The Planetary Spirit of the Earth So what does actual Theosophy have to say about the Planetary Spirit? It can be condensed into these seven main points: #1. All planets have their own Planetary Spirits, which are “primarily the rulers or governors of the planets. As our earth has its hierarchy of terrestrial planetary spirits, from the highest to the lowest plane, so has every other heavenly body.” (H.P. Blavatsky, “Theosophical Glossary” p. 255) #2. “There is a marked difference, however, between the Rulers of the Sacred Planets and the Rulers of a small “chain” of worlds like our own. … Say what one may, our Earth was never numbered among the seven sacred planets of the ancients, though in exoteric, popular astrology it stood as a substitute for a secret planet now lost to astronomy, yet well known to initiated specialists. Nor were the Sun or the Moon in that number, though accepted in our day by modern astrology; for the Sun is a Central Star, and the Moon a dead planet.” (HPB, “Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge” p. 47) The seven sacred planets as recognised in Theosophy are Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and two others, about which HPB says, “One is an intra-Mercurial planet, which is supposed to have been discovered, and named by anticipation Vulcan, and the other a planet with a retrograde motion, sometimes visible at a certain hour of night and apparently near the moon. The occult influence of this planet is transmitted by the moon.” (“Transactions” p. 48) What makes a planet sacred in esoteric terminology is the important degree of its connection with, and influence upon, our planet and our humanity. #3. The Planetary Spirit of Earth is referred to by various names, including the Spirit of Earth, the Earth Spirit, the Terrestrial Spirit, the Planetary Spirit, and – as in Stanza 1:1 from the Secret Book of Dzyan in “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 2 (“Anthropogenesis”) – “The Lha which turns the fourth [who] is subservient to the Lha of the Seven.” #4. “The terrestrial spirit of the earth is not of a very high grade.” (“Transactions” p. 48) “Our earth, being as yet only in its fourth round, is far too young to have produced high planetary spirits.” (“Theosophical Glossary” p. 255) #5. Although the Planetary Spirits of the sacred planets are of a far higher, more advanced, and more truly spiritual nature than our own, it is still nevertheless the case that “the planetary spirit has nothing to do with the spiritual man, but with things of matter and cosmic beings. … they form into shape and fashion cosmic matter, for which they were called Cosmocratores. They never had any concern with spirit; the Dhyani-Buddhas, belonging to quite a different hierarchy, are especially concerned with the latter.” (“Transactions” p. 48) “They have everything to do with matter, but not with spirit. … They have something to do with the fourth principle but with the three higher principles they have nothing to do whatever.” (HPB, “The Secret Doctrine Commentaries” p. 100-101) The fourth of the Seven Principles of both man and Cosmos is Kama, the desire/passional principle. It may also be thought of in the sense of impulsion and instinctual activity. The three higher Principles, also called the Spiritual Triad or Upper Imperishable Triad, are Atma-Buddhi-Manas, which are defined and explained in more depth in the article The Sevenfold Nature of Man than can be gone into here. “The “Builders” are a class called, as I already explained, Cosmocratores, or the invisible but intelligent Masons, who fashion matter according to the ideal plan ready for them in that which we call Divine and Cosmic Ideation.” (“Transactions” p. 49) #6. No Planetary Spirit is actually an individual or personal Being or Entity. A Planetary Spirit exists and operates in the collective nature of a hierarchy. When asked whether the “Builders” of our Earth “act under the guidance of the Terrestrial Planetary Spirit,” HPB explains that they are “collectively that Spirit themselves. I wish you to understand that they are not an Entity, a kind of a personal God, but Forces of nature acting under one immutable Law, on the nature of which it is certainly useless for us to speculate.” (“Transactions” p. 49) The Gnostics recognised that there were seven Builders or Spirits of the Earth (see “Transactions” p. 96) and an esoteric Commentary quoted on p. 28 of “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 2 refers to “The Spirit of the Earth and his six assistants.” #7. The Planetary Spirits of the seven sacred planets “have everything to do with the earth, physically and morally. It is they who rule its destinies and the fate of men. They are Karmic agencies.”
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 16:46:58 +0000
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