Second ray triangle (Virgo: controlling constellation)
The following applies to all seven ray triangles:
The seven stars of the Great Bear are the originating sources of the seven rays in our solar system [which] express themselves through the medium of the seven planetary logoi [which in turn] manifest through the medium of the seven sacred planets. Each [ray] is transmitted into our solar system through [a triangle of] three constellations and their ruling planets (EA 422-3)
This relation is the basis of the entire science of triangles and, therefore, of astrology itself; it is also related to the rays, the constellations, their ruling planets and our Earth in a great synthesis of energies; it relates our solar system to the larger whole and our tiny non-sacred planet to the solar system.
… These seven triangles of energy … pour their force through one of the constellations in each triangle (EA 489-90)This inter-relation is effective in this world cycle and will remain so until the end of the Aquarian Age. Table (EA 423, 489-90). Site map shows lines to controlling signs
This all-mutable triangle is the medium of expression for Ray two and the energy of Jupiter. See the section on rays for more information on the effects of ray two.
The basic triplicity adhered to in Bailey’s work is that of life, consciousness and form. (expand elsewhere?)
…the controlling point … is ‘Virgo: this constellation produces the increased activity of the Christ principle in the heart of humanity (EA 490)
Ray II—Love-Wisdom from the will aspect
is related to the will which produces inevitable union, at-one-ment and synthesis, through the power of attraction, based upon the power to see the vision.
Love is an aspect of the will […] it is the will to draw into itself or the will to attract into itself, and this will, when exerted toward that which is not material, we, in reaction to the differentiating mind, call love. But humanity has to see that which must be loved before that power of the will is sufficiently evoked. Then the vision can become a manifestation and a fact in expression.
…that driving force which enables the second ray soul steadily to achieve its goal, relentlessly pushing forward, permitting itself no let-up or leeway until the desired goal is reached. This is a different expression to the will of the first ray which is dynamic and which crashes forward in spite of all obstacles [and] does not require the slower methods of the steady drive. (EA 622-4)
In the Old Commentary this type of will—the will-to-love—is spoken of in the following terms:
The Transcendent One said: I am alone. I must arise and seek with ceaseless urge, that which produces completion, […] intensify My life and make Me truly One, and this because I recognise the Two. I must have union with my other self, the self I dimly sense. … Unto My heart I drew the other One and drawing thus I gave enlightenment; I dowered with enrichments; I freely gave.
All quotations from p.622 onwards cover the second ray as an aspect of the Will.
- Gemini (the will to relate)
- Gemini is only found in the triangle of Ray II and at this time, Virgo and Pisces are carrying the major task of transmitting second ray energy. Today the world is focussed (spiritually or materially) and the fluctuations of the pairs of opposites are much lessened temporarily. Gemini, therefore, is the inactive point of the triangle, though still potent from the esoteric angle of the individual disciple or initiate. (EA 491)
…expressing the interplay between the two dualities. Because it is governed by Mercury and Venus, you have the light of the intuition and of the mind blended together into one illuminated whole, typical of the fusion of spirit-matter and the demonstration of their essential oneness. …the sign of divine interplay and it is the life of the Father (of spirit and of will) which flows through the Two Brothers, through the polar opposites, making them one in reality though two in manifestation. Their real nature as the “elder brother and the prodigal son” is revealed by the intuition when it takes hold of the mind. But it is the will to love which governs the relationship and which finally brings about divine synthesis. (EA 626)
- Virgo (the will to co-operate, to nurture; the consummation of the task of matter and its elevation into heaven.)
- …symbolic of the second stage of the relation between the pairs of opposites. …the Mother of the Christ Child [Bailey’s term for the awakened soul] and the fostering process of interchange which brings about life, love and their united manifestation in one form. …its lowest aspect [the second ray] is mother love with its instinctual care of that which must be nourished and guarded. Its highest aspect is the incarnated, manifested Christ. Then instinct is transmuted into wisdom and with that the will-to-manifest and bring into the light of day the hitherto Hidden Christ. This sign and this second ray Will have a mysterious relation to Time, to process and to the sustaining life of the Mother (matter) which, throughout the gestation period, nourishes and cares for the rapidly developing Christ Child. The Moon also has a peculiar function which can only be expressed in the idea of death—the death of the relationships between the Mother and the Child because the moment comes when the Christ Child will emerge from the womb of time and of matter and stand free in the light. This will have been due […] primarily to the sustaining will of the Mother, plus the dynamic will of the Christ Child. Here again is an aspect of the curious and mysterious relation between the first and the second rays. (EA 627)
- Pisces (the will to save)
- In pisces you have the consummation of the work of that which the matter aspect has made possible, and the Christ emerges as the world saviour. All this [the work of the three signs in this triangle from the aspect of the will] has taken place through the will aspect of the second ray, focussed in Shamballa, expressing itself through humanity and consummated in the Hierarchy. Here you have the whole story of unity, brought about by the life and the will of the second ray, producing the emergence of the Christ consciousness and the appearing in objectivity of the Christ principle. (EA 627-8)
In time and space and from the angle of humanity, the triangle of constellations is Virgo, Gemini and Pisces […] Gemini, Virgo, Pisces … is the angle from the standpoint of Shamballa. (EA 628)
Esoteric Astrology: 490-91, 622-28