Full Moon Booklet

Full Moon Booklet PDF

 

 

MEDITATION AT THE FULL MOON

FULL MOON GROUP MEDITATION MEETINGS

 

                                     A.    Introduction

                                     B.     The Purposes of Full Moon Meditation

                                     C.    Meditation:  A Way of Life

                                     D.    Occult Meditation

                                     E.     Group Meditation

                                     F.     The Three Major Full Moon Periods

                                     G.    Preparation for Group Service

                                     H.    Deeper Aspects of Meditation

                                     I.      The Six-Fold Progression of Divine Love

                                     J.      Full Moon Meditation Outline

                                     K.    The New Moon

                                     L.     New Moon Meditation Outline

 

FULL MOON MEDITATION MEETINGS

            It is encouraging to realise that group meetings for meditation at the time of the full moon are on the increase everywhere around the world.  Most students in the Arcane School know that meditation work can be most effective in group formation at the time of the full moon and many have the opportunity to attend meetings in their own localities.  The Arcane School itself holds regular meetings and has done so for many years in the headquarters areas:  New York, London, and Geneva.  These meetings are open to anyone and have become, in recent years, public meetings, in some cases publicly advertised.

            We would like to emphasise the fact that the Arcane School is not responsible for full moon meetings held by groups or individuals around the world and they are not sponsored by the School.  They are initiated and held under the responsibility of those in the areas who have chosen to accept this form of service.  For the most part the meetings are held for meditation purposes only, and since Arcane School students are aware of the policy of the School in not putting students in touch with one another except for service purposes, we know that the integrity of these group meetings will be maintained.  If other forms of service should evolve out of full moon meditation this must be a matter for the choice and decision of those responsible; but basic to any extended form of service is the full moon approach to Hierarchy month by month.

            It might be worth considering why we hold these full moon meetings and want them to increase.  What is their essential purpose?  And how should they function?

            We hold these meetings (1) because, for the esotericist, meditation is the service technique par excellence by which a usable channel and working organism may be made available to the inflow of energy through the Hierarchy to anchor and express hierarchical intention; and (2) because they help to establish the rhythm of approach to the Hierarchy on the crest of the cyclic energy wave each month, and the scientific rhythm of invocation/evocation on which the new world religion will be based.

            Both of these statements of purpose could be extensively explored and amplified.  Together they provide the primary reason why we hold these meetings regularly and want to help others to grow up elsewhere.  Full moon meetings contribute to the preparation of human consciousness for the approach of the Hierarchy and the reappearance of the Christ.  They are so used by the Hierarchy now, during the externalisation process which is under way.

            How should these meetings be conducted?  We are given a guide here in the words "meditation" and "hierarchical intention".  Full moon meetings--as the Headquarters of the Arcane School hold them--are essentially meetings for group meditation.  We have eliminated any tendency to include other factors, which may be quite useful in themselves in other circumstances.  For instance, the talk given as a preliminary to meditation is intended to bring the individuals together as one group on the mental plane, and to help create a group integration and alignment with Hierarchy, which then, without break, moves effortlessly on through the meditation period with maximum effectiveness.  The preliminary talk is, therefore, usually short and in no sense used as a lecture for the imparting of factual knowledge.  Its purpose is to lift and unite the group in consciousness.  The leader at the meeting can utilise the short introductory period to link the group with the planned direction of hierarchical attention, if it has been possible to prepare subjectively in advance (particularly during the actual period of the full moon), and to tune in--at least in some measure--to the way the Hierarchy seeks to use the full moon opportunity because of the quality and type of energy available.  A particular quality, or keynote, can be intuited in relation to each full moon period, which can form the key with which the talk can help to open the channel and to unite the workers as one heart, one mind and one soul.

            This type of "full moon cooperation with the Hierarchy" does require a high standard of understanding and ability to work steadily in meditation.  It is occult work in the deepest sense, using the laws and techniques of energy wielding for a specific objective.  Those who attend these meetings, therefore, come to work esoterically and they come for no other reason.  They come quietly in, contribute to the work, and go quietly away.  We do not use full moon meetings for any other group purposes; for instance, as a group "get-together", or to provide opportunity for discussion, which inevitably results in a dissipation of energy, usually at the level of the concrete mind.  It is our experience over the years, that a steady nucleus of workers--usually School students--provides a matrix on which successful work is done, no matter how many new people may attend a meeting.  There are always new people coming in; they respond to the work and come again if their purpose is to work and to contribute in meditation.  If they come to listen to a lecture or to get what they can to help them, they fall off.

            Therefore, it seems that while lecture and discussion meetings can also be held where there is some real service and usefulness, full moon group meditation meetings have an esoteric function to which the simple outer form the meeting takes is an essential contribution, clearing the channel and holding it open for hierarchical energies to do their vitally important work.  Such work can only be established where there is a nucleus of esoteric workers--even only two or three--who understand the significance of this group service and are experienced in occult meditation techniques.

 

A.  INTRODUCTION

            This paper contains some information about a major service performed by members and friends of the Arcane School and by many others around the world--the monthly full moon meditation meetings.  Once each month, as near as possible to the time of the full moon, a meditation meeting is held at or near the various Headquarters, to which all living nearby are invited.  This meeting is an act of group service through group meditation.  Usually a brief talk is given by one of the headquarters staff, touching on some aspect of the work of the spiritual Hierarchy of the planet, service of the Plan or teaching on the Path of Discipleship; this talk leads up to group meditation which is entered into as a conscious act of service.  These meetings are not looked upon as lectures to which esoteric students come to receive help and information.  Although it often happens that some problem is clarified and students are helped, this is quite incidental to the work of united group meditation.  Because of this, students prepare themselves before hand for these meetings, for an understanding of the purpose and the techniques involved results in a live and intelligent participation in such group activity.

            One may ask, why are these meetings held at the time of the full moon?  What has the moon got to do with it?  The energies of light and love and the will-to-good are always available to those who can contact them in meditation; but there are cycles in the ebb and flow of spiritual energies with which groups, as well as individuals, can consciously cooperate.  One of the major energy cycles coincides with the phases of the moon, reaching its peak, its high tide, at the time of the full moon.  This is a time, therefore, when the channeling of energy through group meditation can be uniquely effective.

            Today hundreds of serving groups around the world meet regularly at the time of the full moon each month for meditation work.  The moon itself has no influence on the work; but the fully-lighted orb of the moon is indicative of a free and unimpeded alignment between our planet and the sun, the solar centre, the energy source for all life on Earth of physical consciousness, of soul awareness and of spiritual life.  At such times man can make a definite approach to God, the Creator, the centre of life and intelligence.

            The waxing of the moon to full brightness followed by its waning symbolises a law which students learn to recognise--the Law of Cycles.

"The soul's meditation is rhythmic and cyclic in its nature as is all else in the cosmos.  The soul breathes and its form lives thereby.  The rhythmic nature of the soul's meditation must not be overlooked in the life of the aspirant.  There is an ebb and flow in all nature, and in the tides of the ocean we have a wonderful picture of an eternal law.  As the aspirant adjusts himself to the tides of the soul life he begins to realise that there is ever a flowing in, a vitalising and a stimulating which is followed by a flowing out as sure and as inevitable as the immutable laws of force.  This ebb and flow can be seen functioning in the processes of death and incarnation.  It can be seen also over the entire process of a man's lives, for some lives can be seen to be apparently static and uneventful, slow and inert from the angle of the soul's experience, whilst others are vibrant, full of experience and of growth.  This should be remembered by all of you who are workers when you are seeking to help others to live rightly.  Are they on the ebb or are they being subjected to the flow of soul energy?

...Again, and of more vital importance to us, these cyclic impulses in the life of the disciple are of a greater frequency and speed and forcefulness than in the life of the average man.  They alternate with a distressing rapidity.  The hill and valley experience of the mystic is but one way of expressing this ebb and flow.  Sometimes the disciple is walking in the sunlight and at other times in the dark; sometimes he knows the joy of full communion and again all seems dull and sterile; his service is on occasion a fruitful and satisfying experience and he seems to be able to really aid; at other times he feels he has naught to offer and his service is arid and apparently without results.  All is clear to him some days and he seems to stand on the mountain top looking out over a sunlit landscape, where all is clear to his vision.  He knows and feels himself to be a son of God.  Later, however, the clouds seem to descend and he is sure of nothing, and seems to know nothing.  He walks in the sunlight and is almost overpowered by the brilliance and heat of the solar rays, and wonders how long this uneven experience and the violent alternation of these opposites is to go on.

Once however that he grasps the fact he is watching the effect of the cyclic impulses and the effect of the soul's meditation upon his form nature, the meaning becomes clearer and he realises that it is that form aspect which is failing in its response, and reacting to energy with unevenness.  He then learns that once he can live in the soul consciousness and attain that `high altitude' (if I might so express it) at will, the fluctuations of the form life will not touch him....

An appreciation of the above thoughts should build in the aspirant a realisation of the value of his meditation work, whilst the idea of a cyclic response to soul impulse lies back of the activities of a morning meditation, a noonday recollection, and an evening review.  A larger ebb and flow is also indicated in the two aspects of the full moon and the new moon.  Let this be borne in mind."

                                                (A Treatise on White Magic, pp. 62-64)

            When the esoteric student begins to note the workings of the law of ebb and flow, he finds that his increased attention often intensifies his experience of it; he may also discover himself using it as an alibi, especially for his negative reactions during the dark phase of the moon.  If this applies in any particular case then it indicates that the form nature is reacting to energy with unevenness and that when the aspirant learns to "live in the soul consciousness" at will, the fluctuations of the form life will not touch him.

"Within the aspirant there arises an understanding of what is going on and he awakens to the desire to control consciously this ebb and flow or (to put it in simple words) to turn the forces of the outgoing energy in any direction he chooses, or to withdraw to his centre at will."

