EVOLUTION OF THE GREAT INVOCATION

Evolution of The Great Invocation

… and about how The Great Invocation wording is presented
on the SouledOut.org website

Our Update of The Great Invocation is in order to be more

1. Universal
For people of all faiths and cultures to say together, in unison.

2. Inclusive
Now that gender words like "man" are no longer standard for the plural of men and women, we substituted the words "humanity" and "our." This honors more inclusiveness of various spiritual traditions, and the feminist point of view.

3. Unifying
There is a unified spirit of invocation by using the word "our," rather than just individual, directly signifying the group invocative nature and potency of The Great Invocation. In presenting it to people of wide beliefs and cultural backgrounds, polarizing resistances to the united voicing of the prayer came from different connotations of such words as "men," "Christ," and "little" (in reference to human will).

Since The Great Invocation has been called the Christ's Own Mantram, we are reminded that this use of the term Christ does not refer exclusively to the historical Christ, but to the universal Principle of Love-Wisdom, as inclusively embodied by the historical Christ; AND by all human units who respond to this energy and make it part of their own consciousness, who radiate its energies to others. The reason for changing it to say "May love increase on earth" is to invoke this quality ~ that of the Spiritual Hierarchy ~ in words based on the Christos principle, and wherein it can be voiced together by people of all faiths, in unison. "Forget not that the Hierarchy is the expression of the energy of love," Bailey tells us. (1)

And for this updated version, the last line from the original 1945 Great Invocation is said three times, with a slight change in the final repetition to lend triple empowerment to the stanza and thus to emphasize the planetary focus.

It is with these considerations that this version of The Great Invocation was revised by the creators of the SouledOut.org website. As a meditation group observing the major and lesser full moon festivals throughout the yearly cycles, because of our experiences in the larger world setting, we were impressed with a clear sensing that The Great Invocation needed to be updated, in order to share it in multicultural settings. The changes eventually made were evolved over 15 years, to the version presented here on the Internet. It has for this group of aspirants and servers stood the test of time since 1992.

The Tibetan on Changing the Words to The Great Invocation

The call to participate of all who can be reached advising them of the day of opportunity, mobilising them for a vast world effort to arouse afresh a spirit of good will, and calling for a united use of The Great Invocation on the day of The Wesak full moon. Every possible effort must be made by the workers in every county to increase the numbers of those who use this Invocation, and to familiarise the public with the ideals for which the New Group of World Servers stands. All whom you can reach in the countries of the world must be instructed and helped to spread the use of the Invocation in their own language, and with the wording that will make it acceptable, and a widespread effort must be made to organise its simultaneous use on the day of the May full moon. Those who use it must be instructed to say the words aloud, thus making a volume of sound of real potency, and they must say it with all the power of their wills behind it. It is the invocation of the "will to good" that is the objective of the Forces Who can aid at this time. This realisation is of paramount importance. (2)

Previous Generations of The Great Invocation

The Great Invocation was twice given out by Djwhal Khul by way of Alice Bailey’s writings prior to the rendition most people recognize. It was first introduced in 1936, prior to World War II, then an update came during the War in 1940, and the last update in 1945, just before the end of World War II. It has since been printed on millions of bookmarks and in the front of every Alice Bailey book published by Lucis Trust.

The Great Invocation is known as the "Invocation for Power and Light" in the archives of the Masters. In these archives, it has a symbol beside it which indicates the era or period it can be used, the Tibetan tells us. "It is interesting to us," he adds, "that the evolution of humanity is in line with the indicated timing."(3)

While the energies leading up to World War II were building to their climax, the Inner Government of the world (D. K.’s words) was working strenuously to confine the conflict between the Forces of Light and the Forces of Darkness to the mental plane, and to prevent its outbreak onto the physical. By 1936, however, it became apparent that the energies could not be contained on the plane of mind, and that the conflict would descend to the physical arena.

And in 1936, the Tibetan, through telepathic communication with Alice A. Bailey, released the first stanza (the Tibetan's term) of The Great Invocation.

[It is helpful to remember throughout the Tibetan’s teachings that the term "men" refers to the "thinking entity," to humanity as a whole ~ men, women and children ~ and not to the masculine sex exclusively. The word "men" derives from the Sanskrit term "Manes," the mind, the thinker.]

The Great Invocation (1936)

Let the Forces of Light bring illumination to mankind.
Let the Spirit of Peace be spread abroad.
Let men of goodwill everywhere meet in a spirit of cooperation.
May forgiveness on the part of all men be the keynote of this time.
Let power attend the effort of the Great Ones.
So let it be, and help us to do our part.

