers he experiences are pointing him to the lesson(s) that will enable him to beneficially exhibit his first ray energy in his crown.

The determination of the most active ray and the chakra that is exhibiting it can be accomplished in several ways: using a soul therapist to make the determination, meditation, honest introspection, kinesiology, or by using a medatronic tool. This last method is best done using an etheric weaver, the creation of the Buddha Maitreya. The etheric weaver is a double terminated quartz crystal with magnets wrapped in copper wire. They can be examined on The Tibetan Foundation website (see Resource Links). Cindy and I have worked extensively with the weavers and other medatronic tools and find them to be very effective at healing both the etheric and astral bodies.

 

Email : Ron@RonMcCray.com

© Ron McCray 2002 - 2007