FOUNDATIONS AT THE PERIPHERY:

RUDOLF STEINERS OBSERVATIONS ON STAR KNOWLEDGE

AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH

Volume I
To 1915

R.S.W.Bobbette
 2005

487 East Line Rd., R.R.#2 Gore Bay, Ont.

705-282-3398

INTRODUCTION

The following summary of Dr. Steiners observations is begun because I can find it
nowhere else so I intend to organize, at first chronologically, information that can aid
in outlining both general principles and specific relationships of stars, sun, planets and
moon with earth and man. As a detailed research project this work will do little for people
without at least a general grasp of Dr. Steiners view of solar system evolution and the
consequent relationships between the heavenly bodies. Without this, many of his
statements are quite unintelligible. I will therefore add explanatory contexts that seem
necessary or useful as the observations progress. Within the listing of quotes, these will
be in {bracketed italics}. Occasionally, I have only indicated (rather than quoted fully)
repetitive facts; and in some cases of lengthy quotes that are more or less repetitive, I
have just given summaries or attempted precis. These passages are presented in
[bracketed boldface].
I have tried to limit myself to the most direct references of celestial phenomena or
stages of human star-knowledge, with some purely methodological observations that
qualify the nature of the information given. I have also included some representative
details on aspects often claimed to be susceptible to astrological influences, but evidently
not by Steiner. The interminable s that would be part of an extractive work like this
have been omitted, with discontinuous paragraphs separated by an empty line. I have
also tried to reference the context of each passage, which is why a few paragraphs may
often be referenced to several pages of text. Any emphasis within quoted texts, {except
bracketed italics as noted above}, are Steiners.
I was first introduced to Dr. Steiners work at the farm of Mike and Dorothee
Chambers near Elmvale, Ontario. The collection of books required for this type of work
was largely acquired from Tri-fold Books, of Guelph Ontario, with important acquisitions
from Garber Communications, Blauvelt, New York State. I feel much gratitude and
encouragement to the task due to the generous work of Fred Paddock and the staff of the
Rudolf Steiner Library at Ghent, New York. The incorporation of many unpublished and
out-of-print quotes is due to their efforts. I would also like to thank James Stewart and his
helpers at the Rudolf Steiner Archive (elib.com), and also Sheila Pickerill, for providing
several dozen pertinent lectures in electronic format.
Those wishing to review the earliest star-knowledge statements Ive found to date,
should skip the following passages and go directly to 1904. However if you are little
familiar with Steiners scientific view, or need to know certain scientific prerequisites, I
would like to bring forward a few statements characteristic of Steiners view of the nature
of knowledge.
 1892
{Rebuttal of Kantian view; view of necessary conditions for the start of knowledge.}
The outcome of what follows is that truth is not, as is usually assumed, an ideal
reflection of something real, but is a product of the human spirit, created by an activity
which is free; this product would exist nowhere if we did not create it ourselves. The
object of knowledge is not to repeat in conceptual form something which already exists,
but rather to create a completely new sphere, which when combined with the world given
to our senses constitutes complete reality. Thus mans highest activity, his spiritual
creativeness, is an organic part of the universal world-process. The world-process should
not be considered a complete, enclosed totality without this activity. Man is not a passive
onlooker in relation to evolution, merely repeating in mental pictures cosmic events
taking place without his participation; he is the active co-creator of the world-process,
and cognition is the most perfect link in the organism of the universe. (Truth and
Knowledge, 1981, pp.11-12)

It is hoped in this essay to lay a foundation for overcoming the subjectivism inherent
in all theories of knowledge based on Kants philosophy. Indeed, I believe I have
achieved this by showing that the subjective form in which the picture of the world
presents itself to us in the act of cognition - prior to any scientific explanation of it - is
merely a necessary transitional stage which is overcome in the very process of
knowledge. In fact the experience which posivitism and neo-Kantianism advance as the
one and only certainty is just the most subjective one of all. (Truth and Knowledge,
1981, pp.15-16)

As early as 1792 G.E.Schulze maintained in his Aenesidemus that all our knowledge
consists of mere representations , and that we can never go beyond our representations.
Schopenhauer, with a characteristic philosophical fervor, puts forward the view that the
enduring achievement of Kantian philosophy is the principle that the world is my
representation . (Truth and Knowledge, 1981, pp.39)

Even if these different assertions were correct, or led to a correct formulation of the
problem, the place to discuss them is definitely not at the beginning of a theory of
knowledge. For they all represent at the outset a quite specific insight into the sphere of
knowledge. To say that my knowledge extends to begin with only as far as my
representations, is to express a quite definite judgment about cognition. In this sentence I
add a predicate to the world given to me, namely, its existence in the form of
representation. But how do I know, prior to all knowledge, that the things given to me are
representations?
The physicist who observes phenomena that occur in our environment when, for
instance, we perceive a sound, is led to conclude that these phenomena have not the
slightest resemblance to what we perceive as sound. Out there in the space surrounding
us, nothing is to be found except vibrations of material bodies and of air, It is concluded
from this that what we ordinarily call sound or tone is solely a subjective reaction of our
organism to those wave-like movements. Likewise it is found that light, color and heat
are something purely subjective.
These considerations of the physicist are amplified by those of the psycho-physicist
in the form of a science of specific sense-energies. J. Muller has shown that each sense
can be affected only in a characteristic manner which is conditioned by its structure, so
that it always reacts in the same way to any external stimulus. If the optic nerve is
stimulated, there is a sensation of light, whether the stimulus is in the form of pressure,
electric current, or light. On the other hand, the same external phenomenon produces
quite different sensations, according to which sense organ transmits it. This leads to the
conclusion that there is only one kind of phenomenon in the external world, namely
motion, and that the many aspects of the world which we perceive derive essentially from
the reaction of our senses to this phenomenon. According to this view, we do not perceive
the external world itself, but merely subjective sensations which it releases in us.
If this line of thought is correct and is pursued to its conclusion, it must then be
admitted that our consciousness does not contain the slightest element of what could be
called external existence. (Truth and Knowledge, 1981, pp.39-44)

The view which accepts the reality of our directly given picture of the world as
certain and beyond doubt, is usually called nave realism. The opposite view, which
regards this world-picture as merely the content of our consciousness, is called
transcendental idealism. (Truth and Knowledge, 1981, pg.46)

At the starting point of a theory of knowledge, the concept is only the initial relation
between cognition and world-content.
This directly given world-content includes everything that enters our experience in
the widest sense: sensations, perceptions, opinions, feelings, deeds, pictures of dreams
and imaginations, representations, concepts and ideas.
Illusions and hallucinations too, at this stage are equal to the rest of the world-
content. For their relation to other perceptions can be revealed only through observation
based on cognition. Truth and Knowledge, 1981, pg. 56)

Concepts and ideas, therefor, comprise a part of the given and at the same time lead
beyond it. This makes it possible to define what other activity is concerned in attaining
knowledge.
For proof presupposes thinking. One may be able to prove a particular fact, but one
can never prove proof as such. We can only describe what a proof is. In logic, all theory
is pure empiricism; in the science of logic there is only observation. But when we want to
know something other than thinking, we can do so only with the help of thinking; this
means that thinking has to approach something given and transform its chaotic
relationship with the world-picture into a systematic one. All knowledge depends on
mans establishing a correct relationship between two or more elements of reality, and
comprehending the result of this.
There is no doubt that many of our attempts to grasp things by means of thinking,
fail.. (Truth and Knowledge, 1981, pp. 64-65)

The activity of thinking is only a formal one in the up-building of our scientific
world-picture, and from this it follows that no cognition can have a content which is a
priori, in that it is established prior to observation (thinking divorced from the given);
rather must the content be acquired wholly through observation. In this sense all our
knowledge is empirical. Nor is it possible to see how this could be otherwise.
 We have established that the nature of the activity of cognition is to permeate the
given world-picture with concepts and ideas by means of thinking. What follows from
this fact? If the directly given were a totality, complete in itself, then such an elaboration
of it by means of cognition would be both impossible and unnecessary. We should then
simply accept the given as it is, and would be satisfied with it in that form. The act of
cognition is possible only because the given contains something hidden; this hidden does
not appear as long as we consider only its immediate aspect; the hidden aspect only
reveals itself through the order that thinking brings into the given. In other words, what
the given appears to be before it has been elaborated by thinking, is not its full totality.
(Truth and Knowledge, 1981, pp.67-70)

1895
.I believe that true education accepts the greatness of a personality and corrects
small errors, or brings incompleted thoughts to conclusion. (Friedrich Nietzsche -
Fighter for Freedom, 1955,pg.120)

{ Dr. Steiner challenges deep assumptions that have spread through the popular
scientific education as if they were facts. One of these is the assumption that life has been
dominated by what is reflected in the fossil rocks, and another is that the dead physical
and chemical forces active now were instrumental in stimulating themselves into life.
According to Steiners view, the lifeless is preceded by the living, and life has access to a
vast array of forms capable of evolution and metamorphosis, appropriate to conditions.
Steiner also defines the several spiritual worlds that interpenetrate, support, destroy and
anticipate reality, through the activity of their Beings. In some ways it is the past history
of vast spiritual relationships that sets the stellar influences, in others it is future goals
and incipient needs of the Beings involved in both specific and general planetary
evolution.
Two of the principle and persistent confusions with Steiners star-knowledge are his
double meanings for the terms planet and star. On the one hand, the double meaning of
the Evolutionary Planet as opposed to the existing planets, has been largely clarified by
writing (in many instances) the evolutionary stages with capitals, and naming them:
Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth (sometimes as Mars-Mercury), Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan.
These planets have to be understood as evolutionary reincarnations of the solar system,
each attaining successive densification as the normal goal, until the middle of the Earth
evolution; which goal then reascends into the spiritual for succeeding evolutions. Each
reincarnated system includes brief recapitulations of previous stages similar to embryo
recapitulations in mammals and man, these leaving an embodiment of the former
conditions co-existing with the normal evolution of the stage in question. This massive
evolutionary view, as distant as it may appear, is what lays the framework for the
workings and qualities of the starry whole. Current planets are usually typed with the
lower-case, with the sun being frequently called both a Planet and a planet, although
Steiner uses it to define a fixed star. The context of all quotes is hopefully sufficient to
figure out what star or planet Steiner is talking about, especially as gathered here,
chronologically and in sufficient number. But readers should be aware of the potential for
confusion if this work is superficially read.
Another confusion for the modern mind is Steiners use of the terms earth, water, air
and fire as words to describe solid, liquid, gaseous and pre-gaseous states of matter.
When used like this these words represent the ancient use of the word elements; so the
way these words are employed, whether as elements (see 26 Nov. 1906 for a typical
example), or as what we call water or air today, must be carefully discerned. Some
other potentially confusing perspectives, none of which can be open-mindedly disproved
by modern direct factual scientific evidence, are summarized below:

1) The present solar system is the fourth incarnation of a pattern of seven great
cycles or evolutionary planets, called respectively (old) Saturn, (old) Sun, (old)
Moon, Earth, (future) Jupiter, (future) Venus, and (future) Vulcan. The speed of
evolution slows to the point when the inception of human self-consciousness
occurs, during late Atlantean times of our Earth, and is now speeding up again.
2) Mankind has been present at various evolutionary stages throughout this pattern,
and life in general is able to persist and evolve forms in states of purely fiery and
gaseous conditions.
3) The Zodiac is the creator of and exists beyond the physical existence of the
 evolutionary planets, this fact being reflected in the twelve daylight and twelve
night-time hours.
4) Civilization has epochs related to the occurrence of the vernal sun in different
constellations of the Zodiac. The governance of each sign was revised to a then-
consistent 2,160 years, with the sun entering Aries about 747B.C. and entering
Pisces about 1413A.D. (see 3 & 8 Oct. 1905, June 1906, 25 Aug. 1906, 4 Sept.
1906)
5) Sun, moon and earth were united in one body, but the sun had too fast, too
dissolving a pace of evolution, so it had to depart the earth and moon. (see 1904)
6) Sometime after the sun left the earth+moon, Mars penetrated the fiery, gaseous
mass and left astral iron. Mercury left etheric mercury in mid-Atlantean times;
thus occultists sometimes designate the evolutionary planet Earth, as Mars -
Mercury. This had been incorporated into the naming of the days of the week.
(see 1 & 28 Oct. 1905, June, 1906, 30 Aug. 1906)
7) The moon departed because it had a too hardening, mummifying effect on the
early albumin; but its leaving also weakened the reproductive forces of the earth
and caused the sexes to arise. (see 1904, 31 Aug. 1906)
8) The movements of sun, earth and planets are actually spirals within spirals.
9) Radioactivity has only existed for a few thousand years because the Earth-
evolution is on the decaying side. Rocks were formerly softer and more alive;
they are progressively hardening and crumbling, including nuclear decay.}

1901
In the first decade of the sixteenth century, at Castle Heilsberg in Prussia, the
scientific genius of Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) is erecting an edifice of ideas which
will compel men in succeeding epochs to look up to the starry heavens with conceptions
different from those which their ancestors had in antiquity and in the Middle Ages. To the
latter, the earth was a dwelling-place resting at the center of the universe. The stars, on
the other hand, were for them entities of a perfect nature, the movement of which
proceeded in circles because the circle is the image of perfection. -In what the stars
showed to the human senses one saw something belonging directly to the soul or the
spirit. The objects and events of the earth spoke one language to man; another language
was spoken by the shining stars which, in the pure ether beyond the moon, seemed to be a
spiritual being that filled space. Nicolas of Cusa had already formed different ideas.
Through Copernicus the earth became for man a fellow creation among the other
heavenly bodies, a star that moved like others Everything in earth which appeared to man
as being different, he could now attribute only to the fact that it is his dwelling-place. He
was compelled to stop thinking in different ways about the phenomena of this earth and
about those of the remainder of the universe. His sensory world had expanded into
furthest space. What reached his eye from the ether he now had to accept as belonging to
the sensory world, like the things of the earth. He could no longer seek the spirit in the
ether in a sensory fashion.
All who henceforth strove for higher cognition had to come to terms with this
expanded sensory world. In earlier centuries, the meditating spirit of man had stood
before another world of facts. Now it was given a new task. It was no longer the things of
this earth alone which could express their nature out of the interior of man. This interior
had to enfold the spirit of a sensory world, which fills the spatial universe everywhere in
an identical fashion. -It was such a task that confronted the thinker from Nola, Philotheo
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600). The senses have conquered the spatial universe for
themselves; now the spirit is no longer to be found in space. Thus man was directed from
outside to seek the spirit henceforth only where, on the basis of deep inner experiences, it
had been sought by the glorious thinkers who have been discussed in the preceding
expositions. These thinkers draw out of themselves a conception of the world to which
men later are to be compelled by a more advanced natural science. The sun of ideas
which later is to fall upon a new conception of nature, with them is still beneath the
horizon, but its light already appears as a dawn in a time when mens thoughts about
nature are still enveloped in the darkness of night. -For the purposes of science the
sixteenth century gave the heavens to that world of the senses to which they rightfully
belong; up to the end of the nineteenth century this science had progressed so far that
from among the phenomena of plant, animal , and human life also it could give to the
world of sensory facts what belongs to it. Neither up in the ether nor in the development
of living organisms can this science henceforth look for anything but factual-sensory
processes. Spiritual processes, as facts, are the results of different functions of an
organism; the spirit of the world does not exist in a material manner, but only in a
spiritual manner. The soul of man is a sum of processes in which the spirit appears most
immediately as a fact. But it is only in man that the spirit exists in the form of such a soul.
And to seek the spirit in the form of a soul elsewhere than in man, to think that other
beings are endowed with a soul like man, is to misunderstand the spirit; it is to commit
the most grievous sin against the spirit. One who does this, only shows that he has not
experienced the spirit itself within him; he has only experienced the external
manifestation of the spirit that holds sway in him: that is, the soul. But this is just as if
somebody were to mistake a circle drawn in pencil for the true mathematical-ideal circle.
One who does not experience within himself anything but the soul-form of the spirit,
feels impelled to assume such a soul-form also in non-human things, in order not to stop
at gross sensory materiality. Instead of thinking of the primordial foundations of the
world as spirit, he thinks of it as a world soul, and assumes a general animation of
nature. (Mysticism at the Dawn of the Modern Age, pp.220-224)

1904

26 May 1904
I would like to begin by clarifying the position of theosophical cosmology in relation
to modern science and its methods. Some could say: look at the advances our
astronomers have made; we can attribute that to the telescopes, the mathematical and
photographic methods that have given us knowledge of distant stars. Present day science
with its thorough methods seems in their opinion to be the only reliable source of
knowledge about the evolution of the world system. They feel they have the right to
ridicule whatever is said from the other side concerning this subject. Many an astronomer
will object: What you theosophists tell us about astronomy is ancient wisdom that the
Chaldeans or Veden priests taught and that belongs to the oldest stores of wisdom that
humanity possesses; but what meaning can what was said thousands of years ago have
when it is only since Copernicus that astronomy has acquired a relatively firm basis.
Therefore, what Blavatsky says in The Secret Doctrine seems only to contradict what
our telescopes and so forth make clear to us astronomers. But the theosophist does not
need to contradict what the astronomer claims. It isn't necessary, although there are
theosophists who think they must fight against present day astronomy in order to make
room for their own teaching. I know very well that the leaders of the theosophical
movement think they can instruct astronomers. I would like to illustrate the theosophists'
[correct] attitude in respect to astronomers with one simple example.
Take a poet whose work gives us pleasure. This poet may find a biographer who will
try to explain the inner spiritual aspects of the poet's being. There is, however, another
possibility the physiological, the scientific way. Let's say that a natural scientist studies
the poet. He will only take into consideration the poet's physiological and physiognomic
characteristics; he studies him from the natural scientific point of view, and will tell us
what he can see and combine with a natural scientific understanding. We as theosophists
would say that this investigator describes the poet from the standpoint of the physical
plane. He won't say a word about what we call the poet's biography the soul-spiritual
aspect. So we would have two coexisting ways of describing the poet, which do not need
to contradict each other at all. Why shouldn't the natural scientific and the soul-spiritual
coexist and each be relevant in its own way? One doesn't have to contradict the other.
It is the same with natural scientific cosmology, with what our astronomers tell us
about the structure of the world and the evolution of the world system. They will say
what their physical senses reveal to them. Alongside this, however, the soul-spiritual way
of looking at things is possible, and when we look at it this way, we will never collide
with astronomy; on the contrary, both ways of thinking will sometimes support each
other. When, for example, scientific brain physiology was far less advanced than it is
now, there were authors who wrote biographies of important people. The astronomer
cannot therefore object that that the esoteric way of thinking is antiquated and impossible
just because Copernicus gave astronomy a new basis. The esoteric sources are completely
different; they existed long before the eye learned to observe the heavens through
telescopes and before the stars could be photographed. Copernican and esoteric research
have quite different things to say; and the force of the one in the human soul is not
dependent on the other. The force that gives us information about the soul-spiritual
aspects goes so far back that no historian can tell us when this way of describing the
world structure began. It is not possible to discover how the spiritual leaders came upon
these esoteric views. (Theosophic/Esoteric Cosmology, n.d.,elib lectures, 1 pg.2)

21 June 1904
Now Plato looked upon mathematical science as a means of training for life in the
World of Ideas emancipated from sense-perception. The mathematical images hover over
the border-line between the material and the purely spiritual World. Let us think about the
circle; we do not think of any special material circle which perhaps has been drawn on
paper, but we think of any and every circle which may be represented or met with in
Nature. So it is in the case of all mathematical pictures. They relate to the sense-
perceptible, but they are not exhaustively contained in it. It is not the material circle
which teaches me the laws of the circle; it is the ideal circle existing only in my mind and
of which the concrete form is a mere representation. The essential property of
mathematical perception is this: that a single sense-perceptible form leads me beyond
itself; it can only be for me a representation of a comprehensive spiritual fact.
We should consider what eminent persons have said about the relation of
mathematics to natural science. Kant and many others like him, for example, have said
that there is as much of true science as there is mathematics in our knowledge of Nature.
This implies nothing else than that by reducing to mathematical formulae all natural
phenomena, a science is obtained transcending sense-perception - a science which,
although expressed through sense-perception, is visualised in the spirit. I have visualised
the working of a machine only after I have reduced it to mathematical formulae. To
express by such formulae the processes presented to the senses is the ideal of mechanics
and physics and is increasingly becoming the ideal of chemistry.
 But it is only that which exists in space and time and has extension in this sense,
which may be thus mathematically expressed. As soon as we rise to the higher worlds
where it is not only in this sense that Extension must be understood, the science of
Mathematics itself fails to afford any immediate expression. But the method of
perception which underlies mathematical science must not be lost. We must attain the
faculty to speak of the realms of Life and Soul, etc., quite as independently of the
particular objective entity, as we are able to speak of the circle independently of the
particular circle drawn upon paper.
What I can state in terms of Euclid about a circle, a triangle or about the relations of
numbers, is within the field of the finite, it is capable of construction in a sense-
perceptible manner. This is no longer possible with the Differential Calculus with which
Newton and Leibnitz taught us to reckon. For sense-perception, the Differential is but a
point, a zero. For spiritual comprehension, however, the point becomes alive, the zero
becomes an active Cause. Thus, for our spiritual perception, Space itself is called to life.
Materially perceived, all its points, its infinitesimally small parts, are dead; if, however,
we perceive these points as differential magnitudes, an inner life awakens in the dead
side-by-side. Extension itself becomes the creation of the extensionless. Thus did life
flow into Natural Science through Infinitesimal Calculus. The realm of the senses is led
back to the point of the supersensible.
In this way important indications have been set for Occultism. Even when
mathematical thought ventures beyond the limits of sense-perception, it yet retains the
strictness and sureness of true thought control. Even if errors do creep in, in this field,
they will never act so misleadingly as do the undisciplined thoughts of the non-
mathematical student when he penetrates into the realms of the supersensible.
Plato and the Gnostics only recognised in mathematical science a good means of
education, and no more than this is here implied about the mathematics of the infinitely
small; nevertheless to the Occultist it does present itself as a good educational means. It
teaches him to effect a strict mental self-education where sense-perceptions are no longer
there to control his wrong associations of ideas.
When the Occultist, who starts from a point of view like that of Plato, calls for
research in the mathematical spirit, he can easily be misunderstood. It might be objected
that he overrates the mathematical spirit. This is not the case. Such an overrating rather
exists on the part of those who admit exact knowledge only to the extent to which
mathematical science reaches. There are students of natural science at the present time
who reject as not being scientific in the full sense of the word any statement which cannot
be expressed in numbers or figures. For them vague faith begins where mathematics end;
and according to them, all right to claim objective knowledge ceases at this point. It is
precisely those who oppose this overrating of mathematics itself who can most
thoroughly value the true enlightened research which advances in the spirit of
mathematics even where mathematical science itself ceases. For in its direct meaning
mathematical science after all has only to do with what is quantitative; where the
qualitative begins, there its domain ends.
The point is, however, that we should also be able to research (in the exact sense of
the word) in the domain of the qualitative itself.
Just as the mathematician builds the shapes of iron into machines according to
mathematical laws, so does the Occultist shape life and soul in the world according to the
laws of these realms which he has understood in the spirit of mathematical science. The
mathematician is led back to real life through his mathematical laws; the Occultist no less
through his laws. (Mathematics and Occultism, 1928, Anthroposophical Movement, Vol.
V, #28, pp. 218-221)

14 Oct. 1904
About the eighth century B.C., a very important epoch sets in as regards these
Beings. If you think of the culture-epochs of our fifth root-race of the ancient Veda
culture, then of the ancient Persian culture, of the Chaldean-Egyptian culture, if you think
even of the time of the Druid culture, you will find that an objective, dispassionate
science of knowledge did not exist. It first emerged at the dawn of the fourth culture-
epoch, which one can place in about the eighth century B.C. With it there dawned an
objective knowledge, completely detached from all the rest of the contents of the human
mind. A Chaldean priest who cultivated astronomy still sought to fathom the purposes of
the rulership of the world; and this can also be said of the Egyptian and Druid priests;
they sought to acquire insight into the purposes of the world-ruler. A purely intellectual
knowledge first dawned in Greece. This intellectual knowledge had been prepared step by
step, and emerged, bound up with the rest of human activity, under the influence of the
Beings I have mentioned; it was fully released in the fourth culture-epoch of the fifth
root-race. Those who were initiated in the Mysteries of that time, confronted by the
external wisdom, looked upon the ancient wisdom, which had formerly been at the
disposal of mankind, as something lost, something which men must seek to regain.
Now there was a particular way of describing the point of time in which this
dispassionate, dry wisdom separated itself from the all-embracing primeval wisdom. In
the eighth century B.C., the passage of the sun through the sign of the Ram, which then
took place, was experienced as the repetition of an earlier passage through the same sign
thousands of years previously. It is well known that the sun moves forward through the
whole of the zodiac, through the Ram, the Bull, the Twins, through Cancer, the Lion, the
Virgin and so on, so that it has already passed through the Ram many times. The last time
it had passed through the Ram, roan was in possession of a knowledge united with love,
and thereby of the primeval wisdom. This primeval wisdom had now been lost, and had
given place to a culture of external wisdom. The priests of the Greek. Mysteries
expressed this whole process in its occult significance through the profound symbol of
the Argonaut saga, in which the ram is the symbol of the union of love and knowledge.
(The Argonaut Saga and the Odyssey, elib,com/Lectures)

17 Oct. 1904
It is implicit in evolution that the currents in the universe do not develop with equal
speed. Some must flow in advance, others catch up later. Because certain streams of
evolution remain behind, conflicting interests arise in the world. This is a very important
occult law. Theosophical literature describes certain ascending and descending phases of
evolution. There are seven planetary evolutions, each with 49 conditions, thus, 343
conditions. These approximately divided into half, bring us to the middle of the Atlantean
Epoch (Fourth Root Race, 4th phase (physical form), Fourth Round (mineral kingdom),
Fourth planetary evolution (waking condition). The ascent begins with the intervention of
the Luciferic principle. During the descent, evolution slows down, but during the re-
ascent its speed continually increases. This acceleration of development does not
however apply to the whole physical plane, but only to individual entities.
The Lords of Wisdom were at first involved in an ascending evolution; the middle of
the Atlantean epoch represented what was to them an apex. In respect of Love (Budhi),
the higher beings are only at the beginning. They instil Love into the macrocosm but in
respect of Love they are in the descending line, in the slowing-off stage; on the other
hand, the Lords of the Luciferic principle are going through their ascending evolution.
That is why intellectuality is increasing very rapidly but ennoblement through Love is
proceeding very slowly.
Thus two streams must always flow into one another, and through the
interpenetration of two streams, perfect in themselves, arises relative evil. In the world
there is only relative Good and relative Evil. Jesus says to his disciples: Wherefore
callest thou me good? None is good save the Father. Nothing in the world is good save
the Primal Principle of the Father. (Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl. typescript,
pp.1/3-1/4)

22 Oct. 1904
If we think of the different beings in the universe we can again divide them into
three kinds:
1) Those in whom Form is predominant over Life and Consciousness;
2) Those in whom Consciousness is predominant over Form and Life;
3) Those in whom Form, Life and Consciousness are equally balanced.
The beings in whom Consciousness predominates are the Dhyanis; they have a
mighty Consciousness.
Beings in whom Consciousness, Life and Form are equally balanced are called in
esoteric parlance, Substances.
Beings in whom Form predominates are Elemental beings.
In the Substances there is a certain connection between the Dhyanis and the
Elemental beings. Man was in the condition of the Substances when he emerged from
the condition of the Elemental beings, and united with the soul.. Men at that time were
still only models, forms; they were luminous globes, surrounded by their souls. In the
middle of the Lemurian race, man became Substance. He has now transcended the
grade of Substance and is on the way to Dhyanic development. Esotericism calls the
being who in the Lemurian time was ready to be taken possession of by man: the Human
Being.
We now ask: Of what are these three kinds of beings capable?
Those in whom Consciousness predominates have a their own Form consciousness
which is more all-embracing than their own Life, their own Form. Therefore, they can
exercise power over other lives and other forms. In Christian Esotericism these beings are
called: Angels of the Rotation of Time. A planet is only able to revolve around the sun
because it has an Angel of the Rotation of Time who can exercise the power of driving it
around the sun. These are Planetary Dhyanis, or Planetary Spirits. Our earth has its own
Angel of the Rotation of Time, its earth-Dyani. (The Earth Spirit in Faust). Its body is the
whole astral substance of the earth.
Man is on the way to becoming a Planetary Spirit, but as yet he is only the image of
the Godhead in the mineral part of his constitution. He has still to develop his astral,
rupa-mental and arupa-mental nature. He can become an Angel of the Rotation of Time at
the end of the Seventh Round. Then the highest of the Dhyanis will say to him: All the
animals and plants are given over to thee. Thus on the seventh day of creation, man
becomes a Dhyani-chohan, a Dhyanic cosmic spirit.
The beings in whom Consciousness, Life and Form are equally balanced can
exercise power over Form, and are themselves guided in respect of their consciousness.
Beings of this nature are to a certain degree human; they then develop in such a way as to
free themselves from being dominated by their Form. They strive to reach what is higher,
to attain consciousness of their own.
The Elemental Spirits are beings in whom Form is more powerful than Life or
Consciousness; they therefore need other Life and other Consciousness if their Form is to
be dominated. They are the exact opposite of the Dhyanic Beings. The Elemental Spirit
must establish itself in the Life and Consciousness of other beings in order to use these
for itself. Hence it is a retarding Spirit, keeping back for itself the Life and Consciousness
of other beings.
 All parasitic beings are ruled and controlled by Elemental Spirits. These are the
beings who had already completed their own particular development in the Lemurian
epoch, hence Form predominates in them. They are now on the decline; so too, for
instance, are all the animals which have an outer skeleton. On the Moon they had an inner
skeleton. The inner skeleton has dissolved, and they surround themselves externally with
a horny layer (e.g. beetles). These are preparing for their decline into the Eighth Sphere.
The Moon has also had an Eighth Sphere, a companion moon. At that time these beings
were complete, but they shot beyond their evolution and are now like over-ripe fruit.
Spiders belong to the Eighth Sphere; and among plants, the mistletoe. For that reason
Goethe described the kingdom of the spiders and the flies to Mephistopheles. Everything
parasitical is an external expression of Elemental beings living on the astral plane. Man
was formerly an elemental being himself. Not all that is physical in man is destined to be
redeemed; the dross will be left behind. This dross is continually present in man, it is
under the influence of the astral elemental beings. (Planetary and Human Evolution,
unpubl. typescript, pp.3/1-3/3)

25 Oct. 1904
Every being must pass through the seven stages of consciousness, and all these
stages of consciousness together are called in esoteric parlance: a Planetary System.
When a being passes through the processes of a Planetary System, this means that such a
being undergoes metamorphosis in these seven stages of consciousness. Man is now
passing through the condition of Waking Consciousness - the Earth condition. Previously
he passed through the condition of Dream Consciousness; this was during the Lemurian
period of evolution. He had already passed through his Moon evolution. (Planetary and
Human Evolution, unpubl. typescript, pg.4/3)

Physically we perceive only one part of the cosmos, a fragment of the whole. From
this point of view a visible heavenly body is one which is in the phase of physical Form,
and of the Mineral Kingdom among the stages of Life. Physical visibility arises gradually
from Arupa downwards, and vanishes upwards also by degrees, towards Archetypal form.
These conditions of form are called Phases. The Earth had passed through the
Arupa, Rupa and Astral conditions before it became physically visible. After the physical
it will have to pass through the Plastic, Intellectual and Archetypal conditions. On the
Physical plane there is an occult relation between these phases of Form and the Phases of
the Moon. Thus the passage through the seven Phases of Form from Arupa to Archetypal
is called a Cosmic Month (though not in all esoteric terminology). The passage through
all the conditions of Consciousness is called a Cosmic Year. Between the Cosmic
Month and the Cosmic Year lies the Cosmic Day - the seven conditions of Life: longer
than the Cosmic Month and shorter than the Cosmic Year.
Esoterically, Consciousness is called the Sun; Form, the Moon; Life, the Earth. A
condition of consciousness lasts the longest, a condition of life, not so long. Every
condition of life must pass through the seven states of form. From the Arupic condition of
form up to the Archetypal condition of form man passes, first, through the first elemental
kingdom, then through the second and so on. In this way he passes through 7 x 7
successive metamorphoses. There are the seven Rounds which each passes through seven
metamorphoses. Thus man passes through 49 Form-metamorphoses on the Earth; he
passed through 49 on the Moon. 49 such metamorphoses are passed through on each of
the Planetary Systems, making altogether 7 x 49 = 343 (the total of the digits of 343 =
10). These 343 conditions represent a Cosmic Year. We are now living in the 4 th Planetary
System, the 4th Stage of Consciousness (Waking Consciousness).
On the Earth we are passing through the 4th Kingdom of Life, the 4th Round, the
Mineral. The Mineral Kingdom is in the 4th Phase of Form (Physical) and completes it in
this Round. Therefore the physical body of man in its mineral constituents reaches
completion in this Round; only after the completion of all 343 conditions will man
become what we call a God (but not the supreme God). Humanity then becomes the
Third Logos - in reality, the Logos of Form - who will have passed through the 343
metamorphoses and will represent form at its highest stage.
The Second Logos will represent Life at its highest stage; and the First Logos,
Consciousness at its highest stage.
The stages of Form are represented by Colour and Design; the stages of Life by
Sound; the stages of Consciousness by something which cannot be described in the
physical world. (Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl. typescript, pp.4/5-4/6)
 28 October 1904
The five sub-races that we know are: first, the sub-race of Spirituality; this is the
sub-race from which the Indian cultural community arose. Then we have the sub-race of
the Flame, that is the Persian cultural community. Then we have what we call the ancient
Chaldean sub-race, the sub-race of the Stars, of which the Israelite people forms a branch,
indeed the most important branch. The fourth cultural community is the one which
produced Greece and Rome, the sub-race of Personality. The fifth sub-race is that of the
World, the culture within which we ourselves live, the culture of the present stage of
evolution, which will be replaced by a cultural community coming from Asia.

Thus the first caste was the priestly one, the second the warrior caste. We never find
that the temporal relationships which emerge in the course of evolution are the same as
those which show themselves externally in space. I beg you to note that if a spatial
relationship is to become a temporal one, it occurs in the ratio of four to seven, occurs in
such a way that the fourfold expands to sevenfold. Thus during the fifth root-race the four
castes find their outward expression in time in the gradual training to independence of the
seven sub-races. The ratio of four to seven comes from a quite specific law. To-day I will
merely say that evolution takes place in such a way that in the first sub-race, in all
essential matters, guidance is entirely in the hands of the priests In the second sub-race
we have one led by the priest-kings. Zarathustra, the true magician, is the counselor of
priest-kings. During the third sub-race the rulership is able to pass over to worldly kings,
who however still follow the guidance of the priests or the priest-kings. It is only during
the fourth sub-race that we find purely worldly kings, kings who are no longer associated
with priestly power. This fourth sub-race has its first beginning in the Greek folk. It is in
Greece that we first see worldly kings, and, as the Greek colonies become established, in
them too we find worldly kings.

All that followed, according to the myth, is only a further elaboration of a tendency
that was already there. The most beautiful apple is said to be the Eris apple. The three
goddesses, Hera, Pallas Athene and Aphrodite that is to Say, all that earlier was
divine soul disagree among themselves, for the three goddesses signify different
stages of soul-life on the higher, spiritual plane. Now things are no longer decided on the
higher level, but Paris is called upon to make the decision from the stand-point of the
physical plane. Everything descends to the physical plane. The decision too descends to
the level of the physical. But something comes about through this. Here lies the crux of
the matter, this is where it becomes clear what is at stake. What is it that we have to face
because the decision is made from the standpoint of the physical plane? The union of
manas with kama. Hitherto man had had a certain relationship with kama, single beings
had turned against one another, but this had not yet the significance of good and evil. But
now kama unites itself with manas, and the deed becomes conscious. You know that the
densest kama fell away from the earth and accompanies it as a satellite which is our
moon. Hence in the language of esotericism we might call all that accompanies us to-day
in the moon the `leitmotif' of the lower nature; it is what draws us downwards, the great
signpost showing us what we can come to if we succumb to our lower nature.
Thus, what is momentous in the union between manas and kama during the fourth
sub-race is that the man who has to make the decision unites himself directly with the
kama of the moon, with Selene. Selene is none other than Helen. The union of Paris with
Helen in the fourth sub-race of the fifth root-race is a symbolical expression of the
marriage between kama and manas. The man endowed with manas, finding himself on
the physical plane, seizes hold of the moon principle. You meet this everywhere in
writings of an esoteric nature. It is also a Helen who drags down Simon Magus and unites
him with the element of kama. (The Trojan War, elib.com/Lectures)
29 Oct. 1904
The Consciousness of the First Planet was that of Deep Trance. Its horizon was the
most extensive and was also the dimmest. In this state of consciousness man had a vista
of the whole Planetary System. Consciousness in the Second Planetary System was that
of Dreamless Sleep; in the Third, that of Dream-filled Sleep. In the consciousness of
Dreamless Sleep man perceived life; and in Dream-filled Sleep he also became aware of
feeling.
The Consciousness of the Fourth Planet is Waking Consciousness, the most
circumscribed of all; but it is also the state in which man learns to be aware of the process
of ideation, thought, in other beings. It is a very clear kind of consciousness. The physical
stage of Consciousness on the Fifth Planet will be far clearer than the present stage; it
will extend over the whole astral world.
This is followed on the Sixth Planet by the Super-Psychic state of Consciousness, in
which the lower world of thought lies open to man.
On the Seventh Planet man reaches the stage of Spiritual Consciousness, when the
higher Mental world is open to him.
Primordial Man passes first, in the Deep Trance Consciousness, through the seven
Kingdoms in seven stages; the middle stage is the densest on each Planet. Thus man
passes through the following development:-
First Planet. Deep Trance Consciousness.
First Elemental Kingdom.
1. Arupa
2. Rupa
3. Astral
4. Physical
5. Plastic
6. Intellectual
7. Archetypal

And between each of these a Pralaya. Buddhi, Nirvana, Buddhi.

Second Elemental Kingdom, from (1) Arupa, to (7) Archetypal, as above. Then a
Pralaya: Buddhi, Nirvana, Buddhi.
Third Elemental Kingdom, (also as above and followed by a Pralaya).
Mineral Kingdom, (also as above, the seven conditions of Form, followed by a
Pralaya).
Plant Kingdom as above, the seven stages of Form, followed by a Pralaya.
Animal Kingdom (also seven stages of Form, followed by a Pralaya).
Human Kingdom (Also seven stages of Form, and followed by a greater Pralaya).

Second Planet. Dreamless Sleep Consciousness

 First Elemental Kingdom, etc. etc. (as preceding list).
Everything is the same as in the First Planet, only at a higher stage; as is the case in
the five succeeding Planets. The twenty-fifth stage is the Middle one: it is always the
deepest, the densest. We are now at the twenty-fifth stage on the Fourth Planet, therefore
in the densest condition of all.

The Physical rudiments arose as dense Physical balls. The Earth at that time was like
our Ether, or the Light-Substance of our present Earth, and after the Fall of
Consciousness into the Abyss, the Earth had the form of a mulberry.
On the Second Planet, in the Deep Sleep Consciousness, man descended into
Number. The balls that had come into being on the First Planet functioned in a mighty
harmony. The outcome of this Second Condition is that the chemical elements are not
chaotic combinations. Colours and Sounds are ordered according to Cosmic Number.
Thus on the Second Planet everything is arranged in accordance with Measure, Number
and Weight.
In the First Stage, when man descended into Number, the possibility arose of
division into two Kingdoms. There was one Kingdom which extended as far as man, and
a second consisting of everything that was not able to develop to the human stage. This
was separated as a special second Kingdom, as something superfluous. This developed
into lower Kingdoms. Nothing can occur in higher evolution without something being
separated off, higher development must always be at the cost of another development or
evolution.
On the Third Planet something more was added besides Number, namely, the Law of
Elective Affinity. Beings develop sympathy and antipathy for one another. This law is to
be found in all Kingdoms (for instance in chemistry, in the Mineral Kingdom). This
created the possibility for the formation of a new kingdom: the animal, plant and mineral
kingdoms are forged. Man as we see him today, did not then exist; he was still a sort of
animal: the Spirit had not yet drawn into the bodies.
On the fourth Planet, in the Day Consciousness, the possibility develops in certain
beings of refusing to submit to the Law of Elective Affinity. A Force of Life which could
be carried onward had now come into existence, namely Birth and Death, which until
then were non-existent. Through Birth and Death, beings already separate are held
together by a supersensible life-thread. The single incarnations are strung together as on a
thread. Through Birth and Death, beings now become manifold in Time. Previously, they
were manifold only in Space. Multiplication took place through severance and all beings
lived in sympathy or antipathy with each other.

Human Karma is connected with Birth and Death. In the future Planets, man, with
his enhanced consciousness, will no longer be conscious of the effects of Karma only. His
inner forces will have so developed that he will have the will to represent his Karma. In
his own form and physiognomy, he will be what he is in his astral and mental bodies. In
that epoch, what is really Good will be outwardly perceptible as Good, and the Evil as
Evil (such evil as, for instance, is present in black magicians). Then there takes place the
great division between the Good and the Evil. This will take place on the Fifth Planet.
From the Fifth Planet onwards we can speak only of the evolution of the Good.
On the Sixth Planet, as evolution proceeds, everything that is meaningless, that
reveals itself on the lower mental plane as stupid and illogical, will be split off. The Sixth
Planet is the Planet of the Logos, of the Word, because the Word imparts the meaning.
On the Seventh Planet, there is a completely purified condition, when the tasks of
the preceding six Planets will have been fulfilled, and their fruits gathered. This is the
condition of Godliness.
During the evolution of the body which passed through all these many stages, the
Spirit was all the time present; but at first it hovered over the body. Only in the middle of
the Lemurian epoch did it unite with the body. The Spirit is destined to amass experiences
on the lower planes through the body. (Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl.
typescript, pp.5/1-5/6)

31 Oct. 1904
Each Round is a Day of Creation. The Seventh Round is the Seventh Day of
Creation in which man becomes like unto God, the Day on which God can rest from His
labours.
From the middle of the Fourth Round onwards, evolution must take another
direction. Man enters into an external relation to the Cosmos. Minerals, Plants and
Animals are more closely related to the surrounding Universe than he. The crystal lives
unsevered from the Universe. Man is the most cut off, he is a self-enclosed being.
This happened to physical man in the middle of the Lemurian Race. He created the
house for the Spirit; the Spirit united with him, and man began, through community, to
reunite with the rest of the world.
What was formerly the physical force of sympathy and antipathy now became
conscious force of attraction. Conscious brotherhood develops.
An Adept has a consciousness which is that of his Brotherhood or Group. The
individual, but now with full consciousness, becomes one with the community.
(Consciousness of community, in community).
Brotherhood -Lodges evolve into Dhyanic Beings. These Beings are, as it were, a
collection of cells, forming one Spiritual Being. The Brotherhood-Lodge of the Adepts
will guide as one Dhyanic Being. Here again is an enrichment of evolution. In the middle
of the Fourth Round lies a very important point. Human Spirits begin to unite into a
Brotherhood and to form a Dhyanic Being. In the first half of the Round man forms the
organs by means of which his being radiates outwards; in the second half of the Round he
draws these organs again into himself. The first half serves as preparation for the
indrawing; in the second half, each being, according to the manner of its life, reaches a
corresponding stage of redemption.
In esoteric language, Rounds are called Cycles; in each Cycle, evolution runs its
course from Arupa to the Archetypal. This is known as an Epicycle. A being can pass
through Karmic development only during the second half of a Cycle. This Karma is of
significance on the plane on which he is developing.
Every people, every race, every racial stock, has a common Astral Substance, the
material for the incarnation of the Folk-Spirit. The Folk-Spirit always develops rather
sooner than the individual members of a people. The Folk-Spirit can gather Karma from
the middle of a Cycle onwards. We all help to form the Karma of the race, of the people.
This is collective Karma. Endeavors to promote internationalism belong to the Spirit who
embraces the collective Astral Substance of the whole Earth, the true Earth-Spirit. The
physical Earth is also the physical body for this Earth-Spirit, the Planetary Logos.
(Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl. typescript, pp.6/4-6/6)

1 Nov. 1904
During the first half of every cycle, man takes in - and gives out during the second
half. Thus in the first half of a Cycle, the Mineral Kingdom is separated out, because it is
a hindrance to man. Thus he uses for his advantage the whole force which would serve
for the further development of this Kingdom, and later he draws it in again. Thus in the
second half of the Cycle, the Mineral Kingdom will be redeemed, metamorphosed by
man. In the second half of the Cycle he gives to the Mineral Kingdom the results of his
own development.
There is nothing in the evolution of man which is not subject to the metamorphosis
of taking and giving. This conditions our ethical behaviour in the highest degree.
Whatever we take we may take only in order to give it forth again.
The Dhyanic Beings at earlier stages of their evolution passed through the phase of
taking, therefore on the Earth they are now giving Beings. From the very beginning they
were the actual Builders. When the one Globe split into many, these Beings were the
Builders. At the second stage they organised these Globes according to measure, number
and weight. At the third stage they introduced the law of Elective Affinity, of sympathy
and antipathy. At the fourth stage they rule over Birth and Death, over Karma. They, the
Dhyanis, are the Lords of Karma, the Lipikas, who are above all taking, above
sympathy and antipathy. They intervened at the fourth stage of consciousness, the stage
of Day Consciousness. New Builders constantly intervene at the stage of evolution that
has been attained by man.
Let us try to understand the nature of these Builders. Beings at the human stage
receive and give alternately. We can give only what we have first received. Man is
subject, alternately, to perception, taking in, and to activity that is subject to the law of
giving. The law of the Builders is the Law of Manifestation, their activity is called
revealed, manifested activity. (The ordering of the world according to measure, number
and weight, sympathy and antipathy, the division into Good and Evil.) There is a vast
difference between the self-manifesting Beings and man. (Planetary and Human
Evolution, unpubl. typescript, pp.7/1-7/2)
 Thus we can distinguish seven classes of Moon Pitris in the middle of the Lemurian
race.
At that time, only the most highly evolved Pitris were able to incarnate; the others
were not yet able to make use of their bodies. Until the end of the Atlantean race, new
Pitris were constantly coming in; even now, incarnations of Pitris occur in lowest races,
also in the lowest levels of population of our great cities, where we still find childish,
little developed Pitris. But at the present time there are few who are incarnating for the
very first time. There are now only very few young Pitris who are still completely under
the sway of Kama. (Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl. typescript, pg.7/5)

2 Nov. 1904
In the middle of the Lemurian epoch the force of propagation was divided into two
parts in the human being. It was therefore only half as strong as before, and the second
half of this force was used for the development of the faculty of thinking. Up to this time,
man had developed at the cost of other Kingdoms which were separated off. Now man
had to divide into two halves: the lower productive force and the higher productive force
(the power of thought). The latter was developed at the expense of the former. Until then
there were no warm-blooded beings; even men were cold-blooded beings. All the cold-
blooded beings of to-day are the descendants of the cold-blooded beings of that time. All
the warm-blooded beings in existence now were at that time still united with man and
they split off by degrees: reptiles, birds and mammals. The apes separated off at a
comparatively late period. All the warm-blooded animals are stages which man left
behind, which he threw off as he previously threw off the Mineral Kingdom, the Plant
Kingdom, and the cold-blooded Animals. (Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl.
typescript, pg.8/1)

3 Nov. 1904
At the time of the first human race, the Polarian, the Earth was an etheric globe. This
soon condensed into matter - that is to say, several million years later - for as regards the
whole evolution of the world this period may be described as soon. We see the
beginning of the development of what we call air.
In the air itself are formed the first rudiments of what we call fire and water. But
the water in the air was a fiery mist. The Earth was then a vaporous fire-mist; this was at
the beginning of the Lemurian epoch. Water as we know it to-day was formed only later,
when the Earth began to cool down. We must remember that in all these stages of
evolution, man was present in some form or other; man is always dependent upon his
environment. (Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl. typescript, pg.9/1)

Everything in the Universe comes into being in this way; all Being is the result of
activity, and all activity implies the existence of something passive. These are the two
poles; there is an active and passive element in even the tiniest atom. The forces lay the
same little skins round the atom; it then becomes convex from outside and concave from
within. As regards the Cosmos, we represent the passive part, for we continually receive
impressions. These continuous impressions are felt by the astral body. We must
distinguish both activity and passivity in the astral world.

Everything that appears in the world around us postulates a manifestation which

called forth existence. Everywhere in the world we find this triad:
1. Active and passive Thinking.
2. Active and passive Life.
3. Active and passive Being.
Everything that is passive Being for man, is called the Physical plane. (This is the
aggregate of passive Being). The aggregate of passive Life is called the Astral plane.
The aggregate of all passive Thought is called the Rupa Mental Plane. The aggregate of
all active Thought is called the Arupa Mental plane.
The aggregate of all active Life is called the Budhi plane.
The aggregate of all active Being is called the Nirvana plane.
On the Nirvana plane, activity is the most intense of all, for there Being itself is
created. (Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl. typescript, pp.9/4-9/5)

10 Nov. 1904
 If we have a clock, a mechanical instrument, we can know in advance how it will
behave; but this is not so much so in the case of objects constituting lifeless nature, yet in
a sense this also applies, as, for instance, in the case of an eclipse of the Sun which can be
calculated. There we can speak of the element of necessity; as a rule we can know what it
will do under certain circumstances. The higher we ascend in the kingdoms of Nature, the
less we are able to say what a being will do in a certain situation. The higher a man stands
as regards his talents and attainments, the less we can say what he will be likely to do. We
must simply wait and see. We must accept the creation of the World as a free act of the
Logos. We must not question the Why and Wherefore. All those who have true insight
have never spoken of a Cause of the Creation of the Universe. (Planetary and Human
Evolution, unpubl. typescript, pg.12/4)

11 Nov. 1904
The days of the week are named after the Planets. We shall learn how the names
were given by the Chaldean sages. These Chaldean sages say that every day is divided
into four: morning, afternoon, before midnight, after midnight. These four divisions they
regarded as the first element in time, in the division of time. They related the fourfold day
to the seven known Planets.
Moon Mercury Venus Sun Mars Jupiter Saturn
They described the cycle of the seven planets by relating it to the fourfold day, until
the starting-point is again reached. They took a number of days one after another, making
the planetary cycles run through the fourfold days. They dedicated the morning to the
Moon. At the end of the week each Planet has gone through a fourfold cycle. They named
each day of the week according to the Planet to which the morning was dedicated.
Thus:
Morning Moon Monday, montag
Afternoon Mercury
Before midnight Venus
After midnight Sun

and so forth. Tuesday is Marsday (Tiu); Wednesday is Mercury day; Thursday is

Jupiter day, Donar; Friday is Venus day, Freya; Saturday is Saturn day; Sunday is Sun
day.
Commercial civilization has no understanding for the naming of the days of the week
according to the Planets. There is a very special relation to be noticed in this connection,
namely, from four to seven, from the Quaternary to the Seven Principles. The giving of
the names to the days of the week is a human institution, but it is not arbitrary. In those
olden times men allowed the cosmic conditions to resound from all things, and their
institutions were in accordance with the relation of the Microcosm to the Macrocosm.
(Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl. typescript, pp.13/1-13/2)

19 Dec. 1904
I have already explained to you that the Christmas festival was celebrated in every
epoch known to us through history. The period known in our historical records goes back
as far as the third sub-race of the fifth root race. The time of our own sub-race, in which
physical science and civilization has developedf, goes back only to the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. This was preceded by another sub-race that goes back to the eighth or
ninth centuries B.C., to the time in which Homer sang his epics to the Greeks. This period
has left us a record of the feelings and deeds of the fourth sub-race. We then come to a
still more ancient age, leading us back to an ancient past, to the time of ancient Babylon
and Assyria, to the time of the Jewish people, to the time in which Egyptian priests
preserved the highest wisdom, bringing it only in an exoteric way to the people. At this
point the historical records cease. (The Birth of Light, 1984, The Mercury Press, pp.3-4)

In those ancient times one always saw in the earthly an image of the divine, an
image of the events that took place on the great dome of heaven. If you study the Zodiac,
you will see in it a sequence of constellations: Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries. The sun, or
the vernal point, constantly advances in accordance with certain laws, so that in ancient
times the sun rose in the spring in the sign of Cancer, later in the sign of Gemini, then in
the sign of Taurus, and still later in the sign of Aries. Around the eighth century B.C. the
sun had reached the sign of Aries or the Lamb. Now the sun is entering the sign of Pisces.
What takes place on earth shapes itself out of what happens in the spiritual. Take th
sign of Cancer; its true significance is not always known. We must understand this sign,
for then we will also understand how it indicates the rise of an entirely new age. It
consists of two intertwining spirals. Whenever something important takes place in the
world, whenever one phase of evolution is replaced by another one, so that something
entirely new enters the world, then two such spiral movements interlace. In the sign of
Cancer one of these spirals indicates the end of the Atlantean civilization and the other
one the beginning of the Aryan civilization. Our forefathers saw in the heavens the outer
sign for the dawn of the new Aryan civilization. Then, during a later epoch, the sun
entered the sign of Gemini. The Twins are a sign for good and evil, and this is the
zodiacal sign which dominated the Persian thinking. The sun then entered the sign of
Taurus. Here we come to the third sub-race, in which we have the worship of the bull: the
Egyptian Apis, the bull-cult in Babylonia, and finally in the more recent Persian periods
the sacrifice of the bull, the Mithras cult. Man drew this cult of the bull down from
heaven, where it had been inscribed.
The fourth sub-race, in which Christianity arose, begins with the suns entrance into
the sign of Aries. This significant turning point in history is indicated by an important
legend, that of the capture of the Golden Fleece by Jason, the Greek hero. Another
important turning point is shown to us by the sacrifice of the mystical lamb on the cross.
It is the historical expression of the mystery indicated by the fact that the sun, the regent
of the world, has reached the point in the dome of the heavens designated as Aries or the
Lamb. (The Birth of Light, 1984, The Mercury Press, pp.6-7)

1904 - essays compiled

There now follows an important cosmic event. The sun is extruded. Thereby certain
forces simply leave the earth. These forces are composed of part of what hitherto had
existed on earth in the life ether and in the chemical and light ether.{see 26 Nov. 1906 }
These forces, so to speak, were withdrawn from the earth. A radical change thereby took
place among all groups of terrestrial beings which previously had contained these forces
within themselves. They all suffered a transformation.
The consequence of the extrusion of the sun was a further material densification of
the earth. Solid matter developed from fluid; likewise the light ether separated into
another kind of light ether, and into an ether which gives bodies the capacity to increase
temperature With this there had developed the firm skeleton of the mineral realm of
earth. At first the higher natural realms did not act upon this rigid mineral skeleton. Thus,
on the earth there exist a mineral realm which is solid, and a plant realm which has water
and air as its densest substantiality. In the latter, through the events we have described,
the air body had become condensed to a water body. There also existed animals of the
most varied forms, some with water and some with air bodies. The human body itself had
become subject to a process of densification. It had condensed to its most compact
corporeality to the point of wateriness. The newly-developed heat ether coursed through
this water body. This gave to his body a substantiality which could perhaps be called
gaslike. This material condition of the human body is described in works on mystery
science as that of the fire mist. Man was embodied in this body of fire mist.
With this, the examination of the Akasha Chronicle has reached a point shortly
before the cosmic catastrophe caused by the extrusion of the moon from the earth.
(Cosmic Memory, 1959, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pp.130-132)

The scientist of the spirit must strictly avoid even representing anything to himself
which is based on merely reflecting, combining, speculating, and so forth. Here he must
practice the most far-reaching renunciation and be quite clear that all speculating,
intellectual philosophizing, and so forth is a hindrance to true seeing. These activities still
belong entirely to the lower nature of man, and truly higher cognition begins only when
this nature raises itself to the higher nature in man. Here nothing is really said against
these activities, which are not only wholly justified in their field, but are there the only
justified ones. (Cosmic Memory, 1959, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pp.146-147)

A fact which will play a certain role in the following essays will be briefly indicated
here. This concerns the speed with which the development on the different planets takes
place. For this is not the same on all the planets. Life proceeds with the greatest speed on
Saturn, the rapidity then decreases on the Sun, becomes still less on the Moon and
reaches its slowest phase on the earth. On the latter it becomes slower and slower, to the
point at which self-consciousness develops. Then the speed increases again. Therefor,
today man has already passed the time of the greatest slowness of his development. Life
has begun to accelerate again. On Jupiter the speed of the Moon, on Venus that of the Sun
will again be attained. (Cosmic Memory, 1959, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pg.171)

In order to understand the development of mankind, one must realize that in this
second great cycle {The great cycle means the evolutionary planet} the Sun was still a
planet, and that only later did it advance to the existence of a fixed star. In the sense of
mystery science, a fixed star is one which sends life forces to one or several planets
situated at a distance from it. During the second cycle this was not the case with the Sun.
At that time it was still united with the beings to which it gave force. (Cosmic Memory,
1959, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pp.184-185)

Only during the next (third) great cycle did that detach itself from the Sun which in
mystery science is called the Moon. This is not the present moon, but the predecessor of
our earth, its previous embodiment (reincarnation), as it were
After the third (Moon) cycle there occurred another period of rest (Pralaya). During
this period the two separate bodies (Sun and Moon) became united and together passed
through the condition of the sleeping seed. In the fourth cyclic period, Sun and planetary
Moon at first emerged from the obscurity of sleep as one body. During the first half of
this cycle our earth, along with man and his companions, split off from the Sun. A little
later it cast off the present moon, so there now exist three members as descendants of the
former Sun planet. (Cosmic Memory, 1959, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pp.185-186)

The third principal condition of the development of mankind presents itself as the
one in which the races first came into being. This event was brought about by the
separation of the moon from the earth. This separation was accompanied by the
originating of the two sexes. This stage of the development of mankind has been
repeatedly referred to in the descriptions from the Akasha Chronicle. When the earth,
still united with the moon, split off from the sun, a male and female sex did not as yet
exist within mankind. Each human being combined the two sexes within its still highly
refined body.
 It must be remembered however that these double-sexed human ancestors were on a
low level of development as compared with present-day man. The lower impulses acted
with immeasurable energy, and nothing of a spiritual development as yet existed. That the
latter was stimulated and that thereby certain lower impulses were confined within certain
bounds, is connected with the fact that, at the same time at which earth and moon
separated, the former came into the sphere of influence of other heavenly bodies. This
extremely significant co-operation of the earth with other heavenly bodies, its meeting
with foreign planets, in the time which theosophical literature calls the Lemurian, will be
related in a further chapter of the Akasha Chronicle.(Cosmic Memory, 1959, Rudolf
Steiner Publ. Co., pp.223-224)

The fourfold man of earth receives from sun and moon the influences of those forces
which have remained connected with these heavenly bodies. From the sun those forces
reach him which further progress, growth, and becoming; from the moon come
hardening, forming forces. If man stood only under the influence of the sun he would
dissolve in an immeasurably rapid process of growth. It is for this reason that formerly,
after an appropriate time, he had to leave the Sun and to receive a retarding of his over-
rapid progress on the split-off Moon. But if then he had remained permanently connected
with the latter, this retarding of his growth would have hardened him in a rigid form.
Therefor he advanced to the development of earth, within which the two influences
counterbalance each other in an appropriate way. At the same time the point is reached
where something higher - the soul - is integrated as an inner entity within the
quadripartite human being. (Cosmic Memory, 1959, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pp.236-
237)

1905
26 Sept. 1905
There are seven grades of human consciousness: trance consciousness, deep sleep,
dream consciousness, waking consciousness, psychic, super-psychic and spiritual
consciousness. Actually there are in all twelve stages of consciousness; the five others are
creative stages. They are those of the Creators, the creative Gods. These twelve stages are
related to the twelve signs of the zodiac. The human being must pass through the
experiences of these twelve stages. He ascended through the trance, deep sleep and dream
consciousness up to the present clear day consciousness. In the succeeding stages of
planetary evolution he will reach still higher stages. All those which he has already
passed through he will also retain within him. (Foundations of Esotericism, 1983,
Rudolf Steiner Press,pp.4-5)

1 Oct. 1905
The two next impulses, Kama and Manas, he could not have found on the earth; they
do not lie in its evolutionary sequence. The first new impulse (Kama) was only to be
found as a force on Mars. It was added shortly before man incarnated, The second
impulse (Manas) came from mercury in the fifth subrace of the Atlanteans, with the
original Semites. (Foundations of Esotericism, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press,pg.43)

3 Oct. 1905
Now we must ask: What causes such utterly different conditions on earth? This is
connected with the progression of the spring equinox. About 800 years before Christ the
sun in spring entered the constellation of Aries, of the Ram. Every year at the vernal point
it shifts a little. Because of this the conditions on the earth are always slightly changing.
Eight hundred years before Christ the sun stood in the constellation of Aries. Earlier it
stood in the constellation of Taurus, still earlier in Gemini and still earlier in Cancer. Now
already for some hundred of years it rises in the constellation of Pisces. After this comes
Aquarius. The advance of civilization is also connected with the progression of the sun
from one constellation to the other.
At the time when the sun rose in the constellation of Cancer, the ancient Vedic
culture of the Indians, the culture of the Rishis reached its highest point. The Rishis, those
still half-divine beings, were the teachers of men. The Atlantean civilization had met its
destruction; a new impulse broke in. In occultism this is called a vortex. This is also
why, in the age when the sun stood in the constellation of Cancer, the sign was made in
this way: 69. Cancer signifies a breaking in of something new, a vortex (a double
spiral).
 The second cultural epoch is named the constellation of the Twins. At that time the
dual nature of the world was understood, the opposing forces of the world, Ormuzd and
Ahriman, Good and Evil. Thus the Persians also speak of the Twins.
The third cultural epoch is that of the Sumerians in Asia Minor and of the Egyptians.
The Constellation of the Bull corresponds to this epoch. This is why in Asia the Bull was
venerated and in Egypt, Apis. At that time in Babylon and Assyria the Sumerian language
was the language of wisdom. Then the Bull fell into decadence and the Ram came into
the ascendant. The first indication of this is the Saga of the Golden Fleece.
The fourth culture is that of the Ram , or Lamb; Christ stands in the sign of the Ram,
or Lamb; hence he calls himself the Lamb of God.
As fifth culture the external materialistic civilization follows, in the constellation of
the Fishes. This developed principally from the 12th century onwards and reached its
climax about the year 1800. This is the culture of the Fifth sub-race, the present time.
In the constellation of the Water-Man in the future, the new Christianity will be
proclaimed. Waterman is also the one who will bring it, he who has already been here:
John the Baptist. Later he will again be the forerunner of Christ, when the Sixth, the
spiritual sub-race will be founded. (Foundations of Esotericism, 1983, Rudolf Steiner
Press, pp.51-53)