                                                            (A Treatise on White Magic, p. 244)

            The Hierarchy makes definite use of the full moon periods.  We can, if we will, learn to cooperate with the Members of the Hierarchy as They work to bring the Plan to the attention of disciples everywhere throughout the world.

"Times of activity succeed times of pralaya, and periods of registered contact alternate with periods of apparent silence.  Note here the choice of words.  This alternation is due to the imposition of the Law of Periodicity and if the student develops as desired, each pralayic period is succeeded by one of greater activity, and of more potent achievement.  Rhythm, ebb and flow, and the measured beat of the pulsating life are ever the law of the universe, and in learning to respond to the vibration of the high Places this rhythmic periodicity must be borne in mind.  The same law governs a human being, a planet, a solar system--all centres or focal points of energy in some greater Life.  If such work as you are doing is to succeed (and it is largely the work of developing the ability to touch certain currents on mental levels--currents which emanate from the higher self, from your egoic group, or from the Master) definite planned conditions must be provided.  Certain factors must be present.  If they do not exist, then the currents are (if I may so express it) deflected, and contact fails of accomplishment.  If occupation with mundane affairs is necessitated--and such periods come in every life cycle--then the attention should be concentrated on these details, and the higher contact may be then temporarily unrealised.  Such attention to affairs on the physical plane is not necessarily loss of time, for it may be as much a part of the plan at that particular time as any other kind of service.  Full expression and consciousness on each and every plane is the objective, remembering that each plane with its varying states of consciousness is equally a part of the divine Life."

                                                (A Treatise on White Magic, pp. 323-4)

            The full moon period is generally considered to cover five days, the day of the full moon itself, the two preceding days and the two days following the full moon:

a.     The two days of preparation:  Drop all thought of your own problems, personal and spiritual; try to understand the Plan and your relation and the group's relation to it.

b.    The day of safe-guarding:  This is the day in which the actual moment of the full moon takes place.  It is the time of contact between the outer and the inner groups.  (What is it that has to be safe-guarded?)

c.     The two days of distribution, right release and use of the group energy.  This could include thought about the techniques of service and the skilled action by which a need can be met.

            The five day outline is simply suggested to students who may be interested.  We suggest that beginners in occult meditation either omit this intensified work for the present or else watch themselves very closely as they do it in order to guard against too much stimulation.  Sometimes more force is brought in than the student can handle constructively.  The realisation, however, that it is group work, a group contact and use of energies ensures that the stimulation is shared and any individual and separative blocking is minimalised.  This permits a group flow of energy which is never present when the individual works entirely alone and for his own purposes; and which is "uniquely available" when the moon is "out of the way" and the contact between the solar centre and the planet Earth is at its maximum.

            In undertaking this full moon service, work imaginatively in so far as you can as a member of the new group of world servers, dedicated to world service.  Spiritually and telepathically the group is one and the work is one.

 

B.  THE PURPOSES OF FULL MOON MEDITATION

            We have been holding group meditation meetings at the time of the full moon every month for so many years that we may take an understanding of their function, by those who attend, too much for granted.  And although we often reiterate the purpose of these group meetings, it may be helpful to put it clearly on record once more.

            Essentially, of course, these are meetings for meditation at a time when the technique of occult meditation by a subjectively fused and focussed worldwide group of servers can be effectively used by Hierarchy for the channeling of energy and for the purposes of human redemption.

            Group meditation is, therefore, our intention in coming together each month.  We do not use these meetings in order to teach elementary esoteric principles.  We do not regard the talk given as a preliminary to the meditation as a lecture.  It is intended to focus, unite and lift the thought processes of those present.

            We do, however, have three vital factors always in mind:

1.    The work we do is based on the fundamental fact of occultism as the science of energy.

2.    It is also based on what has been called the central idea of occultism--that even the smallest atom of substance contains within it that which can respond to spiritual energy and stimulation.

3.    These few words quoted from the book Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, p. 222, provide the human and planetary framework in which our work proceeds:

"The effect of human meditation at this time is to change conditions, to invoke the higher, spiritual potencies, to work with concentration - both vertically and horizontally - within the world of men and within the Kingdom of God.  This vertical and horizontal activity holds the secret of creative meditation.  It is invocative of the higher energies, and creates a channel of contact between soul and spirit.  This is brought about by what I have called `vertical meditation'.  It is also evocative and creates a ferment or dynamic movement in the level of being which must be affected or changed, and this is the horizontal aspect.  Both the vertical and the horizontal activities are descriptive of the method of invocation and evocation, as employed by all the linking groups between the various planetary centres."

Bearing these three essentials in mind:

1.    occultism as the science of energy,

2.    the divine permeation or ensouling of all substance so that the impact of spiritual energy can evoke response,

3.    the effect of human meditation aligned with higher centres of life within the planet establishes the needed changes in consciousness,

                 what should be our attitudes and intentions when we attend these full moon meetings?

            Let us also include the very important fact that we have been holding meetings for group meditation at the time of the full moon every month for many decades.  We are, therefore, engaged in a building process; we are not starting anew every month or every year.  Over the years we have created a usable group channel for energy transmission which continuously grows and builds on what has been achieved, and which demands of us at all times a deepened understanding and an increased ability to penetrate to new levels of consciousness, so lifting the consciousness of humanity as a whole even by an immeasurable fraction.

            That this may be difficult for those coming in periodically to these meetings as newcomers is understood.

            But with the emphasis on the contribution each one can make in meditation, and in view of the group nature of this work, which includes individuals at various levels of growth and understanding fused together through group action into a functioning unity, it is possible  to maintain an open group in a fluid condition without affecting the power of the group channel, while at the same time opportunity is proffered to those who wish to contribute what they can.  In other words we come to give--not to receive.

            There is also the very important fact that we are working as occultists through the technique of occult meditation.  Occultism is the science of energy; and occult meditation is based on mental activity in receiving, wielding and directing energy.  There is a clear distinction, therefore, between certain types of more mystical meditation in which the effort is made to render the mind inactive, or passive; many confuse this negativity of the mind with "contemplation", which it does not represent in the least.  Contemplation is possible only after mental activity has opened up a channel of communication with higher areas of consciousness which the soul-infused mind can then "contemplate" with absolute stillness, becoming thereby impressionable to energy in the form of ideas of integral value to the working out of divine Plan and Purpose.  The occult meditation we use at full moon meetings includes the alignment of the group consciousness with Hierarchy and the Christ, and with the extraplanetary energies available according to the particular opportunity of the month.  After the brief period of contemplation as we "face the Christ" in recognition of His position as a centre of planetary fusion, we then work scientifically with active mental direction through the form of the prescribed work.

            Ideally, group meditation meetings at the full moon should consist of meditation only, with no preliminary talk.  But for this to be possible it would be necessary to hold these meetings as a closed group, limited to those accustomed to working together and experienced in group meditation.

            We have chosen to do otherwise; to open these meetings to the general public and to anyone who wishes to serve the purpose of the planetary Life and the needs of humanity at a time when the energies with which to work are uniquely available.  These energies rightly understood, received and transmitted in meditation can be instrumental in helping humanity to move on towards its spiritual goal as an integrated, aligned centre of consciousness within the body of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being.  In a nutshell this is the objective of our monthly meetings.  And we assume that those who come know something of the principles and techniques of occult work in meditation or they would not come or would not return a second time.

            To be intelligent in our work, which is always an advantage, we need to know something of the particular qualities and opportunities afforded us by the astrological sign of the moment.  So while we do not emphasise only the astrological factors it is helpful to be aware of the general and persistent influences as we enter into their orbit, and also to become sensitive and intuitive to the changing emphasis according to the development of the planned work of Hierarchy and the changing conditions in humanity.

            We are concerned in this sense with esoteric astrology:  the astrology of the soul, of the disciple, on what is called the reversed wheel of the zodiac.  It is not necessary to know the fundamental postulates of mundane astrology which is of the personality, of the lower man, not yet responding adequately to the influence of the soul.  We can grasp and understand something at least of the principles of esoteric astrology, which is essentially the science of relationship, without much or any background of orthodox astrology.  In fact many believe that familiarity with orthodox astrology, which exercises the lower mind, can impede the intuitive perception of soul, and solar, laws and relationships on which esoteric astrology depends.

            However, esoteric astrology is only one of the many sciences to be developed and used during the age of Aquarius.  Therefore, while we include certain energy and activity deductions, based on what we know of the current zodiacal sign, we place no undue emphasis on it.

            The most significant part of our work, preliminary to our group meditation, is to become aligned and integrated as a group, open in consciousness to the Hierarchy and the Christ, and usable as a channel of energy communication into humanity.  For this to be successful we must know something of how the Hierarchy seeks to use the opportunities of the particular full moon period.  Where does Hierarchy place its energy emphasis according to the changing tides of energy and the changing events and circumstances within humanity?  This we must try to intuit and to register.  And if we can touch in thought on some of these essential factors we can be of greater practical service in our effort to cooperate in meditation with the meditation of the inner government of the planet--the spiritual Hierarchy--so helping to create a ferment in human consciousness, bringing about changing attitudes of mind and heart and changed conditions in world affairs.

 

C.  MEDITATION: A WAY OF LIFE

            The idea of meditation is running like wildfire throughout the whole human race.  It is the "new thing", the "now thing", which all can adopt as their own.

            To many in the Western world the practice of meditation may seem largely a new and modern way of mental escape from personal disillusionment and limitation, from a sordid or unsympathetic environment or a rejected way of life.  Yet in many other parts of the world meditation in some form has always been an integral part of the practices and traditions of various religions and religious sects.

