Materialism and the Transmutation of Desire

Materialism and the Transmutation of Desire
New Moon Meditation Meeting, New York
January 16, 2026

Michael Galloway

Hello everyone and welcome to this new moon meditation meeting.

At the new moon we work within the lower interlude of the monthly cycle. Lower interludes are generally concerned with the process of spirit moving into form, so with objectivity and expression. It is a time to consider what it really means for the soul to be externalized and or “made flesh” and how we can each aid in the manifestation of the Divine Plan on Earth.

The lower interlude is often looked upon as a time to focus on the distribution of spiritual energies, though technically the lower interlude is the period of preparation which precedes that distribution. In our meditation work, energy is contacted, appropriated, focused, and then sent forth on its mission. But before it is sent forth, the ways and means by which it is to go forth must be visualized and the thoughtforms through which it is to work must be prepared. These final preparations are made in the lower interlude. Distribution, we might say, follows upon the scientific use of both interludes as a daily habit; it is the right employment of energy in service.

When reflecting on the interludes we are confronted immediately with the basic trinity present in all spiritual work: the lower, the higher, and the mediating agent (the soul) which links the two. Our work is fundamentally scientific work, but it is also magical work, which means that it is creative, and that it has to do with thought, for thought is the basis of all energy direction. The right use of the interludes therefore requires first of all mental polarization. The soul operates upon the mental plane and from there it directs and governs through the employment of three minds. Our work in meditation at the new and full moons is effective to the extent that we are able to work as souls, on the plane of mind, and with all three aspects of mind, in both interludes, and with the period of meditation which we might liken to an intercessory activity between the two.

This new moon occurs in the sign of Capricorn, a sign of both deep materiality and of high spiritual triumph. It is a good time to reflect on the dual nature of all things, and the fact that Life is just as present in the highest expressions spirit as it is in the lowest expressions matter and of course everything in between.

This new moon meditation meeting will include a short presentation on the Problem of Materialism and the Transmutation of Desire. We will then have a meditation followed by a group discussion.

NGWS Mantram

May the Power of the one Life pour through the group of all true servers.

May the Love of the one Soul characterise the lives of all who seek to aid the Great Ones.

May I fulfill my part in the one Work through self-forgetfulness, harmlessness, and right speech.

When considering the problem of materialism, we are confronted with a basic—maybe the basic—problem of form. It is a problem which is universal and perennial, and is very much tied up in the nature of duality itself—so we could say archetypal as well.

In the esoteric science, number is the basis of all that is, and so a very effective means of looking at cause and effect in a deeply foundational sense.

The entire Esoteric Cosmogeny can be narrated through the progression of number. From the Zero (The Absolute) emanates the One, Two, and Three at which point the worlds are formed and creation begins as Three again, then Seven, and eventually the Twelve which symbolizes the many and all subsequent numbers. These numbers, being the basis of all manifestation, are reflected again and again throughout it.

Within this cosmogeny we have Spirit-Matter (the basic archetypal duality) producing the objective universe; it does so through the medium of a third factor which is always and at every level Consciousness. This is why esoterically, the entire universe is said to be modeled on the basic form of the Triangle. Consciousness extends from the very highest to the very lowest. Once Spirit and Matter are brought together, there is no duality which is not also a triplicity.

The problem of materialism is basically a problem of desire and of form-attachment. Matter itself is not the problem. What we call the problem of materialism is fundamentally a problem of consciousness because it has to do with the relationship of the self and the not-self. This basic duality is the fundamental spiritual problem faced by all aspirants as they tread the path. Today, it is increasingly being recognized as a problem by Humanity as a whole.

The average aspirant or person of goodwill may look at one of the many versions of this problem of form-attachment and find themselves sort of stuck somewhere within this duality: striving for the higher, for the good, for virtue, but not quite able to relinquish the desire for or attachment to the lower pull of form. Aspiration is present, but not yet the capacity and experience to fulfill it.

Every spiritual problem can be boiled down to some version of this basic duality of right relationship between higher and lower, right or left, spiritual and material, personality and soul. Even if this duality may oversimplify it from the exoteric angle, the solution is always to bring in the third factor which is in every case the soul itself.

What this looks like in context varies. The soul as the “third factor” often appears “outside” the scope of the duality or problem under consideration, yet at the same time may be discovered “within” it. Sometimes rather than resolving the duality into a singularity, the soul actually preserves the relative truth of both ways. Sometimes it opens a third and new way or choice. Sometimes this third way perpetuates the duality, sometimes it abolishes it, sometimes it absorbs it. Sometimes it does all of these things simultaneously. In every case, the soul models its work upon the Plan. The forms and circumstances necessitated by this Plan may not always be what we think.

