Though the subject of the occult Hierarchy of the planet is of such a profoundly momentous interest to the average man, yet its real significance will never be understood until men realize three things in connection with it.
First, that the entire Hierarchy of spiritual beings represents a synthesis of forces or of energies, which forces or energies are consciously manipulated for the furtherance of planetary evolution. This will become more apparent as we proceed.
Secondly, that these forces, demonstrating in our planetary scheme through those great Personalities who compose the Hierarchy, link it and all that it contains with the greater Hierarchy which we call Solar. Our Hierarchy is a miniature replica of the greater synthesis of those self-conscious entities who manipulate, control, and demonstrate through the sun and the seven sacred planets, as well as the other planets, greater and smaller, of which our solar system is composed.
Thirdly, that this Hierarchy of forces has four pre-eminent lines of work:

To develop Self-Consciousness in all Beings

The Hierarchy seeks to provide fit conditions for the development of self-consciousness in all beings. This it produces primarily in man through its initial work of blending the higher three aspects of spirit with the lower four; through the example it sets of service, sacrifice, and renunciation, and through the constant streams of light [21] (occultly understood) which emanate from it. The Hierarchy might be considered as the aggregate on our planet of the forces of the fifth kingdom in nature. This kingdom is entered through the full development and control of the fifth principle of mind, and its transmutation into wisdom, which is literally the intelligence applied to all states through the full conscious utilization of the faculty of discriminative love.

To develop Consciousness in the Three Lower Kingdoms

As is well known, the five kingdoms of nature on the evolutionary arc might be defined as follows: the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, and the spiritual kingdom. All these kingdoms embody some type of consciousness, and it is the work of the Hierarchy to develop these types to perfection through the adjustment of karma, through the agency of force, and through the providing of right conditions. Some idea of the work may be gained if we briefly summarize the different aspects of consciousness to be developed in the various kingdoms.

In the mineral kingdom the work of the Hierarchy is directed toward the development of the discriminative and selective activity. One characteristic of all matter is activity of some kind, and the moment that activity is directed towards the building of forms, even of the most elemental kind, the faculty of discrimination will demonstrate. This is recognized by scientists everywhere, and in this recognition they are approximating the findings of the Divine Wisdom.

In the vegetable kingdom, to this faculty of discrimination is added that of response to sensation, and the rudimentary condition of the second aspect of divinity is to be seen, just as in the mineral kingdom a similar rudimentary [22] reflection of the third aspect of activity is making itself felt.

In the animal kingdom this rudimentary activity and feeling are increased, and symptoms (if it might be so inadequately expressed) are to be found of the first aspect, or embryonic will and purpose; we may call it hereditary instinct, but it works out in fact as purpose in nature.

It has been wisely stated by H. P. Blavatsky that man is the macrocosm for the three lower kingdoms, for in him these three lines of development are synthesized and come to their full fruition. He is verily and indeed intelligence, actively and wonderfully manifested; he is incipient love and wisdom, even though as yet they may be but the goal of his endeavor; and he has that embryonic, dynamic, initiating will which will come to a fuller development after he has entered into the fifth kingdom.

In the fifth kingdom, the consciousness to be developed is that of the group, and this shows itself in the full flowering of the love-wisdom faculty. Man but repeats on a higher turn of the spiral, the work of the three lower kingdoms, for in the human kingdom he shows forth the third aspect of active intelligence. In the fifth kingdom, which is entered at the first initiation, and which covers all the period of time wherein a man takes the first five initiations, and that wherein he works as a Master, as part of the Hierarchy, the love-wisdom, or second aspect, comes to its consummation. At the sixth and seventh initiations the first, or will, aspect shines forth, and from being a Master of Compassion and a Lord of Love the adept becomes something more. He enters into a still higher consciousness than that of the group, and becomes God-conscious. The great will or purpose of the Logos becomes his.