White Lodge

With the White Lodge we refer to:

what Rudolf Steiner called the Great White Lodge, White Lodge, or 'Masters of Wisdom and Harmony of Feelings';
Beinsa Douno, Daskalos and Franz Bardon refer to as the 'White Brotherhood' (Daskalos) or the 'Brotherhood of Light' (Bardon);
and a few decades before, Helena Blavatsky spoke of as the 'Masters of Ancient Wisdom', referred to in theosophy as the Mahatmas or Masters.

Many more references can be found, also of other less qualified sources. For example: there are Q&A to Edgar Cayce on the topic, and a similar concept of hierarchy, albeit different but maybe not incompatible, is found in Meher Baba's teachings on the 'Perfect Masters'. Dion Fortune discusses the 'Ascended Masters' or 'Greater Masters', as well as Alice Bailey.

The structure of the White Lodge consists of twelve Bodhisattvas (or Mahatmas) and their helpers (see Discussion note [1] below). They are active on the budhi (and nirvana) planes, and guided and inspired directly by the Christ ('the thirteenth in the center'). The exact number of helpers of this group of twelve is unclear from the information available, but one can speak of a broader network of community of hundreds of helpers in some hierarchy of adept-grading (see Discussion area below).

The names of historical personalities (see FMC00.117 below) do not map to the twelve Bodhisattvas, because not all of them incarnate, and they most often work behind the scenes. Also their direct helpers act to bring the necessary world teachings, examples may be Hermes and Moses under the stream of Master Jesus (Zarathustra). As further examples: Bardon (in Frabato) positions himself to be among the first-ranked of the 72 helpers of the twelve, also Daskalos points out he works under the Individuality of Christian Rosenkreutz (John Evangelist).

Of the twelve Masters of the White Lodge, only seven incarnate and five are invisible. The seven can be mapped to the bodily components of Man that evolve in the consecutive cultural ages (physical, etheric, astral bodies, then the sentient, intellectual and consciousness soul, and then the integrated I), which would link them to the cultural age focus of the Bodhisattvas (see below). Rudolf Steiner mentioned that 'two are active in the east, two in the west, two in the center, one moves about'.

When a high individuality incarnates with the mission to inspire and lead a people in a cultural age, this individuality is linked to the karma of that people. There are patterns of 'preparation for a mission' that can be discerned in the incarnations of these high individualities (see examples in GA264, ao Manes-Parsifal).

Aspects

Who

who - structure and individualities, advanced evolutionary - see Bodhisattva
nine characteristics (see 1905-12-28-GA266/1 below)
the twelve highest members each have branches of possibly six or seven 'wise men' each, for a group of 60 to 80 Individualities; and a network of helpers (one source states 360), so in total the community probably consists of say approx 444 Individualities. Whereas the highest are non-human (but rather Luciferic angelic or archangelic beings from Venus/Mercury, see Three classes of Buddhas), the lower branches most probably consist of the most advanced purely human Individualities (see: Discussion Note [1] below)
first human Manu in sixth epoch, but already appearing (to some who are able to perceive) at the end of the fifth epoch
of the twelve masters, at all moments seven are physically incarnated, five remain invisible.
- Note Meher Baba (in 'God Speaks') also mentions that in every age there are 5 'perfect masters' (or 'sadgurus') and 7 'perfect ones' (or 'majzoobs-e-kamil').
more info on various Masters (and/or helpers) see oa:
- Mani or Manes (on: Manicheism)
- Individuality of Christian Rosenkreutz, Individuality of Skythianos, Individuality of Master Jesus, Individuality of Buddha
- Orpheus
- Beinsa Douno, Individuality of Rudolf Steiner, Daskalos
the 'prime initiator' - leadership of the white lodge (and the guidance of mankind) lies with a high spiritual being appearing in various sources:
- "prime initiator - Urgaya, 'the wise man of the mountain' or 'the old master'. He has been the Prime Initiator since the beginning of the world" (see: Otti Votavova in Frabato)
- "the Lord of the World, or Sanat Kumâra, the 'Eternal Virgin-Youth'. The word Kumâra is a title, meaning Prince or Ruler .. he came to the Earth .. from the Venus scheme of evolution .. in the middle of the Lemurian epoch ... Though unseen, they are ever present. ... The Lord of the World is the Head of the Brotherhood, He is known also as the One Initiator" (see: Powell in The Solar system)
- 'Man - forgotten fragments' states that two of the highest masters remain hidden, and that the Himalayas is one of the main locations where masters reside.
- it is interesting to compare the above descriptions with the information available on Sri Guru (or Mahavatar) Babaji, see 'Discussion area' below: White Lodge#.5B2.5D - Sri Guru Babaji

