All that can be done here in dealing with this profound subject is to enumerate briefly some of the cosmic influences which definitely affect our earth, and produce results in the consciousness of men everywhere, and which, during the process of initiation, bring about certain specific phenomena.

First and foremost is the energy or force emanating from the sun Sirius. If it might be so expressed, the energy of thought, or mind force, in its totality, reaches the solar system from a distant cosmic center via Sirius. Sirius acts as the transmitter, or the focalizing center, whence emanate those influences which produce self-consciousness in man. During initiation, by means of the Rod of Initiation (acting as a subsidiary transmitter and as a powerful magnet) this energy is momentarily intensified, and applied to the centers of the initiate with terrific force; were it not that the Hierophant and the two sponsors of the initiate pass it primarily through their bodies, it would be more than he could stand. This increase of mind energy results in an expansion and an apprehension of the truth as it is, and is lasting in its effects. It is felt primarily in the throat center, the great organ of creation through sound.

Another type of energy reaches man from the Pleiades, passing through the Venusian scheme to us, just as the Sirian energy passes through the Saturnian. It has a definite effect upon the causal body, and serves to stimulate the heart center.

A third type of energy is applied to the initiate, and affects his head center. It emanates from that one of the seven stars of the Great Bear whose ensiling life holds the same relationship to our Planetary Logos as the Ego does to a human being. This energy, therefore, is sevenfold, and differs according to a man's ray or type. [99]

It is not possible here to state the order of the application of these varying types of energy, nor to give the initiation during which the man contacts the different types. These facts involve the secrets of the mysteries, and no purpose is served by revealing them. Other types of force from certain of the planetary schemes, as well as from cosmic centers, are brought into play by the Initiator and transmitted through the medium of the Rod to the various centers in the initiate's three vehicles, the mental, the astral, and the etheric centers. At the fourth initiation a specialized type of force from a center which must remain nameless is applied to a man's causal body, and is one of the causes of its final disintegration.