When we started to talk about the 4th sub-race of the Atlantian 4th Root Race, things seemed pretty bleak. The Turanians, as they were called, seemed a thoroughly disagreeable bunch. In fact, they were and we have not heard the last of them. They were a plague upon the houses of the 5th Root Race in its early development around the shore of the, now extinct, Gobi Sea. We, however, alighted upon a time in the development of this sub-race, where we found they had developed a sophisticated culture, which was organised into cities. Cities being a relative term. We are not talking about the City of the Golden Gates, but these were no mere oversized villages. They had developed a sophisticated cosmology, which knew the existence of the planets of our solar system, which they celebrated in colourful ceremonies. Astrology in Chaldean society reached a peak that has not been equaled to this day and will not be again until the individuals who fostered it, choose to reincarnate and bring their knowledge with them. So on with the story.
To the Chaldeans, the title ”the Spirit of a Planet” included three different conceptions. First, what we may call the ”Planetary Elemental,” an undeveloped, semi-intelligent yet exceedingly potent entity, consisting of the collective elemental essence of the planet, regarded as one huge creature, corresponding to what in Humanity’s Emotional body we call the desire elementals. It was the influence, or magnetism, of the planetary elemental which they tried to focus on a sick person or to imprison in a talisman.
Secondly, the Spirit of a Planet represented one of the ten types of essence, which poured through that planet, regarded as a centre in the body of the Logos Itself. In this sense the Spirit of the Planet was omnipresent throughout the solar system, working in each person, through certain plants, minerals, etc., and giving them their distinctive properties. This is the ray principle we have already talked about. It was this Spirit of the Planet in a person to which their astrological warnings referred.
Thirdly, they regarded the Spirit of a planet as the Head of a whole hierarchy of spirits, who was pre-eminently The Spirit of the Planet, or the Star-Angel. He was regarded by them much as a Christian regards the great Archangels, the ”seven Spirits before the throne of God,” as a mighty minister of the divine power of the Logos. It was said that when the image of a Star was reflected in the incense cloud, clairvoyants could see the form of the star angel, the image of the star shining upon its forehead.
One of their tenets was that in rare cases it was possible for a person, through meditation and devotion, to secure their next birth on the planet of the Star-Angel whom they worshipped and the temple records contained accounts of this having been done. Once or twice in history, they said, the same thing has been done with a still greater order of stellar Deities, belonging to fixed stars outside the solar system altogether. Now that is an interesting concept to consider. If we are all on one or other of the seven rays and these rays are represented by seven of the principal planets in our solar system, then we are justified in considering that planet as our natural home. However, each planet has its own state of evolution, some further along and others, behind where we are ourselves. So we could not waltz off to these planets and expect to fit in. Even if we assume we have paid off all our karma and therefore have nothing holding us here, we still belong to a Unity (46) group and surely this is where we would be most effective. On the other hand, the concept of jetting off to another star system is something that Laurency has mentioned, Sirius being the preferred destination for ex-Bodhisattvas.
The term ”worship” is perhaps a little misleading, when speaking of the Chaldeans. The feeling was rather the deep affection, veneration and loyalty that we today feel towards the Masters of Wisdom. In this way, they are mirroring the devotion shown by the ancient Peruvian culture we examined. It seems that we have become more fanatical in our devotion these days. When I say “these days” I mean the last 2,400 years, which we know as the Age of Pisces. This age majors on the 6th Ray of Love and Devotion. Taken to an extreme, this becomes fanatical and intolerant. Does this ring a bell?
Their religion meant a great deal to the Chaldeans. The priests were men of great learning along their own lines. They studied history and astronomy profoundly, blending the two sciences into one. They were fairly well-versed in chemistry and used some of its effects in their ceremonies. A priest, for example, would make the astrological sign for a planet with some brilliantly phosphorescent substance on the pavement in front of him. Some priests specialised in medicine, studying the properties of drugs when prepared under certain stellar influences; others studied agriculture, the composition of soil and its improvement, the use of coloured lights for plants and so on. Others again constituted a weather bureau, foretelling with accuracy, storms, cyclones, or cloud-bursts. Later this became a Government Department, priests who predicted inaccurately being deposed.