What

what - what do they do? .. and how do they do it?
guidance of Mankind, and development of Cosmic Plan, see Occult atom
operate from Buddhi and Nirvana planes
guidance mankind
- also teaching and influencing on other planes eg astral school
- as a rule the Masters are not personages known to history (1904-12-23-GA093), they do their work on the physical plane through their 'messengers' and never found an outer organisation of society .. this is the work of men living on the Earth (1905-01-02)
- examples of important councils, conferences or meetings:
  - decision on rosecrucianism as a knowledge and wisdom stream to enable an understanding of the Christ (see Bodhisattva#1909-08-31-GA113)
    - in approx. 4th century AD "one of the greatest assemblies of the spiritual world connected with the Earth that ever took place", Manes gathered Skythianos, Buddha, Zarathustra
    - three teachers of universal wisdom Skythianos, Buddha, Zarathustra and two main angles for current spiritual science:
      - 1 - "that which sinks into our innermost being in the form of the Christ-life" (note Buddha is described as the reacher of reincarnation and karma, teachings now in modern form to flow into Christianity)
      - 2 - "an increasingly comprehensive understanding of the Christ by the aid of spiritual cosmology" (<-> link to Skythianos)
  - end of the 16th century: Christian Rosenkreutz sending Buddha to work on Mars sphere (1912-12-18-GA130)

When

when .. did they get started? around the mid Lemurian epoch
yearly meeting at the night of Christmas (see 1905-12-13-GA266/1 below)

Why

meaning: a form of representative of Christ/logoi on Earth, in a form of spiritual higher guidance for and needed by mankind
- note there is also the black lodge, however also: no evil at higher planes (buddhi & nirvana)

Illustrations

FMC00.117 provides a reference table of incarnations of Boddhisatvas part of the White Lodge. The table makes the distinction between names listed as Bodhisattvas part of the twelve, or incarnations of historical figures that may link to these same individualities or their direct helpers. The table is non-exhaustive, eg Daskalos states Master Hilarion is Saint Paul (Saul of Tarsus).

Correction: Orpheus was adept part of migration in third age, seeding the Greek culture - see Migrations#1904-09-08-GA091

FMC00.310 illustrates with drawings by Rudolf Steiner regarding the twelve masters or Bodhisattvas in the White Lodge. Seven are physically incarnated, five remain invisible.

Schema FMC00.481 is a poster that concatenates a number of excerpts from Rudolf Steiner's lectures to elucidate the meaning of various terms related to what is most important for humanity: selfless love. As a cosmic principle in the higher spirit world this was called Christòs in ancient Greece, in ancient India and theosophy it was called buddhi, and Rudolf Steiner coined the term life spirit in anthroposophy.

This cosmic principle lives in archangelic beings that went through the human stage on Old Sun, on Earth these are called solar pitris or fathers (in theosophical terminology). These were able to incarnate in the early earthly conditions in the Hyperborean epoch and constituted what is called the Sun men or Apollo men. In more recent times and the language of the ancient myths such descending solar pitris are called Sun Heroes. As leaders of mankind, especially the beings part of the White Lodge are called Bodhisattvas in ancient Indian and theosophical terminology. And besides these descending beings there is also the ascending path upwards: a human being who reaches the sixth degree in initiation was called Sun Hero in the ancient Mysteries.

What all these have in common is that they are the carrier of the life spirit, buddhi, or Christ principle, which is a universal cosmic soul principle that is no longer individual but a higher feeling of the universal soul of mankind, and in that sense representing humanity (and it's future) as a whole.

Christ is the Cosmic Sun Hero who came down to unify the whole of humanity as the spirit of the Earth. Through the Mystery of Golgotha, the buddhi principle was planted as a latent seed in each human soul. This higher principle will develop in millenia, epochs and even planetary stages to come. In this context, Christ will be with Man until the end of the Earth, and represents the future group soul of humanity also called 'Second Adam'.

Lecture coverage and references

Man: fragments of forgotten history (1885)

the section on Occult Hierarchy states:

Hence is the necessity for the seven types of Adepts. Of these seven, five alone are ordinarily spoken of; the last two are understood only by the higher Initiates. ..
.. The two highest Adepts, so far as is known, live in an oasis in the desert of Gobi, where only the Adepts of the higher order are permitted to visit them. Their nature and character are as little understood by the ordinary Initiates as those of the Adepts by the outside world. ..
.. There are nine grades of Adepts, each grade having seven sub-divisions. In the Brahmanical system, the nine grades are referred to as the nine jewels (nava nidhi).

1904 - W. Scott-Elliot: 'The Lost Lemuria'

based on info and astral research by Leadbeater, (SWCC)

