Mentioned in the book Man: Whence, How and Whither by Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater where they write, “Those known as the Lords of the Flame, who arrive from Venus on the fourth globe, in the fourth Round, in the middle of the third Root Race, quicken mental evolution, to found the Occult Hierarchy of the Earth and to take over the government of the globe. It is They whose tremendous influence so quickened the germs of mental life that these burst into growth, and there followed the great downrush through the MONAD that we call the Life-Wave causing the formation of the CAUSAL BODY, the ‘birth’ or ‘descent of the ego’ for all those who had come up from the animal kingdom . . .” (p. 79).

There is a further reference to this subject in the work Talks on the Path of Occultism by the same authors where they write, “Still, we must not forget if the Lords of the Flame from Venus had not left Their system and come down into ours to help us, we should at least be one round behind the position that we have so far achieved” (p. 482). Later in the same work we find that Śri Śankarācārya (sometimes referred to as Ādi-Śankara, i.e., not to be confused with the later 8th-9th cent. Advaita philosopher) is considered to be a Lord from Venus and mention is made of the “body” of the Lord looking very much like ours but much more glorified (p. 603).

It is obvious that physical beings are not referred to here as it is utterly impossible for any sort of life as we know it to exist on the physical surface of Venus.

P.S.H.

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