Every time the sun progresses from one sign of the zodiac to another incisive
changes take place in civilization. In between there elapses a period of about two
thousand six hundred years (Foundations of Esotericism, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pg.54)

5 Oct. 1905
At the present time the Earth is going through its Fourth Round, and this is the
mineral. During this time it is the task of mankind to work upon the mineral kingdom.
[examples of this]. We are now in the midst of this activity, and in the course of
the next races (epochs) the Earth will have to become completely transformed, so that
eventually there will be no single atom on the earth that has not been worked on by man.
In earlier times these atoms became more and more solidified; now however they are
becoming increasingly separated. Radio-activity did not exist in earlier times and could
not therefor be discovered. It has only existed for a few thousand years, because now the
atoms split up more and more. (Foundations of Esotericism, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pp.66-67)

8 Oct. 1905
The new incarnation of the human being only has a purpose if he meets conditions
which are totally different from the earlier ones. This happens in that period of cosmic
time when the sun has progressed from one constellation of the zodiac to the next. For
instance, about 800 B.C. the sun in spring entered the constellation of the Ram or Lamb
and this continued until 1800 A.D. Now, at the beginning of spring, it stands in the
constellation of the Fishes. Two thousand, six hundred years elapse before the sun passes
from one constellation of the zodiac to the next. During this time conditions undergo a
fundamental change. (Foundations of Esotericism, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.91)

9 Oct. 1905
What man developed on Old Moon through involution emerged on Earth as
evolution. What man developed after the Lemurian Age as sexual forces, is due to Isis,
the soul of the Moon, which now lives on further in man. Here we have the relationship
between the human being and the present moon. The moon has left its soul with man and
has therefor become a mere slagheap.
While we are gaining experiences on the Earth we are gathering the forces which
during the next Planetary Evolution will become our own being. Our present experiences
in Devachan are the preparatory stages for future epochs. Just as man today looks up to
the moon and says: You have given us the forces of reproduction, so in the future he
will look up to a moon that has arisen out of our present physical earth and as a soul-less
body of slag will circle around the future Jupiter. On future Jupiter man will develop new
forces which to-day on the Earth he takes into himself as light and warmth and all
physical sense perceptions. As at the present time the sexual forces emanate from us, so it
will be with these new forces. (Foundations of Esotericism, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pg.102)
 28 Oct. 1905
When we go back in time to when the earth was still united with the sun, there was
as yet no solid gold. The particles of the white sun-ether became first fluid, and then
solid. These are the veins of gold which are now in the earth. Gold is solidified sunlight.
Silver is solidified moonlight. All mineral substances have gradually solidified. When
human beings become ever more spiritualised quicksilver will also become more solid.
At one time gold and silver formed drops just as water does now. The fact that mercury is
still fluid is connected with the whole process of Earth evolution. It will become solid
when the God Mercury has fulfilled his mission. In the middle of the Atlantean Root
Race quicksilver was brought down from mercury in etheric form. Had we not had
quicksilver we should not have had the Christ-principle.
When the Mars Principle (Kama-Manas) was incorporated into the earth, iron was
brought down to the earth from Mars. Iron originates in Mars. It was first in astral form
and later densified. When we trace the earth to that period of time we find ever fewer
warm-blooded animals. It was only in the middle of the Lemurian Age that warm blood
made its appearance together with the Mars impulse. Iron came into the blood at that
time. It is iron that in all occult writings is brought into connection with Mars, quicksilver
with Buddhi-Mercury. The Earth was therefor understood as Mars and Mercury.
Everything that did not originate from Mars and Mercury has come over from the Moon.
The days of the week are an image of planetary evolution. The sequence of the
planets is inscribed in a wonderful way in the days of the week.:
Saturn Samstag Saturday
Sun Sonntag Sunday
Moon Montag Monday
Mars (Tiu) Dienstag Tuesday, Mardi
Mercury (Wotan) Mittwoch Wednesday, Mercredi
Jupiter (Donar) Donnerstag Thursday, Jeudi
Venus (Freya) Freitag Friday, Vendredi (Foundations of
Esotericism, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.207-208)
 5 Nov. 1905
And now we have the Jewish initiation portrayed in Joseph and his twelve brethren.
It is a beautiful and powerful allegory. The allegorical now makes its appearance: the
intellect, when it wishes to become effective, becomes the recounter of allegories.
How Joseph was initiated was first recounted. He was removed from his normal
surroundings, sold for twenty pieces of silver and cast into a pit, where he remained for
three days. This indicates an initiation. Then he comes to Egypt where his activities bring
new life. And now we have finely indicated the transition that began at that time from the
knowledge of God in the stars to the knowledge of man. Joseph was rejected because he
had dreams. He had the following dream. Sun, Moon and eleven stars bowed down
before him. The eleven stars are the eleven signs of the zodiac. He felt himself to be the
twelfth. The symbolism of the Star-Religion was now led over into the human. In the
twelve brothers, the starting point of the twelve tribes, the knowledge of God in the stars
was led over into the personal. Now you surely do not wish to assert, said his father -
that your brothers will bow down to you. Here the change is given us. The divine
knowledge of the stars is replaced by a knowledge attached to the personal-human. This
finds its form in Mosaic law. (Foundations of Esotericism, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pp.259-260)

1906
9 Feb. 1906
We need to back only a few thousand years, to a time when the doctrine of
reincarnation and karma had spread throughout most of the Earth. Only among the
cultures descended from the Semites had this teaching receded more or less; otherwise
we find it everywhere at that time. People who were discouraged by their destinies would
say to themselves, This is only one life among many; what I prepare in this life will
bring its rewards in another. People at that time continuously looked toward the worlds
above.
This perspective existed everywhere, even among the Chaldean priests. The stars
expressed soul and spirit to them; The stars were really the bodies of spirits. All of space
was alive with spiritual beings. They spoke of the changelessness of the laws, according
to which the stars moved, as they did about the will of the spirits whose bodies are the
Sun and the planets. Human beings lived at that time by constantly directing their souls
upward to the spirit. The external works performed by human beings on the Earth were
primitive, while, on the other hand, the universe around them was permeated with the
workings of the spirit to a high degree. We find there a highly spiritual view of the world
alongside a primitive material culture.
Then came an age when outer, material culture became increasingly cultivated, when
the globe was conquered by a materialistic culture. Human eyes were supposed to rest on
the objects of physical life. But the thinking of the wise Chaldean priests, the students of
Hermes, and the disciples of the ancient Rishis was directed toward spiritual life. For all
of them, repeated earthly lives were a fact. Humanity would look away from that fact for
awhile. It was intended that every human being pass once through an incarnation without
knowing of repeated Earth lives. This era was being prepared for eight hundred years
before the beginning of Christianity. This condition is receding gradually during our time.
Those who are familiar with esoteric streams today are aware that Christianity must begin
again to teach of reincarnation and karma. (The Christian Mystery, 1998,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.41-42)

16 Apr. 1906
For spiritual science the question, how does life originate? Cannot be asked at all:
but only the question, How did dead matter come about? I have already tried to make it
understandable for you with an example. Look at coal; it is nothing more than stone, and
yet if you could go back millions of years in the evolution of our earth, then you would
establish that what is now in coal originates in enormous forests of fern which have been
carbonized. What then is coal? It has originated from whole forests; the dead coal of
today was then fully alive,
Could you look at the bottom of the sea, you would find sundry structures of
calcium. If you were to observe sea creatures you would see that these creatures are
constantly secreting calcium. This calcium shell is what remains as solid material. You
have here again dead matter as product of the living. Had you developed the
supersensible organs of perception so as to look back far enough in the earths evolution,
you would find that all dead matter comes from the living, that even rock-crystal and
diamond, all dead matter whatever, comes from living matter. In external Nature
petrifaction is a similar process to the formation of the bony system in us. You know that
there are also fish which have not yet a bony system. With man, too, you find in earlier
conditions not yet bones, but cartilage. Every bony system is a sort of incipient
lifelessness in man. It is the same process of solidification.
In this sense you have to imagine also the living body of the earth. The whole earth-
body is a living organism. The right question is therefore; How has dead, lifeless matter
arisen? One of the most senseless questions is: How has living matter arisen out of dead
matter? - because living matter was first and dead matter secreted itself as petrifaction, as
hardening. Thus there was once life in our entire body of the earth, and the life that
existed formerly when there was as yet no dead matter was originally living matter. (The
Interior of the Earth and Volcanic Eruptions, unpubl. typescript, pg.7)

29 Apr. 1906
Today we want to discuss the functions ascribed to certain spiritual beings called
luciferic. We will encounter their strange connections with humanity. We will begin
with the fact that the science of thinking (or reflection) did not begin before the eighth or
ninth century before Christ. Anyone who studies the history of philosophy knows that it
began with Thales of Miletus, who lived about 600 B.C. Employing natural scientific
observations he once predicted an eclipse of the sun, which was an extraordinary
achievement in those days. The philosophy of western logic we have had only since the
time of Aristotle. Before that there was no teaching concerning thinking because thinking
itself, the abstract intellect, dawned only between 600 and 800 B.C. Of course, the seeds
of it were already present in the Atlantean race. It is true that we have an astronomy from
the Chaldeans, the ancient Egyptians, and other Oriental peoples, but their astronomical
knowledge originated in a deep underlying aptitude for clairvoyance. (The Christian
Mystery, 1998, Anthroposophic Press, pg.117)

In the last century, since Frederick the Great, we have been developing at a pace ten
times faster than in the thousand years from Charles the Great to Frederick the Great.
Evolution will continue at a correspondingly faster rate.
Mercury is the body of certain great beings, one of which incarnated in Gautama
Buddha. (The Christian Mystery, 1998, Anthroposophic Press,pg.122)

June, 1906
These changing conditions of the Earth which determine the times of rebirth , are
themselves determined by the passage of the Sun through the Zodiac. Eight centuries
before Jesus the Christ, the vernal equinox fell with the Sun in the sign of the Ram.
Reference is made to this in the legend of the Golden Fleece and in the name of the Lamb
of God - the Christ. 2,160 years before that, the vernal equinox fell with the sign of the
Bull, a fact expressed in the cults of the Egyptian Apis or the Mithras Bull in Persia.
2,160 years before that again, the vernal equinox fell with the Sun in the sign of the
Twins and we find this expressed in the cosmogony of the very ancient Persians, in the
two opposing figures of Ormuzd and Ahriman. When the civilization of Atlantis was
destroyed and the age of the Vedas was beginning, the Sun at the vernal equinox was in
the sign of Cancer, inscribed thus: 69 indicating the end of one period and the beginning
of another.
There has always been some consciousness among the peoples of the Earth of their
relation to the heavenly constellations. The great periods of human civilisation are subject
to the heavenly cycles and the movements of the Earth in its relation to the Sun and stars.
This fact explains the different characteristics of the various epochs and gives new
meaning to the incarnations occurring in them. 2,160 years is approximately the time
needed for the accomplishment of a male and a female incarnation - that is to say for the
two aspects under which the human being gathers all the experiences of one epoch. (An
Esoteric Cosmology, 1987, Garber Communications Inc., pp.75 -76)

At the second stage of clairvoyance, dreams become precise and clear. The
geometrical and symbolic figures employed as the sacred signs of the great religions are,
properly speaking, the language of the creative Word, the living hieroglyphs of cosmic
speech. Among such symbols are: the cross, the sign of life; the pentagram or five-
pointed star, the sign of sound or word; the hexagram or six-pointed star (two interlaced
triangles) the sign of the macrocosm reflected in the microcosm, and so forth. At the
second stage of clairvoyance, these signs - which we today delineate in abstract lines -
appear full of colour, life and radiance on a background of light. They are not , as yet, the
garment of living beings, but they indicate, so to say, the norms and laws of creation.
These signs are the basis of the animal forms chosen by the earliest Initiates to express
the passage of the Sun through the Zodiacal constellations. The Initiates translated their
visions into such signs and symbols. The most ancient characters employed in Sanskrit,
Egyptian, Greek and Runic scripts - every letter of which has ideographic meaning - were
the expressions of heavenly ciphers. (An Esoteric Cosmology, 1987, Garber
Communications Inc., pp.78-79)

The period which preceded the lunar one is referred to as the solar. At that time of
evolution everything was pure solar life. Occultism sees the sun as a fixed star which had
previously been a planet and similarly it recognizes the earth as a planet destined to
become the sun of a future cosmic system. (An Esoteric Cosmology, 1987, Garber
Communications Inc., pg.106)

But this does not exhaust the relationships of the earth and the planets. We in fact
can divide our present terrestrial stage into two parts. During the first it came about that
our blood is red. What has given us our red blood? During the separation of the earth and
the sun, this globe composed of fluid substance was shot through by other fluid forces
emanating from the planet Mars. Before this passage of Mars not the slightest trace of
iron existed on this earth. In fact, that is the result of this passage; all substances
containing iron such as our blood have been subjected to the influence of Mars. Mars has
colored the substance of the earth. And the appearance of red blood is the result of its
influence. That is why the first half of earth evolution is referred to as the period of Mars.
At that time, iron was a fluid substance and the metals only hardened later on.
Mercury is the only metal which has not yet solidified. When this will have happened the
soul of man will have become totally independent of the physical and astral imaginative
vision will have become conscious. This fact is connected with the forces of Mercury
which influence the second part of the Earth evolution during which they will densify and
finally become solid. The Earth is both Mars and Mercury. And it is this which the
Initiates have woven into our language by indicating that the days of the week belong to
the planets of our evolution: Mars and Mercury are placed between the Moon and
Jupiter. (An Esoteric Cosmology, 1987, Garber Communications Inc., pp.107-108)

14 June 1906
[Where modern astronomers see only celestial mechanics, the ancient Chaldean
magicians felt the harmony of the heavens depths as a divine, living being. When
they observed Mercury, Venus, the moon or the sun, they saw not only the physical
light of these heavenly bodies, they perceived the planets souls as belonging to living
beings, and they felt their own souls in connection with these great beings of the
firmament. They saw the influences of these beings as attraction and repulsion,
in a constant streaming, flowing divine will, and they heard the music of the
spheres as a harmonious echo of the human microcosm.
Ptolemys map of the heavens is usually placed next to that of Copernicus then
the former is declared false. This, however, is not true. Ptolemys map is of the
astral plane where the earth forms the centre and that of Copernicus is of the
physical plane with the sun at the centre. Ptolemys system will be rehabilitated in
an epoch yet to come. ] (Reading the Pictures of the Apocalypse, 1993, Anthroposophic
Press, pg.140;precis by RSWB)

28 June - 11 July 1906

The first thing which we should bear in mind is that the other worlds are not to be
found in other places, but we are surrounded by them in the same way in which we are
surrounded by the physical world and they permeate the physical world. After death,
man consequently does not travel to other places, but he simply changes his way of
looking at things, his consciousness changes. When we die or become initiated, the same
thing happens as in the case of a blind-born person who suddenly acquires the power of
sight; he too will not be transferred into another world, but he simply acquires a new
sense. After death, we are not surrounded by a new, completely different world, but the
senses for the perception of the physical world are eliminated and we perceive instead
things which escaped our notice before, which had remained concealed to us until then.
(Popular Occultism, unpubl. typescript, pg.6 )

In occultism we say: Upon the physical plane a lie is a lie, but upon the astral plane
it is a murder. Matters namely stand as follows: Whenever you relate something, you
produce the corresponding thought-form; but also the thought which you relate rays out a
thought form. If your thought-form corresponds with it and agrees with it, then the two
forms flow together upon the astral plane and strengthen each other. You thus strengthen
the life of the being you are talking about. But in the case of an untruth, the thought-form
streaming out of your words does not correspond with that which goes out from the thing
itself; the forms collide and destroy each other. An untruth, a lie, thus has a life-
destroying, killing effect on them. (Popular Occultism, unpubl. typescript, pg.9)

The events on the physical plane have their origin in the spiritual worlds. What
produced the changes in the fauna and flora of Central Europe since the past 1500 years?
Spiritual Beings and the not incarnated human souls! The physical is the expression of
purely spiritual processes.
Even as the stones of houses do not accumulate of their own accord and become a
house, so the animal kingdom cannot change of its own accord. Everything that changes
within the animal kingdom proceeds from the astral plane, at least as far as the warm-
blooded animals are concerned. Everything that undergoes a change in the vegetable
kingdom is directed from the sphere of Devachan. Natural science traces back changes in
the animal kingdom to adaptations to external life-conditions. But to use the word
adaptation is a make-shift. For it is the work of Spiritual Beings. Natural science can
never discover the true causes for such transformations; a clairvoyant can see them.
There are Beings concerned with the transformation of the vegetable and animal
kingdoms of the earth. Man also cooperates in this, when he lives in Kamaloka and
Devachan. Nothing ever happens by miracle, everything is determined by lawful,
ordered influences.
Even as upon the physical plane the human spirit gradually formed communities and
states out of small tents and huts, so he also transforms the fauna and flora in Devachan.
We ourselves prepare the nest where we are born. In Kamaloka, to be sure, man works
upon the different animal species. (Popular Occultism, unpubl. typescript, pp.24-25)

In this connection we must speak of a cosmic event of greatest importance, without

which the soul could never have incarnated. This is the exit of the moon from the earth.
The moon severed itself from the earth and formed a secondary planet. Formerly, moon
and earth were one planet. Thus the evolution of the earth and the evolution of man are
closely connected. What the astronomer sees of the moon, is not the whole moon, for
everything in the world also has its soul. The moon went out of the earth with all its
forces, with its whole aura, or its astral part.
This event stands in closest connection with everything which one calls fecundation
and procreation. The ancient Greek Mysteries still knew this. In the Lemurian age the
sexes began to separate; before that time human beings were hermaphrodites. There was
no act of fecundation and conception; procreation took place in a manner which has been
preserved in certain lower living beings. The separation of the sexes coincided with the
separation of the moon. This applies to all living beings. At that time, certain forces were
eliminated from the earth, which had given men the possibility to bring forth descendants
without the aid of another being. These forces were eliminated through the exit of the
moon. At that time the earth plus moon circled round the sun. But the moon maintained
the old movement of the earth-moon planet, for it does not turn round its axis as does the
earth. Even as the moon of today always turns the same side to the earth, its sun and
never the back side, so at that time the earth-moon planet always turned the same side to
the sun.
Sun, moon and planets are also inhabited by beings. In a still earlier time, sun, moon
and earth were one body, and everything which now exists in the form of human beings,
animals and plants, still lived together with the sun. At that time man still had a quite
etheric form of a very fine substance and he lived a kind of plant existence. Animal forms
and human forms arose much later, for at that time everything still stood at the stage of
plant-existence.
These sun-plants were of course entirely different from the plants of today.
Nevertheless one may say that with their blossom they strove towards the centre of the
planet, i.e. the sun, and their roots stretched upwards. When the sun severed itself from
the earth, the plants turned completely round and again turned their blossom to the sun.
From that time onwards the blossom stretched upwards and the root downwards.
The animals only made a right-angle turn, when the moon left the earth. Man made a
complete turn, so that he is a reversed plant, even as the plant is a reversed human being.
(Popular Occultism, unpubl. typescript, pp.30-31)

[Naming of the days of the week according to the evolutionary Planets.

Copernicanism correct for physical, Ptolemaic system correct for astral, reality.]
(Popular Occultism, unpubl. typescript, pp.32-33, precis by RSWB)

25 Aug. 1906
In the course of time certain Beings have been particularly revered. For example, in
Persia in 3000 B.C. the Twins (Gemini) were specially revered; between 3000 B.C. and
800 B.C. the sacred Bull Apis (Taurus) was revered in Egypt and the Mithras Bull in Asia
Minor. After 800 B.C. another Being came into the foreground and the Ram or Lamb
(Aries) was revered.[Examples]This means that there were three successive periods of
civilization, each associated with important happenings in the heavens. The Sun takes his
course in the sky along a particular path, the ecliptic, and at the beginning of Spring in a
given epoch the Sun rises at a definite point in the Zodiac. So in the year 3000 B.C. the
Sun rose in Spring in the constellation of the Bull; before that in the constellation of the
Twins, and about 800 B.C. in the constellation of the Ram. This vernal point moves
slowly backwards round the Zodiac year by year, taking 2,160 years to pass from one
constellation to the next, and people chose as the symbol of their reverence the heavenly
sign in which the vernal Sun appeared. If today we were able to understand the powerful
feelings and the exalted states of mind which the ancients experienced as the Sun passed
on into a new constellation, we should understand also the significance of the moment
when the Sun entered the sign of Pisces. But for the materialism of our times no such
understanding is possible.
What was it, then, that people saw in this process? The ancients saw it as an
embodiment of the forces of nature. In the Winter these forces were asleep, but in Spring
they were recalled to life by the Sun. Hence the constellation in which the Sun appeared
in Spring symbolised these reawakening forces; it gave new strength to the Sun and was
felt to be worthy of particular reverence. The ancients knew that with this movement of
the Sun round the Zodiac something important was connected, for it meant that the Suns
rays fell on the Earth under quite different conditions as time went on. And indeed the
period of 2,160 years does signify a complete change in the condition of life on Earth.
(At the Gates of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.35-35)

26 Aug. 1906
All activity, all work, had its beginning at some time long ago. There were as yet no
pyramids, not even any tools. Everything existed in the form given to it by gods, or, as
materialists would say, by the forces of nature; and man was set into the midst of it all.
Now, however, most of our surroundings are the work of man. Thus the Earth is always
being transformed by man. This will go on increasingly, and what man cannot accomplish
here, he carries out in the period between death and rebirth. Thus our own evolution is
tied up with the changes of the whole Earth. The structure and evolution of the Earth are
the work of men on higher planes, and the more highly man succeeds in developing
himself, the more quickly and perfectly will the transformation of the physical Earth, and
its flora and fauna, advance. (At the Gates of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner
Press, pp.44-45)

29 Aug. 1906
Fabre dOlivet, who has investigated the origins of the Book of Genesis, once used a
beautiful simile, comparing destiny with a natural process. The valuable pearl, he says,
derives from an illness: it is a secretion of the oyster, so that in this case life has to fall
sick in order to produce something precious. In the same way, physical illnesses in one
life reappear in the next life as physical beauty. Either the physical body becomes more
beautiful as a result of the illness endured; or it may be that an illness a man has caught
from infection in his environment is compensated by the beauty of his new environment.
This may seem a startling connection, but it is a fact. The same general law holds for the
history of mans evolution. (At the Gates of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner
Press, pg.69)

In the Fourth Round the Sun and Moon came forth again as one body, and now the
Earth began to form itself. At this point an important event occurred: an encounter with
the planet Mars. The planets interpenetrated, the Earth going through Mars. At that time
Mars possessed a substance, iron, which the Earth lacked, and Mars left this iron in the
Earth in a vaporous form. But for this occurrence, the Earth would have had to remain as
it was, possessing what was already there. Man would have risen as far as the animal
kingdom, as it then was; he would have breathed warmth, but he never would have
acquired warm blood, for there is iron in the blood. In fact according to occult science,
the Earth is indebted to Mars to such an extent that the first half of its evolution is called
Mars. Mercury has an equal significance for the second half. Hence in occult science the
terms Mars and Mercury are used in stead of Earth. [repeat of days of the week list
above] (At the Gates of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.84)

31 Aug 1906
Then came an immensely important event: Earth and Moon separated. The smaller
body of the Moon split off from the Earth. Now there were three bodies: Sun, Moon, and
Earth. This had far-reaching consequences for all living beings: the Moon carried off with
it the great part of the forces the human beings and animals needed in order to reproduce
themselves. Each individual now had only half the fertilising power he had previously
possessed, and the result was a gradual emergence of the two sexes. Man had now to
receive the fertilising power of another being like himself. This was the Lemurian epoch,
that of the third Root-race.
During this period, too, matter began to become harder and more solid. Shortly
before the separation of Earth and Moon denser deposits had been formed, and after the
separation cartilaginous substances, leading towards bone formation, began to appear in
the bodies of men and animals. The solidity of bones developed, in correspondence with
the solidifying of the Earths crust.[details] The human form at that time was
something like a fish-bird-animal. Most of the Earth was still watery and the temperature
was still very high. This watery element contained in solution much of what later became
solid - our present day metals, for instance, and other substances. Human beings moved
in it with a swimming, floating motion. They were well able to endure the tremendous
heat which reigned on Earth; their bodies were still constituted of a material which
corresponded to the prevailing conditions, and in this way they could live. (At the Gates
of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.89-90)

1 Sept 1906
In future times yet another, quite different, picture of the world will prevail.
Generally we hear that Copernicus taught only two things: that the Earth revolves on its
own axis and that the Earth revolves around the Sun. It is seldom noticed that he taught
also a third form of movement - that the whole solar system moves onward in a spiral.
For the present this fact will be left aside, but in the future humanity will return to it.
Copernicus stood on a frontier, and the old outlook was still strongly present in him. (At
the Gates of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.101-102)

2 Sept. 1906
A comet is an assemblage of Kama, desire-substance, without the corresponding
spiritual substance. The comet gets as far only as the astral body. The visibility of comets
arises from the powerful friction caused by the astral body passing through etheric
substance. (At the Gates of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.146)

The Moon is inhabited by those physical beings who have remained behind at an
earlier stage of evolution: Luciferic beings. On the Old Moon there were beings who had
fallen so far into evil that they could not take part in further evolution. They established
themselves on the Moon. These malevolent beings are evident especially in the waning
Moon; when the Moon is waxing they are less harmful. Some dreadful beings inhabit the
Moon, but there are also favourable beings, actively concerned with growth and birth.
(At the Gates of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.146-147)

4 Sept. 1906
The third stage is called learning the occult script . There is in fact such a script,
through which one can penetrate more deeply into things. An example will show you
more exactly what I mean. With the close of the old Indian civilisation a new civilisation
began. The symbol for such an evolutionary stage is the vortex. These vortices exist
everywhere in the world. They occur in the nebulae - the Orion nebula, for instance.
There, too, an old world is dying and a new one being born. When the Indian civilisation
was coming into its being, the Sun was in the sign of Cancer; during the Persian
civilisation in Gemini; during the Egyptian civilisation in Taurus; during the Graeco-
Roman civilisation in Aries. (At the Gates of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner
Press, pg.134 )

26 Oct. 1906
Thus the whole cosmos lives in the form of a crystal. In the same way the whole
cosmos is expressed in the living substance of a single being. The fluids coursing through
it are, at the same time, a little world, and a counterpart of the great world. And when
substance has become capable of sensation, what then dwells in the sensations mirror the
cosmic laws, so that each separate living creature senses within itself microcosmically the
whole macrocosm. The sentient life of a simple organism is thus an image of the life of
the universe, just as a crystal is an image of its form. The consciousness of such living
creatures is, of course, very dim. But its vagueness is counterbalanced by its far greater
range, for the whole cosmos glimmers in the faint consciousness of an elementary being.
In man there is only a more complicated structure of the same three bodies that are found
in the simplest sensitive living creature. (The Occult Significance of Blood, 1967,
Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.19)

26 Nov. 1906
First, we have the solid state. The esoteric term for it is the earth. In using this
term, however, the esotericist does not refer to the actual soil of the fields but to its solid
condition. All solid components of the physical body - the bones, the muscles, and so
forth - are termed earth. The second state is fluidity; the esoteric term for it is water.
Everything fluid - blood, for instance - is called water. Thirdly, we have the gaseous
state, air in esoteric terminology.
 The esotericist goes on to consider higher and subtler substances, more delicate
states beyond air. In order to understand this better, we must consider, for example, a
metal such as lead. In esoteric terminology, lead is earth. If subjected to immense heat it
melts and becomes water in the esoteric sense. When it vaporizes it becomes air in the
esoteric sense. Any substance can thus become air in its final state. If air is more and
more diffused, it becomes increasingly delicate and reaches a new state. The esotericist
calls it fire. It is the first state of ether. Fire is related to air in the same way that
water is related to solidity. A still more delicate state than fire is called light ether by
the esotericist. Continuing to a still higher state, we come to what esotericists call
chemical ether, which is the force which enables oxygen, for example, to link itself with
hydrogen. A still more delicate state than chemical ether is life ether.

We thus have seven different states in esotericism. Life in any substance ultimately
can be attributed to the life ether. In esoteric language , what lives in the physical body
consists of earth, water, and air. What lives in the etheric body consists of fire, light ether,
chemical ether and life ether. While physical body and etheric body are united, they are at
the same time separated. The physical body is permeated by the entire etheric body;
similarly the astral body permeates the etheric body. The astral element can descend as
far as the state of fire, but it can no longer mix with air, water, and earth. The
physical, on the other hand, can ascend only as far as fire. Let us make clear that the
physical as vapour or esoteric air ascends to fire; in the vapour we sense the fires
diffusing force. The physical ascends to fire, the astral descends to fire, and the etheric
body occupies the central position between the two. The Inner Nature of Music & the
Experience of Tone, 1983, Anthroposophic Press, pp.25-27)

30 Nov. 1906
The third stage is Asana, which involves completely conforming the bodys posture
to certain cosmic streams. When a feeling for such things was still alive, cultic structures
were built, for example, with the main altar always facing east. Because of the sensitive
physical organization of Indians, the direction of their physical stance in space is
significant. There is, as a matter of fact, a different stream flowing from north to south
than from east to west. In the Yoga initiation, the position of the body is significant,
because the Indians body is much softer, and any particular position will exert a greater
influence on such a person. (The Christian Mystery, 1998, Anthroposophic Press,
pg.137)

Learning the esoteric script follows this third stage for the pupil. If we really want to
live in the astral world, we must know the esoteric script. There are many things in the
world constructed according to the shape of a vortex.
This spiral we find in the Orion nebula as well as in the form of living beings.
Human and animal embryos have a spiral form in the early stages of their development.
One part is a picture of the physical; the other part, which spirals around and into the
first, is the astral. The start of a new stage in human history is also symbolized by the sign
of two spirals joined together - this is the zodiacal sign of Cancer. When the ancient
Indian subrace originated after the submergence of ancient Atlantis, the Sun rose on the
first day of spring in the zodiacal sign of Cancer. When we learn to read the esoteric
script, we learn to orient ourselves in the astral world. (The Christian Mystery, 1998,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.142)

1907
16 Feb. 1907
Eight hundred years before Christs birth, the Sun entered the sign of Aries, the Ram
or Lamb. Every year it moves a little bit further. The Sun now rises in the constellation of
Pisces at the vernal equinox. During the first age people believed that the Lamb brought
them every kind of well-being, the salvation of new forces in the spring. They even
connected the savior with this image. During the first ages of Christianity, they had as a
symbol the cross with the Lamb. Before the Sun was in the zodiacal sign of the Lamb at
the beginning of spring, it was in the sign of Taurus, the Bull. At that time the Egyptians
worshipped Apis, and the Persians worshipped the Bull of Mithras. After the flood, the
Sun stood in the sign of Cancer, the Crab. (The Christian Mystery, 1998,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.157-158)

22 Feb. 1907
The Atlantean culture seems to have disappeared, leaving no trace. What happened?
We can see it in the sky. Approximately eight centuries before Christs birth, the Sun rose
in the sign of Aries. It moves through one zodiacal sign in the course of 2160 years.
Around the year 800B.C., the Sun moved into the constellation of Aries, the Ram or the
Lamb. Humanity felt that the new constellation brought it the new fertility of springtime,
the good renewed. Therefore, we see that they thought the Lamb or Ram - Aries - was
important. There is much that points to this. In the legend of the Argonauts, for example,
the Golden Fleece plays such a role. Christ was even called the Lamb of God. People in
this way expressed their devotion to the symbol of the Lamb. Earlier the Sun was in the
constellation of the Bull, Taurus; therefore, the Egyptian and Persian cultures worshipped
the bull. Even earlier the Sun passed through the sign of the twins, Gemini, which
correlates with the great role played by duality in the Persian teaching of Ormyzd and
Ahriman. Traces of this are still found even in ancient Teutonic culture. Still earlier the
Sun passed through the sign of Cancer, the Crab. That was the era following the advent of
the great Atlantean flood. A spiral had completed itself in the spirit. (The Christian
Mystery, 1998, Anthroposophic Press, pp.171-172)

1 Apr. 1907
The first spirit, which has its body in the air, makes it possible for man to develop
the power of Speech; with the breathing process speech develops, the process of the
utterance of the Ego begins, attaining its culmination in the Atlantean epoch. At the
moment when God breathed breath into man the spirit began to speak out of the inner
being of man, the soul began to utter its language, - from within man spoke Jehova Jahve
- that is: I Am, He Who is, He Who was, and He Who will be! This is the eternal kernal
of being in every man, which is imperishable, and which will develop to all eternity as
the permanent individuality. This was the first outpouring of Jehova! According to the
myths and sagas this god lives in the rushing wind; that which dwells in the air, that
which is perceived as a sort of Storm-God or Wind-God is Jehova. It indicated that this
Deity has His external body in the air. This Deity worked at the individualisation of
mankind. He could not, however, accomplish this individualisation all at once, he had
first to find a means to this end. At first mankind was divided into groups: a human being
did not yet feel himself separated as an individual, he felt that he belonged to a tribe. The
man of the present day, who has such a different consciousness, can scarcely form a right
idea of this feeling that one is part of a tribe. As a hand feels itself to be a part of our
organism so did a human being feel himself to be a part of his tribe. The more the tribe
expanded to a nation the more the individual did the several human beings become.
What we know as the process of becoming more individualised is connected with
the blood. When this outpouring of the spirit took place in the Lemurian epoch, it was not
one common spirit which sank into the human bodies. There were many separate
individualities in the spiritual environment of the earth. Jehova was one Deity among
many! It is because many such Race-Spirits sank down, that mankind split up into
peoples; the more they sank down the more were the greater races formed. But a
complete union of humanity into one single brotherhood was impossible this way!
Brotherhood is only possible when in addition to this ensouling which acts in many races,
the common Earth-Spirit which dwells in warmth gradually streams into mankind! When
one speaks of Jehova one has really to speak of many Jehovas, many Holy Spirits; but
when we speak of the spirit dwelling in warmth we are then speaking only of one. In this
one spirit we have the Logos itself, the Christos, the Spirit of the Earth, the unifying spirit
of Humanity on the earth!
If we reflect that everything contained in what pertains to Manas exists in multitude,
and that everything contained in Buddhi acts as unity, we have here the contrast between
the two, and we understand it in this way: That through the outpouring of spirit through
Manas humanity had to be prepared for the outpouring of the uniting Spirit of Buddhi,
until Christos Himself came Who gathers all together all together into a unity!
At the time when Christos appeared there was a common covering which surrounded
the whole earth. In it we have all that exists as Christos Spirit, as the unifying principle.
And just as in Lemuria the Spirit was outpoured, so also the Christos Spirit was poured
forth slowly into humanity and is still being outpoured, that Spirit Who has His Body in
the warmth of the blood. When He is completely poured forth, there will be in the whole
of humanity the consciousness that it is a single brotherhood. Each one will feel himself
drawn to the others as a brother; all that separated will have given way, and humanity will
be gathered into one great community.
In the earth-planet and in all the beings connected with it we have what is called the
body of the Christos Spirit. Therefore, we have to take quite literally the statement, He
who eats My bread treads upon Me with his feet! (John 13, 18, Lutheran version). For
whose bread does man eat? What does he tread upon with his feet? He eats the bread of
the body, and treads with his feet upon the body, which is described as the body of the
Christos Spirit, that into which the Christos Spirit has become! (Festivals of the Seasons,
1928, Anthroposophic Press, pp.15-16)

Now we must clearly understand that with the human blood was connected that
which produced the feeling which expressed the blood-love. This later developed into
selfishness; the blood took on the character of egoism, selfishness. This blood which had
become egoistic had to be overcome. The surplus egoism in human blood was sacrificed
on the Cross. If it had not flowed then, selfishness would have become greater and
greater, egoism would have had the upper hand more and more. Human blood was
sacrificed in order to cleanse humanity from egoism, and this cleansing of the blood from
the egoistic I is the Mystery of Golgotha!
He who sees only the material process, ho who only sees the man bleeding upon the
Cross can never understand this deeply mystic event! We only understand the Mystery of
Golgotha when we know that on the Cross flowed the blood which humanity had to lose
in order to be set free from the bonds of egoistic selfishness. He who cannot understand
this spiritually can never understand Christianity, nor can he understand the so-called
redemption. We only understand the evolution of humanity when we comprehend the
central position occupied in it by the Mystery of Golgotha, which expresses the highest
spiritual development of humanity. (Festivals of the Seasons, Anthroposophic Press,
1928, pg.17)

During the Easter meal He explains once more that He is the Spirit of the Earth, that
the bread is His Body and the wine is his blood. As the Spirit of the Earth He may say of
all the fluids which course through the earth, This is my Blood, and with regard to all
the materials which make up the body of the earth he may say, This is My Body.
Then comes the scene where Jesus develops the Mystery of the Spirit into the
Mystery of the Son, in order to lead up to the Mystery of the Father.
If you bear in mind the fact if the embodiment of twelve of his own incarnations as
the figures which represent around him twelve of his own parts, - if you bring this to
mind correctly and then with delicacy and inward tactfulness of soul try to comprehend a
passage which contains what is deepest in Christianity, then in it you will be able to see
the transition from the Mystery of the Spirit to the Mystery of the Son.
Remember once more what had to happen before the Mystery of the Son could
come. That blood which is important for egoism on the earth had to be lost. Times will
come when men will become more and more egoistic, and precisely for this reason had
the superfluous egoistic blood to be sacrificed, in order that humanity might be united
into one great brotherhood.
That which had been produced by humanity as such was spiritualised and ennobled
by Christianity, although the egoistic element grew greater and greater through humanity
becoming more and more independent. If we survey what since then has surrounded the
globe; for example, if we consider all the means of external intercourse, all that reason
has devised, all that the egoistic intellect has produced - all these things are only
subsidiary means for the gratification of egoism. People were less egoistic when they
produced fire by knocking two stones together and when they satisfied their needs in the
simplest manner! The only counterbalance to this egoism was Christianity.
Just as the Son of Man sees the twelve figures around Him as the expression of his
own incarnations, so will one who sees into the future recognise in these figures what
humanity has still to pass through before it attains the conditions of completeness. He
who passes through the Mystery of the Son sees into the future, and indeed to the end of
the earths evolution when the earth passes over from the astral condition it will then have
attained, into the Jupiter condition, the new planetary condition. Then as the fruit of its
development it will imprint into the Jupiter condition the perfect love which will have
been divested of all egoism, which will be entirely refined, purified, and spiritualised.
Hence Christos Jesus could say, You who now sit around me represent the various
parts of my bodies, various degrees of perfection, and when I look into the future these
are the twelve stations which must be surmounted in order to lead to the Father, to
perfection. All that pertains to sensuality, all impulses and passions, instincts and
passionate desires must be overcome. This is shown symbolically by what happens to the
twelve. The age which follows is represented by Judas Iscariot! The lowest sensuality, is
connected with the greatest egoism. It is Judas Iscariot who betrays Christianity! There
will come a time when that which took place upon Golgotha will take place over the
whole earth. It will seem as if egoism would put Christos and Buddhi to death. That will
be the time of Antichrist. It is a law that everything that took place around the Cross will
have to take place also on the physical plane. Then in a still later period of development
everything that is base in man will fall away from him, and even now there is being
prepared what he will become later. He will then no longer create from the impulse of the
lower passion. Just as at the present time he produces the word which can embody the
highest that is in his soul, so he will in the future work creatively by the word; just as
through sexuality he has become egoistic, so by the falling away of the same he will
again become selfless. The blood of man will be transformed so that in the future he may
create from pure, selfless feeling. The sexual organ will be transferred to the heart, lungs
and larynx, and here we have one of the two evolutions which follows after Christianity.
(The Festivals of the Seasons, 1928, Anthroposophic Press, pp.19-20)

11 Apr. 1909
The progress of the world consists in everything material being spiritualised. The
fire appeared materially to Moses in the burning thorn-bush and upon Sinai; Through
Christ this fire is spiritualised. And who sees the burning fire after the Christ-Event? It is
the spiritual eye which is opened by the Christ-Impulse itself and which the Christ-
impulse has awakened. Thus the fire worked spiritually. It was perceived again when
Saul's eyes had been enlightened, when he became clairvoyant and recognised in the
heavenly fire the One who had accomplished the Mystery of Golgotha.
Thus both saw the Christ: Moses saw Him in the material fire; but the Christ spoke
to the illuminated eye of Saul from the spiritualised fire. As matter is related to spirit, so
in the course of the development of the world is the material fire of Sinai related to the
fire that streamed towards Saul or Paul.
And what has come into evolution through all this? Let us consider the figures in
humanity which were the expression for the Avatars, such as Vishnu, Krishna, etc., who
had to appear in order that humanity might find the way back into the spiritual world. In
ancient times humanity needed divine power for this. Through the Mystery of Golgotha
the power has been given to man to find within himself the forces which raise him up.
Christ descended deeper than all, for He used even this earthly body for this. Christ
redeemed humanity with human powers; He placed these powers before our souls in the
form in which they can be in their original power. What would have happened if Christ
had not appeared ?If the Enlightened Ones had been able to descend they would at length
have found only human beings so steeped in matter that the spiritual powers would not
have been able to bring man up again out of the impure matter. The Oriental sages looked
out sadly into the future, for they knew that Maitreya Buddha would appear, but the
Ancient Wisdom would then have no disciples. And if it had continued in this way,
Maitreya Buddha: would also have preached to deaf ears, and that which would have
been on the earth would have caused Kashiapa's body to decay, so that Maitreya Buddha
would not have been able to carry up Kashiapa's remains. They pondered sadly as to
whether there would be anyone left who would understand Maitreya Buddha. Something
had to sacrifice itself in a physical substance, not a God in human form, but a human
being who bears God within him, in order that matter may be made into such a purified
substance that for future incarnation the ancient wisdom can be intelligible. And it can be
understood that the Event of Golgotha has acted in this way for humanity. How deeply
has it penetrated into the nature of man and into human existence!
Six hundred years before the Event of Golgotha we see certain occurrences in the
human soul and again six hundred years after. One can scarcely present to the human soul
a greater or more important time than that sublime period when Buddha was gradually
enlightened. He appeared in a royal palace - not in a stable, among poor shepherds. It
should be noticed, however, that he went forth from the palace and observed life in its
various forms. He perceived that 'birth is sorrow.' He searched further with his soul and
found a sick man: thus can man become when he is carried to the earthly world by the
thirst for existence: disease is sorrow. He found an old man who had gradually lost the
use of .his limbs: age is sorrow. He saw a corpse: death stood before him with all that it
blots out. To be separated from what one loves is sorrow. To be united with what one does
not love is sorrow. Not to have what one desires is sorrow. The teaching regarding sorrow
rang out with sublimity and innumerable people learned that they ought to long for
release from this earthly existence because only deliverance from the thirst for existence
can lead to the spiritual.
And now let us allow our vision to sweep over a period of 1,200 years, 600B.C. to
600 A.D. Notice, one thing in the age of Buddha, viz., the corpse and what Buddha felt
and taught when he saw this - and then 600 years after the Event of Golgotha!
Innumerable souls then turned towards a wooden cross upon which hung a corpse; but
from this corpse proceeds the impulse through which life conquers death. It is the
opposite pole of what Buddha perceived when he saw a corpse. It is the certainty that
existence is not sorrow. Six hundred years after the Event of Golgotha the Body of Christ
Jesus an the cross was the token of the knowledge of life, the resurrection of life, the
victory over death. Although in 600 B.C. the entry into the physical world was sorrow for
man, how do the great truths of life now present themselves to the soul? Is birth sorrow?
Those who understand the Event of Golgotha, who feel that they are connected with it,
gladly enter upon this earth which Christ has entered; and through the union with the
Christ comes the knowledge that birth is the door to the finding of the Redeemer who
also clothed Himself with physical matter. Is disease sorrow? No! Even though humanity
cannot yet understand what the spiritual life is which streams in with Christ, and that the
one who lets himself be filled with the Christ-Impulse can overcome all disease by the
powers he develops within him: for disease is an opportunity to overcome a hindrance,
and this man can do through the strength of the Christ-power developed within him. One
has to deal with the burden of old age in the same manner. And death is not sorrow,
because through the Event of Golgotha death has been overcome. Can separation be
sorrow? No! The souls that permeate themselves with the Christ-power know that love
can form ties that cannot be severed, and there is nothing to which we cannot find the
way through the Christ-Impulse; Christ brings us together with that which we love. In the
same way, being united with what we do not love cannot be sorrow, because the Christ-
Impulse teaches us to love all and when we find the way to this, it can no longer be
sorrow, for there is nothing else that we do not embrace in love. This is also the case with
desire, for desire is so purified by the Christ-Impulse that one only desires what ought to
come to one. If it is with-held, then it is for purification and the Christ-Impulse gives one
the strength to feel it as a purification. Therefore again it is no longer sorrow.
There is no greater impulse to a new becoming, and also to further development than
the Event of Golgotha, which continues to work on and will positively have mighty
consequences to the humanity of the future. Christ is the greatest Avatar and when such a
Being descends, as the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth, something most profoundly important
comes into evolution. We sow a grain of wheat in the earth; it germinates; the stalk and
ears of wheat grow and the many, many grains are facsimiles of the one grain of wheat
we sowed in the earth. It is exactly the same in the spiritual world, for all things
transitory are but symbols (as above, so below). When the Event of Golgotha had taken
place, something happened to the etheric body and the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth:
through the power of Christ they became multiplied and in the spiritual world there have
been since that time many, many reproductions of this astral body and this etheric body,
and these worked on. When a spiritual individuality descended, it clothed itself with an
etheric body and an astral body; and when an individuals karma allowed it, an image of
the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into him. This was the case, for
example, with St. Augustine in the early centuries of our era; into his etheric body was
woven a reproduction of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth, but his astral body and his
I were his own.

Again, reproductions of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth propagated themselves

in inner enlightenment in other human beings. They could experience Christ, for they
bore within them something which came from the historical Christ. Later, in the eleventh,
twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, people who through karma were ready for it
had interwoven into them images of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. Such, for
example, were Francis of Assissi, Elizabeth of Thuringen, and others. Many, many were
called through the continuous activity of Christ to carry it to posterity. (Festivals of the
Seasons, 1928, Anthroposophic Press, pp.26-29)
 22 Apr. 1907
Before the Lemurian age the sun, moon and earth, united in one body, moved
forward in terms of the zodiac. Time was measured following this movement. For this
reason, the twelve signs of the zodiac are characterized as the heavenly clock and drawn
as such.
A planet alternates between pralaya, a cosmic night, and manvantara, a cosmic day,
just as we alternately pass through day and night. The planet passes through the signs of
the zodiac during both pralaya and manvantara; for that reason the twelve signs of the
zodiac are counted twice, just as we also count two times twelve to equal twenty-four
hours. The hours symbolize the signs of the zodiac.(Reading the Pictures of the
Apocalypse, 1993, Anthroposophic Press, pg.22)

8 May 1907
[When Pythagoreans wanted to express the four members of the human being,
they expressed the harmony in the ratio 1:3:7:12.
Physical body: 12 - zodiac fundamental tones
Etheric body : 7 - planetary fundamental tones
Astral body : 3 - sun, moon, earth fundamental tones
I : 1 - fundamental tone not mentioned
Planetary fundamental tones are given in ascending musical scale in
evolutionary sequence, i.e. Saturn, Sun, Moon, etc.
There is an expression in occultism: the twelve goes into the seven, which means
that the physical body is constantly becoming more like the etheric body.] (Reading
the Pictures of the Apocalypse, 1993, Anthroposophic Press, pg.43-44; precis by RSWB)

22 May - 6 June 1907

The only correct view of the physical human body is to say that it corresponds with
the extent of mans kinship with the mineral kingdom around him. But you must realise
that this member of mans being is the one that can least of all be conceived of as separate
from the cosmos. The forces working in the physical body pour in from the cosmos.
Think of a rainbow. If a rainbow is to appear, there must be a particular combination of
sunlight and rainclouds. The rainbow cannot be absent if this combination between
sunlight and rainclouds actually exists. The rainbow is therefore a consequence, a
phenomena brought into being from without. The physical body too, is, in a way, a pure
phenomenon. You must look in the whole surrounding universe for the forces which hold
the physical body together. Where, then, are we to find, in their true form, these forces
which cause the physical body to have the appearance it has? Here we are led to higher
worlds, for in the physical world we see the physical body as a phenomenon only. The
forces which give rise to this phenomenon lie in a very lofty spiritual world. We must
therefore give some study to worlds which exist as truly as the physical world exists.
When the occultist speaks of higher worlds, he means worlds that are around us all
the time, only the senses for perceiving them must be opened just as the eyes must be
opened for the perception of colours. When certain senses of the soul, senses which lie
higher than the physical senses, are opened, the world around us is pervaded by a new
revelation known as the astral world. Rosicrucian Theosophy calls this world the
Imaginative World - but Imaginative here denotes something much more real than the
ordinary implication of the word. There is a constant flowing and ebbing of pictures; the
colours that are otherwise chained to objects are involved in myriad transformations
within the astral world. In the movement that has linked itself with Rosicrucianism this
world is also called the Elemental World. These three expressions therefore:
Imaginative world, Astral world, Elemental world, are interchangeable.

A still loftier world, revealed to yet higher senses, is that of the Harmonies of the
Spheres. This higher world penetrates into the world of pictures and colours. It is called
Devachan, Rupa Devachan, or also the Mental world; in Rosicrucian terminology it
is known as the world of the Harmonies of the Spheres or the world of Inspiration,
because sound or tone is the medium of the inspiration when the corresponding senses
have been opened. In the movement that has linked itself with Rosicrucianism, this world
has been called the Heaven world. Lower or Rupa-Devachanic world, Devachan, the
world of Inspiration, the Heaven world - these again are one and the same.
 Still another world, revealed by even higher senses, is known in Rosicrucianism as
the world of true Intuition, but Intuition here has a much higher reality than is contained
in the word as used in everyday life. True Intuition is a merging into other beings, so
that they are known from within themselves. In the movement that has linked itself with
Rosicrucianism, this world of Intuition has been called the world of reason; it is so far
above the ordinary world that it casts a shadow-image only into the world of men.
Intellectual concepts are faint and feeble shadow-images of the realities in this higher
world. In addition to the physical world, therefore, there are three other worlds. Behind
the forces which hold the physical world together there are forces which are to be found
in the highest world, the world of Intuition. In comparison with the nature-forces in this
highest world, everything that the physicist discovers in the physical world is like so
many faint shadow-images. For every concept you have, say of a crystal, or of the human
eye, you would find, in this higher world, living Being. A concept in the physical world is
the shadow-image of Beings in this highest world. Thus the physical world is built up by
forces which manifest, in their true form in Arupa-Devachan - to use the theosophical
mode of expression. (Theosophy of the Rosicrucian, 1966, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.19-
21)

Occult investigation reveals that the human being returns to incarnation within an
average period from 1,000 to 1,300 years. The reason for this is that the human being
may find the face of the earth changed on his return and therefore be able to have new
experiences. The changes on the earth are closely connected with certain constellations of
the stars. This is a most significant fact. At the beginning of spring the sun rises in a
certain zodiacal constellation. The sun began to rise in the constellation of Aries (the
Ram) 800 years before Christ; before that epoch it rose in the adjacent constellation of
Taurus (the Bull). About 2,160 years are required for the passage through one
constellation. The circuit through the whole twelve constellations is known in occultism
as a Cosmic Year.
The peoples of antiquity were deeply sensible of what is connected with this passage
through the zodiac. With feelings of awe and reverence they said: When the sun rises in
spring, nature is renewed after her winter repose; nature is awakened from her deep sleep
by the divine rays of the vernal sun. And they connected this young, fresh power of
spring with the constellation from which the sun was shining. They said: This
constellation is the bestower of the sun with its new vigour, it is the bestower of the new,
divinely creative power. And so the Lamb was regarded as the benefactor of humanity by
men who lived in an epoch now lying 2,000 years behind us.
In the epoch preceding 800B.C. the sun was passing through the constellation of
Taurus; in Egypt we find the veneration of Apis the Bull, in Persia the veneration of the
Mithras Bull. Earlier still, the sun was passing through the constellation of Gemini, the
Twins; in Indian and Germanic mythology we find definite indication of the Twins; the
twin goats drawing the chariot of the God Donar are a last remnant of this. Then, finally,
we come to the time of the Atlantean Flood. An ancient culture passed away and a new
culture arose. This was designated by a particular occult sign, the vortex, which is the
symbol of Cancer and to be found in every calendar.
Thus the peoples have always had a clear consciousness of the fact that what
proceeds in the heavens runs parallel with the changes taking place on the earth beneath.
When the sun has completed its passage through one constellation, the face of the earth
has changed to such an extent that it is profitable for the human being to enter a new life.
For this reason the time of reincarnation depends upon the progress of the vernal equinox.
The period required by the sun for its passage through one zodiacal constellation is the
period within which the human being is twice incarnated, once as a man and once as a
woman. The experiences in a male and female organism are so fundamentally different
for spiritual life that the human being is twice incarnated, once as a woman and once as a
man into the same conditions of the earth. This makes an average of 1,000 to 1,300 years
between two incarnations. (Theosophy of the Rosicrucian, 1966, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pp.54-56)

The Sun was itself a kind of being of air, surrounded by the substance which had
previously formed Saturn - fire, warmth. The part that had densified had formed the
gaseous Sun, and what had not densified was a surging sea of fire. These beings could
live on the Sun and inhale and exhale warmth, fire; they were therefore called the Spirits
of Fire. They stood at the human level on the Sun and they worked in the service of
humanity. One calls them Sun Spirits or Fire Spirits. Man at that time was at the stage of
sleep-consciousness, the Sun-Fire Spirits had already the ego consciousness. Since then
they too have developed further and ascended to higher degrees of consciousness. One
calls them in Christian Esoteriscism Archangels. {? Perhaps indicating this on the Sun,
with them as Archai on Moon and Exusai now, on Earth: RSWB} And the highest evolved
Spirit Who was on the Sun as Fire Spirit, Who to-day is still active upon the Earth, with
very highly evolved consciousness, this Sun or Fire Spirit is the Christ. In the same way
the most evolved Saturn Spirit is the Father God.
Christian esotericism knows that there was incarnated in the body of flesh and blood
of Christ-Jesus precisely such a Sun-Fire Spirit, and indeed the highest, the Regent of the
Sun Spirits. That He might come to Earth He had to make use of a physical body, He had
to live under the same earthly conditions as man, in order to be able to manifest here.
Thus on the Sun we are concerned with a Sun-body, as it were, a body of the Sun
planet with Ego-Spirits, who are Fire Spirits, and with a Regent of the Sun, the most
highly evolved, the Christ. While the Earth was the Sun, this Spirit was the central Spirit
of the Sun; when the Earth was Moon, He was more highly developed, but he remained
with the Moon; when the Earth was Earth, He was very highly developed and remained
with the Earth. He forms thus the highest Planetary Spirit of the Earth. The Earth today is
His Body as at that time the Sun was. Therefore you must take St. Johns words literally,
Whoever eats my bread, treads me underfoot. For the Earth is the Body of Christ.
One thing more. Not all beings within this Sun-mass came to the stage of evolution
of which I have spoken to you. Many stayed behind at the stage of Saturn existence. They
could not receive into themselves what streamed in from cosmic space and send it back
after receiving it; they had to send it back direct, they could not permeate themselves with
it. These beings therefore appeared on the Sun as a kind of dark intermixture, as
something that could not send out its own light. Since they were enclosed in the Sun-
mass surrounded by a mass sending out its own light, they worked as dark places. We
must therefore distinguish between those places in the Sun which radiated out into
cosmic space what they had received, and those which could radiate out nothing.
Our present sun is the descendant of the Earth-Sun-body, it has cast out the moon
and the earth, and has retained the most advanced part. What was present in the former
Sun-body as relics of Saturn are still to be found in the present sun, as the so-called sun-
spots. They are the last vestiges of Saturn, which remain in the shining sun-mass as dark
portions. (Theosophy of the Rosicrucian, 1966, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.100-101)

Now followed a short recapitulation of the first three conditions on a higher level.
First the Saturn existence, then the Sun, and then the Moon once more split off and
circled round the other body. But this Moon still had the Earth within it. Then comes a
further highly important change. All that is Earth threw out of itself the present moon.
That means the worst substances and beings, the unserviceable, and these are contained
in the present moon. All that was flowing watery substance in the Old Moon, is frozen on
the present moon (that can be proved by physical means); and what was capable of
developing further remained behind as Earth.
This separation happened millions of years ago, in the old Lemurian time. And from
those ancient Moon-beings, which have been described as plant-mineral, plant-animals
and animal-men, have arisen the present plant, the present animal and the man who has
become able to receive into himself the Ego which formerly hovered around him and was
united with the Godhead. (Theosophy of the Rosicrucian, 1966, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pp.113-114)

This repetition of the Moon-cycle was for the Earth, if one may say so, an evil
period of its evolution, for considered spiritually, the ego-hood implanted into the human
body consisting of physical body, etheric body and astral body, but without the refining
power of thought. During the time when the Sun had already withdrawn and the Earth
had not yet cast out the Moon, man was in a condition in which his astral body was the
bearer of the most savage lusts, for every bad force was implanted in him and there was
no counterbalance.
During this passage through a veritable hell, and under the influence of the departed
pure Sun forces (not only of the physical sun, but also of the Sun-beings, who had
withdrawn to the Sun) the recapitulating Moon gradually matured so far that it could
throw out the terrible instincts and powers, and retain on the Earth whatever was capable
of evolving. With the departure of the present moon all those sensual forces went away;
therefore in the present moon you have the remains, in its spiritual significance, of all the
evil influences which were at that time present in the human realm; and therefore too the
moon is looked upon as having a detrimental influence. (Theosophy of the Rosicrucian,
1966, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.118-119)

And now how did the Earth appear, after having freed itself from the Moon? It had
formerly been surrounded by fire-mists, as in a seething steaming vessel, and then by
degrees the dense watery vapours withdrew. The Earth was now covered by a very thin
hardened crust, beneath which lay a bubbling churning sea of fire, the remains of the fire-
mist of the former atmosphere. Then gradually tiny islands emerged, the first beginnings
of the present mineral kingdom. Whereas on the Moon a plant-mineral kingdom still
existed, there now appeared the earliest foundations of our modern rocks and stones in
consequence of the hardening, mineralising of this mass. (Theosophy of the Rosicrucian,
1966, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.121-122)

Now you must be clear that in the man the stronger influence on the etheric body
emanates from the moon and the stronger influence on the physical body from the sun. In
the woman the opposite is the case, the physical body is influenced by the forces of the
moon and the etheric body by those of the sun. (Theosophy of the Rosicrucian, 1966,
Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.127-128)

13 Sept. 1907
Just as our souls relate to our bodies, so wisdom relates itself to light that streams
out into cosmic space. You see, the relation between light and wisdom is not an image
that has been contrived. It is based on fact. Thus is it to be explained that religious
documents speak of light as a symbol of wisdom. (Occult Signs and Symbols, 1972,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.7-8)

In the ancient Pythagorean philosophy, as you know, there is mention of the

harmony of the spheres. By sphere we are to conceive cosmic space, space in which the
stars are hovering. This is usually considered to be a contrived image, but this is again no
poetic comparison, rather it is a reality. (Occult Signs and Symbols, 1972,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.8-9)

Our present Saturn received its name in ancient times when the wise ones would still
give meaningful names to things. It was given its name out of its very nature. Today, this
is no longer done. Uranus, for example, does not have such a justified name since it was
discovered later.
What we see in the heavens as Saturn today stands in relation to our earth as a child
to an old man. One day Saturn will become an earth. Just as unlikely as it is that the old
man developed himself from the boy who stands next to him, so unlikely is it that the
earth developed itself from the Saturn that stands in the heavens today. It is the same with
the other heavenly bodies. The sun is such a body as the earth once was; it has, however,
advanced. Just as the boy stands near the old man, so the various planets stand in the
heavens. They are at various steps of evolution, which our earth, now in its fourth
embodiment, has partly undergone already, and will partly undergo in the future. The
planets, however, stand in a certain relationship to each other, and the occultist expresses
this relationship differently from the way the astronomer does today.
You know that the earth revolves around the sun, that Mercury and Venus, as sisters
of the earth, also revolve, and you know that the sun itself moves. Now occult astronomy
has carried on exact investigations of this relationship. It has investigated not only the
movement of the earth and the other planets, but also the movement of the sun itself.
Here one comes to a definite point in cosmic space that is like a kind of spiritual center
around which the sun, and with it our earth and all the planets, turn. The different bodies,
however, do not move equally fast. It is just this relationship of the speed of their
movements to one another that occult astronomy has determined. It proceeded from the
fact that when we view Mars. Venus, and so forth, these heavenly bodies move at a
certain speed, but the whole starry heaven is seemingly resting motionless. In the sense of
true occult research, this repose is only apparent. In reality, this starry heavens moves a
definite distance in one hundred years, and this distance through which the firmament
progresses is designated as the basic number. If you assume this movement and compare
the planetary movements with it, we find that Saturns movement is two and one-half
times that of Jupiters; Jupiters is five times that of Mars; Marss, twice that of the
Moon. Saturns movement, however, is 1,200 times that of the whole celestial dome.
Through the relationships of the different speeds of the planets, the fundamental
tones of the harmony of the spheres arises that sound through the cosmos. The School of
Pythagoras was thus justified in speaking of a celestial harmony. With spiritual ears one
can hear it. When you spread a fine powder as evenly as possible on a thin brass plate and
then stroke its edges with a fiddlers bow, the powder moves into a definite line pattern.
All kinds of figures will arise depending on the pitch of the tone. The tone effects a
distribution of the material. These are called Chladny figures. When the spiritual tone of
the celestial harmony sounded forth into the universe, it organized the planets into their
relationships. (Occult Signs and Symbols, 1972, Anthroposophic Press, pp.9-12)

15 Sept. 1907
Actually, there is justification for speaking of evil only where fivefoldness appears.
When, one day, medicine will make use of this, it will be able to influence beneficially
the course of illness. Part of its treatment would be to study the illness in its development
on the first and fifth days after its onset, on the separate days on the fifth hour past
midnight, and again during the fifth week. Thus it is the number five that determines
when the physician can best intervene. Before that there is not much else he can do than
let nature take its course, but then he can intervene, helping or harming, because what can
justifiably be called good or evil then flows into the world of reality. It is possible in
many areas to show that the number five has meaning for outer events.
A mans life consist of periods of seven years - from birth until the change of teeth;
puberty; seven or eight years later; toward thirty, followed by seven year periods
throughout the rest of his life. When, one day, he will take these periods into account and
consider what had best come toward or stand aloof from him, he will come to know much
about preparing a good old age for himself. He can thus bring about good or evil for the
remainder of his life. In the early periods of life a great deal can be done by observing
certain laws of education. Then, however, there comes an important turning point. This
also may become a regression if he is turned loose in life with complete confidence too
early. The accepted principle of today that sends young people out into life early is
harmful; the fifth period should be passed before this happens.
Seven is the number of perfection. Observation of man himself will make this clear.
Today he is under the influence of the number five insofar as he can be good or evil. As a
creature of the universe he lives in the number four. (Occult Signs and Symbols, 1972,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.42-43)