... It is this circumstance which furnishes a reason for the remarkable fact that there existed in Lemuria a Lodge of Initiation.
[A Lodge of Initiation]
Naturally it was not for the benefit of the Lemurian race that the Lodge was founded. Such of them as were sufficiently advanced were, it is true, taught by the Adept gurus, but the instruction they required was limited to the explanation of a few physical phenomena, such as the fact that the Earth moves round the sun, or to the explanation of the different appearance which physical objects assumed for them when subjected alternately to their physical sight and their astral vision.
It was for the sake of those who, while endowed with the stupendous powers of transferring their consciousness from the planet Venus to this our Earth, and of providing for their use and their work while here appropriate vehicles in which to function, were yet pursuing the course of their own evolution. For their sake it was - for the sake of those who, having entered the path, had only reached the lower grades, that this Lodge .. was founded.
Though the goal of normal evolution is greater and more glorious than can be imagined from our present standpoint, it is by no means synonymous with that expansion of consciousness which, combined with and alone made possible by, the purification and ennoblement of character, constitute the heights to which the pathway of Initiation leads. The investigation into what constitutes this purification and ennoblement of character, and the endeavour to realise what that expansion of consciousness really means are subjects which have been written of elsewhere.
.. the founding of a Lodge of Initiation for the sake of beings who came from another scheme of evolution is an indication of the unity of object and of aim in the government and the guidance of all the schemes of evolution brought into existence by our Solar Logos.
Apart from the normal course in our own scheme, there is a Path by which He may be directly reached, which every son of man in his progress through the ages is privileged to hear of, and to tread, if he so chooses. We find that this was so in the Venus scheme also, and we may presume it is or will be so in all the schemes which form part of our Solar system. This Path is the Path of Initiation, and the end to which leads is the same for all, and that end is Union with God.

see further: Three classes of Buddhas, Initiation and God experience for topics connecting to this extract

1904-05-23-GA093

already makes the important distinction between movement and the (then theosophical) society

The clear consciousness, which only the spirit can set free, is what unites us in the Theosophical Society. Not the word alone, but the spirit gives it its meaning. The spirit which emanates from the great Masters, which flows through a few people only who are able to say: ‘I know they are there, the great Adepts, who are the founders of our spiritual movement — not our society — this spirit flows into our present civilisation and bestows on it the impulse for the future.

1904-GA264

includes a chapter of some 25 pages by Hella Wiesberger grouping the available information. This includes the questions asked to Rudolf Steiner by members (info Alma von Brandis 1915-05-29 - see quote below, drawings Elise Wolfram). These sections of the Esoteric Lessons for members include statements such as

1904-07-09 .. an indication to state that through Rudolf Steiner it is the Masters who speak, and that he is only the medium through which the ideas of the Masters are expressed. Master Morya informs us ..
1904-07-14 .. today the Mahatmas will have something to say to us ..

1904-10-07-GA092

quote A

In the middle of Lemuria there came about for the first time what we call incarnation, incarnation in the sense in which we have human beings today.
Mankind was guided by great leaders and teachers whom we call ‘the sons of the fire mist’.
Today the fifth root-race is also guided by great initiates, but our initiate are different from the leaders of mankind at that time. You must now come to understand what this difference was. There is a great difference between the leaders of the two preceding root-races and those of our fifth race. The leaders of those races too were united in a White Lodge. But they did not undergo their earlier evolution on our earth planet, but in another environment. They descended to earth already mature, descended as human beings of higher development, in order to instruct men who were still in their infancy, in order to teach them the first arts which they needed. This period of instruction lasted through the third, fourth, and right into the fifth root-race.

quote B points to the fact that the leader of the sixth epoch is a 100% earthly-developed human being and this is not the case for at least some of the other members

It is only during the fifth epoch that the development is beginning to take place of such Manus as are akin to ourselves; who have risen, as it were, from the ranks of humanity. We have men, therefore, who are already great masters and advanced leaders of humanity, and we have those who are striving to become such. In the fifth epoch we have chelas and masters who have experienced all that can be undergone by human beings only since the middle of the Lemurian epoch.
One of these great masters who are leaders of the fifth epoch is predestined to take over the leadership of the sixth epoch. The sixth epoch will be the first great epoch to have as its Manu one who is a brother to earthly man.
The earlier masters, the Manus from other worlds, are handing over their leadership to a fellow human being.

1904-12-23-GA093

.. the Masters, as a rule, are not personages known to history ..

1905-01-02

in a letter to a Member who was about to be accepted into the Esoteric School (SWCC)

.. behind the movement there are highly evolved beings whom we call Masters and who have already completed the path which the rest of humanity still has to tread. They are now active as the great teachers and are already engaged in work on higher planes to which the rest of mankind will evolve during the course of the next periods of development. They do their work on the physical plane through their “messengers”, the first of whom was H.P. Blavatsky. The Masters never found an outer Organisation of society, nor would they administer one. .. this is in its whole character and leadership purely and simply the work of men living on the earth.

1905-10-28-GA093A

1905-11-10 or 11

includes the quote: 'Christian Rosenkreutz and his seven pupils .. '

1905-12-13-GA266

at Christmas the Sun stands at it lowest point in the year, and on the 25th it begins to ascen, and in this night the Masters of the White Lodge have a conference, in which they send out the power of the Sun of the coming year to those people who want to entirely devote themselves to them, to surrender entirely their personality and ask them for strength. If one celebrates Christmas this way, asks the Masters in this way, then they send their strength to these people on this December 25, so that the power of the Master works through them.