The soul as agent of the Plan is the perennial factor which resolves every pair of opposites and holds the key to every paradox—it does so paradoxically by establishing duality—the basic duality of the Plan and its expression on Earth. Psychologically, the soul is both the seat of individuality and also the group itself.  It is both One and Many, it is both the higher and the lower. The soul is present within the form, but it also that which substands or overshadows it. But the soul is not the form. It is neither the form on the right nor the form on the left; the soul is consciousness. It is a bridging agency, a bridge which carries salvation from the higher worlds. But this bridge only operates when one “becomes” the soul as a living fact. This “becoming” is what we mean when we speak of service. The redeeming force of Hierarchy requires a living medium through which to pass—the soul (the self) in full incarnation is this vehicle.

Soul consciousness is essentially the factor of self or the “one who knows himself to be”. It is the basis and foundation for the discovery of all that which is true and real. Man must know the divinity within himself, before he can begin to know God in nature.

When we say that soul consciousness is something which must be discovered, what this means is that it is a knowledge which is ultimately derived from one’s own experience. It is not something which can be learned from a book. This is because it has to do with the full objectivity and expression of the subjective life. Often very drastic and transformative measures are required to facilitate this process of externalization—a process which is also called the great reversal of the wheel or the treading of the Path.  

On this Path, one must dramatically shift one’s center of identity and polarization out of the desire body and into the mind. This is far more difficult than most realize.

There are many misconceptions about what mental polarization is and how it is achieved. It is far more than just developing the intelligent mind and learning to control one’s emotions. It has to do fundamentally with the transference of energy and the transmutation of desire or astral substance.

The astral or desire body is a medium between man’s thought-faculties and the sense perceptions of the physical world. Blavatsky described it as the storehouse of all psychic iniquities. It absorbs all that man has put into it over the ages and today is like a great pollutant surrounding the Earth, acting as a source of great moral and physical suffering for humanity.  It is today like a great barrier—a crucible through which every aspirant to soul consciousness must struggle and pass. Another name for this great cloud of suffering is glamour, it can be imagined as a dense fog surrounding the thoughtforms through which the human mind operates, thereby obscuring the truth.  To really achieve mental polarization, one must learn to identify this glamorous substance and observe the way it distorts and veils human thought, speech, and action.  The strength of glamour lies in the fact that we are blind to it—we cannot see it. The ability to see glamour from the right occult altitude is the key to its dissipation.

It is the soul that sees, but bringing the perception of the soul into operation requires first of all the practice of dispassion and discrimination as a daily and regular habit. It also requires daily meditation wherein a bridge in consciousness is established which links the soul to all aspects of its form.

This is the basis whereby the dynamic power of the soul is cultivated. This Power is basically the ability to see reality and to fundamentally change the form. The soul works above and sees the Plan, and it lives below and through the form, lifts and redeems the lower worlds.

One stage of this redemptive process—wherein the form is fundamentally changed—is called transmutation. Esoterically, transmutation is the means whereby force is changed into energy and that which is lower is absorbed into the higher. This occurs through the magnetic effect of soul contact, scientifically, consciously, and rhythmically induced.

This is distinct from the approach of many well-meaning aspirants who simply attempt to establish the jurisdiction of the soul through the imposition of the will in an attempt to negate the form. Opposing the form in this way is not soul-power. It intensifies the already established astral polarization, leading basically to suppression and in almost every case failure. Only the third factor (soul) can resolve duality, putting matter, form, and desire each in their proper place.

There is great need today for humanity as a whole to establish a scientific understanding of the soul as foundational in the thinking through of solution to humanity’s problems. Esotericism—which is essentially the science of the soul—offers a paradigm of duality and its resolution which has the potential to revolutionize almost every discipline if it were understood and applied. More than that, scientifically induced soul consciousness at a racial level would end the reign of materialism and thereby place the matter aspect in its rightful place as a divine vehicle for the indwelling life. Established soul consciousness would also clear the entire astral plane of glamour and it would mean that the thoughtforms upon which human civilizations is built would be displayed in the full light of day, and the spiritual sustenance of a higher plane would then precipitate down through them to all like a heavenly golden rain.

This worldwide expression of soul consciousness is exactly what is meant by the statement that the solution to every one of humanity’s problems is the reappearance of the Christ. Christ, the World Teacher, is the soul of the planet itself. Because the soul is both the Many and the One, we have in the person of Christ the planetary soul externalized as One and that same principle of soul externalized in Humanity as Many. In this basic juxtaposition you have again the soul linking and resolving a basic duality.