            It seems that the psychological and social ferment in the world has opened the door to the subjective or spiritual impulses and practices that are possibly new to many Occidental peoples, yet are ancient in use and of Oriental origin.  And today there is no lack of teachers, many from Eastern countries, ready and eager to till new mental fields to receive the ideas they wish to implant.

            In the midst of all this rising tide of teachers and training, some of the imparted teaching is truly spiritual, purely motivated and constructive in effect; some of it is materialistic, commercially oriented and motivated either by personal profit or power, or by the glamours of a genuine self-delusion; and some of it is harmless but useless.

            The effects of it all can pose quite a problem.  There are so many seeking minds and hungry hearts; so many are spiritually starved, eager for light, and searching for a new faith and a better way of life.  But many are also inexperienced in the fundamental postulates of the Ageless Wisdom, which underlie all true mental activity of an occult or esoteric nature, and cannot discriminate between the real and the unreal.

            Until recently the unfamiliar word "meditation" has, for the most part, conjured up in the Western mind either the image of a contemplative recluse seated cross-legged and motionless on a high mountain ledge, probably somewhere in India, or of a wandering mendicant, dirty, emaciated, bearded, loinclothed and turbanned, socially unproductive and, indeed, a parasite on society although accepted as a "holy" man to be fed and succoured.

            More recently, many individuals, groups and societies have emerged, Eastern and Western, which promise mankind almost instant health, wealth, power, prestige, popularity, possessions, peace of mind or increased spiritual status, by following certain simple rules in the control and use of the mind and on payment of a set fee.

            Those who are capable of more spiritual depth and less self-centredness, however, are learning to identify the ring of truth and the thread of gold in all that comes within their mental range and to follow the truth, leaving the dross behind.  Until eventually some aspect of real teaching, bearing within its modern garb the unmistakable authenticity of the Ageless Wisdom, impresses itself on the mind and opens out a whole new world to be explored and absorbed by the receptive consciousness.  This experience marks a beginning of the Path of conscious Return.  It is the shared experience of all who tread that Path, that teaching, guidance, help and companionship are fully available, each one attracting to them exactly what is needed to help take the next spiritual step forward.

            Integral to the whole long journey from start to finish is the technique of occult meditation as a specific means of contacting energies and giving them the right expression in the daily life.

            Students of occultism have been warned of the dangers of "spiritual selfishness".  And the first motivating impulse for most of us is undoubtedly selfish.  We want, for our own satisfaction, to achieve, to experience, to make progress, to become wise and loving and enlightened, to know and meet and be accepted by a Guru or a Master; because these things are important to us.  Yet if this personal motivation is not transcended reasonably soon, spiritual growth can slow down or stop, except perhaps in the fertile imagination of our own beglamoured minds caught up in the thoughtforms of our own desires.

            The safety valve in spiritual work and training, the life-line and the guarantee of continuous expansion, lies in a form of occult meditation which reflects the meditation of the soul on its own plane.  The soul is concerned with group service to the Plan for humanity, and with the intention to bring the soul and the separated personality into a synchronised condition of unity and fusion.  In other words, occult meditation is concerned with the use of the human mind by the soul to initiate action in line with the Plan.  Within this Plan-centred process, the individual meditating unit is stimulated, inspired and given right opportunity to contribute the richness each one contains in potential.

            True occult meditation is practised, therefore, as a service to the human race.  This is a far cry from the mystical union sought by the medieval Christians who desired spiritual union with God for its own sake and for its ecstatic effects within the personal consciousness.

            In spite of the way meditation is sometimes presented to the student, it is not essentially a means of attaining inner peace and personal help or comfort--although this may be an incidental effect.  Meditation is a means, through heart/mind alignment, of establishing contact with a superconscious state of Being--the soul--which induces a state of knowing and leads to spiritually-motivated doing.  Meditation thus becomes a way of life.  It is the means for training the whole man, in his inner and outer (spiritual and material) life, to be of real service to the Plan and to humanity.

            Service is the correct use or channelling of energy to meet a recognised need on any level.  Meditation establishes the channel, invokes the needed energies, gives direction to energy flow and evokes response.

            Occult meditation supersedes, while it includes, mystical meditation.  It fuses head and heart.  It adds to spiritual intention, service extension, or the manifestation of the energy or idea subjectively perceived.  Energy follows thought; but for creative effects thought must be controlled and directed.  Occult meditation is, therefore, a scientific technique of mind control, giving the soul a usable instrument in the three worlds of human evolution.

            Today the soul of humanity is in process of taking control of the personality way of life.  The long, long process leading towards the soul-infusion of the human race has been initiated.  The release of soul energy within the human personality corresponds to the release of the energy in the atom.  This scientific breakthrough forty years ago is symptomatic, at the physical level, of a breakthrough in consciousness and a movement towards fusion of soul and personality which many now experience.  The practice of occult meditation can serve to speed and implement the process in quite a new way.  Until now the technique of occult meditation has been the service of the pioneering few; now it can become a way of life for many.

            We learn to meditate in rhythm with the soul.  The soul is in constant meditation; the soul is group conscious; it is neither mystical nor limited but is an aspect of the universal Life or vital energy of the planet.  This life energy underlies consciousness and empowers the will to love and the will to serve.  It has, as its objective, the stimulation of receptive minds and open hearts towards identification and fusion with the One Life.  Right human relationships are the outer, practical effect of this subjective ability to identify and fuse with the soul.

            The main objective of occult meditation today is the achievement of a perfect balance between the vertical life of the soul on its own plane, and the horizontal life of the serving, soul-infused personality within the world.  "Knowing the ways of God and treading the ways of men", the modern disciple, as a mediator, meditating the Plan into existence, cooperates with planetary purposes.

 

D.  OCCULT MEDITATION

            The technique of occult meditation is the outstanding creative agent on our planet.  It is creative because those who use any form of occult meditation participate in a vast planetary process which reflects and corresponds to the creative rhythm of our planetary Life.  Occult meditation, based on the science of energy flow, is attuned to the pulsation of the life or the breath of God:  inhalation - pause - exhalation - pause, and all truly occult forms of meditation follow this fourfold rhythm.

            This rhythm manifests in occult meditation as:  alignment; penetration, approach to a higher centre of consciousness and contact with it, whether it be the soul, the Triad, the Hierarchy, or the Master.  Then follows the higher interlude, in which the mind held steady in the light perceives a greater light and is impressed and infused by it.  The higher interlude is followed by precipitation, a circulation of energy flow according to a specific purpose and pattern.  Energy flow is then anchored, focussed, and directed in planned action; this is the lower interlude in which the brain is impressed and stimulated into activity.

            This energy pattern and life rhythm are duplicated over and over again in the life of our planetary God and in all phases of His relationships and evolution.  Full moon meditation meetings, for example, occur at a time of higher interlude within the monthly cycle of the planetary meditative process.  The time of the new moon corresponds to the lower interlude.  So, also, in the annual cycle of the twelve spiritual Festivals.

            The higher interlude in the annual cycle occurs during the three major spiritual Festivals of Easter, Wesak, and the Christ at the full moon periods of Aries, Taurus, and Gemini.  This is the moment of highest inspiration and penetration when an unusual solar alignment opens the channel for a uniquely available flow of energy.  Through the signs of Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius, we experience the polar opposites of the three signs in which the three major spiritual Festivals occur.

            This is the lower interlude when we can achieve a better brain recognition of what the inspiration of the major Festivals signified and of the needed emphasis and direction in line with immediate goals for humanity.  At a point of equilibrium in Libra a decision is made, put to the test in Scorpio, and given direction in Sagittarius.

            It is significant that the Festival Week of the new group of world servers every seven years occurs at the end of this three-month interlude (December 2lst to the 28th); for the new group of world servers functions at a planetary point of lower interlude corresponding to the higher interlude of the Nirmanakayas, the Divine Contemplatives.  Both are linking groups, the higher relating Hierarchy to Shamballa and interpreting Shamballa to Hierarchy; while the new group of world servers, as the "lower" link, relates humanity to Hierarchy and interprets Hierarchy to humanity.

            We can also see the same cyclic rhythm operating in the hierarchical conclaves each century, the higher interlude of inspiration and impression occurring at the 25th year and the lower interlude at the 75th.

            Immediately before the Easter Festival each year, the first Festival in the higher interlude series of three, we are influenced through Pisces, the sign of the world saviour, by the potency of the perfected Christ; while immediately preceding the lower interlude of the polar opposite we experience the Virgo influence, stimulating the birth of the Christ principle in the human heart.  This is the only energy and influence by which humanity can use effectively and correctly the opportunity to translate vision, idea and ideal into practical action in line with the Plan.

            Occult meditation becomes creative, therefore, when it is consciously brought into alignment with the rhythmic pulsation of the breath of God, corresponding to the ebb and flow of vital, living solar energies.  We become aware that our so-called personal meditation is in reality a part of a planetary meditative process carried forward at all levels of consciousness within the planetary life.  Thus we become not only co-operators but co-creators in the divine evolutionary Plan which is the ultimate destiny of humanity.

 

E.  GROUP MEDITATION

(From Running God's Plan by Foster Bailey)

            We are familiar with the statement that a main objective of the Hierarchy is to raise human consciousness and that this means to expand human consciousness, well understood as greater awareness of spiritual realities.  This includes progress from individual consciousness to group consciousness and for this purpose group meditation is a chief aid.

            Therefore the increasing practice of group meditation is important and the fact that group meditation is increasing particularly in the western world is heartening.

            The service activity called Triangles is group meditation by the smallest possible group, i.e., three people, for a specific purpose; namely to create, expand and perfect a worldwide network of light and goodwill.  The Triangles work is showing growth and its potency is increasingly recognised.  The quality of the lives of the participants in terms of spiritual values is the foundation on which its effectiveness rests.