In the midst of converging forces, strife and conflict, the keynote of Forgiveness was proclaimed ~ the need to unite, and to remember that the souls of human units are ONE.

As the conflict escalated, the second stanza of The Great Invocation was released in 1940, and the Coming One was clearly and deliberately invoked.

The Great Invocation (1940)

Let the Lords of Liberation issue forth.
Let them bring succour to the sons of men.
Let the Rider from the Secret Place come forth,
And coming, save. Come forth, O Mighty One.

Let the souls of men awaken to the light.
And may they stand with massed intent.
Let the fiat of the Lord go forth: The end of woe has come!
Come forth, O Mighty One.
The hour of service of the saving force has now arrived.
Let it be spread abroad, O Mighty One.

Let Light and Love and Power and Death
Fulfill the purpose of the Coming One.
The WILL to save is here.
The LOVE to carry forth the work is widely spread abroad.
The ACTIVE AID of all who know the truth is also here.
Come forth, O Mighty One, and blend these three.
Construct a great defending wall.
The rule of evil NOW must end.

The inception of the United Nations occurred with the Declaration of the United Nations, signed by 26 states on January 1, 1942. The United Nations Conference on International Organization convened on April 25, 1945 in San Francisco, for five days right at the time of the Wesak. (That year the Taurus full moon fell on April 27.)

At this time the world catastrophe was winding down and drawing to its close. The Charter of the United Nations was signed on June 26 (exactly one month after the Gemini full moon of 1945, on May 26) and enacted on October 24, 1945, with the 51 signatures representing all sections of the planet.

An interesting sidelight to note is that Germany surrendered in World War II on May 7, right after the U.N. conference and the Wesak full moon, and Japan followed on September 9, a month after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This time in history yielded the climate of the world and of humanity in which the third stanza ~ which most usually think of as The Great Invocation ~ was released.

In a communication through Alice A. Bailey on April 17, 1945 the Tibetan gave the "new stanza" of The Great Invocation, the version currently still in use. In that important message, a year old prediction from a previous communication was re-stated, validating the Invocation's use and purpose:

I am preparing to present to you for wide distribution throughout the world, the last stanza of the Great Invocation ... I will give A.A.B. this stanza at the earliest possible moment; this will be conditioned by world affairs and by my understanding of a certain esoteric appropriateness in the setting of a time cycle. If plans mature as desired by the Hierarchy, the new stanza can receive distribution at the time of the Full Moon of June 1945, as far as the Occident is concerned, and considerably later for the Orient. (4)

And so it was that the "final" rendition of The Great Invocation, was given.

The Great Invocation (1945)

From the point of Light within the mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the Centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men –
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the Centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

The Tibetan asked his disciples to dwell on the phrase, "May Christ return to Earth." This return was not to be understood in its usual mystical Christian sense. What was referred to was the externalisation of what he termed the Hierarchy ~ that is, the senior disciples, initiates and Masters, in or out of incarnation, who are Custodians of the Plan for this world period. And by point of reference, the Tibetan had predicted the increasing externalization of the Hierarchy to begin its rollout in 1975.

Many believe that this externalization is going forward continuously through those initiates, disciples and human units who seek to embody the principles and energies of the Plan and Purpose, and who seek to create the climate in which the further emergence can take place.

The Great Invocation is a synthesis of meditation, prayer and affirmation. The term invocation means "calling down," "calling forth," "calling into." It is a request, a demand, an appeal to higher energies and intelligences. It involves all three: the mind, feeling and will natures. It is based on inner action, which is no less effective than outer action.

Credits for information and synthesis:

The collected volumes of writings by Alice A. Bailey;
© Lucis Publishing Co., 120 Wall St., 24th Floor, New York, NY 10005

"The Great Invocation" article by Frances Adams Moore,
reprinted from The Beacon, Lucis Press, May/June 1990 by
Meditation Group Inc., P. O. Box 566, Ojai, California 93024

SouledOut.org Links on The Great Invocation

Invoking the Divine~The Great Invocation

Holding the Vision~Verse by Verse

Spiritual Significance~Divine Intent

One with the Divine~Hookup to the Planetary Logos

World Invocation Day

Read other translations of The Great Invocation at

Lucis Trust

Musical video presentation of The Great Invocation

The University of Seven Rays

The Great Invocation ~ Formula for Electricity

Electricity and The Great Invocation