This center is found at the very base of the spine, and supports all the other centers. It is relatively quiescent at this time, for it is only roused into full activity by an act of the will, directed and controlled by the initiate. It is responsive only to the will aspect, and the will-to-be in incarnation is the factor which at present controls its life and produces its effects as it feeds and directs the life principle in matter and form. Just as we are told that the life principle is "seated in the heart," so the will-to-be is seated in the base of the spine. There has been much idle and dangerous talk anent this center, and the whole subject of the "kundalini fire" has proved an exciting and enticing tale by the pseudo-occultists of the world. The true occultist in training has naught to do with the kundalini fire - as usually [182] understood. It is not possible for me to do more than make certain facts somewhat clearer to you, and yet at the same time I must refrain from indicating modes and methods of arousing the activity of this center, on account of the extreme danger involved in any premature work on the basic center. The best I can do is to make a series of statements which will be comprehended in the right way by those who know (and these are as yet few and far between), which will aid the thinking of those who are in training and give them a somewhat more complete picture, but which will protect the ignorant from disaster. I shall make these statements as clearly and briefly as possible, but shall give practically no explanatory matter with them.

1. This basic center is the point where, under the evolutionary law, spirit and matter meet, and life is related to form.
2. It is therefore the center where the essential dualism of the manifested divinity - man or planetary Logos - meet and produce form.
3. The nature of this divinity is only revealed when the second aspect has accomplished its work, through the medium of the third aspect, but under the directing will of the first aspect.
4. It is the center where the "serpent of God" undergoes two transformations:
   1. The serpent of matter lies coiled.
   2. This serpent is transformed into the serpent of wisdom.
   3. The serpent of wisdom is translated and becomes the "dragon of living light."
5. These three stages are nurtured by the life and energy pouring down through the entire length of the spinal [183] column, via the etheric correspondence of the spinal cord, and - in time and space - this downpouring (plus the simultaneously uprising life) produces:
   1. The awakening in a gradual and orderly manner of the centers, according to ray types.
   2. The reversal of the centers so that the consciousness of the indwelling man is adequate to his environment.
   3. The synthesis of the life energies of all the centers, and adequacy to the demands of the initiate and the service of the Hierarchy and of Humanity.
6. The spinal column (from the angle of the esoteric sciences) houses a threefold thread. This is the externalization of the antahkarana, composed of the antahkarana proper, the sutratma or life thread, and the creative thread. This threefold thread within the spinal column is therefore composed of three threads of energy which have channeled for themselves in the substance of the interior of the column a "threefold way of approach and of withdrawal." These are called in the Hindu terminology: the ida, the pingala and the sushumna paths, and they together form the path of life for the individual man and are awakened into activity sequentially and according to ray type and the point of evolution. The sushumna path is not used correctly and safely until the antahkarana has been built and the Monad and Personality are thereby related, even if it is only by the most tenuous thread. Then the Monad, the Father, the will aspect, can reach the personality in a direct manner, and can arouse the basic center, and with it blend, unify and raise the three fires. [184]
7. One of these paths is the one along which the energy which feeds matter is poured. Another is related to the path of consciousness and of sensitive psychic unfoldment. The third is the path of pure spirit. Thus in every living form the work of the Father, of the Mother and of the Son is carried on. Life-consciousness-form and life-quality-appearance are blended, and the response apparatus of the divine man is perfected, enabling him to contact and recognize the major divine aspects in the kingdoms in nature, in the planet and in the solar system - eventually.

8. These three paths of life are the channels for electric fire, solar fire and fire by friction, and are related in their usage to the three stages of the path of evolution: the path of evolution in the material, earlier stages; the Path of Probation, and the early stages of the Path of Discipleship until the third initiation; and the Path of Initiation itself.
9. The Kundalini Fire, about which so much is taught and written in the East, and increasingly in the West, is in reality the union of these three fires, which are focused by an act of the enlightened will, under the impulse of love, in the basic center. This unified fire is then raised by the use of a Word of Power (sent forth by the will of the Monad) and by the united authority of the soul and personality, integrated and alive. The human being who can do this in full consciousness is therefore an initiate who has left the third initiation behind him. He, and he alone, can safely raise this triple fire from the base of the spine to the head center.