How to Spin the Wheel of Life

Symbols, terms, and extracts from The Secret Doctrine, adapted by Jim Belderis.

IN THE IMAGE OF THE GODS:

The Boundless --Parabrahman -- Infinite Space & Time

First Differentiation -- Paramatman -- Unmanifested Logos

Spirit-Matter -- Adi-Buddhi -- Divine Nature

Cosmic Mind -- Mahat -- Divine Intelligence

Cosmic Desire (Kama) -- Will-Force

Cosmic Vitality (Jiva) -- Cyclic Motion

Cosmic Ether -- The Astral Light

Physical Manifestation -- The Material Universe

THROUGH SACRED VERSE:

The Eternal Parent wrapped in her invisible robes had slumbered once again for seven eternities.

As the hour strikes, her heart begins to open. And as the germ becomes receptive . . .

. . . one solitary ray drops into the mother deep --and the Radiant Son emerges from the great dark waters. He is the web of the Universe that Father-Mother spin, stretching across every dimension of Spirit and Matter.

From this effulgency of light spring the Essences, the Flames, the Elements, the Builders, the Formless and the Forms, and Divine Man. And this is the Army of the Voice -- the Divine Septenary.

From their holy circumgyrating Breaths, the primordial Seven produce the fiery Whirlwind: the Swift Son of the Divine Sons. And as he lifts his Voice, he calls the innumerable sparks and joins them together.

He sets the elementary germs in motion, and builds them in the likeness of older Wheels.

Through the countless rays proceeds the One Life-Ray, like a thread through many jewels. And from the Thread-Self all the sparks draw their flame, as they journey through the seven worlds of Maya: as a stone, a plant, an animal, and as man. This is your present Wheel.

THROUGH SELF-REFLECTION:

When the heart begins to open, we become receptive to the Divine Spark within us. We touch a point of pure consciousness of the One Reality.

When we strike a chord uniting spirit and matter, the Radiant Son emerges from our own divine inspirations -- as intuitions, understanding, and compassion.

As we identify with these inspirations, the entire Army of the Voice will resonate within our mind. And we are co-creators building an ever more inclusive sense of self.

By using the power of our will to join ourselves with life, we invoke the force of the fiery Whirlwind in our actions.

And the ideas we set in motion build a new world in the likeness of the gods.

Built up from countless rays of pulsating energy, our true nature is the One Life-Ray that passes through them all.

This is our journey through the seven worlds of Maya. And this is our present Wheel.

  • (From Sunrise magazine, April/May 1997. Copyright © 1997 by Theosophical University Press)

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