"The etheric body is a body composed entirely of lines of force, and of points where these lines of force cross each other, and thus form (in crossing) centers of energy. Where many such lines of force cross each other, you have a larger center of energy, and where great streams of energy meet and cross, as they do in the head and up the spine, you have seven major centers. These are seven such, plus twenty-nine lesser centers and forty-nine smaller centers, known to esotericists." (Esoteric Healing, p.17-72)

"The whole subject of the centers is dangerous if misunderstood; the centers constitute a menace when prematurely awakened, or unduly energized, and this entire subject can prove most dangerous to the curiosity-impelled man, and to the ignorant experimenter. The time is not yet ripe for the presentation of this subject in a fully co-ordinated manner; students are warned against publishing a clear correlated thesis on the subject as a result of their researches in my books. Nevertheless the true aspirant must be given the needed information." (The Rays and the Initiation, p.18-336/37)

"Much has been written and discussed anent the centers, and much mystery exists which has aroused the curiosity of the ignorant, and has tempted many to meddle with that which does not concern them. . . . I do not in any way intend to take up the subject from such an angle as to convey rules and information that will enable a man to vivify these centers and bring them into play. I sound here a solemn word of warning. Let a man apply himself to a life of high altruism, to a discipline that will refine and bring his lower vehicles into subjection, and to a strenuous endeavor to purify and control his sheaths. When he has done this and has both raised and stabilized his vibration, he will find that the development and functioning of the centers has pursued a parallel course, and that (apart from this active participation) the work has proceeded along the desired lines. Much danger and dire calamity attends the man who arouses these centers by unlawful methods, and who experiments with the fires of his body without the needed technical knowledge. He may, by his efforts, succeed in raising the fires and in intensifying the action of the centers, but he will pay the price of ignorance in the destruction of matter, in the burning of bodily or brain tissue, in the development of insanity, and in opening the door to currents and forces, undesirable and destructive. It is not the part of a coward, in these matters concerning the subjective life, to move with caution and with care; it is the part of discretion. The aspirant, therefore, has three things to do:
1. Purify, discipline and transmute his threefold lower nature.
2. Develop knowledge of himself, and equip his mental body by good deeds and thoughts.
3. Serve his race in utter self-abnegation.
In doing this he fulfills the law, he puts himself in the right condition for training, fits himself for the ultimate application of the Rod of Initiation, and thus minimizes the danger that attends the awakening of the fire." (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p.161/62)

"The centers in the human being deal fundamentally with the FIRE aspect in man, or with his divine spirit. They are definitely connected with the Monad, with the will aspect, with immortality, with existence, with the will to live, and with the inherent powers of the Spirit." (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p.165)

"The centers are formed entirely of streams of force, pouring down from the Ego (Soul), who transmits it from the Monad. In this we have the secret of the gradual vibratory quickening of the centers as the Ego first comes into control, or activity, and later (after initiation) the Monad, thus bringing about changes and increased vitality within these spheres of fire or of pure life force.
The centers, therefore, when functioning properly, form the "body of fire" which eventually is all that is left, first to man in the three worlds, and later to the Monad. . . . when the form is destroyed there is left this intangible spiritual body of fire, one pure flame, distinguished by seven brilliant centers of intenser burning. . . . We must disabuse our minds of the idea that these three centers are physical things. They are whirlpools of force that swirl etheric, astral and mental matter into activity of some kind." (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p.166/7)

"The evolution of the centers is a slow and gradual thing, and proceeds in ordered cycles varying according to the ray of a man's Monad." (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p.173)

"The centers in physical matter are recognized as being simply focal points of energy located on the etheric body, and having a definite use. This use is to act as transmitters of certain forms of energy "consciously" directed by the Ego or Self , with the intent of driving the physical body (which is not a principle) to fulfill egoic purposes." (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p.1155)

"Only one in a thousand aspirants is at the stage where he should begin to work with the energy in the centers to develop, and unfold more slowly, and therefore, more safely. Unfold they inevitably will, and the slower and safer method is (in the vast majority of cases), the more rapid. Premature unfoldment involves much loss of time, and carries with it often the seeds of prolonged trouble." (A Treatise on White Magic, p.590)

"I teach no mode of awakening the centers, because right impulse, steady reaction to higher impulsions, and the practical recognition of the sources of inspiration, will automatically and safely swing the centers into needed and appropriate activity. This is the sound method of development. It is slower, but leads to no premature development, and produces a rounded unfoldment; it enables the aspirant to become truly the Observer and to know with surety what he is doing; it brings the centers, one by one, to a point of spiritual responsiveness, and then establishes the ordered and cyclical rhythm of a controlled lower nature." (Glamour: A World Problem, p. 261/2)

"If the aspirant seeks but spiritual development, if he but aims at sincerity of purpose, and at compassionate altruism, if he, with serene application, concentrates on the subjugation of the emotional body, and the enlargement of the mental, and cultivates the habit of abstract thinking, the desired results upon the centers will be produced from necessity, and danger will be eliminated." (Letters on Occult Meditation, p. 77)

"You will observe that the subject (the development of the centers) really becomes more abstruse, the longer it is studied." (Letters on Occult Meditation, p. 80)

"I would also beg you to realize five facts:
1. That undeveloped men are energized and galvanized into outer activity through the medium of the three centers below the diaphragm.
2. That average man is beginning to function primarily through the solar plexus center, and to use it as a transferring center of force for energies which must be carried from below the diaphragm to above the diaphragm.
3. That the world aspirants are slowly being energized and controlled by the forces which are being transferred from the centers below the diaphragm, to the throat center, and from the soul to the throat center. This leads to creative activity of some kind.
4. That the world disciples are beginning to be governed and controlled by the throat and heart centers, and are also beginning to transfer the forces which have been raised to the heart and the throat, to the ajna center between the eyebrows, in the middle of the forehead. When this has been done, the man is then an integrated personality. The soul also stimulates the ajna center.
5. That the more advanced disciples and world initiates, are also energized from two sources: by means of the energies raised up and lifted into the head from all centers of the body, and by those that pour into the human frame from the soul, via the highest center at the top of the head.
The whole process is, as you can see, one of development, use and transference, as in the case in all evolutionary development." (Esoteric Psychology, Vol.II, p. 521/2)

"In both the astral and mental sheaths there exist the counterparts of the centers as found in the physical body." (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 58)

"The three major centers in the body of the planetary Logos are:
The head center - Shamballa - 1st ray of Will.
The heart center - Hierarchy - 2nd Ray of Love-Wisdom.
The throat center - Humanity - 3rd Ray of Active Intelligence.

The impact of the new incoming energies upon Humanity will result from a planned redirection. This will bring in a era of greatly enhanced creative activity; it will be an activity as has never been seen before, and which will express itself in every department of human living." (The Rays and the Initiations, p. 551/2)