The Thrones are the supreme Powers of Self-giving and Sacrifice. We shall see presently the great part they played in the origin of our planetary system. The Seraphim (whose Chaldean name signifies Love) and the Cherubim (meaning Wisdom and Infinite Force) are so near to God that they directly reflect His Light, whose blinding and devastating splendor cannot be borne by the lesser Powers.

The Seraphim and the Cherubim transmit His Light to them, softened and condensed into radiant forms. They themselves assume these forms, suffused with Love and Wisdom. They plunge into the heart of the Divine Trinity and emerge brilliant as lightning, with the thoughts of God embodied in their spiritual essence. They do not labour, they shine; they do not create, they awaken; they are living Rays of the impenetrable Godhead.

TO SUM UP, the INFERIOR TRIAD (Angels, Archangels and Archai) is that of the Combative Powers, to whose lot the hardest labour falls, who have the earth for battle-field, and man for object.

The MIDDLE TRIAD (Virtues, Dominions and Principalities) is that of the Ordaining and Balancing Powers, who act upon the whole of the planetary system.

The SUPERIOR TRIAD (Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim) is that of the Radiating and Inspiring Powers, who act upon the whole Cosmos. They form a part of the so-called Divine Sphere, for they are essentially, like God Himself, above Time and Space, though they make God manifest in Time and Space.

In this vast Hierarchy, each order of Powers is influenced by those superior to it, and acts upon those below it, but not upon those above.

It should be noted that the spheres of activity of the Powers interpenetrate one another without intermingling, and that the conditions of Space and Time vary with each Triad of the Hierarchy.

The sphere of the Angels, Archangels and Archai, which comes immediately above man, and which man enters during sleep, is the astral sphere, also called the sphere of penetrability. Here reigns the fourth dimension; that is to say, beings can interpenetrate one