This memo discusses the equations of motion used to describe multilevel molecular excitation induced by Raman transitions. These equations are based upon the time-dependent Schroedinger equation expressed in a basis of molecular energy states. A partition of these states is made into two sets, those that are far from resonance (and hence unpopulated) and those that are close to resonance, either by one-photon transition or two-photon (Raman) processes. By adiabatic elimination an effective Schroedinger equation is obtained for the resonance states alone. The effective Hamiltonian is expressible in terms of a polarizibility operator.