            This is also true of all larger groups meditating for spiritual purposes.  The creation and perfecting of these larger groups is also direct cooperation with Hierarchy.

            The Hierarchy, at this worldwide crisis point of expanding human consciousness, is focussing its combined potency in sustained action in flooding humanity with the energy of goodwill.  The Hierarchy can make more goodwill available and can direct its flow to humanity, but how much into humanity depends upon our receptivity.  This requires our focussed and sustained attention to goodwill action and is most greatly aided by right group meditation practice, well sustained.

            The Triangles work and all group meditation is a most effective aid to hierarchical action and to the work of the Christ.  It is fundamental and of tremendous power and usefulness as we enter the new age.  Triangles work is carried forward daily.  This gives it sustained, rhythmic life.  Other group meditation work is generally carried on weekly or monthly.  But the establishing of regular, rhythmic action is essential.

            We have then two basic factors in group meditation action:  l.  The quality of the lives lived by the group members.  2.  The potency of rhythmic regularity.  The second requirement is readily appreciated.  The first is less understood, less recognised and often somewhat ignored.

            A third necessity is for group integration.  Without this the usefulness is at best the sum total of the individual qualities.  With group integration the value of the work is much greater.  This takes time, is a matter of growth and is essentially subjective.  The acceptance by all the members of the group of a common purpose, if held steady, will produce group integration unless blocked by individual criticisms, ambitions for leadership, wavering allegiance to the goal and feebleness of character.  Authoritarian, dominating leadership makes real subjective potency impossible.

            Leadership is important in all group action and should emerge naturally and without planned effort if real spiritual work is to be achieved.  Its foundation is also the spiritual quality of the life of the leader, plus his grasp of deep spiritual essentials, plus his ability to practice that mind control necessary to occult meditation.  It requires a life characterised by selflessness, harmlessness and right speech.  It needs that sort of personality which is easily forgotten by others when engaged in group action just as the individual in the group best serves as he most completely forgets himself while contributing his quota to group effectiveness.

            Small groups can have a very specific objective and real consecration to the task undertaken.  In such groups harmony can more easily be maintained and integration can be more rapid.  However they must not be separative in attitude nor affected by group pride or the subtle poison of special destiny and superiority nor by the notion that the Hierarchy is watching them "with bated breath".  Such groups often stabilise on a rhythm of weekly meetings.  This is good if the members are positioned to keep it up but regularity is more important than frequency.  Silence before and after the meeting is a great help.  Social gatherings tend to increase personal relations which have to be transcended in group work.  Impersonality among the members should increase as time goes on.  Impersonality increases true group love, but need not be rigid or fanatical.  Increasingly, group members recognise each other and think of each other as souls and forget about each other as persons.

            It is almost impossible to do new age type occult group meditation work with strongly Piscean fanatical people.  Also, it is not wise to attempt group meditation with people who have not yet achieved at least some degree of effective individual meditation.

            Secrecy is not needed for group work in meditation.  There is nothing secret in group meditation techniques.  There is no occasion for secrecy about the fact that a group exists or who is in it or what the chosen specific purpose is.  Today, all secret groups and secret meetings are suspect.  Nevertheless, reticence about the group by its members is useful and helps to cut down the useless escape of group energy.  Silence is golden.

            The length of the actual meditation should be determined by how long the group, as a group, can sustain a dynamic focus.  The work should always be dynamic and a strongly held focus is more fruitful than half an hour or more lukewarm attention with less mental control.

            The actual group meditation is not an occasion for teaching the group members.  That should be provided at other times, not by speeches or short lectures but by group discussion thus helping to produce group integration.

            All this is a very high standard of group relationship, impossible as yet for some people.  Certainly group members should not expect perfection from other members, remembering that criticism within a group destroys the group and does not help the one criticised.  With most of us it is a matter of a critical attitude more than of critical speech.

            There is another type of group meditation work which can be effective and which is increasingly appearing.  Such meetings are most usefully held once a month at the time of the full moon.  Calling them full moon meetings is not particularly helpful.  They are better simply called meditation meetings.  Such meetings should be open to the public and by personal invitation and can include a short talk by a good, well-informed speaker.  The main feature however should be the closing group meditation, which may last about 20 minutes or so according to the growing ability of the group to hold its mental focus.  Newspaper notices can be useful if limited to date, place and hour, with no "come on" verbiage.  The best method of attendance growth is by word of mouth by those attending.  This type of group work should not be judged in terms of the size of the meetings.  Better work is done if attendance growth is rather slow.  This type of meditation meeting is helped by not being identified with any special ism or cult nor by usual propaganda action.  For example, the Arcane School holds such meetings but not under the name of the School.  The Arcane School is not hidden nor is it displayed.  The group meditation meetings are not held for the purpose of teaching esotericism to the public.  That is appropriate for other type meetings.  Esoteric work should always be completely free.  What will be wise action at one time and place with available cooperators may be unfortunate in certain respects elsewhere.

            Some esotericists think that meditation is superior to prayer.  For some it is, but not for all.  Speaking generally, meditation involves mind control and prayer involves emotional energy.  Prayer is of two kinds:  l.  For personal relief or to get personal physical benefits, and 2.  In worship of God.  Meditation is also of two kinds:  l.  Mystical, a high stage of emotional control and faith, and 2.  Occult, based on the mental faculty in man, requiring the use of the will and convictions about the fact of the human soul.  Occult meditation negates dependence on authorities, must be reasonable, but transcends logic and requires proficiency in self-control and persistent practice.

            The human family being about two-thirds illiterate, it will be some time yet before prayer will have lost its usefulness.  Indeed, D.K. has said that the Great Invocation when used by the masses, as is its destiny, will become a world prayer.  The Aryan period of evolution is occupied with building and perfecting mental bodies for man to think with.

            Keen appreciation of the value of occult meditation does no violence to our needed humility.  There can be much pride in knowledge, but humility characterises wisdom.  Now we generally use our minds to register knowledge.  We need to use our minds to gain wisdom.

            Praise is not due a senior student in school for doing well what is new to the junior grade, but old to him.  In the school of life, most seniors are senior largely because they, when juniors, failed in this and that and are therefore repeating.  A few, exemplified by the Christ and the Buddha, pressed on with little or no failure and so outstripped the rest of us.  Therefore we can wisely learn from them.

            When a student was asked what she did in meditation, she replied, "I sit down and get real quiet, shut my eyes, open my mouth and wait for something to happen."  She had transcended asking God for things, but--!  The standard meditation technique for the mystic is to begin by emptying the mind of all thought.  This is a negative way of mind control and unless the motive and the life lived by the meditator are pure, can be dangerous, even leading to obsessions.  It can also lead to emotional ecstasy and selfless sacrifice.

            Occult meditation is never negative but requires a conscious control of thought.  It includes a seed thought upon which the meditator concentrates his attention and so induces thought about it.  He still uses his highly developed desire power because he desires to meditate, having accepted the conviction that it is valuable.  The recognised value and the desire to gain that value, plus repetition of willful concentration, induces thought related to the chosen seed idea.  The spiritual ideals inherent in esoteric meditation produce changes in the personality and even if not known and worked for, result in selflessness, harmlessness and right speech.  How much better to know what one is doing and why.

            It is obvious therefore that knowing more definitely how to think will help us.  It is possible to build in creative thought and to speed up our mental control if we learn more about what thought is and how to initiate it.

            A great many books have been written about thought and its development and uses but perhaps as good as anything is the teaching about the constitution of man clearly expressed and available to all.  The value here lies in knowledge of the soul and of the mental body, plus the goal of the use of the mind by the soul.  We start with the personality controlling the mind, and end with the soul controlling the personality through the mind because we as soul-infused persons have chosen to achieve soul control.  This choice is an epoch-making event in the life and can be dramatic and quite amazing to our friends.  Without the influence of the soul, occult meditation can lead to slavery to the enhanced potency of the lower mind, for the ancient statement is true that "the mind is the slayer of the real".  Influenced by the soul the mind is the revealer of the real.

            In occult meditation we are dealing with three energies, the energy of the soul, the energy inherent in the matter we have built into our mental body, and the accumulated characteristic energy quality of many lives.  Realising these three factors is a wise and a first step in achieving a conscious condition of a soul-infused personality.  What we know about we can control, aided by the use of the will.

            The first stage in the use of the will is the personal establishment of a fixed, definite and persistent purpose.  As an effect, we achieve the use of the will power of our own souls.  First we accept the idea, then we idealise the idea, and then we put it into practice.  This experience is analogous, on a higher turn of the spiral, to the old style religious conversion induced by evangelists largely using emotional energy.

            The brain is the instrument we use to register thought.  It does not originate thought.  Thought is the result of modifications in the substance of the mental body.  If our brains register these changes, they become real to us; otherwise not.  If we force our brains to react to thought impacts it is like improving a radio set.  This we can do by forcing ourselves to pay attention to our own thought impulses.  These emerge because we have a mental body, just as emotional impulses emerge because we have an emotional body, in which case we are thereby characterised by emotional considerations.

            That we have a physical body is obvious to our five senses.  That we have a mental body is not.  But we can become conscious of it and control it as we can our physical body by paying attention to it and using it for right purposes.  Intention plus attention and wise use are three requisites for improving, potentising and controlling mental substance and therefore our own mental bodies.  Also, we can pour love energy into our mental bodies which is most important of all for its health, sensitivity and growth.  But this we well know should not be done because it is our body, a motive which automatically distorts the quality of true love, but because resulting thought is more useful to others and hastens the control by the soul.  Nations also have souls.

            The focussed intent of a high grade integrated person can directly affect mental substance; the intent of a soul-infused personality much more so and the direct impact of the soul most powerfully of all.  We can think on any level we are conscious of.

