The earliest and simplest personality theories are type theories: All people are
divided into a few categories based on some classificatory principle, such as
physique, body fluids, or behavior. In what is probably the oldest type theory
of personality, certain passages in the Hindu scripture Satapatha Brahmana
( Müller, 1897) present a typology that is based on the sacred and magical
number seven, the seven primeval emanations, and the sevenfold constitution
of man. The seven primeval emanations came to figure prominently in the
conception of the seven rays of modern theosophy. Helena Petrovna Blavat-
sky, founder of the Theosophical Society (see Box 1-1) seems to have been
the first to use the phrase "the seven rays" ( The Secret Doctrine, quoted in
Wood, 1952, p. 2). The idea of the seven rays was elaborated considerably by
theosophical writers who followed Blavatsky, such as Bailey ( 1936), Hodson
( 1956), and Wood ( 1952). It was also in Theosophy that a number became
associated with each ray or governing principle and, hence, with all their
"lower" manifestations, including types of people. In this conceptualization,
personality turns into a type of mystical numerology of the cosmic determi-
nants of human lives. Godhead, the One, becomes the Three (the Trinity),
which in turn becomes the Seven: The three higher principles, Atma (1),
Buddhi (2), and Manas (3), manifest themselves on the lower levels of
existence as the three lower principles, Sattva (5), or natural law, Rajas (6),
or natural energy, and Tamas (7), or matter. The two sets of three are united

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