6. Buddhi. The spiritual soul. The vehicle of pure universal spirit.
7. Atma. Spirit. The radiation of the Absolute. (For further explanation see: H. P. Blavatsky, “Key to Theosophy.”)
Goethe says: “A word comes in very conveniently when a conception is absent.” In our material age the very meaning of terms signifying spiritual powers and conditions has become lost and perverted; “God” is supposed to mean an unnatural supernatural being outside of Nature; “Faith” has become credulity and belief in the opinions of others; “Hope” has become personal greed; “Love” is supposed to be selfish desire, etc., etc. It is therefore not surprising if the above terms are incomprehensible to many or misinterpreted by them, for they all represent certain states of consciousness, and no one can know a state of consciousness which he has never experienced. Therein is contained the mystery.
The philosophers of the middle ages symbolised these seven principles by the signs of seven “planets” from which seven cosmic bodies visible in the sky received their names; and if this is understood, it will at once become clear that those who deny the sevenfold division of the planets, only expose their own ignorance and misconceptions. No one can really criticise that which he does not understand; but self-conceit imagines itself to be superior to everything, and thinks itself wiser than all the sages; forgetting that Shakespeare says: “The fool thinks he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” (As You Like It, V., i.)
The ancients based their science of medicine upon the recognition of a universal, eternal, self-existent, self-conscious cause, the source of universal life, where popular modern medicine recognises only the outcome of a blind force. The secret medicine of the ancients was therefore a religious[2] science, while modern popular medicine recognises no religious element and therefore no real truth. To separate science from religious truth is to put it upon an irrational basis; for “religion” means the relation which man bears to his divine origin. To leave out of sight the source from which he originated is to ignore his true nature and to relegate medicine to the realm of the lowest plane of his existence; namely, that of his most gross and material form. This is exactly the position which modern medicine occupies at present, and there is nothing that can elevate it higher than a recognition of the higher nature in man, and a re-discovery of divine truth. Such a higher knowledge was formerly considered necessary for the purpose of constituting a real physician, and for this reason the practice of medicine was in the hands of those who were born physicians, sages and saints by the power of the true grace of God, while among popular practitioners there are, now as then, many dunces and rascals, having neither spirituality nor morality; for what the modern physician of the materialistic school requires for his success is a certain amount of memorizing of the contents of his books, so as to enable him to pass his examination, and a talent to profit by the credulity of the people.
When the ancients spoke of “seven planets,” they referred to seven spiritual but nevertheless substantial states, of which popular science knows nothing but their external manifestation in the realm of phenomena. It has truly been said that no one ever saw even the earth; that which we see is merely a manifestation or appearance of a spiritual principle called “earth” ♁ The real essence of “matter” is beyond the conception of the terrestrial mind.
Seen from this point of view, the “seven planets” in the constitution of man as well as in the constitution of nature as a whole, represent the following elements, powers, essences, or forms of existence:—
I.
Saturn (Prakriti). Matter; the substance and material element in all things in all the three kingdoms of nature (the physical, astral and spiritual plane). It is invisible and known only by means of its manifestation. It is that which gives fixity and solidity, it is substantiality itself.