Very great importance was attached to pre-natal influences, a mother being directed to live a sort of semi-monastic life both before and after the birth of a child. The priests were not responsible for education, although they decided, by calculation, and sometimes by clairvoyance, to which planet a child belonged. Laurency tells us that the definitive knowledge of what ray a person is functioning upon can only be ascertained by an initiate. Were these priests initiates? Some of them probably were, but we are dipping into this civilisation 20,000 rather than 30,000 years ago. I suspect by this time, the adapts that set this civilisation on its path would have begun to withdraw. However, maybe the priests had access to some calculation protocol that was able to reasonably and accurately delineate which ray a child was on. This ray is linked to a particular planet, as already mentioned. Each planet had its own school, both for scholars and teachers. The training for each type differed considerably, the intention in each being to develop the good qualities and counteract the weaknesses characteristic of each type.
Imparting knowledge was quite secondary, the primary object being the formation of character. The hieroglyphic script and elementary calculation were taught to every child, but nothing else that we would recognise as a school subject. Religious or ethical precepts were learnt by heart, indicating the conduct expected from a ”son of Mars,” a ”daughter of Venus,” and so on. The only literature was an endless commentary upon these archetypes, the children being taught to criticise the actions of the heroes in the stories. Many years were thus spent familiarising themselves, theoretically and practically, with the teachings of this unwieldy Book of Duty, as it was called, the children being expected to impersonate the various characters in the stories, acting as if they were in a theatre.
The school curriculum did not comprise history, mathematics, agriculture, chemistry or medicine, though any young person, on leaving school, could attach themself as an apprentice to a priest who specialised in any of these subjects. I presume here it was boys rather than girls who had these opportunities. The literature always presents people in masculine terms so it is difficult to tease apart the opportunities available to the female gender in these societies.
The literature was not extensive. Official records were kept with great care, transfers of land were registered, and the decrees of the Kings were filed for reference. But no connected history was compiled. It was taught orally, and episodes were tabulated and related to astronomical cycles. Poetry, handed down orally, was represented by a series of sacred books, giving a highly symbolic account of the origin of the world and humanity. There were also ballads celebrating the deeds of legendary heroes.
After a long period of splendour and prosperity, the mighty Empire of Chaldea slowly waned and decayed, until it was utterly destroyed by hordes of fanatical barbarians who, with puritanical fervour, destroyed every trace of the temples. The spoilers were in their turn driven out by the Akkads, members of the sixth sub-race, from the north. These, coalescing with the remnants of the old race and other Turanian tribes, made the Sumero-Akkad nation out of which the later Babylonian Empire developed, much, much later. This became more and more affected by admixture of Âryan (5th Root Race) blood, first from the Arabian, or Semitic, and then from the Iranian sub-races, until, in what we call historical times, there was scarcely any Turanian left in the faces of the sculptures and mosaics of Assyria. This later race endeavoured to reproduce the worship of the past, of which it still had a tradition, but succeeded in producing only a pale and distorted copy of the original magnificent cult of the Star Angels. I do however like their representations of their pinecones. Some things are never forgotten.
Looking at such civilisations as those of Chaldea and Peru, in which whole nations lived a happy and religious life, free from overindulgence in all things and from grinding poverty, it might be thought that humanity, since then, has not evolved but regressed. Progress, however, is subject to a law of cyclic change and under that law personalities, races, empires and worlds pass away. All forms, however beautiful, perishing, so that the life within them may grow and expand. The Fifth Root Race, when it attains the zenith of its growth, should reach a height even loftier than that attained by the Atlantean Race, we hope.