To complete these remarks let it be said once more that in the fifth week, on the fifth
day, or in the fifth hour we can find important things that can be missed or made good. In
the seventh week, on the seventh day, or on the seventh hour (or in a definite number
relationship, say, 31/2 because seven is also in this number), something can happen
through the thing itself. On the seventh day of an illness, for instance, a fever will take on
a definite character; this might also occur on the fourteenth day. These things are always
based on number relationships that point to the structure of the world. (Occult Signs and
Symbols, 1972, Anthroposophic Press, pg.45)

16 Sept. 1907
Modern astronomy is supported by two postulates of Copernicus, but a third has yet
to be taken into account. Copernicus said that the sun also moves. It advances in a spiral
so that the earth, following the sun, moves in a complicated curve. The same is true for
the moon that revolves around the earth. These movements are far more complicated than
is assumed in elementary astronomy. You see here how the spiral has significance for
celestial bodies, and these describe a form with which men will one day identify
themselves. (Occult Signs and Symbols, 1972, Anthroposophic Press, pg.57)

14 Oct. 1907
Today we will only concern ourselves with the six Amshaspands together with their
hosts, and the twenty-eight to thirty-one Izeds together with theirs, for both these are of
outstanding importance for the whole of human life. Anyone who sees into the spiritual
world knows the answer to the question: What do these beings on the astral plane do?
What do they do all the time? It would be quite wrong to believe that these Spirits are
there merely to form groups and to sing. One might easily think, from some theoretical
descriptions, that they were only ranged in tiers to form choirs. That would be a very
tedious existence for these Spirits! It is not just a question of forming living groups, but
these Beings all have their tasks, their mission in the plan of the world. Those whom the
Persians called Izards were also known to the old Germanic tribes. The Trottens and the
Druids also knew them, only they counted them differently. Some reckoned them to be
thirty or thirty-one, some as twenty-nine. Those spirits whom the Persians called
Amshaspands are higher spiritual Beings whose sole task is to preside over and guide the
forces of nature around us. What takes place in nature so that plants grow and animals
thrive, so that man can live, those forces around us which we call light and warmth,
electricity and magnetism, nerve-force, blood-force - these are far from being unspiritual
forces. To regard them as such would be materialistic superstition. These forces are the
outward expression for spiritual Beings. The mighty powers of existence, light, air,
warmth, electricity and the chemical forces which permeate the world are the outward
expression of the Amshaspands and their hosts. The Amshaspands work within them.
They are, so to say, simmering close to the world. They are behind the scenes for sense
perception. You can perhaps see what I mean by the example of an operator who works
behind the scenes with strings and wires; thus the forces of nature are the marionettes,
and behind them are spiritual Beings. And it is dire superstition which recognises only the
marionettes and has no idea that spiritual Beings are behind them.
If all six of the Amshaspands were at work with warmth and light and so on, that
alone would not bring into existence the structure of our world; the Amshaspands have to
be helped by lower spiritual Beings, subordinate Beings who carry things into effect.
These are the twenty-eight Izards, who have a very remarkable organisation. If one
watches for days at a time, one sees that the six Amshaspands are at work all the time,
uniformly, tirelessly. But the subordinate twenty-eight Izards have a limited working
time. They relieve each other, so that on one day one sees one category at work, on the
second day the second category, on the third day the third, and so on, and this is what
makes it possible for the world to go forward. When in spring a specific species of plant
makes its appearance, the Amshaspands are at work. But it is always one of the six that
takes its turn at leadership, the others are active too but they have not the lead. After a
while one of the others takes over the lead. Thus when a plant species is produced, the
Amshapands are working at the distribution of the great natural forces; but that
everything is exactly what is needed, as, for instance, the climate on any particular day,
and other things, that is brought about by the category of Izard concerned. And the plants
would not get any further if on each day there were not a different category of Izard; after
twenty-eight days the first category comes back again. That is actually how the spiritual
is organised, that is the work of the Hierarchies on the astral plane. (Myths and Symbols
II, unpubl. typescript, pp.8-10)

Now it is extremely interesting to follow the whole process not only in man but
outside in nature. For man is of course modeled upon nature, from the constellations of
mighty nature outside him. If the earth had a different sun, one around which the earth
did not take a year to circle, a different moon, one which did not unfold its four phases in
a month, man would look quite different; for all these things are closely connected. Light
and air work differently according to the point from which the sun shines upon the earth.
Why is this? It is because the apparent advance of the sun is related to the fact that
the Amshaspands in turn relinquish leadership. From month to month through six months
the Amshaspands take their turn at leadership. That is connected with the passage of the
sun through the Zodiac. We have one period of administration by the Amshaspands in the
summer months, the other in the winter months. One of the Amshaspands has to work for
two months every year, and under their control the Izards work in turn, in exact
correspondence with the phases of the moon. Hence the moon needs twenty-eight days to
pass through its four phases and return to its original position. The circuit of the moon
marks the regulation of the period of work of the Izards, the circuit of the sun the
regulation of the period of work of the Amshaspands. Thus the formation of the human
brain, with its twelve pairs of nerves, is connected with the yearly circuit of the sun. The
twelve nerves of our brain correspond to the twelve months, and the twenty-eight nerves
of the spinal cord correspond to the twenty-eight days which make up the circuit of the
moon. And because, when the earth was newly formed out of the Old Moon, a new
organisation had to come about, the correspondence is not exact; man is served by
additional Izards. If a month had thirty-one days, actually all the thirty-one Izards would
work on man; the present distribution is not quite right. These Izards regulate the
functions of the body as distinct from the head, and thus the functions of the bodily
organs are in fact connected with the rulership of the Izards. (Myths and Symbols II,
unpubl. typescript, pp.13-14)

19 Oct. 1907
The subject of our study to-day will appear at first comparatively remote;
nevertheless, these things can interest us in a certain sense even for our everyday life. The
motif of to-days lecture will be what is called by a name borrowed from ancient times,
namely, Chaos. What this word really refers to lies even behind what we understand as
Heaven. Not only the wonderful old Grecian myth speaks of Chaos when it says that the
most ancient Gods were born out of the Chaos; the legends and myths of other nations
too are acquainted with this Chaos, albeit under a different name. In the Norse Saga we
find it designated as Ginnungagap, the Yawning Abyss, from which there arises on the
one hand the cold Niflheim and on the other hand the hot Muspelheim. The beginning of
the Bible also refers to it in the words: In the Beginning God created the Heaven and the
Earth; and the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the
waters.
The Earth was without form and void - these are only other words for the Chaos
out of which the highest Spiritual Beings are born. What is the Chaos? With these old
words for very lofty concepts things have taken a strange course in human evolution. For
a long time past men have lost the right feeling and right conception of them; they no
longer know what was meant when such words were said. (On Chaos and Cosmos,
unpubl. typescript, pg.1)

Likewise it is useful to enter deeply into the thoughts of John van Helmont, a
contemporary of Amos Comenius, who was also a Rosicrucian. Van Helmont can help us
explain what we mean by the word Chaos.
We are all familiar with the word which many people believe to be very old - the
word gas. Without further ado one might imagine that the word was as old as any other.
Gas and gaseous were unknown concepts before the time of Comenius and Helmont.
Helmont was the first; he invented the word gas. It was in 1615 that he wrote the work
in which this word first occurs.
When one uses a new word, one must have some definite occasion to do so.
Helmont was the first to give to mankind the idea, the concept of a gas which is current
to-day. What occasion had he for the concept of a gas? When you heat water, and cause it
to evaporate, water-vapour or steam arises in the first place. Steam is not yet a gas; it is
something you can still see with your eyes. It is the same substance which was formerly
there in the water, divided there into finer particles. You can divide the great majority of
substances into vapour. But you can heat them still further. By further heating you can get
a condition where the substance is no longer visible; it has passed over into quite another
form. It was in the case of carbonic acid gas that Helmont first realised the nature of the
gas. Helmont came to the idea that among the states of substance there is also the gaseous
state, and in his work Ortus Medicinale we find the following sentence: This spirit which
was hitherto unknown, I will name with a new name: Gas. We can learn a great deal
from this sentence. Helmont calls what he describes as gas, Spiritum, that is, a Spirit.
That is to say, the transparent substance he has constituted is for him the instrument of a
spiritual being. He sees in it the expression for a spiritual being, and he calls this Spirit by
a new name: Gas. He was well aware that when the gas was cooled, strange cloudlike
phenomena appeared. The gas became vapourous and watery again. To him the gas was a
transparent and clear foundation from out of which something more dense and condensed
arises. In contemplating this world he said to himself: How did all this that is here,
originally come to be? Originally it arose from something that one cannot see, from out
of which, however, as from a gas, the Universe was formed. Once upon a time, the whole
Universe was Spiritum, purely spiritual. As the clouds of misty vapour are formed out of
the gas, so out of the transparent, radiant, unclouded infinity of the Spiritual, all things
that now exist emerged.
Van Helmont had this thought: - the gas is very thin, transparent; the light goes
through. You do not even divine its existence. But in relation to the world-origin, even the
gas is a condensation. Nevertheless, one can understand, one can conceive the cosmic
origin and foundation of all things if one regards the gas as a parable thereof. You can
gain an idea of the Spiritual if you imagine that the gas is itself a vapour of the Spirit, just
as the steam is vapour of the gas. We are thus led by Helmont to a living conception of
Space, not empty and infertile like the concept of Space for the many to-day, but a
concept of Space appearing infinitely fertile, bearing countless seeds. The infinitude that
is spread is the seed from out of which we issue. Everything that is in the world is Space
condensed; it is the infinite Spirit who shows Himself to us in place of a mere empty
space.
Imagine how originally the pure, spiritual transparent Space was there. What
happened in this pure transparent Space? In this same Space is also the extended gaseous
air. As the thoughts that rise from our soul, when they are spoken in the word, bring the
air around us into vibration, and every word shapes itself into forms in the air, quite
silently and unseen by us, so did the Spirit of God hover over the waters. Into the waters
the creating words of the Godhead were spoken. Now let us imagine the empty
widespread cosmic Space; fertile, rich in seeds, and resounding into it, the Word of the
Godhead, working formatively into this Space.
But the Chaos works not only in the beginning of world-evolution; it works on and
on; it is present even to-day.
This Chaos is at the same time the essential reason of the constant and ever-present
fertility in Nature. Chaos is working in manure, in all that is cast out; and unless, at some
time or other, you mingle Chaos with the Cosmos, further evolution is never possible.
(On Chaos and Cosmos, unpubl. typescript, pp.5-10)

28 Oct. 1907
But another event took place, concurrently with the separation of the sun and moon
from the earth - as you have heard on various occasions. I refer to the passage of Mars
through the earth. The substance of the two cosmic bodies Mars and Earth was at that
time so thin that the substance of Mars could pass through the earth, and there was left
behind in the earth a substance which it did not have before, iron. If you go through all
the various conditions of the ancient Sun and Moon, you will find no trace of iron; iron
first came about through the transit of Mars through the earth. And it was that event too
which enabled red blood to be formed. What was the consequence of the permeation of
the earth with iron? The earth became fiery, became permeated with an atmosphere of
warmth.
 And now we come to a thought which I beg you to take hold of with precision.
Imagine that all the warmth which is present in the bodies of men and animals inhabiting
the earth today were living as an atmosphere of warmth around the earth. Then you have
approximately the state of the earth immediately after the separation of the moon.
The earth-beings did not yet possess warmth, but warmth surrounded the whole
globe, it was still outside. Thus we can think of the earth at this time as a body still fluid,
a body in which the other metals were present in solution in a variety of ways, and which
was surrounded by a sea of fire, or warmth. Into this sea of warmth the sun sent its rays
of light from without. For the occultist light is by no means merely physical, but it is the
bodily expression of the spirit. It is because these sun-Spirits in the sun-rays are taken
into the earth-warmth that there is first formed the common soul, the common astral body
of all mankind and the higher animals. (Myths and Symbols IV, unpubl. typescript, pp.8-
9)

1908
6 Jan. 1908
When we observe the astral plane we come upon certain beings there - only one kind
among many - who seem to have no expression or manifestation among the beings found
on the physical plane, but who are yet connected with it. There on the astral plane we
meet with these astral beings - with pronounced will, pronounced purposes and so on
within our immediate world. They have this existence on the astral plane, but they are
related to, belong to, the same sort of beings as inhabit our present moon, having even a
certain physical existence on the moon. One who is able to approach these things
clairvoyantly knows that on their scene of action, the moon, these are beings in a certain
respect similar to man, but they are dwarfs in comparison, scarcely reaching the height of
a six or seven year old child. Upon the moon, however, a particular opportunity is offered
them for their activity. The physical conditions are quite different there, the atmosphere
for example is quite different and in consequence when these beings withdraw, so to
speak, to their habitat they acquire the faculty of a tremendous roaring, of uttering
immensely powerful, frightening sounds. These dwarf-like beings can maintain an astral
existence within our world. You must in fact picture conditions in the higher worlds as
being much more complicated than people are wont to.
As soon as we speak from the aspect of higher worlds, there exists an unbroken
connection between the different planets and so the moon is connected with the earth just
as for instance Berlin and Hamburg are connected by the telephone. Beings that live on
the moon can therefor carry out their operations on the earth with the aid of astral forces.
One might call them the reverse side of other astral beings whom we also find in the
astral world, beneficent beings who, compared with even the mildest human nature, are
yet much, much milder - in their speech too, very mild and gentle. The speech of these
beings has not yet that aridity of human language which a man must ponder over a long
time if he is to express himself, and clothe his thoughts and ideas in words. One could say
that the thoughts of these beings flow from their lips - not merely the expression of the
thoughts in words, but thoughts themselves flow in a gentle language from their lips.
These beings are likewise to be found within our astral world; they have their actual
scene of action on another planet. As the first-named beings are at home on the moon,
these second are at home on Mars, they inhabit Mars and are in fact the main population -
as certain human races are the principal population on our earth. If we then mount up
higher to the devachanic plane we find certain beings who in their own way are also of a
mild, peaceable nature and who in a certain respect are extraordinarily clever. These
beings to be found on the devachanic plane have their actual home on the planet Venus,
as the other beings on moon and Mars. On Venus too we find a second species of beings
who - in contrast to the gentle, amiable kind - represent wild and ferocious vitality, and
whose principal occupation consists in mutual fighting and plunder.
Again we find on the higher parts of the devachanic plane certain beings who are
very difficult to describe. We can only do so comparatively by saying that they are
infinitely inventive: at every moment of life they devise something - for it would be false
to say that they think it out. Their inventive gift is rather as if one were to look at
something and at the same instant - even in the beholding - one had the impression of
how one could form it differently. Invention comes to them spontaneously. These beings,
who have their home on Saturn, are again confronted by others who seem to be their
reverse side; savage, horrible beings who possess to an infinitely higher, more frightful
degree all that lives in man as wild, sensual greed and inordinate desire.
 Now all these beings who have been mentioned are by no means unconnected with
our existence. Their deeds, activities, manifestations, are definitely extended into our life
and their action is particularly to be traced by clairvoyance when certain conditions
appear on earth. Thus the beings who - naturally as astral beings - are at home on the
moon are present on earth in the most varied circumstances, when for instance a man falls
prey to illusory ideas, or where insane people are gathered. Such astral beings show
special preference for the neighborhood of insane asylums. They are, moreover, almost
always to be found near mediums and somnambulists; these persons have such beings
swirling round them, and a large proportion of the influences that are exercised upon
them is derived from the presence of these creatures. Where on the other hand love and
kindliness prevail, where humanitarianism is unfolded, there you find the mild, gentle
Mars beings present as astral creations, taking part in the forces which are there at work.
That is nourishment for them, the atmosphere in which they can live and when they
exercise their influence on man.
Whenever human discoveries are made, where engineers are at work, in technical
workshops, there the atmosphere is created for the inventive Saturn beings. On the other
hand where some sort of activity is developed which has to do with presence of mind,
beings are there who have their seat on Venus.
So you see how man in the most varied circumstances is continually accompanied
by such swirling elemental beings, as they may be called. Man is never really alone;
whatever he does and whatever he undertakes is at the same time an opportunity for the
presence of creatures who encroach onto mans forces and occupy themselves there and
whom one must know if one is to get a true view of life. [reinforcement of the reality
of this] Everything that man does is like a summons to unknown beings. It is not only
the insane or mediums that these moon beings - among whom are thoroughly malevolent
little rascals, can venture to approach; when, for instance, young children are overfed in
such a senseless way that they become greedy, then these beings can sidle up to them and
spoil their development.
Now these beings in yet another respect are by no means unconnected with man.
They have on the contrary a deep relation to our human structure. Of all that exists in the
human body, there is actually only one thing that belongs or can increasingly belong to
man - and that is his blood. Mans blood is the direct expression of his ego. If however he
is not perpetually careful to strengthen his ego inwardly through a strong and vigorous
will, through strong forces of his soul, if so to speak, he loses control of his ego then
other beings can fasten upon his blood, and that is very grave and evil for him. On the
other hand, many other beings are anchored in other parts of the present human
organism. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press,
pp.3-7)

Just as a man can fill two professions so too can the astral body be on the one hand
the builder of the nervous system, and on the other hand the builder, the creator, of the
lymph. In the same way mans etheric body is the builder and creator of the whole
glandular system, as well as in another aspect the organiser, creator and controller of the
circulation of the chyle.
Now we must be clear that in the human astral body and etheric body, the ego is
definitely the only master . Gradually in the course of evolution mans ego attains to a
greater control over his astral body and his etheric body as he changes the former into
spirit-self or Manas and the latter into life-spirit or Budhi. But as long as man has not
control of these parts of his being, other beings are connected with these human
members.
In the human astral body other beings are embedded like maggots in cheese - forgive
the unappetizing comparison - but it is so. And in fact the astral beings which are
embedded in, and connected with, the human astral body are those whom I have
described as having their real habitat on the moon or Mars, according as they are
benevolent or malevolent. They anchor themselves there. And lymph, the whitish juice
that courses through man, belongs to the body of beings who live in our astral world.
They are here the parasites of men. If there were no human race here on earth they
would very soon take their departure; they could find no dwelling place, it would not suit
them here. But there are beings, men and higher animals, who have lymph and there these
beings have their physical manifestation. Thus not merely a material substance pulses
through our body but in such a circulation move whole hosts of these beings. And the
preponderance of moon beings or Mars beings of this nature circling through a man gives
his lymph its special character. If more moon beings circulate through his body he is a
man who inclines more easily to wrong-doing, irritation and anger, if more Mars beings,
then he is a man who is more inclined to gentleness, kindliness, mildness.

Now if you examine clairvoyantly what one calls chyle, that is, the external
expression of the human etheric body, you find similar beings are also incorporated into
this. The beings anchored there are those whom we have already characterized as the
good and evil Venus beings, those having their home on Venus and existing in our
devachanic world. Living in this fluid that courses through the human body, these beings
have their actual home on the devachanic plane, and insofar as they take on a physical
body, have their physical life on Venus. And since Venus is connected in a certain way
through its forces with our whole earthly vegetation and all that lives on earth, you will
realize the connection existing between mans nourishment and the effect produced in
him through what he takes in as nourishment. Influences of the Venus beings live in all
the plants and naturally also in the animal kingdom. The influences may come on the one
hand from the good, gentle, mild Venus beings, or on the other hand from the wild beings
who have been described to you as greedy for plunder and engaged in conflict with each
other. According as one or the other kind work upon our animals and plants, so are virtues
and vices built into mans body when the flesh of these animals or the food obtained from
these plants are transformed into chyle.
You can gather, for instance, that one who knows that plants and animals standing
under certain celestial influences flourish in a certain country, can also learn to grasp how
a quite definite national character must arise. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon
Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press, pp.9-12)

It is more difficult to understand the way in which the Saturn spirits work upon man.
There are on the one hand Saturn spirits who directly they observe anything immediately
make some invention, on the other hand there are those who develop terribly disordered
passions of a sensual nature, in comparison with which all that man can develop in this
direction is childs play. These Saturn spirits insinuate themselves into the human body in
a still more hidden way, namely, through sense perception. When we turn our eye to a
beautiful, pure and noble thing, a concept is aroused in us; when we turn our eye to a
sordid, ignoble thing then a different concept is aroused. Now when a concept is called
forth in the soul through outer impressions there slip into man at the same time these
Saturn spirits - the good and the bad, When man is sensing they draw into him through
eyes and ears and the whole skin. [Historical examples of negative effects of
perfumery] (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press,
pg.13)

Thus, for instance, the beings just described to you as Saturn beings find their
expression in a certain respect in the human liver. You must of course be clear that if one
really wants to understand Spiritual Science one discovers it to be a very complicated
domain.
You are aware that in the (old) Saturn development of human evolution the first
inception of the senses came into existence through the forces of (old) Saturn. In a similar
way Saturn still works into man and among his inner bodily organs it is the liver upon
which the Saturn forces have a strong and intensive influence. And although certain
forces are present in the liver from which man must free himself, yet they are necessary
to enable him to come to his present form and shape; they must however be overcome.
You can prove this in a certain way by external evidence. You can discover, for instance,
that in the period before birth and directly after birth, when the human body is being built
up, the liver occupies the greatest space in relation to the rest of the body and then that it
becomes smaller and smaller. In fact the ratio at birth could be given as 1:18 whereas the
relation later is 1:36. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.15-16)
27 Jan. 1908
The following will seem grotesque, even preposterous to those whose concepts are
rooted in modern astronomy. Nevertheless it is a truth of cosmic evolution that when a
planet like our earth has risen to sun-existence, when it has gradually achieved union with
the sun and even sun-existence is transcended, there arises, as a still higher stage of
evolution, something that in a certain way you can perceive in the heavens: there arises
what we today call a zodiac - it is the stage higher than that of a fixed star. Thus when
beings are no longer restricted to the form of existence belonging to a fixed star but have
expanded their evolution so powerfully that it extends beyond fixed stars and the fixed
stars lie like bodies in it - then a higher stage is reached, the stage of Zodiac-existence.
The forces which work from a Zodiac upon a planetary system themselves evolved, in
former ages, in a planetary system and have advanced to the stage of a Zodiac. (The
Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press, pg.22)

We may picture to ourselves that around this Saturn, this first, dawn-condition of our
planetary system, there were the constellations of the Zodiac - but not as they are today.
The single stars composing the Zodiacal constellations around that ancient Saturn were
scarcely to be distinguished from each other. They glittered only very faintly, like beams
of light streaming out from Saturn. The best way to picture this is to think of ancient
Saturn encircled by beams of light, just as our earth is encircled by a Zodiac. And in the
course of Earth-evolution itself these light-masses developed into the present star clusters
comprised in the Zodiac. So that the Zodiac - to use an abstract expression - has
differentiated out of that original ocean of flame. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings
Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press, pg.23)

Something rather remarkable comes to light when we compare planetary existence

with zodiacal existence. The occultist makes use of two words to indicate the difference
between them. He says: Everything that is contained in the Zodiac is under the sign of
Duration; everything that is comprised within planetary existence is under the sign of
Time. You can get an idea of what this means if you remember that not even the farthest
reaches of the mind can conceive of changes having taken place in the Zodiac. Each
single planet may have undergone considerable change throughout long and greatly
differing periods of evolution; the forces working in the Zodiac remain, relatively
speaking, fixed and permanent. As far as human thinking is concerned, we can say that
planetary existence belongs to the sphere of the Finite, whereas Zodiacal existence
belongs to the sphere of Infinitude. This, as already said, must be taken in the relative
sense, but for the present it is sufficiently accurate. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings
Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press, pg.24)
 The forces which caused the first, rarefied Saturn-masses to gather together were
those which streamed down from the Zodiac, producing on Saturn the first germinal
inception of physical man. We can say in effect: what is at first contained in a planetary
system evolves to a sun existence, then to a zodiacal existence and has the power to be
itself creative, to offer itself in sacrifice within a planetary existence. The forces from the
Zodiac rain down continuously into the planetary existence and continuously ascend
again. The distribution of forces in our earth existence may be conceived as follows: - on
the one side forces are descending from the Zodiac and, on the other, forces are ascending
to the Zodiac.
As far as our human understanding goes, these forces began to descend during the
Saturn-existence of our Earth and when Earth-existence proper had reached its middle
point, the stage had arrived when they gradually began again to ascend. We have now
passed beyond the middle point of our evolution, which fell in the middle of the
Atlantean epoch.
When, therefore, you think of the whole Zodiac, you must picture that some of its
forces are descending and some are ascending. We think of the forces which are now
involved in the ascending line of evolution, collectively, as Aries, Taurus, Gemini,
Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra - because they actually belong to these constellations. The
descending forces are comprised, approximately speaking, in the five constellations of
Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. Thus forces rain down from the Zodiac
and ascend again: seven constellations of ascending, five of descending forces. The
ascending forces also correspond, in man, to the higher members of his being, to his
higher, nobler attributes. The forces which are in descending phase of evolution have first
to pass through man and within him to attain to the stage at which they too can become
ascending forces. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic
Press, pp.25-26)

At the entry of the ego, the ascending and descending forces were in balance and it
rests with man to turn the scales in the right direction. That is why the occultists have
called the constellation which was entered at the time when the ego itself began to
operate, the Balance (Libra).
From then on it was possible for the ego to participate in the work of the forces
belonging to the Zodiac, to reach into the Zodiac. The more the ego strives for the highest
point of its evolution, the more it works into the Zodiac. There is nothing that happens in
the innermost core of the ego that has not its consequences right up to the very Zodiac.
He will attain full power over Libra in the Zodiac when his ego has developed Atma, or
spirit-man. He will then be a being from whom something streams out, who has passed
out of the sphere of Time into the sphere of Duration, Eternity.
Such is the path of man. But there are other beings whose lowest sphere of operation
is mans highest. The Being whose innermost nature belongs wholly to the Zodiac, whose
forces belong wholly to the Zodiac and only manifests in planetary life through his lowest
member, which corresponds to Libra as mans lowest member to Pisces - This is the
Being who spreads life throughout the whole of our universe:
Aries 12th member
Taurus 11th member
Gemini 10th member
Cancer 9th member
Leo 8th member
7th Spirit-man Virgo 7th member
6th Life-spirit Libra 6th member
5th Spirit-self Scorpio
4th Ego Sagittarius
3rd Astral Body Capricorn
2nd Etheric Body Aquarius
1st Physical Body Pisces

Just as man receives life into himself, so does this being radiate life through the
whole of our universe. And just as man turns his ego up towards Libra, so does this Being
radiate His very Self over our sphere in sacrifice. This Being is called the Mystical
Lamb, for Lamb and Aries are the same; therefor the description Sacrificial Lamb or
Ram is given to Christ. Christ belongs to the cosmos as a whole. His I, his Ego, reaches
to Aries and thus he becomes himself the Great Sacrifice, is related with the whole of
mankind and in a certain sense the beings and forces on the earth are His creations. (The
Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press, pp.31-33)

15 Feb. 1908
Thus there were beings at the very beginning of our Earth who were scarcely fitted
to take part in further development, who were still so young in their whole evolution that
any further step would have destroyed them. They had to receive a sphere of action, so to
speak, on which they could preserve their complete youthfulness. This scene of action
was the cosmic body which we call Uranus, and which therefor has but slight
connection with our earthly existence. Uranus has become the theatre for beings which
had to remain at a very backward stage.
Then evolution proceeded. Apart from Uranus, all that forms the universe was
contained in an original pap-like mass. Within it were beings who in their development
stood precisely at the stage at which we human beings stood when our Earth passed
through the Saturn condition. And for these beings a special theatre, Saturn, was
created, since standing at that stage, only just beginning their existence, they could not
share in all that came later. Thus a second cosmic body split off, Saturn, which you still
see in the heavens today.
The next thing that took place was the separating of another planet which had
become the scene for a certain stage of development. That was the planet Jupiter, the
third to split off from the misty mass which for us is actually the earth. When Jupiter had
split off there gradually arose the forerunners of contemporary humanity. That is to say,
our present human beings emerged again just as a new plant comes out of a seed.
The sun pressed out and now we have sun, with earth and moon together. During
this time Mars - in a way which would take too much time to relate now in detail - had
again formed a theatre for particular beings, and in its further advance Mars actually
passed through the earth and moon and left behind what today we know as iron.(The
Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press, pp.42-43)

Mercury and Venus are two planets which have split off as centers for those Fire-
Spirits who are exalted far above human existence, yet who could not have supported the
sun-existence. So you have Mercury in the neighbourhood of the sun as an arena for
those beings who had not been able to live with the Fire-Spirits on the sun, and Venus as
an arena for beings who in a certain respect had remained behind the Mercury beings but
who yet stood far above man. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.47)

If the moon forces had remained with the earth, they would have held him fast in
one form. Forces that give the form must proceed from the moon, while forces that
continually alter the form proceed from the sun. But in order that the present human form
should arise, a molder, a modeler of form, must work from the moon; it was not possible
otherwise. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press,
pg.47)

The beings who stood nearest man were the Venus and Mercury beings. Until, at the
end of the Atlantean Age, man could make the first feeble efforts to work independently
with his ego upon the three bodies - for that was just possible at the end of the Atlantean
Age - he had to have teachers. These teachers were beings of Venus and Mercury, and
they went on working far beyond the Age of Atlantis. But they are not to be looked on as
we look on our present teachers; the Venus beings must rather be thought of as those who
endowed man with his intellectuality. The exalted Fire-Spirits of Mercury instructed in
the Mysteries; there they appeared - if we may say so - in a spiritual embodiment and
were the teachers of the first initiates. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man,
1961, Anthroposophic Press, pp.48-49)

Mars in fact worked on the sentient soul, the already separated Mercury with its
beings worked on the origin of the intellectual soul, and Jupiter, which had been in
existence the longest, worked on the origin of the consciousness soul.
Thus in the soul-nature of man we have the working of the three cosmic bodies, of
Mars in the sentient soul, Mercury in the intellectual soul, and inasmuch as spirit-self
presses into the consciousness soul, Venus with its beings is active. (The Influence of
Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press, pg.50)

16 Mar. 1908
It was a quite amazing period of our earths evolution. Something took place then on
the grandest scale similar to what happens when you strew fine sand on a metal plate and
stroke the plate with a violin bow. The Chladni sound-figures are formed and you know
of course what regularly-shaped figures and formations appear. Thus the instreaming
music from cosmic space gives rise to the most manifold forms and figures, and the
substances dissolved in the water which were themselves watery, they listened to the
cosmic music and arranged themselves in conformity with it. The most important
formation of the dance of the substances to the cosmic music is albumen, protoplasm, the
foundation of all living growth. Materialists may think what they will of the mechanical
construction of albumen from oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and so on; the original
protoplasm was formed of cosmic substance that had been formed from the harmonies of
the cosmic music. And thus the substances in the living were organized according to the
world music. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic
Press, pg.80)

We have all this at the beginning of the condition of the earth when it still contained
the moon after the departure of the sun. But as long as the moon remained in the earth
there was an increasing hardening of the albuminous formation, and the state that I have
described as mummifying would have resulted if the coarsest substances and beings had
not left the earth. The least developed portion of the human creature at that time were the
nerves that went to the sense organs. But the sense organs had not yet opened. They had
been formed from within outwards but as yet they were not open. And now the moon
went out with the coarsest substances. The consequence was that the human being could
then gradually pass over to a higher condition. His senses were opened, the two heavenly
bodies were now outside and could now hold a balance. Whereas they built up man as
long as they were united with the earth, they now worked in from the outside; they
opened his senses and made him a seeing, hearing being as he appears to us today. The
departure of the moon was practically in the middle of the ancient Lemurian Age. We
then have a human being who had not yet opened his sense organs but who had a
powerful gift of clairvoyance. (The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.81-82)

26 Mar. 1908
Again and again we come across indications concerning the close connection
between the human being and the life of Nature. When scientific books speak of the
oscillations of the price of wheat within certain limited epochs of time and at the same
time draw attention to the changes in the formation of glaciers or in the water levels of
the Caspian Sea, it may at first glance appear that one cannot earnestly bring such things
in connection with each other. Nevertheless new connections are continually being
discovered and confirmed. Many other things will be ascertained, though many errors
will have to be eliminated, but essentially speaking, scientists have been able to supply
proofs for these apparently enigmatic inter-relationships.
Many of these phenomena are connected with the suns influence and arise with the
constantly changing number and size of the sun-spots. Their maxima and minima appear
with a certain regularity. A maxima can be ascertained after approximately 11 and 1/9th
years. A comparative study of these observations moreover shows that eventually one can
also take a period of 22 and years.
It is impossible to ignore the fact that changes in climatic conditions are due to the
influence of sun-spots. A maximum of sun-spots seems to bring with it a decrease in the
suns radiation of heat, which may result in great changes in Nature. Good wine years, for
example, come in oscillating intervals of 11 years. So far it has not been possible to
ascertain scientifically how the climatic oscillations extending over periods of 35 years
may be brought into connection with sun-spots. (These were observed by Bruchner).
Science speaks of four glacial periods and also brings these tremendous
transformations in the physiognomy of the earth into connection with the suns influence,
with the position of the earths axis in respect to the sun.
Thus even our purely mechanical thinking connects the events upon the sun with the
evolution of the earth. But in past ages, people had different views concerning these
things, though modern science has discarded these views of olden times with a feeling of
superior wisdom.
But what must we think when we find that one of the greatest scientists and so
accurate a thinker as Aristotle states that in accordance with primeval truths the stars are
Divine Beings and that all other teachings which refer to the Gods are popular inventions!
Aristotle voiced his views with a certain precaution when he spoke of these ancient
truths, but he deals with them as something which should be treated with respect and
reverence.
An echo of this primeval wisdom which modern natural scientists brush aside with a
shrug of the shoulders lives in a distorted and foolish form in what is generally known as
astrology. In spite of its distorted form, it leads us back to the primeval wisdom of
humanity. It is however not easy to ascertain in what this primeval wisdom really
consisted. In the stars and in the earthly planet a modern scientist only sees physical
bodies which travel through the space of the universe, and he will declare that it is
childish to assume that other celestial bodies should have a meaning for the history of
humanity. In past ages one had different feelings when the human being was set against
the universe. One did not think of bones, muscles or sensory organs, but of the feelings
and sensations which lived in the human soul. And the stars were looked upon as the
bodies of Divine-spiritual Beings who sent their influences into the souls of men.
Whereas to-day we perceive the transformations which take place in the suns
mechanical processes, the men of past ages perceived the activity of soul-spiritual forces
which went from star to star. The Great Initiates did not speak of purely mathematical
forces, but of influences based upon purely spiritual forces which went from star to star.

It is significant to bear in mind that through the great progress in natural science and
in astronomy which could be made during the 19th century, it was possible to develop and
amend the world-conception which was called into being by Kant and by Laplace, but its
fundamental lines remained the same. Even spectral analysis, the great invention of
Kirchhoff and of Bunsen, seems to supply the proof for this conception, for it was
possible to show that a great number of the mineral substances which constitute our earth
are also to be found upon other celestial bodies. Upon the sun itself it was possible to
trace the existence of more than two thirds of all the known elements. (On Chaos and
Cosmos, unpubl. typescript, pp.22-25)

In order to understand this, we should bear in mind that in the forces of attraction
and of repulsion anthroposophical spiritual research recognises the earthly correlative of
forces which in the spiritual sphere produce the movements of the planets. They are
known in the Kant-Laplace system, with all the additions and modifications to which it
has been subjected, as forces of GRAVITATION.
Gravitation and its results are facts which manifest themselves to a physical
observation of things. But its spiritual archetype, the source which produces the
physically perceptible phenomenon, is also a fact, namely one which is accessible to
exact spiritual investigation.
To spiritual-scientific investigation it is evident that the forces of revolution in the
universe are impulsed by the souls of the animals, and this explains why the animal
kingdom is not dependent on the planets. Each planet has a vegetable kingdom in
common with the solar system with which it is connected. Each planet, however, as its
own forces of revolution and consequently its own animal-kingdom, to the extent in
which it is capable of having one.
If we now study the human being, we must draw attention to a deeply significant
fact. As an embryo, the human being is subjected to the influence of the Moon. The
development of the human embryo lasts ten lunar months. As long as the human being is
not an independent being, he is under the influence of the lunar forces. The forces which
are active in the plant and which draw out their flowers and their fruits are solar forces.
The human body is dependent on the forces of the Moon only in so far as its form is
concerned. And these form-giving forces of the Moon appear in a certain contrast with
the forces of the Sun. Sun and Moon appear as the contrasts of life and force. This
contrast is needed in human development.
If only the rigid, form-giving forces of the Moon were active, the human being could
not progress and a kind of lignification would arise. But the exclusive influence of the
Suns forces would lead to a combustion.
The light which is rayed out by the moon is not only reflected sunlight, but it
contains plastic, form-giving forces. The light of the Sun is not only mere light, but it is a
life-giving force, one which precipitates the processes of life, so that under its exclusive
influence, the human being would be old immediately after his birth.
The human form is the result of the Moons influence, and human life the result of
the Suns influence.

The stars, the sun and the moon ray down upon us not only rays of light, but spiritual
streams of life. We cannot grasp this if we only see the physical light, for spiritual facts
can only be experienced with the aid of an artistic fantasy, in a sensory-supersensible
vision, in a living image which thus arises, or with the aid of spiritual scientific
investigation.
The human being consists of many members, or parts of his being. When he is
asleep, only his physical and his etheric body lie upon the bed; the astral body and the
ego separate from the lower members and ascend to the spiritual world. There, the human
being receives forces which are higher than those which he obtains during the day from
the sun and from the moon.
The astral body consists of the far lighter substantiality of the astral world, so that
the starry world can influence it far more easily. Even as the physical forces influence our
physical body when we are awake, so the world of the stars, the closer and the more
distant ones, influences the astral body, for man is born out of the universe, out of that
same cosmic spirit that also gave rise to the starry spaces. (Sun, Moon and Stars, unpubl.
typescript, pp.35-37)

20 June 1908
Here I come to a point where a little secret, so to say, must be unveiled, one which
may only be divulged at this point. In truth if we wish to speak esoterically, as the writer
of the apocalypse has done, we must speak of Mercury as the morning star. By the
morning star he meant Mercury: I have given the direction towards thine I, to the
morning star, to Mercury. - You may still find in certain books of the Middle Ages, which
describe the true state of affairs, that the stars of our planetary system are enumerated
thus: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and then Earth is followed not as it is now by Venus, Mercury,
but by the reverse, Mercury, Venus. (The Apocalypse of St. John, 1943, Rudolf Steiner
Publ. Co., pg.71)
5 Aug. 1908
Firstly, the being who influences fertilisation takes up its abode mainly on the sun;
and then the being who represents static, permanent form departs together with the moon.
Sun and moon gradually separate from the earth. With the sun go all the beings who, had
they remained united with the earth, would have caused life to become too frenzied; and
with the moon go all those forces which would have brought about hardening and rigidity
- everything that would have tended to make form final. The earth remains in the middle,
as it were between the two. This is why man on earth is influenced in his actions
alternately by moon-forces and by sun-forces. (Universe, Earth and Man, 1987, Rudolf
Steiner Press, pg. 33)

7 Aug. 1908
[repeat of reasons for arising of Venus and Mercury],(Universe, Earth and Man,
1987, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.56-57)

11 Aug. 1908
What was the event which enabled man to perceive the forces present in the sun,
those exalted forces which had to leave the earth and which were united with the sun?
These forces streamed down into the earth gradually and the decisive moment when the
power was bestowed upon man to receive in full consciousness the spiritual as well as the
physical forces of the sun, was that of Christs appearance on earth.
We can therefor say: there was a point in time when man separated physically from
the sun. The fish reminds us of our condition before we had to separate ourselves from
the sun. But this was also the time when the higher forces, whose leader is Christ, the
sublime Sun-Spirit, also left the earth; after which, men gradually matured to the point
where they were able to receive His forces in the way they had received the physical
forces of the sun from outside. It was necessary that the inner, spiritual power should
appear on the earth as a reality just as the physical forces of the sun had appeared in an
earlier epoch. (Universe, Earth and Man, 1987, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.120)
 5 Sept. 1908
[Repeat of the reasons for forming of separate planets, as required for beings at
different stages of evolution] Now one should not believe that these beings inhabiting
the various bodies of the solar system have no connection with the inhabitants of the
earth. We must see that the physical boundaries are not the real boundaries, and that it is
possible for the beings of the other to exercise magical influences upon the earth. Thus
the influences of the spirits of the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mercury extend
into the earth. The two latter stand nearer to the earth, and after the sun had withdrawn
they helped men to prepare the earth as we have it today.
Here I would like to add one thing, because misunderstandings have crept into the
naming of the planets. In all occult nomenclature, what astronomers call Venus is called
Mercury, and vice versa. Astronomers know nothing of the mysteries behind this, because
in the past it was not desired that the esoteric names should be revealed. This happened in
order to conceal certain things.
All these spirits of the other planets influence the earth. From every planet
influences descend upon man. To begin with, however, these influences had need of an
intermediary. Through the great Manu this was provided by the seven Rishis being
initiated in such a way that each understood the mysteries and influences of a single
planet. We find hints of this in many ancient occult writings. When, for example, it is said
that there are mysteries beyond the seven, the reference is to those preserved by the holy
Manu himself concerning the time before the splitting-off of the planets.
If we were to characterize this, we would have to say that this primeval teaching
contained approximately what we learn today as the evolution of humanity through the
planetary conditions of Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. (Egyptian
Myths and Mysteries, 1971, Anthroposophic Press, pp.41-42)

8 Sept. 1908
[repeat of mummifying effect of moon forces and rapidly metamorphosing effect
of sun forces] (Egyptian Myths and Mysteries, 1971, Anthroposophic Press, pg.52)

These fourteen aspects of the moon, in the order in which they follow on one
another, were the cause of fourteen nerve-filaments being annexed to the human spinal
cord. The cosmic forces worked in such a way that these fourteen nerve-filaments
correspond to the fourteen phases or aspects of the moon. This is the result of the Osiris
influence. During the fourteen days leading to the new moon, there is no Osiris influence.
These fourteen phases from full moon to new moon have their result, and for Egyptian
consciousness this result was achieved through Isis. Through the Isis influence fourteen
other nerve-filaments proceed from the spinal cord. This makes a total of twenty-eight
nerve-filaments, corresponding to the different phases of the moon.

Many will now object that this does not account for all the nerves, but only for
twenty-eight of them. There would have been only twenty-eight had the moon-year
coincided with the sun-year. But the sun-year is longer, and the difference between the
two caused the surplus nerves. (Egyptian Myths and Mysteries, 1971, Anthroposophic
Press, pp.65-66)

9 Sept. 1908
At the same time that the sun went out from the earth, the earth began to turn on its
axis so that at one time one side of the earth would be shone upon by the sun, and at
another time it would not be shone upon; thus day and night began. But at that time the
days and nights were much longer than today. At the time when the moon was not yet
split off, whenever such a human form (already considerably condensed) was on the
sunny side, there was organised into this gas-mass something of such an animal form
below in the water-earth. Human and animal forms were combined so that there was a
human form above and an animal form below. The upper part protruded toward the sun,
but the lower parts were weaker, and the animal body joined itself to them. The upper
part protruded out of the water-earth, and the sun influence, proceeding through the
flower-men, worked on the inner forces of earth and moon. Because here an animal form
was joined to the human body, which was then at the fish level, it was said that the sun,
which illuminated the human body, stood in the sign of the Fish. The first hint of this
formation actually coincided with the suns being in the sign of the Fish, but the sun
passed many times through this sign before the next formation took place. The beginning
of this formation, however, was the time when the sun stood in the zodiacal sign of the
Fish, and this sign received its name because beings at the fish stage united themselves
with man at that time. (Egyptian Myths and Mysteries, 1971, Anthroposophic Press,
pp.72-73)

There were ever higher animal forms, which man took into himself, At one time,
what had developed out of the fish was called the Water-man, because it lived in the
water and contained the germ of the later man. A still higher form that developed could
be called the Ram. {The context indicates Capricorn} The singular thing is that what
corresponded to man in his lower members actually gave the name to the then prevailing
constellation. The feet are actually the original Fish; the calves or shanks are the Water-
man, which for a long time enabled man to steer while swimming; the knee we find to be
related to the sign of the Ram. {The context indicates Capricorn} The animal kingdom
evolved more and more, and what became the thigh was designated as the Archer.
Man was an animal then, which for the first time could move about on the islands
that were forming in the water. In his upper parts he became ever finer, and at the top he
actually preserved the flower-form. He was illuminated from above by an organ that he
carried on his head like a lantern. The then human form is rightly conceived if we see the
upper part as etheric and the lower part as animal-like. In older pictures of the Zodiac, the
form of the Archer is shown as an animal below and a man above. Thus, the centaur was
once an actual human form. When man looked like this, the moon had not yet withdrawn.
When the moon withdrew from the earth, sexuality appeared. The centaur-man was
still sexless. Sexuality appeared when the sun stood in the sign of the Scorpion, and this
is why we always connect sex with this sign. The Scorpion is what in the animal kingdom
corresponds to the stage of evolution at which man stood when he had developed
sexuality. In his upper half, man was turned toward the cosmic forces, but in his lower
half he was a bisexual being. (Egyptian Myths and Mysteries, 1971, Anthroposophic
Press, pp.74-75)

10 Sept. 1908
Man was led from stage to stage by sun and moon, which kept themselves in
balance. When half of man had become physical, sun and moon were in balance;
Therefor the hip region is designated as the Balance. At that time the sun was in the sign
of the Balance.
Now we must not imagine - and this must be emphasized - that after the sun had
stood in the sign of the Scorpion, and then in the sign if the Balance, the hips
immediately developed. This would show the tempo of evolution as proceeding much too
rapidly. The sun travels through the whole zodiac in a period of 25,920 years. At one time
the sun rose in spring in the Ram, earlier in the sign of the Bull, and so on. About
747B.C. the sun again entered into the Ram; in our time it rises in the sign of the Fish.
The time during which the sun traverses a sign has some significance, but such a period
would not suffice for the change that had to take place in order for man to progress from
sexuality under the sign of the Scorpion to the evolving of the hips under the sign of the
Balance. The sun goes once through the zodiac, and only after this complete circuit does
the forward step occur. In earlier times it had to make the transit oftener before the
forward step could take place. Therefore we cannot apply to more ancient epochs the
familiar time-reckonings of post-Atlantean times. The sun had first to go completely
around - in earlier ages even several times - before evolution could progress a step. For
those members that required a stronger molding, the time lasted even longer.
Man rises ever higher through evolution. The next stage, during which the lower
parts of the human trunk were formed, is designated by the sign of the Virgin.
We shall best understand evolution if we make it quite clear that, while man was
becoming ever more human, animal beings remained stuck at certain stages. (Egyptian
Myths and Mysteries, 1971, Anthroposophic Press, pg.83)

10 Nov. 1908
There is for instance a certain relationship between a mans heart and his brain
which can be described in a somewhat pictorial way by saying that this mutual
relationship of the heart and the brain corresponds to the relationship of the sun and the
moon - the heart being the sun and the brain the moon. So we have to know, if a
disturbance occurs in the heart, for instance, that insofar as this is rooted in the etheric
body, it is bound to have an effect on the brain, just as when something happens on the
sun, an eclipse, for instance, the moon is bound to be affected. It is no different, for these
things have a direct connection.
In occult medicine these things are also described by applying the images of the
planets to the constellation of mans organs. Thus the heart is the sun, the brain the moon,
the spleen saturn, the liver jupiter, the gall mars, the kidney venus and the lungs mercury.
If you study the mutual relationships of the planets you have an image of the mutual
relationships of mans organs insofar as they are in the etheric body. The gall could not
possibly ail - and this would show spiritually in the etheric body - without the illness
having its effect on the other organs mentioned, in fact if the gall is described as mars, its
effect would be similar to the effect of mars in our planetary system. (The Being of Man
and His Future Evolution, 1981, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.31-32)

13 Nov. 1908
If we are to accept the claims of strictly objective science that it obtains its content
only from observation, we must also conclude that science renounces thinking, for this,
by its very nature, transcends observation.
The human soul must be capable of winning a conceptual net without being directly
in a position where we can draw it out of the observation. Methods, even though
scientific, which we employ in order to gain ideas about the world through outer
observation are useless for the construction of a conceptual net in the human soul. We
must employ a method independent of outer experience as well as of clairvoyant
perception, for the souls must - as already stipulated - be able to build concepts before
attaining supersensible perception. Thus man has to pass on from one concept to another
and so retain his position within the conceptual net itself. In order that this process may
take place within the soul, the prerequisite of a method is necessary which has nothing to
do with either outer observation or clairvoyant experience. Such movement in pure
concepts is called - in the sense of the philosopher Hegel - the dialectic method. The true
dialectic method is the one where man lives only in concepts and is able - so to speak - to
let one concept grow out of another. Man then lives in a sphere in which he disregards
both the sense world and the supersensual, which form its basis.
We have explained the activity of the soul as she passes along through the network
of concepts. She spins concept upon concept in the sense of the dialectic method. She
leads man from concept to concept. Naturally, we have to begin at one point or another,
but thereafter we proceed from concept to concept. By so doing we should approach the
sum of all concepts adapted to - in the universe - the sense-world below and the
superphysical world above. All these self-motive concepts that have adapted themselves
to both worlds are called - in the widest sense of the word - the categories. Thus,
fundamentally considered, is the entire human conceptual network constructed of
categories. We might say, in other words: - all concepts are categories, as all categories
are concepts. We certainly have been accustomed to call the more important - the basic
concepts, - their kernals - categories, in correspondence with Aristotle. But we can, in the
strict sense, use the word concept and category reciprocally so that we can call the
sum of our self-motivated, self-generated concepts Category Theory. And Hegels work
- the Logic - derived from Logos, which latter also means concept, is in reality a theory
of categories. Hegel himself has said: If we establish the network of concepts in its full
extent, we find therein the thoughts of the Divine Being before the worlds creation.
Because we find the concept within the world, they must originally have been implanted
therein. When we follow up these concepts, we discover the Divine Thoughts - the
categorical content of the Universe.

Certainly, one must have a point where to begin. That, naturally, must be the most
simple concept - the one with the least content. The concept with the least content and the
greatest circumference is the concept of being. It is adapted to the entire extent of our
world. We express nothing of the nature of being when we merely speak of it. In the
concept of being also something more is hidden - something which can give birth to
another concept, and this is the concept of non-being - the antithesis of the first concept.
The non (or nothing) resides in being, springs forth from it if we inwardly consider
being, so that we have here seen how one concept can grow out of another. If we wish
to form an idea of the non- or not-being, we shall find the attempt as difficult as it is
important. Many people, philosophers included, will say that it is altogether impossible to
form a concept of nothing. But for the Anthroposophist it is of the utmost importance to
do it. There will come a time when much will depend on our ability to comprehend the
concept nothing in the proper way. Spiritual Science suffers from this lack of pure
understanding of the concept nothing. Consequently Theosophy has become a theory of
emanations.
Imagine yourself facing exterior reality, observing the world from one point of view
- one depending on yourself alone. You see, for example, two people, one tall, the other
short. You think something about these two - form a concept - one you would never had
formed had you not met the two people face to face. It is immaterial what were your
thoughts about these two, but the concept would not have been formed had you not met
them. But now this concept becomes a factor - a factor which has originated out of
nothing, and whose inner activity continues within you. Nothing is, therefore, a real
factor in world existence, and you will never understand this world-existence unless you
comprehend the true meaning of nothing. You would also have a better understanding
of Nirvana, if you have a clear concept of the Nothing.
If you now combine the two concepts of being and nothing you arrive at
becoming, a richer concept combining the other two. Becoming is a perpetual
transition from non-being to being. In the concept becoming you have an interplay of
the two concepts - being and nothing.

At the very moment when we comprehend the concept being, we are compelled to
designate it as creature. It is being arrested within itself, being permeated by itself.
This will become clear to you by thinking of the essentials and nonessentials of a thing.
This essential part is the being active within - all being hardening itself to action. We
speak of the being of man when we consider his higher members together with his lower,
and perceive the concept of essence as the concept linked immediately to being. From
the concept essential being we obtain the concept appearance, outward manifestation,
the opposite of essential being, - of that which resides within essential being - e.g. that
which exteriorises from it. Essential and appearance are similarly related as are being
and nothing. If we combine essential and appearance with each other, we obtain
that appearance is contained within essential being. We distinguish between the exterior
appearance and the inner being. But when inner being overflows into appearance so that
the appearance itself contains the essence, we speak of reality. No dialectician will
conceive the idea of reality in any other way than appearance permeated by essential
being. Reality is the fusion of both these concepts.
We can proceed still further - to yet purer concepts. We can say: - Essential being is
that being which resides within itself, becomes conscious of itself within itself - is able to
manifest itself. Now, when this being not only manifests itself, but extends its lines into
the environment, - to be capable of expressing more - we move to the concept of the
concept itself. Within us is active our essential being. But when we allow the concept
to work within us, we have something within that points outwards - something that
encompasses the exterior world. In this way we can proceed from being, appearance and
reality to the concept. We now have in us the concept, and we have seen by formal logic
how the concept operates within the chain of reasoning. There the concept remains within
itself. But now it can extrude, and we speak of a concept which reflects the nature of
things. Here we arrive at true objectivity - the opposite to the subjectively operative
concept; as appearance is related to essentiality, so is objectivity to concept. And
only then have we correctly comprehended the concept objectivity when we have
proceeded in this manner. If we now combine concept with objectivity we come to the
idea which holds at the same time, the objective appearance and the subjective within it.
Thus grow to all directions concepts from the original concept of being. Thus is
evolved this transparent, diamantine, crystalline world of concepts which enables us to
face the world of the senses. Then we find how the sensible and supersensible worlds
coincide with this conceptual - dialectic, and man attains to that concord of concept and
reality of which true knowledge (perception) really consists. (The Theory of Categories,
unpubl. typescript, pp.6-13)

1909
8 Jan. 1909
We can become even more aware of this relationship by bearing in mind the
influence of light on plants. The effect of deprivation of light on plant life is well-known.
The same light that maintains life in plants makes it possible for us to perceive the light-
filled world of our surroundings. Light is also the element that maintains life in plants.
This is physical light but it is also something more. Just as there is a spiritual counterpart
to everything physical, so there is spiritual light in the physical light that rays down on us.
Each time a man rejoices over the brilliance of physical light he can say to himself, Just
as when I see another person and it dawns on me that in this man there lives a spiritual
counterpart, so also I can imagine that in light there lives a spiritual counterpart.
Indeed, the spiritual light that permeates the physical sunlight is of the same kind and
being as the invisible light that dwells within the human astral body. A portion of the
spiritual light that permeates the cosmic realm lives within the astral body. It is, however,
physically invisible and in this it can be seen that it is the opposite or complement of
physical light.
The invisible light lives within us and fulfills a definite task. We might say that since
they are opposites, it is to physical light what negative magnetism is to positive
magnetism. We perceive it in its external expression when we realize the relationships
existing between physical body, etheric body and astral body, which, in turn, is permeated
by the ego. It has often been explained that throughout life the etheric body fights against
the deterioration of the physical body. Men as well as animals also possess an astral body
and hence the inner light. Now, the function of this inner light is the opposite of that of
external light. When external light shines on a plant, the plant builds up its living
organism by producing proteins, carbohydrates, etc. Conversely, the task of inner light is
to break down, and this process of disintegration is part of the activity of the astral body.
There is indeed a continuous dissolution and destruction of the proteins and other
substances that we consume so that these substances are utilized in a sense to direct
counter-effects against what external light has built up. Without this activity of inner
dissolution a man could not be an ego being, and it is only by virtue of his ego nature that
he can have inner experiences. So, while the etheric body is concerned with the
preservation of the physical body, the astral body takes care that the food a man
consumes is constantly built up and again destroyed. (Problems of Nutrition, elib.
Lecture, pp.4-5)

12 Jan 1909
If we look back to our old Moon we find that it also separated itself from the sun for
a certain length of time, though a large part of what is the moon today was then part of
the earth. But outside there was a sun, and when such heavenly bodies belong together
then their forces, which are the expression of their beings, always have an influence on
regulating the life of their creatures. The orbiting of a planet around its sun or of a
satellite around its planet is by no means mere chance, nor is it unconnected with life, on
the contrary it is regulated by those beings we have learnt about in the hierarchies of
spirits. We have seen that it is absolutely untrue that the heavenly bodies rotate by
themselves through merely lifeless forces.
Modern man, with his materialistic mode of thought, laughs at the idea that in earlier
times certain conditions in mans life were organised in connection with the four quarters
of the moon. Now just with the moon in particular there is in a wonderful way a cosmic
reflection of the relationship existing between the astral and the etheric body, The moon
moves round its cycle in four times seven days. Those are the positions of the etheric
body, and these four times seven positions of the etheric body are exactly mirrored in the
four quarters of the moon. It is by no means nonsense to look for a connection between
the phenomena of the rising temperature we described and just these quarters of the
moon. Just think, there really is a different quarter of the moon at the end of seven days,
just as there is another quarter of the etheric body and the astral body covers a different
quarter of the etheric body. Originally the relationship of the human astral body to the
etheric body was indeed regulated by spiritual beings bringing the moon into a
corresponding orbiting of the earth. And you can see how the things are to a certain
extent connected, in that even modern medicine reckons with an ancient heritage of
rhythmic knowledge. As the rhythm of the body is ten times twenty-eight and the
physical body is as it were back at the same point ten times twenty-eight days later, there
are about ten times twenty-eight days between conception of a human being and his birth,
ten lunar months. (The Being of Man and His Future Evolution, 1981, Rudolf Steiner
Press, pp.69-71)

25 Feb. 1909
This awakening of the astral body can also be observed in another phenomenon.
Before the twelfth century, the depths of mystery contained in the Holy Communion were
especially well understood. It was not widely discussed, but rather was accepted in a
manner that enabled a human being to feel everything that was contained in the words,
This is My body and this is My blood. Christ meant with these words that He would be
united with the earth and become its planetary spirit. And because flour is the most
precious thing on earth, bread became for human beings the body of Christ, and the sap
flowing through plants and vines became to them something of His blood. (The
Principle of Spiritual Economy, 1986, Anthroposophic Press, pg.260

22 Mar. 1909
The Luciferic Spirits gave man material desires; as their counter-measures the higher
Beings introduced illness and suffering as the consequences of material desires and
interests, to the end that he should not succumb to this world of sense. And so there is
exactly as much suffering and pain in the world as there is interest only the physical and
the material. The scales are held in perfect balance; the one does not outweigh the other -
so many passions and desires on the one side, so much illness and pain on the other.
(The Deed of Christ, 1954, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pg.10)

10 Apr. 1909
Not a single thought would flare up in our souls if ego and astral body did not work
in concert, thus giving rise to a commensurate, interdependent functioning of the blood
and the nervous system. The future science of human beings will some day be amazed at
todays scientific theory, which holds that thoughts originate solely in the nervous system.
This belief is incorrect because the process responsible for the interaction of thoughts
must be seen as a dynamic interaction between blood and nervous system.
The origination of thought inside our soul corresponds to rolling thunder in the
cosmos. Likewise, when lightening flashes in the air, and when air and fire interact to
produce thunder, this corresponds to the fire of our blood and the activity of our nervous
system. This produces what one might metaphorically call an inner thunder that echoes in
our thoughts, albeit gently, quietly and imperceptibly. The lightening in the clouds
corresponds to the fire and the warmth in our blood, whereas the air outside, including all
the elements it contains in the universe, corresponds to everything that passes through our
nervous system. And just as lightning in its counterplay with the elements produces
thunder, so the counterplay of blood and nerves produces the thought that flashes up in
the soul. (The Principle of Spiritual Economy, 1986, Anthroposophic Press, pp.94-95)

12 Apr.1909
Before the Atlantean catastrophe the spiritual eye of man swept the expanses of the
universe and beheld spiritual beings everywhere.
The physical centre, however, gradually became more clearly visible. Thus, the
spiritual counterpart was lost when the physical aspect became manifest. The spiritual
knowledge surrounding the stars, and of the beings who dwelt in them, was preserved in
the Mysteries and spoken of by the Holy Rishis. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the
Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.9)

When the pupils in these sanctuaries pronounced Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars,
Jupiter, and Saturn in their respective languages, they were referring to a sequence of
spiritual beings. Today, these words refer to the coarsest physical substance of the
planets, and the most important aspect is thereby omitted. (The Spiritual Hierarchies
& ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.10)

Now, when the primeval divine teaching spoke of perceptible phenomena in our
surroundings, particular emphasis was laid on what, to them, was the most important
natural phenomenon surrounding man on earth - fire. In all explanations of what occurred
on earth a central position was allotted to the spiritual investigation of fire. (The
Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.15)

Actually, we feel our own inner warmth, we are hot or cold, and yet one is little
inclined to concern oneself with what is gaseous, watery or solid in ones organism, that
is, with what is air, water and earth in ourselves. We only begin to be aware of ourselves
in the element of warmth. Ancient and modern spiritual science both proclaim fire or
warmth to be the first stage at which matter becomes soul.
Fire or warmth was central to all observation of nature; it was the gateway by means
of which one penetrated from the outer to the inner. It is truly like a door in front of
which one can stand. One can behold it from outside, one can open it, and one can behold
it from within. That is the true place of fire among natural phenomena. (The Spiritual
Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.17)

One cannot see light, but only the solid, fluid and gaseous elements through the
effects of light. Spiritual science, therefore, says that light makes everything visible but
cannot itself be seen. This is an important statement; light is imperceptible. It cannot be
perceived by means of our external senses. We can perceive the solid, the fluid and the
gaseous, and we can still perceive outwardly warmth or fire, but here an inner perception
begins. The light as such we can no longer perceive externally. (The Spiritual
Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.18)

When an object is heated but does not produce any light, the generated warmth that
one can perceive with the senses also contains a spiritual element. When the heat
becomes so intense that light arises and smoke is produced, a part of the spiritual
component that was in the heat goes over into smoke. Spiritual beings connected with the
fire have, so to speak, to allow themselves to be made opaque, to be bewitched in the
smoke. Thus everything of a turbid nature, of the solidification connected with warmth is
associated with the bewitchment of spiritual beings. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the
Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.19)

Now let us look at the world that surrounds us. The solid stones, the streams, the
evaporating water that rises as mist, the air - all things that are solid, liquid or gaseous -
are, in fact, densified fire. Gold, silver and copper are densified fire. In the far distant past
everything was fire; everything was born of fire, but in all forms of densification,
spiritual beings lie bewitched! (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.20)

