(Excerpted from the esoteric Lexicon)

To a great extent, until now humanity has demonstrated a need for symbols that impel it to tread evolutionary paths and to achieve subtle realizations.  Although humanity often attaches itself to this formal manifestation, forgetting the essence, the Hierarchies in charge of its formation and instruction (see HIERARCHY OF INSTRUCTION), have always used the projection of images of beings to which humanity can give respect and reverence, as a means of overcoming limitations inherent in the terrestrial bodies, limitations which may continue to exist even while the human inner consciousness knows reality and has overcome them. The Apparitions of the Virgin are instruments for the connection of humanity with the state of the original purity of matter.  Authentic visionaries channel messages of peace for humanity and through the devotion of souls during the apparition the energy of the Virgin can work spiritually in the planet and liberate it from many negative burdens which could represent for nations and peoples an impediment for their evolution. They occur in this way because the symbol of the Virgin veils an aspect of the manifestation of life on the planet and is in attunement with the intraterrestrial centers (see INTERTERRESTRIAL CENTER).  This is understandable for those individuals who are tied to material density and who are unable to directly capture the truth and who need to draw closer to the world of spirit.  Therefore, it is important to emphasize that when the image of the Virgin is projected either in the subtle planes or on the material level, the Hierarchies are presenting, not the figure of a person, but of a universal and cosmic symbol which can be contacted in different ways – the more that the human consciousness is closer to the Source, the more interiorized it will become.