The 7 rays of the Soul

Sometimes life can seem confusing, and even after having done many journeys of self-knowledge we do not understand well or it is not clear to us why we act in a certain way even though we feel it deeply "ours", as if it went beyond our current personal life and belonged to something deep and eternal that lies within us.

Knowing yourself, knowing your own Soul allows you to orient yourself better in a firm and fluid way without being tossed here and there by the vague and misunderstood wave-motions of your Psyche, when this one is not recognised.

Each philosophy gives its definition of Soul and each tradition has its own spiritual and metaphysical vision in accordance with the history, tradition and evolutionary call of that particular area of planet Earth.

Today I would like to introduce you and talk to you about the soul as some of my teachers have handed down to me and in particular about the 7 rays.

Every compendium of notions and knowledge is based on a reference system, which exists and is based on postulates, however the purpose of this text is to offer readers not mere abstract theories but food for thought on their own personal experiences. Each soul recognises its own ray (or rays) and clearly senses which ray it currently belongs to. Why is it so useful to remember your soul origin? Because in this way you will understand some dynamics very well, you will know where they come from and you will have the opportunity to resolve and approach them in a decisive and different way. The 7 rays of the soul are an occult and esoteric concept, appearing in various philosophies as early as the 6th century BC. They were subsequently presented in an elaborate and modified way in the theosophical context, first by H.P. Blavatsky and then by Alice Bailey.

If you are already aware of their previous disclosures, you may find the way in which they will be here treated slightly different from all previous ones, with new details added.

Let's first see "what a Soul is" or how the Soul is formed: when a ray of the Divine Spirit passes through the Idea of Man, a soul IS. It can be said analogously that, when a ray of the Divine Spirit passes through an archetype connected to a living being (tree, animal, crystal, etc.) a soul IS. The soul is not a creation but an emanation of something that is already present and exists in eternity. Being is the Divine Nature of every soul, while existing requires conditions of time-place-space and implies a becoming. The Soul feels, remembers, longs for and desires; (the Spirit instead inspires, guides, thinks, and brings forth ideas, ideals, principles and values). Each of us is a monad made up of a soul and a spirit. The soul is the ability of the spirit to manifest and live in the worlds of existence and acquire a state of self-consciousness and super-self-consciousness.

“The soul is the precious pearl of the spirit” (Matthew 13:45,46)

We now come to the 7 rays of the soul.

The 7 rays are vibrational frequencies that originate from a common source called white light. With regard to human life on planet Earth, the precious pearl of Creation, (not seen only as a bad, difficult place from which to free oneself as soon as possible), the "white" light coming from the spiritual worlds manifests itself on the planet through these 7 different frequencies. Each soul who chooses to make a cycle or various cycles of incarnations on planet Earth chooses a ray of belonging for each cycle, to carry and manifest concretely in earthly life: this is the process of manifestation of the divine on Earth. In the human creature, identifying the ray of belonging contributes to a clearer and more precise identification of both the talents that it holds as well as the difficulties that typically characterise the path of experience through a given ray.

Each ray has specific characteristics and in its manifestation can equally show itself through various distortions and deviations as compared to its pure origin. Knowing the distortions allows you to identify and recognise them without finding yourself stuck in vicious circles from which it would be very difficult to escape without the appropriate knowledge and tools.

The question of rays is very important when dealing with children: some gestures, behaviours and phrases can lead us to understand what ray or rays that creature carries within themselves. Seeing a soul revealing itself and manifesting itself, discovering itself and therefore unfolding itself for what it is, is much easier in children than in adults who are already full of pain and problems, armours and protections. Knowing the ray of belonging allows us to direct more easily the infant individual to follow their innate talents, namely,"born with themselves", and it will be less difficult to understand when certain behaviours that are often misrepresented or not understood, are instead strong signals of the soul that speaks, and shows itself.

Originally, when a soul incarnates for the first time it has no idea how things work on the material plane, so the adventure begins and it is inevitably followed by mistakes, errors and deviations of the path which however are an integral part of the evolution. At some point one comes to live and experience many or all of the distortions of one's ray(s) and the call is to return to the pure origin of one's ray but with the experience, consciousness and awareness gained through one's experiences. Returning to the source does not mean disappearing and dissolving into a luminous void and staying there.

Returning to the source instead means taking back and re-claiming the original intention of one's ray, being aware of the terrestrial variables and therefore bringing it to earth, into existence in the most beautiful, functional and healthy way for oneself and for the collective.

The parable of the prodigal son gives us an example of this: the path of self-awareness that an embodied soul experiences.

Although every soul has one or more preponderant rays, each of us is influenced by all seven, and the task of our evolution is to integrate them all in a harmonious way and in a personalised and individual "percentage" depending on the uniqueness of what we are.

In addition to giving a particular colour to our souls, these rays are vibratory frequencies and intelligences that from age to age collectively participate in a peculiar way in the collective evolution of humanity.

In fact Alice Bailey connects the 7 rays not only to individual souls but also to nations.

Let's now look at each ray below:

1 Ray of Will and Power, colour Red.

2 Ray, Love and Wisdom, colour Blue.

3 Ray, Active Intelligence, colour Yellow.

4 Ray, Harmony through conflict, colour Orange.

5 Ray, Concrete Knowledge, colour Green.

6 Ray, Devotion and Idealism, colour Indigo.

7 Ray, Alchemy and Ceremonial Magic, colour Purple.

In the next articles I will delve deeper into each ray and at the end of each description there will be a story and/or a poem that I wrote to tell the ray in a narrative, imaginary and symbolic way.