Something is continually passing from these elementals into man, and it goes on
from morning until night. As we look out into the world, hosts of elementals, who were,
or are continually being bewitched into the process of densification, are continually
entering into us from our surroundings. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical
World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.21)

During life on earth man builds a cross-road for elementals. When man has gone
through life in the spiritual worlds and returns in a subsequent incarnation through the
gate of birth, all elemental beings whom he did not release, accompany him into physical
existence. Those whom he releases do not accompany him any longer; they return to their
original condition. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.22)

[Detailed description of the following summary: Beings bound to and creating

earth, water and air are further bound by thoughtless and unfeeling staring at or
perception of matter, but released by reflection and feeling about things. Beings
bound to and creating night are further bound by uncaring laziness but are released
by industrious activity. Beings bound to and creating the waning moon are further
bound by sullen, peevish discontentment but are released by a cheerful and
harmonious view of life. Beings bound to and creating winter are further bound by
gross materialism and denial of the spirit but are released by devout spiritual
attention.] (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic
Press, pp.22-26, precis by RSWB)

If you are active in such a way that elementals are led back to the light, the day, the
waxing moon, and the summer season of the year, you free those elemental beings whom
you need so very much; at your death they rise into the spiritual world. If you connect
yourself with the smoke, staring at solid matter, or if you connect yourself to the night
through apathy, to the spirits of the waning moon because of your ill-humour, and to the
spirits who are chained in the winter time through godlessness or lack of spirituality, then
you condemn elementary beings to reincarnate with you. (The Spiritual Hierarchies
& ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.27)
 13 Apr. 1909
[Reversed Zodiac illustration,] (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World,
1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.48)

We might say that just as the earth is surrounded by the atmosphere, so was the old
Sun surrounded by the realm of the Cherubim for the benefit of the Archangels. The
Archangels, as they went forth into cosmic space, beheld their mighty helpers.
How did these great helpers meet them, and what was their appearance? Naturally,
this can only be seen by looking with clairvoyant perception into the Akashic Record.
These great universal helpers appeared in quite definite etheric forms. Our forefathers,
still conscious of these important facts through tradition, represented Cherubim as
strangely winged beasts with variously shaped heads: The winged Lion, the winged
Eagle, the winged Bull, and the winged Man.
For the Cherubim, in fact, drew near, to begin with, from four sides.
The Archangels who dwelt as man on the old Sun beheld the four different types of
Cherubim approaching from four sides. Because of this, the Archangels were able to
remain longer in the spiritual realm that surrounded the old Sun than would otherwise
have been possible.
The Cherubim, however, were also in the heavens during sun nights when the light
did not stream out. During such periods, the Sun planet was darkened and there was only
warm gas, no light; currents of warm gases streamed inside the Sun globe. The Cherubim
were all around it and sent their activity downwards into the dark gas. This accounts for
the fact that out of the Sun mist on the old Sun the first germs were laid down for what
we today call the animal kingdom.
Just as the first germs of the human race were laid down in mans physical body on
ancient Saturn, so the earliest beginnings of the animal kingdom were in the smoke, in
the gas of the old Sun. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.49-50)

Therefor, our forefathers who were familiar with these important facts of spiritual
cosmology from the Mysteries, called the beings who manifested their influences from
various sides of the universal space on the old Sun, the zodiac (animal circle). That is the
original meaning of the zodiac. The first beginnings of man were laid down on ancient
Saturn; the substance, which today constitutes our physical body, was poured out,
sacrificed by the Thrones. On the old Sun the beginnings of the animal kingdom were
laid down; the first animal forms were conjured forth from the gas, condensed from the
heat substance, in which the Cherubim reflected themselves. Thus, the first animals
became Sun reflections of the zodiac. Here is a true inner relationship between the zodiac
and the first animals on the old Sun. Our present animals are caricatures of the beings
who were in the process of becoming animals on the Sun.
The shapes of our present animals, even if they are caricatures, were drawn from the
periphery of the cosmos, from the forms of the zodiac. You may have noticed that I have
only spoken about four names of the zodiac. They represent the four principal
expressions of the Cherubim, but in reality each of these cherubic beings has to the right
and the left of it a kind of follower or companion. Thus we have twelve-fold forces in the
Suns periphery belonging to the realm of the Cherubim. They were already present in a
rudimentary form on ancient Saturn. The twelve powers belonging to the realm of the
Cherubim accomplished their task in the way indicated.
But how are these related to the usual names of the zodiac? We shall refer to this in
the next few days, for there has been a change in the sequence of the names. One
generally begins with the Ram, Bull, Twins, Cancer, Lion, then comes Virgin and the
Scales. The Eagle had to accept the name Scorpio for a definite reason owing to a later
transformation. Then come the two companion signs, the Archer, Sagittarius, and the
goat, Capricorn. Man is called Waterman for a particular reason that we will come to
learn. Finally, we have the Fishes. The true forms out of which the zodiac originated only
shimmer through in the Bull and the Lion, less so in Man, who is exoterically referred to
as the Waterman. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.51-52)

14 Apr. 1909
Before a system of Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim comes about, it must first have
been a solar system. This means that a sun must have reached the stage when it could
unite itself again with its planets; then it can become peripheral. The sun itself becomes a
zodiac. What we have come to know as the exalted beings in the zodiac are the remnants
that have passed over to us from a previous solar system. What previously evolved within
a solar system can now work creatively into cosmic space and bring a new solar system
to birth out of its own forces. Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones represent for us the
highest hierarchy among divine beings because they have already accomplished their
development as a solar system and have risen to an exalted rank of cosmic sacrificial
service.
As a result, these beings have come into the closest vicinity of the most exalted
divinity of which we can speak, the Trinity, the threefold divine power. (The Spiritual
Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.57)

The name Seraphim, rightly understood in the sense of ancient Hebrew esotericism,
is always interpreted as referring to beings who receive the loftiest ideas and aims of a
cosmic system from the Trinity. The Cherubim, who belong to the next hierarchy, have
the task of elaborating in wisdom the aims and ideas received from the Gods. The
Cherubim are thus spirits of exalted wisdom, capable of transposing into workable plans
what is indicated by the Seraphim. The Thrones, the third rank of the hierarchies,
counting from above, have the task - figuratively speaking, of course - of putting into
practice the lofty cosmic thoughts that have been conceived in wisdom, thoughts received
by the Seraphim from the Gods and pondered over by the Cherubim. (The Spiritual
Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.58)

Those powers that acquired their faculties in former cosmic systems worked from
without. Beings of lesser maturity worked from within. (The Spiritual Hierarchies &
...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.61)

Ancient Saturn was a huge cosmic globe, the size of which encompassed the whole
solar system, and it had the Sun at its centre. It was a mighty globe reaching out as far as
the present orbit of the planet Saturn. The old Sun was a globe that extended as far as the
present Jupiter. That marks the boundary of the old Sun. One can picture the orbits of our
planets as boundaries for the extension of former cosmic bodies. (The Spiritual
Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.63)

the Mights or Dynameis compressed the mass of the old Sun up to the boundary
of the present Mars, and Mars represented the boundary line for the size of the old
Moon. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press,
pg.64)

15 Apr. 1909
[Repeat of the precession of the spring equinox through the zodiac, entering the
Bull about 3,000B.C. and the Ram about 800B.C. ](The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the
Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.73, precis by RSWB)
You must picture the earth as the starting point and around it a sphere of influence
reaching up to the moon. This is followed by a realm reaching up to Mercury, then one to
Venus, and then one up to the sun. Now you may be astonished at the sequence of the
planets as I have given it here. You might think that of this is the earth and this is the sun,
that I should draw Mercury in the immediate vicinity of the sun, and then Venus. But that
is not correct. The names of these two planets have been interchanged by a later
astronomy. What is called Mercury today was known in ancient teachings as Venus, and
the planet referred to as Venus nowadays was always known a s Mercury. We cannot
rightly understand what is said about Venus or Mercury in ancient writings and teachings
if we assume them to refer to the present planets of these names. At the time when the
world system was turned topsy-turvy, when the earth was robbed if its central position,
not only the perspective was completely altered, but the opportunity wad taken of
interchanging the names of Mercury and Venus. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the
Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.75)
[Illustration of combined Copernican and Ptolemaic orbital systems.] (The
Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.76, precis
by RSWB)

When speaking of the Copernican and Ptolemaic systems, one must be clear that the
Ptolemaic system has preserved something of the constellation of the ruling spirits. (The
Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.77)

As far as the spiritual influences are concerned, the earth and not the sun stands at
the centre of the cosmic system. It was maintained by the men of all periods who place
emphasis on spiritual development that certainly the sun is a nobler heavenly body;
beings superior to man have developed there, but in evolution everything depends on man
as he dwells on earth. Furthermore, the sun separated off so that mans development
might proceed in the right way. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.78)

The beings closest to the earth and active in its immediate vicinity up to the moon
are the Angels. From this realm they guide the lives of individual human beings from
incarnation to incarnation. But something more is required to distribute appropriately the
masses of people of a nation so as to allot them their tasks on the face of the earth. Simple
reflection will show that the cooperation of the cosmos is necessary. Whether a nation is
endowed with this or that sort of character does not depend on earthly but on cosmic
conditions. Consider, for instance, how one race acts differently from another, each with
its particular skin and hair characteristics. Such things are due to cosmic relationships
regulated from out of heavenly spaces. It comes from a realm extending up to Mercury
and whose sphere of influence reaches up to Archangelic activity. The guidance of the
whole development of humanity on earth is effected from more distant heavenly spaces,
which extend as far as Venus. The guidance of the earth itself proceeds from the very
centre of the whole system. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.79)

16 Apr,1909
If you wish to find an Angel, you must bear in mind that his physical aspect down
here is merely a reflection of his spiritual principles that are visible only in the
supersensible world. You will find the physical bodies of Angelic beings in flowing,
running water, in the haze rising from evaporating stretches of water, also in wind and in
the lightening flashing through the air, and other occurrences of this kind. One of the first
stumbling blocks is that one is firmly convinced that a physical body must have a definite
boundary. The human being finds it difficult to realize that in rising and falling mists, in
evaporating streams, in the blowing of the wind, in the flashing of lightening through
clouds, we behold the revelation of Angelic beings, and behind the physical body, which
is not limited as that of man, one has to seek the spirit.
The human being must develop his members as a self-enclosed entity. That is why
he cannot imagine that a physical body can be so blurred and hazy that it need not have
definitely outlined contours. You must imagine, for example, that eighty Angels may have
the densest part of their physical nature in one stretch of water. One sheet of water here
and another stretch far distant may belong to the same Angelic being. Clairvoyant sight in
the astral world is needed to behold the ego and Manas of Angelic beings; they look
down upon us from higher worlds. To find Angelic beings we must investigate the realm
of the solar system that extends as far as the orbit of the moon. (The Spiritual
Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pp.85-86)

To gain a total picture of an Archangelic being, we must look in two places; it is not
as with man in whom everything is united in one being. In the case of an Archangel, we
have a spiritual part above and a reflection of the spirit down below. A physical body and
an etheric body can only be united if the physical body consists only of air and fire. In
other words, you could not sense the physical body of an Archangel in the rushing water,
for instance. You could only perceive it in wind and fire, and you would have to seek the
supersensible counterpart clairvoyantly in the spiritual world.
The physical bodies of the Archai can only be perceived in flames of fire. When we
see the flashing fire of lightening, we can say that there we have something of the Archai,
but above in the spiritual world we can find clairvoyantly the counterpart that is separate
in this case from the physical body.
With regard to the Archai [they] dwell within a realm that extends up to the
astronomical Mercury (Venus according to the Mysteries). (The Spiritual Hierarchies
& ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.87)
 17 Apr. 1909
Taken superficially, you may find a number of apparent contradictions in the one or
other lecture cycle. This is because in these lectures it is my task to speak not of
speculative theories but about facts of clairvoyant consciousness, which appear in a
different way when viewed from this or that angle. To use a comparison, the picture of a
tree drawn from one side will look quite different from that drawn from another and yet,
it is one and the same tree. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.96)

They are by no means identical like a group of twelve similar soldiers, for instance.
They differ considerably from one another. Each bears its individual stamp, so that as one
looks upwards from various points, one sees quite separate beings. So, in order to locate
particular Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim, one designates them by a particular
constellation. It is like a signpost. In that direction there are the Thrones, Cherubim and
Seraphim known as the Twins, over there, the Lion, etc. The constellations of the zodiac
are more than mere signposts but, as a first stage, it is important to realize that, when we
refer to the zodiac, we are speaking of spiritual beings.
The Thrones are the first to exert their activity on the heat structure that we denote as
ancient Saturn. They cause their own heat substance to seep into the mass of Saturn. That
is how, as I have described, a series of eggs (perhaps a strange word to use, yet they
have this form) appear all around this structure. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the
Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.99)

In fact, the warmth-eggs, as I have drawn them previously, are enclosed by two
currents, namely, an outer stream of soul warmth and an inner stream of heat, which
would have been perceptible to the outer senses. Because of the working together of the
outer and inner heat, the Saturn-eggs began to rotate. Each single egg describes a full
circle and comes, in turn, under the influence of the various Thrones, Seraphim and
Cherubim situated at the periphery.
Then something strange occurs. On its journey, this egg finally reaches its place of
origin again. (I am simply describing the observations of spiritual science.) When it
reaches this point it becomes stationary; it cannot go any further. Every egg is created at
one particular point, travels around in a circle and is stopped at the point where it
originated. When all the eggs have arrived and are stopped at one particular point, they
fall on top of each other and form one single egg. This globe consists of the densest part
of the fire substance, which in the narrower sense of the word is called Saturn because
that is the position of our present planet Saturn.
As previous stages are in a certain sense repeated, so were whole processes repeated
at the origin of our earth. Our present Saturn came about in a similar way; it was held
back at a particular point, not at the same point as in the case of ancient Saturn, however,
because things shift for various reasons. But the process of origin is the same. (The
Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press,pp.100-101)
[Saturn-eggs of elemental fire brought to rest by Leo, and relationship to human
heart.] (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press,
pp.101-102, precis by RSWB)
[Formation of living globes of elemental air on old Sun and their being killed
under Scorpio.] (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.102-104, precis by RSWB)

The present Mars is a repetition of the old Moon. The old Moon reached up as far as
the present position of Mars. That is one part of the old Moon; the other part is the
present moon, which is a slag-heap. The living part, which represents the other pole,
remained with Mars after the former condition was repeated. During this period of the old
Moon - or old Mars, if you prefer - mankind received the astral body, in other words, the
first form of consciousness. This occurred because an impulse had been given at a
particular place; it revolved around in a circle and returned to the point from which it had
begun. This happened in the region of the zodiac known as the Waterman.
We now come to the earth, which represents the fourth stage of evolution. The three
earlier stages are repeated: A Saturn is formed; A Sun is formed and leaves a Jupiter
behind, which is a repetition of the Sun; a Moon is formed and a Mars is left behind.
Then the earth emerges, as I have described it, severed from the sun and with the part that
is separated off as lunar slag. You recall that the first beginnings of the ego took place in
ancient Lemurian times when the present moon separated itself off from the earth.
Again, however, that could only happen because an impulse was given from the
periphery that resulted in one rotation being completed. Sufficient maturity had now been
reached to receive the first beginnings of the ego. This took place in ancient Lemurian
times, and one pointed to the constellation of the Bull. (The Spiritual Hierarchies &
...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pp.106-107)

Celestial bodies such as Saturn, Jupiter and Mars came about because, originally, a
shell or skin was formed; because the globes were laid on top of each other, the structure
densified so as to become visible in cosmic space. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the
Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.108)

18 Apr. 1909
The karma of the first half of evolution fulfills itself in the second. During the
second half, things are destroyed that were built up during the first half. The cosmic
process of becoming creates karma; the passing away of worlds in the broadest sense of
the word is none other than pain under the burden of karma and the wiping away of that
karma. As in big things, so it is also in small ones and it applies to each planet. For each
planet mirrors faithfully the conditions prevailing in the cosmos at large. (The Spiritual
Hierarchies & ...the Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.115)

As Jupiter contracted, the beings who withdrew pressed together something that
has nothing to do with our evolution; it was essentially related to the withdrawing beings.
Thus, first Uranus was formed and later, during Mars evolution, Neptune arose. The
names Uranus and Neptune were not appropriately chosen as had formerly been the case,
though some meaning remains in the name Uranus. It was given at a time when an
inkling of giving the right name still survived; everything beyond our own planetary
system was given the collective name Uranus.
Thus we see that the two planets, which our modern astronomy sets on a par with the
other planets, have in fact quite another origin and have fundamentally nothing to do with
our universe. They represent worlds that came about because beings, who still had
something to do with us during ancient Saturn, withdrew and took up their dwelling
outside our world. Many other facts can be deduced from this, for instance, that these
planets have retrograding moons, and so forth. (The Spiritual Hierarchies & ...the
Physical World, 1970, Anthroposophic Press, pg.126)

21 Apr. 1909
Question does time apply to spiritual processes?
Certainly, but the highest spiritual processes in the human being lead to the concept
that they run their course timelessly. The activities of the hierarchies are timeless. It is
difficult to talk about how time came about because the concept of time is implicit in the
words to come about. Instead, we would have to talk about the essence or being of time,
which is not easy to discuss. No time would exist if all beings were at the same level of
development. Time arises through the interaction between a number of higher beings and
a number of lower beings. In timelessness, various levels of development are possible,
but their interaction makes time possible.

Question: What is space?

We must imagine the Trinity without space, because space is a creation of the
Trinity. As such, space is a creation and belongs to our world. Space is significant only
for beings that develop within earthly existence. Between birth and death human beings
are cut off from the spirit in space and time in the same way that a worm lives beneath the
Earths surface. As for time, the highest states accessible to human beings are timeless.
Because of the subtleties that come into play, it is not easy to speak about the concept of
time coming into existence or about the essence or being of time. Time has only had
meaning since the separation of the ancient Moon from the Sun. Everything external
exists in space, and everything internal runs its course in time. We are circumscribed by
both space and time.
There would be no time if all the beings of the universe were at the same level of
development. In timelessness, we can imagine evolutionary levels that are equivalent.
The concept of time emerges when these levels begin to differ and to interact. Even the
divinity evolves. As evolution continues, even the concept of evolution itself evolves.
(The Fourth Dimension, 2001, Anthroposophic Press, pp.91-91)

3 May 1909
Now the sun and moon work in various ways from outside. The way the sun works
in the region of the North Pole is very different from the way it works at the Equator. We
get the impression of tremendous contrasts that acquired a meaning the moment the sun
began to shine on to the earth from outside. You know, of course, that the nearer we get to
the North Pole, the greater the difference between winter and summer. And right at the
North Pole half the year is day and half the year night. When you think of these
differences, then what spiritual science has to say about these things will make sense. It
tells us that at the North Pole itself earth conditions in Lemurian times were the closest to
those conditions existing on the earth when the sun and moon were still united with it.
Today, of course, these conditions are quite different. But even today it is still to a certain
extent true that at the North Pole the strongest influence is from the earths centre to its
surface, and the influence of the sun and the moon are at their least. What has made itself
felt since Lemurian times, in the great increase of forces raying in from outside, has had
the least influence of all at the North Pole, so the effect of the centre of the earth on its
surface and everything living upon it is here at its greatest. On the other hand the
influence of the sun and moon is strongest around the equator, and this was already so in
Lemurian times. (The Being of Man and His Future Evolution, 1981, Rudolf Steiner
Press, pp.112-113)

10 May 1909
[Through clairvoyant development, Atlantean initiates achieved vision and
experience of higher spiritual beings beyond the earth and up to the region of the
stars.
During these times there were mystery centers that were especially concerned
with the various planets in our solar system and the spiritual powers standing
behind them. For this reason there were Mars, Venus, Sun, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn
and Moon oracles. The greatest was the Sun oracle which could survey and watch
over all the others.] (Reading the Pictures of the Apocalypse, 1993, Anthroposophic
Press, pp.73-74; precis by RSWB)

14 May 1909
When the ancient Egyptians spoke of the stars they meant the spiritual aspect of the
stars, which they still knew. In the past they had seen beings hovering through space, now
only spheres were seen, moving in elliptical circles. (Reading the Pictures of the
Apocalypse, 1993, Anthroposophic Press, pg.97)

4 June 1909
Those who are unacquainted with the principles of occult investigation may believe
that it would be better if such facts had not previously been made known. But in the
spiritual world there is a definite law, the significance of which we will make clear by
example. Suppose that in a certain year some properly trained clairvoyant had perceived
this or that in the spiritual world. Now imagine that ten or twenty years later, another
equally trained clairvoyant could see the same thing even if he had known nothing
whatsoever about the result obtained by the first clairvoyant. If you were to believe that
this could happen, you would be making a great mistake, for the truth is that a fact of the
spiritual world that has once been discovered by a clairvoyant or by an occult school,
cannot be investigated a second time if the would-be investigator has not first been
informed that it has already been discovered. If, therefor, in the year 1900 a certain fact
had been investigated and in the year 1950 another clairvoyant reaches the stage of being
able to perceive the same thing, he can succeed only if he has realized that someone has
already investigated and fathomed it. Therefor, already known facts in the spiritual world
can be perceived only when their import has been consciously grasped as
communications already made. This is the law that establishes for all epochs the
foundation of universal brotherliness. It is impossible to penetrate into any domain of the
spiritual world without a link having first been made with what has already been
fathomed by the Elder Brothers of humanity. The spiritual world sees to it that nobody
can become a law unto himself, saying, I am not concerned with what is already there. I
shall investigate only for myself. None of the facts communicated in spiritual science
today could be perceived by individuals, however highly developed and advanced, if they
had not been previously known. Because a link must be there with what has already been
discovered, the theosophical movement had also to be founded on this basis.
In a comparatively short time from now, many individuals will become clairvoyant,
but they would be able to see only unreality, not the truth, in the spiritual world if they
had not heard of what had already been investigated. First one must have knowledge of
these truths, such as given by theosophy, or the science of the spirit, and only then can
they be actually perceived. Even a clairvoyant must get to know what has already been
discovered, and then, after conscientious training, he can perceive the facts himself. It
may be said that the divine beings fertilize a faculty of seership only once in a human
soul and if the single, virginal fertilization has been achieved, then other human beings
must pay attention to what this first soul has discovered in order to have the right to see it
themselves. This law lays the foundations of an inner, universal brotherliness, a true
brotherhood of men. From epoch to epoch wisdom has passed through the occult schools
and been faithfully harbored by the Masters, and we, too, must help to preserve this
treasure and maintain brotherliness with those who have already achieved something if
we wish to make our way into the higher regions of the spiritual world. What is striven
for on the physical plane as moral law is natural law in the spiritual world. (Rosicrucian
Esotericism, 1978, Anthroposophic Press, pp.14-16)

There is a superficial belief of science that there is no great difference between plant
seed and animal egg. In the animal egg, form and life are transmitted from progenitor to
offspring: life is transmitted. In the seed of the lily nothing except the form is preserved
and it is transmitted to the new lily. We must, therefor, say that the whole planet upon
which plant life unfolds is surrounded by collective life containing the impulse that
enables the life of the plant to arise from it, and from the plant seed only the form. From
the life of the old lily nothing passes over to the flower bed or flower pot in which the
seed is lying. That the new lily is imbued with life is due to the fact that the seed has been
received into the universal life of our earth. (Rosicrucian Esotericism, 1978,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.20)

9 June 1909
 During the recapitulation of the Saturn embodiment. Uranus, Vulcan and Saturn
separated from the earth. During the recapitulation of the Sun embodiment, Jupiter and
Mars separated. After the sun has left the earth, Mercury and Venus separate from it.
After the separation of the sun, the earth cast out the moon. The dispersal of Old Moon
was brought about by the forces of the progressed beings who drew out the solar body,
while the normal and retarded beings produced the moon circling around it. In all the
Mysteries these happenings were called the strife in heaven. The detached planetoids are
the ruins of that battlefield. It is here that the primal secret of the origin of evil must be
sought. (Rosicrucian Esotericism, 1978, Anthroposophic Press, pg.81)

[Details of Lemurian Age before the moon forces left the earth] Everything that
should have been habitable down below was often hardened, crusted, withered,
mummified. There was actually a period when souls were seeking in vain for bodies for
their own evolution on earth. The consequence was that certain beings could not at that
time have returned to the physical plane as men. They could not have incarnated again on
the earth. These beings went to other cosmic bodies that had separated from the sun,
namely to Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. There was a time when the majority of these
beings who should normally have incarnated on the earth according to their nature and
their stage of evolution, placed themselves under the protections of the beings of Mars,
Jupiter, Venus or Saturn, having ascended to and populated these cosmic bodies. Only the
strongest souls found it possible to cope with the stubborn bodies and keep them flexible.
Please understand me well. It was only the best soul material that then came again to
earth, because its power to master the stubborn bodies was the greatest. But under such
conditions evolution could not have progressed. (Rosicrucian Esotericism, 1978,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.82-83)

10 June 1909
It was thus that the concept of race developed in ancient Atlantis. In occultism it is
said that there were human beings in Atlantis whose bodies were inhabited by souls who
had previously been on Mars, Jupiter, Venus and so on. The external forms of these
bodies differed for this reason. (Rosicrucian Esotericism, 1978, Anthroposophic Press,
pg.91)

27 June 1909
Before the sun could withdraw, it became necessary for certain beings to
segregate special fields of action for themselves, and these spheres figure today as the
outer planets, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. It can therefore be said that overall matter, which
contained sun and moon, comprised Saturn, Jupiter, and so forth, as well; and certain
beings withdrew from the beginning with these heavenly bodies, beings requiring for
their life precisely what these planets could offer So the separation of Saturn, Jupiter,
and Mars occurred before the division of sun and earth, while later Venus and Mercury
split off from the sun, and finally the moon from the earth. (Gospel of St. John &...Other
Gospels, 1982, Anthroposophic Press, pp.71-72)

7 July 1909
Now, consider anything whatever that pertains to the earth: when do you understand
it aright? When you say, That is part of the body of Christ. What was Christ able to say to
those who would learn to understand him? As He broke bread made from the grain of the
earth He could say, This is my body. And what could He say to them as He gave them the
juice of plants? This is my blood.
Because He had become the soul of the earth, He could say of the solid substance,
This is my flesh, and of the plants fluid, This is my blood - just as you say of your
flesh, this is my flesh, and of your blood, this is my blood. And those who are able to
grasp the true meaning of these words of Christ create for themselves thought images that
attract the body and the blood of Christ in the bread and wine, and they unite with the
Christ Spirit. (Gospel of St. John &...Other Gospels, 1982, Anthroposophic Press,
pg.271)

According to occult teaching every body consists of twelve members. The one
uppermost is called Ram; the adjacent one Bull; the one with the hands, Twins; the chest
is called the Crab; everything in the region of the heart is the Lion; below it - the trunk -
is the Virgin; the hips, the Scales; below this, Scorpion; and still further down: the thigh,
the Archer; the knee, the Goat; the lower leg, the Water-carrier; and the feet, the Fishes.
(Gospel of St. John &...Other Gospels, 1982, Anthroposophic Press, pg.285)

24 Aug. 1909
Not only in olden times were there people who could turn their gaze towards these
higher worlds and see them in the same way as we see the outer world with our physical
eyes and understand it with our intellect. There have been such people at all periods of
human evolution and there are such today. Humanity never has been dependent on the
mere study of the truths recorded in history, nor is man dependent on receiving these
teachings about higher worlds from any special physical place. Everywhere in the world
the current of higher wisdom and knowledge may be tapped. It would be no wiser for our
schools to teach mathematics or geography today by means of old documents, written in
ancient times, than it is for us, when studying the great wisdom of the supersensible
worlds, to consider only ancient, historical accounts. Therefor it will be our present task
to approach the things of the higher worlds, the beings of the supersensible regions
themselves, to review many things that are known, less known, or quite unknown about
these higher worlds, and then to ask ourselves what the people of older and of ancient
times had to say about these things. (The East in the Light of the West, 1986, Garber
Communications Inc., pp.9-10)

25 Aug. 1909
During the earliest period of Earth evolution the substances and beings now to be
found in the present Sun and Moon were united with the Earth; the present Sun beings
separated from Earth, which remained in connection with what later separated off as our
Moon; after the separation of Moon, Earth remained alone, between it and Sun. These
three bodies were one in the beginning; only later did the Sun and the Moon develop out
of the Earth.
Let us now inquire as to the spiritual meaning of this separation. We will leave out of
consideration the first separation occurring during the Old Moon period and look at what
happened in this connection during the Earth period. Certain beings pass through their
evolution on Earth, and Sun and Moon afford evolutionary opportunities to others.
Beings at a different stage of development from that of man separated from the Earth
with the Sun, because their evolution could not proceed otherwise. At the time, therefor,
of the separation of Sun from Earth, we are faced with the fact that man was left behind,
since the nature of his evolution demanded the conditions afforded by Earth. The other
beings, whose evolution could not proceed upon Earth, separated from it the substances
necessary for them, and built their Sun abode. Thence they influence and work upon the
Earth. In the physical sunbeams as they lighten and warm the Earth, we see streaming the
activities of the sun spirits; the sunbeams are the outer, corporal [sic] manifestation of sun
beings. That is the meaning of the separation of Sun from Earth.
What was the meaning of the separation of Moon? Man could not have kept pace
with the evolutionary tempo of the sun-beings if they had remained in union with Earth.
The evolutionary tempo of Earth was slackened by the separation of Sun, but it was not
suitable for human beings - it was too slow. Man would have become hardened or
mummified, if Moon had remained in connection with Earth. Earth would gradually have
become a planetary body from which the men would have developed with forms like
dead bodies that lack inner spiritual and psychic life. Moon had to withdraw from Earth
in order that the right evolutionary tempo for the being of man might be set up. If Sun
had remained with Earth man would have been forced into an outer life and activity
which he could not have endured; if Moon had remained he would have become
impervious to stimulus, he would have dried up, lacking vital force. The stimulus
received by man from Sun was an external one which would have produced too rapid a
tempo. In the same way as Sun stimulates the life of the flowers in the fields, would
mans thoughts, feelings and will have been stimulated from without, but at such a rate
that he would have been burnt up by physical and spiritual sun fire. The source of this
stimulus left Earth and in this way its influence was weakened. At first, because of the
hardening tendency inherent in Earth, the Suns influence had too little effect - and a
portion of these hardening factors had to leave with Moon. Therewith came into the
evolution of Earth and of man a new vitalising principle, the stimulating influence of
which was exactly contrary to that of the Sun from without. The new stimulus came from
within. The life of the soul in the physical world could develop only because man was
saved from this hardening and mummification by the withdrawal of Moon.
 Ask of one whose spiritual sight is able to penetrate into the Cosmos as to the origin
of mans perception of the external world, and his answer will be that it is to be found in
the physical or spiritual sun elements; ask what lies at the basis of inner experience, of
thought, of feeling, of conscience, for example, and it will be found that this is due to the
moon, to those beings who separated their substance from the earth with the moon. The
presence of moon substances in the earth would have prevented the inner mobility of soul
life.
We must remember that it was not merely for the sake of man that the separation of
the sun and moon from the earth came to pass, but also for the sake of those beings
whose evolution was at first bound to that of humanity. In the sun dwell beings who need
the sun for their evolution, just as the evolution of man needs the earth. To remain with
the earth would have been death to their existence; but the separation resulted in their
becoming able by degrees to reach a stage where their beneficent influences could flow
down to the earth from without. When the seer observes the light, when he perceives
external objects, he realises at a certain stage of his evolution that it is the sun beings
which live behind the physical phenomena of colour, sound, and so on, but that these
beings themselves had to develop to their present stage; these sun spirits are the upper
spiritual beings contacted through the phenomena of the sense world.
Let us now ask how the inner stimulus was given to save mankind from hardening,
from ossification. Certain beings were needed which at the appropriate time, withdrew
the moon substances from the earth. These beings realised that the act of the sun beings
was not sufficient, and that they must protect the earth from ossification by withdrawing
the moon from the earth. They were in a certain respect higher than the sun spirits. These
latter, when the sun was still united with the earth, felt themselves obliged for the sake of
their development to find another dwelling place, but the other spirits were able to remain
with the earth even after the sun spirits had gone out. And this made it possible for them
to save human evolution at a certain point of time by separating the moon from the earth.
Thus they were in a certain respect higher than the sun beings they were able to
separate a substance from the earth relatively coarser than that connected with the sun
spirits and by becoming rulers of this coarse substance to prove their greater power. For
those who are able to transform evil into good are more powerful than those who rule
over the good and make it, possibly, a little better.
Those are the beings behind the phenomena of the life of the soul, who by separating
the moon from the earth, made thinking, feeling, willing, and conscience possible. They
come from the moon region, a spiritual kingdom which in a certain respect is higher,
more powerful than that of the sun spirits, which are to be found behind external Maya.
Maya is two-fold; there is the external Maya of the sense world, and the inner Maya of
soul life. Behind the first stand those spiritual beings who have their centre in the Sun;
behind the Maya of the inner life stand the other beings who belong to a more powerful
kingdom. (The East in the Light of the West, 1986, Garber Communications Inc., pp.51-
56)

30 Aug. 1909
During the Egyptian epoch, while the sentient soul was being intensively developed,
thoughts were as vivid in the soul as is to-day the perception of colour, or scent, or taste.
To-day they have grown fainter and more abstract. In the Egyptian epoch they were
concrete. They were more like visible thoughts; although not thoughts which could be
said to take objective shape in the physical world they were nevertheless thoughts
carrying with them a conviction that they had not been puzzled out, but rose in the soul
like inspirations, surging in suddenly and presenting them in a flash. These people did not
say that they breathed wisdom in, but that they were permeated by living thoughts, which
sprang up out of the soul, which were impelled from the spiritual world into our own.
Thus does everything change in the course of time. And so a man belonging to the
Chaldaic-Egyptian epoch no longer was conscious of the wisdom of the world spread out
as a tapestry of light around him, to be breathed in. He was conscious of possessing
thoughts which rose within him as inspirations. And the content of the science thus rising
in mans being is Chaldaic astro-theology and Egyptian Hermetic wisdom. That which
lives in the stars and moves them in their courses, that which pulsates in all things, could
no longer be, as it were, read by man, but it revealed itself to his innermost being in the
form of the ancient wisdom of the Chaldaic-Egyptian period. (The East in the Light of
the West, 1986, Garber Communications Inc., pp.180-181)
 Consider your own soul life! It does not spread itself out in space, it runs its course
in time. Thoughts and feelings follow one another (in time). That which is outside is
spread out in space, in simultaneous co-existence. Accordingly an event had to happen
which may be called the outflow into space and co-existence of something which till then
had only lived in time. And that event duly took place; something which had hitherto
lived only in time became from that epoch onward a co-existing life in space. In this
manner occurred a change of profound importance and one to which expression was
given in an equally profound manner.

All previous human spiritual evolution in leading out beyond the external world of
space led also into external time. Now everything that comes under the laws of time is
regulated by the measure and nature of the number seven. We learn to understand the
evolution of the world by basing it on the number seven and counting, for example, the
seven stages of Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth (or Mars-Mercury), Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan.
In everything which has to do to do with time we proceed aright by making use of the
number seven. In time we are everywhere led to the number seven. All the schools and
lodges whose teaching leads out of space into time have seven as a fundamental number
when they lead to the supersensible. This number seven is associated with the holy
Rishis, and with the holy teachers of other nations down to the seven wise men of Greece.
But the fundamental number of space is twelve, and in flowing into space, time is
revealed according to the number twelve. At the point where time flows out into space the
number twelve dominates. We have twelve tribes in Israel, also twelve apostles at the
moment when Christ, Who had previously revealed Himself in time, poured out into
space. (The East in the Light of the West, 1986, Garber Communications Inc., pp.186-
188)
31 Aug. 1909
Take, for instance, a man whose spiritual vision is so far opened that he can examine
data of the Akashic Records of the past. He may use the number seven as a guide and
realise that what runs its course in time is built up on the basis of the number seven; that
which repeats itself in various forms can very well be analysed by using the number
seven as a foundation and proceeding from this as a basis. In this sense it is right to say
that since the earth goes through various embodiments we have to look for its seven
incarnations; Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. Because human
civilisations pass through seven incarnations we must seek their connections by once
more using the number seven as a basis. Let us for instance consider the civilisations in
post-Atlantean times. The old Indian is the first, the second is the old Persian, the third
the Chaldaic-Egyptian, the fourth the Graeco-Latin, the fifth our own and we are
expecting two more, the sixth and the seventh to succeed our own. We can also find our
way in the study of the Karma of an individual by trying to look at his three former
incarnations. By starting with the incarnation of a man of the present day and looking
back at his three former incarnations it is possible to draw certain conclusions concerning
his next three incarnations. The three former and the present incarnations, plus the three
following make seven again. Seven is a clue for everything that happens in time.
On the other hand the number twelve is a clue for all things that co-exist in space.
Science which at the same time was wisdom was always conscious of this. It said: It is
possible to find the right way by connecting the spatial relationship of everything that
occurs upon the earth with the twelve permanent points in space - the twelve signs of the
zodiac in the cosmos. These are the twelve basic points with which everything in space
is connected. This declaration was not an arbitrary yield of human thinking; but the
power of thought in those early times had learned from reality and so ascertained the fact
that space was best understood when it was divided into twelve constituent parts, thus
making the number twelve a clue for all spatial relations. But where the question of
changes came in, that is to say in the time element, the seven planets were given as a clue
by a still older science. Seven is here the clue. (The East in the Light of the West, 1986,
Garber Communications Inc., pp.191-193)

But there is also an inner relationship of space and time which I can only indicate
here in bare outline with which the numbers twelve and seven have something to do. And
my illustration shall be made as was usual in the mysteries when the relations of twelve
to seven in the cosmos was being portrayed. It has been said that if we do not consider
universal space in an abstract sense, but really relate earth conditions to universal space,
we must refer those earth conditions to the circle described by the twelve essential points
of the Zodiac, viz. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius,
Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. These twelve points of the zodiac were not alone the real
and veritable world symbols for the very oldest divine spiritual beings, but the symbols
themselves were thought to correspond, in a certain sense, with reality. Even when the
earth was embodied as old Saturn, the forces issuing from these twelve directions were at
work upon that ancient planet; so they were later on the old Sun, and on the old Moon,
and are now and will continue to be in the future. Therefor they have as it were the nature
of permanence, they are far more sublime than that which arises and passes away within
our earth existence. That which is symbolised by the twelve signs of the zodiac is
infinitely higher than that which is transformed in the evolutionary course of our planet
from old Saturn to old Sun and from that to old Moon and so on. Planetary existence
arises and passes away, but the Zodiac is ever there. What is symbolised by the points of
the Zodiac is more sublime than what upon our earth plays its part as the opposition
between good and evil.
In an earlier chapter I called your attention to the fact that on penetrating into the
astral realm we enter a world of change - where something which from one point of view
works for good, may from another point of view appear as evil. These differences
between good and evil have their meaning in evolution and seven is the key number. That
which is the symbol of Gods in the twelve points in space, in the twelve points of
permanence is above good and evil. (The East in the Light of the West, 1986, Garber
Communications Inc., pp.198-199)

As soon as that which in the spiritual world (which I have said is permanent, eternal,
having nothing to do with time) passes into time, it divides itself into good and evil. Of
the twelve points of permanence there remain belonging to the good, the five actually
within the sphere of good and the two on the border, making seven. Therefor we speak of
seven as remaining over from the twelve. When we wish to speak of that which is good
and which acts as our guide in time, we must speak of seven wise men, of seven Rishis,
for this corresponds with reality. Hence also comes the conception that seven signs of the
Zodiac belong to the world of light, to the upper world, and that the lower five beginning
with Scorpio belong to the world of darkness.
 This is only a mere indication serving to show that space, when it forsakes its sphere
of eternity and takes into itself created things which run their course in time, is divided
into good and evil; and in bringing out the good, seven is raised out of the twelve; seven
then becomes the true number for temporal conditions. For truths which belong to time,
we must take the number seven as our clue; the remainder, the number five would lead us
into error. That is the inner meaning of these things.( The East in the Light of the West,
1986, Garber Communications Inc., pp.201-202)

14 Oct. 1909
It is a mistake to assume - as it so often is nowadays - that the human soul has
always been just as it is in our century. The soul has changed; its receptivity was quite
different in the past. A person was satisfied then if he received the picture given in the
myth, for he was inspired by the picture to bring intuitive vision of the outer world much
more directly before his soul. Today myths are regarded as fantasy; but when in former
times the myth sank into a persons soul, secrets of human nature were shown to him.
When he looked at the clouds or the sun and so forth, he understood as a matter of course
what the myth had set before him. In this way something we could call higher knowledge
was given to a minority in symbolic form. While today we talk and must talk in
straightforward language, it would be impossible to express in our terms what the souls
of the old sages or initiates received, for neither the initiates nor their hearers had the
soul-forces we have now developed.
In those early times the only valid forms of expression were pictorial. These pictures
are preserved in a literature which strikes the modern reader as very strange. Now and
then, especially if one is prompted by curiosity as well as by a desire for knowledge, one
comes across an old book containing remarkable pictures which show, for example, the
interconnections between the planets, together with all sorts of geometrical figures,
triangles, polygons, and so on. Anyone who applies a modern intellect to these pictures,
without having acquired a special taste for them, will say: What can one do with all this
stuff, the so-called Key of Solomon as a traditional symbol, these triangle and polygons
and such like?
It was no longer possible to see in the outer world anything that revealed deep inner
secrets. Symbols had come to be regarded as mere fantasies. One thing only survived: a
recognition that the supersensible world corresponded to the supersensible in man, so that
a man could say to himself: You are able to think, but your thought is limited by space
and time, while in the spiritual world there is a Being who is pure thought. You have a
limited capacity for love, whereas in the spiritual world there is a Being who is perfect
love. (Metamorphosis of the Soul;..., Vol. I, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.9-11)

11 Nov. 1909
I have repeatedly emphasised that clairvoyance is not necessary for understanding
the finding s of clairvoyant research. Clairvoyance is indeed necessary for gaining access
to the spiritual facts, but once the facts have been communicated, anyone can use
unprejudiced reason to understand them. Impartial reason and healthy intellect are the
best instruments for judging anything communicated from the spiritual worlds. A true
spiritual scientist will always say that if he could be afraid of anything, he would be
afraid of people who accept communications of this kind without testing them strictly by
means of reason. He is never afraid of those who make use of unclouded intelligence, for
that is what makes all these communications comprehensible.
However, a man may feel too weak to call forth in himself the forces necessary for
understanding what he is told concerning the spiritual world. In that case he turns away
from all this through an instinct for self-preservation which is right for him. He feels that
to accept these communications would throw his mind into confusion. And in all cases
where people reject what they hear through Spiritual Science, an instinct of self-
preservation is at work; they know that they are incapable of doing the necessary
exercises - that is, of practicing asceticism in the true sense. A person prompted by the
instinct for self-preservation will then say to himself: If these things were to permeate my
spiritual life, they would confuse it; I could make nothing of them and therefor I reject
them. So it is with a materialistic outlook which refuses to go a step beyond the doctrines
of a science it believes to be firmly founded on facts. But there are other possibilities, and
here we come to a dangerous side of asceticism. People may have a sort of avidity for
information about the spiritual world while lacking the inner urge and conscience to test
everything by reason and logic. They may indulge a liking for sensationalism in this field.
Then they are not held back by an instinct for self-preservation, but are driven on by its
very opposite, a sort of urge for self-annihilation. If anyone takes something into his soul
without understanding it, and with no wish to apply his reason to it, he will be swamped
by it. This happens in all cases of blind faith, or when communications from the spiritual
worlds are accepted merely on authority. This acceptance corresponds to an asceticism
which derives not from a healthy instinct for self-preservation, but from a morbid impulse
to annihilate the self, to drown in a flood of revelations. This has a significant shadow-
side in the human soul: it is a bad form of asceticism when someone gives up all effort
and chooses to live in faith and in reliance on others. (Metamorphosis of the Soul;...,
Vol. I, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.88)

21 Nov. 1909
One obligation should be observed: no matter how highly initiated we are, no matter
how great our power of vision, it will not profit us, unless we are able to permeate our
clairvoyant visions with concepts, with thoughts. We should not remain standing by our
clairvoyant visions, but we should transform everything into thoughts which we take
from our physical life. It is mans task to absorb what he can experience on earth. In the
physical world he must acquire that which does not exist in the spiritual world, and he
must bring these experiences into the spiritual world. (Problems of the Law of Karma,
unpubl. typescript, pg.11)

7 Dec. 1909
Let us look at what happened when the clairvoyant of ancient times yielded to
revelations from within themselves. They turned their gaze away from the outer world
because what was revealed there could tell them nothing about the spiritual world. They
even turned their gaze away from the sun and stars and listened only to what was within.
There, a great inspiration about the secrets of the world was revealed, and they had a
picture of the structure of the cosmos. What these ancient clairvoyants knew about the
stars and their movements, about the laws of the starry worlds, and about the spiritual
worlds was not acquired through external observation. Rather, the ancients knew
something about Mars, Saturn, and so on because they had revealed themselves within
these people. The laws of the universe, which are inscribed in the stars, were also
inscribed within the human soul and revealed themselves there in inspirations. Just as the
laws of the universe, which rule the stars, were revealed in the soul, so the laws that rule
the world were now to be revealed to the Abrahamic people through outer reasoning and
deduction - that is, those laws had to be grasped through outer revelation. (The
Universal Human, 1990, Anthroposophic Press, pp38-39)

9 Dec. 1909
In all sorts of popular books you will find this or that said about the moon from the
standpoint of science today. But all you can learn from these sources or from the
scientific literature will leave you quite unsatisfied as regards the real questions
concerning this strange companion of the earth. As the 19th century advanced, the
statements of science with regard to the moon became more and more cautious, but also
less frequent; but today they will occupy us hardly at all. The picture of the moons
surface given by telescopes and astronomical photography, the descriptions of its surface-
markings as crater-like formations, grooves, plains and valleys and suchlike, and the
consequent impressions one can gain of the purely spatial countenance of the moon - all
this will not concern us. The question for us today is a truly spiritual-scientific one -
whether the moon has any special influence or significance for human life on earth.
A significance of this kind has been spoken of from various points of view in the
course of the past centuries. And since everything that happens on earth, year in and year
out, is related to the changing position of the earth relative to the sun, and is subject to the
vast influence of the suns light and heat, it is natural to wonder whether that other
heavenly luminary, the moon, might not have some importance for life on earth, and
especially for human life.
In the comparatively recent past, people were inclined to speak of the moon as
having a fairly powerful influence on earthly life. Quite apart from the fact that it has
long been customary to attribute to the moons attraction the so-called ebb and flow of
the sea, the moon has always been regarded as affecting weather conditions on earth.
Moreover, as late as the first half of the 19th century, serious scientists and doctors
collated observations of how the moon in its various phases had a definite effect on
certain illnesses, and even on the course of human life as a whole. It was then by no
means a mere popular superstition to consider the influence of the moon in relation to the
ups and downs of fever, of asthma, of goitre and the like; there were still doctors who
recorded such because they felt compelled to believe that the phases of the moon had
some influence on the course of human life and on health and disease in particular.
With the rise of that scientific way of thinking which had its dawn and sunrise in the
middle of the 19th century, the inclination to allow the moon any influence on human life
diminished continuously. Only the belief that the moon causes the tides of the sea
survived. (Metamorphosis of the Soul;..., Vol. I, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.135-136)

Fechner himself realised that he had not achieved any world-shattering result; he had
to recognise that the moon had no very great influence on the weather, but the facts did
point to some influence. And he had, as you will have seen, proceeded quite scientifically,
taking account only of observations carefully recorded for definite places. He made
similar researches in relation to fevers and other bodily phenomena, and here to he
obtained small positive results. It could hardly be denied that phenomena of this kind
may take a different course under the waxing and under the waning moon. Thus the old
view of the moon fought its last fight in the middle of the 19 th century through the work
of this highly gifted man, Fechner. (Metamorphosis of the Soul;..., Vol. I, 1983, Rudolf
Steiner Press, pp.138-139)

The flood-tide is thought to be obviously connected with the attractive force of the
moon, and is looked for when the moon reaches its meridian. When the moon leaves the
meridian, the flood is expected to change to ebb. But we need only remark that in many
places ebb and flow occur twice, while the moon stands at the meridian only once during
the same period. And there are other facts. You can learn from travel-books that in many
parts of the earth the flood by no means coincides with the moons meridian; in some
places it occurs up to two and a half hours later. Certainly, science has thought up excuses
to account for this: we are told that the flood is retarded. But there are also certain springs
which show an indubitable ebb and flow; in some cases the well ebbs when the ocean tide
is at flood, and vice versa. We are told that these cases, too, are examples of retarded ebb
or flow - in some cases so retarded as to run into the other phase. Of course this kind of
explanation can explain almost anything.
One question has been rightly asked: whence does the moon get this power to attract
the sea? The moon is much smaller than the earth and has only about a seventieth of the
earths attractive power, while to set the great masses of the sea into motion would
require millions of horsepower. Julius Robert Mayer made some interesting calculations
on this question and it leads on to numerous other problems. Hence we can say: Here is
something which is regarded as scientifically irrefutable, and yet, although no objections
are heard, it is in fact highly vulnerable.
One very significant fact, however, remains. Although the position and influence of
the moon is such that it is hard to speak of an immediate relation of cause and effect, it
holds true that a definite flood occurs every day - in relation to the moons meridian -
about fifty minutes later than on the previous day. The regular sequence of ebb and flow
does therefor correspond to the course of the moon, and that is the most significant fact of
all. Thus we cannot speak of the moon at its meridian as having an actual influence on
flow and ebb, but we can say that the course of the moons orbit does stand in a certain
correspondence with the course of the earths tides. (Metamorphosis of the Soul;..., Vol.
I, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.141-142)

Now there is something else to say about these states of waking and sleeping. Our
waking life is directly connected with the course of the sun - though indeed this is not
quite true of people today, especially in towns. But if we look at simple country life,
where this relation between outer nature and human living still largely prevails, we find
that for most of the time people are awake while the sun is up and asleep while the sun is
down. This regular alternation of waking and sleeping corresponds to the regular action
of sunlight on the earth and all that springs from it. And it is not merely a picturesque
way of speaking but deeply true to say that in the morning the sun recalls into the
physical body the astral body and the ego, together with the Sentient Soul, the Intellectual
Soul and the Consciousness Soul; and while he is awake man sees everything around him
by means of the sun and its radiance. And when man has once more united all the
members of his being in daylight consciousness, it is the sun which summons him to
ordinary life. We shall now easily recognise, if we are not taking a superficial view of
these things, how the sun regulates the relationship of man to itself and to the earth. Let
us now look more closely at three aspects of this relationship.
With regard to his threefold soul-nature, comprising Sentient Soul, Intellectual Soul
and Consciousness Soul, man is inwardly independent; but he is not with regard to their
bearers, the astral, etheric and physical bodies. These three sheaths are built up from the
outer universe, and in order that they may serve man in his waking life, they are built up
through the relationship between sun and earth.
As we have seen, the Sentient Soul lives in its instrument, the sentient body. The
sentient body owes its characteristics to the region which a man calls his home. Everyone
has a home somewhere, and it matters whether he is born in Europe or America or
Australia. For the physical and etheric bodies it makes no direct difference, but it does
matter directly for the sentient body. Although man is gradually becoming more free from
these effects on his sentient body, we still have to say: human beings whose roots are in
their native soil, human beings in whom a feeling for their homeland is particularly
strong, who have not yet overcome by strength of soul the power of the physical and are
drawn to their place of birth - if such human beings have to move to another region, they
are not only apt to become bad-tempered and morose, but may actually fall ill.
Sometimes, then, the mere prospect of returning home is enough to restore them to
health, for the source of their illness is not in the physical body or the etheric body but in
their sentient body, whose moods, emotions and desires spring directly from the
environment of their native land.
Through higher development, which enhances his freedom, man will overcome the
influences which bind him to his native soil; but a comprehensive view shows that a
mans situation on earth varies in accordance with the relation of the place where he lives
to the sun; for the angle at which the suns rays strike the earth varies from place to place.
We can indeed trace in certain instinctive activities, which then become culturally
assimilated, that they derive partially from the homeland of the people concerned.

Let us take two examples: the use of iron and the milking of animals for food. We
shall find that it is only in certain areas of Europe, Asia and Africa that these two
practices developed. In other areas they were unknown in early times. And where they
came into use later on, they were introduced by emigrants from Europe. We can trace
exactly how throughout Siberia the milking of animals dates from remote antiquity, and
extends only as far as the Behring Sea; there is no record of it among the original
inhabitants of America. It is similar with iron.
A second dependence concerns the etheric body. As bearer of the Intellectual Soul,
the etheric body shows itself to be dependent in its activity on the seasons of the year;
hence on the relation of sun to earth as expressed in the course of the seasons. A direct
proof of this can of course come only through Spiritual Science, but you can convince
yourselves by external facts that this statement is correct. For example, it is only in
regions where a balanced alternation of seasons occurs that the inner activity of the soul
as Intellectual Soul can develop; this means that only in such regions can a necessary
bearer or instrument of the Intellectual Soul evolve in the etheric body of man. In the far
north we find that when elements of culture are brought in from elsewhere, the soul has
great difficulty in struggling with the etheric body, which is having to live under
conditions characterised by excessively long winters and short summers. The Intellectual
Soul will then find it impossible to forge out of the etheric body an instrument it can
easily handle.
If we go to the tropics, we find that just the lack of regular seasons produces a kind
of apathy. Just as the forces of plant life vary in the course of the year, so do the forces of
mans etheric body: they find expression in the joy of spring, the longing for summer, the
melancholy of autumn, the desolation of winter. These regular changes are necessary if a
proper instrument for the Intellectual Soul is to be created in the human etheric body.
Thus we see again how the sun affects human beings through its changing relation to the
earth.
Now let us take the physical body. If the Consciousness Soul is to work right into the
physical body, we must follow in ordinary life a rhythm similar to the alternation of day
and night. Anyone who never slept would soon notice that he was unable to control
effectively his thoughts about the world around him. A regular alternation of waking and
sleeping builds up our physical body in a way that can provide an instrument for the
Consciousness Soul. Thus we have seen how mans three bodies, astral, etheric and
physical, are built up by the sun.
But what external influences play into the human being while he is asleep, while he
is living in the spiritual world and has left his physical and etheric bodies behind?
While we are asleep we get something from the spiritual world to replace the forces
that have been used up by our activities during the preceding day. Is it possible in this
case also to point to an external influence, as we did to the daytime waking hours? Yes, it
is, and what we find is in remarkable accord with the length of the phases of the moon. I
am not maintaining that this external influence coincides exactly with the moons phases,
or that the phases themselves produce corresponding effects, but only that the course of
these effects is comparable with the course of the phases of the moon. I will give two
examples to show what I mean.
You will be well aware that people who are given to creative thought and the free
play of imagination are not equally productive at all times. Poets, for example, if they are
honest with themselves, have to admit now and then that they are out of tune, unable to
write anything. People who observe this in themselves know that the productive periods,
for which a certain imaginative frame of mind and a warmth of feeling are necessary,
alternate in a remarkable way with periods when nothing can be accomplished. They
know, too, that the soul has a fourteen-day period of productivity, after which anyone
who has to do with creative thinking goes through an empty period, when the soul is like
a squeezed out lemon. During this empty period, however, he can apply himself to work
over what he has done. If artists and authors would take note of this, they would soon see
how true it is.