 

F.  THE THREE MAJOR FULL MOON PERIODS

            In the New World Religion "the science of invocation and evocation will take the place of what we now call `prayer' and `worship'.  Be not disturbed by the use of the word `science'.  It is not the cold and heartless intellectual thing so oft depicted.  It is in reality the intelligent organisation of spiritual energy and of the forces of love, and these, when effective, will evoke the response of spiritual Beings Who can again walk openly among men, and thus establish a close relation and a constant communication between humanity and the spiritual Hierarchy."

The Reappearance of the Christ, p. 151)

            Each full moon period will be a definite time of focussed group invocation and it is towards this that we work.  Of all the full moons of a year there are three which will be of greatest spiritual importance:

            1.  The Festival of Easter - the full moon of Aries.

            2.  The Wesak Festival - the full moon of Taurus.

            3.  The Festival of Goodwill - the full moon of Gemini.

            "There will be three such major Festivals, each year, concentrated in three consecutive months and leading, therefore, to a prolonged annual spiritual effort which will affect the remainder of the year.  These will be:

1.         The Festival of Easter.  This is the Festival of the risen, living Christ, the Teacher of all men and the Head of the spiritual Hierarchy.  He is the Expression of the love of God.  On this day the spiritual Hierarchy, which He guides and directs, will be recognised and the nature of God's love will be emphasised.  This Festival is determined always by the date of the first Full Moon of spring and is the great Western and Christian Festival.

2.         The Festival of Wesak.  This is the Festival of the Buddha, the spiritual Intermediary between the highest spiritual centre, Shamballa, and the Hierarchy.  The Buddha is the expression of the wisdom of God, the Embodiment of Light and the Indicator of the divine purpose.....It is the great Eastern Festival.

3.         The Festival of Goodwill.  This will be the Festival of the spirit of humanity--aspiring towards God, seeking conformity with the will of God and dedicated to the expression of right human relations....It will be a day whereon the spiritual and divine nature of mankind will be recognised.  On this Festival for two thousand years the Christ has represented humanity and has stood before the Hierarchy and in the sight of Shamballa as the God-Man, the Leader of His people and `the Eldest in a great family of brothers.' (Romans VIII: 29)....This will, therefore, be a festival of deep invocation and appeal, of a basic aspiration towards fellowship, of human and spiritual unity, and will represent the effect in the human consciousness of the work of the Buddha and of the Christ....

            The remaining full moons will constitute lesser festivals but will be recognised to be also of vital importance.  They will establish the divine attributes in the consciousness of man, just as the major festivals establish the three divine aspects....Thus, the twelve annual festivals will constitute a revelation of divinity."  (The Reappearance of the Christ, pp. 155-7)

 

G.  PREPARATION FOR GROUP SERVICE

(From The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp. 224-9)

            The problem can be most simply stated.  Either the spiritual Hierarchy exists, with all its potencies of love, wisdom and skill in action, or for ages humanity has suffered from hallucinations; either Christ and His group of Masters, initiates and disciples are facts in the natural processes of evolution, historically proven and known through Their spiritual activity down the ages, or men have been victims during those ages of a gigantic fraud--emanating from what and where?  Either the consistency of the evolving presentation of the spiritual effort of the Hierarchy is a witness to a great reality or mankind has developed a mentality which is an instrument for the fabrication of non-existent facts, and this is in itself so paradoxical as to give the lie to the inference.  Either the spiritual worlds and the three worlds of human endeavour can be related, or there is nothing to past beliefs, to ancient stories of manifesting divinity and to the constantly recurring periods of divine intervention.

            I would here face you with these alternatives and would ask you to consider your own position in these matters.  Does the story of Easter and of the living Christ carry no truth, and is it not possible for that Risen Christ to express His power on Earth through His chosen instruments?  Is there no foundation for the myth of the annual return of the Buddha, holding the door open between Shamballa and the Hierarchy so that, at need, intervention may be possible through that open door?  Is it only a silly dream and a fantasy that at the time of the June Full Moon, Christ--in the closest cooperation with the Buddha--links the Hierarchy with Humanity?  Is it quite impossible that when humanity awakens to the fact of this mediatorship and can then avail itself of the straight line of ascent and descent through the doors held open by the Buddha and the Christ, some stupendous appearing may be imminent and suddenly take place?  May it not be possible that through the ascent of man's aspiration and spiritual desire, and through the descent of the waiting Potencies, certain great changes may take place, for which all the past has been only preparatory and through which the Aquarian Age of brotherhood and understanding may make itself felt by virtue of these great Potencies?

            The two Full Moons of May and June present to you a new opportunity to participate in the release of the planetary Life from the thralldom of the Forces of Materialism.  If you are to do your share in this work of salvage, it will necessitate certain attitudes and activities on your part which I would like briefly to touch upon, leaving you to take right and appropriate action and to follow, with all other disciples and aspirants, the indicated stages:

1.         Study with care and answer with sincerity and to your own complete satisfaction the questions I put to you earlier in this communication.  When you have done this, you will know where you personally stand.

2.         For the entire week prior to the May Full Moon and the June Full Moon endeavour to do the following things:

            a.  Link up with all disciples, aspirants and men and women of goodwill throughout the world and in all nations, using the creative imagination.

            b.  Eliminate out of your consciousness all negativity, seeing yourself clearly as ranged on the side of the Forces of Light; you are, therefore, not neutral in thought.  See to it that when taking right action in the conflict against the forces of materialism you preserve ever a spirit of love for all individuals who have been swept into the vortex of their potency.

            c.  When meditating and invoking the Forces of Light, endeavour to forget entirely all your own personal difficulties, tragedies and problems.  Disciples have to learn to carry forward their work for humanity in spite of personal stresses, strains and limitations.

            d.  Prepare yourselves thus for the work of the two Full Moons, keeping your objective clearly in mind and submitting yourselves to an adequate temporary discipline.

3.         For the two days prior to the Full Moon, on the day of the Full Moon itself, and for the two succeeding days (five days) endeavour at sunrise, at noon, at five o'clock p.m., and at sunset, plus the exact time of the Full Moon in your own land, to say the Great Invocation with the intent to evoke, precipitate and anchor in outer manifestation the waiting Potencies.  Do this aloud when possible, and in group formation whenever feasible.  It is the focussed power of your unemotional thought which will bridge the present existing gap and link more closely the two worlds of spiritual activity and of human demonstration.

            Many people the world over have for years been trained to recognise two things.  First, the importance of the Wesak Festival at the time of the Full Moon of May, because it not only objectively links the major Eastern religion with the major Western faith, but because it esoterically provides the key to the open door between Shamballa and the Hierarchy, between the purpose of God (still unidentified by man, owing to his relatively low stage of evolution which makes it beyond human comprehension at present) and the method of God, which is love; it provides also the link between the Buddha, temporarily embodying will-wisdom, and the Christ, embodying love-wisdom, and also between humanity, focussed in consciousness through the Christ, and the Hierarchy, focussed in consciousness through the Buddha.  Owing to the stress of humanity today and the urgency of the response which that distress evokes in the Hierarchy, the synthesis of these two reactions to the world crisis can prove adequate to bring in that outside assistance which could end the conflict along right lines and bring not only relief, but illumination to the human consciousness.  But again--speaking here to a representative body of aspirants and disciples--I would state that the focus and the emphasis is not yet adequate to guarantee this extraplanetary response.

            Nevertheless, it could be if, in your own life of meditation and of discipline, in your speech with others and in the general tone of your intercourse with your environment, you can eliminate the negative and more selfish reactions and (for the sake of human welfare) temporarily, at least, live at your highest point of aspiration.

            Secondly, you have been trained in the belief that all the information which I have given out anent the relation of the Buddha and the Christ, and of the Hierarchy, Humanity and Shamballa, will form part of the coming new world religion and that the theme of the Great Approaches will constitute the basic fundamentals of the future spiritual teaching.  This too you must have in mind, for the work you are asked to do at the coming two Full Moons, and during the less important full moons of the year, is not only related to the present emergency, but is also constructively related to the future faith of humanity.  Bear this also in mind.

            You will note that what I have said concerns your mental attitudes and your emotional reactions to present world affairs.  It concerns also your soul tension, your willingness to undergo soul tension, and your capacity to stand as part of the great chain of intermediaries who are today being called to the service of the race in an hour of urgency.  It concerns the organising of yourself as an integrated personality in relation to your soul and to humanity; it involves the recognition of the work which you can do from the point of integration.  I would ask you to ponder with care upon this paragraph, stating the possibilities of your task.

            I call you to a period of clear thinking.  I seek not to mould your political approach to life, but I do seek to aid you to see humanity and its welfare - not only in terms of your own nation or your own political group - but in terms of the whole, and as we, the teachers of the inner side, are forced to see it.  I seek to see you free yourselves from the condition where you are swayed by propaganda of a political, national or religious kind, and deciding for yourself where you, as a soul, must stand in this world crisis and on which side you will place the emphasis of any influence you may wield; I would have you note where your highest ideals will lead you and whether the springs of your life's decisions and attitudes are truly pure and unadulterated.

            I seek to draw your attention away from the many minor issues, the many clamouring voices, and from the widespread concentration upon the unworthy pasts and the undesirable aspects of all nations (without exception), and help you to see with clarity the major dualism which underlies the present world conflict - might against right, materialism against the higher values, freedom against imprisonment, cruelty against fair dealing, liberty and safety against fear and aggression.  Then, having balanced these pairs of opposites within your consciousness, decide where your loyalty, your interest and your ability to serve will be placed, and then go forward to further the ends of one or other of the two groups, at no matter what cost, but knowing where you stand and why you stand there.

            That the will of Shamballa may be enabled to express itself through love and through the meditation of the Hierarchy, working through all disciples, aspirants and men and women of goodwill, is the earnest prayer of your fellow-disciple and co-worker.

