In a world where everything consists of energy, each of the Seven Rays as we have come to know them the Tibetan's teachings, symbolises or incorporates a breadth of frequencies, or band of vibrations. Energy is thus seen as consisting of a fusion of seven primary components, with the symbol of the ray employed to represent a distinct depth and breadth of meaning, quality and vibration.

By examining the fundamental nuances of the world of space and time in which we live in terms of these symbols, the esotericist strives to gain a broader, deeper understanding of manifested existence. Each of the rays then becomes a thread which runs through and qualifies everything and everyone around us, on every systemic level, from the atom all the way to unknown galaxies and universes.

Energy, of course, is not static. It obeys the law of vibration - the law of progress, of movement and rotation. One needn't refer to esoteric texts to know that life as perceived by the human condition is ever in motion. If we draw a straight line through the tens of thousands of years of known human civilisation, at any given point there are underlying conditions, obvious ongoing processes, and momentum. But, most importantly for those curious about the nature of the human experience, there are distinguishable patterns.

These patterns exist in all manifested forms, but also in the process of manifestation itself. Time is the medium through which we are able to perceive and identify these patterns as sequences of events. Most obvious examples of established patterns of manifestation are found in biology, where the course of a human human being from conception to birth is well known.

On the energetic level, it is the next step in one such sequence that the keynote projects. The blending of the light of the seven rays with the seventh ray itself suggests we are entering a cycle when the prism through which manifested energy is diffracted will be under the dominant influence, and function, of the lord of the seventh ray.

Hints as to the quality of this ray are provided in Alice Bailey's books on esoteric psychology in the form of names:

- The Unveiled Magician
- The Worker in the Magical Art

which directly point to the concept of magic, but also

- The Creator of Form
- The Bestower of Light
- The Key to the Mystery
- The Expression of the Will
- The Revealer of Beauty,

among others.

Things which were hidden are revealed. Designs manifest. Will expresses itself. All under the influence of the ray of Organisation and Ceremonial Magic, the seventh ray.

There is an abundance of mystery and symbolism surrounding the number seven, arguably more so than other numbers, perhaps of the very obvious way in which it makes makes itself known to us. The two most oft-mentioned examples are that of light dispersing into seven discrete colours under diffraction, and the seven primary notes found in western music scales.

What is especially important to remember, however is that our sensory perception of both of these manifestations, as well as all others, of course is a function of our mechanism, the sensory organs and, mainly, the brain. Notes on the musical scale for example could be assigned any frequency, but the intervals which resonate harmoniously in the human brain are specific in configuration and pattern, as well as in number: Again, the pattern consists of a sequence of seven. This recurrence of the number seven has led scientists over the years to look into its possible relationships with human brain characteristics.

As far back as 1956, Professor George Miller at Harvard University was conducting studies into "The Magical Number Seven" in relation to the human capacity for receiving and transmitting information. Though the results were, by the author's own admission, inconclusive, he did recognise that there is a gravitation, apparently unrelated, towards the number seven when it comes to the number of items the human mind can receive, retain, and transmit coherently and consistently along a single dimension.

In yet another much more recent paper entitled "Seven is the Magic Number in Nature", professor of systems analysis Thomas Saaty demonstrates mathematically that the optimum number of functions for any complex system is between seven and eight. Interestingly enough, Dr. Saaty mentions that "the number of functions working together determines the structure through which materials or energy pass".

This last statement by the good professor points to a powerful hint as to the special quality, the magic of the number seven, and the seventh ray: In any system consisting of a pattern of numbers, it is the last number in the sequence which marks, in each case, the boundary and therefore the structure of a system.

This concept of a structure through which energy passes into formation referred to by Dr. Saaty is congruent with the esoteric notion of consciousness being born of the marriage between spirit and matter. Consciousness unfolds in a manner that, from our human perspective, given our human mechanism, reveals itself in the number seven, through the seven planes. Though each plane is a different realm, it is also divided into yet another seven sub-planes. Each time, as we ascend through the realms of consciousness, the number seven sounds the note of completion, of transformation, and of the inevitable new reality of the plane above.

