Origin Late nineteenth to mid twentieth century: present in Blavatsky's writing from 1888, systematised by Alice Bailey between 1936 and 1960
The seven rays are a Theosophical scheme in which seven types of energy or purpose are held to underlie all life, each with its own colour, planet and characteristic virtue. The system appears in H. P. Blavatsky's work and was expanded at length by Alice Bailey in the twentieth century. It is a modern synthesis drawing on Indian terminology rather than an inherited tradition.
Facts
Origins
Origin PeriodLate nineteenth to mid twentieth century: present in Blavatsky's writing from 1888, systematised by Alice Bailey between 1936 and 1960 1 Place of OriginThe modern Theosophical movement, the Theosophical Society founded in New York in 1875, later centred at Adyar and London, and its post-Theosophical offshoots 2 Creator / OriginatorAlice A. Bailey, who made the seven rays a complete system in A Treatise on the Seven Rays (five volumes, 1936-1960) 1 Creator / OriginatorH. P. Blavatsky, in whose writings the sevenfold scheme of rays first appears 2 Overview
Size of the Traditional Set Structure
StructureSeven types of energy or divine purpose, will, love-wisdom, active intelligence, harmony through conflict, concrete knowledge, devotion, ceremonial order, each with a colour, a planet, a virtue and a field, held to govern souls, nations and disciplines. 1 Contested Use
Contested or Appropriated Modern UseTheosophical, not Vedic. The scheme uses Sanskrit vocabulary and appeals to an Eastern lineage, but it originates in Blavatsky's and Bailey's own writings and has no basis in Indian scripture; the borrowed terminology is part of the movement's claim to authority. 1 Learn More
The seven rays
The seven rays are a Theosophical scheme in which seven types of energy or divine purpose are held to underlie all life, each with its own colour, planet, and characteristic virtue and field: the ray of will or power, of love-wisdom, of active intelligence, of harmony through conflict, of concrete knowledge, of devotion, and of ceremonial order. Every soul, nation and field of activity is said to be governed by one of the seven.
The system appears in H. P. Blavatsky's writing and was greatly expanded by Alice Bailey, who made the seven rays central to her voluminous account of the spiritual constitution of humanity and the cosmos.
A Theosophical cosmology
The seven rays belong to the modern Theosophical and post-Theosophical tradition rather than to any ancient source, and they draw together astrology, colour, psychology and cosmology into a scheme of seven fundamental energies. The atlas treats them as a modern esoteric system with named authors, describing the scheme without endorsing it.
The atlas gives each ray its quality, colour, planet and virtue. The rays are grouped with the largest esoteric cycles under Cosmic Cycles, and connect to the planetary and colour correspondences treated elsewhere.
All Seven Rays
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Sources
1. Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age
2. The Theosophical Enlightenment
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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Essays About This Entity (1 essay)
The Seven Rays Carry One Finding, Repeated Seven Times
The type itself, 20.0 percent debated or debunked, seventh behind Language Families
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