 

H.  DEEPER ASPECTS OF MEDITATION

(From Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, pp. 197-207)

            No matter how high you may go in the scale of Being, you will find--from the fourth kingdom of nature onward--that the technique of meditation governs all expansions of consciousness, all registration of Plan or Purpose and, in fact, the entire process of evolutionary unfoldment.  It is a technique of spiritual apprehension, of focussing attention on some level of consciousness or other, and also of originating modes of contact.

            The entire Science of Invocation and Evocation is contained in the word "meditation"; this science ranges from the subjective, unconscious appeal of the inchoate, voiceless masses, through many phases, until it attains that high mode of scientific invocation which governs the contact made in the Council Chamber of Shamballa with extra-planetary sources of spiritual inflow.  It is through meditation in some form or another that contact is made; this again is progressive in nature.  The formulated idea of the unspiritual man to make a contact with that which will later condition his life and lead to a betterment of his daily life in a material sense, or which will make living possible, is perhaps the lowest aspect; the brooding, experimental thinking of the scientist or artist is another form of meditation and higher in purpose and in intention, and this meditative process is better formulated and has (if you think correctly) definite group implications.  The mode whereby the Members of Hierarchy and the personnel of Their Ashrams arrive at an intense spiritual perception, and arrive also at a selfless formulation of the divine Plan which will implement divine Purpose in the world, is likewise an expansion of all previous meditations; whilst the concentrated clear and dynamic invocation of the spiritual Beings Who have created--or more accurately--have formed Shamballa, is the highest form of meditation possible upon our planet.

            It might also be stated that it is meditation which is responsible for transforming the desire of the ordinary human being upon our planet into the spiritual will, which is ever the agent of the Purpose.  It is therefore meditation which produces individual, group and planetary alignment, and this alignment is always the first stage of the meditation objective and the final or permanent stage attained.  Think on this.

            Meditation is also eliminative in its effects and (if I may use such a term) ejects out of the individual and out of the group that which is undesirable--from the angle of the immediate spiritual goal.

            Meditation is essentially the highest instrument and the perfected consummation of the third divine aspect, that of intelligent activity, and--as I have earlier pointed out--is from every possible angle carried on within the ring-pass-not of the Universal Mind.  It is the essential, divine Prompter, the predominant creative agent, and the factor which fuses and blends every aspect of the great Hierarchy of Being which is related to the basic spiritual nature of our planet; this was our major inheritance from the previous solar system--the Mind or Active Intellect.

            Meditation brings into creative alignment instinct, intellect and the intuition, as well as conscious Identification.  It relates (in an indissoluble unity) the so-called lower or concrete mind, the group mind, the hierarchical mind and the universal Mind; it leads to a conscious alignment of the disciple's centres and also of the three planetary Centres; it is invocative, demanding, fusing, receptive and distributory in nature.  In the disciple it is the agent which creates or builds the antahkarana, controls--via the soul or the Spiritual Triad--the head centre, which is the point of focus, of spiritual appeal and of spiritual reception; it controls also the ajna centre (the centre between the eyebrows) which, in the disciple, is the prime agent for the distribution of spiritual energy.

            In the group, meditation leads to the fusion of the group personnel, to their united invocative appeal, and--when invocation has evoked response--it leads to group receptivity to that which has been spiritually demanded, and thus to the spiritual service of the group.

            In the Hierarchy, meditation takes two major forms, and (you must remember) in that great spiritual Centre meditation is an instinctual habit and needs no forced process:

1.         Meditation is that which sets in motion hierarchical response to the invocative appeal rising from the three worlds, and mainly to the invocative appeal carried forward consciously by all who pray, all who make mystical appeal and all who employ occult meditation and direct invocation.

2.         Meditation is the instinctual mode whereby the Hierarchy--in response to the invocation from the three worlds--approaches the higher Centre, Shamballa; then the Hierarchy evokes the energies, the Beings and the spiritual inflow which hierarchical service in the immediate future requires.  It is also--in a unique sense--the technique whereby the Masters Themselves prepare for the sixth initiation, thus conditioning the Path of Life upon which They will eventually find Themselves and pass thence to higher cosmic undertakings.

You can see, therefore, why I have laid such emphasis upon your individual meditation, but have also laid a still greater emphasis upon group meditation.  Nevertheless, I have only been endeavouring to turn your instinct towards spiritual expression into scientific lines; I have sought also to initiate you into a planetary technique which all planetary beings must and do master.  Meditation, in its most rudimentary form, is the instinct which leads to recognition of the physical Sun and governs, for instance, the turning of planetary vegetable life towards the Sun as its dominant source of life.  In its intermediate form, it is that which reveals to the aspirant and to the Hierarchy the Heart of the Sun, and--in its highest form--it is the mode of contact which relates the highest Beings on our planet to the Central Spiritual Sun.  In every case, I would like to point out that this capacity to meditate (the spiritual expression of the mental processes) focusses itself in certain group formations which it would profit us briefly to consider.

            It might be said that, intermediate between the great planetary centres, a group of those who can meditate creatively can be found; they are chosen out of each of the larger centres and from among those who are already accustomed to meditation.  I would like to pause at this point and ask you to remember that I refer not here to religious meditation, strictly understood, or to those invocative appeals for help and aid which are so closely associated in the mind of the western Christian thinker.  I refer to all who--in quiet reflection, focussed appeal and with a true background of knowledge--are able to "think through" into a higher state of consciousness than the one of which they are normally aware; in that higher state they arrive at those intuitional and spiritual "discoveries" which can produce the seed of a new creation, or which can open up (for those unable to meditate) a new field of possible awareness.  The motive of all such group meditation must be selfless service; the keynote of all such groups is creativity; they are all of them demonstrations of the perfected third aspect of active intelligence, plus other developing aspects; all of them are in direct relation or alignment with one of the Buddhas of Activity, Who embody within Themselves the essence of the third Ray of Active Intelligence, through which the third aspect can successfully project and express itself.  It is these three Buddhas Who were instrumental in the amazing and occult process of implementing the mental principle upon our planet, and Who--through Their creative meditation--brought our planet, the Earth, and the planet Venus into direct alignment.  This made possible the coming of the Sons of Mind and the formation of the fourth kingdom in nature, Humanity.  They are Embodiments of the intuition, and control the inflow of intuitional energy into the minds of men.

            The point which I would have you bear in mind is that these intermediate groups of Workers Who know the power of meditation are primarily creative, and that the efficacy of Their work is demonstrated in the larger group whose behests They are carrying out and in the group which is creatively influenced by the meditation work accomplished.

            Curiously enough, in view of the fact that the principle of Mind is the fifth principle, there are five major groups who function primarily through "creative and sustaining" meditation.  These are:

1.         The new group of world servers.

2.         The Ashram, with which disciples in the new group of world servers may be affiliated.

3.         The Hierarchy itself, the Ashram of Sanat Kumara.

4.         The Nirmanakayas or the "inspired Contemplatives."

5.         The higher correspondence of the Nirmanakayas Who find Their place in relation to Shamballa; this is analogous to that of the Nirmanakayas to the Hierarchy.

The personnel of these groups is supplied from the larger groups to which they are intermediate:

1.         The new group of world servers gathers its personnel out of the great planetary centre called Humanity.

a.         The more advanced members of the group are affiliated with some Ashram within the ring-pass-not of the Hierarchy.

b.         The greater Ashram, composed of many Ashrams, is the fulfilled production of the new group of world servers, down the ages.  This is a statement full of important implications.

2.         The Nirmanakayas gather Their personnel out of the Hierarchy, the second great planetary centre.  Their relation to Shamballa is not one of affiliation, nor is it the same as that of the new group of world servers to the Hierarchy.  Their major relationship is with the Triangle of the Buddhas of Activity, and it is under Their creative inspiration that They work.  This stream of inspiration or of "energy flooded with creative light" is made available to the Hierarchy at all times and when needed for Their creative work; it is a part of the dynamic, galvanising energy which feeds the enthusiasm of the new group of world servers, binds them together in the One Work, and enables them to work intelligently and with creative ability.

3.         A mysterious body of what have been called "Reflecting Lights"; the Members of this group are to a certain extent extra-planetary.  They are affiliated with Shamballa and focus cosmic creative energy, thus making it available (on demand) to the Members of the Council Chamber at Shamballa.  There is little that we need consider about them; They are the "Helpers of the Lord of the World", and implement His purposes as they are formulated by Him on the cosmic mental plane.

The point which I seek to emphasise, and which I hope will remain in your minds, is that this technique of meditation is the outstanding creative agent on our planet.  When you, as an individual, are endeavouring to "build the new man in Christ" which will be an expression of your true spiritual self, meditation is, as you well know, your best agent; but the meditation process must be accompanied by creative work or else it is purely mystical, and though not futile, is nevertheless negative in creative results.

            Members of the new group of world servers are gathered from all branches of human enterprise, of which organised religion is only one.  There are scientists who, repudiating violently the unproven, yet are giving all they have of scientific ability and knowledge to the service of humanity--each in his chosen scientific field; there are men of financial stature who regard money as a responsibility to be dispensed wisely in the service of others, yet the mystical or occult terminology may mean nothing whatsoever to them; there are educators, preoccupied with wise formulations of knowledge and with an encyclopedic understanding of the garnered wisdom of the ages, which they seek to utilise in fitting the younger generation to live beautifully, constructively and creatively; there are churchmen and religious leaders (in some one or other of the world religions) who are not tied or handicapped by the form; the spirit of light is in them and they intelligently love their fellowmen.  All of these people, if they are members of the new group of world servers, must inevitably be reflecting thinkers, must have creative objectives, must be truly intelligent, and must have added expanding love to their intelligence.