Applied at the level of human consciousness, this points to a lengthy transformation which is of course ongoing and part of the evolutionary plan, but nonetheless it appears to be the number seven, the sign of the lord of the seventh ray which marks the realisation, the completion of each full turn around its ascent along the spiral in the realm of space and time. The light emanating from this new height sheds light on the course trodden below.

Events, actions, words, thoughts gain new meaning through this process, as the nuances and patterns now visible allow the human consciousness to synthesise bigger parts of reality into meaning. It is the explicit realisation of this synthesis and its application onto the formation of manifested reality that the expression of the seventh ray energy signals. This energy, as the keynote suggests, brings with it a promise - the inflow of the light supernal which will usher a new civilisation. Any such civilisation, if it is to be truly new, must be one which transmutes past experience into a new design using existing materials, as if by magic. It is perhaps because of this transmutation that there appears to be an acceleration, for many already felt, of this cycle as it gains momentum in preparation for the next, higher turn.

This acceleration, which is by definition a notion directly related to time, is of course a function of human consciousness, or rather a reflection of changes therein. In esoteric terms, as the human system of perception reaches the discrete point of rhythmic expansion dictated by the completion of the sevenfold sequence, the boundaries of human perception are not only broadened but also perception itself enriched. Since time is a function of the same perception, then both the quality but also the apparent speed of time are also affected. The fact that there appears to be an increase rather than a decrease in the rate at which events are unfolding (the distance between events being the Aristotelian definition of time) points to an increase in vibrational frequency which resonates at all levels, the sounding of the seventh note, and the suspense inherent with reaching the doorstep of the next octave. With each new octave added to the Veiled Magician's pentagram, new worlds of possibilities emerge for harmonic composition. Yet this process is not without strife, for each completion inevitably means endings, as well as new beginnings.

The rapid succession of one unexpected monumental event after another in our world today, the live feed of unprecedented amounts of content through countless widely available channels, the increasing demand on our capacity to absorb, discern, synthesise and act on incoming signals and messages, and the bare objective reality of the state our human civilisation, more visible now than it's ever been, are just a few, overbearing indications that we are approaching a limit - and the only way forward is yet another expansion.

In the context of evolution, the advent of the seventh ray marks a moment when, at the flick of the magician's wand, reality has not only the potential, but also the propensity to flow from its current state to a new, perhaps even completely unexpected one. As far as the human family is concerned this transformation of reality takes place first and foremost at the level of consciousness. By definition, it is the human mind which consolidates the vision for the next civilisation and draws the blueprint for the corresponding iteration of reconstruction on the material plane. The flick of the magician's wand, a moment in our solar system's history, may take a hundred human lifetimes, but this does not mean that the sound of the seventh ray cannot be heard by those willing to listen.

It is surely a great moment when the order is sounded, when the lord of the seventh ray commands "Let the work proceed. Let the sons of God create." If He commands so, then he also commands optimism, imagination, creativity, diligent work. Perhaps it is because it is under His command that we are tasked to create, that the number seven appears all around us. Or perhaps all the septenaries are nothing but a reflection, an echo of the limit and nature of our perception.What is without question, however, is that, as professor Miller writes in his concluding paragraph, there is something profound behind the sevens, something just calling out for us to discover it. The abundance of evidence is overwhelming:

Seven possesses by far the most profound and far-reaching symbology of the entire fundamental series running from 1 to 10. It represents completion and the ensuing rest. The first 6 Creative Days, are followed by the divine consummation of the whole in the seventh – the Holy Day.

• And God rested on the Seventh Day from all the work which he had made.

This “rest” does not allude to a cessation of activity but to the emergence from Chaos into a higher and a more perfect order. Herein lies the true work of 7, for it colours the realm of experience not at the time of its appearance but when the time is ripe to establish those conditions which will allow the old to be superseded by a new and higher series – on the next, higher octave. This is why it is considered to be the number of spiritual realisation and consummation.

