Conscious Manipulation of the Fires

This conscious manipulation of the fires is the prerogative of man when he has reached a certain point in his evolution; the unconscious realization of this has led naturally to the attempts of the alchemist to transmute in the mineral kingdom. A few of the older students right through the ages have comprehended the vastness of the endeavor of which the transmutation of the baser metals into gold was but preliminary and a symbol, a pictorial, allegorical, concrete step. The whole subject of transmutation is covered by the work of the Hierarchy in all its three departments on this planet, and we might get some idea of the matters involved if we studied this vast hierarchical standpoint, getting thereby a concept of the work done in aiding the evolutionary process. It is the work of transferring the life from one stage of atomic existence to another, and it involves three distinct steps, which can be seen and traced by means of the higher clairvoyance, and from the higher planes ... (Alice A Bailey)