            These men and women have a dual relationship:  to the rest of humanity whom they seek to serve, and also to the Hierarchy, via some Ashram--an Ashram which is the source of their inspiration and of their creative efforts to think and to work.

            The accepted disciple in this group work is in conscious rapport with both planetary centres (that of Humanity and that of the Hierarchy) and their creative thinking largely conditions the group.  Many, however, in this group are conscious of their relation to humanity and of their planned service, but are totally unaware of the unseen source of their inspiration.  This matters not, for--if their motive is pure, their intelligence keen and their meditational capacity adequate--they receive the inspiration and develop the intuition in any case.  It is those in the new group of world servers who can and do meditate who are the real agents of the relation existing between the Hierarchy and Humanity.  Such a relation has, of course, always existed, and always there have been mystics and a few occultists who have served as channels of relationship; today, the group is newly organised and the task of invocation and evocation is for the first time in history evenly balanced, or is upon what you might call a fifty-fifty basis.

            Again, the new group of world servers is composed of widely diverse men and women, gathered out of all nations, holding many different points of view and following the many different professions and ideologies; it is therefore more truly representative of humanity and more truly potent than ever before.

            When the work of the Invocation reaches a high stage of development and the climaxing year of 1952 is over, it will then be wise to bring to the attention of the general public, and on a worldwide scale, the factual nature of the new group of world servers.

            This new group of world servers is an aspect of the world antahkarana and it gives students of the antahkarana a sound example of the intent and purpose of the Rainbow Bridge which each disciple is endeavouring consciously to build.  It is composed of those who have penetrated in consciousness upward to such an extent and height that their ascension has become invocative and has produced a descent from the Hierarchy which meets and merges with the energies of the ascending group reflection.  Words here are apt to hinder, but the visualisation indicated will prove helpful.  In the case of the new group of world servers, it is not simply ascending energy which must be considered; there is also a focussing of consciousness and a receptivity which can develop into fixed intention; this can be followed later by a recognition in the physical brain consciousness of what has transpired.  Forget not that--in detail--the new group of world servers is composed of the following groups:

1.         Initiates and disciples who are consciously a part of the Great White Lodge.

2.         Aspirants and lesser disciples who are affiliated with the Hierarchy but who do not usually possess that continuity of consciousness which will come later.

3.         Those upon the Probationary Path who are not yet affiliated with the Hierarchy; they are, however, subject to hierarchical impression and are determined to serve their fellowmen.

4.         An increasing number of people who respond to the idealism and the purpose of the new group of world servers and who will rapidly join the group.

The main requirement is Meditation, but--as you know--it is not necessarily the set meditation of the occult schools and churches; membership in the group, however, requires the development of the reflective spirit along some line of human understanding; it requires also the power to focus attention upon that which can serve humanity and a compassionate recognition of human need.  The unthinking man or woman, or those engrossed entirely in business, political and family ties, cannot form a part of the new group of world servers, because the group demands a definite measure of decentralisation; to this, habits of meditation rapidly contribute.

            As the members of this group meditate and serve, they will gradually find that they are becoming aware of an inner group--the Ashram of the Master on Whose ray the individual server is to be found.  This will necessarily vary according to the ray; the ray--it must be remembered--determines the quality and the nature of the service to be rendered.  Gradually the neophyte swings into the rhythm of the Ashram and gradually his meditation changes and falls into line with the instinctual and constant ashramic meditation.  It must be remembered that ashramic meditation is entirely devoid of personality elements.  It is in the nature of a constant and uninterrupted group meditation upon the Plan, and particularly upon that aspect of the Plan which must immediately be put into operation; this is the apportioned duty of the Ashram or the Ashrams in question.  This constant attitude of reflective meditation in no way impairs the efficiency of the Ashram or of the individual disciple, because two or more lines of thought and several lines of activity are simultaneously possible.  This is another lesson which the disciple learns.

            Later again, the disciple in the Ashram becomes aware of the meditation proceeding all the time within the greater Ashram, the Hierarchy.  This is the Ashram (if I might repeat the statement) of Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the World.  This great Ashram is headed and controlled by the Christ.  The aspiring disciple becomes conscious of a vast meditational rhythm which is like the action of the human heart in its beat; it is both receiving and distributing, invocative and evocative; as he becomes habituated in this meditation rhythm, he learns to swing his own individual meditation into the set rhythm of the Hierarchy; this is a definite step forward, for the hierarchical rhythm is one of tremendous potency--a potency so great that it penetrates beyond the hierarchical ring-pass-not.

            The effect of that reflective vibration is both vertical and horizontal, and this wide diffusion has led to the formation of that major group of contemplatives, the Nirmanakayas; They focus the hierarchical invocative appeal, and (to quote The Old Commentary) "put it into the musical form which will please the ear of the One Who dwells in the highest plane."  They then transfer the focussed received energies--after due reflection and contemplation--to Shamballa.  One of Their functions is to relate the invocative appeal of the Hierarchy to karmic law, and thus determine "in the deep silence of Their united work" what can be possible because it does not infringe upon karmic intention, and what is not yet possible in time and space--those two major factors which are governed by karmic law.  They have to bear in mind that the time has not yet come and "the karmic era cannot yet demand that demanded good become accomplished good."

            The members of this group are also transmitters to the Hierarchy of the response evoked from Shamballa.  They are constantly in touch with the Council Chamber at Shamballa.  Just as the Hierarchy--in this present cycle of world endeavour--is working through the new group of world servers, so Shamballa is carrying out its intentions (as far as humanity is concerned) through this group of Nirmanakayas.  This all connotes great centralisation of the work in connection with the reappearance of the Christ.

            You can see, therefore, that a gigantic group meditation is going on in many differing phases upon our planet.  All the meditating units and the reflective groups are related to each other through unity of spiritual motive; they are seeking closer cooperation and endeavouring to bring their meditation work--consciously and unconsciously--into a state of positive universal quiet, so that the formulation of spiritual desire can be carried successfully forward, and the reception of spiritual energy can be a united reception.

            Therefore, brother of mine, a great effort towards alignment is going on, and when the individual aspirant can so meditate that his voice can reach the new group of world servers, that group can then impress the individual; through him humanity can be reached.  It can also impress the Hierarchy; then the Contemplatives Who are in touch with Shamballa can contact the Hierarchy, and through the Hierarchy can impress the new group of world servers; then, and only then, the moment will arrive when the Christ will come.

            Already upon the mountains of initiation the sound of His feet can be heard.  He works now with His initiates within the Hierarchy; Their united meditation is hastening the preparatory work and is also leading to the initiation of countless disciples, thus rendering them far more useful than would otherwise be the case.

            The united meditation of these disciples is collaborating with that of the Christ and of the Masters, and senior initiates will impress the members of the new group of world servers; those in this latter group who are, as disciples, members of the Hierarchy, become the agents of this impression.  The meditation of the new group of world servers, in conjunction with the hierarchical meditation, will inevitably impress the sons of men who are seeking and longing for liberation; thus a great channel or Path of Light is created by cooperative meditation, and along that Path--speaking symbolically--the Christ will come.

 

I.  THE SIX-FOLD PROGRESSION OF DIVINE LOVE

(From The Rays and the Initiations, pp. 618-20)

            The energy of harmony through conflict is under the control or influence of the energy of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom.  As far as humanity as a sum total is concerned, the conflict of ideas and of emotional desire is today so acute that it will finally exhaust itself, and men will turn, with relief and with a longing to escape from further turmoil, towards right human relations; this will constitute the first major human decision leading to the longed-for harmony.  The attitude of the masses will then be soundly tending towards harmony, owing to the work of the men and women of goodwill as they implement the "streaming forth of the love of God into the hearts of men."

            We have now reached a point where the inevitability of Christ's return is established, scientifically and under law; this constitutes a call which He may not deny and one which He must obey.  This fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict works (where the initiatory process is concerned) through the heart, or through what esotericists call "the heart centre"--the focal point through which the energy of love can flow.  When the Christ founds His focal point on Earth, it will be in the nature of a tiny heart centre through which the love energy of the Hierarchy can persistently flow.  The harmony (which the Principle of Conflict produces) causes an alignment, so that the love--streaming forth from the Heart of God--enters the hearts of men; so that the Hierarchy, which is the heart centre or the place where love prevails upon our planet) is brought into relationship with humanity; so that the new group of world servers (implementing the love of God and enlightened by the Mind of God) are brought also into relation with the men and women of goodwill in all lands whose task it is to make men's hearts responsive to and receptive of the love of God; this is another way of saying receptive to the consciousness of the Christ.

            This alignment is now in process of being made; it will be brought about automatically when the effectiveness of the Principle of Conflict in producing liberation is generally recognised.  Thus the hearts of men, the heart of the planet, i.e., the Hierarchy, and the heart of the Hierarchy, the Christ, are in a state of positive contact; when this channel is open and unobstructed, then the Christ will come.  Nothing can stop His appearance and--under law--He may not turn His back upon the presented opportunity.

            Thus, eventually, the Lord of Love--in response to the invocative cry of humanity, aroused by the Principle of Conflict--must "proceed again to the high place of sacrifice and walk openly with men on Earth".  His heart, embodying as it does the love of God, is drawn forth from the heart of the planet (the Hierarchy) to the hearts of men, and the path of His return to Earth service stands unchallenged and unobstructed.  Again, under law, a profound optimism is engendered and may be rightly developed.

            The heart centre of humanity is created by the sum total of the hearts (symbolically speaking) of all those men of goodwill (in or out of the churches and irrespective of their political concepts) who are serving their fellowmen, sponsoring human welfare movements, working for the establishing of right human relations, and constantly offsetting the separativeness of the human mind through the inclusiveness of the divine love nature.  You have, therefore, as a guarantee of the return of Christ into public recognition, an implementing of a great alignment.  This alignment, when effectively concluded, will bring about a clear channel or pathway of return or line of light or magnetic power between:

1.         The centre where the will of God is known.  This is Shamballa where the will-to-good originates.  This will-to-good is essential love.