1905-12-28-GA266/1

describes nine characteristics of the Masters, as given by Master Morya

Truth
Wisdom
Immeasurability
Goodness
Illimitableness
Beauty
Peace
Blessing
Integrity1906-06-26

... four masters work within the movement: Masters Morya (strength), Kut Hoomi (wisdom), Christian Rosenkreutz or Saint-Germain (we turn to him with our ordinary difficulties), and Master Jesus (the more intimate side of humankind's character)

1907-10-21-GA101

talks about the White Lodge and their work (own translation FMC project) - see also Occult atom

.. the development of such things stands in connection with the entire evolution of the earth, with the development of a planet as a whole. And we understand such things in the right way, when we have an idea of the facts, of how from one planet influence is exercised on its successor – how, namely, Old Moon influences the earth, and how, again, the earth influences its successor, Future Jupiter. You all know, that the Earth is led in a certain way by the so-called "white lodge", where several highly developed people – individuals – are united with individualities of a still higher kind.
What do they do there?
They work. They lead the earthly evolution. In the process of leading earthly evolution, they work on developing quite a particular plan. It is a fact, that during the each planet's development, the leading powers prepare a certain plan.
While the earth evolves, planning is carried out in order to prepare a most specific plan regarding how Future Jupiter must be. The whole plan will be developed in detail. It represents the blessing and the healing of the further evolution that will take place in harmony with this plan. Now, when the development of our planet comes to an end - when, namely, our earth reaches the end of its development - then the 'Masters of the wisdom and of the harmony of sensations' will also be "ready" with the plan which they have worked out for Future Jupiter.
And at the end of such development, something very unique happens. Through a certain procedure, this plan will be simultaneously made much smaller and endlessly multiplied, so that from this whole Jupiter plan, infinitely many plans, but quite miniatures thereof, are available. It was the same way on the Old Moon. The plan for the development of the Earth was there, multiplied infinitely many times, and reduced in size. And do you know, what it is, this reduced-size plan? do you know what is worked out there, in the spiritual realm? These are the real atoms, which are the basis for the earth, and the atoms, which will be the basis for Future Jupiter - they will be the plan reduced in size, which is prepared in the leading "white lodge" right now. This is an [occult] atom. All other talk about an atom is nothing. The one who first recognizes the atom of a planet, is the one who sees in it a minimized plan of the development of the planet.
If you want to get to know this atom, which lies at the basis of the earth, quite thoroughly, then the beings which will encounter you in the process of getting to know this atom will be exactly those who come from the great magicians of the world. Now, we can speak about these things only in outline, but we can at least get to know something, which gives us a concept of the matter.
The earth consists, in a certain way, of these atoms. Every being, [including] yourself, is made of these atoms, and you stand in connection with the development of the earth, through the fact that you carry in you the reduced-sized plan of earthly development. This earthly plan could be worked out in the earlier planetary condition of our earth – on the moon – only because owing to the influence of leading beings in harmony with the whole planetary development through Old Saturn, Old Sun, Old Moon.
But now, the important thing is, to give to the infinitely many atoms something, which will bring them into the correct relationships – into the right order.
The leading spirits of the moon could only give them that, if they led the earthly development along quite a certain path. When the Earth reappeared again after the evolution of Old Moon, it was not yet Earth alone, but Earth plus Sun plus Moon – a body which you would receive if you stirred the earth together with the Sun and the Moon and made a single body from it. Such was the earth at first. Then the Sun separated itself, and took with it all the forces which were too thin, too spiritual for Man, and under whose influence, the men would have been spiritualized too quickly. If Man had stood only under this influence of the forces which were contained in this Sun-Moon-Earth bodies, then Man would not have developed down to physical matter, and he would then not have been able to acquire that "I"-consciousness, which he had to acquire.

1909-03-22-GA107

Those who know that the progress of mankind depends upon living apprehension of the mighty Event of Golgotha are they who as the “Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings” are united in the great Guiding Lodge of mankind. And as once the “tongues of fire” hovered down as a living symbol upon the company of the apostles, so does the “Holy Spirit” announced by Christ Himself reign as the Light over the Lodge of the Twelve. The Thirteenth is the Leader of the Lodge of the Twelve. The “Holy Spirit” is the mighty Teacher of those we name the “Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings”. It is through them that his voice and his wisdom flow down to mankind in this or that stream upon the earth. The treasures of wisdom gathered together by the spiritual scientific movement in order to understand the universe and the Spirits therein, how through the “Holy Spirit” into the Lodge of the Twelve; and that is what will ultimately lead mankind step by step to free, self-conscious understanding of Christ and of the Event of Golgotha. Thus to ‘cultivate’ spiritual science means to understand that the Spirit has been sent into the world by Christ; the pursuit of spiritual science is implicit in true Christianity.

this is also in

1909-09-21-GA114

(SWCC)

