1. The awakening of the personality to soul control and contact, with a true expression eventually, in the three worlds, of soul-will, desire and intent.
2. The awakening of the seventh center, the center at the base of the spine, by the soul working through the first or highest head center and producing (as a consequence) the surging upwards of the kundalini fire. This, in its turn, produces fusion with the higher forces. When this takes place the three major centers in the body are

Several major triangles of force were active when individualization took place and the "Lions, the divine and tawny orange Flames" came into being and thus humanity arrived upon the planet. I would touch here briefly upon one triangle: The Sun (second ray), Jupiter (second ray) and Venus (fifth ray). It will be apparent to you that we here have another sphere of influence of major importance, governed by Leo. It is a triangle to which H.P.B. refers in The Secret Doctrine, the influence of which she was endeavoring to elucidate. So potent was the influence of this triangle that its effect upon the Moon was to denude her of life by drawing out all the "seeds of life," thus destroying her influence, for it was undesirable where humanity was concerned. [302]

Through Uranus, Leo is related to three other signs of the zodiac: Aries, Libra and Aquarius, and these three constellations, with Leo, form what has been called "the subjective quaternary of the reincarnating soul" because they are related to the permanent atoms which persist from life to life and which form - during the cycle of reincarnation - the repositories or the storing houses of the experiences undergone during life in the three worlds.

1. Aries - is connected with soul intention, the vibratory activity of which (under impulse from the Monad) initiates the successive involutionary periods which produce appearance upon the physical plane.
2. Libra - is related to the mental unit and, as we saw when studying the sign Libra, produces eventually a balance between the pairs of opposites. This is brought about upon the astral plane. It is the attainment of this balance which produces the reversal of the mode of passing around the zodiacal wheel and it takes place when integration has occurred, and the man is focused upon the mental plane. He can, then, through right use of the mind, discriminate between the pairs of opposites and find the narrow razor-edged path which passes between them and keep his balance upon it.
3. Leo - is connected with the astral permanent atom, for the reason that desire or the power to go forth and occultly touch that which is desired is the basis of all sense of awareness or responsiveness and the underlying cause of progress or evolutionary movement forward; it is the keynote of the man who has achieved that true "self-centered" attitude which makes him an individual. Later, as responsiveness grows and the world of small affairs is converted into the world of ever larger [303] values and reality, the desires change into aspiration and finally into spiritual will, purpose and intent.
4. Aquarius - is eventually connected with the physical permanent atom which is, as you know, upon the etheric level. It is this individual web which is the medium of relationship to the whole. The universal consciousness of Aquarius becomes expressive just in so far as the individual etheric body is in conscious relation with the etheric body of humanity, the solar system and - of course - the planet.

I would here point out that the term "permanent atom" is essentially symbolic and that what we call the permanent atom is in reality only a unit of energy within the sphere of influence of the soul ray which can at any time "pick it up" (if I may use so un-euphonious a phrase). In these atoms the past memory of the personal self is stored; these are in the nature of "memory cells" and are the repositories of past experience, of gained quality, and of the particular note which the body of which it is the nucleus has achieved. They are material in nature, are connected only with the form aspect, and are imbued with as much of the quality of consciousness as the soul has succeeded in developing in the three worlds. The whole subject is most abstruse and will be only understood, and the symbolism involved rightly interpreted, when clairvoyance is a normal attribute of average man. Then the focus of the substance in any form (its galvanizing center) can be seen. I do not here advise much reflection on the subject, as it is an exceedingly difficult one, constituting, in itself, a very advanced science, and embodying the mystery of the first solar system, the past - again the memory cells give their contribution. It is through the permanent atoms that the Forces of Materialism can [304] work; the Great White Lodge works through the seven centers.

Aries begins the process and is the "initiator of the process which leads to progress" and - at the end of the age (as it is now at the final or seventh initiation) - the Initiator of the Mysteries will work under instructions and with energies which emanate from the Lord of the Constellation Aries. In the last analysis and esoterically speaking, fire is the great liberator and Aries is the leading fire sign which will eventually "fuse the beginning and the end, blend the opposites and dispel both time and space." At present, the Initiator of the Mysteries acts under inspiration and with energies emanating from Capricorn - an earth sign - because humanity is, as yet, earth-bound. The forces of initiation produce their major effects upon the physical plane, for it is there that the initiate has to demonstrate his liberation, his understanding and his divinity.