This alternation of periods is influenced not by daytime conditions, but by the times
when the soul and the ego are outside the physical and etheric bodies. And so, for a
fourteen-day period, productive forces are, as it were, poured into the human being while
he is independent of his physical and etheric bodies, and then, during the next fourteen
days, no such forces are poured in. That is the rhythm. It applies to all human beings, but
is more clearly evident in the sort of people just mentioned.
For the modern spiritual researcher there are two periods: one of fourteen days when
he can make observations: he feels particularly strong and communications from the
spiritual world press in on him from all sides. Then comes a period during which he is
particularly well able, thanks to the forces just received, to penetrate with his thinking the
illuminations, the imaginations and inspirations that have come to him from the spiritual
world, to work over them so that they may acquire a strictly scientific form. The period of
inspiration does not coincide with full moon and the working period with new moon. All
we can say is that a comparison is possible between the two periods and full and new
moon. Why should this be so?
When we study our earth, we find that it has evolved out of an earlier state. Just as
each one of us has come in soul and spirit from a former incarnation, so has the earth
emerged from a former planetary incarnation. But our earth retains relics of events which
occurred under earlier conditions during its previous incarnation. And these relics are to
be seen in the course of the moon around the earth, as we see it today. From a spiritual-
scientific point of view the moon is reckoned as part of the earth. For what is it that keeps
the moon circling round the earth? It is the earth itself, and here spiritual science and
external science are in complete agreement. External science, too, regards the moon as
having been split off from the earth, and having gained the force which keeps it in orbit
through having once formed part of the earth. The earth itself has retained in its satellite
these earlier conditions because it needs to have them shining into its present. Can we
find any reason for this need?
Let us take man himself and observe how he lives as a soul in his body and how he
is exposed to the course of the sun. We then must say: For normal consciousness today,
everything associated with the sun is restricted to the life between birth and death. This is
something you can test - ask yourselves whether what normal consciousness experiences
during waking hours, in its threefold dependence on native place, the changing seasons
and the alternation of day and night, is not restricted to the life between birth and death.
Man would have nothing else in his consciousness, nothing more would illuminate it, if
there were only the action of the sun on the earth and only this relation between earth and
sun. That which plays over from one incarnation to the next and appears again in a new
life, must be sought in the soul-spiritual element which permeates mans outer body and
during sleep passes astral body and ego out of the physical and etheric bodies. At death
also it leaves the body, and reappears in a new form at the next incarnation. Here is a
rhythm which directs our attention to a similar rhythm associated with the moon.
If now we consider human evolution, we see that the work of ego on the Sentient
Soul, Intellectual Soul and Consciousness Soul has developed only on earth under the
conditions that prevail between earth and sun. But the earths relation to the moon reflects
a former condition in its own evolution. Mans present phase of evolution, through
Sentient Soul, Intellectual Soul and Consciousness Soul, points to a period during which
the bearers of the above soul-members, the astral, etheric and physical bodies, were being
prepared. Then, just as the action of the sun is now still necessary for the proper
development of these three bearers, the moon forces were at work preparing them. Today
the moon forces were once in harmony with man and prepared him to be what he is
today; likewise the earth during its moon condition prepared our present earth. Thus we
can say that the lower nature of man, on which are built the Sentient Soul, Intellectual
Soul and Consciousness Soul, points back to earlier conditions which the earth has
preserved in the orbit of the moon as we see it today.
We can see ,too, how mans inner being, as he passes from one incarnation to the
next, must have a rhythm corresponding to the moons. During earlier stages of the
earths evolution, it was not the transitory physical that was associated with the moon, but
the inner activity which was working on the physical, just as the external physical is
today being worked upon by the sun. The earth has preserved in the moon something of
its earlier conditions, and so has man in his inner, eternal being. In this inner being he is
now evolving higher qualities which were formerly an external influence and which are
now to be developed by his own inner capacities.
Thus man frees himself inwardly by making the external rhythm into an inner one.
He has long since freed himself from the rhythm which connected his inner being with
the moon. Hence we have emphasised that man lives through the phases of the moon
inwardly, but these experiences are not caused by the moon in the sky. The course of the
moon shows a similar rhythm because man has retained the rhythm inwardly, though
outwardly he has made himself free and independent of it.
We are led in this way to regard the earth as a living being, but since it shows us
only its physical body, with no evident signs of life or feeling or knowledge, its condition
is nearer to that of the moon. Now we can understand why it is wrong, even taking
external facts, to speak of a direct influence of the moon on the tides, and why we can say
only that the ebb and flow of the tides corresponds to the phases of the moon. The tides,
as well as the course of the moon are caused by deeper spiritual forces in the living earth.
Because man was once directly dependent on the moon, it follows that if his
consciousness is damped down, its functioning will be ordered by the course of the moon.
This is an atavistic effect which brings out mans old connection with the moons phases.
A characteristic of mediums is that their consciousness is so far lowered that they revert
to an earlier stage of evolution, and the old influence of the moon makes itself felt in
them. It is similar in certain cases of illnesses where the consciousness is lowered.
We could indeed mention a whole series of other phenomena connected with mans
embryonic existence, before he emerges from the depths of nature into the light of day;
they are of course not caused by the moon and do not coincide with the moons phases
but reflect the same rhythm, because they go back to primary causes which were present
while the earth was passing through earlier conditions of existence. (Metamorphosis of
the Soul;..., Vol. I, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.145-151)

21 Dec. 1909
Where do we behold this Spirit of the Universe - this Spirit whom Zoroaster already
proclaimed - when only the outward and physical rays of the sun stream in upon us? We
behold this Spirit when we are able to recognise where it is He beholds Himself. Verily
does this Spirit of the Universe create during summer-time those organs through which
He may behold Himself. He creates external sense organs! Let us learn to understand
what it is that from Springtime forward decks the earth with its carpet of verdant plants
giving to it a renewed countenance. What is it? Tis a mirror for the World-Spirit of the
sun! For when the sun pours forth its rays upon us, it is the World-Spirit Who is gazing
down on the earth. All plant-life - bud, blossom and leaf - are but images which present
the pure World-Spirit, reflected in His works as they shoot forth upon this earth: - this
carpet of plants contains the sense-organs of the World-Spirit.
When in the autumn the external power of the sun declines, we see how this plant
life disappears - how the countenance of the World-Spirit is withdrawn - and if we have
been prepared in the right manner we may then feel how the Spirit which pulsates
throughout the universe is now within ourselves. So that we can follow the World-Spirit
even when He is withdrawn from the external sight, for we then feel that though our gaze
no longer rests upon that verdant cover, yet has the Spirit been roused in us to so great a
measure that He withdraws Himself from the external presentments of the world. And so
the awakening Spirit becomes our guide to those depths whither Spirit life retires and to
where we deliver over to the keeping of the Spirit germs for the coming Spring. There do
we learn to see with our spiritual sight, learning to say to ourselves:
When external life begins gradually to become invisible for the external senses,
when the melancholy of Autumn creeps in upon our soul, then does the soul follow the
Spirit - even amid the lifeless stones, in order that it may draw thence those forces which
in the Spring will once more furnish new sense organs for the Spirit of the World.
It is thus that those who having in their spirit conceived the Spirit come to feel that
they too can follow this World-Spirit down to where the grains of seed repose in winter-
time.
When the power of the sun is weakest and when its rays are at their faintest - when
outer darkness is at its strongest - it is then that the Spirit within us united to the Spirit of
the Universe feels and proclaims that union in greatest clearness, by filling the grains of
seed with new life. In this way we may indeed say quite literally that by the power of the
seed we also live within and permeate - as it were - the Earth. In Summer-time we turn to
the bright atmosphere about us, to the budding fruits of the earth, but now we turn to the
lifeless stones, yet knowing that beneath them reposes that which shall in its turn again
enjoy external life, and our soul follows in the spirit those budding germinating forces
which, withdrawing themselves from outward view, lie dormant amid the stones in
Winter-time. (The Festivals of the Seasons, 1928, Anthroposophic Press, pp.40-41)

1910

{1910 saw the publication of a fundamental work of Steiners; the English translation
of which, that I am using, is called An Outline of Occult Science, published in 1972 by
the Anthroposophic Press. Much of the evolutionary and methodological details that I
presented in Vol. I of this work, was brought together by him in this work, and also in a
subsequent book called, in English, Theosophy. Anyone working seriously with Steiners
point of view should consider these to be required reading, and therefore I am only
bringing forward from these books certain specific observations that I consider
complementary to the information from the broader survey that forms the bulk of what I
am presenting.]

from: An Outline of Occult Science

We must also consider that anyone who finds his way purely through thinking into
what supersensible cognition has to impart is not at all in the same position as someone
who listens to the description of a physical process that he himself is unable to observe,
since pure thinking is itself a supersensible activity. Thinking, as a sensory activity,
cannot of itself lead to supersensible occurrences. If, however, this thinking is applied to
the supersensible occurrences described by supersensible perception, it then grows
through itself into the spiritual world. In fact, one of the best ways of acquiring ones own
perception in the supersensible realm is to grow into the higher world by thinking about
the communications of supersensible cognition, for, entrance into the higher realms in
this way is accompanied by the greatest clarity of perception. For this reason a certain
school of spiritual-scientific investigation considers this thinking the most excellent first
stage of all spiritual-scientific training. (An Outline of Occult Science, 1972,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.107)

(We speak here of the celestial bodies, planets, and their names, in exactly the same
way as was the custom of a more ancient science. What is meant becomes clear from the
context. Just as the physical earth is only the physical expression of a soul-spiritual
organism, so is that the case with every other celestial body. The supersensible observer
does not intend to designate merely the physical planet by the name earth, not merely the
physical fixed star by sun, but he has in mind a much wider spiritual connection; this is
also true when he speaks of Jupiter, Mars, and the other planets. The celestial bodies have
changed essentially in regard to their configuration and task since the time spoken of
here; in a certain respect even their location in heavenly space has changed. Only
someone who has traced back, with the penetration of supersensible knowledge, the
evolution of these heavenly bodies right into the distant primeval past is capable of
recognizing the connection between the present-day planets and their ancestors.) (An
Outline of Occult Science, 1972, Anthroposophic Press, pp.198-199)

After the Earth had developed the air element within itself, there were astral beings,
as described above, left over from the ancient Moon, who were greater laggards in
evolution than the lowest human souls. These became the souls of the forms that had to
be forsaken by human beings even before the separation of the sun from the Earth. These
beings are the ancestors of the present animal kingdom. In the course of time, they
developed the organs especially that were present in the human being only as
appendages. Their astral body had to affect the physical and ether bodies in the same way
that was the case for human beings on the ancient Moon. The animals thus created had
souls that could not reside in the individual animal. The soul extended its nature upon the
inheritors of the forebears form. The animals originating from a single configuration
have a common soul. Only when the descendant under especial influences departs from
the form of its forebear does a new animal soul commence its embodiment. We may
speak in this sense in spiritual science in regard to animal souls of a species or group
soul.
Something similar occurred at the time of the separation of the sun from the Earth.
Forms emerged from the watery element that were no further evolved than the human
being prior to evolution on the ancient Moon. They were able to receive the effect of the
activity of an astral element only when this influenced them from the outside. That could
only occur after the separation of the sun from the Earth. With every repetition of the sun
period of the Earth, the suns astral element animated these forms in such a way that they
constructed their life bodies from the Earths etheric element. When the sun again turned
away from the Earth, this life body dissolved into the common body of the Earth. As a
result of the co-operation of the astral element of the sun with the ether element of the
Earth there emerged from the watery element the physical structures that formed the
ancestors of the present-day plant kingdom. (An Outline of Occult Science, 1972,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.200-201)
 The physical expression of all the changes that occurred in the spirit world while
human evolution went through the described conditions was the gradual regulation of the
reciprocal relationships of sun, moon and earth, and in a broader sense also of the other
heavenly bodies. The alternation of day and night can be emphasized as being one
consequence of these relationships. (The movements of the heavenly bodies are regulated
by the beings inhabiting them. The movement of the earth through which day and night
occur was caused by the reciprocal relationships of the various spirits standing above
man. In like manner also the movement of the moon was caused, in order that after its
separation from and revolving around the earth the Spirit of Form could act in the right
way, with the right rhythm, upon the physical body.) (An Outline of Occult Science,
1972, Anthroposophic Press, pp.209-210)

The physical form of man was, in the primeval past that is under discussion here,
still widely different from the present human shape. It was to a high degree still the
expression of soul faculties. The human being consisted of a finer, softer substance than
the one he acquired later. What today is solidified was in the limbs soft, supple, and easily
molded. A human being who expressed more intensely his soul and spiritual nature had a
delicate, active and expressive body structure. Another with less spiritual development
had crude, immobile, less easily molded bodily forms. Advancement in soul qualities
contracted the limbs; the figure remained small. Retardation in soul development and
entanglement in the world of the senses expressed itself in gigantic size. While man was
in the period of growth, the body, in accordance with what occurred in the soul, assumed
forms of a certain kind that to the present-day human mind must appear fabulous, indeed,
fantastic. Moral corruption through passions, impulses, and instincts resulted in an
enormous increase in the material substance in man. The present-day human physical
form has come into existence through contraction, condensation, and solidification of the
Atlantean; whereas before the Atlantean age the human being was a faithful copy of his
soul nature, the processes of the Atlantean evolution bore the causes in themselves that
led to the post-Atlantean human being who in his physical shape is solid and little
dependant on soul qualities. (The animal kingdom became denser in its forms at much
earlier periods of the earth than the human being.) The laws that lie at present at the
foundation of form-fashioning in the kingdoms of nature are not valid under any
circumstances for the more distant past. (An Outline of Occult Science, 1972,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.222-223)

The transformations in the things of the earth existing outside the human being occur
with a certain relationship to humanitys own evolution. After the seventh cultural period
has run its course, the earth will be visited by a catastrophe that may be likened to what
occurred between the Atlantean and post-Atlantean ages, and the transformed earth
conditions after this catastrophe will again evolve in seven time periods. Human souls
who will then be incarnated will experience, at a higher stage, the union with the higher
world experienced by the Atlanteans at a lower stage. Only those human beings, however,
in whom are incarnated human souls that have developed in a manner possible through
the influences of the Greaco-Latin epoch and the subsequent fifth, sixth, and seventh
cultural epochs of the post-Atlantean evolution will be able to cope with the newly
formed earth conditions. The inner being of such souls will correspond to what the earth
has then become. Other souls will then have to remain behind, whereas previously they
would have had the choice of creating the conditions for advancement. Souls who will
have created the possibility for themselves, in the transition from the fifth to the sixth
post-Atlantean period, of penetrating supersensible knowledge with the forces of intellect
and feeling, will have the maturity for the corresponding conditions following the next
great catastrophe. The fifth and sixth periods are, so to speak, decisive. In the seventh, the
souls who have reached the goal of the sixth will develop correspondingly further; the
other souls, however, will, under the changed conditions of the environment, find but
little opportunity of retrieving what they have neglected. Only at some future time will
conditions appear again that will permit this. Evolution thus advances from age to age.
Supersensible cognition not only observes such future changes in which the earth alone
takes part, but it is also aware of changes that occur in co-operation with the heavenly
bodies in its environment. A time will come when the evolution of the earth and mankind
will have advanced so far that the spiritual beings and powers that had to sever
themselves from the earth during the Lemurian age, in order to make possible the
continued progress of the earths beings, will be able to unite themselves again with the
earth. The moon will then reunite with the earth. This will occur because at that time a
sufficiently large number of human souls will possess so much inner strength that they
will use these moon forces for the benefit of further evolution. This will occur at a time
when, alongside the high level of development that will have been reached by a certain
number of human souls, another development will occur that has taken the direction
toward evil. The laggard souls will have accumulated in their karma so much error,
ugliness, and evil that they will form, for the time being, a special union of evil and
aberrant human beings who violently oppose the community of good men.
The good humanity will through its development acquire the use of the moon forces
and thereby so transform the evil part also that, as a special realm of the earth, it may
participate in further evolution. Through this work of the good humanity, the earth, united
with the moon, will be able, after a certain period of evolution, to reunite also with the
sun and the other planets. Then, after an intermediate stage, which presents itself as a
sojourn in a higher world, the Earth will transform itself into Jupiter. Within this state,
what is now called the mineral kingdom will no longer exist; the forces of this mineral
kingdom will be transformed into plant forces. The plant kingdom, which in contrast to
the present plant kingdom will have an entirely new form, appears during the Jupiter
state as the lowest kingdom. To this a higher kingdom is added, the transformed animal
kingdom; above it there is a human kingdom, which proves to be the progeny of the evil
community that arose on the earth; above all these are to be found the descendants of the
good community of earth men, a human kingdom of a higher order. A great part of the
activity of this latter human kingdom consists in the work of ennobling the fallen souls of
the evil community, so that they may still be able to find their way back into the actual
human kingdom. (An Outline of Occult Science, 1972, Anthroposophic Press, pp.360-
361)

In certain chapters of this book it has been indicated how the world of man and the
human being himself pass through the states that have been designated by the names
Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, Vulcan. Indications have also been given
concerning the relationship between human evolution and celestial bodies co-existing
with the earth, such as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and so forth. These latter celestial bodies
naturally go through their evolution also. In the present age they have reached a stage in
which their physical parts are shown to perception as what is called in physical
astronomy Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and so forth. If now, in the sense of spiritual science, the
present Saturn is studied, it shows itself, so to speak, as a reincarnation of ancient Saturn.
It has come into existence because, before the separation of the sun from the earth,
certain beings were present who were unable to participate in this separation, since they
had absorbed into themselves so many of the characteristics belonging to the Saturn state
that they could not abide in an environment were especially the sun characteristics were
unfolded. The present Jupiter has arisen, however, through the presence of beings who
possessed characteristics that can only unfold on the future Jupiter of general cosmic
evolution. An abode came into existence for them in which they are able to anticipate this
future evolution. Similarly, Mars is a celestial body on which beings dwell who have
passed through the Moon evolution in such a way that the earth could offer them no
further advancement. Mars is the reincarnation of the ancient Moon at a higher stage. The
present Mercury is the dwelling place of beings who, by having developed certain earth
characteristics in a form higher than it can occur on this earth planet, are in advance of
the evolution of the Earth. In a similar way the present Venus is a prophetic anticipation
of the future Venus state. From all this we are justified in choosing the designations for
the states that have preceded the Earth and that will follow it from their representatives in
the cosmos. (An Outline of Occult Science, 1972, Anthroposophic Press, pp.386-387)

5 Mar. 1910
Is there perhaps something in our solar system that brings about, as a kind of mirror-
image on earth, the contrast between man and woman? Yes, this higher polarity can be
designated as the contrast between the cometary and lunar natures, between the comets
and the moon. Just as the contrast of sun earth is reflected in our head and limbs, so in
feminine and masculine is reflected the contrast of comet moon. (The Reappearance of
Christ in the Etheric, 1983, Anthroposophic Press, pg.57)

If it will not be misunderstood, we can say that the female body, as it is today, has
remained behind at a more spiritual stage; in its form it has not descended so deeply into
matter as to be in accord with the average stage of evolution. The male body, however,
has advanced beyond the average stage apart from head and limbs. He has overshot this
average stage, arriving at (a further point). A male body, therefor, has deteriorated,
because it has descended more deeply into the material than is called for today by the
average stage of evolution. In the female body we thus have something that has remained
behind normal evolution and in the male body something that has descended more deeply
into the material than have head and limbs.
This same contrast is also to be found in our solar cosmos. If we take our earth and
sun as representing normal evolutionary stages, the comet has not advanced to this
normal stage. It corresponds in our cosmos to the feminine in the human being. Hence,
we must see cometary existence as the cosmic archetype of the feminine organism. Lunar
existence is the counterpart of masculine existence. The contrast between comet and
moon out in the cosmos is therefor the archetype of feminine and masculine in the human
being.
This matter is extremely interesting, because it shows us that whether we are
considering an earthly being, such as man, or the whole universe, we must not simply
think of one member side by side with others as they appear to us in space; if we do this
we give ourselves up to dreadful illusions. The various members of the human organism
are, of course, beside one another, and the ordinary materialistic anatomist will regard
them as being at equal stages of development. For one who studies the truth of such
things, however, there are differences, inasmuch as one thing has reached a certain point
of evolution, another has not although it has made some progress and another has
passed beyond this point. A time will come when the whole human organism will be
studied along these lines; only then will an occult anatomy exist in the real sense. .As I
have told you, things that lie side by side can be at different stages of evolution, and the
organs of the human body are only to be understood when one knows that each of them
has reached a quite different stage of evolution. (The Reappearance of Christ in the
Etheric, 1983, Anthroposophic Press, pp.58-59)

[Comment on Steiners prediction of cyanides on comets due to their relating to

old Moon evolution,] (The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, 1983, Anthroposophic
Press, pp.60-61, precis by RSWB)

Above all, we must become conscious of how the contrast expressed in comet and
moon works upon the human being. We must not think that this contrast expresses itself
only in what constitutes man and woman in humanity, because we must be clear that
masculine characteristics exist in every woman and feminine characteristics in every
man. We also know that the etheric body of man is female and that of woman, male, and
this at once makes the matter extremely complicated. (The Reappearance of Christ in the
Etheric, 1983, Anthroposophic Press, pp.61-62)

We can also express it this way: as what is done by a woman out of passion, out of
feeling, is related to the dry, reasonable, masculine judgement, so is the regular,
reasonable course of the moon related to the cometary phenomenon that projects
apparently irregularly into our existence. Mark well I do not mean the spiritual life of a
woman, but the feminine spiritual life. There is a difference. The spiritual life of a woman
naturally includes masculine characteristics. (The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric,
1983, Anthroposophic Press, pp.62-63)

The comets appear at great intervals of time. Let us ask: when they appear, is their
relation to human evolution as a whole such that they stimulate, as it were, the feminine
principle in human nature? There is, for example, Halleys Comet, which now again has a
certain actuality. The same could be said of many other comets. Halleys Comet has a
quite definite task, and everything else that it brings with it stands in a particular
connection to this task. Halleys Comet we are speaking here of its spiritual aspect
has the task of impressing on human nature its own special being in such a way that this
human nature and essence take a further step in the development of the I when the comet
comes near the earth. It is the step which leads the I out to concepts on the physical plane.
To begin with, the comet has its special influence on the two lower members of human
nature, on what is masculine and feminine; there it joins company with the workings of
the moon. When the comet is not there, the workings of the moon are one-sided; the
workings change when the comet is present.
The comet works upon the physical and etheric or life bodies of man in such a way
that they actually create organs, delicate organs that are suitable for the further
development of the I the Iconsciousness as it has developed especially since the
imbedding of the Christ impulse in the earth. Since that time the significance of the
comets appearance is that the I, as it develops from stage to stage, receives physical and
etheric organs it can use. (The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, 1983,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.64-65)

Every cometary body thus has a definite task. Human spiritual life takes its course
with a certain cosmic regularity, as it were a bourgeois regularity one could say. Into
this regularity there come other events, events that in ordinary, bourgeois life are also
unlike those of everyday and through which a certain noticeable advance occurs. So it is,
for example, when a child is born into a family. The cosmic regularity manifesting in the
whole of human evolution takes its course under the influence of the moon, of the lunar
body. In contrast to these events, there are things that always bring about a step forward,
that are naturally distributed over wider spans of time; these events occur under the
influence of the comets. The various comets have here their different tasks, and when a
comet has served its purpose it splinters. Thus we find that from a certain time onward,
some comets appear as two and then splinter. They dissolve when they have completed
their tasks. Regularity, all that belongs to the common round, is connected with the lunar
influence; the entry of an elemental impulse, always incorporating something new, is
connected with the influence of the comets.
As when a new little child is born, so it is when, through the return of a comet,
something quite new is produced. We must remember, however, that with certain comets
the I is always driven out more and more into the physical world, and this is something
we must resist. If the influence of Halleys Comet were to continue, a new appearance of
it might bring about a great enhancement of Buchnerian thought, and that would be a
terrible misfortune. A reappearance of Halleys Comet should therefor give us warning
that it might prove to be an evil guest if we were simply to give ourselves up to it, if we
were not to resist its influence. (The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, 1983,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.66-67)

On the other hand, is it not wonderful that cometary existence takes hold of the
depths of life, including the animal and plant life that is bound up with human life? Those
who pay close enough attention to such things would observe how there is actually
something altogether different in the blossoming of flowers from what is usually the
case. (The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, 1983, Anthroposophic Press, pg.68)

9 Mar. 1910
Man is born out of the whole Cosmos; he must look up it to as to his Father-Mother,
of whom he himself is an image. Yes, man is an image of the whole world with which he
is acquainted, there is nothing in the being of man which does not in some way relate to
what can be found in the great Cosmos. If we compare man, as seen to-day in the light of
Spiritual Science, with the human forms of early ages, we find among others one
characteristic feature of immense importance for the understanding of the nature of man.
This sign can teach every one of us that, as regards what we have known about the world,
the fact that some things that have been said are true, is not of sole importance; there is
something else besides, something very different. When a man has proved the truth of a
thing, he has not even then told us what is of greatest importance in it. For example, there
is much truth in what a trivial natural scientist will tell about the resemblance between
man and the higher mammals. It is an indisputable truth that man has the same number of
bones and muscles, and so on. But after this has been proved, the last word on the subject
has not been said. Man must learn, through the deepening and inwardness of Spiritual
Science, to acquire a feeling for the value of a particular truth, to sense whether or no it is
important and essential for the elucidation of a matter. People come along to-day and
speaking from their trivial consciousness, keep on assuring us of the truth of their
assertions. We have no wish to contradict them. But the point is, of what value are they
for the understanding of the world? Now there is a certain fact which is undeniably
true, and with which everyone is acquainted, because we meet with it over and over again
every day the value of which, in its significance to man should be realised and felt in
the right way. That is, the fact that man stands and walks upright and can gaze out into
space around him. Man alone is capable of that! For we must say that even though the
apes look as though they might possess this power, they have somehow missed it, for
they cannot walk upright. Man is the only being who has achieved this, and who has
succeeded in raising his countenance freely into the space around him. This fact is
immeasurably more important than all those that a trivial Natural Science tells us as to
the position occupied by man among the animals. What science says is true, but this is of
much greater importance. If we wish to feel the force of this, we must make ourselves
acquainted with the reason why man is a being that walks upright, a being certainly still
bound to the earth, but one who, through his mental outlook and even through his sense-
perceptions, raised himself into an upright position in space. The reason is that there is a
certain polarity, a duality in the Cosmos, which corresponds to another duality in man.
We can point to a duality in the universe and to a duality in man, as two opposites,
existing in the microcosm and the macrocosm. The one alluded to in the macrocosm, in
the great world, is that of the Sun to the Earth; and the same polarity that exists between
Sun and Earth exists also in man. It is that between his head and his hands and feet;
between his head and his limbs. As time goes on these things will be gone into more
fully, but we must in the first place make ourselves acquainted with them and learn to feel
that in a certain respect the head and limbs of man bear the same relation to each other as
the Sun does to the Earth in our solar System. There are, in fact, in our earth those forces
which in the course of the ages have brought about the whole form and movement of our
hands and feet through certain mysterious forces which bind man to the Earth; while the
forces which have lifted his countenance up in space, and which have transformed him
from a being which gazes on to the earth to one who can look out into the infinite
distances of cosmic space, these forces have their seat in the Sun. Anyone who really
has the right feeling will have the same impression when contemplating the self-evident
polarity between man's head and his limbs, as he will if he turns his attention to the
polarity between the Sun and Earth. This polarity will some day become a unity in the life
of man, just as the Cosmic polarity will do.
Even as the Sun and Earth were once a single being which later divided into a
duality, so will they some day be re-united; and the polarity in man between head and
limbs will also some day become unity, difficult to imagine as it may seem to the man of
to-day, who is not accustomed to such concepts.
We have thus pointed to a polarity in man and to its correspondence in the universe.
There are, however, other polarities in man, which also have their corresponding
counterparts in the universe. As regards the polarity between the head and limbs, all
human beings on the earth are alike. It exists equally in man and woman. In this respect
there is no difference between them; for every other polarity, for example that in the
configuration of the soul, is not affected by this. If there were no other polarity but that
existing between the microcosm and macrocosm, man and woman would be alike, but as
it is they form another polarity in the being of man. Now we may ask: can we not also
find a polarity in the universe corresponding to that between man and woman in human
life? That can be found too. But before we are able to look for it we must make ourselves
to some slight extent acquainted, in an occult sense, with the polarity between man and
woman. In so doing we must not fall into the error of our materialistic age, which applies
the polarity between man and woman taking it simply as a question of sex to the
whole universe. Not only is that a trivial thing to do, but our learned men are taking a
liberty when they consider that what is found in one domain is applicable to every other.
The corresponding polarity in the universe to that existing on our earth between man
and woman cannot be called male and female. That would be nonsense. We must
investigate the occult foundations of this other polarity. The polarity between male and
female in our earthly evolution does not, of course, apply to the human being. The
human being as such is the same in both man and woman. When we speak of man and
woman we only refer to the configuration of their physical and etheric bodies. This has
nothing to do with the inner being of man; so that we cannot, in an occult sense, speak as
our materialistic age does. A man and woman each possesses an astral body and an ego,
but the ordinary perception knows nothing of that which makes a man or woman a human
being, it can only speak of them as it sees them. We are not now speaking of the human
being as such in man or woman, but of what constitutes a man or a woman, which is
merely their outer sheaths. This must be thoroughly understood; for if what is about to be
said were to be applied to the human being as such, it would be completely wrong. The
polarity between man and woman within the above-named limits is as follows: (The
Christ Impulse and the Development of Ego Consciousness, 1926, Anthroposophical
Publ. Co., elib lectures, 5, pp.2-3)

When we think of human life in its two opposites of man and woman, we are
confronted with two forms, one that has remained at a standstill at an earlier stage, and
one which has jumped on beyond the present stage and which draws into the present a
form intended for the future, but presents it as a caricature. The female has preserved an
earlier form and the male has taken on a later form, but has made it what it must not be in
the future. The male form is incorrect, because it has brought later conditions of life into
an age as yet too early for them.
Can we find a correspondence in the Cosmos to the polarity between male and
female. Is there anything in the Cosmos which on the one hand shows us a development
which has retained earlier forms and carried these over into a later age? And are there on
the other hand forms which have transcended a certain stage, thus representing the
caricatured form of a future state? If we bring to mind the concrete development which
we know from the Akashic Records, we may put the question thus: Is there anything in
the Cosmos outside, resembling an old Moon-existence which would not enter the Earth-
existence, but retained from the old Moon something feminine in the Cosmos?
Is there anything which carries into the present time something like an old Moon
existence belonging to an earlier stage? And is there in the Cosmos anything which has
gone beyond a certain stage, and has condensed and thickened, so that it represents a later
condition, a Jupiter condition?
There is! There is in the Cosmos the same polarity as we have described between
male and female; and that is the polarity between a Comet and the Moon. If we wish to
understand the nature of a Comet, wandering as it does in cosmic space regardless of the
other laws of the Solar System, we must be clear as to the fact that the Comet carries the
laws belonging to the old Moon-existence into our own. Those laws it has preserved, and
with those it enters our existence. It has taken on the present substance of the solar-
terrestrial system; but, as regards its motion and its nature, it has remained behind at that
stage of natural law which prevailed in the Solar System when our earth was still Old
Moon. It carries a former condition into a later, into the present; just as the woman's body
carries an earlier condition into present-day existence. The nature of the Comet is one
part of a polarity, and that of the Moon represents the other pole. When, in the Lemurian
age the Moon evolved out of the Earth, it took with it certain portions, which had to be
removed in order that the human being as such might develop. The earth was not to
become as dense as it must have become if it had retained the Moon within it. The Moon
actually represents a caricature of the Jupiter-condition. Just as a fresh ripe fruit is found
in a petrified state in a stalactite, so the Moon in its configuration transcended the middle
form, as has the male form of the human being. Exactly the same polarity that we find in
human life between the male and the female, we can find in the Cosmos between the
natures of Moon and Comets.
Thus are these things connected: as sun to earth, so head to limbs, as Moon to
Comet, so man to woman in the human being. Here again we must not go home and say:
well, now, we have some nice polarities to observe! We must take these things very
seriously and remember that on other occasions I said something more besides this. We
must take into consideration the fact that a man is only male as regards his physical body,
for as regards his etheric body he is female; and the woman on the other hand is only
female in her physical body. A woman can only be said to be female as far as her physical
body is concerned and that can be said of the etheric body of a man; so that the relation of
the etheric body of a man to the etheric body of a woman is as that of Comet to Moon. If
you like you may perhaps say: this makes everything confused again! But these things are
so. In a culture which has created its ideas with a densified brain, those same ideas tend
to create dense outlines which cannot be modified, so that when ideas are once formed
they must be held on to. But the spirit does not admit of this. That is mobile, and when
we form ideas, we must keep them plastic. So we must apply what has just been said as to
the relation of the Moon and Comets to Man and Woman, to the male in the woman and
the female in the man. It applies to the male and female elements in the human being but
not to man and woman as we meet them externally.
We have now found some extremely interesting connections between the
development of the human being and that of the Cosmos. Of course, as I have already
observed: Those who sit in the high places of true scientific observation will consider
what has just been put forward about the Comet and the Moon, as utterly wild and
absurd. That cannot be helped. They do not desire to investigate the truth. But on the
ground of Spiritual Science, we can build a bridge between that which comes from the
Spiritual and what is seen on the physical plane. Those others will not do this. (The
Christ Impulse and the Development of Ego-Consciousness, 1926, Anthroposophical
Publ. Co., elib. lecture 5, pp.4-5)

One who can investigate these things spiritually is able to indicate quite definitely
the different functions of the separate comets, and how each one has to introduce
something spiritually new into the world. Thus Halley's comet is one of those which, in
its periodic appearances, always introduces something specially new into the life of man.
Whereas otherwise things recur in the ordinary way, this comet brings about a new birth
in human inner life and culture. I can only characterise what I mean, by referring to the
three last appearances of Halley's comet, in the years 1759, 1835, and the one we are now
expecting. What are the tasks of these three appearances? Other comets have other tasks.
New births in the universe are not always to be greeted with the same joy as the birth of a
young citizen into a family. All sorts are born into the universe; those that bring humanity
forward as well as those that drive it back. Now the appearance of Halley's comet, or
what it signifies spiritually for the further evolution of humanity, is connected with that
which humanity had to absorb out of the Cosmos at the various periods of Kali-Yuga in
order that thought should descend more and more into materiality. With every new
appearance of this comet a new impulse was born, to drive humanity further away from a
spiritual cosmic conception by the Ego, and to urge it to grasp the world in a more
materialistic way. This does not mean a descent into matter, but rather the driving of that
Spiritual substance which the human Ego should draw from the universe for its Spiritual
existence, down into the sphere of materialistic conception. All those conceptions of the
second half of the 18th century, which are called shallow and superficial and which
Goethe so ridiculed in his Truth and Poetry and which found their exponent for instance
in Holbach's Systeme de la Nature, are understood in their cosmic sense through the
appearance of Halley's comet in the year 1759. The commonplace materialistical
literature of the second third of the 19th century was preceded by the appearance of that
comet in 1835. Things that take place microcosmically on the earth are macrocosmically
connected with events of the great world. A new impulse towards materialism was again
given by the appearance of Halley's comet in 1835. Buchner, Vogt and Moleschott are
examples of those who were influenced on the earth by what appeared with Halley's
comet, as a mighty sign from the Cosmos. We are now to be confronted in the near future
for humanity must be tested, must rise out of itself, must feel the resistance to
Spirituality so that it may unfold all the more forces for its re-ascent we shall be
confronted with the forces which the new appearance of this comet will send forth from
the universe, forces which may lead humanity down into a still more arid and dreadful
materialism. Something may be born, which even the most arid and driest thoughts of the
Buchner school could not have imagined. but this possibility is a necessity, for only if
man overcomes the opposing forces can he acquire the strong force able to lead him up
again.
If we bear this in mind, we shall then encounter in the right way what we call Signs
from the Heavens. This is really a fact; though what I have said must not be taken in a
superstitious sense, as though God were pointing with a wand from Heaven to show men
what they have to do! The approaching appearance of Halley's comet is one of these
signs, and notice should be taken of it. For a mighty ascending impulse must follow it
that we may rise from the depths of materialism into which we have sunk, into
Spirituality. Just as we are given the possibility of being swamped in materialism, we are
also given the chance to ascend into clearer, spiritual heights. (The Christ Impulse and
the Development of the Ego-Consciousness, 1926, Anthroposophical Publ. Co., elib.
lecture 5, pp.6-7)
13 Mar. 1910
We feel mans relationship to the universe when we know that it is the sun that sends
out certain forces to the earth, thus enabling man to develop his present organisation. His
head is drawn upwards by the forces of the sun, and his limbs downwards by the forces of
the earth. The limbs receive their commands from the head, just as the earth is directed by
the sun.
Let us now draw attention to another antithesis. What I have said so far, applies
indiscriminately to all men; no distinction is made between man and woman. In the
human organism there is, however, the contrast between male and female. In accordance
with the analogies indicated above, we ask: Can we find in the macrocosm this contrast
between man and woman, just as we found it between the head and the limbs?

There is also in the macrocosm an antithesis which corresponds to that of male and
female, namely what we discern in the cometary and lunar phenomena, what appears to
us as the contrast between the comets and the moon. The moon is a piece of the earth
which became separated from it even later than the sun. What the earth could not use,
was thus eliminated, because the human form would otherwise have grown osseous and
wooden in the course of its development. The moon would have brought mans
development to an end too quickly. The moon, so dried up and icy, represents that which
will only be able to live again later on, as Jupiter existence, and which now appears as if
it were condemned to death.
The comet represents something that penetrates into our earthly life from the ancient
Moon-existence; its development has been held back, so that it has not developed as far
as the earth, but remained behind on a higher and more spiritual stage. The moon, on the
other hand, has gone out of the earth and beyond it. And the earth itself stands between
these two.
Hence, the comet and the moon should, like the male and female form, be looked
upon as having remained behind and as having surpassed the normal course of
development. The comet behaves, as it were, in the same way in which the female nature
behaves in human life.
[Comment on the 1906 prediction of cyanuric acid in comets and subsequent
demonstration through spectral analysis.]

When a comet appears, it gives human evolution a jolt, not so much in the direction
of progress, but in everything else which is implanted into humanity.
We can observe this in Halleys comet, in the spiritual forces behind it. Its
appearance has always been connected with something new in the evolution of the earth.
At present (1910), it is about to appear again. In a materialistic sense, this will introduce
and give birth to a new stage. Its last three appearances, in 1683, 1759 and 1835, show
this. In 1759, forces and spiritual powers went out from it which brought about
materialistic enlightenment. What developed in this sense, under the influence of spirits
and powers behind Halleys comet, was, for instance, that which so annoyed Goethe in
von Holbachs Systeme de la Nature and in the French encyclopaedists. When Halleys
comet again appeared in 1835, materialism appeared very conspicuously in the views of
Buchner and Moleshott, views which were widely accepted during the second half of the
19th century.
In the present year, 1910, we shall see Halleys comet again, and this will mean a
year of crisis in regard to the above mentioned conceptions. All forces are at work in
order to press out of the human soul a still more superficial and evil mentality and to
produce a materialistic swamp in the conception of the world. A tremendous trial faces
humanity, a test in which mankind will have to prove that the deepest fall which threatens
it also contains in the strongest measure the impulse to rise from all sides. For otherwise
it would not be possible for man to overcome the obstacles of materialistic conceptions.
If man were not exposed to materialism, he would not be able to overcome it through his
own forces. And now he has the opportunity of choosing between the spiritual and the
materialistic direction. Out of the cosmos we obtain the conditions that lie at the
foundation of this year of crisis.

At the time of the event of Golgotha, the suns vernal point had for some time been
in the sign of Aries. The vernal point passes through all the twelve signs of the Zodiac in
the course of 25,920 years. The vernal point has in the meantime advanced so far that it
now lies in the sign of Pisces. In the middle of the 20th century, a certain point within this
constellation will be reached. Aries marks the close of Kali Yuga, the Dark Age, which
according to Oriental philosophy , began in the year 3103 before Christ. At that time, the
suns vernal point passed through the sign of Taurus. This was represented by the Mithras
Bull and the Apis Bull of Egypt. Reproductions of the suns passage through Aries may
be found in the legend of the Argonauts with the Golden Fleece, and also in Christs
description of Himself as the Lamb. The early Christians generally represented Christ as
a Lamb at the foot of the Cross.
The age of Kali Yuga ended in the year 1899. It therefor lasted 5000 years, from
3100 B.C. until 1899 A.D. It was an age in which man had to rely exclusively upon their
physical senses for the observation of what took place on the physical plane, without
having any faculty of seeing clairvoyantly.

But the clairvoyant faculties, which will be able to lead human nature up once more
towards a spiritual development, are now beginning to unfold. Only during the age of
Kali Yuga could the ego this had to be develop that form of consciousness which now
pertains to it, and it developed in a way which was only possible during that time. But
from now onwards, a clairvoyant consciousness can be added to this Ego-consciousness,
a clairvoyant consciousness which will unfold during the next 2500 years, and through
which a spiritual comprehension of the world will be added to the physical-sensory one.

When the tender forces of clairvoyance appear, when they grow stronger and
stronger and spread over the earth, when men take up these good forces which originate
from the life of the Sun, so that the influences of these forces will be felt, instead of those
of Halleys comet, then Shamballah will return.
We now live in an age in which mankind is being prepared for the unfolding of a
new clairvoyance, and this evolution will take its course during the next 2500 years. The
preparation will never cease; it will steadily increase during the time between birth and
death, as also during the time between death and a new birth. (Comets and Their
Significance for Earthly Existence;..., unpubl. typescript, pp.3-8)

22 Mar. 1910
The force which works upon the Sentient Soul and at the times of going to sleep and
waking drives man out of his bodily sheaths and eventually into them again, was
designated in one of the ancient languages by a name that would correspond with the
word Mars. The force which works upon the Mind-Soul after the man has gone to sleep
and again before waking, that is to say, in two different periods, was designated by the
word Jupiter. It is the force which drives the world of dreams into the Mind-Soul. The
force which works upon the Consciousness-Soul during sleep and under special
circumstances would make a man into a sleep-walker, was designated by the name
Saturn.
 We may therefore say, using the terminology of ancient spiritual science: Mars
sends man to sleep and wakes him; Jupiter sends dreams into his sleep; and dark
Saturn stirs into unconscious action during sleep a man who cannot withstand its
influence. For the time being we will think of the original, spiritual significance of these
names as denoting forces that work upon the human being during sleep, when he is
outside the physical and etheric bodies in the spiritual world, not of their significance in
astronomy.
In the morning the Sentient Soul begins to be given up to the impressions of the
outer world brought to it by the Sentient Body. The part of us (Sentient Soul) which
during sleep was exposed to the Mars influence is given over on waking to the external
world of the senses. Spiritual science again gives a special name to the whole of the
external sense-world in so far as it arouses certain feelings of pleasure or pain, joy or
sadness in our souls. But under that name we must think only of the influence working
upon our Sentient Soul from the tapestry of the outer world of the senses; this force does
not let us remain cold and impassive but fills us with certain feelings. So that just as the
first influence exerted on the Sentient Soul after we go to sleep is given the name of
Mars, the influence which takes effect on waking is called the force of Venus.
Similarly, an influence from the physical world is exerted during waking life upon
the Intellectual or Mind-Soul when it is within the bodily sheaths. This is a different
influence; it is the influence which enables us to withdraw from external impressions and
to work upon them inwardly, to reflect upon them. Notice the difference there is between
the experiences of the Sentient Soul and those of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul. The
Sentient Soul has experiences only as long as a man is given up to the outer world; it
receives the impressions of the outer world. But if for a time in waking life he pays no
attention to the actual impressions of the outer world, if he ponders over them and lets the
feelings of pleasure, pain, and so forth, merely echo on within him, then he is given over
to his Mind-Soul. Compared with the Sentient Soul it has rather more independence.
There are influences which enable a man during waking life not merely to stand gazing at
the tapestry of the sense-world but to turn his attention away from all that, to form
thoughts whereby he combines external impressions in his mind and enable him to make
himself independent of the outer world. These are the influences of Mercury.
 The influence of Mercury works during the day upon mans Intellectual or Mind-
Soul just as the influence of Jupiter works upon it during sleep at night. You will notice
how there is a certain correspondence between the influences of Mercury and Jupiter.
When the Jupiter forces are working in a mans dreams, he does not know whence his
experiences come; during waking consciousness, however, when the Mercury influences
are working, he knows the source of them.
The Sentient Soul operates when we are merely gazing at the things of the external
world. If we withdraw our attention for a time from the impressions of the outer world
and work over them inwardly, then we are given over to the Mind-Soul. But if we now
take what has been worked over in thought, turn again to the outer world and relate
ourselves to it by passing over to deeds, then we are given over to the Consciousness-
Soul.
You will notice that there is again a correspondence between the activity of the
Consciousness Soul in the waking state and in sleep. You have heard that when this
influence is being exerted in sleep a man becomes a sleep-walker; he speaks and acts in
his sleep. In the waking state, however, he acts consciously. At night, in sleep-walking he
is impelled by the force of dark Saturn. The influence which during waking life works
upon mans Consciousness-Soul in such a way that independence can be achieved in
conditions of ordinary life, is called in Spiritual Science the force of Moon. Here again,
please forget whatever mental pictures you have connected with this word. You will
presently understand the reason for these designations.
Thus we have found that mans soul in waking life and in sleep has three different
members, that it is subject to three different influences. During the night when man is in
the spiritual world he is subject to the forces designated in Spiritual Science as those of
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn; his threefold life of soul by day is given over to the forces
designated as those of Venus, Mercury and Moon.

We are taught as children that the Sun is at the centre of the solar system and that the
planets revolve around it first the planet now called Mercury, then the planet now called
Venus, then the Earth plus Moon, then Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Astronomical maps of
the heavens show us where Saturn or Jupiter or Mars are to be found in certain months of
the year. When we have learnt to know the relative positions of the planets at definite
times of the year, we have learnt as much about the heavens as a child has learnt about
the clock when from the position of the hands he is able to say that the time is half-past
nine.
But then we can go on to learn something else. Just as a child learns to recognize
what conditions are indicated by the position of the hands of a clock, we can learn to
recognize macrocosmic forces penetrating invisibly into space behind a great cosmic
timepiece. We realise then that our solar system, with the planets in their different
positions and mutual relationships, gives expression to certain macrocosmic powers.
From this timepiece of our planetary system we can pass on to contemplate the great
spiritual relationships. The position of every planet will become the expression of
something lying behind and we shall be able to say that there are reasons for the various
relationships in which, for example, Venus stands to Jupiter, and so on. There are actual
reasons for saying that these conditions are brought about by divine-spiritual Powers, just
as there are reasons for saying that the cosmic timepiece is constructed according to a
definite plan. The idea of planetary movements in the solar system then becomes full of
significance.
And now we will think of the outer aspect of this solar system. The Earth revolves
around the Sun at the centre. I will leave out details. At a certain time of the year the
Earth stands at one point and at another time somewhere else. The Moon revolves around
the Earth and the planets usually called Mercury and Venus are nearer to the Sun and
revolve around it. I emphasize here that in the course of time a change has taken place in
the names of these two planets. The planet that is called Mercury to-day was formerly
called Venus, and the planet called Venus to-day was formerly called Mercury. Therefor
you should think of these designations reversed, so that they do not correspond with
current astronomical designations. The planet lying nearer the Sun must be known as
Venus and the planet lying farther away from the Sun must be known as Mercury. Then,
farther away than the Earth, the diagram indicates Mars, Jupiter and Saturn revolving
around the Sun. The relative positions are not strictly correct but that does not matter
here. We will leave the other planets out of consideration to-day.
Now let us assume that as it revolves the Earth comes to a position with the Sun
between it and Mars. This will very seldom be the case but we will assume for the
moment that it is so. Then, in the space between the Earth and Sun there will be the
planets Mercury and Venus, and on the other side of the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
Leaving aside the Earth, the sequence will be: Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, on one side;
Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, on the other. A looped line drawn around the heavenly bodies
is a lemniscate, with the Sun at the centre of the loops it is the same line as the one
indicating the cycle of mans waking and sleeping life.
Thus it is possible though not generally the case for the planets to be arranged in
the solar system in an order similar to that followed by man in completing the cycle of
waking and sleeping. Taking the moment of going to sleep and waking as the centre, the
same spatial order can be indicated for the planetary system as for the daily life of man.
The perspective here revealed is one of mighty forces underlying the order of our
planetary system, regulating the great cosmic timepiece as our own lives are regulated
through the course of 24 hours. The thought will not then seem absurd that mighty forces
are operating in the Macrocosm forces analogous to those which guide our lives during
the day and night. As the outcome of such thoughts the same names came into use in
ancient science for the forces of the universe as for the forces which work upon our own
lives. The force which in the Macrocosm drives Mars around the Sun is similar to the one
that sends us to sleep. The force in the Macrocosm which drives Venus around the Sun is
similar to the one that regulates the Sentient Soul by day. Far-off Saturn, with its slight
influence, seems to resemble those weak forces that work, in special cases only, upon the
Consciousness-Soul in people who are sleep-walkers. And the rotation of the Moon
around the Earth is due to force similar to that which regulates our conscious deeds in
waking life. The spatial distances signify something that comes to expression in a certain
respect in our time-regulated life. We shall go into these things more deeply and it is
only a matter to-day of calling attention to them. If we consider, quite superficially, that
Saturn is the most remote planet and has accordingly the weakest effect upon our Earth,
this can be compared with the fact that the forces of dark Saturn have only a slight effect
upon the sleeping human being. And similarly, the force which drives Jupiter around the
Sun can be likened to that which penetrates comparatively seldom into our lives, namely,
the dream-world. (Macrocosm and Microcosm, 1968, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.35-44)
 26 Mar. 1910
It has already been said that our solar system may be conceived as a great cosmic
clock or timepiece. Just as we infer from the position of the hands of the clock that
something is happening, we can do the same from the relative positions of the heavenly
bodies. Anyone looking at a clock is naturally not interested in the hands or their position
per se, but what this indicates in the outer world. A man who has to go to his daily work
looks at a clock to see if it is time to start. The position of the hands is therefor the
expression of something lying behind. And so it is in the case of the solar system. This
great cosmic clock can be regarded as the expression of spiritual happenings and of the
activity of spiritual beings behind it.
And now we realize that the comparison with a clock is by no means so far fetched.
We relate the heavenly bodies to the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, and we can find
our bearings in the World of Spirit only by viewing it in such a way as to be able to assert
that spiritual Beings and events are realities; we compare the facts with the courses of the
planets but the spiritual Beings with the twelve constellations of the Zodiac. If we
contemplate the planets in space and the Zodiacal constellations, if we conceive the
movements and relative positions of the planets in front of the various constellations to be
manifestations of the activities of the spiritual Beings and the twelve constellations of the
Zodiac as the spiritual Beings themselves, then it is possible to express by such an
analogy what is happening in the World of Spirit.
We distinguish seven planets moving and performing deeds, and the twelve Zodiacal
constellations at rest behind them. We conceive that the spiritual facts the courses of the
planets are brought about by twelve Beings. Only in this way is it possible to speak
truly of the World of Spirit lying behind the Elementary World. We must picture not
merely twelve Zodiacal constellations, but Beings, actually categories of Beings, and not
merely seven planets, but spiritual facts.
Twelve Beings are acting, are entering into relationship with one another and if we
describe their actions this will show what is coming to pass in the World of Spirit.
Accordingly, whatever has reference to the Beings must be related to the number twelve;
whatever has reference to the facts must be related to the number seven. Only instead of
the names of the Zodiacal constellations we need to have the names of the corresponding
beings. In Spiritual Science these names have always been known. At the beginning of
the Christian era there was an esoteric School which adopted the following names for the
Spiritual Beings corresponding to the Zodiacal constellations: Seraphim, Cherubim,
Thrones, Kyriotetes, Dynameis, Exusiai, then Archai (Primal Beginnings or Spirits of
Personality), then Archangels and Angels. The tenth category is Man himself at his
present stage of evolution. These names denote ten ranks. Man, however, develops
onwards and subsequently reaches stages already attained by other Beings Therefor one
day he will be instrumental in forming an eleventh and a twelfth category. In this sense
we must think of twelve spiritual Beings. (Macrocosm and Microcosm, 1968, Rudolf
Steiner Press, pp.107-109)

18 Apr. 1910
Just as the movements in the planets circling the sun correspond to the regular events
in the evolution of humanity, so the appearance of a comet corresponds to an influence
that runs counter to the regular events. Rosicrucian research has demonstrated that every
comet exerts a particular influence on human evolution. The present comet has as its
particular influence an intense impulse towards materialism. Every time Halleys Comet
has appeared, a new impulse toward materialism has taken place. Its appearance in 1759
corresponded with the epoch in which Voltaireanism was at its high point. The
appearance in 1835 corresponded with the materialism of Moleschott, Buchner, and
others. In the same way, in our time there will be a new impulse toward materialism, and
the outer sign of this will be the appearance of the comet. Those who let themselves be
swayed by its influence will fall into the deepest materialism.
Today, not only this impulse exists, but there is also another influence., which is to
raise humanity to spiritual heights. This will be observed by those who understand the
signs of the times. In the macrocosm, the sign for this influence is the fact that the sun at
the vernal equinox has entered the sign of Pisces, the Fish. At the time when Christ
appeared, the sun was in the sign of Aries, the Ram. The sun began to enter this sign
about 800 B.C. and was well into Aries at the time of the event of Golgotha. Now the sun
has been in the sign of Pisces for several centuries. In the near future it will have
advanced so far in this sign that it will become the outer symbol for the reappearance of
Christ in the etheric Body. (The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, 1983,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.107)

10 May 1910
There is thus a lunar body, the moon, which has gone too far in its evolution, and
such bodies as have remained at an earlier stage of evolution, namely, the comets A
comet brings with it the laws of the earlier Moon and therefor renews these ancient laws.
It also brings with it the cyanide compounds, as has recently been established by outer
science and has been known for a long time to occult science. Just as oxygen and carbon
compounds are necessary to us on earth, so the cyanides were essential on the ancient
Moon. In 1906 I enlarged on this in Paris, at the annual meeting of the Theosophical
Society, in the presence of Colonel Olcott, our president at that time, and various others.
(The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, 1983, Anthroposophic Press, pg.113)

There is another significant sign, however, one that makes it possible for humanity
to escape the destructive influence of the comet; its forces are even stronger than the
comets. This is the spring sign of Pisces, the Fish, in which weve stood for several
centuries; at the time of Christ the vernal equinox was in the constellation of Aries, the
Ram. (The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, 1983, Anthroposophic Press, pp.114-
115)

Whitsunday, 1910
Easter is a moveable feast, which is determined by the constellations in the heavens;
it falls on the first Sunday after the full moon which follows the Spring equinox. For this
festival we must direct our gaze into the heights of heaven, where the stars go their way
and proclaim to us the laws of the cosmos. Easter is a moveable feast, just as in each
human individuality that moment is moveable in which, in order to become free from the
ordinary human lower nature, there awakens the power of the higher man, with a higher
consciousness. Just as in one year Easter falls on this day, in another year on that, so with
each man, according to his past and the strength of his endeavor, the moment comes
sooner or later in which he becomes aware: I can find the power in myself to let a higher
man arise out of me. (The Festivals an Their Meaning, 1981, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pg.265)

16 May 1910
This, again, is still rather an abstract consideration of such a question which we
could study much more deeply if we could observe human life over long periods of time.
Let us consider human life in the Egyptian-Chaldean age which preceded the Greco-
Latin. If we examine the peculiarities of this age, especially with regard to what it has
given to mankind, and what mankind then learnt in it, we shall see something curious. If
we compare this epoch with our own, we shall perceive that what is happening in our
own time is connected with what happened in the Egyptian-Chaldean civilisation. The
Greco-Latin lies between the two. In our time certain things would not happen unless
other things had happened in the Egyptian-Chaldean times. If present-day natural science
has brought about certain results, it has certainly done so by means of powers which have
unfolded and developed out of the souls of men. The human souls who worked in our
time were also incarnated in man in the Egyptian-Chaldean age, and at that time they
underwent certain experiences without which they would not be able to accomplish what
they do to-day. If the pupils of the old Egyptian temple priests had not learned in
Egyptian astrology about the relations existing between the heavenly bodies, they would
not later on have been able to penetrate into the secrets of the world, nor would certain
souls in the present age have possessed the abilities to explore the regions of the heavens.
For instance, how did Kepler arrive at his discoveries? He did so because within him
there was a soul who in the Egyptian-Chaldean times had acquired the forces necessary
for the discoveries which he was to make in the fifth age. It fills us with inner satisfaction
to see in certain souls a realisation arising out of the fact that the germs of what they are
now doing were laid in the past. Kepler, one of the men who has played a most important
part in the investigation of the laws of the universe says of himself, Yes, it is I who have
robbed the golden vessels of the Egyptians to make an offering to my God far removed
from Egyptian bounds. If you will forgive me, I will rejoice, but if you blame me I must
bear it; here I throw the dice and I write this book. What matter if it is read to-day or
later even if centuries must elapse before it is read! God himself had to wait six
thousand years for the one who recognised his work.
Here we have a sporadic memory rising in Kepler of what he received as a germ for
the work which he, in his personal life as Kepler, accomplished. Hundreds of similar
cases might be given. But we see in Kepler something more than the mere manifestation
of effects which were the result of causes in a previous incarnation we see a
manifestation which has its significance for the whole of mankind a manifestation of
something which was equally important for the humanity in a previous epoch. We see
how a person is placed in the special position in order to do something for the whole of
mankind. We see that not only in individual lives, but in the whole of humanity, there are
connections between cause and effect, which stretch over wide periods of time, and we
can deduce that the karmic law of the individual will intersect the laws which we may
call karmic laws of humanity. Sometimes this intersection is only slightly perceptible.
Imagine what would have happened to our astronomy if the telescope had not been
discovered at that particular time. If we look back at the history of the telescope we see of
what tremendous importance the discovery has been. Now it is well known that the
discovery of the telescope was made in the following way: Some children were playing
with lenses in an optician's workshop and by chance, as one might say, they had so placed
the optical lenses that someone hit upon the idea of employing this arrangement to make
something like a telescope. Think how deeply you must search in order to arrive at the
individual karma of the children and the karma of humanity which led to the discovery at
that particular moment. Try to think the two facts out together, and you will see in what a
remarkable manner the karma of single individuals and the karma of the whole of
humanity intercept and are interwoven. You must admit that the whole of the
development of mankind would have been different if such and such a thing had not
come to pass when it did.

We can look back to a time in the evolution of our earth when there was as yet no
mineral kingdom. The evolution of the earth was preceded by the Saturn, Sun and Moon
evolutions, where as yet there was no mineral kingdom in our sense of the word. It was
on this earth that our minerals first took on their present forms. But because the mineral
kingdom became separated in the course of the earth's evolution, it will remain a separate
kingdom to the end. Before that, men, animals, and plants had developed without the
mineral kingdom. In order that later the other kingdoms might make further progress,
they had to separate the mineral kingdom out of themselves , but after they had done this,
they could only develop on a planet which had a firm mineral form. They could have
developed in no other way than this, if we admit that the formation of a mineral kingdom
took place in the way we have said. The mineral kingdom is there, and the subsequent
fate of the other kingdoms depends on the existence of this mineral kingdom which was
formed within our earth in remote ages of antiquity. So something happened connected
with the fact of the formation of the mineral kingdom which must be taken into account
in all the later evolutions of the earth. What follows as the result of the origin of the
mineral kingdom finds its fulfilment in later periods of what happened in earlier ones. On
the earth is fulfilled what was on the earth prepared long ago. There is a connection
between what happened earlier and what came to pass later but this is also a connection
which in its effects reacts upon the being which caused it. Men, animals, and plants have
separated from the mineral kingdom, and the latter reacts upon them! Thus we see that it
is possible to speak of the karma of the earth.
We know that certain beings remained at the stage of the old Moon evolution and
that these beings did so for the purpose of giving to human beings certain definite
qualities. Not only beings, but also substances, remained from the old Moon-time of the
earth. At the Moon stage there remained behind beings who influenced our earth's
existence as luciferic beings. As a result of this, certain effects are manifested on our
earth of which the causes are to be found in the Moon life. But from the point of being of
actual substance something analogous was also brought about. As we now see our solar
system, we find it composed of heavenly bodies which regularly carry out recurrent
movements showing a sort of inner completeness. But we find other heavenly bodies
which move, indeed, with a certain rhythm, but break through, as it were, the usual laws
of the solar system. These are the comets. Now, the substance of a comet does not obey
the laws which exist in our solar system, but such laws as prevailed in the old Moon-
existence. Indeed, the laws of that old Moon are preserved in the life of the comet. I have
already often pointed out that Spiritual Science had indicated certain laws of science
before they were confirmed by Natural Science. In Paris, in 1906, I drew attention to the
fact that, during the old Moon-existence, certain combinations of carbon and nitrogen
played a similar part to that played at the present day on our earth by combinations of
oxygen and carbon, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and so on. These latter have
something deadly in them. Cyanide combinations, prussic acid combinations, played a
similar part during the old Moon-existence. Attention was called to these facts by
Spiritual Science in 1906, and in other lectures it was shown that comets bring the laws
of the old Moon-existence into our solar system, so that not only the luciferic beings
remained behind, but also the laws of the old Moon-substance, which work in our solar
system in an irregular way. We have always said that a comet must contain something
like cyanide combinations in its atmosphere. Only much later, namely this year, 1910,
was prussic acid found by spectrum analysis in the comet, proving what had already been
made known by Spiritual Science. If we are ever asked to show whether anything can be
discovered by Spiritual Science we have here a proof. There are more of such proofs if
only one could observe them. So there is something of the old Moon-existence working
in our present earth existence. Now we come to the question: Can it be maintained that
something spiritual lies behind a phenomenon observed by means of the outer senses?
To one who knows Spiritual Science it is quite clear that there is something spiritual
behind all material realities. If from the point of view of substance there is an action of
the old Moon-existence on our earth existence when a comet shines upon it, then also
something spiritual is working behind, and we can even distinguish what spiritual force is
working in the case of Halley's comet. Halley's comet is the outward expression of a new
impulse of materialism every time it comes within the sphere of our earth's existence. To
the world of the present day this may seem superstitious, but men must remember how
they themselves bring spiritual influences from the constellations. Who would deny that
an Eskimo is a different sort of human being from a Hindu, because in the polar regions
the sun's rays strike the earth at a different angle! Everywhere the scientists themselves
refer spiritual effects on mankind to constellations. A spiritual impulse towards
materialism is coincident with the appearance of Halleys Comet, and this impulse can
make itself felt. The appearance of this comet in 1835 was followed by that materialistic
culture of the second half of the nineteenth century, and its appearance before that was
followed by the materialistic enlightenment of the French Encyclopaedists. That is the
connection. In order that certain things may enter into the earth's existence, the causes
must be laid long before outside the earth; and here we actually have to deal with the
world-karma. The spiritual and the material have been driven out of the old moon in
order that certain effects may be reflected back upon those entities that have driven them
out. It is certain that the luciferic beings have been driven out and forced to develop in a
different way so that for the beings on earth, free will and the possibilities of free will
could originate. Here we have something which in its karmic effect extends beyond our
earth existence; here is a glimpse of the world-karma! (Manifestations of Karma, elib.
Lecture I, pp.8-10)

17 May 1910
We know that the Moon evolution preceded the Earth evolution. Before that again
was the Sun evolution which was preceded by a Saturn evolution. When the ancient
Moon evolution came to an end, man was at a stage of development as regards his
external life which may be described as animal-humanity. At that time this external
human organisation had not progressed far enough for it to become the vehicle of an Ego-
individuality. It was the Earth evolution of man which had the task of embodying the Ego
in this organisation. But this could only come about by regulating our Earth evolution in a
very special way. When the old Moon development came to an end, everything dissolved,
so to speak, into chaos. Up to a certain time of cosmic dawn, the new cosmos of our
Earth evolution came forth. In it was contained everything which, as our solar system, is
connected with us and the Earth. From this whole, from this cosmic unity there split off
all the other planetary bodies belonging to our special Earth existence. We need not go
into the manner in which the other planets, Jupiter, Mars, etc., split off. We have only to
point out that at a certain period in our Earth-phase of evolution, our Earth and our Sun
separated. While the Sun had already separated and was sending down its activities to the
Earth from outside, our Earth was still united with the present Moon, so that the
substances and spiritual forces which at the present day belong to the Moon, at that time
were still united with the Earth.
Now we have often touched upon the question as to what would have happened if
the Sun had not split away from the Earth, and passed over into that condition in which it
works on the Earth from outside as it does now. In the beginning when the Earth was still
united to the Sun, the conditions were quite different and the whole cosmic system
included the ancestors of the human organisation making one unity. It is absurd to look at
modern conditions and say: What nonsense those Anthroposophists talk! If that had been
so, all beings would have been burnt up! But these beings were so organised that at that
time they could exist under conditions quite different from those of this epoch. Now if the
Sun had remained in union with the Earth, forces very different and much more violent
would have remained with the Earth; and the consequence would have been that the
whole evolution of the Earth would have progressed with such violence and speed that it
would have been impossible for the human organisation to develop as it should.
Therefore it was necessary that the Earth should be given a slower tempo, and denser
forces placed at its disposal. This could only be brought about by the withdrawal of the
violent and stormy forces from the Earth. The forces of the Sun worked less violently
when acting from outside after withdrawal from the Earth. Through this, however,
something else took place. The Earth was now in a condition in which mankind could
again not progress in the right way. The state of the Earth was now too dense, and it
exercised a drying and petrifying action on all life. If conditions had remained so, man
would have again been unable to develop. This was remedied by a special arrangement.
Some time after the exit of the Sun the present Moon left the Earth, and took away the
retarding forces which would have brought all life to a slow death. Thus the Earth
remained behind between Sun and Moon, selecting exactly the right tempo for the human
organisation, and enabling it to take up an Ego, and to be the bearer of the individuality
which goes on from incarnation to incarnation. The human organisation as it exists to-day
was produced from the cosmos under no other conditions than through this process
first the separation of the Sun and then that of the Moon.

Thus we see that man owes his existence and his present qualities to a complicated
arrangement in the cosmos. But we also know that the evolutions of all the kingdoms of
nature do not by any means proceed at the same rate as the general evolution. From
various lectures given in preceding years, we know that on each of the planetary
incarnations of the earth, certain beings have always remained behind the general
evolution. Then, as evolution proceeds they live in conditions which do not fully
correspond to this evolution. We also know that fundamentally all evolution can only
proceed in the right way through the remaining behind of these entities. During the old
Moon evolution certain beings remained behind as the luciferic beings, and through them
much that is evil has resulted; but to them we also owe what makes human existence
possible, namely, the possibility of freedom, of the free development of our inner being.
Indeed, we may say that in a certain sense the remaining behind of the luciferic beings
was a sacrifice. They remained behind so that during the Earth existence they could
exercise certain activities; they could bestow on man the qualities which pertain to his
dignity and the ordaining of his destiny. We must accustom ourselves to entirely different
ideas from those which are customary; for according to the usual ideas one might perhaps
say that the luciferic spirits failed to progress and had to remain behind; and we could not
excuse their negligence. But it was not a question of the negligence of the luciferic
beings; in a certain sense their remaining behind was a sacrifice, in order that they might
be able to work on our earthly humanity through what they acquired by this sacrifice.
From the last lecture you already know that not only beings but also substances
remained behind and preserved laws which in previous planetary conditions were the
right ones, and then carried those laws into the later evolution. Thus phases of evolution
belonging to ancient times mingle and interpenetrate with those of modern times. And it
is this which brings about such great complexities in life, which offers us degrees of
existence [that are] the most diverse. The animal kingdom could never have developed
alongside the human kingdom to-day if certain beings had not remained behind at the end
of the Saturn period in order, while mankind on the Sun was already developing a stage
higher, to form a second kingdom and come forward as the first ancestors of our present
animal kingdom. Thus this remaining behind was absolutely necessary as a base for later
formations.
Now a comparison may explain why beings and substances had to remain behind.
The development of man had to progress by degrees, and it could only do this in the same
degree to which man refined himself. Had he always worked with the same forces with
which he had worked during the Saturn phase, he would not have progressed, but would
have remained behind. For this reason he had to refine his forces. As an illustration, let us
suppose we have a glass of water in which some substance is dissolved. Everything in
this glass from top to bottom will be of the same colour, the same density, etc. Now let us
suppose that the grosser substances settle to the bottom; then the purer water and the finer
substances remain above. The water could only be refined by separation of the grosser
parts. Something like this was also necessary after the Saturn evolution had run its
course, so that such a sediment appeared, and the whole of humanity separated from
something, retaining all the finer parts. That which was left formed later the animal
kingdom. By means of this separation man was able to refine himself, and rise a stage
higher. At each step certain beings have to be separated, in order that man may rise higher
and higher.