2.         The Hierarchy, which is the planetary heart centre.

3.         The Christ, the very heart of love within the Hierarchy.

4.         The initiates, disciples and aspirants who form the new group of world servers, seeking to embody the love and light needed in the world today.

5.         The hearts of the men of goodwill in all lands who are responsive to love as it can express itself through right human relations.

6.         The focal point through which the Lord of Love will work on Earth.

If you will study this six-fold progression of divine love from the highest manifestation of Deity down to its appearance through the medium of some focal point in our known modern world, it will be apparent to you that a very definite "structure of approach" has been created, and that a "Path of Return" is being constructed which will bring the long-awaited Christ into our midst.  Nothing can stop or prevent His return today; the evidence of this structure can be seen everywhere.

 

KEYNOTES FOR THE DISCIPLE

ARIES:                       I come forth and from the plane of mind, I rule.

TAURUS:                   I see and when the Eye is opened, all is light.

GEMINI:                     I recognise my other self and in the waning of that self, I grow and glow.

CANCER:                  I build a lighted house and therein dwell.

LEO:                           I am That and That am I.

VIRGO:                      I am the mother and the child.  I, God, I, matter am.

LIBRA:                      I choose the way which leads between the two great lines of force.

SCORPIO:                 Warrior I am and from the battle I emerge triumphant.

SAGITTARIUS:        I see the goal.  I reach that goal and then I see another.

CAPRICORN:           Lost am I in light supernal, yet on that light I turn my back.

AQUARIUS:              Water of life am I, poured forth for thirsty men.

PISCES:                     I leave the Father's home and turning back, I save.

These keynotes for the disciple may be used in sequence as the seed thought for the meditation work done each month at the time of the full moon.

 

J.  THE FULL MOON APPROACH TO THE HIERARCHY

                This time of the full moon is a period when spiritual energies are uniquely available and facilitate a closer rapport between humanity and the Hierarchy.  Each month the inflowing energies carry the specific qualities of the constellation influencing the particular month; these energies playing sequentially upon humanity, establish the “divine attributes” in the consciousness of humanity.  As aspirants and disciples we seek to channel the spiritual inflow into the minds and hearts of humanity, and thus strengthen the link between the human kingdom and the Kingdom of God.

                Entrance upon the Path of Approach is possible for individuals, for groups, and for humanity as a whole as a unit.  Energies not usually or normally contacted, can be touched, grasped and utilized at the time of these Approaches, provided that they are contacted in group formation.  Thus the individual, the group and humanity are enriched and vitalized.

KEYNOTE of the full moon Approach to the Hierarchy:

“He who faces the light and stands within its radiance is blinded to the issues of the world of men; he passes on the Lighted Way to the great Centre of Absorption.  But he who feels the urge to pass that way, yet loves his brother on the darkened path, revolves upon the pedestal of light and turns the other way.

He faces towards the dark, and then the seven points of light within himself transmit the outward streaming light, and lo! The face of those upon the darkened way receives that light.  For them the way is not so dark.  Behind the warriors—twixt the light and dark—blazes the light of Hierarchy.”

 

MEDITATION:  LETTING IN THE LIGHT

I.  GROUP FUSION:  We affirm the fact of group fusion and integration within the heart centre of the group of world servers, mediating between Hierarchy and humanity:

I am one with my group brothers, and all that I have is theirs.
May the love which is in my soul pour forth to them.
May the strength which is in me lift and aid them.
May the thoughts which my soul creates reach and encourage them.

II.  ALIGNMENT:   We project a line of lighted energy towards the spiritual Hierarchy of the planet, the planetary heart, the great Ashram of Sanat Kumara; and towards the Christ at the heart of Hierarchy.

Extend the line of light towards Shamballa, the centre where the Will of God is known.

III.  HIGHER INTERLUDE:  Hold the contemplative mind open to the extra-planetary energies streaming into Shamballa and radiated through Hierarchy. Using the creative imagination, endeavour to see the three planetary centres—Shamballa, Hierarchy, and Humanity — gradually coming into alignment and interplay.

IV.  MEDITATION:  Reflect on the seed thought: -- using the appropriate Keynote of the zodiacal sign.

V.  PRECIPITATION:   Using the creative imagination, visualise the energies of Light, Love and the Will-to-Good pouring throughout the planet and becoming anchored on Earth in prepared physical plane centres through which the Plan can manifest.  (Use the six-fold progression of divine Love as the sequence of energy precipitation ­­– Shamballa/Hierarchy/the Christ/the group of world servers/men and women of goodwill everywhere in the world/physical centres of distribution.)

VI.  LOWER INTERLUDE:   Refocus the consciousness, as a group, within the periphery of the great Ashram.  Together sound the affirmation:

In the centre of all Love I stand.  From that centre I, the soul, will outward move.
From that centre I, the one who serves, will work.
May the love of the divine Self be shed abroad, in my heart, through my group, and throughout the world.

Visualise the downpouring spiritual inflow released from Shamballa through the Hierarchy and streaming into humanity through the prepared channel. Consider how these inpouring energies are establishing the "Pathway of Light" for the coming World Teacher, the Christ.

VII.  DISTRIBUTION:  As the Great Invocation is sounded, visualise the outpouring of Light and Love and Power from the spiritual Hierarchy through the five planetary inlets (London/Darjeeling/New York/Geneva/Tokyo) irradiating the consciousness of the whole human race:

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men--
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

OM                              OM                                OM

 

 

K.  THE NEW MOON

            Some years ago, special work began to be undertaken each month during the new moon period, as was done for so long at the time of the full moon.  During both the full and new moon periods there is a similar emphasis on the work of energy distribution in meditation.  Just as there is a higher and a lower interlude in the annual cycle, so in the monthly cycle, the full moon occurs at the higher interlude and the new moon at the lower interlude.

            At the new moon, we concentrate on how the Plan can be manifested; we focus on the many ways in which the "power of the one Life" and the "love of the one soul" are working out through the servers of the world.  The emphasis at the new moon is to express and extend the energy and inspiration received at the time of the full moon through recognition of the service work of individuals and groups engaged in meeting world need, serving actively in one or other of the many fields of human life, and devoted to lifting and enriching the quality of human life on earth.

            The theme of meditation at the new moon is:  Strengthening the Hands of the New Group of World Servers.  Composed of all men and women who work for equality of opportunity, justice, inclusiveness and right relationships, the new group of world servers functions in every field of human endeavour and in all parts of the world.  For the most part they work, unrecognised, to meet not only human need, but the welfare of all living things, through an understanding of our planetary interrelationship and of the power of goodwill to bring about constructive change.

            To help strengthen the hands of the new group of world servers, the World Service Forum is a video series produced by Lucis Productions of interviews with servers who discuss aspects of their work, or of the work of the group with which they are associated, so that their efforts may be more widely known and supported.  Included in the World Service Forum video series are interviews on "Filming the Nature of the Divine", "Organic Architecture:  A Harmony of Spirit and Matter", "Natural Therapy", and "Democracy and the Spiritual Impulse Behind It", among others.

            The World Service Forum is intended to affirm and strengthen the work of all servers by highlighting the right values and right relationships which are crucial to the evolution of our planet and all that lives upon it.

            As we consciously align with the rhythmic pattern of energy flow each month, we become a part of a planetary meditative process carried forward at all levels of consciousness and with great creative potential for anchoring the seeds of the coming civilisation and the germ of the new culture.

            "The point which I seek to emphasise, and which I hope will remain in your minds, is that this technique of meditation is the outstanding creative agent on our planet.  When you, as an individual, are endeavouring to `build the new man in Christ' which will be an expression of your true spiritual self, meditation is, as you well know, your best agent; but the meditation process must be accompanied by creative work or else it is purely mystical, and though not futile, is nevertheless negative in creative results."(Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II, p. 202)

 

STRENGTHENING THE HANDS OF THE GROUP OF WORLD SERVERS
This meditation is used at the time of the new moon

I.  GROUP FUSION: I am one with my group brothers and all that I have is theirs.  May the love which is in my soul pour forth to them.  May the strength which is in me lift and aid them.  May the thoughts which my soul creates reach and encourage them.

II.  ALIGNMENT:  We recognise our place, as a group, within the heart centre of the group of world servers.  Mentally extend a line of lighted energy towards the spiritual Hierarchy, the planetary heart centre; to the Christ, the "heart of love" within the Hierarchy; towards Shamballa, "where the Will of God is known".

III.  HIGHER INTERLUDE:  Hold the mind focussed for a few moments on the planetary role of the group of world servers mediating between Hierarchy and humanity, responding to hierarchical impression and meditating the Plan into existence.

IV.  MEDITATION:  Reflect on the seed thought:

Through the impression and expression of certain great ideas, humanity must be brought to the understanding of the fundamental ideals which will govern the new age. This is the major task of the group of world servers. 

V:  PRECIPITATION:  Visualise the precipitation of the will-to-good, essential love, throughout the planet, from Shamballa, through the planetary heart, the Hierarchy, through the Christ, the group of world servers, through all men and women of goodwill everywhere in the world, and finally through the hearts and minds of the whole human family.

VI.  LOWER INTERLUDE:  Consider the many ways in which the "power of the one Life" and the "love of the one Soul" are working out in the world through members of the group of world servers, so building the "thoughtform of solution" to world problems.

VII.  DISTRIBUTION:  As the Great Invocation is sounded, visualise the irradiation of human consciousness with light and love and power:

From the point of Light within the mind of God
Let Light stream forth into human minds.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into human hearts.
May the Coming One return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide all little human wills -
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the human race
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

OM                               OM                            OM