In Theosophical teaching the term "root race" is not a biological classification but a name for the great stages of development of human consciousness: the development of the physical body in Lemuria, of the emotional nature in Atlantis, and of the mind in the present stage. The three phases of the zodiac run parallel to these stages of consciousness.
Eight signs: early Lemuria
According to Bailey, in the period before humanity appeared eight signs influenced the planet. There was no response to Leo and Virgo; "the mystery of the Sphinx" did not yet exist.
Ten signs: individualisation
When individualisation took place, when the human soul was born, Leo and Virgo were added to the wheel. Leo stands for the solar angel who brings self-consciousness, Virgo for the lunar forces that build the human form. The zodiac now had ten signs, and the circle of experience ran from Aries to Capricorn.
Twelve signs: the door of initiation opens
In Atlantean times man became so responsive to planetary and solar influence that the door of initiation opened, and Aquarius and Pisces, the higher correspondences of Leo and Virgo, were added. The Fixed Cross could then function esoterically and the first reversals of the wheel took place in advanced people. The Tibetan says this was the real cause of the ancient conflict between the Lords of Light and the forces of materiality, a battle conditioned in Scorpio. Today the same conflict continues on a higher turn of the spiral: some world disciples are now ready to mount the Cardinal Cross and prepare for the higher initiations.
Three Shamballa impacts
These phases are accompanied by three great releases of power from Shamballa, the planet's head centre: the first in Lemuria, with great upheavals and the completion of individualisation; the second with the Atlantean floods; the third with the atomic bomb at the end of the Second World War. Bailey saw that war as a recapitulation of the Atlantean conflict, with the same issues tested again.
Why Aquarius matters so much
- 1Two cycles at once. According to the Tibetan, as the Sun moves into Aquarius for some 2,300 years, Aquarius also governs a greater cycle of about 25,000 years. He calls this the most amazing period in human history.
- 2The seventh ray and Aquarius together. When the seventh ray is active and the Sun is in Aquarius, the united light of the seven energies becomes visible on the physical plane. This combination has occurred six times in the present stage of humanity; its aim is illumination and the establishment of order on Earth.
- 3The stage of mind. Only the fifth ray, the ray of science and mind, passes through Aquarius. The task of the present human stage is likewise the development of mind.
A warning and a hope
The Tibetan warned that if religious hatred is not overcome, humanity could be drawn into a devastating religious war; there are no hatreds so deep as those fostered by religion. Foster Bailey later wrote that in 1954 a decision was made on the inner planes that there would be no third world war. Students may debate this statement, but in either case responsibility lies with humanity's own choices. As the world moves from Pisces to Aquarius, from the sixth ray to the seventh and from one stage of consciousness to the next, the pain we see is the birth pang of the new consciousness.