Man was at a certain stage of evolution when the Sun separated. Now had he been
obliged to keep to this stage at which he was during the period when the Moon was still
united to the Earth, he would not have been able to attain his present organisation; he
would have been confronted with a certain wasting and drying up. The Moon forces had
first to go out. The possibility of this human organisation we owe only to the
circumstance that during the period when the Moon was still part of the Earth, man had
preserved an organisation which could still be pliable; for it might have been possible for
his organisation to become so set that the exit of the Moon could no longer be of any use.
Only the ancestors of humanity were at that pliable stage at which the organisation was
still possible. Therefore the Moon had to separate at a particular time. Now what took
place up to the time of the exit of the Moon?
The human organisation became grosser and grosser. Man did not, indeed, look like
wood that would be too gross a conception. The organisation at that time in spite of its
grossness was still much finer than is our present organisation; but for that period
between the exit of the Sun and that of the Moon, the organisation of man was so gross
that the more spiritual part of him, which in a certain sense lived alternately within and
without the physical body came at length to the crisis that when it wanted to re-enter its
physical body it found this so dense, owing to events that had taken place on the earth
that it could no longer enter into it as its dwelling. Hence it also came about that the
spiritual and soul part of many of our human ancestors departed altogether from the earth,
and for a certain time took refuge on other planets belonging to our solar system. Only a
small number of the physical bodies could be used and maintain themselves over this
time. As I have said, by far the greater number of human souls went out into space, but
the onward stream of human evolution was maintained by a small number of those who
were more robust and who were able to struggle and conquer. These robust souls carried
the evolution over the critical period.
During the whole of this process the human individuality was still not evolved.
There was still more of the character of the species soul, and when some souls withdrew
they went into the soul groups.
Then came the exit of the Moon which made it possible for the human organisation
to be further refined. It could then take up the souls which had previously soared away,
and these souls gradually up to and during the Atlantean Epoch came down again
and entered into the human bodies below. But certain organisms had reproduced
themselves during this critical time and they could not become the vehicles of the human
soul as they were too gross. Through this it came about that side by side with those
organisations which were able to be refined and to become the vehicles of human
individuality there had also been propagated organisms which could not, and these were
the successors of the organisms which had been abandoned by the human soul during the
time when the Sun had already withdrawn and the Moon was still united with the earth.
(Manifestations of Karma, elib. Lectue II, pp.4-7)

22 May 1910
These beings who played the same part with regard to the Angeloi that to-day the
luciferic beings play with regard to ourselves were the ahrimanic beings which, during
the whole of the Sun evolution, remained behind as did the luciferic beings during the
Moon evolution. That is why we can only indirectly encounter these beings. It was
Ahriman who, as it were, acted as tempter within the breast of the Angeloi, and he was
active within them. Because of him the Angeloi had become what they then became, and
they have carried over with them what they acquired through Ahriman, as well as the
good they then acquired.
 The good we have attained through Lucifer is the possibility of discrimination
between good and evil, the free faculty of discrimination, and our free will. All this we
may attain only through Lucifer. The Angels, however, have carried over into the Earth
the fruits of their struggle with the ahrimanic powers, and this has fitted them for their
present task as spiritual beings which surround us. Our inner Ego is not concerned with
and takes no part in what these beings then experienced, nor in the effects of their
experiences. We shall see, however, that we receive indirectly such experiences
ourselves, because the ahrimanic influence acts upon us. Through Ahriman, therefore,
these beings have attained certain results caused during their Moon existence and these
results are introduced into our Earth existence. Let us try to trace in our Earth existence
the effect of the ahrimanic battle of that time.
If that ahrimanic battle had not taken place on the ancient Moon, these beings could
not have brought into our Earth existence that which once formed part of the ancient
Moon existence. For that would have ceased to exist after the ancient Moon had perished.
Through the ahrimanic influence, the Angels became entangled in the Moon existence,
just as we, through the luciferic influence, become entangled in Earth existence. They
received in their innermost nature something of the Moon element and transported it into
our Earth existence. Because of this they are in a position to raise up the forces which
will prevent our Earth from succumbing entirely to the luciferic influence. In its totality
our Earth would have succumbed to Lucifer's influence if the results of the Angels' battle
against Ahriman upon the Moon had not been brought into our Earth existence.
What then are the proceedings in the existence of the Earth which we describe as the
normal? When our present solar system organised itself in accordance with the goal of
our Earth, that which we see as the regular movements of the Earth and of the planets
began, and that brought it about that the seasons of the year succeed each other in regular
succession, that we have sunshine and rain, that our fruits ripen in the fields, and so on.
Those are conditions which repeat themselves over and over again according to the
rhythm of the Cosmos which shaped itself for the present existence after the Moon
existence descended into the twilight. But within the Earth existence works Lucifer; and
we shall see that he works a good deal more than merely in the domain into which we are
able to follow him in man himself, which he nevertheless has made his most important
domain. Even if Lucifer were to be found only in the Earth existence, man would
nevertheless, through all the conditions which are determined by the regular course of the
planets round the Sun, through the changes of summer and winter, rain and sunshine and
so on, have fallen into what we may call luciferic temptation. If man were to receive all
that could come to him from a well-ordered Cosmos, and everything which the regular
rhythmic movements of the solar system could produce, if only those laws prevailed
which are adapted to our present Cosmos, man would still fall under the luciferic
influence, and would prefer his comfortable life to a life of striving after his cosmic
welfare, preferring the regular course to that which he ought to achieve for himself.
Therefore opposing forces had to be created. Forces were necessary which would
intervene in the normal cosmic phenomena and bring about events which, on the old
Moon, were highly beneficial and normal, but which, when they work on the Earth
existence to-day, are abnormal and endanger its regular course. These influences appear
in such a way that they correct that which would occur if the rhythm alone existed, giving
the tendency to comfortable living, to comfort, to ease and luxury; and we see such
forces, for instance, manifesting themselves in violent hailstorms. So when that which
otherwise would be produced by the regular forces of the Earth is destroyed, a correction
is in these cases brought about which on the whole works beneficially even although
man cannot at first see it because there is a higher reason at work than can be perceived
by man. When the hail drives down into the fields, we may then say: Upon the old Moon
these forces which work in the hail were the regular ones, just as to-day are those which
bring blessings in the rain and the sunshine; but they rush in, in order to correct that
which otherwise would be produced by the luciferic influence. And when the regular
course is again re-established, they rush in again to effect further correction. Everything
that leads to further progressive evolution belongs to the forces of the earth itself. When
the volcano throws out its lava, forces are working in it which are retarded forces brought
over from the old Moon in order that they should bring about the correction in the Earth
life. We shall find that much that comes from outside finds its justification in the general
march of evolution. We shall see later how this is connected with the human Ego-
consciousness.
But one point on which we must be clear is that these matters represent only one side
of human existence, of Earth existence, and of the cosmic existence in general. If on the
one hand we see in the destruction of an organ the beneficent activity of spiritual powers,
and if we have found to-day that the whole course of Earth evolution must be rectified by
forces springing from the ancient Moon existence, we must now ask how it is that we as
Earth men on the other hand must try to rectify the harmful influences of the ancient
Moon forces. We already feel that as Earth men we have not the right to wish for volcanic
eruptions and earthquakes, nor may we ourselves destroy organs in order to assist the
beneficent effect of the ancient Moon forces. But we can also admit, and justifiably, that
should an epidemic break out, it will lead man to seek for the balancing of some
imperfection within himself, and we may surmise that man is driven into certain
conditions in order to suffer some injury, the conquest of which will draw him nearer to
perfection. (Manifestations of Karma, elib. Lecture VII, pp.7-9)

27 May 1910
A person will at first judge matter according to what confronts him in the external
world in the shape of different beings and things, and everything which makes an
impression upon him in any way. Then he discovers that there are different sorts of
matter. But I need not go very far into that, for you may find in all the ordinary books
those expositions which could be given here if we had time enough. These differences in
matter present themselves to man when he sees the different metals, gold, copper, lead,
and so on, or when he sees anything that does not belong to this category. You know, too,
that chemistry traces these different materials back to certain fundamental substances of
matter, called elements. These elements, even in the nineteenth century, were still
considered to be substances possessing certain properties which did not admit of being
further divided. But in the case of a substance such as water, we are able to separate it
into hydrogen and oxygen, yet in hydrogen and oxygen themselves we have substances
which, according to the chemistry of the nineteenth century, were incapable of being
further divided. One could distinguish about seventy such elements. You will doubtless
also know that owing to phenomena which have been produced in connection with a few
special elements radium, for instance and also owing to various phenomena
produced in the study of electricity, the idea of the elements has been shaken in many
ways. One has come to the conclusion that the seventy elements were only temporary
limitations of matter, and that one could trace back the possibility of subdivision to a
fundamental substance, which then through inner combinations, through the nature of its
inner elementary being, manifests at one time as gold, at another time as potash, lime,
and so on.
These scientific theories vary; and just as the scientific theories changed in each
fifty years of the nineteenth century, so it came about that certain physicists saw in
matter certain entities which are charged with electricity; just as the ionic theory is now in
fashion for there are fashions in science in the same way at no distant future other
scientific methods will exist, and our idea of the constitution of matter will be quite
different. These are facts. Scientific opinions are changeable, and must be changeable, for
they depend altogether upon those facts which are of significance for one particular
epoch. The teachings of Spiritual Science on the other hand continue through all ages
as long as there are civilisations on the earth and will continue as long as these
civilisations exist. It has always had the same comprehensive view regarding the nature
of material existence and matter; and in order to lead you on to what Spiritual Science
looks upon as the essential part of matter and of substance, I should like to say the
following: You all know that ice is a solid body not through its own nature, but through
external circumstances. It at once ceases to be a solid if we raise the temperature
sufficiently; it then becomes a fluid substance. Therefore it does not depend upon what is
in a substance itself as to what form it takes in the external world, but upon the entire
conditions of the universe surrounding it. We can then further bring heat to this
substance, and out of the water we can, after a certain point, produce steam. We have ice,
water, steam, and through the raising of the temperature we have caused what we may
describe as the appearance of matter in manifold forms. Thus we have to distinguish in
matter that the appearance it presents to us does not come out of an inner constitution, but
that the manner in which it confronts us depends upon the general constitution of the
universe, and that one must not isolate any part of the whole universe into individual
substances. Now the methods of modern science cannot reach where Spiritual Science is
able to reach. The science of today can never, by means of the methods at its disposal,
bring the substance of ice which, when the temperature is increased, is first made
fluidic and then turned into steam into the final condition attainable on earth, into
which every substance can be transmuted. It is not possible today, by scientific means, to
bring about conditions which show that if you take gold and rarefy it as far as it can be
rarefied upon the earth, you will bring it at last to a state which could equally be reached
by silver or by copper. Spiritual Science can do this because it is based upon the methods
of spiritual research; is thus able to observe how, in the spaces between substances, there
is always a uniform substance everywhere which represents the extreme limit to which all
matter is reducible. Spiritual research discovers a condition of dissolution in which all
materials are reduced to a common basis, but what then appears there is no longer matter,
but something which lies beyond all the specialised forms of matter around us. Every
single substance, be it gold, silver, or any other substance, is there seen to be a
condensation of this fundamental substance, which is really no longer matter. There is a
fundamental essence of our material earth existence out of which all matter only comes
into being by a condensing process, and to the question: What is this fundamental
substance of our earth existence, Spiritual Science gives the answer: Every substance
upon the earth is condensed light. There is nothing in material existence in any form
whatever which is anything but condensed light. Hence you see that to those who know
the facts, there can be no necessity for such a theory as that of the vibration hypothesis
of the nineteenth century. Therein one sought to find light by methods which themselves
are coarser than the light itself. Light cannot be traced back to anything else in our
material existence. Wherever you reach out and touch a substance, there you have
condensed, compressed light. All matter is, in its essence, light.
We have thus indicated one side of the question from the point of view of Spiritual
Science. We have seen that light is the foundation of all material existence. If we look at
the material human body, that also, inasmuch as it consists of matter, is nothing but a
substance woven out of light. Inasmuch as man is a material being, he is composed of
light.
Let us now consider the other question: Of what does the soul consist? If we were
to make research in the same way, by means of the methods of Spiritual Science, into the
substance, into the really fundamental essence of the soul, then it would appear that just
as all matter is compressed light, so all the different phenomena of the soul upon earth are
modifications, are manifold transformations of that which must be called, if we truly
realise the fundamental meaning of the word: love. Every stirring of the soul, wherever it
appears, is in some way a modification of love, and if the inner and the outer are, as it
were, intermingled, impressed into one another in man, we find also that his outer bodily
part is woven out of light, and his inner soul is woven spiritually out of love.
(Manifestations of Karma, elib. Lecture X, pp.2-3)

Since the soul consists fundamentally of love, we can assist with psychic factors.
And these processes apparently lie very near the periphery of human nature, and by such
factors of healing that which in its essence consists of love is enriched by what it requires
in the way of love. Thus on the one side we see how we can help, so that, after being
caught in the toils of Lucifer, the sufferer is able to free himself again. Because love is the
fundamental essence of the soul, we may, indeed, influence the direction of karma.
On the other hand, we may ask, what has become of the substance woven from light
in which the soul dwells?
Take the body the outer man in his material part. If through a karmic process there
had not been imprinted from out of the soul into matter a love substance such as is
permeated by Lucifer or Ahriman; if a pure love substance only had poured in, it would
not have been impurifying, or damaging to the substance woven out of light. If love alone
were to flow into matter, it would then so flow into the human body that the latter could
not be damaged. It is only because a love which has absorbed luciferic or ahrimanic
forces can penetrate that the substance woven out of light becomes less perfect than it
was originally intended to be. Therefore it is only through pouring into man of the
luciferic or ahrimanic influences during his consecutive incarnations, that the human
organisation is not what it might be. If it were as it ought to be, it would manifest healthy
human substance; but because it has absorbed the activities of Lucifer and Ahriman,
sickness and disease result.
How can we draw from outside those influences which have flowed in from an
imperfect soul, that is, from a wrong love substance? What happens to the body by this
influx of something which is faulty? According to Spiritual Science something happens
which turns light in some way into its opposite. Light has its opposite in darkness or
obscurity. Everything really presenting itself strange as it may sound as the
defilement of that which is woven out of light, is a darkness woven out of a luciferic or
ahrimanic influence. Thus we see darkness woven into the human substance. But this
darkness was only thus interwoven because the human body has become the bearer of the
Ego that lives on through the incarnations. This was formerly not there. Only a human
body can be subject to this corruption, for such a corruption was formerly not contained
in that which was woven out of light.
Man today draws the base of his material life out of what he has gradually rejected
in the course of evolution that is, the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, and the
mineral kingdom. These also contain the different substances woven out of light for earth
existence. But in none of these substances are there any of the influences which, in the
course of human karma have acted on the organism through the soul. In the three
kingdoms around us, therefore, man cannot through his luciferic or ahrimanic influence,
as emanating from his love forces, have a defiling effect. Nothing of him is here. And
what in man has been defiled is spread around him in all its purity. Let us consider a
mineral substance, a salt or any other substance which man has also within him, or might
have within him. But in him it is interwoven with the love substance defiled by Lucifer or
Ahriman. Outside, however, it is pure. Thus every substance outside is distinguished from
that which man bears within him. Externally it is always different from what it is in man,
because in him it is interwoven with the ahrimanic or luciferic influence. That is the
reason why, for everything of external substance which can be more or less defiled by
man, there must be something which can be found externally representing the same thing
in its pure condition. That which exists in the world in its purity, is the external cure for
the corresponding substance in its damaged state. If you apply this in the right way to the
human being, you then have the specific for the corresponding injury. (Manifestations of
Karma, elib. Lecture X, pp.5-6)

11 June 1910
In which of the elements of Nature - we have said that the three elements of Nature,
water, air and fire are connected with the Spirits of Will, the Cherubim and Seraphim - do
the Spirits of Form manifest themselves? They are the nearest Beings and they dance
upon the surface upon which we live, move and have our being. They come out of
universal space, but only display their force in that which streams up out of the earth. To
our observation they are concentrated in what we call the rays of the sun. Light, therefore,
is the element in which in the first place the Spirits of Form weave and live. Since,
however, the activities of light, with all they include, display themselves on the boundary
where the Spirits of Motion and the Spirits of Will co-operate, it is there that the solid
forms are produced. Man has at first no organs with which to gaze up at that which lies
on the further side of the forces of light, which we also call the Spirits of Form, no organs
with which to look into that which is woven into the light. Everything which on our earth
regulates construction and decomposition, all that is active in these in the way of
chemical forces is here still interwoven with the light, and that is principally the domain
in which the Spirits of Motion are at work. When man learns to perceive something of
that which he otherwise looks upon merely as maya, in the action of the chemical
combinations and dissolutions, then he hears these Spirits of Motion, he perceives the
Music of the Spheres, of which the Pythagorean and other occult schools speak. It is that
too, which Goethe describes when he speaks of the sun, not as the giver of light, but
when he says:
The sun, with many a sister-sphere,
Still sings the rival psalm of wonder,
And still his fore-ordained career
Accomplishes, with tread of thunder.
This music of the spheres is still there, only it is inaudible to the ordinary
conciousness. The music of the spheres is real, it approaches all men as an astral effect,
coming from without. Man, however, does not hear it. If to him the music of the spheres
was to alternate as does the light, which at certain times when darkness sets in he no
longer sees, then there would be certain times when he could hear it. It sounds forth, both
day and night, and thus he can only hear it when he goes through a certain occult training
and development. Whereas the light streams towards us during the day as light, and
during the night weaves on further as light which has been received and absorbed, the
music of the spheres sounds forth both day and night. To man this is as with the miller,
who only hears his mill when it is not working. (The Mission of the Folk-Souls, 1989,
Garber Communications Inc., pp.61-62)
12 June 1910
Now it may be asked: Why was the Sun split off at all? That was necessary for the
following reasons: As soon as certain older Spirits of Motion who possess greater
power than the Spirits of Form, for they stand higher in the rank of the hierarchies had
decided to remain behind, the normal Spirits of Form had to weaken their activity by
splitting off one of themselves. They would not otherwise have been able to bring about
equilibrium requisite for further evolution.
If we want to obtain a satisfactory conception of the activities of these normal Spirits
of Form, it is best to think of them as streaming down to us in the sunlight. But if we
want to obtain an idea of the abnormal Spirits of Form, and of how they act in
combination with the normal Spirits of Form, who are centred in the Sun as it were (for it
was only in order that the equilibrium could be brought about that Jehovah split off
towards the Moon); then we must imagine that a certain sun-force, which streams
towards us in the normal Spirits of Form, is altered by the force that streams to us from
the abnormal Spirits of Form, who are really Spirits of Motion. These have their centre in
the other five planets, speaking of the planets in the old way. You must therefor seek for
the centre of these others, the abnormal Spirits of Form, in Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus,
Mercury.
You have now, when you look into the cosmos, a sort of distribution of the normal
and the abnormal Spirits of Form. Six of the normal Spirits Six of the normal Spirits of
Form are centred in the Sun, one of them Jahve or Jehovah forms the equilibrium for
them from Moon, by ruling and guiding the latter. The activities of this Spirit of Form are
influenced by the activities proceeding from Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury.
These forces stream down upon Earth, are stemmed there and ray up again from Earth, as
was described at the close of our last lecture.
Thus if you have a part of the Earths surface upon which a certain activity is
exercised from the Sun by the Elohim or normal Spirits of Form, then nothing would
come into existence on that particular part of the Earths surface but the entirely normal
`I, that which gives man his normal being, which produces the average general human
nature. Now into these forces of the Spirits of Form, which through the state of
equilibrium would otherwise dance here upon the surface, are intermingled the forces of
Mercury. Hence in that which here unfolds as the force of the Spirits of Form, there
dances and vibrates not only the forces of the Elohim, in the normal forces of the Spirits
of Form, there are five possible centres of influence, and these, in their reflection upon
humanity from the centre of the Earth, really produce what we know as the five root-
races who inhabit the Earth.
If we now more closely characterise the spot which in our recent statements we
placed in Africa, by saying, that through the co-operation of the normal Spirits of Form
with the abnormal ones centred in Mercury, the negro race came into existence, we are
then, from an occult standpoint, quite correct in describing what appears in the black
race, as the `Mercury race.
Let us now follow on further along the line which we then drew through the central
points from which the several races sprang. We may then go to Asia and find there the
Venus-race or the Malay race. We then pass on across the wide domain of Asia and in the
Mongolian race we find the Mars-race. We then pass over into the domain of Europe and
we find in the Europeans, in their basic character, in their racial character, the Jupiter
men. If we cross over the ocean to America, where the place is at which the races or
civilisations die, we then find the race of the dark Saturn, the original American-Indian
race, the American race. The American-Indian race is the Saturn race.
In this way, if occultly you picture this matter more and more clearly, you find in
these five planets the forces which have experienced their external manifestations in these
five parts of the world.
If you form a more and more distinct and concrete conception of this, you will
acquire an inner knowledge of these unique racial characters which are spread over the
Earth, a knowledge of this peculiar co-operation of the normal and abnormal Spirits of
Form. Thus we have, as it were, drawn the picture which holds good for a certain point.
But what I have said about the different parts of the Earth, again only holds good for the
epoch when, at a definite moment of the old Atlantean evolution, the migration of peoples
started from a spot in Atlantis and wandered across to the right place where they could
receive the corresponding racial cultivation. Hence in my `Occult Science you will find
it pointed out that in old Atlantis, in certain Mystery Places, named the Atlantean Oracles,
the guidance of this distribution of mankind over the Earth was taken in hand, so that in
fact that equilibrium, that state of balance could be brought about which led to the
corresponding distribution of the races. In one such Mystery-Oracle the truths of which
we are now speaking were always investigated, and originally man was entirely guided
by them. In this manner, what happened on the Earth was correspondingly directed from
such centres.
In the stream of peoples that traveled across Africa and crystallised into the
Ethiopian race, we have to look for an impulse which could be given by the Mercury-
Oracle, in which one could clearly observe how the normal Spirits of Form, (the six
Elohim and Jahve or Jehovah) co-operated, and how the abnormal Spirits of Form whose
activities proceeded from the centre of Mercury also worked in. According to the
astrological co-operation of these various centres of force, the point of equilibrium was
sought for on our Earth, and in accordance with this the centre of balance was taken as
the point of radiation for the race in question.
The formation of the other races was also directed in a similar way. In accordance
with this, the great map is then drawn, into which are entered the influences with respect
to peoples, families, etc. That is the great map, which is an image of the heavenly activity
which originates through the forces of the heavenly powers flowing into man, radiating
back from him, and forming his destiny. What may we now consider a man of the
Mercury race, of the Ethiopian race as being? We may so look upon him that we say: This
man is originally destined and organised by the Elohim to express in himself the whole
human nature. But now from the Mercury centre the abnormal Spirits of Form worked
with great power and caused man to be so varied that the form of the Ethiopian race
arose; and it was the same with each of the other races. Thereby the streams of the
peoples were guided in quite a definite way from the original centre, and thus the line
which I drew for you a few days ago originated.
You must therefor imagine the Spirits of Form radiating from a centre. We have to
suppose this centre as being at a definite period of time in old Atlantis. There we have
that which sank down into the Atlantean continent and shaped it in such a way that the
human spirits were brought under the rulership of the abnormal Spirits of Form.
Thus were the great foundations of the races created, and when man looks up into
the infinite expanses of the heavens, he must there seek the forces which constitute him.
They constitute him however in their rays which return from the Earth. When he looks up
to the normal Spirits of Form, to the Elohim, he is looking up to what is centred in the
several Planetary Spirits (with the exception of the Sun and Moon), he sees that which
makes him belong to a particular race.
Now how do these Race-spirits work in and upon man? They work in a very unique
way, so that, as one might say, they excite his forces first of all when they reach the
physical body. You know that what we call the four fundamental parts of man, are
projected and imaged in certain parts of the physical body, so that we may say, the `I
images itself in the blood; the astral body in the nervous system; the etheric or life-body
in the glandular system, and only the physical body stands for itself, it is an .image of its
own being, and for the man of the present day it has all its laws within itself. The `I
reflects itself in the blood, the astral body in the nervous system, the etheric body in the
glandular system.
Those spiritual Beings, who there seethe and boil in man so that his racial character
may come about, cannot at first work directly into his higher parts. They seethe first of all
in these images of the higher parts in the physical body. They cannot as yet enter right
into the physical body, but they seethe in the other three members, in that which is the
image of the `I, the blood; in the image of the astral body, the nervous system; and in
that which is the image of the etheric body, the glandular system. In these three systems,
which belong to the physical body but are reflections of the higher members, the Race-
spirits, the abnormal Spirits of Form seethe.
Here you see that the physical body of man is determined from within; so that these
various spiritual Beings set to work in those parts of the physical body which are the
projections, the shadows of the higher members. Now where for instance does Mercury
set to work? I say Mercury, so as to include all the abnormal Spirits of Form to be found
in Mercury. He intervenes by co-operating with others, especially in the glandular
system. He seethes in the glandular system, and there are expressed the forces which
originate through the preponderance of the Mercury forces, which work in the Ethiopian
race. Everything which gives the Ethiopian race its special characteristics comes from the
fact that the Mercury forces seethe and surge in the glandular system of this people. What
modifies the universal human form into the special form of the Ethiopian race with black
skin and wooly hair and so on, is the result of their activity. This modification of the
common human form comes therefor from these forces.
If you now pass over to Asia, you find there in a similar manner something we might
describe as Venus forces, as an abnormal development of the Spirits of Form. These
Venus forces operate by attacking principally that which we call the reflection of the
astral body, the nervous system. They operate however in a peculiar way, and indeed not
directly as Venus-spirits upon the nervous system. For the nervous system can be affected
in two indirect ways; one is through the respiration. When the breathing is specially
worked upon, these activities establish themselves in mans respiratory and nervous
system, and give it a definite form. This indirect way is selected by the abnormal Spirits
of Form whom we may call Venus Beings, in the Malay race, in the yellow tinted races of
Southern Asia, and towards the Malay Archipelago. Just as the glandular type of man is
spread over the land of Ethiopia, so over these parts of Malaya there is spread the type of
man in whom the abnormal Spirits of Form work upon the nervous system indirectly
through the respiratory system. The transformation there brought about, certainly
expresses itself more in that part of the nervous system which we sum up in the
expression `Solar Plexus, therefor not really in the higher nervous system but in that
mysterious part of the nervous system which runs into strands parallel with the spinal
marrow and spreads out in various directions. This part of the nervous system, therefor, is
worked upon indirectly through the respiratory system, this part which in our sense does
not yet belong to the higher mental activity. These Venus-forces which work in this race,
seethe deep down in the unconscious organism.
Now let us go up over the wide Mongolian plains. In those plains those Spirits of
Form are principally active who work indirectly through the blood. There in the blood is
brewed that which brings about a modification of humanity and produces the basic
character of the race. There is, however, something very peculiar in this Mongolian race.
There the Mars spirits enter the blood: But they work on it in a quite definite way, viz
they are able to work towards the six Elohim who are centred in the Sun. In the
Mongolian race, therefor, they work towards these six Elohim, and in doing so they make
a special attack in the other direction towards Jahve or Jehovah Who has separated His
field of action from that of the six Elohim.
But besides this co-operation of the Mars-spirits with the six Elohim and Jahve,
which results in the Mongolian race, there is still something quite special. Just as the six
Elohim from the Sun and Jahve from the Moon act upon the Mongolians, whilst the
Mars-spirits work towards them, so in another case we must imagine that from the
direction of the Moon the Jahve forces again meet and co-operate with the Mars-spirits,
and that thus a special modification arises. Here you have a special modification of
humanity, viz., that which belongs to the Semitic race, explained from its occult
background. In the Semites you have a modification of collective humanity, in which
Jahve or Jehovah shuts Himself off from the other Elohim and invests this people with a
special character, by co-operating with the Spirits of Mars, in order to bring about the
special modification of this people.
You will now see the special; element contained in the Semitic people and its
mission. In a certain deep occult sense the writer of the Bible was able to say, that Jahve
or Jehovah had made this people his own, and when to this you add the fact that there
was here a co-operation with the Mars-spirits who direct their attacks chiefly upon the
blood, then you will also comprehend why the continuous action of the blood from
generation to generation was of quite special importance to the Semitic Hebrew people,
and why the God Jahve describes Himself in the Semitic people as the God who comes
down in the blood from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and so on. That which always works in
the blood, that which must be fought out in the blood, - the co-operation with the Mars-
spirits, - that is one of the mysteries which lead us deeply into the wise guidance of the
entire humanity of the Earth.

We shall now go back still further and trace how the Spirits and Beings who have
their centre in Jupiter seethe and boil in man. These select for themselves the second
point of attack, so as to act indirectly upon the nervous system. The one point of attack is
through the senses of man; the other point of attack which works into the nervous system,
goes indirectly through the respiratory system into the solar plexus. The attack
proceeding from Jupiter goes indirectly through the sense impressions and streams out
from thence upon those portions of the nervous system which are centred in the brain and
spinal cord. Here flow in, in those races belonging to Jupiter humanity, those forces
which give the special stamp to the racial character. This is more or less the case in the
Aryans, in the peoples of Asia Minor and Europe, those whom we reckon as belonging to
the Caucasian race. In these arises that modification of universal humanity which comes
from the abnormal Spirits of Form whom we may describe as Jupiter Spirits, working
upon the senses. The Caucasians therefor are determined through the senses.
Now you will understand that a people like the Greeks, who were quite specially and
consciously under the influence of Jupiter or Zeus, who felt themselves to be a centre for
the Zeus influence, were pre-eminently determined by what flows into the nervous
system through the senses Of course the Greeks were also influenced by the Elohim who
stream from the Sun. But the case was such, that among the Greeks everything that acts
upon the senses was devoted to the influence of Jupiter or Zeus, and by that means this
people attained its greatness. They saw the spiritual in their perceptions of the physical,
and hence became the basic people for all sculpture, for all external form-giving.
All the people of Asia Minor and especially the European peoples, are on the whole
modifications of this Jupiter influence, and you may now divine that, as man has many
senses, many modifications can come about One task, which especially devolves upon
the Caucasian race is, that it is to tread the path to the spiritual through the senses, for it is
built especially upon the senses.
Herein lies something that leads one into the deeper starting-points of occultism and
it will show you that in those peoples whose sign, so to speak, lies in the Venus-character,
the principal starting-point, even in occult training, must be made where the breathing is
the most important thing. On the other hand in the peoples living more to the West, the
starting-point of their deepening and spiritualising must be taken from what is in the
sense world. This is possessed by peoples who occupy countries more towards the West,
in their stages of higher cognition, in imagination, inspiration and intuition, in accordance
with the way in which the Jupiter-spirit originally modified the character.
Hence there were always these two centres in the evolution of humanity, the one
ruled by the Spirits of Venus, and the other ruled more by the Spirits of Jupiter. The
Spirits of Jupiter were especially observed in those Mysteries in which the three
Individualities met together, the three spiritual Beings, Buddha, Zarathustra or Zarathas
in his later incarnation, and that great leader of humanity whom we described by the
name Skythianos. That is the Council which, under the guidance of One still greater, set
itself the task of investigating into the mysterious forces which must be developed for the
evolution of Humanity, whose starting-point was taken from that part which is originally
connected with the Jupiter forces and which was preordained in the map of the Earth
already mentioned.
Finally, what we may describe as the abnormal Spirits of Form who have their centre
in Saturn, act upon the glandular system, but in a round-about way through all the other
systems. Therefor in all that we must describe as the Saturn-race, in everything to which
we must attribute the Saturn-character, we must look for something which draws together
and embraces that which leads again to the evening twilight of humanity, whose
development brings humanity in a certain way to a real conclusion, to a dying away. The
expression of this action on the glandular system is seen in the American-Indian race.
From that action comes its mortality, its disappearance. The Saturn influence acts through
all the other systems finally upon the glandular system. It separates out the hardest parts
of man, and we may therefor say that this dying-out consists in a sort of ossification, and
this may also clearly be seen in the outer form. (The Mission of the Foulk-Souls, 1989,
Garber Communications Inc., pp.71-78)

23 Aug. 1910
An exact repetition of the past never takes place. Each evolutionary impulse happens
once only, and happens for its own sake and not for the sake of repeating something.
Thus to produce what we know today as human, earthly consciousness all the processes
which have actually brought this earth about were needed for that purpose man had to
be there as man. It was impossible for such a form of consciousness to develop at an
earlier stage of evolution. To us an object is something outside us; earlier, all the Beings
of whom we can speak had a consciousness which made no distinction between outer and
inner, so it would have been nonsense for any of them to say: `Something is standing
before me. They could only say: `We live and weave in the cosmos; we create, and in
creating are aware of this our creation; objects do not stand before us, do not appear to be
before us. (Genesis, 1959, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.95)
 24 Aug. 1910
During the night our astral body has been united, through its effluence, with the
entire cosmos. It has been united with all the planetary Beings associated with our earth.
It has radiated its effluence to Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and so on, and in these planetary
Beings are the strengthening forces which give the astral body what it needs to enable us
on its return to continue our waking life in the physical and etheric bodies. During the
night our astral bodies are diffused and enlarged to a cosmic existence. The astral body
winds its way in spiral form out of the physical body. It moves as a cloud in spiral form.
What we see is only the beginning of the currents which emanate from the astral body.
They go out into cosmic space and gather forces, they drink in the forces of the planets.
And if anyone tells you that the astral body is what can be seen by a clairvoyant hovering
like a cloud in the vicinity of the physical body, it is not true. During the night the astral
body is poured out over the whole of tour solar system. During sleep it is united with the
planetary Beings. That is the very reason why we call it the astral body. (Genesis, 1959,
Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.104-105)

3 Sept. 1910
If in the light of what is said in the book `Occult Science we picture the Earth after
its separation from the Sun, and then the departure of the Moon-forces from the Earth
after which the Earth opened itself to the Sun, we find Venus and Mercury between Earth
and Sun. Dividing the whole space between Sun and Earth into three, we can say: the
Earth separated from the Sun and sent forth the Moon towards the Sun. Then Venus and
Mercury separated off from the Sun and came towards the Earth. Venus and Mercury,
therefore, move from the Sun towards the Earth; the Moon goes from the Earth towards
the Sun. (The Gospel of St. Matthew, 1965, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.63)

4 Sept. 1910
Through the blood of the generations as the outer instrument of the Jahve-revelation,
there must be expressed the same order as that made manifest in the courses of the stars.
To put it differently: in the sequence of the generations, in the blood-kinship of
Abrahams descendants, there must be a mirror-image, a reflection, of the stellar script in
the heavens. Hence the promise made to Abraham: The ordering of thy descendants shall
be that of the stars of heaven! (Genesis, XXIII,17) Such is the correct version of the
sentence that is usually rendered to mean that the descendants would be as numerous as
the stars in heaven This implies number only and is not the true meaning. The true
meaning is that the line of the descendants was to be in accordance with an order
perceptible in the groupings of the stars, which in turn are an expression of the speech of
the Gods. Looking upwards, men beheld an order such as is manifest in the Zodiac. The
positions and relationships of the planets in the Zodiac formed constellations from which
was drawn the language used to proclaim the deeds of the Gods in the Universe. The firm
bond demonstrated in the Zodiac and in the relations of the planets to the twelve
constellations was to come to expression in the blood-kinship of the descendants of
Abraham.
The twelve sons of Jacob, also the twelve tribes of the Hebrew people, are therefor
images of the twelve constellations of the Zodiac. Just as the language of the Gods is
expressed in these twelve constellations, so does Jahve manifest himself in the blood
flowing through the generations of the Hebrew people, divided into the twelve tribes
descending from the twelve sons of Jacob. Conditions established in the Zodiac are
designated by the name of the planet concerned Venus, Mercury, Sun, as the case may
be. And we have heard how certain parallelisms can be drawn between particular periods
in the historical life of the Hebrew people and the paths of the planets through the Zodiac.
Thus there is a parallelism between the age of David, the royal minstrel, and Hermes or
Mercury; similarly, between the period of the Babylonian captivity when we see the
form taken by the Jahve-revelation six centuries before our era as the result of a new
impulse and the planet Venus.
It was to be indicated to Abraham that there is a parallelism between the place of a
personality such as David in the line of the generations, and the position of Mercury in
the Zodiac. The tribe of Judah corresponds to the constellation of Leo and the advent of
David into that tribe would correspond, in the history of the Hebrew people, to the
cosmic phenomenon of the occultation of Leo by Mercury (Mercury in Leo). Such
occultations are indicated in many places: in the actual succession, in the conferments of
kingly or priestly offices, in the battles or victories of one tribe or another, indeed in the
whole history of the Hebrews. All this was implicit in the momentous words: Thy
descendants shall be ordered in accordance with the harmony of the stars in heaven. We
must never accept the trivial interpretations so often placed upon records founded on
occultism but realise their immense profundity. (The Gospel of St. Matthew, 1965,
Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.77-79)

Again, the best approach to this secret was to turn to movements and constellations
in the Cosmos, to the manifestations of the stars themselves. As we have heard, 6 times 7
stages lead to the secrets of mans inner nature; the secrets of cosmic space are reached
after 12 times 7 = 84 stages. A man who has passed 12 times 7 stages arrives at the point
were the labyrinth of the spiritual forces of the Cosmos is no longer bewildering; he
attains the state of calm in which he can find his bearings in this labyrinth and see
through its intricacies. In a certain sense that too was a teaching given by the Essenes.
When a man who possesses the clairvoyant faculties here described goes to sleep,
his being flows out into conditions expressed in the secret of the number 12 times 7. But
at the last of these stages he is already in the supersensible; for when he has completed
the 11 times 7 stages he has reached the boundary of the conditions to which the
numerical secrets apply. Just as the 7 times 7 stages have already led into the Spiritual, so
too have the 12 times 7. To reach the Spiritual along this path a man must have passed
through 11 times 7 stages in the astral body and Ego. This is indicated by the stellar script
itself, 7 being the number of the planets and 12 that of the constellations of the Zodiac
which the soul must traverse in cosmic space. As the seven planets group themselves
within the twelve zodiacal constellations and pass in front of them, when a man is
ascending in soul into the Cosmos he must pass through 7 times twelve, or rather 7 times
11 stages to reach the Spiritual.
You can, if you like, picture the twelve constellations of the Zodiac as the spiritual
periphery, with man himself in the centre. If he is to reach the Spiritual he cannot begin
by spreading as it were from the centre, but he must expand in spirals, gyrating into 7
spirals and passing all the twelve constellations in each complete circuit therefore 7
times 12 stages. Man expands in spirals gradually into the Cosmos all this is of course
only a figurative description and if, circling in this way, he were to have passed through
the twelve constellations for the seventh time, he would have reached the Divine-
Spiritual. Then, instead of looking into the Cosmos from the centre, he looks inwards
from the spiritual periphery, from the twelve stations, and from these vantage-points he
can behold the external world and all that is in it. There must be twelve such vantage-
points; one alone does not suffice. Thus a man who aspired to reach the Divine-Spiritual
must sublimate astral body and Ego through 11 times 7 stages; when twelve times 7
stages had been scaled, he was within the Spiritual.(The Gospel of St. Matthew, 1965,
Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.98-99)

10 Sept. 1910
In ancient terminology, human beings en masse were referred to as a `thousand and
when it was desired to particularise, a specific number was added. For example, men of
the fourth epoch of civilization were the `fourth thousand and those whose mode of life
was already that of the fifth epoch were the `fifth thousand. These were simply termini
technici. Hence the disciples could say: during the waking state we are aware of what
Christs power transmits to us from the Sun-forces radiating from the seven day-
constellations; we receive the nourishment that is destined for men of the fourth epoch,
the `fourth thousand. And in our clairvoyant state during sleep we are made aware,
through the forces radiating from the five night constellations, of what applies to the
immediate future, to the `fifth thousand. Food that is destined for men of the fourth
epoch, that is to say for the `four thousand, comes down from Heaven through the seven
day constellations, the seven `heavenly loaves; and men of the fifth epoch the `five
thousand are fed through the five night-constellations, the five `heavenly loaves. The
point of division between the day-constellations and the night-constellations is indicated
by specific mention of the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes.
A secret is touched upon here. Indication of something deeply significant, namely
the magical intercourse of Christ with His disciples. Christ makes it clear to them that He
is not speaking of the old leaven of the Pharisees but is bringing down heavenly food to
them from the Sun-forces of the Cosmos. On one occasion He has at His disposal only
the seven loaves of the seven day-constellations, and on another the five loaves of the
five night-constellations. And between the day-constellations and the night-constellations
stands the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes, indicating the division. Indeed in one place,
for the sake of even greater clarity, mention is made of two fishes. (The Gospel of St.
Matthew, 1965, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.176-177)

11 Sept. 1910
[Symbols for the constellation of Cancer signify a jump or gap in material
evolution; recent symbol a spiral with a gap from inturn to outturn; more ancient
symbol an ass with her foal] (The Gospel of St. Matthew, 1965, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pp.199-200, precis by RSWB)

10 Nov. 1910
When we speak of `soul in the sense of spiritual science, the idea of inwardness, of
inner experience, is always bound up with this concept. And when we talk of `spirit with
reference to the world around us, we are clear that in everything we can see or with which
we can be confronted, there is a manifestation of spirit. Man would find himself in a
strange self-contradiction were he not to take for granted the presence of spirit in all the
phenomena of existence around him. Without falling into disastrous self-contradiction,
nobody can have an intelligent grasp of the external world unless he admits that what he
eventually finds in his own spirit concerning the external world the concepts and ideas
he acquires in order to understand outer phenomena has something to do with the things
themselves. If when a man believes he has learnt anything from the concepts he has
formed about the things of the outer world, he will not admit that there lives in these
concepts something that is contained in the things themselves, he can never advance to
knowledge if he is to be true to himself and understand the nature of his own acts of
cognition. He alone can speak of knowledge in the real sense who says to himself: `What
I can ultimately discover and retain, what I can bring to realisation in my spirit in acts of
knowledge, must be contained, primarily, in the things themselves. And in so far as I take
something into my spirit from the things of the world, no matter to which kingdom they
belong, then in all kingdoms I must pre-suppose the existence of spirit.
 Therefore in speaking of `spirit we realise that it reveals itself in all worlds, and we
try to understand how it pours into, becomes manifest in these worlds. We speak
differently of `soul. We speak of `soul when the spiritual that which we assimilate
with our intellect, our reason, and through which we cognise things when a being
experiences the spirit inwardly. We ascribe soul to a being which not only takes in but
inwardly experiences spirit, creates out of the spirit. Thus we speak of the soul only when
spirit is active in a being confronting us. In this sense we find spirit inwardly creative in
man and animal. (130, pp.1-3)

The moment death occurs the physical body becomes a combination of purely
chemical and physical forces and processes. That the human body during life is extricated
from the sway of these chemical and physical processes which take possession of it
immediately death occurs, is due to the etheric or life-body. During life the etheric body
wrenches the chemical and physical substances and forces from their purely physical
operations and surrenders them again to these physical activities only at the moment of
death.
It is very easy to argue against this, but these arguments fall to the ground when the
matter is more deeply understood. Quite apart from the fact that the etheric body is a
reality to the spiritual investigator, logical thinking will itself disclose that a living
organism is inconceivable without the existence of an etheric or life-body. Therefore in
spiritual science we ascribe an etheric body also to the plants. We say: Whereas man has
still higher supersensible members the astral body and the `I the plant has only
physical body and etheric body; and a mineral, as we see it in the outer world, consists of
physical body only.
Of the animal we say that an astral body is membered in the physical body and
etheric body associating with these terms for the time being, nothing beyond what has
just been said.
In the astral body, the spirit which, in the crystal, for example, produces the
structure, becomes inward, inwardly and organically formative. In an animal the sense-
organs, the functions of the animal soul, arise out of the inner organisation itself. Whereas
in the mineral the spirit expends itself in elaborating the form, it remains inwardly alive
in the animal. And we speak of this inner, living activity, this existence of the spirit within
the animal-organisation itself, as an activity of the astral body. But of man we say that in
him the astral body is also permeated by an `I, an ego, and we shall presently see what
significance this has for human life.
What do we really mean when we speak of `spirit? We ascribe to spirit that reality
which we ourselves experience, as it were, in our intelligence. Through our intelligence
we execute one thing or another; we bring the forces of different beings into an ensemble.
This creative intelligence of ours has a particular characteristic. In that it enters into us in
temporal existence, and is a creative force, we form a concept of intelligence, of reason,
of creative intelligence, and then we look at the universe around us. We should have to
be very shortsighted before we could possibly ascribe intelligence, all that we call `spirit,
to ourselves alone. The incapacity to penetrate the riddles of existence is due,
fundamentally, to the fact that man is nevertheless prone to ascribe intelligence to himself
alone and can never answer the question: How comes it that I am able to apply
intelligence to existence? But when we look around us and see that the things of space
and time manifest in such a way that our intelligence can apprehend the existence of law,
then we say: What lives within us as intelligence is also outspread in space and time, is
actively at work in space and time. When we look at the lifeless realm of nature, we say
that there the spirit is, as it were, frozen into matter, that our intelligence can apprehend,
can lay hold of what comes to expression in the forms, in the law-determined workings of
matter and thereby we have in our intelligence a kind of reflection of the spirit weaving
and working through the world. If we thus contemplate the spirit in the great universe,
and then compare the way in which it is frozen, as it were, in the lifeless realm of
existence with the way it confronts us in the animal, we say to ourselves: If we look at
any particular animal, we see before us a self-enclosed existence, creative in the same
way as the spirit outspread in space and time is creative. And a feeling will dawn in us of
why those who knew what they were doing, called this spirit working actively in the
animal, the `astral body. They turned their eyes to the great universe through which the
stars move in their courses and which men apprehend through their intelligence, and they
said: `The spirit lives in the ordering of the universe and in a single animal organism we
see a certain conclusion, we see the spirit bounded by the animals skin. That which is
active in the animal and is identical with what is outspread in space and time, they
designated as the `astral body in the animal organism. (The Human Soul and the Animal
Soul, unpubl. typescript, pp.5-8)

17 Nov. 1910
In the animal form and organisation the spirit works as it were directly. In man it
does not work directly; an intermediate member thrusts itself in which can be very easily
observed in life. As man confronts us when we observe him, this intermediate member
which brings about a looser connection between the spirit and bodily nature is expressed
in what we call the self-conscious ego.
Here we find above all we drew attention to this last time that man is dependent
on the life of his environment, of the world outside, in relation to his language, his way of
thinking and also to the extent he has developed a consciousness of self. And we see
human activities arise in such a way that they may not be looked foi in the line of
heredity any more than, let us say, the original warmth necessary for hatching a hens egg
may be sought within the egg; it has to come from without. So we find that the things of
which man has need for his development have to be acquired through something within
him; whereas in the case of the animal it is imprinted into him by the spirit. (The Human
Spirit and the Animal Spirit, unpubl. typescript, pp.5-6)

If some day people will begin to give a little thought to what is here in question,
namely, the importance for human life that man should not be organised from the outset
to receive a definite imprint, of balance, of individual movement and of the sense of life,
but must himself struggle to attain them when they can discover how true it is that in
spatial directions we have to do with realities, whether a spine is in a horizontal or
vertical relation to space, or whether the blood circulates in this or that direction then
they will see how essential is the way in which such organisations are inserted into the
whole cosmic connection. We should be obliged to see in reality, for example, in the
spatial direction of a certain line, something of essential importance. (The Human Spirit
and the Animal Spirit, unpubl. typescript, pg.30)
6 Dec. 1910
 [The two basic types of initiation are when the candidate penetrates into his own
being or expands into the cosmos. Those who expand into the cosmos, but cannot
achieve the highest, Sun, initiation are directed to the forces of cosmic secrets
indicated symbolically by the signs of the Zodiac.
St. John the Baptist was initiated by grace into the Aquarius initiation. But he
recognised that someone higher would follow who was initiated into the Pisces
forces. Into this one the Christ would enter. This is deeply connected with the birth
of the `I in humanity.
Physical reality is really only the outcome of intersecting cosmic forces it has
no independent reality of its own. To understand the true reality one must look past
the result to what produces the result.
If the Sun passes from Aries to Virgo, then Libra to Pisces must be the night
constellations.] (Background to the Gospel of St. Mark, 1968, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pp.71-78; precis by RSWB)
8 Dec. 1910
For that part of the earth where it is summer, there is something similar to what goes
on in the human being in the condition of sleep. The earth gives itself to everything that
comes down from the sun and forms itself as it should under the influence of the sun
activity. In that part of the earth where it is winter, it closes itself off from the influence of
the sun, lives within itself. There it is the same as when the human being has drawn
together into the small, inner world, living in himself, while for the part of the earth
where it is summer it is the same as when the human being is surrendered to the whole
outer world.
There is a law in the spiritual world: if we direct our attention to spiritual entities far
removed from one another such as, for example, the human being here on one side and
the earth organism on the other the states of consciousness must be pictured as reversed
in a certain sense. With the human being, stepping out into the great world is the sleep
condition. For the earth, the summer (which one would be inclined to consider a waking
condition) is something that can only be compared with the human being falling asleep.
The human being steps out into the great world when he falls asleep; in summer the earth
with all its forces enters the realm of sun activity, only we must be able to think of the
earth and the sun as spirit-filled organisms. (The Spirit in the Realm of Plants, 1978,
Mercury Press, pg.14)

12 Dec. 1910
Why could John the Baptist be the bearer of the angel? He could be this, because he
had had a quite special initiation, The various initiations are specialised. These initiations
are not something general; they are specialised. With those individualities who have a
quite special task, an initiation had to occur according to a quite special kind of secret.
Now for everything which happens at all in the spiritual world, it is so provided that there
is revealed in the heavens, in the starry script what spiritual facts there are. One can
receive the sun-initiation, that means, enter the secrets of the spiritual world, which is the
world of Ahura Mazdao, for which the sun is the external expression. But one can be
initiated into the sun secrets in a twelve-fold way, and each initiation is in a certain
connection a Sun-Initiation, but yet is differently constituted with reference to the other
eleven. According as man has this or the other task for the whole of mankind, he receives
a sun-initiation of which one can say: This is a sun-initiation but such that one must
express by saying: The forces flow in so that the sun stands in the sign of Cancer. That is
different from the initiation one receives which one must express by saying: The forces
flow in as if the sun stands in the sign of the Balance or Scales. They are the expressions
for different specialised initiations. And those individualities who have such a high task, a
high mission, as characterised here for John the Baptist, they must be initiated in a quite
special manner in a special initiation, because only from this can they get the strong force
necessary to bring about this mission in the world, also, under conditions in a quite one-
sided way. And so, John the Baptist, in order that he could become the bearer of the
Angelos, had that sun-initiation, which one can call the initiation from the sign of the
Waterman. As the sun stands in the sign of the Waterman, that is a symbol for that kind of
initiation which John the Baptist received, in order to become the bearer of the angel,
while he received the force of the sun, as it flows down when it stands in the sign of the
Waterman, when it stands in such a relation to the other stars, that one designates it with
the expression: It stands in the sign of the Waterman. That was the symbol that John had
the Waterman-initiation. The sign indeed received this name Waterman, because he who
had the Waterman-initiation received especially the power as a spiritual initiate, of
effecting in human beings what John effected as the Waterman, as the Baptist: namely, to
bring human beings to this, that with the immersion in water, they got their etheric bodies
so free, that they came to such a self-knowledge, which made possible what was the most
important thing at the time. Human beings were immersed, and the etheric body became
free for a moment. Through the baptism in the Jordan, man could feel the quite especial
importance of the world-historic epoch. Therefore John was initiated just in the Baptism
Initiation. And because one must express that symbolically, with the flowing-down of the
sunrays out of the sign in which the sun stands, so one called this sign also the
Waterman. Thus the name of the human power is carried over.
Today a whole number of learned ignoramuses make the attempt to interpret
spiritual events by bringing down the heaven, as it were, to the earth. They say: Now, that
signifies the prominence of the sun. All these learned people, who really do not know
much, interpret human events from out of the heavens. The reverse was the case. What
lives in man spiritually was carried over to the heavens, while one made use of the
heavens as a means of expression. So that John the Baptist could say: I am he who
baptises you with water. And that was the same as if he had said: I am endowed with the
initiation of the Waterman. I baptise you with water, I am endowed with the initiation of
the Waterman. That was the word which John would have been able to say to his intimate
disciples. And just as the sun progresses in opposition to its sense-path: if you proceed in
opposition to Waterman, there arises Virgin; then it passes to Balance. If we have
initiation in mind, we must consider the opposite path, on the other side: from Waterman
to Fishes. Thus John could say: Something will come that no longer has to work as
corresponds to the sun from out of the Waterman, but as corresponds to the working of
the sun from out of the Fishes. One will come who will bring a higher baptism. When the
spiritual sun mounts higher, then there arises from the Waterman-baptism, the baptism
from spiritual water. The sun ascends in spirit from Waterman to the Fishes: hence the
well-known fish-symbol for the bearer of the Christ, which is an ancient symbol. For just
as in John through quite special spiritual influences a Waterman initiation took place, so
the initiation, of which I have spoken here and there to you, which arose through all
mysteries in a secret way which transpired around Jesus, a Fish-initiation a
progression of the sun by one constellation. That was what placed Jesus of Nazareth in
his age, that he was first subject to a Fish-initiation.
This is, one might say, sufficiently indicated to us in the gospel of Mark. Yet such
things can only be indicated in image form. Christ Jesus draws together all those who are
seeking fish. Therefore all his first apostles are fishermen. And we can find obvious what
I have said the progress to the Fishes, when we are told: I have baptised you with
water. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit. And as he drew to the sea of Galilee
that means, when the sun was so far advanced, that one could see its counterpart from the
Fishes those are inspired who were called Simon, and Simon's brother, James, and
James' brother, fishers they are inspired in the corresponding way. How can we
understand all that? We cannot understand it, unless we enter a little more closely into the
means of expression of that time.
Our modern means of expression is pedantic. If a man stands before us, we say:
there is a man. If a second stands before us, we say again: there is a man. A third
another one, etc. But we have merely Maya before us. If a being has two legs, and a
human countenance, then in our pedantic way of expression we have but the one word:
there is a man. But what is a man for occultism? Nothing but Maya! Really, as he stands
there before us, man is nothing. He is about as much as the rainbow which stands in
the sky. How long is this anything? Only so long as the necessary conditions are given
between rain and sunshine. If the sun and rain alter their relationship, it is gone. It is just
the same with man. He is only a streaming together of forces of the macrocosm. We must
seek the forces in heaven, here or there in the macrocosm. There, where one assumes
perhaps a man somewhere on the earth, there is nothing for the occultist. But forces are
streaming from above down, from below up, and they intersect. And as the peculiar
constellation of rain and sunshine results in the rainbow, so forces streaming out of the
macrocosm from above and below result in a phenomenon, and this appears as man. That
is the man. Man is nothing as he stands before us. In truth, he is a schema, a Maya, an
illusion. It is the cosmic forces which are real, which intersect there where our eyes think
they see a man. Just try and take this expression earnestly: Man is nothing as he stands
before us. He is but the shadow of many forces. The being, however, who reveals itself in
man, can quite well be elsewhere, than at that point where this man is walking on two
legs. There are three men: The one is an ancient Persian, who works at the plough in the
old Persian agriculture. He looks like a man in truth he is one of the souls, who are
nourishing their forces out of this or that world from below or above. The second is
perhaps an old Persian official. He is built through forces from another world which
intersect in him. If we will know him, we must mount to these forces. All of you, as you
are sitting here, are in your reality quite somewhere else. Only the forces from your own
real being ray here.... Then stood a third Persian there, of whom one had to say: He is
really utter deception he is utterly a schema, which stands there. What was there in
reality? One must go up to the sun, there are the forces which nourished this model.
There above, among the secrets of the sun, one finds that which one can call the Gold
Star Zarathustra; that sends the rays down, and here below stands a model, which
one calls Zarathustra. In truth, his being is not there at all. That is the third.
Now it is important that in ancient times one was aware of what was meant by such
designations. One did not give names as one does today, but one named people according
to what lived in them, not according to their external illusory appearance. We must be
quite clear of this. So that one should have been able to say: An ancient human being at
the time of Christ should have well understood when one pointed to John the Baptist, and
said: Here is the angel of God. One would only have heeded that which had taken up the
place. One spoke of the chief matter, not of the subsidiary ones. Now let us assume the
same mode of expression was applied to Christ Jesus Himself. How must one have
spoken of Christ Jesus if one understood such things? No man at that time would even
have dreamt of naming that which then wandered over the earth, this wandering body in
flesh, the Christ Jesus; but that was the sign, that what streamed down spiritually from
out of the sun, was caught up in this point in a quite special manner. If this body, which
was the body of Jesus, went from one place to another, that was the rendering visible of
the sun-force which went from one place to another. This sun-force could also go alone.
At times the expression was so used, that Christ Jesus was in his home in the flesh, but
what was in him moved further, even without his body. Especially in the John Gospel the
expression is so used, that under conditions, when this being moved purely spiritually, the
writer of the gospel speaks quite exactly as if this sun-force dwelt in a fleshly body.
Hence it is so important that the deeds of Christ Jesus are always brought into connection
with the physical sun, which is the external expression for the spiritual world, which has
been collected, been caught up, at that point where the fleshly body wanders. If thus the
Christ Jesus heals, for instance, then it is the sun-force which heals there. This must
stand, however, at the right place in the heavens. When evening was come, as the sun
went down, they brought to him all who were sick, diseased, etc. It is important that one
indicates that this healing power can flow down when the external sun has set, when the
sun only still works spiritually. And as He needs a definite force in order to work, he had
to take this out of the spiritual sun, not out of the physical visible sun. And early in the
morning, while it was still dark, he arose and went out. The path of the sun, and the sun-
force is expressly indicated to us: that this sun-force works, and that fundamentally Jesus
is only the external sign: that this path of the sun-force could also be visible to the weak
external eyes. And everywhere in the Mark Gospel where we have mention of the Christ,
the sun-force is meant, which for that epoch of our earthly evolution was quite especially
active on that part of the earth called Palestine. And one could see the sun-force. At this
or that time, Christ went from this place to that place One could just as well say: At this
time, the spiritual force of the sun, as if gathered into a focus, went from this to that
place, And the body of Jesus was the external sign which made visible to the eyes how
the sun-force moved. The paths of Jesus in Palestine were the paths of the sun-force come
down to earth. And if you draw the steps of Jesus as on a special map, then you have a
cosmic event; the working of the sun-force out of the macrocosm in the land of Palestine.
It is a question of this macrocosmic event. It is especially the writer of the Mark Gospel
who points this to us; the writer of the Mark Gospel, who well knew that a body, which
was the vehicle of such a principle as the Christ-Principle, must be subdued in a quite
special way by his principle. It was the pointing to that world which Zarathustra had so
powerfully announced behind the world of sense, the pointing to that world as it works
into the human world. And so now there was indicated through Christ Jesus how the
forces work on into the earth. Therefore a kind of repetition of the Zarathustra-events
must occur in that body which, as we have seen, even if it was the body of the Nathan
Jesus, was in a certain way influenced by the Zarathustra Individuality. (The Ego,
Lecture 3, elib.com/Lectures)

18 Dec. 1910
[There are twelve different ways of initiation into the Sun mysteries, symbolised
by the Sun standing in each of the Zodiacal constellations.
The symbol of the initiation of the seven holy Rishis is the Sun in Taurus; the
spectacle in the firmament reveals their mystery. This is also expressed in that the
seven stars of the Pleiades stand in Taurus, and this was the region where the whole
solar system entered this universe.
Day or summer constellations are Aries to Libra; night or winter ones are
Scorpio to Aquarius and Pisces.]
Since the last two lie on the night side, the Suns rays coming from them must not
only traverse physical space but they must send the spiritual light of the Sun, which
passes through the Earth, through spiritual space.
[The facts of spiritual life on earth have determined the Zodiac names, by
transferal to the heavens.]
[As the physical Sun sets the spiritual Sun begins to rise.] Physically, the Suns
course is from Virgo to Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries; spiritually its course is from
Virgo to Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius to Pisces. (Background to
the Gospel of St. Mark, 1968, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.206-211, precis by RSWB)

28 Dec. 1910
You know from the book Occult Science that during the Lemurian epoch of earth-
evolution only very few human beings had outlasted, on the earth itself, the happenings
of this evolution, that only a few remained on the earth during the Lemurian epoch; that
before the actual danger of the mummification of everything human began, the majority
of souls withdrew from the earth to other planets, continuing their life on Mars, Saturn,
Venus, Jupiter, and so forth. Then, from the end of the Lemurian epoch and during the
Atlantean epoch, these souls gradually came down to earth in order to incarnate in earthly
bodies under the changed earthly conditions, and to appear in ever new incarnations.
Thus there are souls who came down comparatively early from the planetary worlds and
others who came down late; indeed not until the later periods of Atlantean evolution. The
souls who came down early have therefore more incarnations behind them in earth-
evolution than those who came down later; hence we can call these latter, in contrast to
the former, younger souls souls who have taken less into themselves.
The individuality hidden behind the name Gilgamish was an old soul. and a younger
soul was incarnated in Eabani, at the starting-point of the Babylonian civilisation. Indeed,
in connection with human souls being younger or older in this sense, something very
remarkable discloses itself something that might almost be said to cause astonishment
even to the occultist. If someone has reached the point to-day of giving a little credence
to the truths of Spiritual Science, but otherwise still clings to the prejudices and criteria of
the external world, it will seem plausible to him that modern philosophers or scholars, for
example, should be accounted among the older souls. But strangely enough, occult
research finds just the opposite; and for the occultist himself it is surprising to find that in
Kant, for example, there lived a young soul. Yes, the facts show that it is so... it cannot be
gainsaid. It can also be intimated here that younger souls the majority at any rate
incarnate in the couloured races, so that it is the coloured races, especially the negro race,
which mainly bring younger souls to incarnation. The characteristic quality of that kind
of thinking which comes to expression in erudition, in the materialistic science of to-day,
calls for younger souls. And it can be shown that in the case of many a personality where
one would not in the least expect it, the preceding incarnation was in an uncivilised race.
That again is what the facts tell us! It must be kept strictly in mind, for it is so. Naturally
this does not in the least detract from the significance or the value of the opinions we
have formed of the world around us; nevertheless it must be grasped in order fully to
understand the essentials here. In this sense, in Eabani we have to do with a young soul
and in Gilgamish with an old soul in ancient Babylonia. The whole nature of an old soul
will enable it early in life to grasp not only the essential element, the essential factor, in
the existing culture, but also that which strikes into it as a new impulse, opening up a
wide vista into the future. (Occult History, 1982, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.36-37)
 30 Dec. 1910
In ancient Babylon there was a saying: Look at a man who goes about not as a
greybeard and not as a child, who moves about as a healthy, not as a sick being, who
neither runs too swiftly nor walks too slowly and you will behold the measure of the
suns course. It is a momentous saying and one that can point us deeply into the souls of
the ancient Babylonians. For they pictured that if a man with a good healthy gait, a man
who maintains a pace in his walking consonant with healthiness of life, were to walk
round the earth neither too quickly or too slowly, he would need 365&1/4 days to
complete the circuit and that is approximately correct, assuming he walks day and night
without pause. And so they said: That is the time in which a healthy human being could
complete the circuit of the earth, and it is also the length of time which the sun takes to
move round the earth (for they believed in the apparent movement of the sun around the
earth). If therefore you walk as a healthy human being, neither too quickly nor too
slowly around the earth, you are keeping tempo with the suns course. And this means:
O Man, it lies in your very health that you keep the pace of the course of the sun around
the earth.
This is certainly something that can inspire us to respect for the majestic vision of
the cosmos possessed by the Babylonian people. For on this basis they divided up the
journey of a man round the earth, using certain fractional measures and then arriving at a
result approximately equal to the distance covered by a man who walks for two hours:
this comes to about a mile (a German mile = about five English miles). They calculated
this on the basis of a normal, healthy pace and adopted it as a kind of norm for measuring
the ground on a larger scale. And in fact this measure persisted until fairly recently
when everything in human evolution became abstract in the German mile, which can be
covered in about two hours. And so there lasted on into the 19th century something that
stems from the mission of the ancient Babylonians, who brought it down from the
cosmos, calculating it in accordance with the course of the sun.
Not until our own time were these measures which originated from mans nature
itself reduced inevitably to abstract measures taken from something dead. For it is
obvious that measure to-day is abstract to-day in comparison with the concrete measures
directly connected with man and with the phenomena of the heavens measures which
are in truth all to be traced back to the mission of the Babylonian people. In the case of
other measures too, such as the foot, derived from a human limb, or the ell, derived
from the human hand and arm, we could find underlying them something that had been
discovered as law prevailing in man, the microcosm. In point of fact the ancient
Babylonian way of thinking still underlay our system of measure until not so very long
ago. The twelve zodiacal constellations and the five planets gave the Babylonians 5 times
12 = 60 this they took as a basic number. They counted up to 60 and then began again.
Whenever they were counting things of everyday life they took the number 12 as the
basis, because, since it derives from the laws of the cosmos, it is related in a far more
concrete way to all external conditions. The number 12 is capable of much division.
Twelve the dozen is nothing else than a gift from the mission of the Babylonians. We
ourselves base everything on 10 a number which causes great difficulty when it has to
be divided into parts, whereas the dozen, both in relation to 60 and in its various
possibilities of division, is eminently suited to be a basis of a metrical and numerical
system. (Occult History, 1982, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.72-73)