A Lodge of twelve Bodhisattvas is to be regarded as the Lodge directing all Earth evolution .. .. and from time to time sends one of the twelve Bodhisattvas to the Earth as a special emissary, as one of the great Teachers. The concept of ‘Teacher’ familiar to us at lower stages of existence can be applied, to these twelve Bodhisattvas. They are Teachers, the great Inspirers of one portion or another of what mankind has to acquire.
Whence do these Bodhisattvas receive what they have to proclaim from epoch to epoch? If you were able to look into the great Spirit-Lodge of the twelve Bodhisattvas you would find that in the midst of the Twelve there is a Thirteenth — one who cannot be called a ‘Teacher’ in the same sense as the Bodhisattvas, but of whom we must say: He is that Being from whom wisdom itself streams as very substance. It is therefore quite correct to speak of the twelve Bodhisattvas in the great Spirit-Lodge grouped around One who is their Centre; they are wrapt in contemplation of the sublime Being from whom there streams what they have then to inculcate into Earth evolution in fulfilment of their missions. Thus there streams from the Thirteenth what the others have to teach. They are the ‘Teachers’, the ‘Inspirers’; the Thirteenth is himself the Being of whom the others teach, whom they proclaim from epoch to epoch. This Thirteenth is He whom the ancient Rishis called Vishva Karman, whom Zarathustra called Ahura Mazdao, whom we call the Christ. He is the Leader and Guide of the great Lodge of the Bodhisattvas. Hence the content of the proclamation made through the whole choir of the Bodhisattvas is the teaching concerning Christ, once called Vishva Karman. The Bodhisattva who became Buddha five to six centuries before our era was endowed with the powers of Vishva Karman.
This mystery was portrayed in a symbol or in a picture wherever men had an inkling of the great secrets of evolution or acquired knowledge of them through Initiation. In the little known, enigmatic Trotten Mysteries of Northern Europe before the coming of Christianity, an earthly symbol of the spiritual reality of the Lodge of the twelve Bodhisattvas was created. Those who were Teachers were always associated with a community of twelve. It was for the Twelve to proclaim the message and there was a Thirteenth who did not teach but who through his very presence radiated the wisdom which the others received. This was the picture on Earth of a heavenly, spiritual reality. Again, in Goethe's poem Die Geheimnisse where the poet has given an indication of his Rosicrucian inspiration, we are reminded how Twelve sit around a Thirteenth who is not necessarily a great Teacher. Brother Mark, in his simplicity, is himself to be addressed by the Twelve as the Thirteenth — when the former Thirteenth shall have left them. He is to be the bringer, not of teaching, but of the spiritual substance itself. And it was the same wherever an inkling or actual knowledge of this lofty spiritual fact existed among men.

Note the twelve and Trotten mysteries are also covered in 1909-05-06-GA057, see also Druidic and Trotten mysteries

1909-04-18-GA110

sacrifice and guidance of Mankind

Now we have seen that guiding beings are everywhere. We have seen with the earth, how the higher spiritual Beings — Angels, Archangels, Archai — descended, and at a time when humanity could not as yet help itself, they guided it until it reached a certain height. These are the spiritual beings of the Hierarchies who had reached their maturity in earlier times; but when this height is reached, when those Beings who had descended from the heights reach their goal, then other Beings have to become the leaders and guides of the said nations.
When nations have to rise in a certain way still higher than their highest point, leading personalities have to give themselves up of their own free will to become the bearers of higher spiritual Beings; only then does it become possible to lead the nation a few stages beyond that which was originally planned for it.
But in such cases one thing must happen; those who descend into the beings who have to lead the nation to a still higher point of civilisation, must take upon themselves all the karma which the nation has been accumulating. This is the important law as regards taking upon oneself the Karma of nations and of races. From a definite point of time the guiding personalities have themselves to bear all the karma of those nations and races. That was the essential reason that such individualities as Hermes, for instance, had to take upon them — their nations karma, which had accumulated up to then. On each planet, such things are the reflected images of great cosmic processes.

1909-10-25-GA116

title: The Sphere of the Bodhisattvas

gives a picture of the mission of the 12 Bodhisattvas and Christ.

“Thus the picture on Earth, is something like this: Christ in the middle of the earth-evolution; the Bodhisattvas as his advance-messengers and his followers, who have to bring his work closer to the minds and hearts of men.
A number of Bodhisattvas had thus to prepare mankind, to make men ripe to receive the Christ. Now, although men were ripe enough to have Christ among them, it will be a long time before they mature sufficiently to recognise, to feel, and to will, all that Christ is. The same number of Bodhisattvas will be required to develop to maturity in man what was poured into him through Christ, as was necessary to prepare men for His coming.
For there is so much in Him, that the forces and faculties of men must go on ever increasing, before they are able to understand Him. With the existing faculties of man, Christ can only be understood to a minute extent. Higher faculties will arise in man, and each new faculty will enable him to see Christ in a new light.
Only when the last Bodhisattva belonging to Christ shall have completed his work, will humanity realise what Christ really is; man will then be filled with a will in which the Christ Himself will live. He will draw into man through his Thinking, Feeling, and Willing, and man will then really be the external expression of Christ on the earth.

1912-09-01-GA266

At certain times nodal points form in spiritual worlds, when forces work into the worlds that lie directly above us. Such a time is here now. Great initiates can't bring these forces down from the highest worlds — only Christ can do this because he went through the Mystery of Golgotha.
But Buddha, Pythagoras, Zarathustra and other great initiates gather round the Christ and let themselves be influenced by his forces, regardless of whether or not they're incarnated. And they work out of this spirit.

