Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00059)

M. Sufilight asked for comments regarding the following Bailey quotation:

> Esoteric Psychology I, p.167
> ********************
>
>
> "Every great religion which arises is under the influence of one or other
of
> the rays, but it does not necessarily follow that each successive ray
> should have a great far-reaching religion as its outcome. We have heard
> that Brahmanism is the last great religion which arose under first ray
> influence; we do not know what may have been the religion which was the
> outcome of the last second ray period; but the Chaldean, the Egyptian
> and the Zoroastrian religions may be taken as representing the third,
> the fourth, and the fifth rays respectively. Christianity and probably
> Buddhism were the result of sixth ray influence. Mohammedanism, which
> numbers so large a following, is also under sixth ray influence, but it
> is NOT a great root religion, being a hybrid offshoot of Christianity
> with the tinge of Judaism."
>
>

Although the typology of the seven rays is not mentioned very much on this
list, it is a typology that was developed during the past century by many
theosophical writers. This typology began with Blavatsky's "Secret
Doctrine," and was further developed by C. W. Leadbeater, Earnest Wood,
Geoffrey Hodson, as well as Alice Bailey.

In particular, Bailey was not the only writer to associate the seven rays
with religions. C. W. Leadbeater, in "The Masters and the Path" (first
published in 1925 by the Theosophical Publishing House) provides the
following associations: first ray-- Brahmanical; second ray-- Buddhism;
third ray-- Chaldean; fourth ray-- Egyptian; fifth ray-- Zoroastrian; sixth
ray-- Christianity; and seventh ray-- Elemental Worship.

Geoffrey Hodson, in "The Seven Human Temperaments" (first published in 1952
by the Theosophical Publishing House) provides the following associations:
first ray-- Hinduism; second ray-- Buddhism; third ray-- Chaldean, Egyptian;
fourth ray-- Orphic, Egyptian; fifth ray-- Zoroastrian; sixth ray--
Christian; seventh ray-- Ritualistic aspects of all religions, Masonry.
Note that Hodson lists "Egyptian" under both the third and fourth rays.

While there are some agreements among Bailey's, Leadbeater's and Hodson's
associations, there are also some differences, which shows that these three
writers were independent and didn't simply copy each other.

Zack Lansdowne