Three things engage the solar Angel before the sheath created passes downward: the condition of the waters, the safety of the one who thus creates, and steady contemplation. Thus are the heart, the throat, and the eye, allied for triple service.

The focal point of energy that the man, the magician, has now created upon the mental plane, has reached a vibratory activity which makes it certain that response will be called forth from the matter required for the providing of the next, and denser sheath. This vibration will result in an aggregation of a different type of divine life-substance around the central nucleus. The form, occultly, is made to be sent forth, to descend, to [1005] fly as a bird forth upon its mission, and a critical moment is near for the magician. One of the things the magician has to see to is that this form which he has constructed, and which he holds linked to him by a fine thread of animated substance (a correspondence on a minute scale of the sutratmic thread whereby the Monad or the Ego holds in connection its "form of manifestation") shall neither die for lack of vital sustenance nor return to him with its mission unfulfiled. When this latter catastrophe is the case, the thought form becomes a menace to the magician, and he becomes the prey of that which he has created. The devas who form the body of the idea which has failed in its purpose form a drain upon his vital force. He, therefore, sees to it that the motive or desire lying back of the "idea," now clothed with its first sheath, retains its pristine purity; that no trace of selfish intent, no perversion of the initial purpose of the solar Angel has been permitted to bring in an unworthy vibration. This is what is meant by attending to the "condition of the waters." As we well know, water stands for matter, and the substances of the astral plane which are now under consideration are of prime importance in all form-building. According to the substance used and the nature of the Builders who respond to the note of the form in mental matter, will the purpose be accomplished. This is the most important stage in many ways, for the astral body of any form conditions:

1. The nature of the physical vehicle.
2. The transmission of force from the next highest plane.

Provided the man on the physical plane can hold the purpose steady, and refuse to permit its distortion by the influences and vibrations emanating from the lower man, then the "devas of kama" can carry on their work. [1006] I would remind students at this juncture that any thought form necessarily finds its way into greater streams of force or energy, emanating from advanced thinkers of every grade, from the planetary Logos downward, and according to its nature and motive so the work of evolution is assisted or retarded. It is in this connection that the Nirmanakayas work, manipulating streams of thought energy, vitalizing the forms created by men, and thus carrying on the work of construction or destruction. They have to use that which exists; hence the necessity for clear thinking. Having "purified" the waters, or safeguarded his desires, the thinker next proceeds (through the use of certain words which are imparted to him by the solar Angel) to protect himself from the devas of elemental nature with which he is purposing to work. On the mental plane, the nature and vibration of the solar Angel proved sufficient protection, but he is now proposing to work with the most dangerous elementals and existences in the three worlds. ²

These protective formulas are sounded forth by the thinker, in conjunction with the solar Angel, at the moment the thought form is ready to receive its astral sheath. The mantram deals with the forces which impel activity in the Agnisuryans, and starts a stream of protective energy from one of the heart petals of the Egoic lotus. This circulates through the throat center of the man, and sets up a circulatory stream of energy around him which automatically repulses the devas who might (through their blind unintelligent work) menace his peace. These two matters attended to - desire adjusted and the identity guarded - both the solar Angel and the worker in magic maintain an attitude of contemplation, [1007] or that profound condition which succeeds that called meditation.

In contemplation, the inner eye is fixed upon the object of contemplation, and this produces (unconsciously in most cases) a steady stream of energy which is focused upon the objective, producing vitalization and activity. It is the basis of the "work of transmutation," for instance, when the human substance is transmuted into solar substance. The Ego contemplates his lunar bodies, and gradually the work is accomplished. When his reflection, man, has reached a point in evolution where he can meditate and contemplate, the work is more rapidly accelerated, and transmutation proceeds with rapidity, particularly on the physical plane. In the work of thought-form building, the man, in contemplation, pursues the work of energizing and vitalizing. It might here be said that the eye is the great directing agency. When the third eye is used, which is the case in contemplation, it is the synthesizer and director of triple energy; hence the powerful work performed by those in whom it is functioning. The third eye only begins to function when the third circle of egoic petals is beginning slowly to unfold.

2 H. P. B. has said that the elementals of the air are the most wicked and dangerous. He refers there to the physical plane, and to dangers menacing the physical body. They are the most dangerous where the physical plane is concerned, but in the case we are considering, we are dealing with man, the unity in the three worlds.