1915-05-29-GA264 Q&A

.. explains how always only seven of twelve bodhissatvas incarnate (includes a diagram and more context). This is a case instance of the Twelve as seven and five concept.

The various Master consitute 'parts', so to speak, of a single being so that this beings contains twelve different Masters, seven of which are physically incarnated and five remain in the spiritual world.
...
The seventh is the servant of the other six and is ruled by them. He also hold sway over the other five, that is to say, brings them into incarnation. There are always seven in incarnation. If the eight incarnates, the first becomes discarnate

Hans Albert Müller: 'The Book of the Buddha of the West' (1930)

Another less known source is the following. In 1930, the book 'Das Buch vom Buddha des Westens' (The Book of the Buddha of the West) by Hans Albert Müller was published.

A short review by Richard Tschudi in 2010 states:

The book describes that some priests of Atlantis retreated to the Himalayan Mountains. .. Müller goes on saying that whenever the Aryan wisdom is endangered in the world, this brotherhood sends out a brother to restore this wisdom. In Central Asia this brotherhood is known under the name “The Blue Monks”, a name that stems from the fact that the brothers wear a monk-like royal blue colored cloak, a form of dress allegedly worn in Atlantis. The books says that Plato in his report about Atlantis writes that the priest of Atlantis wore dark-blue robes. The book also says that the custodian who represents the ancient Manu’s in the outer world is another great Manu with the name Mahum, allegedly well known among the Tibetan Bon people. .. The domicile of the Blue Monks is in the West-Himalayas .. . Allegedly in the last millennium exerted their influence in Europe through Christian Rosenkreuz who was living in Germany around the year 1300: the Rosicrucians were the renewers of the ageless wisdom within Christianity. The actual work of the Rosicrucian’s started around the year 1410. As I said all these are ideas and theories which are contained in the book: “Das Buch vom Buddha des Westens” by Hans Albert Müller.

Arthur E. Powell: 'The Solar System' (1930)

see Ch 28: 'Buddhas, Machachohans and bodhisattvas' and

see Atlantean epoch#References and further reading

from Ch 29: 'The lord of the world and his assistants'

There is on our Earth Globe a great official, known as the Lord of the World, who represents the Solar Logos, and is in absolute control of all the evolution that takes place upon this planet, not only that of humanity and of the animal, vegetable, mineral and elemental kingdoms, but also of the great non-human kingdoms of the nature-spirits and the devas. He must not, of course, be confused with the Spirit of the Earth, who uses the earth as a physical body and who is a totally distinct entity ..
We may image the Lord of the World as the true kind of this world, there being under him ministers in charge of different departments. He is known as Sanat Kumâra, the 'Youth of sixteen summers', the 'Eternal Virgin-Youth'.”The word Kumâra is a title, meaning Prince or Ruler. Together with others .. he came to the Earth .. from the Venus scheme of evolution, in the middle of the fourth (present) round, and in the middle of the Lemurian epoch. The purpose of the coming was (1) to quicken mental evolution, (2) to found the Occult Hierarchy of the Earth, (3) to take over the government of the Earth Globe.
...
With Sanat Kumâra came three Kumâras, His Pupils, who serve as his lieutenants or assistants. They stand at the level of the Buddha, and are called Pratyeka or Pachcheka Buddhas, and are themselves destined to be our three Lords of the World when humanity is occupying the planet Mercury; for there are three Lords of the World during each world-period. The present holder of the office is already the third.
There were also some 25 or 30 other Adepts, in graded order, together with about 100 ordinary human beings who were in some way affiliated to these Great Ones, or perhaps had been individualised by Them, and who were merged in the ordinary humanity of the earth.
Most of Them stayed on the earth only through the critical period of our history (which will be explained presently); a few still remain to hold the highest offices of the Great White Brotherhood, until the time when men of our own evolution shall have risen to such height as to be capable of relieving their august visitors.
As the Catechism of the Inner Schools says: ”Out of the seven Virgin-Men (Kumâra) four sacrificed themselves for the sins of the world and the instruction of the ignorant, to remain till the end of the present Manvantara. Though unseen, they are ever present.
...
The Lord of the World is the Head of the Brotherhood, which is not only a body of Men, each of whom has His own duty to perform in guiding evolution on the Earth, but is also a stupendous unity, a fully flexible instrument in the Lord’s hand, a mighty weapon that He can wield. He is known also as the One Initiator, ...
He is the Force which drives the whole world-machine, the embodiment of the Divine Will. His consciousness comprehends all the life on our globe.
...
None of the Lords from Venus, as they are often called, took incarnation in our humanity at all. They did not - in fact could not - take human bodies; instead, they built for themselves vehicles like the highest ideals of the human form in appearance, yet absolutely unlike it in that they are uninfluenced by time and are incapable of change or decay.
Although these bodies have been worn for 16 million years, they still remain precisely as on the day when they were made-by Kriyâshakti. They must be regarded as a kind of permanent materialisation; bodies built like statues, and yet to the sight and the touch presenting the appearance of ordinary living men.
Their dwelling-place ”was and is the Imperishable Sacred Land, on which ever shines down the Blazing Star, the symbol of Earth’s Monarch, the changeless Pole, round which the life of the Earth is ever spinning.” Needless to say, the pole mentioned is not the geographical pole, but what we may call the spiritual pole of the Earth, and at present it is an oasis in the Gobi Desert, called Shamballa.

