The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 2 of 4 / The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy

by H. P. Blavatsky

Stanza I. Beginnings of Sentient Life.

1. The Lha, or Spirit of the Earth. 2. Invocation of the Earth to the Sun. 3. What the Sun answers. 4. Transformation of the Earth.

1. The Lha (a) which turns the Fourth[29] is Servant to the Lha(s) of the Seven[30] (b), they who revolve, driving their Chariots around their Lord, the One Eye[31] of our World. His Breath gave Life to the Seven.[32] It gave life to the First (c).

“They are all Dragons of Wisdom,” adds the Commentary (d).

(a) “Lha” is the ancient term in Trans-Himâlayan regions for “Spirit,” any celestial or super-human Being, and it covers the whole series of heavenly hierarchies, from an Archangel, or Dhyâni, down to an Angel of darkness, or terrestrial Spirit.

(b) This expression shows in plain language that the Spirit-Guardian of our Globe, which is the fourth in the Chain, is subordinate to the chief Spirit (or God) of the Seven Planetary Genii or Spirits. As already explained, the Ancients had, in their Kyriel of Gods, seven [pg 026] chief Mystery-Gods, whose leader was, exoterically, the visible Sun, or the eighth, and, Esoterically, the Second Logos, the Demiurge. The Seven—who have now, in the Christian religion, become the “Seven Eyes of the Lord”—were the Regents of the seven chief planets; but these were not reckoned according to the enumeration devised later by people who had forgotten, or who had an inadequate notion of, the real Mysteries, and included neither the Sun, the Moon, nor the Earth. The Sun was the chief, exoterically, of the twelve Great Gods, or zodiacal constellations; and, Esoterically, the Messiah, the Christos—the subject “anointed” by the Great Breath, or the One—surrounded by his twelve subordinate powers, also subordinate, in turn, to each of the seven Mystery-Gods of the planets.

“The Seven Higher make the Seven Lhas create the world,” states a Commentary; which means that our Earth—to leave aside the rest—was “created” or fashioned by Terrestrial Spirits, the Regents being simply the supervisors. This is the first germ of that which grew later into the Tree of Astrology and Astrolatry. The Higher Ones were the Cosmocratores, the fabricators of our Solar System. This is borne out by all the ancient Cosmogonies, such as those of Hermes, of the Chaldæans, of the Aryans, of the Egyptians, and even of the Jews. The Signs of the Zodiac—the “Sacred Animals” or “Heaven's Belt”—are as much the Bne' Alhim—Sons of the Gods or the Elohim—as the Spirits of the Earth; but they are prior to them. Soma and Sin, Isis and Diana, are all lunar Gods or Goddesses, called the Fathers and Mothers of our Earth, which is subordinate to them. But these, in their turn, are subordinate to their “Fathers” and “Mothers”—the latter being interchangeable and varying with each nation—the Gods and their Planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Bel, Brihaspati, etc.

(c) “His Breath gave Life to the Seven,” refers as much to the Sun, who gives life to the Planets, as to the “High One,” the Spiritual Sun, who gives life to the whole Kosmos. The astronomical and astrological keys opening the gate leading to the mysteries of Theogony can be found only in the later glossaries, which accompany the Stanzas.

In the apocalyptic Shlokas of the Archaic Records, the language is as symbolical, if less mythical, than in the Purânas. Without the help of the later Commentaries, compiled by generations of Adepts, it would be impossible to understand the meaning correctly. In the ancient Cosmogonies, the visible and the invisible worlds are the double links of one and the same chain. As the Invisible Logos, with its Seven [pg 027] Hierarchies—each represented or personified by its chief Angel or Rector—form one Power, the inner and the invisible; so, in the world of Forms, the Sun and the seven chief Planets constitute the visible and active potency; the latter Hierarchy being, so to speak, the visible and objective Logos of the Invisible and—except in the lowest grades—ever-subjective Angels.

Thus—to anticipate a little by way of illustration—every Race in its evolution is said to be born under the direct influence of one of the Planets; Race the First receiving its breath of life from the Sun, as will be seen later on; while the Third Humanity—those who fell into generation, or from androgynes became separate entities, one male and the other female—is said to be under the direct influence of Venus, “the ‘little sun’ in which the solar orb stores his light.”