A parallelism of the Seven Rays and the seven days of creation is also quite interesting. Each of the 7 Creative Days is attuned to the vibratory rate of a specific number. If we could truly peer into the Memory of Nature, the inner of impression of these Seven Days, we would see that the rhythmic motion, the colour and shape of each form being created is harmonised with the keynote of the Day to which they belong. The keynote of each of the Creative Days is that of the planetary body to which it is attuned and by which it is ruled. It was with this knowledge in mind that Pythagoras declared that the entire world is made of numbers.

• Numbers rules the universe.
• Numbers are the rulers of forms and ideas, and the cause of gods and demons.
• Numbers are within all things.

For “the Egyptians number 7 was the symbol of life eternal," which is “why the Greek letter Z, which is but a double 7 is the initial letter of Zao, "I live," and of Zeus, "the father of all living." (SD)

In the Secret Doctrine it is stated that the number seven embodies the perfection of the UNIT – the number of numbers, for as absolute unity is uncreated and impartite, immutable and therefore impossible to compose, so is the seven: no other digit in the sequence from zero to nine can beget or produce it.“

…It was the number of numbers for those initiated into the sacred mysteries”, and “Pythagoras . . . calls it the 'Vehicle of Life' containing body and soul”, H.P. Blavatsky writes in “The ‘Seven’ Mystery” (SD II/35).

Plato, in Timaeus, declares that the soul of the world was generated from 7. Other ancient sages described nature as a golden egg surrounded by 7 natural elements, 4 visible and 3 invisible; and the vast majority of principal religions as well as schools of spiritual development embody in their teachings and symbology the fundamental principle of the number 7. The values of 7 are divided into the trinity of spirit and the quaternary of form, which alludes to the corresponding division of the seven rays into rays of aspect and rays of quality.

This relationship between the number seven and numbers four is also of special interest. Number 4 is at the heart of seven – “It is 4, which affords an arithmetical division between unity and seven, as it surpasses the former by the same number (three), as it is itself surpassed by the seven, since four is by as many numbers above one, as seven is above four”. On this subject in ancient scriptures we find the following passage: "When the 3 and the 4 kiss each other, then the cube unfolds and becomes the number of Life – the Father-Mother Seven."

Seven is also considered to be the number of perfection. “Observation of man himself will make this clear” writes R.S. (1907): “Today he [man] is under the influence of the number five insofar as he can be good or evil. As a creature of the universe, he lives in the number four. When he will have developed all that he holds at present as germ within him, he will become a seven-membered being, perfect in its kind.” ”In all realms of life, the number seven can be observed as a kind of number of perfection.” (Occult Signs and Symbols).

The Greek translation of the word "perfect" is τέλειος (teleios), closely related with the noun ‘telos’ (end) - which in turn is the root for the English word “teleology”, which is "the explanation of phenomena in terms of the purpose they serve rather than of the cause by which they arise."

It seems that “The Creator of Form” – to use one of the many names bestowed to the Lord of the 7th Ray – is at work on the physical plane, the seventh plane, with increasing power bringing order, beauty and organisation – ultimately “the perfecting of form expression” (EXT) “There are one Monad, seven Rays and myriads of Forms”, and “the Life Purpose of the seven Rays” (EP I) is embodied in the Law of Evolution – which in its higher aspect is called “The Law of Perfection” (EH).

I would like to conclude these thoughts by coming back – or should I say forth? – to the our “rather mysterious” conference keynote:

"Let the light of the Seven Rays blend with the Seventh Ray, and Light Supernal usher in the new civilization."

I believe that at the core of its theme, the seventh point, may lie hidden the mystery of “The Perfected Seven”. The emerging, ineffable Light Supernal that is striking a note of perfection, as it will ultimately but definitely permeate the world of forms, “ushering in the new civilisation” – a new day of creation – manifesting on Earth the kingdom of the Soul for all to see.

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