Otti Votavova - Frabato (1958)

see: Franz Bardon and initiation#Frabato

Extracts from Chapter 10

quote A

The Brotherhood of Light

is a spiritual organization which consists of the highest initiates of our cosmic system.

Only one who has mastered and is able to practice the first three leaves of the Book of Wisdom has access to this brotherhood.

Since the beginning of human spiritual evolution, those who have achieved the highest state of magical perfection and have not yet consciously dissolved their individuality are to be found in this organization.

assume responsibility for the well-being and development of humankind, though the task of maintaining that development may not always require physical incarnation.

The Master and the twelve adepts form the Council of Elders and meet regularly or have special meetings to make important decisions concerning the fate of the peoples of the earth.

Sometimes the twelve adepts, seventy-two wise men and the 360 masters are summoned to a general assembly. In case of special meetings, the Master sends for particular initiates.

the hierarchy has

Master or Prime Initiator

twelve subordinate adepts who have reached the highest spiritual perfection. These adepts take over the most difficult tasks, but they too are very seldom incarnate; therefore they usually do their work through the zone which girdles the earth. Some of these adepts are only incarnated once in a hundred or a thousand years.

The twelve adepts have seventy-two wise men, or enlightened people under them (DL editor: so six per adept)

These wise men again have 360 masters.

quote B

The Brotherhood of Light is structured in accordance with a hierarchy which corresponds to the initiated members' degree of perfection. Their superior is the so-called Prime Initiator .. the deputy of divine order .. In the hierarchy he is called Urgaya, 'the wise man of the mountain' or 'the old master'. He has been the Prime Initiator since the beginning of the world, but rarely manifests himself. He customarily takes on a form only for very short periods of time when he chooses to stand by and give advice to a Brother of Light regarding his task.

Daskalos

see: Daskalos

mentions:

the Unpointed Sword is the symbol of our circle called 'Circles for the Research of Truth', we are part of wider circle called the 'White Brotherhood'

Discussion

[1] - The brotherhood of the White Lodge

The White Lodge consists of the twelve Bodhisattvas but these are surrounded by helpers and a larger network or community.

Here are some sources:

Steiner speaks of seven helpers for each of the twelve (7*12=84)
Bardon speaks of each of the twelve having 6 'wise men', 72 in total, and this being supplemented by 360 helpers. That totals 432+12=444.
'Man: fragments of forgotten history' (downloadable on the Evolution page) speaks of nine grades and 7 subdivisions for 63 subgroupings of grades, but no numbers of actual helpers.
Meher Baba, in the Appendix or Supplement to 'God Speaks', describes in quite some detail a hierarchy with 7 subdivisions (actually 8, but the last two can be grouped as they represent the circle of twelve) of 7000 beings distributed over the different planes. Note this may link to, or is not inconsistent with, what Sri Yukteswar conveys to Yogananda about his next mission (after death on Earth), see Ch. 43 in 'Autobiography of a Yogi'.

[2] - Sri Guru Babaji

A special case of a high spiritual being (said to be of eternal and not of human origin) is the being called 'Sri Guru' by Sri M, also referred to by Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) as 'Mahavatar Babaji', a master of unknown age residing in the Himalayas. One can conclude, from the very limited information available, that only some the most advanced adepts have direct contacts with this supreme master. Examples of the latter would be Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Maheshwarnath Babaji, Sai Baba of Shirdi.

For a hypothetical (or speculative) positioning, see the 'Aspects' section higher on this page, on: the 'prime initiator' - leadership of the white lodge

Source 1 - Yogananda

Sri Guru Babaji is a high being of legendary status mentioned by Lahiri Mahasaya (1828-1895) and Sri Yukteswar (1835-1936) who describe meeting Sri Guru in the period 1861-1935. Also other very advanced disciples such as Swami Keshabananda and Pranabananda Giri have reported meeting him.

For references, see 'Autobiography of a yogi' Chapters 33 to 36. Just a short quote from this book:

The Mahavatar is in constant communion with Christ; together they send out vibrations of redemption, and have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age.

Source 2 - Sri M

Sri M writes about two meetings with Sri Guru in his current incarnation (as well as being his pupil in an earlier incarnation), and describes Sri Guru as the master of his own master Sri Maheshwarnath Babaji.

