Why study the 7-Rays?
The following article is by Rene Fugere, a scholar on Esoteric Psychology and a former teacher of Esoteric Healing:
Carl Jung tells us, “Classification does not explain the individual psyche. Nevertheless, an understanding of psychological types opens the way to a better understanding of human psychology in general.”
From the time of the ancient Greeks onwards, history records humanity’s attempts to understand human behaviour by classification of the individual into groups or types.
The system of typology that I want to introduce to you is that of the seven rays which are said to be streams of cosmic energy that affect everything.
“In the same way as the seven colours are part of the spectrum and the seven notes are tones of the octave, so these Rays are differentiations or qualities of the one Divine Emanation. In some of the eastern teaching they are called the seven breaths giving life to all forms, and they have been referred to in different ways in different philosophies.”
- The Plan and the Path, Michael Eastcott and Nancy Magor, Sundial House, p. 37
Christianity gives us three aspects of the Divinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This Trinity is expressed in the language of the rays as the three major rays: the first ray of Will and Power, the second ray of Love and Wisdom, and the third ray of Active Creative Intelligence. Other religions also talk about a Divine Trinity – for example, Hinduism has Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma; the Hebrew religion has Kepher, Binah and Chochmah; the ancient Egyptians had Osiris, Horus and Isis.
The teachings of the rays tell us that from the third ray, four rays of attribute are created: the fourth ray of Harmony through Conflict, the fifth ray of Concrete Knowledge and Science, the sixth ray of Devotion and Idealism, and the seventh ray of Ceremonial Order and Magic – also known as the ray of Synthesis. This makes a total of seven rays. Again, various religions will give us the idea of a septenate of energies – as in the book of Revelation: the Seven Spirits before the throne of God and also seven flaming torches and the rainbow. Judaism has the menorah with seven flames from seven candlesticks. The Bhagavad Gita gives us "seven sages." Ancient Mexican and ancient Hawaiian religions refer to a seven-headed serpent and the "seven who surround His Sacred Shrine," and so on – all in relation to creation or Divinity.
We cannot prove the existence of the rays except by using the knowledge of them as an hypothesis. If you do so, you will find that they fit in with much we already know and help to explain the previously inexplicable.
These seven great streams of energy are said to “demonstrate the qualities of the Deity” and furthermore they are “the dominant conditioning and qualifying factors in our lives”. They do not merely influence one aspect of our natures, but each aspect: physical, emotional, mental, personality and Soul. Each of these five levels may be influenced by a different ray (or the same ray may influence more than one aspect), and so a unique tapestry of energies is woven for each individual. By discovering our own rays as they influence each aspect of ourselves, we can be helped towards a fuller understanding of our nature and behaviour; we can learn how to integrate the different aspects of the personality and then the personality with the Soul.
Furthermore, different rays affect different times, nations, races, planets and even solar systems. Our solar system is said to be a second-ray system – so all the seven rays manifesting in our solar system are modified by the second-ray energy (of love and wisdom). The human race is influenced as a whole by the fourth ray, the planet earth by the third ray, the Piscean age by the sixth ray, the Aquarian age by the seventh ray and so on, all these rays interweaving the tapestry of the individual. The wider understanding gained from this study can give us more insights into the possible wider spiritual purposes behind humanity and our solar system.
Many psychologists have become interested in this system of understanding human nature which will certainly hold an important place in the psychology of the future.
We are conditioned by all of the rays through the astrological influences and mainly through the type of matter constituting each one of our vehicles. The rays influence us and condition us to the extent that they are unconscious. As we become more aware of ourselves, we discover how these conditionings affect our thoughts, emotions and personality behaviors. This awareness enables us to consciously transmute the lower expressions of these ray qualities into their higher and more creative expressions.
The influence of the rays in healing is something of which we are as yet unaware. We are sometimes aware that one healer seems to be able to help certain patients better than others. There seems to exist a greater degree of empathy between ourselves and some patients, no matter how hard we try to be equally objective in our attitude towards all our patients. We are told that in the future, healers and patients will be matched according to their rays. Were our senses of sight and sound operational through a wider spectrum than at present, we would be able to see the colours of a person’s rays and hear the notes of their rays, and the task of matching healer and patient would be made easier.
Each ray has its own colour and note. We can, however, frequently intuit when a person is “on the same wavelength” as ourselves. The same primary or Soul ray can bring instant empathy between two people; the same secondary rays (personality) will also bring recognition but perhaps is not as enduring.
We are asked to bear in mind the three-fold nature of all that is. Just as we speak of God as three in one and one in three, so we too are threefold: Spirit, Soul, body – or life, consciousness, and appearance. We are asked to hold this in our minds as we study and endeavor to understand the energies which influence these aspects of our being, and of all beings, of all life.