31 Dec. 1910
In the ancient Persians, especially, we can see very exactly how they had an
awareness that the Archangels the Spirits of paramount importance in that epoch were
working into the human organism, the human organism in its totality. We must not, to be
sure, take an average Persian when considering the downflowing of force from the
Hierarchies. The forces streamed down, too, upon the average Persian, but only those
who were the immediate pupils of the inspirer of the ancient Persian culture, of
Zarathustra himself, were capable of knowing how this happened, of seeing through to
the reality. And they did indeed possess this knowledge. For you will remember from
many descriptions I have given of the teachings of Zarathustra, or from exoteric
traditions, that according to the view of the ancient Persians the primal Divinity, Zervana
Akarana, reveals himself through the two opposing powers, Ormuzd and Ahriman. The
ancient Persians were clearly aware that whatever comes to manifestation in the human
being derives from the macrocosm, and that the phenomena of the macrocosm
especially, therefore, the movements and positions of the stars are mysteriously
connected with the microcosm, with man. Hence the pupils of Zarathustra saw in the
Zodiac the external expression, the image, of Zervana Akarana, of the primal reality of
Being living and weaving through eternity. Even the very word Zodiac is reminiscent of
the word Zervana Akarana. The pupils of Zarathustra saw twelve powers proceeding from
the twelve directions of the Zodiac, six directed toward the light side of the Zodiac
traversed by the sun by day; the other six towards the dark side turned, as they said,
towards Ahriman. Thus the Persian conceived of the macrocosmic forces coming from
the twelve directions of the universe and penetrating into, working into humanity, so that
they are immediately present in man. Consequently, what unfolds through the working of
the twelve forces must reveal itself also in its macrocosmic form, in human intelligence;
that is to say, it must come to expression in the macrocosm, too, through the twelve
Amshaspands (Archangels), and indeed as a final manifestation, so to say, of these twelve
spiritual, macrocosmic Beings who had already worked in former ages, preparing that
which merely reached a last stage of development during the epoch of Persian
civilisation.
It should not be beyond the scope of modern physiology to know where the
microcosmic counterparts of the twelve Amshaspands are to be found. They are the
twelve main nerves proceeding from the head; these are nothing else than material
densifications of what arose in the human being through the instreaming of the twelve
macrocosmic powers. The ancient Persians pictured the twelve Archangel-Beings
working from the twelve directions of the Zodiac, working into the human head in twelve
rays, in order gradually to produce what is now our intelligence. Naturally they did not
work into man for the first time in the ancient Persian epoch, but finally they worked in
such a way that we can speak of twelve cosmic radiations, twelve Archangel-radiations,
which then densified in the human head into twelve main cerebral nerves. And just as
knowledge in a later age includes what was already known in an earlier one, so could the
Persians know that Spirits of a lower rank than the Archangels had been at work
previously, in the Indian epoch. The Persians called the Beings of the rank below the
Amshaspands, Izads, and of these they enumerated 28 to 31. The Izads, therefore, are
Beings who give rise to a less lofty activity; to soul-activity in man. They send their rays,
which correspond to the 28, 30 to 31 spinal nerves. And so in Zarathustrianism you have
our modern physiology translated in terms of the spiritual, the macrocosmic, in the
twelve Amshaspands and in the 28 to 31 Izads of the next lower Hierarchy.
A true fact of historical evolution is that what was originally seen spiritually is now
presented to us through anatomical dissection; things that were formerly accessible to
clairvoyant vision appear in later epochs in materialistic form. A wonderful bridge is
disclosed here between Zarathustrianism, with its spirituality, and modern physiology,
with its materialism. Of course, the destiny of the great majority of mankind makes it
inevitable that such an idea as that of the connection between the Persian Amshaspands
and Izads and our nerves is regarded as lunacy, especially by those who study the
materialistic physiology of to-day. But after all, we have plenty of time, for the Persian
epoch will be fully recapitulated only in the Sixth epoch which follows our own. Then,
for the first time, the conditions prevailing will enable such things to be intelligible to a
large part of humanity. Therefore we have to content ourselves with the fact that
indications of them can be given to-day as part of the spiritual-scientific outlook. And
such indications must be given if a spiritual-scientific conception of the world is to be
spoken of in the true sense, and attention called, not merely in general phrases, to the fact
that man is a microcosmic replica of the macrocosm.
In other regions, too, it has been known that what comes to manifestation in the
human being flows in from outside. For example, in certain periods of Germanic
mythology mention is made of twelve streams flowing from Niflheim to Muspelheim.
The twelve streams are not meant in the physical-material sense, but they are that which,
seen by clairvoyance, flows as a kind of reflection from the macrocosm into the human
microcosm, the human being who moves over the earth and whose evolution is to be
brought about through macrocosmic forces.
It must however be emphasised that these streams are to be regarded to-day as astral
streams, whereas in the Atlantean epoch, which immediately followed that of Lemuria,
and in Lemuria itself, they could be seen as etheric streams. So a planet which is related
to the earth, but represents an earlier stage of development, must reveal some similar
phenomenon. And as from a distance things can often be observed which in proximity
escape our observation, because what we see is then broken up into details, so in the case
of a planet resembling the earth, when it is sufficiently distant and passing through earlier
stages of development such as those undergone by our earth, it might be possible, even
to-day, to observe these twelve streams.
To be sure, they will not look quite the same as once they appeared when seen from
the earth. Distance is an essential factor, for if, to take an example, you are standing in the
midst of a swarm of gnats, you f=do not see the swarm with its different shades of
density; these are perceived only when you see the swarm from some way off. What I
have just said lies at the root of the observations of so-called canals on Mars. It is there
a matter of certain streams of force which correspond to an earlier stage of the earth and
are described in the old Germanic myths as streams flowing from Niflheim to
Muspelheim. Naturally this is rank heresy from the point of view of modern academic
physiology and astronomy, but these sciences will have to submit to a great deal of
revision in the course of the next few thousand years. (Occult History, 1982, Rudolf
Steiner Press, pp.88-91)

Between the old influences in the Atlantean epoch and those in the post-Atlantean,
there was a boundary-period filled by the Atlantean catastrophe by those events
whereby the face of the earth was totally changed in regard to the distribution of water
and land. Such periods and changes consequent upon them are connected with mighty
processes in the constellation, position and movement of the cosmic bodies connected
with the sun. In fact, such periods in the earths evolution are determined and directed
from macrocosmic space. It would lead too far if I were to attempt to describe to you haw
these successive periods are directed and regulated by what is called in modern
astronomy the precession of the equinoxes. This is connected with the position of the
earths axis in relation to the axis of the ecliptic, with mighty processes in the
constellation of neighbouring celestial bodies; and there are definite times when, on
account of the particular position of the earths axis in relation to these other bodies of the
cosmic system, the distribution of warmth and cold on our earth is radically changed.
This position of the earths axis in relation to the neighbouring stars causes the climatic
conditions to change. In the course of something over 25,000 years, the axis of the earth
describes a kind of conical or spherical movement, so that conditions undergone by the
earth at a certain time are undergone again, in a different form and at a higher stage, after
25,000 to 26,000 years. But between these great periods of time there are always shorter
periods. The process does not go forward in absolute, unvarying continuity, but in such a
way that certain years are crucial points, deeply incisive times in which momentous
happenings take place. And here, because it is of essential significance in the whole
historical development of earthly humanity, we may point particularly to the fact that in
the seventh millennium before Christ there was a very specially important astronomical
epoch important because, on account of the constellation brought about by the relative
position of the earths axis and the neighbouring stars, the climatic conditions on earth
culminated in the Atlantean cataclysm. This happened six to eight thousand years before
our era, and the effects of it continued for long ages. Here we can only emphasise what is
correct, as opposed to the fantastic periods of time that are mentioned, for these
happenings lie much less far behind us than is generally believed. During this period the
macrocosmic conditions worked into the physical in such a way as to bring about the
mighty physical upheavals of the Atlantean cataclysm, which completely changed the
face of the earth. This was the greatest physical transformation of all, the most drastic
action of the macrocosm upon the physical earth. Hence the influence from the
macrocosm upon the spirit of man at that time was at its lowest; this epoch therefore
provided an opportunity for the less powerful Beings of the Hierarchies to begin to
exercise on man a potent influence, which then ebbed gradually away. (Occult History,
1982, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.94-95)

If we want to understand these happenings fully, we must also take into

consideration that such crucial points in evolution are always connected with certain
positions of the stars, and that in the year 1250 the earths axis lay in a definite position
and was therefore related in a particular way to the so-called minor axis of the ecliptic.
When we take account of the fact that what happens on the earth is brought about by
great celestial conditions, even external climates show us that further specialisation and
differentiation take place in the sphere of the earth itself. Because the forces work in a
certain way from the cosmos, the earth is girdled by the torrid zone, then the temperate
zone, then the arctic zone. This can be taken as a kind of example of how what is brought
about by spiritual happenings, through the sun and other factors, takes effect on the
physical plane. But there is again differentiation on the earth itself; in the torrid zone the
climate of low-lying land is not the same as on heights, where it can be extremely cold.
Hence in the same latitude there is quite a different distribution of climatic conditions to
be observed in Africa, say, as compared with America. There is also something in
spiritual evolution which allows of comparison with this kind of differentiation; for it is
really true that in epochs during which a definite character due to the stellar constellations
is widely predominant over the earth, modifications, special conditions, come about in
the activities of the spiritual Beings and in the souls of men. (Occult History, 1982,
pp.99-100)

1911
2 Feb. 1911
[For the ancients, the Zodiac constellations were the consonants and the planets
the vowels, and accordingly the heavenly script was read and interpreted.]
(Background to the Gospel of St. Mark, 1968, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg. na, precis by
RSWB)
22 Mar. 1911
He now gradually realises why the seers of all times connected the activity of the
spleen with the action of Saturn, the activity of the liver with the action of Jupiter, and the
activity of the gall-bladder with the action of Mars. For what he thus sees in his own
inner self is, indeed, fundamentally different from what presents itself to the external
view. He becomes aware that he actually has before him portions of the outside world
enclosed within the boundaries if his inner organs. (An Occult Physiology, 1951, Rudolf
Steiner Press, pg.61)

Every such individualising of any being, making it independent, is called in

occultism saturnine, something brought about by the Saturn influence. This, as a matter
of fact is the original idea associated with Saturn, that from the existing world some sort
of Being is isolated, individualised, in such a way that within itself and of itself it can
evolve regularity.
In a certain way the spleen does something similar within our organism. Certainly
we do not in this organism of ours have to do with a separating from the entire outside
world, but only with a separating from this surrounding world in so far as it contains the
nourishment for our organism and we ourselves introduce its activities into ourselves.
The spleen is the organ we first meet when we do this, dealing, so to speak, with
everything within our solar system, within the orbit of Saturn. The forces that are in the
spleen isolate the circulation of our blood from all outside influences, and make of it a
regular rhythm within itself, a system having its own rhythm.
The inner rhythm, although it has established itself, must again strive after doing this
to fashion itself in accordance with the entire outside world, which means that it must
eliminate itself. Thus the being first comes to have an inner existence of its own; but,
because it can now work independently, it aspires to adapt itself to the outside world and
to become harmonious with it. To put it in other words, everything that has made itself
independent as a result of a saturnine activity, is doomed at the same time, because of this
saturnine activity, to destroy itself again. Saturn, or Kronos, devours his own children, so
the myth tells us. Here you see a deeply significant harmony between an occult idea,
expressed in the name Kronos or Saturn, and a myth which expresses the same thing in a
picture. A symbol: `Kronos devours his own children!.(An Occult Physiology, 1951,
Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.67-69)

23 Mar. 1911
Now, I have already pointed out, and we shall see even more definitely to what an
extent such a giving of names as we have described is justified, that in occultism the
activity of the spleen is characterised as a Saturn-activity, that of the liver as a Jupiter-
activity, and that of the gall-bladder as a Mars-activity. On the same basis on which these
names were chosen for the activities here referred to, occult knowledge sees in the heart
and the blood-system belonging to it something in the human organism which merits the
name of the Sun, just as the sun outside merits this name in the planetary system. In the
lung-system, there is contained what the occultists, according to the same principle,
characterise as Mercury, and in the kidney-system that which merits the name Venus.
Thus, by means of these names, we have pointed out in these systems of the human
organism, even if at the present moment we do not in the least undertake a justification of
the names, something like an inner world system. (An Occult Physiology, 1951, Rudolf
Steiner Press, pp.84-85)

28 Mar. 1911
These seven members completely metamorphose, on the one hand, the vital
activities peculiar to the nutritive substances into inner vital activities; and with these
metamorphosed substances they provide for the human organism. They make it possible
for man to reopen himself to the outside world. But, in addition to this, they bring it about
that what he evolves as an excessively strong inner vital activity, which would not
harmonise with the vital activity that penetrates into him from without, is brought into
balance with this outer vital activity by being thrown off through the excretional
processes of the lungs and the kidneys. So that we have before us the complete and
regular control of the inner vital activities in this inner cosmic system of man. And in fact
this entire relationship manifests itself in such a way that the best picture occultism can
give us is to conceive the heart standing as the sun, at the centre, and caring for the three
bodies of the inner cosmic system which signify the upwards rising and upward bearing
process. In the same way in which the sun is related to Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in the
planetary system, so is the inner sun, the heart, related to Saturn, spleen; Jupiter, liver;
and gall-bladder, Mars, in the human organism. For it is an absolute fact that the
relationship existing in the outer cosmos has been so adopted into the organism that what
goes on in the great world or macrocosm, in our solar system, is mirrored in the
reciprocal action among these organs. And those processes which go on between the sun
and the inner planets working inwards from the sun to our earth, are again reflected in the
relationship of the heart-sun to the lungs as Mercury, and to the kidneys as Venus. Thus
we have in this inner human cosmic system something which mirrors the external cosmic
system.
To contemporary man, who sometimes comes upon such things in the mangled
writings of the Middle Ages yet cannot look upon them as anything but a jumble of
superstition, it sounds quite amazing when he hears that for thousands of years occult
science has not only examined, profoundly and thoroughly, the correspondence between
the vital activities of these organs of the inner organic system, and certain external
substances possessing the opposite vital activities; but that also, through countless
observations made with the clairvoyant eye, there has resulted the knowledge, for
example, that when the inner `Jupiter oversteps its limit it can be checked if confronted
with the external vital activity manifest in the metallic substance tin. The inner vital
activity of the gall-bladder, we combat by what is manifest in the metallic substance iron.
And we ought not really to be surprised to learn that the gall-bladder is the very organ to
be combatted by iron. For iron is that metal which we require particularly in our blood,
and which therefor belongs to the instrument of the ego; and we have seen that in the
gall-bladder we have the very organ which brings about the connection of the ego with
the densest matter deposited in the human being through the digestive process. In the
same was the spleen (Saturn) has its correlative in lead; the heart (Sun) in gold; Mercury
has its own name: that is, the metal mercury (or quicksilver) corresponds with the lungs;
and the metal copper corresponds with the kidneys.
From this we now see that certain of these metals to be found on the earth have their
respective kinship with the organs or members which we find embedded in the upper
blood-organisation. That which, in the lungs for example, opens itself upward in the
larynx, thus becoming an organ of the higher human organisation, and which otherwise
presses down into the gall-bladder as a dim life, acts correspondingly as a mars- or iron-
system in the larynx which contains the upper part of the lungs. These things are, of
course, hard to differentiate; but I should like, nevertheless, to point out some of them. In
the same way the upper part of our head containing the brain-formation corresponds, as
regards its position in the upper course of the blood, to the position of Jupiter-liver (tin)
in the lower course of the blood; and tin, or Jupiter; and, in the same way, between the
back of the head and lead, or Saturn. And so it is with the organs which may be looked
upon as imbedded in the upper cosmic system. (An Occult Physiology, 1951, Rudolf
Steiner Press, pp.184-187)

If we were to look into early post-Atlantean times, we would find that human beings
built their dwelling places by methods quite different from those used today. In those
days they made use of all kinds of growing things. Even when building palaces, they
summoned nature to their aid by having plants and branches of trees interlace with one
another, and so on. Today, human beings must build with broken fragments. We make all
culture of the outer world with the products of fragmentation. In the course of the coming
years you will understand even better how much in our culture is the product of
destruction.
Light is destroying itself within our post-Atlantean earthly processes. Until the time
of Atlantis the earthly process was a progressive process, but since then it has been a
process of decay. What is light? Light decays, and the decaying light is electricity. What
we know as electricity is light that is destroying itself within matter. The chemical force
that undergoes a transformation within earthly evolution is magnetism. Yet a third force
will become active, and if electricity seems to work wonders today, this third force will
affect civilization in a still more miraculous way. The more of this force we employ, the
faster the earth will tend to become a corpse and its spiritual part prepare for the Jupiter
embodiment. Forces have to be applied to destroy the earth in order that man can become
free of the earth and that the earths body can fall away. As long as the earth was involved
in a progressive process, this was not done, since only the decaying earth can use the
great achievements of electricity. Strange as this sounds, it must gradually become
known. We must understand the process of evolution to evaluate our culture in the right
way. We shall learn thereby that it is necessary for the earth to be destroyed; otherwise,
the spirit will not become free. We shall also learn to value what is positive, namely, the
penetration of spiritual forces into our existence on earth. (The Reappearance of Christ
in the Etheric, 1983, Anthroposophic Press, pp.130-131)

7 June 1911
The ancient civilizations had their rise in this sounding through to mankind of the
knowledge of the gods. Only by degrees in post-Atlantean times was the door, so to
speak, closed into the divine spiritual world which in the Atlantean period had still been
wide open for the human soul.
Menes was the Egyptian name of him who inaugurated the first Human
civilization, and it is at the same time hinted that man thereby became liable to error, for
thenceforward he was left to look for guidance to the instrument of his brain. That man
was liable to fall into error is symbolically indicated by the fixing of the date of the
construction of the labyrinth at the time when humanity was abandoned by the gods; for
the labyrinth is an image of the convolutions of the brain as the instrument of mans own
thoughts, - windings in which the thinker is able to lose himself. The Orientals called
man as a thinking being Manas and Manu stands for the first great thinker. The Greeks
called the first organizer of the human principle of thought Minos, and with him is
associated the myth of the labyrinth, because it was felt that, since his time, mankind had
gradually passed from the direct guidance of the gods to a guidance in which the ego
feels the influence of the higher spirit-world in a different way. (The Spiritual Guidance
of Mankind, 1925, Anthroposophic Press, pp.41-43)

A person who is able to look into the spiritual world is called esoterically a
clairvoyant, but merely to be clairvoyant is not enough, for such a man might be able to
see well enough but not be able to discriminate. He who has acquired the faculty of
distinguishing the various beings and events of higher worlds, is called an Initiate.
Initiation brings with it the possibility of distinguishing between different kinds of
beings. It is possible to be clairvoyant in the higher worlds without being an Initiate. In
ancient times distinguishing between spirits was not specially important, for when the
ancient occult schools had brought a pupil so far as clairvoyance, there was no great
danger of error. Now, however, this danger exists to a high degree. Therefore in all
esoteric training, care should be taken that initiation should be acquired in addition to
clairvoyance. In proportion to the extent of his clairvoyance must a man become capable
of distinguishing between the various kinds of supersensible beings and events. Therefore
in all esoteric training, care should be taken that initiation should be acquired in addition
to clairvoyance. In proportion to the extent of his clairvoyance must a man become
capable of distinguishing between the various kinds of supersensible beings and
events.(The Spiritual Guidance of Mankind, 1925, Anthroposophic Press, pp.60-61)

8 June 1911
It was during the third epoch of civilization, the Egypto-Chaldaeic, the Angels (or
lower dhyanic beings according to Oriental mysticism) were to some extent independent
leaders of humanity. They were not so during the ancient Persian civilization. For then
they were subject to a higher direction in a much greater degree than in the Egyptian
times, and had to regulate everything in conformity with the impulses if the hierarchies
immediately above them. In this way everything was under the immediate guidance of
the Angels, but these themselves submitted to the rulership of the Archangels. And in the
Indian epoch when post-Atlantean life had reached such a height in spiritual matters as
has never been attained since a natural height under the direction of great human
teachers then the Archangels themselves were subject in a similar sense to the guidance
of the Archai or Primal Powers. Thus if we trace the evolution of humanity from the
Indian epoch through the ancient Persian and Egypto-Chaldaeic civilization, we may say
that certain beings of the higher hierarchies withdrew, as it were, ever more and more
from the direct guidance of humanity. And in the fourth post-Atlantean period of
civilization, i.e., the Graeco-Roman epoch, man had become in a certain sense quite
independent. The guiding superhuman beings were certainly intervening to develop
humanity, but only in such a way that the reins were tightened as little as possible, and
also that the spiritual leaders themselves might profit as much through the deeds of men
as men profited through them. Hence there arose that peculiar and quite human
civilization in the Greaco-Roman time in which man was made to rely entirely on
himself. For all the distinctive characteristics of Art and political life in Greek and Roman
times are traceable to the fact that man had to live out his own life in his own way.
We are now living the fifth post-Atlantean period of civilization. The leading beings
of this period belong to the same hierarchy as that which ruled the ancient Egyptians and
Chaldeans. In fact those beings who then took the lead, have again begun to be active in
our times, for it has been stated that certain beings remained behind during the Egypto-
Chaldaeic civilization, and that these are to be found manifested in the materialistic
feelings and perceptions of our own period.
The progressive angels are intervening to guide the fifth post-Atlantean civilization
by means of capacities which they themselves had won during the third or Egypto-
Chaldaeic civilization. Through the progress they make they are acquiring for themselves
quite special capabilities, for they are qualifying themselves to receive the influx of
forces emanating from the most important Being in the whole evolution of the Earth. The
power of the Christ is working in them; for that power works not only on the physical
world through Jesus of Nazareth but also in the spiritual worlds upon the super-human
beings. The beings who guided the old Egypto-Chaldaeic civilization were not at that
time under the direction of the Christ, but have only placed themselves under his
guidance since. And their progress consists in their following Him in the higher worlds,
so that they may guide our fifth post-Atlantean period of civilization in accordance with
His influence. And the remaining behind of those beings of whom it has been said that
they operate as obstructive powers, is due to their not having put themselves under the
leadership of the Christ, and thus they continue to work independently of Him. There will
be a materialistic movement under the guidance of the backward Egypto-Chaldaeic
spirits. It will have a materialistic character, and the greater part of what in all countries,
may be called contemporary materialistic science is under this influence.
Now what will those beings teach who attained their goal in the old Egypto-
Chaldaeic sphere of civilization, and who then learned to know the Christ? They will be
able to instil into man other thoughts than that there are only material atoms; for they will
be able to teach that, even to the minutest particle of the world, the substance is
permeated with the Spirit of Christ. To-day such a statement appears certainly to many
people as something fanciful or worse than that, but in many cases the sense of the future
is folly to the past. (The Spiritual Guidance of Mankind, 1925, Anthroposophic Press,
pp.70-74)

In a certain sense man is, taken as a whole, a cosmic being. He lives a twofold life-
one in a physical body from birth to death, another in the spiritual worlds between death
and a new birth. When he is incarnated in a physical body, he is living in dependence on
the earth, because the physical body is restricted by the forces and conditions belonging
to the earth. A man, however, does not only take the substances and forces of the earth
into himself, but is joined to the whole earths organism. When he has passed through the
gate of death, he dose not any longer belong to the forces of the earth; but it would be
incorrect to imagine that he belongs to no forces at all, for he is then connected with the
forces of the solar system and the more distant star-systems. In this way, between death
and new birth, he lives in the domain of the cosmic, just as in the period between birth
and death he lived in the domain of the earthly. From death and a new birth he belongs to
the cosmos, as on the earth he belongs to the elements-Air , Water, and Earth.
Accordingly, while he is passing through a life between death and a new birth, he comes
into the region of cosmic influences, for the planets send forth not merely the physical
forces of what astronomy teaches, such as gravitation and others, but also spiritual forces,
and with these spiritual powers of the cosmos man is connected- each person is a special
manner according to his own individuality. If he is born in Europe, he lives in a different
relation to warmth conditions, etc., than if he had been born , let us say, in Australia.
Similarly, during his life between death and a new birth, one person may stand more
closely related to the spiritual powers of Mars, another to those of Jupiter, others again to
those of the whole planetary system in general, and so on. It is also these forces which
bring man back again to earth. Thus before he is born he is living in connection with the
collective whole of stellar space.
According to the way in which a man stands individually related to the cosmic
system, so are the forces directed which lead him to this or that set of parents and to this
or that locality. The impetus, the inclination to incarnate here or there, in this or that
family, in this or that people, at this or that time, depends on how the person was
organically connected with the cosmic before birth.
The truth underlying the casting of a horoscope is that those who know these things
can read the forces which determine a persons physical existence. A certain horoscope is
allotted to a person because, within it, those forces find expression which have led him
into being. If for example, in the horoscope, Mars stands over Aries (the Ram) that
signifies that certain of the Aries forces are not allowed to pass through Mars- and are
weakened. Thus is a man put into his place within physical existence, and it is in
accordance with his horoscope that he guides himself before entering upon earthly
existence. This subject, which in our times seems so much a thing of chance should not
be touched upon without our attention being called to the fact that nearly everything
practised in this connection to-day is simply dilettantism-a pure superstition-and that for
the external world the true science of these matters has been for the most part completely
lost. Consequently, the principal things which have been said here are not to be judged
according to that which nowadays frequently leads a questionable existence under the
name Astrology.
 Now it is the active forces of the stellar world that impel a man into physical
incarnation; and when clairvoyant consciousness observes a person, it can perceive in his
organization how this has resulted from the co-operation of cosmic forces. And if one
were to photograph a persons brain at the moment of birth and then photograph also the
heavens lying exactly over the persons birthplace, this latter picture would be of exactly
the same appearance as that of the human brain. As certain centres were arranged in the
latter, so would the stars be in the photograph of the heavens. Man has within himself a
picture of the heavens, and every man has a different one, according to whether he was
born in this place or that, and at this or that time. This is one indication that man is born
from out of the whole cosmos. (The Spiritual Guidance of Mankind, 1925,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.77-81)

With the entrance of Christ into the evolution of the earth an entirely new impulse or
direction was given to evolution. External facts of history also express this. In the early
times of post-Atlantean evolution men knew very well that above them there was not
merely a physical Mars, but that what they saw as Mars, Jupiter or Saturn was the
expression for a spiritual being. In later times this perception was completely forgotten.
The heavenly bodies came to be, according to human ideas, mere bodies to be estimated
according to their physical condition. And in the Middle Ages people saw in connection
with the stars what only the eyes can see-the sphere of Venus, the sphere of the Sun, the
sphere of Mars, etc., up to the sphere of the fixed stars, and then came the eighth sphere
like a solid blue wall behind. Then Copernicus appeared and broke down the idea that
only that which is perceptible to the senses can be authoritative. It was at that time when
Copernicus began to think out what exists in cosmic space beyond the evidence of the
senses, that our modern astronomy as a science began.
Giordano Bruno came as philosophical interpreter of the teachings of Copernicus.
He led the gaze of man out into cosmic space, and announced that what people had called
the limitations of space, what they had placed there as the eighth sphere limiting
everything in space-was in reality no limitation; it was Maya, or illusion; for an infinite
number of worlds had been poured forth into cosmic space. That which was formerly
considered to be the boundary of space was shown to be only the boundary of the sense-
world of man, and if we direct our gaze beyond the sense-world, we shall no longer see
the world as known to the senses, but we shall also recognize Infinity. (The Spiritual
Guidance of Mankind, 1925, Anthroposophic Press, pp.91-93)

21 Aug. 1911
Is there any instance of Beings working on another planet who yearn after some
other heavenly body as if it were their own true home? Yes, there are such cases; let us
take one of them and compare him with the Christ. During the Moon evolution there were
powerful Beings, exalted Beings, who however in a certain respect did not reach the goal
of their Moon evolution. Among these exalted Beings was a host under its own leader
which, when the Moon evolution came to an end and the evolution of the Earth began,
had not attained the goal of its own evolution. Now this host of Beings entered into Earth
evolution, and participated in the guidance of humanity, but always with this tragic
longing for a cosmic star which had been cast out of the Moon evolution in the way I
have described in the book Occult Science. Within the spiritual evolution of the Earth are
mighty, highly significant Beings, with their leader, who, because they had to quit the
Moon and go on to the Earth, without having reached their full development, really feel
this yearning for a star outside in the cosmos which they regard as their true home, but to
which they cannot attain. These hosts are the hosts of Lucifer. Lucifer himself takes part
in Earth evolution with the perpetual longing within for his true home, for the star Venus
outside in the cosmos. That is the salient feature of the Luciferic nature seen from the
cosmic aspect. Clairvoyant consciousness comes to know just what the star Venus is by
entering into the soul of Lucifer, then experiencing from the Earth Lucifers tragic
longing, like a wonderful cosmic nostalgia, for the star Phosphorus, Lucifer, or Venus.
For what Lucifer cast off as a husk, what at the death of the Moon was cast out of the
Luciferic beings, as the physical body is cast off by the human soul at death, shines down
from heaven as Venus.
I have now put before you from the cosmic aspect something about our Earth and
about its neighbouring planet Venus. This was of course not experienced by the Greeks
quite in the way I expressed it, but it nevertheless lived in their sensations and feelings.
When a Greek turned toward the stars, especially when he turned to Venus, he sensed in
his soul the inner connection between such a star and certain beings who inflame and
inspire the earthly realm. When the ancient Greek felt what Lucifer was to the Earth,
when he said to himself, as it were, The Luciferic principle wafts through our Earthly
existence, he looked up to the star Venus and said: There is the wandering point in the
heavenly spaces towards which Lucifers longings perpetually tend.
This gives you the Greeks sense of one of the wonders of the world, and it brings
out very clearly that the Greek was far from gazing into space as do modern astronomers,
describing Venus as a purely physical globe. What then was Venus to the Greek soul? It
was that region of space which he came to identify by observing clairvoyantly the
spiritual content of Lucifers soul; for in the soul of Lucifer he detected the great longing
which reaches out as a living bridge from the Earth to Venus. This longing which the
Greek souls recognized as being Lucifers, he also felt to belong to the substance of
Venus. The Greek did not see just the physical planet, he saw something which had been
severed from the Luciferic Being, just as the physical body is severed from man when he
goes through the gate of death, and as the corpse of the Earth will be severed when the
Earth has reached the goal of her evolution. But there is this difference. The physical
body of man is destined to disintegrate, whereas the body of a Lucifer is destined, when it
falls away from the being of soul, to shine as a star in the heavenly spaces. In what I have
just said about Venus, I have at the same time described what in the spiritual sense stars
are. What are they to a quickened insight those wonders of the world, those wonders of
Nature but the bodies of gods? What has gone forth into space from the bodies of the
gods has become star. Looking up into the starry worlds, this is how the Greek saw the
planets and the fixed stars. He said to himself: The spiritual beings whom we revere as
gods were once upon a time out there in space. They have undergone development. When
they reached that point which for them corresponds with what for man during earthly
existence is death, then their physical substance left them and became star.
Stars are the bodies of gods, gods whose souls work on in the world in another way,
independently of those bodies Just as Lucifer became independent of his body and
continues to work in our Earth evolution. To grasp this is to have a spiritualised
conception of nature and the world. This of course has nothing in common with the
wishy-washy pantheism which gives out that all Nature is permeated with a uniform
divinity. Such a statement is inadequate; stars cannot simply be defined in this abstract
way, as bodies through which the gods manifest themselves; when one looks up to those
far-distant worlds one has to understand that the stars are bodies which the gods have
abandoned, having progressed to other stages of evolution. But in this we find the
difference between all the planetary gods and the Christ. As I have explained, the Christ
leaves no such physical star at the death of the Earth, no residue still unspiritualised, but
passes on entirely into the spiritual world, and as spirit goes over with the human soul
into the Jupiter existence. (Wonders of the World, Ordeals of the Soul,..., 1963, Rudolf
Steiner Press, pp.77-79)

26 Aug. 1911
Thus, expressed in terms of Spiritual Science, we have in the first place to see in the
sun the dwelling place or part of it at any rate, for this dwelling-place extends to the
other planets as well the most essential part of the dwelling-place of the upper gods,
whom we designated yesterday as one stream of the divine world. But if you look at this
whole sun with the clairvoyant eye, you see that everything in it which is those upper
gods is there only in etheric form, from the warmth ether upwards to the light ether, the
chemical ether and the life ether. But the sun as it moves in space today is not only there
for clairvoyant sight as an etheric structure, it is also a globe of gas, its condensed to the
state of air. The sun would never have condensed to the state of air had not the Being of
Whom I spoke yesterday, the Being Who descended to Earth with the dove in the
Baptism by John in the Jordan, during the Sun evolution detached Himself from the Sun
in a body of air and not merely in an etheric body. Thus when we look up at the sun we
have to say: the warmth, light and chemical impulses in the sun are connected with the
other Beings, those who are only the ideas or representations of the lower gods; but the
gaseous element in the sun is actually the body of Christ. (Wonders of the World,
Ordeals of the Soul,..., 1963, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.161-162)

21 Nov. 1911
Thus we see that while the earth was passing through her Moon-phase, the Spirits of
Movement brought into the lives of those Beings who were filled with longing and would
otherwise have been desolate - for boredom is also a kind of desolation - the change
which is brought about by movement, a constantly renewed relation to ever new Beings
and new conditions. Movement in space, movement from one place to another, is but one
form of the more comprehensive movement which has just been mentioned. When in the
morning we have a definite train of thought in our Soul, not necessarily to be kept to
ourselves, but passed on to others - a 'movement' takes place. We can then overcome one-
sidedness of longing by means of variety, by change and the movement of the things
experienced. In outer space there is only one particular form of change. In this connection
let us imagine a planet in relation to a sun: if it always occupied the same position to the
Sun, if it never moved, it would be subject to that one-sidedness, which can only accrue
when it presents invariably the same aspect to the Sun. Then the Spirits of Movement
turn the planet round so as to bring about a change in its conditions. Change of place is
but one of many forms of change. And the Spirits of Movement, by bringing change of
place into the Cosmos, merely introduce one specific part of Movement in general.
(Evolution in the Aspect of Realities, 1989, Garber Communications Inc., pg.47)

Do you know how those who took part in the later compiling of the Gospels
convinced themselves as to these events, with the exception of the writer of the John-
Gospel, who was an immediate contemporary? They could not above all convince
themselves by historical documents, for they had nothing but oral traditions and the
Mystery-Books, as is set forth in 'Christianity as a Mystical Fact'. They were able to
convince themselves of the actual existence of Christ Jesus by the constellations, for
they were then still very learned as to the connection between the Macrocosm and the
Microcosm. They knew how to set up a map of the heavens for that point of the world's
history (as can still be done to-day ); and they concluded: the stars were in such and such
a position, then He whom they call the Christ must have lived on earth at that time. In this
very way the writers of the Gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke convinced themselves of
the historical happenings: they obtained the rest clairvoyantly. But first they convinced
themselves in the same way as we can make sure to-day that any particular event will
happen on the earth; by the position of the constellations in the Macrocosm. Anyone who
knows anything of this cannot but believe in them. (Evolution in the Aspect of Realities,
1989, Garber Communications Inc., pp.62-63)

26 Dec. 1911
But for one whose eyes of spirit are opened the Thirteen Days and Thirteen Nights
between the 24th of December and the 6th of January are a time of deep spiritual
experience.
Parallel with the experience of the plant-seed in the depths of the natural earth, there
is a spiritual experience in the earth's spirit-depths - verily a parallel experience. The
sufferings in Kamaloca that man must endure in the spiritual world because Lucifer has
been at his side since he began to incarnate on the earth - the clearest vision of all this is
presented in the mighty Imaginations which can come before the soul during the Thirteen
Days and Nights between the Christmas Festival and the Festival of the 6th of January,
the Epiphany. The soul gazes at a vista of all that man must experience in the spiritual
worlds because, under Lucifer's influence, he alienated himself from the Powers by
whom the world was created. Hence there is no better preparation for the revelation of
that Imagination which may be called the Christ Imagination and which makes us aware
that by gaining the victory over Lucifer, Christ Himself becomes the Judge of the deeds
of men during the incarnations affected by Lucifer's influence. (The Festivals and Their
Meaning, 1981, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.5l-52)

1912
1 Jan. 1912
In the whole world that presents itself to our view we can follow in some way this
becoming and dying. And it is important that we should learn to apply the idea to other
things in the world. Thus, in the mineral world, for example, we can also find something
that is in an ascending evolution, something that is today only at the seed stage. It is
quicksilver. Quicksilver is a metal that will undergo transformations in the future, but
transformations that will lead to greater perfection; Quicksilver as metal has not yet
pulverised all the forces that every substance possesses in the spiritual before it becomes
substance at all. Powers that belong essentially to the nature of quicksilver still remain in
the spiritual, and these it will in the future be able to bring forth and place in the world. It
will assume new forms. Thus quicksilver corresponds in the world of the minerals to the
human larynx, and also in a sense to the organ that is attached to the larynx - the lung.
Other metals - copper, for example - are in a kind of descending evolution. Copper will,
in the future, show itself as a metal that has no more inner spiritual forces to place out
into the world, and that is consequently more and more obliged merely to split up and
crumble into cosmic dust. (The World of the Senses & the World of the Spirit, 1947, R.
Steiner Publ. Co., pp.77-78)

All that we find in the root of a plant corresponds in a manner to the human brain
and to the nervous system belonging to the brain. It goes so far that in actual fact the
eating of what is to be found in plant roots has a certain correspondence with the
processes that take place in the brain and nervous system. ...In a sense we may say that he
lets think in him what he thus receives in food, he lets it do spiritual work for him, whilst
if he is less inclined to eat of the root nature of plants it will be he himself who uses his
brain and nervous system. You will see from this that if a person consumes a quantity of
root food he is liable to become dependant in respect of his experiences as soul and spirit
because something objective and external works through him, his brain and nervous
system surrender their own independence. (on the other hand) -it can easily happen that if
a man avoids eating roots he will fall into a sleepy condition, because his soul and spirit
are not yet strong enough to evolve in themselves out of the spiritual those forces which
are otherwise evolved in man quite objectively, and independently of his soul and spirit.
Again, what lives in the leaves of plants has a similar connection with the lungs of
man, with all that belongs to the system of the lungs. Here we may find an indication of
how a balance can be created, for example, in a person whose breathing system, owing to
inherited tendencies or to some other condition, works too powerfully. It would be well in
such a case to recommend the person not eat much of what comes from the leaves of
plants. There may be another person whose breathing system requires strengthening, and
then we shall do well to advise him to eat freely of such food as comes from leaves.
The flowers of plants contain many healing forces for the kidney system, and seeds
in a particular way for the heart, but only when the heart sets itself too strongly in
opposition to the circulation of the blood. If the heart yields too easily to the circulation,
it is rather to the forces that are in the fruits, i.e. in the ripened seeds, that we must turn.
Summary:
Roots - Brain
Leaves Lungs
Flowers Kidneys
Seeds Heart
Fruits Blood System. (The World of the Senses & the World of
the Spirit, 1947, R. Steiner Publ. Co., pp.78-79)

20 Feb. 1912
We know how the several members of mans constitution unfold in the course of
life: in the seventh year, the ether body; in the fourteenth year, the astral body; in the
twenty-first tear the sentient-soul; in the twenty-eighth year the intellectual or mind-soul
and in the thirty-fifth year the consciousness soul (spiritual soul). (Reincarnation and
Karma, 1960, Anthroposophical Publ. Co., pg.49)

3-14 Apr. 1912

Thus, we may say that when we observe what surrounds man in the spiritual world,
and is, as it were, around man as his own individual leader; when we there observe what
lives spiritually and rules invisibly, instigating us to impersonal actions and impersonal
thinking and feeling, when we see this, we have here first of all the beings of the Third
Hierarchy. Occult vision perceives these beings. To the occultist they are realities; but
normal consciousness also lives under their sovereignty, although it does not perceive the
Angel, it is under his leadership, even though unconsciously. And so do groups of men
stand under their Archangel, as the age and the men of the age stand under the leadership
of the Spirit of the Age.
Now these beings of the Third Hierarchy described today are found in our nearest
spiritual environment. If, however, we went back in the evolution of our planet to a
definite point of time, about which we shall learn more in the following lectures, we
should find more and more that these beings, who really only live in the process of man's
culture, are continually bringing forth other beings from themselves (Spiritual Beings in
the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co., pg.55)

Indeed, certain offspring of the Archai are the beings we have learnt to know as the
nature-spirits of the earth; those separated from the Archangels and sent down into nature,
are the nature-spirits of water; and those detached from the Angels we have recognised as
the nature-spirits of the air. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951,
R.Steiner Publ. Co., pg.56)

Let us direct our occult vision to a being of the Third Hierarchy. We recognise this
being as such because it manifests its selfhood, its inner life externally, and in this
manifestation it has its perception; but if it were to change its inner perception, its inner
experience, the outer manifestation would also be different. As the inner condition of
these beings of the Third Hierarchy changes, and their experiences vary, so do the
external manifestations continually change. But if you look at a being of the Second
Hierarchy with occult vision, it is quite different. These beings also perceive and
experience inwardly; but what they experience is detached from them like a sort of shell
or skin; it acquires independent existence. If the being of the Second Hierarchy then
passes on into another condition, has a different perception and manifests in a new way,
the old manifestation of the being will still exist; it still remains and does not pass away,
as in the case of a being of the Third Hierarchy.
And if we ask ourselves what appears in these beings in the place of the 'being filled
with spirit' of the beings of the Third Hierarchy, it is shown to occult vision that every
time the being detaches such a picture, or image of itself, life is stimulated. The
stimulation of life is always the result of such self-creation.
 Whilst to occult vision the 'being filled with the spirit of the beings of the Third
Hierarchy appears in picture and imagination, as a sort of spiritual light, so is the fluidic
life, the stimulation of life which is connected with an external separation, perceived in
such a way that occult perception hears something like spiritual tone, the Music of the
Spheres. It is like spiritual sound, not spiritual light as in the case of the Third Hierarchy.
Now in these beings of the Second Hierarchy we can distinguish several categories
just as we did among the beings of the Third Hierarchy. To distinguish between these
categories will be more difficult, for the higher we ascend the more difficult it becomes.
We must in the course of our ascent, first of all gain some idea of all that underlies the
world surrounding us, in so far as the world around us has forms. Plants have forms,
animals have forms, man has a form. ...if we look away from all other parts of the being
and only see the forms, ... this clairvoyant vision then perceives from the totality of the
beings of the Second Hierarchy those which we call the Spirits of Form - the Exusiai.
We know indeed that everything which lives changes its form, in a certain respect, as
it grows. This change, this alteration of form, this metamorphosis, strikes us most
particularly in the plant-world. Now if we direct, not the ordinary vision but the
clairvoyant vision of the second stage, to the growing plant world, we see how the plant
gradually gains its form, how it passes from the form of the root to the form of the leaf, to
the form of the flower, to the form of the fruit. If we look at the growing animal, at the
growing man, we do not merely consider a form as it exists at a given moment, we see
the growth of the living being. If we allow ourselves to be stimulated by this
contemplation of the growth of the living being; reflecting how the forms change, how
they are in active metamorphosis - then, the clairvoyant vision of the second stage
becomes aware of what we call the category of the Spirits of Motion - Dynamis.
It is still more difficult to consider a third category of such beings of the Second
Hierarchy. For we must consider neither the form as such, nor the changes of form, nor
the movement: but that which is expressed in the form.
And when this speaks as livingly as the physiognomy, the gestures, of a man speaks,
when we feel how the blossom which opens outwards has something of the character of a
hand which turns outwards with the inner surface below and the outer surface above, and
when we find another blossom which closes its petals above, like the two hands folded; if
we feel the gestures, the physiognomy, and the colours of the plant-world to be something
like a physiognomy, then the inner vision, the occult perception and understanding are
stimulated; - and we recognise a third category of the Second Hierarchy, whom we call
the Spirits of wisdom.
When occult consciousness raises itself to these spirits, it is at first the highest stage
of those spiritual beings whom we can reach in this manner ; but just as we could say that
the beings of the Third Hierarchy ,the Angels, Archangels and Spirits of the Age have
offspring who separate from them, so, too, the beings of the Second Hierarchy have
offspring. In the course of time there are detached from the beings of the Second
Hierarchy, in the same way as we were able to describe yesterday with regard to the
beings of the Third Hierarchy, other beings of a lower order who are sent down into the
kingdoms of nature, just as the nature spirits by the Third Hierarchy who then become, as
it were, the master-builders and foremen in miniature in the kingdom of nature. Now
the spiritual beings which are detached from the beings of the Second Hierarchy and
which sink down into the kingdoms of nature, are those designated in occultism as the
group-souls of the plants and animals, the group souls of the individual beings.
If we ascend from the elements of earth, water, and air, to that which lives in the
nature kingdoms by the aid of these elements, we find spiritual beings, group-souls, who
animate and interpenetrate the beings of these nature-kingdoms, and these group-souls
are spiritual beings detached from those we call the beings of the Second Hierarchy.
(Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co., pp.63-
69)

We can perhaps to some slight extent describe the Spirits of Will, the lowest
category of the first hierarchy, by saying: We become familiar with Will, for Will is the
lowest substance of which they can consist. But this would be impossible if we were
only to regard the will which we encounter in man or animals in ordinary life, or the
ordinary feelings and thoughts of man. And it would be impossible to describe by what is
usually accepted as human thought, feeling and will the beings of the second category of
the First Hierarchy. For this we must turn to the life of special persons who, in the way
described, have built up an overwhelming power of wisdom in their souls. When we
realise this wisdom of theirs, we feel somewhat as the occultist feels when he stands
before the beings we call the Cherubim. Wisdom, not acquired in decades, as is the
wisdom of eminent men, but such wisdom as is gathered in thousands, nay millions of
years of cosmic growth, this streams towards us in sublime power from the beings we call
the Cherubim.
Still more difficult to describe are those beings called the Seraphim who form the
first and highest category of the First Hierarchy. It would only be possible to gain some
idea of the impression which the Seraphim make upon occult vision, if we take the
following comparison from life. We will pursue the comparison just made. The wisdom
of those decades, that life-long wisdom, will be apparent in his countenance, so that his
look can tell us of the sorrows and experiences of decades; and this look can make such
an impression on us that it speaks to us as the world itself, which we experience. If we
imagine such a look or imagine that such a wise man does not speak to us in words alone;
but that in the tone and particular colouring of his words he can give us such an
impression of all this rich life of experience that we hear in what he says something like
an undertone, conveying the nature of his experiences, then again we gain something of
the feeling which the occultist has when he ascends to the Seraphim.
We might describe the beings of the Third Hierarchy by saying: - What in man is
perception, in them is manifestation of self: what in man is inner life, waking
consciousness, is in them being filled with spirit. We might describe the beings of the
Second Hierarchy by saying: - What in the beings of the Third Hierarchy is manifestation
of self, is in them self-realisation, self-creation, a stamping of impressions of their own
being; and what ...is being filled with spirit, is in them stimulation of life, which consists
in severance, in objectifying themselves. Now what in the beings of the Second
Hierarchy is self-creation, we also encounter in the beings of the First Hierarchy when we
look at them with occult vision; but there is a difference. This difference consists in this.
What the beings of the Second Hierarchy make objective, what they create from
themselves, exists only so long as these beings remain attached to their creations. Thus,
note well: - the beings of the Second Hierarchy can create some thing like an image of
themselves, but it remains connected with them and cannot be separated from them. The
beings of the First Hierarchy can also objectify themselves, they can also stamp their own
being; it is separated from them as in a sort of skin or shell, but it is an impression of their
own being. When this is detached from them, however, it remains existing in the world
though they sever themselves from it. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies
&...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co., pp.74-76; also Angels, 1996, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pp.149-151, slightly different translation)

In the course of these lectures we have drawn attention to the fact that these various
beings of the hierarchies have offspring; beings split off from themselves, which they
send down into the kingdoms of nature,... The beings of the First Hierarchy detach from
themselves the beings governing the alternation of summer and winter, so that the plants
spring up and fade away again; that rythmical succession through which, for instance, the
animals belonging to a certain species have a definite period of life in which they develop
from birth to death. Everything too which takes place in the kingdom of nature
rythmically and in recapitulation, such as day and night, alternations of the year, the four
seasons of the year, everything which thus depends on repeated happenings, is regulated
by the Spirits of the Rotation of Time, the offspring of the beings of the First Hierarchy.
Thus we can comprehensively represent the beings of these Three Hierarchies as follows:
1st Hierarchy: World-creation. Creation of Beings.
Spirits of Rotation of Time.
2nd Hierarchy: Self-creation. Stimulation of Life.
Group-souls.
3rd Hierarchy: Manifestation. Being filled with Spirit
Nature-spirits (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner
Publ. Co., pp.77-78; Angels, 1996, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.152, slightly different
translation)

Just as we have something of form in the physical body of man as his lowest
principle and as in this form, which in truth, as we encounter it, is obviously 'Maya', lives
that which is a Spirit of Form - so that which appears to us when we direct our gaze into
cosmic space and there perceive a planet - Mercury, Venus, Mars or Jupiter - is the
external form of the Spirit of Form.
 Thus we rightly imagine such a planet as Mars, or Mercury, only when we first of all
picture it in its physical form, and then think of it as surrounded and permeated by a
spiritual atmosphere stretching out into infinity and having in the physical planet its
physical form, the creation of the Spirits of Form - and as its spiritual environment the
beings of the hierarchies. Only when we consider it thus do we conceive of a complete
planet, as having the physical as a kernal in the center, and around it the spiritual sheaths
which consist of the beings of the hierarchies.
Although the periods during which the inner changes alter the earth's surface are
comparatively great yet without going deeply into these matters, we can say that our
planet is in perpetual inner motion. Indeed, if we do not merely include the solid earth in
the planet, but also the water and the air, then daily life teaches us that the planet is in
inner motion. That is the life of the planet.

Just as the etheric ,body works in the life of the individual man, so does that which
we designate as the Spirits of Motion work in the life of the planet. Not only is that which
has just been described as inner vitality present in the planet but the Planet as a whole has
a consciousness, for it is indeed a being. This consciousness which corresponds to the
consciousness of man, to the lower form of consciousness - the subconsciousness in the
astral body is regulated in the planet by the Spirits of Wisdom. In thus describing the
planet, we still refer to the planet itself. We look up to the planet and say: It has a definite
form, that corresponds to the Spirits of Form; it has an inner mobility, that corresponds to
the Spirits of Motion. All this is permeated by consciousness, which corresponds to the
Spirits of Wisdom. That which leads the planet through space, which governs its
movement through space and causes it to revolve around the fixed star, corresponds to the
Spirits of Will, or Thrones. Now if these Spirits of Will were only to give the impulse of
motion to the planet, every planet would go its own way through the universe; but this is
not the case, for every planet acts in conformity with the whole system. The regulation of
the combined movements of the system is the work of the Cherubim. Each planetary
system with its fixed star, which is in a sense the Commander-in-Chief under the
guidance of the Cherubim, is again related to the other planetary systems to which other
fixed stars belong. That which, so to speak, the planetary systems discuss with one
another in cosmic space in order to become a cosmos is regulated by those beings we call
the Seraphim. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner
Publ. Co., pp.83-87; Angels, 1996, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.156-159, slightly different
translation)

Let us take, for example, the planet which for a long period of time, has been
reckoned as the outermost one in our system; Uranus and Neptune were added later, as
we shall see; but to begin with we will consider Saturn as the outermost. To the occultist
who follows the spiritual events in the cosmos, this globe which is seen out there is not
what the occultist calls Saturn; to him Saturn is that which fills the whole space bounded
by the apparently elliptical orbit of Saturn.
So that if with occult vision we regard this orbit of Saturn, we have a sort of etheric
filling in of the whole space. That which lies within this orbit we must think of as filled
with matter, not however in the form of a globe, for we have to do with a very flattened
ball, a lens. We shall understand still better what is in question-if we add an idea which
we can gain in a similar manner from occult science in regard to Jupiter.

What I am saying here is not mere theoretical idea or fancy, the fact actually is, that
matter, not coarse physical matter but fine etheric matter, fills the space within the orbit
of Saturn in its lenticular, flattened ball-like form, as drawn here. It is just as much a fact
that the second smaller space for Jupiter is filled with a different etheric substance which
permeates the first; so that there is simple etheric substance only between the two orbits;
within, the two etheric substances permeate one another.
The spiritual beings which we call the Spirits of Form work as forces within the
etheric substance I have just mentioned; but they all have a common centre, and this is
none other than the Sun. Thus if we seek for the actual place whence the Spirits of Form
work, the Spirits of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, etc. as also the Spirit of Form belonging to the
Earth - if we seek for the centre, the starting point from which the Spirits of Form work -
we find it in the Sun. That means that the Spirits of Form corresponding to our planets,
comprise, as it were, a synod or council of Spirits, having its seat in the Sun, and from
there sets boundaries to certain etheric substances, certain masses of ether, so that what
we call occult Saturn, occult Jupiter, comes into being.
But within the cosmos there are certain spiritual beings corresponding to the Spirits
of Form, but who, as it were, are rebels against those of their own class. Just as we find
Luciferic Spirits among beings of the Third Hierarchy, which in order to set up their own
independent life, cut themselves off from the spiritual substance of the higher hierarchies,
so do we also find within the category of the Spirits of Form that some separated and
would not go through the usual development of a Spirit of Form, but went through an
evolution of their own. These oppose the normal Spirits of Form, are in opposition to
them. What then happens is as follows
At an outermost point of this ethcric globe, in opposition to the Spirit of Form
working from the centre of the Sun works the rebel, the Luciferic Spirit of Form. At the
periphery, working inwards from cosmic space, is an abnormal Spirit of Form who has
cut himself off from the normal evolution of the others; and at a point through the
combined working of the forces working inwards from cosmic space, and those others
working outwards from the sun, there occurs an 'inturning', which finally becomes
detached, and that is the physical planet Saturn. Thus we have to imagine that where our
physical eyes see the planet Saturn, there are two forces working together;... This
produces an 'inturned' structure; the ether is notched, and this notch appears to the
physical eye as the physical planet Saturn. Just the same occurs with the physical Jupiter,
and with the physical Mars.
The Spirits of Form working from the Sun extended the etheric substance to a
certain distance; there worked the abnormal Spirits of Form in opposition, and caved the
substance in, so that in reality a hollow was made in the etheric substance. As regards the
original etheric substance of the planet, where the physical eye believes it sees the planet
there is really nothing; the actual planet is where the physical eye sees nothing. That is
the peculiarity of 'Maya'. Where the physical planet is seen, there is a hollow. Our Earth
itself, in so far as it is an accumulation of matter, is a hollow in cosmic space, something
bored into cosmic space. All physical matter comes into being through the meeting
together of forces coming from the Spirits of Form. In this case we have the meeting of
the forces of the normal Spirits of Form and those of the abnormal Spirits of Form. They
collide with one another and in reality an indentation is produced and consequently at this
point a simultaneous breaking up of the form, but only of the form. The form breaks up
and this hollow space is bored. Now broken spiritual form, crushed form, is in reality
matter. In a physical sense matter only exists when spiritual forms are broken up. Thus
the planets out there are also broken-up forms.
Just as it arrests the forces of the Spirits of Form, so does it arrest light, and throw it
back; hence it appears as a reflector, as a thrower-back of the light which the spirits we
call the Cherubim and Seraphim carry to it from the Sun.
Hence the planets have no light of their own, because they claim for themselves the
force of the light which would be their due if they were to open themselves to the normal
Cherubim and Seraphim - because they veil themselves, cut themselves off from the
whole. Thus every planet has a cut-off separated light. It is not correct to say that the
planets only have light borrowed from the Sun; every planet has its own light; but it has
cut it off, keeps it hidden within itself, and develops it for its own independent inner life
of light. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co.,
pp.95-104)

The spirit who carried the forces of his being from the centre-point of the Sun to the
periphery, was everywhere opposed by the abnormal spirits of the different hierarchies,
which in their totality, form the kingdom of Ahriman. We shall, however, see that we
must separate the kingdom of Ahriman from that of Lucifer with regard to the planetary
system. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co.,
pg.107)

In other words, if we try to direct our occult vision to another planet - to Mars, for
instance - and ask ourselves: How do the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones and Spirits of
Wisdom work upon Mars? The answer is: They work there just as upon our earth. But if
we ask the same question with regard to the Spirits of Motion and Form, this is no longer
the case. Every planet of our Planetary System has its own Spirit of Form, its own Spirit
of Motion.
Now when it is stated that Mars, for instance, has its own Spirit of Form, likewise
has Jupiter, and also the earth, we must if we wish to speak in picture (and in relation to
these exalted conditions everything is more or less a picture) we must imagine that
although actually the seat, the centre, of the activities of the Spirit of Form of Mars and
Jupiter and so on, is always the Sun; that they work from there, from the fixed star; yet
their sphere of action on Mars is, so to speak, allotted to the Spirits of Form from the Sun.
They work upon Mars from the Sun; other Spirits of Form work upon the Earth, others
upon Jupiter.
If we direct our occult vision to the fixed star, thus in our system to the Sun, we have
to say; these spiritual beings of the higher hierarchies, from the Seraphim down to the
Spirits of Wisdom, alone have a certain power over the nature of the Sun; they alone are
active for the development of the fixed star itself and its beings; whereas the Spirits of
Motion and Form can, so to speak, do nothing for the evolution of the beings of the fixed
star itself, to them is apportioned the planets which surround the fixed star in the
planetary system.
Now in the planetary system there still remain two cosmic bodies, the moon and the
comets; and the question now is: How do these cosmic bodies represent themselves to
occult vision?
Occult vision finds upon the moon nothing of that which is developed as human
life upon the earth. Nowhere do we find any traces of any human or animal activity, or
any such as we should attribute to the Angels. But if we go further and fix our attention
on the forces by means of which the Archangels forward human evolution and if we then
turn our occult sight to the moon, strange to say we find these forces existing there.
Occult vision finds there as active forces in existence on the moon the same forces which
it encounters when, in contemplating the earth evolution, it looks upon the development
of a people through its Folk-soul, through its Archangel. The Archangel who spiritually
guides the lives of nations is present in his special characteristic as forces and speaks to
us when we focus our spiritual sight on the moon. When we fix our attention upon the
nature of those spiritual beings whom we designate as the Archai or Spirits of the Age,
the beings who take charge of and lead earthly evolution from one epoch to another - for
instance, from the Egyptian civilisation to the Greek, or from the Greek to our own - if
we acquire an occult vision of the forces which rule in the guidance of evolution by the
Spirit of the Age, we find again these same distinctive forces when we look upon that
which meets our gaze from the moon. So, just as we could, for the planet, designate for
its sphere the beings of the higher hierarchies as far as the Spirits of Form, so can we also
set limits to the sphere of the moon and say: The sphere of the moon extends as far as the
Archangels. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ.
Co., pp.114-118)

Precisely the same impression as is made upon one by visualising all the moons, is
also made on one who looks at a human corpse, a physical body, the bearer of which has
recently passed through the gate of death. From this arises the occult knowledge that in
the moons that are continually coming into existence the planetary system is gradually
forming its own corpse within itself. The difference with regard to man is, that at the
moment when he, with his being, passes into the condition in which the planetary system
is when it forms moons, he then rejects his corpse; while the planetary system keeps the
corpse within itself, binds it together, and condenses the dying matter into moons. A
planetary system actually drags about its own corpse, and indeed a continually changing
corpse, in its moons; a corpse which is in the process of becoming, which is in the course
of evolution.
Thus as the animal kingdom lives on earth (and in so far as man has an extract of the
animal body in his living body we can also draw this comparison with the living human
body) and the impression of all the forms working in the animal kingdom resembles the
forces which proceed from the individual planets - we can say the following: The actual
living body, the body with which a living, conscious being is endowed as in primitive
man, or in the animals, corresponds to the system of planets of a planetary system; so that
in a whole planetary system we have all that we call the totality of the planetary mass, the
living body, that is, the body permeated by the principle of life and consciousness. The
totality of the planets of a system is therefor the living body of the planetary system. If
we consider all the spiritual beings we have described as contained in the planetary
system as the spirit and soul of the system, we must then consider the totality of the
planets as its Living body, and the totality of the moons as the corpse of the planets,
which they drag about with them.
We have noted the impression we have gained from the fixed star; we then seek the
similar though not yet satisfactory impression which we gain from a number of plants.
We go further; we abstract the external form of the plant and allow the etheric body
which is within the plant to work upon us. The resemblance then increases and becomes
almost as complete as that between the physical corpse of a man and the totality of the
moons. Occult perception then realises that when we look up to the fixed star, what we
perceive as working in the fixed star is the etheric body of the planetary system; for we
actually gain the impression of an etheric body. We understand the impression which the
fixed star makes upon us when we observe the etheric body of the plants, where it works
as yet unmixed with an astral body, where only the etheric body works, in co-operation
with the physical body. We then gain the knowledge that when we look at the fixed star,
we actually see the etheric body of the planetary system raying down from it.
We can now say: In the moons we have the corpse of the physical body; and in the
fixed star itself, raying out from it, we have the etheric body of the planetary system.
It must not for a moment be supposed that in the whole planetary system there is
nothing besides that which we have now called corpse, physical body, and the etheric
body; for of course every part is permeated by the beings of the various Hierarchies.
Naturally there are spiritual-psychic forces everywhere and we need only grasp the fact
that within the system are the Spirits of the Age , the Archangels and the Luciferic
Beings; they all belong to it.
From man himself stream forth continually, erroneous, base, evil thoughts; these are,
as we know, realities, which pass out into the astral world and continue to exist there; so
that the astral sphere of a planet is filled, not only by the normal substances of its psychic
being, but also by this out-poured astral substance. If we should investigate all the
harmful forces brought forth by the various Luciferic Spirits, we should find an enormous
mass of harmful, astral substances in a planetary system. And in a curious way, the occult
vision, which for a time has had the opportunity of observing cometary life, shows us that
everything of a cometary or meteoric nature is ever striving to collect round itself all the
harmful astral products, and to remove them out of the planetary system.
Occult vision shows us, that, however, as a matter of fact, just about when the comet
disappears from physical sight, it dissolves, and continues its way through a world not
limited to the ordinary three dimensions of space; it no longer exists in the ordinary
world. It actually disappears on the one side and appears again on the other. Thus, in
short, with the exception of a few comets which really have long-drawn elliptical orbits,
the comets for the most part are so formed that, disappear at the other, :they come in at
the one side and they reappear they formed themselves anew. Why? Because as a comet
approaches, it exercises a power of attraction it is, at first, merely a sort of spiritual force
centre; this centre attracts all the harmful astral streams, develops them around itself and
thus takes on form. In its journey towards the other side it draws this along with it, until it
gets beyond the region of the planetary system, when it casts it out into cosmic space.
Then the centre of force builds itself again at the other pole without needing three-
dimensional space, once more takes up the harmful matter and throws it out the other
side.
The sphere of the comets extends to the sphere of the Cherubim. We must therefor
first know what is the nature of the Cherubim and Seraphim, in order to understand the
substance and movement of the comets.
The evolution of the comets is therefor dependent upon the beings of the higher
hierarchies down to the Cherubim; the evolution of the fixed star is dependent on the
beings of the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Wisdom; the evolution of the
planet itself, apart from the human being who dwells upon it, is dependent upon the
forces proceeding from the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Form; and that which
works on the moon is dependent on the forces which proceed from the higher hierarchies
down to the Archangels. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951,
R.Steiner Publ. Co., pp.121-130)