For more extensive coverage, see the two books by Sri M in the 'Further reading' section below. In the books is described how the legendary yogi called Sri Guru Babaji ..

is believed to have been around for many centuries with a physical body in a youthful condition
other names mentioned are "the great being called Nitya Nath" or "the yogi called Balaknath in the Nath tradition because he always appeared like a teenager"
- from AHM (2010)
  When I asked why some people referred to Sri Guru as Mahavatar Babaji, he said the word Mahavatar was coined much later by an enthusiastic writer who was not his direct disciple. “To all of us,” he said, “he is Sri Guru, and the mantra we use to invoke him is, ‘Sri Gurubhyo Namah.’ Anyone who chants that with attention and humility is immediately blessed by Sri Guru Babaji.”
- from TJC (2017)
  However, the great Rishis hold that consciousness is the primary core of all existence and that at the deepest level, it can change particles to waves or waves to particles at will. A completely tranquil mind, which the Vajrayāna Buddhists call the vacuous mind, is in tune with this core of all existence. A yogi, established in that state, can change the particles of his body to waves which become invisible to the organs of perception like the eyes etc. The yogi can then travel to other locations and convert back into visible particle based forms. ... This is not easy and only great beings like Sri Guru Babaji can practise this kind of disintegration and reintegration. To put it simply, dissolution of the body into its primary elements and re-gathering them at will to form the body again. Nothing to do with optical illusions performed on stage by illusionists.

Further sources

References of Lahiri's meetings with Sri Guru Babaji also in Lahiri's biography
see also the 'Further reading' section on the wikipedia topic page on Mahavatar Babaji

[3] - Some further info

Below follow some snippets of various collected information, without further qualification.

Mani or Manes is said by Rudolf Steiner to be the highest individuality, with Buddha, Zarathustra and Scythianos being his pupils.
Scythianos, "one of the greatest initiates of the Earth", was a teacher in the Atlantean Mystery School, and the leader of the Northern stream in the Postatlantean epoch
- see Schema FMC00.432A on Colchis Mysteries and Two streams of development#Note .5B3.5D - Scythianos
Master Hilarion inspired Light on the Path (in 1884) and was/is from Greece. H. Blavatsky wrote about him in her letters. In the Magus of Strovolos, Daskalos is quoted in a story:
The one I met is a great master .. he was Saint Paul, who in his present incarnation lives as Father Hilarion in the Sudan.
This information is also stated in Alice Bailey's 'Initiation human and solar' (1922).
'Man - forgotten fragments' states two of the highest masters remain hidden, and that the Himalayas is one of the main locations where masters reside. Blavatsky's visits to and meetings with the Masters took place there. Bardon had a picture of a master he seemingly referred to as Mahum Tah-Ta (confirmed by his son Lumir Bardon to have been the teacher of Franz Bardon). See also the quote from the 1930 book by Müller above. All these sources point to Tibet and the Himalayas.
Other Masters mentioned by some sources are:
- Master Serapis (Bey) only appears in Sinnett's letters and appears there to have a higher rank (letter by Master M. stating 'our beloved lord and chief whom you know under the name of S.'). Rudolf Steiner never mentions him by that name 'the venetian Master'
- Master Rakoczi (re Alice Bailey, who calls this an incarnation of Count Saint Germain)
- Alice Bailey also mentions a Djwal Khul (but is the only one doing so)

Speculation

Speculation about the Individuality of certain incarnated masters abounds, especially because they themselves gave no information. In most cases the various speculative sources and snippets of available information contradict or seem to contradict eachother.

Speculation about the Individuality of Franz Bardon
- He was known by the name Master Arion, and had a definite link with a teacher or master in Tibet (source: a.o. his son Lumir Bardon, and one of his key students). Just an example by means of illustration; one source speculates as follows:
  - Bardon signed letters by Master Arion or The Arion, and the latter translates freely as Hil-Arion.
  - Blavatsky was told (seemingly, no exact reference given - but it may exist) by Master Koot Hoomi by the end of the 19th century, that a master adept named Hilarion who had received trainings in Tibet, would soon be ascending to the White Lodge.
  - This last info is an interesting correlation that is linked to what is written about Bardon in the occult novel Frabato.

Speculation about the Individuality of Beinsa Douno
- see Beinsa Douno#Note .5B1.5D - Speculation about Individuality of Beinsa Douno

Related pages

Specifics

as well as

References and further reading

Edouard Schuré: The great initiates (1889)
Franz Hartmann: 'Die Meister der Weisheit'
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer: The Spiritual Leadership of Mankind (notes from Lectures given in 1947)
Herbert Wimbauer (see more about the Masters in his bibliography)
- Thematische Leitfäden für das Studium der Anthroposophie: VI Über die Meister
- XIII Über die Meister des Westens und die spirituelle Ökonomie (1984)
Background document on the Masters (in German): Extract from Europaer 2011-04
For more info see ao the anthrowiki and theosophy.wiki resources, as well as in the resources listed on the Hermann Schmiechen page.
Andreas Delor's website (in DE) has profiles with additional information about a number of masters (Manes/Parzival, Skythianos, etc)
- Ueber Meister, Bodhisattvas, Manus und Mondenlehrer
Sri M (1948-)
- Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master - A Yogi's Autobiography (2010) - abbreviated for references as 'AHM'
- The Journey Continues - A sequel to 'Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master' (2017) - abbreviated for references as 'TJC'

Specifics

Wilhelm Rath: 'The friend of God From the highlands' (1994 in EN, original in DE 1930 as 'Der Gottesfreund vom Oberland')