Carl Jung tells us, “Classification does not explain the individual psyche. Nevertheless, an understanding of psychological types opens the way to a better understanding of human psychology in general.”
From the time of the ancient Greeks onwards, history records humanity’s attempts to understand human behaviour by classification of the individual into groups or types.
The system of typology that I want to introduce to you is that of the seven rays which are said to be streams of cosmic energy that affect everything.
“In the same way as the seven colours are part of the spectrum and the seven notes are tones of the octave, so these Rays are differentiations or qualities of the one Divine Emanation. In some of the eastern teaching they are called the seven breaths giving life to all forms, and they have been referred to in different ways in different philosophies.”
- The Plan and the Path, Michael Eastcott and Nancy Magor, Sundial House, p. 37
Christianity gives us three aspects of the Divinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This Trinity is expressed in the language of the rays as the three major rays: the first ray of Will and Power, the second ray of Love and Wisdom, and the third ray of Active Creative Intelligence. Other religions also talk about a Divine Trinity – for example, Hinduism has Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma; the Hebrew religion has Kepher, Binah and Chochmah; the ancient Egyptians had Osiris, Horus and Isis.
The teachings of the rays tell us that from the third ray, four rays of attribute are created: the fourth ray of Harmony through Conflict, the fifth ray of Concrete Knowledge and Science, the sixth ray of Devotion and Idealism, and the seventh ray of Ceremonial Order and Magic – also known as the ray of Synthesis. This makes a total of seven rays. Again, various religions will give us the idea of a septenate of energies – as in the book of Revelation: the Seven Spirits before the throne of God and also seven flaming torches and the rainbow. Judaism has the menorah with seven flames from seven candlesticks. The Bhagavad Gita gives us "seven sages." Ancient Mexican and ancient Hawaiian religions refer to a seven-headed serpent and the "seven who surround His Sacred Shrine," and so on – all in relation to creation or Divinity.
We cannot prove the existence of the rays except by using the knowledge of them as an hypothesis. If you do so, you will find that they fit in with much we already know and help to explain the previously inexplicable.
These seven great streams of energy are said to “demonstrate the qualities of the Deity” and furthermore they are “the dominant conditioning and qualifying factors in our lives”. They do not merely influence one aspect of our natures, but each aspect: physical, emotional, mental, personality and Soul. Each of these five levels may be influenced by a different ray (or the same ray may influence more than one aspect), and so a unique tapestry of energies is woven for each individual. By discovering our own rays as they influence each aspect of ourselves, we can be helped towards a fuller understanding of our nature and behaviour; we can learn how to integrate the different aspects of the personality and then the personality with the Soul.
Furthermore, different rays affect different times, nations, races, planets and even solar systems. Our solar system is said to be a second-ray system – so all the seven rays manifesting in our solar system are modified by the second-ray energy (of love and wisdom). The human race is influenced as a whole by the fourth ray, the planet earth by the third ray, the Piscean age by the sixth ray, the Aquarian age by the seventh ray and so on, all these rays interweaving the tapestry of the individual. The wider understanding gained from this study can give us more insights into the possible wider spiritual purposes behind humanity and our solar system.
Many psychologists have become interested in this system of understanding human nature which will certainly hold an important place in the psychology of the future.
We are conditioned by all of the rays through the astrological influences and mainly through the type of matter constituting each one of our vehicles. The rays influence us and condition us to the extent that they are unconscious. As we become more aware of ourselves, we discover how these conditionings affect our thoughts, emotions and personality behaviors. This awareness enables us to consciously transmute the lower expressions of these ray qualities into their higher and more creative expressions.
The influence of the rays in healing is something of which we are as yet unaware. We are sometimes aware that one healer seems to be able to help certain patients better than others. There seems to exist a greater degree of empathy between ourselves and some patients, no matter how hard we try to be equally objective in our attitude towards all our patients. We are told that in the future, healers and patients will be matched according to their rays. Were our senses of sight and sound operational through a wider spectrum than at present, we would be able to see the colours of a person’s rays and hear the notes of their rays, and the task of matching healer and patient would be made easier.
Each ray has its own colour and note. We can, however, frequently intuit when a person is “on the same wavelength” as ourselves. The same primary or Soul ray can bring instant empathy between two people; the same secondary rays (personality) will also bring recognition but perhaps is not as enduring.
We are asked to bear in mind the three-fold nature of all that is. Just as we speak of God as three in one and one in three, so we too are threefold: Spirit, Soul, body – or life, consciousness, and appearance. We are asked to hold this in our minds as we study and endeavor to understand the energies which influence these aspects of our being, and of all beings, of all life.
