The state of a spin-assembly of arbitrary
J
, undergoing magnetic resonance, is characterized by the multipole components p
q
k
of the instantaneous spin-polarization which describe spin-orientation (
k
= 1), spin-alinement (
k
= 2), etc. Equations of motion analogous to Bloch’s equations (
k
= 1) are set up for the multipole components of different
k
, introducing terms which describe phenomenologically (
a
) the pumping of the longitudinal multipole components (
q
= 0), and (
b
) the independent but anisotropic relaxation of multipole components of different
k
. Steady-state solutions are obtained. In particular, the slow-passage magnetic resonance functions for the alinement components, which involve three relaxation times, are calculated explicitly. For the particular case of isotropic relaxation, these resonance functions reduce to the form originally derived for optical double resonance for a
J
= 1 assembly. It is emphasized that the damping constant which is involved is that for alinement.