The whole physical system of heavenly bodies is a testimony of past times, telling of
past occurrences. Whereas we, on our earth, are contemporary with the things which
appear before our physical eyes, what we see in the starry heavens is actually Maya, for it
does not represent an existing condition, but had its full significance in the past, and has
remained behind. The physical world of heavenly bodies represents the remains of the
past activities of the corresponding beings of the hierarchies, the after-effects of which
still enter into the present.
To our occult consciousness the moon tells of something which should not take
place as it shows itself there, if our earth-life is to be at all possible. If that which is there
represented to us were not now paralysed, so to speak, by of other things, man could not
possibly live his present life, because of what the moon tells us about herself. On the
other hand, the present day animal life on the earth, nor the plant life, nor the activity the
mineral world would be specially influenced. Certain beings of the animal and plant
kingdom would certainly have to be quite different in form - that we know direct from the
forces which work upon us from the moon with such vehemence - but substantially,
though animal, plant, and mineral life upon the earth would be possible, human life
would not. Thus the moon as we see her, tells of a condition which, if it were active,
would exclude human life from the earth. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies
&...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co., pp.135-136)

Occult vision shows us that the cause of the varieties of the animal species does not
simply originate on the earth; rather does the animal species receive its forms from
cosmic space, and indeed the forces which produce the one species come from a different
part of cosmic space from that whence come the forces which produce another. The
forces which construct the various animal-forms stream down upon our earth-planet from
the other planets of our planetary system. We may actually divide the whole animal
kingdom into six or seven principal groups, and these chief groups have the highest
group-egos. These have the impulse for their activity in the six or seven principal planets
belonging to our system; so that the forces which form the principal groups of the
animals work down spiritually from the planets. In saying this we have at the same time
given the concrete explanation of what is actually meant when we speak of group-egos of
the animals. ...they had to withdraw into these planets in order to work down with their
forces at the right distance from the earth and from the right direction. Now if the planets
were only to allow these forces to stream down upon our earth, we should not actually
have the multiplicity in the animal kingdom we now have, we should only have seven
principal forms. Once upon a time, in far distant ages, there were only the seven principal
animal forms; but these seven forms were very mobile, determinable, so soft and plastic
in their formation that they could easily be transformed; one special form into another
and again other forms into others; this actually occurred at a later period of time. The
seven principal forms date far, far back; but then appeared other forms in addition to
these, and as it were, worked either to strengthen or hinder the forces of the planets
The whole of cosmic space is filled with spiritual beings of the different hierarchies
working in different ways from various directions on to the earth. And men were also
aware that from certain points specially precise and definite forces worked down from
cosmic space, which were of quite particular importance to the earth. These are all
arranged in the stellar circle of cosmic space which has since ancient times been called
the Zodiac. Men did not then speak without reason of the Zodiac or Animal Circle; they
knew why it was so called. In the heavenly spaces the case is as follows: The forces
which worked down from the planet Mars, for instance and brought about in the still
plastic animal substance, one of the seven principal forms, worked in a different way
according to whether Mars stood before one sign of the Zodiac or before another. The
Zodiac was divided into Twelve Signs, which represent the constellations, and according
as the Martian forces which affect one animal form, stood before Aries, or Taurus, or any
other constellation, their influence varied. In this way the seven different forms were
modified. ...you see that there are a very great number of possibilities. (Spiritual Beings
in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co., pp.159-161)

Just as seven principal animal groups were formed, which have only been specified
according to the relations described, so did the Luciferic Beings of Motion work from the
planets on to the earth to differentiate the human race, which was actually, in a certain
sense, designed according to a single plan. Whilst in the whole cosmic plan it was
intended that a single human form was to arise throughout the earth, these Luciferic
Spirits of Motion worked down from the various planets and differentiated the human
form all over the earth in such a way that the forms of the chief individual races were able
to arise. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co.,
pg.164)

Thus these normally developed Spirits of Motion so work down from the planets
that they succeed one another in the process of human evolution, and reveal themselves
in the great civilization impulses in the evolution of the earth which reach out beyond the
sphere of the Spirits of the Age. Thus, for example, from that Spirit of Motion who
worked down from the planet which present-day astronomy calls Venus, and which
ancient astronomy called Mercury (for these two names have been exchanged), from that
Spirit of Motion came originally the impulse of the civilisation which was expressed in
Buddhism. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ.
Co., pg.168)

When you see the forces developing in a spiral in a plant from stipule to stipule, you
then have the activity of those forces which work down from the planets. And according
as the forces of the offspring of the Spirits of Motion work down from this planet or that
planet, does this peculiar line which puts forth the leaves vary. This gives a certain means
of studying the actual orbits of the individual planets through their reflection; and when
external science has once recognised this fact, it will have to correct a great deal of the
former astronomical systems. Certain plants are allotted to the forces of the Spirits of
Motion who work from Mars, others to those who are on Venus, others to those on
Mercury. They work in from their planet and according as they work in from one or the
other, they impart to the plant the movement expressed in the coil of their leaves; it is the
same movement which the corresponding planet makes; the absolute movement it makes
in the heavens.
Thus we have to compose the whole plant out of that which grows toward the sun or
toward the centre of the earth and that which winds itself round and copies in the stipules
the movements of the planets. This corresponds, however, with the real fact that we have
to seek the direct impulse of activity for the group-egos of the plants in the direction from
earth to sun. That is, if we do not direct our occult vision to the planet, but to the sun, we
shall find the different group-egos of the plants. These group-egos of the plants are the
offspring of the Spirits of Wisdom, just as the group-egos of the animals are the offspring
of the Spirits of Motion. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951,
R.Steiner Publ. Co., pp.170-172)

Were nothing active in the mineral but what is active on the physical plane, then the
mineral would only make itself perceptible as form; but this form is filled with inner
being; it has the inner being of the various mineral substances, Not only has it form, it has
matter, it has substance. ... the active forces by means of which it is put forth are not to be
sought upon the earth itself; hence it appears to the earth as dead. These streams of life,
this etheric body must be sought as streaming down from the several planets. Just as in
considering the group-egos of the animals we could say: In reality only the general forms
are created by the group-egos of the animals, and these are then further developed; so we
must say: the streams of life sent down by the individual planets which permeate the
earth from all sides, do not create the forms for the minerals, for those are created by the
Spirits of Form; but through these streams the minerals are permeated with inner being.
But this occurs in such a way that this inner being gives certain main types, main
substances and each substance is thereby connected with a stream proceeding from one of
the planets.
And then through the various positions of the planets, as I have already described
with regard to the group-souls of the animals - besides the main types, and substances -
other types, subordinate substances are created, which again depend on the constellation
of the individual planets. But what the planets create, each through its own original
nature, is expressed in the principal substances of the earth's organism.
If we observe the planet Saturn in our system we find that the life stream which
permeates the earth directly from him is connected with the substance we call lead: so
that we have a basic substance which is inwardly animated by Saturn. From Jupiter we
get tin as the main substance; from Mars, iron; and in the occult sense, from Venus,
copper. With regard to Mercury we must take into consideration that he was later
confused with Venus. The life activity (in the sense of true occult nomenclature)
produced creatively by Mercury, on account of its greater proximity when it penetrated
the earth-organism, bears a still greater resemblance to the planet itself, for Mercury
stands nearer the earth than the other planets. Therefor the substance has been given the
same name as the cosmic body itself, namely, Mercury or quick-silver.
In the whole sense of our past considerations it will be clear, that as we had to
ascend from the astral body of the plant to the group-ego, from the planets to the sun to
the fixed star; so with regard to the mineral kingdom, if we pass from the etheric body to
the astral body we must again ascend to the fixed star. Whereas the astral body in man or
animal holds together the etheric body from within; the etheric body of the mineral is as it
were, pushed towards it from outside, not concentrated and held together from inside, as
in man and animal. One might say that the etheric substance is driven into the mineral
from the point from which the sun shines upon the earth.
Thus while the etheric substance itself is directed by the planet, it is driven into and
held within the mineral or crystal by the sun, by the forces belonging to the sphere of the
Spirits of Wisdom.
The Luciferic Spirits, the Spirits of Wisdom of the Second Hierarchy who have not
gone through their development with the rest - instead of sending astral streams from the
sun to the mineral, send etheric streams to the earth. This resulted in a certain basic
substance being formed, which received its inner being, not from the planets but directly
from the sun; and this mineral is gold. Gold is that Luciferic mineral which as regards its
inner being is not influenced etherically from the planets, but by the sun. Hence the
occultist has allotted gold to the sun. In a certain sense this mineral is therefor somewhat
different from the other metals.
The stronger Luciferic forces had to be opposed by other forces which in a certain
sense paralysed them and arrested their effects. That could only come about through the
etheric stream which came from the sun being opposed by another, which counteracted,
and in a certain sense, balanced its effects. These opposing currents which readjusted the
equilibrium, were created by a part of the disturbed equilibrium substance being detached
from the earth and circling round the earth as moon. Thus the etheric streams coming
from the sun came into opposition to the etheric stream which flowed from the moon to
the earth from quite a different quarter, and in this way the balance was re-established.
This came about by the moon being separated from the earth; and from the Spirits of
Wisdom who separated from the moon, and who now, in a sense, became the opposers of
the Luciferic Spirits of Wisdom from the sun, stream down to the earth those etheric
forces which have produced the substance silver. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly
Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co., pp.185-191)

Now through the co-operation of what comes from the planets for the minerals, what
comes from the sun, and what streams in from the universe from the various directions
arises the possibility that not only have those basic types already mentioned come into
existence in the mineral kingdom, but all sorts of other forms, all sorts of differently
modified substances of the mineral kingdom been formed. (Spiritual Beings in the
Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co., pg.198)

It is to be noted that the two outermost planets now reckoned as belonging to our
system by physical astronomy - Uranus and Neptune - did not originally belong to our
solar system; they came in much later into the sphere of attraction of our system: they
then joined company and remained with in it. They cannot therefore be reckoned in the
same sense as the other planets as belonging to our system from Saturn onwards, for they,
so to speak, belonged to it from the beginning. (Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies
&...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co., pg.200)

In fact, the secret of the moon and its spiritual principle was first revealed to
humanity in the old Hebrew Records, and what we have found physically in the moon
is, in its spiritual aspect, what Hebrew antiquity designated as the Jehovah principle.
According to this the moon, so to speak, is designated as the starting-point of the
forces working upon humanity as the opponents of Lucifer.
Hebrew antiquity justly concluded that Jehovah must continue to work from the
moon until humanity has become inwardly mature enough to perceive and feel at least a
little of that which gradually in the course of evolution will be both seen and understood -
that from the same sun proceeds not only the physical part of Lucifer, but also the
dissemination of that of which the Spirits of Wisdom are the portal. (Spiritual Beings in
the Heavenly Bodies &...Nature, 1951, R.Steiner Publ. Co., pp.203-204)

7 June 1912
And now I ask you to follow this list we have made of the members of man's form.
1. Upright posture
2. Orientation to the utterance of Sound
3. Symmetry
4. Enclosure within itself
 5. The Interior of man that is so enclosed
6. The Interior of man in bodily aspect, having no connection with the outside world
7. Balance.
8. Organs of reproduction
9. Thigh
10 Knee
11 Leg
12 Feet
As I said before, it might at first sight appear arbitrary to show the human form
divided in this way into twelve members. But everything man requires in his form in
order for him to be man on earth is really comprised in these twelve members (I will
explain tomorrow how it is with the hands), and in such a way that each member has a
certain independence, each member is separate from the others. One could even imagine
that each one of them, while still in connection with the others, might assume quite
another form from the form it actually has. It is perfectly possible in each single case to
imagine other shapes or forms for the several members; but that the whole human figure
stands before us as the result of the conjunction of twelve such members, is a fact that
cannot be disregarded.
When you reflect upon the whole meaning and intention of man's existence upon
Earth, you cannot leave out of account that he has a form and figure membered in this
particular way, so that when we come to study his form we must inevitably think of it as
divisible into twelve parts or members. These twelve members have always been
regarded in occultism as of the deepest possible significance. We are bound to take them
into consideration if we would understand the meaning of the form and figure of man in
its relation to his being. Occultism has always known of them, and for reasons which will
become clear to us in the course of these lectures, as we continue our study of man in the
light of occultism, philosophy and theosophy, the twelve members have received twelve
specific designations.
What we gave as the first member has been called 'Ram' (Aries) and is denoted by
that Sign.
The second is named 'Bull' (Taurus) and is denoted by that Sign.
 Symmetry is called 'Twins' ( Gemini) and is denoted with that Sign.
What we described as the quality of enclosure within itself is given that Sign called
'Crab' (Cancer).
What we described as the interior, the life that is so enclosed, is called 'Lion' (Leo)
and symbolised with that Sign.
The inner parts of man, that in bodily aspect have no connection at all with the
outside world and point to the threefold character of man's nature, themselves typifying
complete isolation from the outside world, are called 'Virgin' (Virgo) and denoted with
that Sign.
Then we come to the condition of balance and there no explanation will be needed
for giving the name of 'Scales' (Libra).
The organs of reproduction, which have once more the direction outwards, are
denoted by the expression 'Scorpion' (Scorpio) and symbolised with that Sign.
The Thigh is called 'Archer' (Sagittarius) and has that Sign. The knees, the 'Goat'
(Capricorn), are symbolised with that Sign.
The leg below the knee is 'Waterman' (Aquarius) and has that Sign.
Finally, the feet are termed 'Fishes' (Pisces) and have that Sign.
For the moment, I ask you to see in these Signs no more than signs and signatures
for the various members that go to make the complete human form. Please regard them as
nothing else than a means of distinguishing the several members of the human form. You
know very well that these Signs belong to habits of mind and thought that are of great
antiquity, and in particular that they play a part in astrology. I want you, however, to
connect nothing else with them now than the fact that with their help we are able to study
the human form and see how it lends itself naturally to division into twelve members.
(Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy & Philosophy, 1989, Garber Comm. Inc.
pp.96-99)

8 June 1912
Let us now take the names we employed yesterday for the legs and feet and apply
them in a corresponding manner to the arms and hands which are joined on to the head
and which - as quite a superficial observation will enable you to see have spiritual
connection with the whole world through the head. You will not find it unreasonable or
inappropriate if we now apply to these arms and hands that are connected with the head,
the same terms that we used yesterday for legs and feet, and name this symmetrically
extended continuation of the head in the following way. First, we have as fourth member,
the upper arm, and to this we give the same designation as we gave to the thigh, Archer
(Sagittarius). We note a difference between the elbow and the knee, there being no
development in the elbow to correspond to the kneecap, but in spite of this the similarity
is sufficiently obvious. And so we give to the elbow the Sign and the name we gave to the
knee, - 'Goat' (Capricorn). We allot to the lower arm the same Sign as we took for the leg,
the Sign of Waterman (Aquarius), and the hands are denoted with the same Sign as we
gave to the feet, the Sign of Fishes (Pisces). And now if we take these members of man's
nature all together, by themselves, comprising as they do the whole head and arms, we
have a seven-membered man. That is an important perception. When you reflect on how
this complete sevenfold man receives nourishment - the nourishment is of course brought
up to it from the rest of man - then the idea will not be utterly grotesque if we imagine for
a moment that this sevenfold man might receive its nourishment from without, like a
plant which finds nourishment prepared for it in the world outside, and merely receives it
and works upon it. We could well imagine that the same thing happened for this
sevenfold man, and that it did not get whatever it needs for the maintenance of the brain
and so forth from the other parts of man's nature, but instead directly from the external
world. This sevenfold man would then be directly and immediately linked with the
external world.
It is essential for the occultist to come to an understanding of this sevenfold man if
he is to raise himself in a right way to the level of a higher consciousness. What we have
just been describing must at some time find place in his mind, - this possibility of a
sevenfold man, from which one thinks away all the remaining parts and members of the
present-day human being.
Let us now go on to consider the second man. We shall best understand the second
man if we pursue the following train of thought. The essential organ of the head is, as you
will easily see, the brain. Now man has something else in his form that is similar to the
brain. It differs from the brain of the head in what is apparently a detail, but really a point
of great significance. Man has actually something like a second brain; it is the brain of
the spinal cord, which is enclosed in the spinal column.
I will ask you to dwell for a little on this thought. Try to imagine that the spinal cord
is nothing else than a strange and peculiar brain. It is quite possible to feel it as a brain
that has been elongated and has become like a slender staff, - just as we can also see the
brain as an inflated spinal cord. It will help us here if we picture man assuming for the
moment the same posture in the world as the animals still have today, - that is to say, with
his spine not vertically upright but parallel with the surface of the earth.
Let us begin by assigning to this horizontal man the two dissimilar Twins. For we
can again call the two side appendages Twins (Gemini). In the horizontal man, head on
one side and feet on the other belong together; they are arranged in mutual relationship
and we denote them in this connection with the name Twins (Gemini).
And now we must go back to what we have seen to be a brain. Remember what we
said before. We only get the picture of man at which we are now looking by turning him.
We have before us the middle part of man, the body as such. This we must regard as a
world enclosed in itself, and moreover as a world which we are thinking of as containing
within it the second man. Thus we have the covering-in or the enclosing of this second
man, and within, above, a kind of brain. The enclosure - the shroud or encasement, as it
were - we designate as Crab (Cancer). The whole enclosure of the breast takes on quite a
new character through the fact that we have turned man in order to obtain a correct
picture of it.
Now let us see what members we can find within this enclosure of the breast. We
have only to follow the members as we took them in their sequence yesterday, as far as
the place where it ceases to be possible still to reckon them as part of the breast or middle
man. There is no question about the whole interior to which we gave the name of Lion
(Leo) and which is concentrated in the heart. This is the third member. Then you will
remember we saw how man is really divided within into two members, an inner content
that is enclosed by Crab (Cancer) and an inner content that is enclosed by the wall of the
abdomen. Anatomically man's body is quite exactly divided off by the diaphragm into an
upper and a lower cavity; what is below the diaphragm has also to be reckoned in with
the middle man. We call it the name Virgin (Virgo) with that Sign.
 We come then to the place of balance, where man begins to be no longer shut away
within his own form but to open himself to the world outside. When he uses his legs he is
making contact with what is outside him. The place of balance is the boundary where the
entirely 'within' comes to an end. This fifth member is called 'Scales' (Libra) and is given
that Sign.
From the whole way in which the organs of reproduction are placed in man, you will
see they must obviously be counted in with the middle man; and so we have, as sixth
member, the reproductive organs, Scorpion (Scorpio) with that Sign.
And now nothing remains to he done but to define the appendage that forms the
second of the Twins. If you consider what the thigh is for man, and observe how its
movement is conditioned by the middle man (for the thigh is closely connected to the
whole muscular system of the middle man), you will see that we must reckon it also as a
member. As far as the knee, man is middle man; the forces of the middle man enter into
the thigh and extend to the knee. Moreover, we have already included the thigh as one of
the Twins. The head on the one side and the thigh on the other constitute the pair of
Twins. The thigh, then, we denote with that Sign we call Archer (Sagittarius). (Man in
the Light of Occultism, Theosophy & Philosophy, 1989, Garber Comm. Inc. pp.106-107)

This is a fact that has to be brought home to the aspirant after occultism, - that in
arms and hands we have wonderful organs deeply and strongly connected with the
spiritual life that is lived by man on earth. When we consider how man has a sense
contact with the external world in his head where the sense organs are chiefly localised,
and then works with the external world by means of his hands, when we consider how he
can prepare in his head what he then shows to the external world with his hands and
bequeaths to it as art and culture, - then we begin to see the true character of this first
sevenfold man. It is the essentially spiritual man, it is man in his connection with the
external world. If we look at these seven members and see how they form a self-
contained whole, then we behold how in this sevenfold man the earth process becomes
conscious for man. This first seven-membered man is thus to be regarded as the spiritual
nature of the human being; it is the spiritual being of man, in so far as he is earth man.
Let us now look at the-second man. The fact that the middle man has Twins which
show such totally different developments on the two sides, gives it a double relation with
the outside world. It is connected with the outside world on the one hand through the
head, - for it has knowledge in the head; and on the other hand, through the fact that man
is a creature that moves about on earth and can direct his motion from within. Finally it is
also connected with the outside world by means of the reproductive organs which make
possible the physical continuity of man. Were it not for these three members, - the Twins
on the two sides, with the reproductive organs - there would be no connection with the
outside world. These three members in the middle organism enable man to have
connection on the one hand with the earth process and on the other hand with the
continued evolution of earth man, with the sequence of generations and the reciprocity of
sex.
When, however, we turn to those middle members that we denote with the words
Cancer,, Leo, Virgo and Libra, we find that they are only there for the inner man himself -
I mean of course 'inner' in the bodily sense. This bodily inner nature of man has, it is true,
continuations in two outward directions in what are for it the Gemini; but for the rest it is
entirely occupied with the inner organism. For man's inner organism it is of the very
greatest significance that he has a heart, but it is of very little interest for external nature,
and of just as little interest that he has an abdomen.
We have, therefore, three members that are of importance for external nature and
four others that serve especially man's own inner organism. Whilst the head man lives
essentially in the outside world, by virtue of the senses as well as by virtue of the
mechanism of arm and hand, here we have paramountly a life inside the organism. Far-
reaching differences thus exist between these two men, the middle man and the head
man.
We must now pass on to consider a third man. To enable us more easily to form a
mental picture of' this third man, we will take it in the reverse order, beginning from the
other end . We shall find that this third man separates itself off from the other two in a
perfectly natural and obvious manner.
Let us begin with the seventh member, the feet. We know from yesterday's lecture
that we confer upon the feet the name of Fishes (Pisces) and that Sign. The human form
is here wholly adapted to the outside world. If you think it over a little you will find there
is no question about it. For it is essentially the form of the foot that makes it possible for
man to be a creature who moves about on the earth. Everything else required for walking
man has to learn. It is in right accordance with nature that man has to place upon the earth
the broad sole of his foot, so that the extended surface of the foot is not directed inwards
but to the earth. And now since what we call the leg belongs to and corresponds to this
foot nature, we must reckon as sixth member the leg, to which we give the name
Waterman (Aquarius) and that Sign.
We come then to the fifth member, the knee, which is here to be regarded in no other
way than as forming a necessary mechanical resting place for the thigh. Because man has
to bring his whole middle man into connection with the lower man - the foot and leg -
therefore must there be this partition at the knee. Think how difficult it would be to walk
if the lower leg and foot were not separated off in this way. If we did not need to walk,
the middle man would not concern us. As it is, however, we need the middle man and
consequently also require the knee as connecting member. We call it Goat (Capricorn)
with that Sign. This is the fifth member.
The fourth, the thigh, we have already considered and we have seen that it belongs
to the middle man. The thigh would have to be there even if man had another kind of
movement. If for instance, he were to fly or swim, he would still need the thigh, though it
might have to assume another form. If man is to be able to walk on the earth, not only
must the foot and leg and knee be adapted to the ground but also the thigh must be in the
right relation and proportion to these members. It must be so formed as to correspond in
the right way to the three lower members. You will recognise this when you observe that
in so far as the thigh is in correspondence with the middle organs it is the same kind in
birds, in four-footed animals and in man; in man it is only differently developed. Thus,
the thigh belongs to man insofar as he has an animal nature. We give it the name of
Archer (Sagittarius) and that Sign.
It can easily be seen that the organs of reproduction are on the one hand formed from
within, and on the other hand in their functions are adapted to the world outside. Let me
say in passing, we must speak of these things quite objectively, and consider aspects of
them that can only be considered when the subject is treated with scientific seriousness.
The reproductive organs are adapted to external nature in the sense that they relate one
sex to the other. The organ of the male is not only formed from out of the middle man,
but it is also given an outward direction and its form adapted to the reproductive organ of
the female. We have, therefore, to speak of the reproductive organs as the third member,
which we name Scorpion (Scorpio) and denote by that Sign.
We come next to what is called the Scales (Libra), the place of balance in man. The
external form of the region of balance is sufficient evidence that we have here a member
of the middle nature of man. Bear in mind that it is because man has become upright that
he had to have here this organ of balance. It must be developed in such a way as to enable
him to become an upright being. Compare the region of balance in a four-footed animal
with the same in man, and you will recognise that this member of balance is different
according as the upper part of the body has an upward direction or rests horizontally on
the legs and feet. Thus, the place where the balance is situated and which we designate as
Libra has to be reckoned as the second member of the lower man.
And now we come to something that cannot but meet with misunderstanding on the
part of present-day science. We have so far considered a sixfold man; we have studied the
third man beginning from below upwards and found in him these six members. When we
consider the other two, the first and the second sevenfold man, we took as our starting-
point in each case a brain. In considering the head, we began with the brain and that led
us to the arms and hands. Then we learned to see a second brain, a brain that is like an
elongated staff but yet is truly brain, - the spinal cord. As you will know, the difference
between the spinal cord and the brain of the head, though apparently only small, is really
very great. The spinal cord is the instrument for all movements that man is obliged to
perform; the movements that we call involuntary movements are controlled by the spinal
cord. When, on the other hand, we employ the instrument of the brain, thought inserts
itself between perception and movement. In the spinal cord all connection with thought is
lacking. There movement follows directly on perception. In the case of the animal the
spinal cord plays a greater part than it does in the case of man, and the brain a lesser part.
Most animals perform their actions quite involuntarily. Man, however, by virtue of his
superior brain, wedges in thinking between perception and movement; consequently his
deeds show a voluntary character.
Let us now try to picture the third man in such a way that in it too we discover a kind
of brain. As you know, there is in man a third system of nerves, distinct from those of the
brain and the spinal cord. It is the sympathetic nervous system, the so called solar plexus,
situated in the lower part of man and sending its fibres upwards parallel with the spinal
cord. It is a nervous system that is separate from the other two and, in relation to the
brain proper, may be regarded as a peculiar, undeveloped brain. When we follow the
human form upwards beyond Libra we find this remarkable sympathetic nervous
system, the solar plexus, extended like a brain of the third man. With the special organs
we have already enumerated there is thus connected also what we have to regard as a
kind of third brain, - the solar plexus.
Now, a vital connection exists - and this is what external science cannot but find
difficult to accept between the solar plexus and the kidneys. As the substance of the
brain in the head and the fibres of the nerve tracks belong together, so do the kidneys
belong to the brain of the abdomen, the solar plexus. In fact, the solar plexus and the
kidneys form, together, a peculiar kind of subordinate brain. Reckoning this brain as part
of the lower man, we can designate it with the term Virgin (Virgo) . We have therefore
now our seventh, or rather our first, member, made up of the connection of solar plexus
with kidneys; and at this point we reach the termination above of the third sevenfold man.
Man is thus found to be threefold in his composition. These three men work into and
with one another, and no understanding of the nature of the human being is possible until
one knows that in him three human beings are in reality active. Three sevenfold men
work together in man. (Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy & Philosophy, 1989,
Garber Comm. Inc. pp.109-115)

UPPER MAN (related to thought)

1 Upright Position Aries
2 Direction forwards Taurus
3 Symmetry Gemini
4 Upper Arm Sagittarius
5 Elbow Capricorn
6 Lower Arm Aquarius
7 Hands Pisces
 MIDDLE MAN (related to feeling)
1.Head & Feet, Twins Gemini
2.Breast encl. Cancer
3.Interior, Heart Leo
4 The second Interior part of man Virgo
5 Balance Libra
6 Organs of Reproduction Scorpio
7 Thigh Sagittarius

LOWER MAN (related to will)

7 Feet Pisces
6 Leg Aquarius
5 Knee Capricorn
4 Thigh Sagittarius
3 Organs of Reproduction Scorpio
2 Balance Libra
1 Kidneys, Solar Plexus Virgo
(Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy & Philosophy, 1989, Garber Comm. Inc.
pg.118)

9 June 1912
In those olden times man was so constituted that the Moon had a particularly strong
influence on his brain. The consequence was that the ancient clairvoyance was very
dependent on the phases of the Moon, and showed itself for the most part in connections
that found expression in the phases of the Moon. For a space of fourteen days
clairvoyance increased, and then for fourteen days it decreased again. Its influence was
thus greatest in the middle of such a Moon period. There were times when men knew: We
are Sun beings. They knew it because they could perceive the Sun through the inner idea
formed in the brain. But this came about through the influence of the Moon. The old
clairvoyance often worked in the way I indicated. Man gave himself up throughout the
whole twenty-eight days to the waxing and waning of the Moon. There were days when
the influence of the Moon was particularly strong and when in consequence clairvoyance
was present in everyone; inner clairvoyant consciousness made itself felt in all men.
When initiates in occultism came to people of this kind with the mission of determining
for them the character of their religion, then for the same reason that other peoples were
made Sun (or Day) worshippers and Star (or Night) worshippers, the initiates made this
third kind of people Moon worshippers. Hence the worship of the Moon that is to be
found among many ancient peoples. (Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy &
Philosophy, 1989, Garber Comm. Inc. pp.137-138)

11 June 1912
Let us now return to our study of threefold man and remind ourselves how we had to
connect the upper man with the heaven of the stars. We went on to show that the figure
known to the Old Testament under the name of Jahve or Jehovah gives something to the
upper man as a kind of compensation for what man has lost on the Earth, and this gift of
Jahve's can be reckoned as belonging to the Moon. Summing up our study of these
connections, we may therefore say: The upper man is in a certain sense co-ordinated to
the Moon, while the middle man, the breast man, that carries the heart within him, is in a
sense co-ordinated, as we saw, to the Sun. We can accordingly form some idea of what
occult Schools and Mysteries have always understood by the co-ordination of the middle
man, the man that bears the heart in him, to the Sun, and of the man that carries the head,
either to the whole starry heavens or to the Moon.
But now Lucifer has also had his influence on man. Even as we carry in our middle
man the influence of the Sun, and in our head man the influence of the Moon - as I
described it for ancient clairvoyance - so do we carry in us the influence of another star,
and we have to think in a corresponding way of the forces that ray out from this other
star.
You will readily imagine that the influence must needs be of a different kind from
the influence of Sun or Moon. The Moon influences still worked in olden times with such
effect that human clairvoyance took its course in a 28-day period. In the course of 28
days man felt himself now in a more, and now again in a less, clairvoyant condition. This
was an influence that could be directly perceived. The Sun influences are of course
obvious. We shall not need to waste many words over the fact that the whole of the
middle man depends on the Sun; what was said in the last lecture should suffice. The
influence of the third - which is to be found in the region that appears to us in initiation as
the region of Lucifer - works on the other hand in a spiritual manner. Here we can no
longer speak of an influence that is easily evident. Many an influence even of the Moon
can be disbelieved on this account; nevertheless there are still people who speak of an
influence of the Moon on the nature of man. As for the Sun's influence, no one will deny
that. It goes without saying, however, that influences of other stars are not admitted by
the materialist. He must of necessity repudiate them, for they are spiritual and he cannot
admit the influence of spiritual forces. None the less it is a fact that just as there is in the
upper man the connection with the Moon, and in the middle man the connection with the
Sun, so are the influences of Venus connected with the form of man that meets us when
we cross the threshold of initiation. Note that we are speaking now of the star which the
astronomers of today call 'Venus'.
Venus is thus the kingdom of Lucifer. At first we learn through initiation that the
lower man, the man we called the third seven-membered man, is that part of the whole
nature of man which has been apportioned by the higher Gods to the kingdom of Lucifer.
But Lucifer has, by a method of which we shall speak further, acquired mastery over the
whole human being, - even as Jahve or Jehovah also took possession of the whole human
being.
If you want to have a complete picture of the working of Jahve or Jehovah, then you
will have to see it in the following way. Take first the head man, as you have learned to
know it from earlier lectures. Into the head man works the power of Jehovah which
corresponds to New Moon, the Moon that is bereft of light, the Moon that does not ray
back sunlight on to the Earth. The physical sunlight that is reflected from the Moon - that,
on the other hand, is to be thought of as the influence of the Jehovah forces which
proceeds from the Moon onto lower man, the third man.
The corresponding influences of the intermediate phases of the Moon - the waxing
and waning Moon - work upon the breast man. And now you must consider in addition
that just as the Moon - that is to say, the Spirit of the Moon, Jahve or Jehovah - works
upon the entire man in all his three members, so too does the Sun, but especially on the
middle man; thence the Sun's influences ray out into the whole human being. We have
accordingly two cosmic forces both working actively in the human being in an orderly
and regular manner.
Of Lucifer we learn that his kingdom is Venus. The forces which find their physical
symbol in the light of Venus shining down upon us as Morning or Evening Star, the
physical rays of Venus that are sent out into cosmic space, - are the symbol of the
influence of Lucifer upon man. Lucifer has not confined himself to working on the lower
man.
If he had, he would only have influence when Venus is shining with her full orb of
light, as in Full Moon. For you know that Venus has phases like the Moon, waxing Venus,
full Venus and waning Venus. The 'quarters' work on the breast man like the 'quarters' of
the Moon. The Venus that works spiritually, works on the head man. We can, therefore,
behold in the working together in the heavens of Sun, Moon and Venus, an expression for
what in respect of man are spiritual workings. Please note, an expression for what is in
the spirit of man.
As the great Sun Spirit works in relation to the Moon Spirit, in relation, that is, to
Jahve or Jehovah, so also Lucifer, who is always active in human nature works in
relation to these two. If we wanted to describe by means of a drawing the law of their co-
operation we could not do better than look up at the constellations in the heavens of Sun,
Moon and Venus. As is the relationship of these three to one another, - whether they are
in opposition, or whether they strengthen or weaken one another, as when one stands in
front of another and eclipses it - so is the relation between these three spiritual powers in
man. The influence of the Sun can be more particularly developed when it is not impaired
either by the Moon or by the Venus forces. It may, however, also happen that the Sun
forces - the forces that are in the middle man, in the heart are eclipsed by the Moon, the
head forces, and eclipses can occur also by the action of Lucifer, that is of Venus. As you
know, there are times when Venus passes in front of the Sun in cosmic space.
Seeing that we were able to divide up the whole human form and connect its parts
and members with certain fixed stars, certain Signs of the Zodiac, it will not now be
difficult for you to understand that a relationship can exist between these three Stars in
man - that is, the three great spiritual Powers in man - and the several members of the
human form. We have to recognise, for instance, a particularly significant phase of this
relationship when the heart in the middle man, or rather when the powers of the heart, the
powers of the Sun Spirit in the middle man, exert their utmost influence. In the middle
man, you will remember, we saw inscribed the Sign of Leo. We can, therefore, say that
when the Sun exerts his forces especially on that member of the human form to which we
give symbolically the Sign of Leo, then a remarkable constellation is present in man.
Another remarkable constellation is present when the Jehovah forces are especially
strongly developed in their spiritual character, - let us say, in the sign of Aries, which
signifies the upright posture, or in the Sign of Taurus which denotes, as you know, the
forward direction of the organs for the purpose of producing speech. For these are the
parts of the human form which necessarily have an original and peculiarly deep
relationship to the Moon forces. When these members of man 's form are very highly
developed, then it denotes a particularly favourable constellation for the human being.
You will be able now to discern wherein the fundamental principle, the real essence
of astrology consists. I have certainly not the intention of going fully into the subject of
astrology in these lectures - there would not be time - but I want at this point to call your
attention to its true nature. We can put it in very few words. You see, man, as he stands
before us with his threefold seven-membered form, is in connection and harmony with
the spiritual Powers corresponding to the cosmic realms. For as the forces of the Sun
Spirit that work in man correspond to the Spirit of the Sun, as the forces of the Moon
correspond to the head man, and as we have corresponding to the third man the forces
that are distributed over the whole human being, similarly is there a correspondence
between the several members of the human form and the fixed stars, so that their Signs
can be ascribed severally to these various members of man's form. And we have before us
- man, complete in his physical form. But now the influence proceeding from the Powers
that work from these directions was not active only when the human form first came into
being, it has continued so right through time and is active still. And we see the working of
this influence in the fact that man's external destiny can be brought into connection with
the constellations of the Stars, just as we had to connect with the constellations of the
Stars what man has already become. If it was auspicious for man's organisation that his
Sun forces co-operated with those members of his form to which we ascribe the Sign of
Leo, then it will also be auspicious today for certain qualities and characteristics in him if
some important moment of his life, notably the moment of birth, falls when the Sun is in
the Sign of Leo, that is to say, when the Sun covers Leo, so that these two forces mutually
strengthen one another or in some way influence one another. For as what man is today
stands written in the heavenly spaces in the writing of the constellations of the Stars, so
stands written there too what is yet to happen with him. This is the ground of true
astrology. You will see at once from what we have been considering that you really only
need to know occultism and you have at the same time the root principle of astrology.
(Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy & Philosophy, 1989, Garber Comm. Inc.
pp.164-170)

If the seven movements we have described are correctly understood, then with them
are exhausted the inner movements of man. The others are outer movements. When man
moves his feet or his hands, that is an external movement. The inner movements man
brought with him when he came to Earth, though Earth has, it is true, changed them very
much. And just as we had to refer the whole complete form of man to the fixed stars of
the Zodiac, and connect the Signs of the Zodiac with the several members of the human
form, so now we find that the several movements have their source in the entire
planetary system. From our planetary system we have to derive these seven members of
what we may call the man of inner movement. And since the relationship of these
movements to one another corresponds to the relationship of the planets of our planetary
system, we can also designate these several movements with the Signs that belong to
these planets, thus:
Movement into upright posture Saturn
Movement of thinking Jupiter
Movement of speaking Mars
Movement of the blood Sun
Movement of the breath Mercury
Movement of the glands Venus
Movement of reproduction Moon
 A word must be said about the movement of the blood. This movement comes into
contact with what we have earlier learned to recognise as the centre of the organs
belonging to middle man, the 'plane of operations' as it were for the Sun Spirit. Thus the
movement of the blood, which has its centre in the middle man, is to be brought into
relation with the most important force in the middle man, and we have to designate this
movement of the blood with the Sign of the Sun. In doing so, we are thinking of the
power and force of the Sun Spirit in so far as it is a force in movement. It is, we could
say, as a fixed star that the Sun works upon the middle man as a whole. On the other hand
it exerts its influences on the movements that depend on the middle man, on the
movements of the blood, as one of the planets.
If I make use of the Sign which is also used by the astronomers of today - employing
therefore in this case not the old terminology which was altered by Kepler, but the names
that are customary in the astronomy of today then the movement of the breathing can be
denoted by Mercury, the movement of the glands by Venus and the movement of
reproduction by Moon. For this last movement, localised as it is in the lower man is again
a movement that comes into contact with the influence of the Spirit of the Moon. This
influence here meets and combines with the inner moving of the human being.
And now, when the pupil, as it were, steps forth out of his man of inner movement,
he meets with seven forms. He makes the acquaintance of seven spiritual Beings, and he
knows that these seven spiritual Beings correspond to his own inner movements in the
very same way that Sun, Moon, and Venus correspond to what we spoke of yesterday. He
comes to understand that he himself has grown out of our planetary system, and that since
the physical stars of the planets are directed by the Spirits of the planets, man is only
able, for example, to lift himself upright through the fact that the Spirit of Saturn prevails
in him, the Spirit who has his scene of action on Saturn as Lucifer has his on Venus. He
knows too that his movement of thought has connection with the Regent or directing
Spirit of Jupiter, the movement of speech with the directing Spirit of Mars, the movement
of the blood with the directing Spirit of the Sun, the whole movement of the breath with
the directing Spirit of Mercury, all the glandular movements with the directing Spirit of
Venus, and finally the whole movement of reproduction with the directing Spirit of the
Moon. He knows furthermore, that all these Spirits work with and through one another.
They have their seat, their base of operations, in man, and one kind of movement works
upon another. The Spirit of Saturn, for instance, while it works chiefly through the
movement made by man in lifting himself upright, takes part indirectly in all other
movements. A significant situation occurs when the guiding Spirit of Saturn manifests his
forces with peculiar strength in the Sign of Aries or the Sign of Taurus. This creates a
very important situation. (Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy & Philosophy,
1989, Garber Comm. Inc. pp.173-176)

12 June 1912
The great wide world was not then as it is now. If we were to transport ourselves in
these days to the present Sun, then, looking outwards in all directions as from the centre
of a circle, we should perceive in the first place the twelve Signs of the Zodiac. These
were not then externally visible; but instead, twelve great Forms, twelve Beings were
present who let their words ring forth from the depths of the darkness, - outer space being
of course not then filled with light. What kind of words were these? They were words -
the word 'word' is again only a makeshift, to indicate what is here meant - they were
words that told of primeval times, of times that even then were in a remote and ancient
past. The twelve were twelve World-Initiators. Today we behold standing in the
directions of these twelve World-Initiators the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, but from them
resounds, for the soul that is open to the whole world, the original being of the Unspoken
Word of the Worlds, that could take form in the twelve Voices. And whilst Lucifer alone -
I must now begin to speak more in pictures; human words do not in the least suffice
whilst Lucifer had the impulse to let stream out upon all things the light that was present
in him and therewith come to a knowledge of all things, the Christ on the other hand,
gave Himself up to the Impression of this Word of the Worlds, received It in its fulness
and entirety into Himself, so that this Christ Soul was now the Being that united in
Himself all the great Secrets of the World that sounded into Him through the
inexpressible Word. Such is the contrast that presents itself, - the Christ Who receives the
Word of the Worlds, and the proud Lucifer, the Spirit of Venus, who rejects the Word of
the Worlds and wants to found and establish everything with his own light.
All subsequent evolution is a direct outcome of what Lucifer and Christ were at that
time. (Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy & Philosophy, 1989, Garber Comm.
Inc. pp.190-191)

On Mars it is so, that the men who have remained there stand in great peril, even as
the Earth men were in peril, from which Christ set them free. The danger for the Mars
men is, that their astral body - they have, as you know, not an I to develop as we - their
astral body, and thereby indirectly also their ether body, may suffer a very serious
diminution of force and become dried up. The whole nature of the Mars men has proved
to be of a kind that leads to terrible wars. The men of Mars tend to settle permanently on
a certain spot. And there is, or rather was, on Mars constant war and strife, due to the
astral bodies that are very strong and not tempered and made gentle by an I. If you think
it over you will understand that among men who develop in this way there must
inevitably be a terrible amount of strife and conflict. Mars is nothing else than a kind of
re-incarnated Moon. (Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy & Philosophy, 1989,
Garber Comm. Inc. pg.206)
26 Oct. 1912
In our time we should fear rather than welcome a too forcible appearance of a
visionary world on entering the realm of the spirit. When we begin our exercises to rise
into the higher worlds it is indeed possible for visionary experiences to penetrate into us.
In our time there is only one safeguard against making mistakes in the presence of this
visionary world, namely, to say to oneself that to begin with one can only learn certain
things about oneself from these visions. The appearance of a whole host of visions around
us need be nothing more than the mirror of our own being. Our own disposition and
maturity of soul, all we think and feel, transform themselves in the spiritual world into
happenings that appear to be objective realities. For instance, when we see events in the
astral world that seem objective to us, they may be nothing more than the reflection of
our own virtues and defects, or indeed the effect of a headache. He who seeks genuine
initiation, especially in our time, must endeavor to understand by thinking all that reaches
him by way of the visionary experience. Therefor, the candidate for initiation will not rest
until he has understood what he has encountered in the visionary world as thoroughly as
he understands the physical world. (Life Between Death and Rebirth, 1968,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.5)

18 Nov. 1912
Man's consciousness does not, however, extend directly to his astral and etheric
nature, and it extends far less to his physical nature. Although perpetual destruction of
these members is taking place through the whole course of life, we do not know how to
rectify it. Man has the power to repair the harm done to the ego, to adjust a moral defect
or a defect of memory, but he has no power over what is being continually destroyed in
his astral, etheric and physical bodies. These three bodies are being impaired all the time,
and as we live on constant attacks are being made upon them. We work at the
development of the ego, for if we did not do so during the whole of life between birth and
death no progress would be made. We cannot work as consciously at the development of
our astral, etheric or physical body as we work at the development of our ego. Yet what is
all the time being destroyed in those three bodies must be made good. In the time
between death and a new birth we must again acquire in the right form as astral body,
etheric body and physical body - what we have destroyed. It must be possible during this
time for what was previously destroyed to be repaired. This can only happen if something
beyond our own power works upon us. It is quite obvious that if we do not possess
magical powers it will not be possible for us to procure an astral body when we are dead.
The astral body must be created for us out of the Great World, the Macrocosm.
We can now understand the question, 'Where is the destruction we have caused in
our astral body repaired?' We need a proper body when we are born again into a new
bodily existence. Where are the forces that repair the astral body to be found in the
universe? We might look for these forces on the earth with every kind of clairvoyance,
yet we would never find them there. If it depended entirely on the earth, a man's astral
body could never be repaired. The materialistic belief that all the conditions needed for
human existence are to be found on the earth is utterly mistaken. Man's home is not only
on the earth. True observation of the life between death and a new birth reveals that the
forces man needs in order to repair the astral body lie in Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, that is, in the stars belonging to the planetary system. The forces emanating from
these heavenly bodies must all work at the repair of our astral body, and if we do not get
the forces from there we cannot have an astral body. What does that mean? It means that
after death, and it is also the case in the process of initiation, we must go out of the
physical body together with the forces of our astral body. This astral body expands into
the universe. Whereas we are otherwise contracted into a small point in the universe, after
death our whole being expands into it. Our life between death and a new birth is nothing
but a process of drawing from the stars the forces we need in order that the member we
have destroyed during life can be restored. So it is from the stars that we actually receive
the forces which repair our astral body. (Life Between Death and Rebirth, 1968,
Anthroposophic Press, pp.38-39)

3 Nov. 1912
Here we are bound outwardly to the earth, surrounded by the physical world and
separated from the heavenly spheres. As long as we dwell within the moon sphere we are
in kamaloca, which means that we are still longing to be connected with the earth. We
proceed beyond it when we have learned through life in kamaloca to forego passions and
longings. The sojourn in the spiritual world must be imagined quite differently from what
is customary on earth. There we are spread out in space, we feel ourselves in the whole of
space.
After the life in kamaloca we grow further out into space. This will depend on
certain qualities that we have acquired previously on the earth. A long span of our
evolution after death, and our ability to expand to the next sphere, is determined by the
moral attitude, the ethical concepts and feelings we develop on earth. A person who has
developed qualities of compassion and love - qualities that are usually termed moral -
lives into the next sphere so that he becomes acquainted with the beings of that sphere. A
man who brings a lack of morality into this realm dwells in it like a hermit.
Now man's being expands up to the orbits of the morning and the evening stars,
whereas previously it expanded only to the Moon. Something strange happens at this
point. Until the Moon sphere we are still involved in earthly affairs, but even beyond, the
connection with earthly matters is not entirely severed. On earth if we have done a person
some injustice or have not loved him as much as we should, we can make up for these
feelings. We can go to him and put things right. This is no longer possible from the
Mercury sphere onward. We behold the relationships in recollection. They remain but we
cannot alter them. (Life Between Death and Rebirth, 1968, Anthroposophic Press,
pp.64-65)

The next sphere is termed the Venus sphere in occultism. We now expand our being
up to Mercury, which is known as the occult Venus. In this sphere the human being
again is strongly influenced by what he brings. The more religious the disposition of soul
we have acquired, the more social we become in this sphere. People who lack religious
inclination cut themselves off. They cannot move beyond a sheath or shell that surrounds
them. Nevertheless, we get to know friends who are hermits, but we cannot reach them.
We continually feel as if we have to break through a shell but are incapable of doing so.
In the Venus sphere, if we have no religious inwardness, it is as if we were to freeze up.
This is followed by a sphere in which, however strange it may appear, the human
being, and this is so for everyone after death, expands up to the Sun. There is a period
between death and rebirth when we become Sun beings. But now something further is
necessary. In the first sphere we need moral inclination and in the Venus sphere, a
religious life. In the Sun sphere it is essential that we truly know the nature and being of
the Sun spirits and above all, the ruling Sun Spirit, the Christ, and that we made a
connection with Him on earth. (Life Between Death and Rebirth, 1968, Anthroposophic
Press, pp.67-68)

If we are born with a moral inclination, it means that on the return journey during
the condition of sleep the Mercury sphere was able to bestow much upon us. It was the
Venus sphere, if we are endowed with religious feelings. As every morning on earth we
awaken strengthened and refreshed with new forces, so we are born strengthened by the
forces given by the cosmos, and we receive them in accordance with our karma. The
cosmos can bestow forces that are predispositions from birth, inasmuch as karma will
allow. (Life Between Death and Rebirth, 1968, Anthroposophic Press, pg.75)

26 Nov. 1912
We bring with us from the earth an understanding of the Christ, but in order to
develop a stage further so that we may proceed out into the universe from the Sun sphere
to Mars, we need to recognise the second Throne that stands beside the Throne of Christ
in the Sun. This is possible simply by virtue of the fact that we are human souls. From
this other Throne we now learn to know the other Being who, together with the Christ,
leads us onward. This other Being is Lucifer. We learn to know Lucifer, and through the
powers that he is able to impart to us we make the further journey through the spheres of
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
We expand ever further into cosmic space, but as we move out beyond the Saturn
sphere our state of consciousness is changed. We enter into a kind of cosmic twilight. We
cannot call it a cosmic sleep, but a cosmic twilight. Now for the first time the powers of
the whole cosmos can work in upon us. They work from all sides, and we receive them
into our being. Then we begin to draw together again, pass through the different spheres
down to the Venus sphere, contract and become ever smaller until the time comes when
we can again unite with an earthly human germ. (Life Between Death and Rebirth,
1968, Anthroposophic Press, pp.95-96)

15 Dec. 1912
"So you see, we go through the Moon , Mercury, Venus and Sun spheres. In each
sphere we meet, to begin with, what corresponds to the inner forces that we bring with
us. Our emotions, urges, passions, sensual love, unite us to the Moon sphere. In the
Mercury sphere we meet everything that is due to our moral imperfections; in the Venus
sphere, all our religious shortcomings; in the Sun sphere, everything that severs us from
the purely human.
"Now we proceed to other spheres that the occultist terms the sphere of Mars, Jupiter
and Saturn. Here Lucifer is our guide and we enter into a realm that bestows new forces
upon us. Just as here we have the earth below us, so there in the cosmos we have the Sun
below us. We grow into the divine-spiritual world, and we must hold fast in memory what
we have brought with us of the Christ impulse. Now Lucifer draws near to us. (Life
Between Death and Rebirth, 1968, Anthropoisophic Press, pg.140)

18 Dec. 1912
 Anyone who asks from the standpoint of occultism what kind of world conception
can be derived from the Copernican tenets will have to admit that although these ideas
can lead to great achievements in the realm of natural science and in external life, they
are incapable of promoting any understanding of the spiritual foundations of the world
and the things of the world, for there has never been a worse instrument for
understanding the spiritual foundations of the world than the ideas of Copernicus - never
in the whole of human evolution. The reason for this is that all these Copernican concepts
are inspired by Lucifer. Copernicanism is one of the last attacks, one of the last great
attacks made by Lucifer upon the evolution of man. In earlier, pre-Copernican thought,
the external world was indeed maya, but much traditional wisdom, much truth
concerning the world and the things of the world still survived . Since Copernicus,
however, man has maya around him not only in his material perceptions but his concepts
and ideas are themselves maya. Men take it for granted nowadays that the sun is firmly
fixed in the middle and the planets revolve around it in ellipses. In the near future,
however, it will be realised that the view of the world of the stars held by Copernicus is
much less correct than the earlier Ptolemaic view. The view of the world held by the
school of Copernicus and Kepler is very convenient, but as an explanation of the
macrocosm it is not the truth. (Esoteric Christianity & ... Christian Rosencreutz, 1984,
R. Steiner Press, pp.174-175)

Between birth and death we live on the earth. Between death and a new birth man
has a certain connection with the other planets. In my 'Theosophy' you will find
Kamaloka described. This sojourn of man in the soul world is a time during which he
becomes an inhabitant of the Moon. The one after another, he becomes an inhabitant of
Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and then an inhabitant of the further
expanses of heaven or the cosmos. One is not speaking incorrectly when one says that
between two incarnations on the earth lie incarnations on other planets, spiritual
incarnations. Man at present is not yet sufficiently developed to remember, whilst in
incarnation, his experiences between death and a new birth but this will become possible
in the future. Even though he cannot remember what he experienced on Mars, for
example, he still has Mars forces within him, although he knows nothing about them.
One is justified in saying : I am not an earth inhabitant, but the forces within me include
something that I acquired on Mars. Let me consider a man who lived on earth after the
Copernican world outlook had become common knowledge. Whence did Copernicus,
Galileo, Giordano Bruno and others acquire their abilities in this incarnation? Bear in
mind that shortly before that, from 1401-1464, the individuality of Copernicus was
incarnated as Nicholas of Cusa, a profound mystic. Think of the completely different
mood of his Docta Ignorantia. How did the forces that made Copernicus so very different
from Nicholas of Cusa enter into this individuality? The forces that made him the
astronomer he was, came from Mars! Similarly, Galileo also received forces from Mars
that invested him with the special configuration of a modern natural scientist. Giordano
Bruno too, brought his power with him from Mars, and so it is with the whole of
mankind. That people think like Copernicus and Giordano Bruno is due to the Mars
forces they acquire between death and a new birth.
But the acquisition of the kind of powers which lead from one triumph to another is
due to the fact that Mars had a different influence in those times from what it exercised
previously. Mars used to radiate different forces. The Mars culture that human beings
experience between death and a new birth went through a great crisis in the earth's
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was as decisive and catastrophic a time on Mars in the
fifteenth and sixteenth century as it was on earth at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha.
Just as at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha the actual ego of man was born, there was
born on Mars that particular tendency which, in man, comes to expression in
Copernicanism. When these conditions came into force on Mars, the natural consequence
would have been for Mars to continue sending down to earth human beings who only
brought Copernican ideas with them, which are really only maya. What we are seeing,
then, is the decline of the Mars culture. Previously, Mars had sent forth good forces. But
now Mars sent forth more and more forces that would have led men deeper and deeper
into maya. The achievements that were inspired by Mars at that time were ingenious
and clever, but they were maya all the same.
So you see that in the fifteenth century you could have said Mars' salvation, and the
earth's too, depended on the declining culture of Mars receiving a fresh impulse to raise it
up again. That was the significant question facing Christian Rosenkreutz and his pupils;
how this upward impulse could be given to the Mars culture, for the salvation of the earth
was also at stake. The beings on Mars were not in a position to know what would bring
about their salvation, for the earth was the only place where one could know what the
situation on Mars was like. On Mars itself they were unaware of the decline. Therefor it
was in order to find a practical solution to this problem that the aforesaid conference met
at the end of the sixteenth century. This conference was well prepared by Christian
Rosenkreutz in that the closest friend and pupil of Christian Rosenkreutz was Gautama
Buddha, living in a spirit body. And it was announced at this conference that the being
who incarnated as Gautama Buddha, in the Spiritual form he now had since becoming
Buddha, would transfer the scene of his activity to Mars. The individuality of Gautama
Buddha was as it were sent by Christian Rosenkreutz from the earth to Mars. So Gautama
Buddha leaves the scene of his activity and goes to Mars, and in the year 1604 the
individuality of Gautama Buddha accomplishes for Mars a deed similar to what the
Mystery of Golgotha was for the earth.
Since the mystery of Mars was consummated by Gautama Buddha, human beings
have been able, during the period between death and a new birth, to receive from Mars
different forces from those emanating during Mars' cultural decline. Not only does a man
bring with him into a new birth quite different forces from Mars, but because of the
influence exercised by the spiritual deed of Buddha, forces also stream from Mars into
men who practice meditation as a means of reaching the spiritual world. When the
modern pupil of Spiritual Science meditates in the sense indicated by Christian
Rosenkreutz, forces sent to the earth by Buddha as the redeemer of Mars stream into
him. (Esoteric Christianity & ... Christian Rosencreutz, 1984, R. Steiner Press, pp.178-
182)

3 Dec. 1912
We look at a plant which spreads out its leaves and opens its blossoms during the
day and draws them in when the light fades. That which streams to the plant from the sun
and the stars has been withdrawn. But it is what comes from the sun that enables the
leaves to open again and the blossom to unfold. Out yonder in cosmic space, therefor, are
the forces which cause the organs of the plant to fold up limply when they withdraw or
unfold when they are active. What is brought about in the plant by cosmic forces is
brought about in the human being by his own ego and astral body. When does a human
being allow his limbs to relax and his eyelids to close like when the plant draws in its
leaves and blossoms? When his ego and astral body leave his bodily organism. What the
sun does to the plant, the ego and astral body do to the organs of the human being. Hence
we can say: the plant's body must turn to the sun as man's body must turn to the ego and
astral body and we must think of these members of his being as having the same effect
upon him as the sun has upon the plant.
Even externally considered, will it surprise you to know what occult investigation
reveals, namely that the ego and astral body originate from the cosmic sphere to which
the sun belongs and do not belong to the earth at all? Nor will you be surprised, after
what has been said in previous lectures, to realise that when human beings leave the
earth, either in sleep or at death, they pass into the conditions prevailing in the cosmos.
The plant is still dependant upon the sun and the forces operating in space. The ego and
the astral body of man have made themselves independent of the forces of space and go
their own way. A plant is bound to sleep when the sunlight withdraws; in respect of his
ego and astral body, however, man is independent of the sun and planets which are his
real home, and for this reason he is able to sleep by day, even when the sun is shining.
Therefor it is not grotesque to say that what remains of man on the earth and in its
elements after death belongs to the earth and its forces; but the ego and astral body
belong to the forces of the cosmos. After the death of the human being ego and astral
body return to those cosmic forces and pass through the life between death and rebirth
within their spheres. During the period on earth between birth and death, while the soul is
living in a physical body, the life of soul which strictly belongs to the sun and the stars
has no more to do with this physical body than time as such - which is in reality
conditioned by the solar and stellar constellations - has to do with the watch and its
mechanism of wheels. It is quite conceivable that if, instead of living on the earth we
were born on some different planet, our soul would be adapted to a quite different
planetary existence. (Between Death and Rebirth, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.66-68)

10 Dec. 1912
 There comes a period between death and birth when the human being describes a
circle which passes through the whole Zodiac. He looks out as it were from every point
of the Zodiac, that is to say from different viewpoints, upon his whole being, and he feels
as if he were gathering from each particular section of the Zodiac the forces which he
pours upon his being for the needs of the next incarnation. He looks from the
circumference towards a centre. It is as if you could duplicate yourself, move around
while leaving yourself at the centre, and could drink in the forces of the universe, the life-
giving ' soma ' which, streaming as it does from different points of the Zodiac, assumes
different characteristics as it pours into your being which you have left at the centre.
Translated into terms of spiritual reality, this is actually how things are during life
between death and a new birth.(Between Death and Rebirth, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pg.75)

22 Dec. 1912
Let us remind ourselves of what has been said about the passage of the human soul
through the various regions of the cosmos between death and the new birth. We have
heard how during that period of existence the soul of a man has to pass through the
planetary spheres, to traverse the expanse of cosmic space. Between death and the new
birth we actually become inhabitants, in succession, of Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. We then draw our life together again in order to incarnate through
a parental pair and undergo experiences that are possible on earth but not in other
planetary spheres. Since the last death, every soul incarnated on earth has undergone the
experiences that belong to the heavens. Through birth we bring into our existence on
earth the forces we have acquired on the various heavenly spheres.
Like our Earth, these heavenly bodies also pass through ascending and descending
phases of evolution. Whenever we pass into a planetary sphere after death - let us say of
Mars, or Venus, or Mercury - we enter different conditions and have different
experiences, receive different impulses, which we bring back again into physical
existence through birth. And because heavenly bodies are also undergoing evolution, our
souls bring back different forces into each incarnation.
Until the fifteenth/sixteenth century the evolution of Mars was such that what had
always been bestowed upon it from the spiritual worlds was undergoing a phase of
descent, just as was the case in the evolution of the Earth until the beginning of the
Christian era. By the time of the fifteenth/sixteenth century it was necessary that the
evolution of Mars should become a process of ascent, for the consequences of the phase
of descent had become all too evident in that sphere.
If these conditions on Mars had continued without change, if the phase of decline
had been prolonged, souls would have brought with them from the Mars sphere forces
that would have rendered them incapable of anything except a purely materialistic
conception of the world. Nevertheless the results of the decline of Mars were responsible
for bringing modern natural science into existence; these forces poured with such
strength into the souls of men that they led to triumph after triumph in the domain of
materialistic knowledge of the world; and in the further course of evolution this influence
would have worked exclusively for the promotion of materialistic science, for the
interests of trade and industry only, of external forms of culture on the Earth.
If this state of things had remained, humanity would have divided more and more
sharply into two classes: the one composed of those who were devoted entirely to the
interests of material science on the Earth and the advancement of external culture, and the
other class, due to the continuing influence of Buddha, would have consisted of those
who fostered and preserved spiritual culture. But the souls belonging to the latter class
would, like Francis of Assisi, have been incapable of participating in external, material
forms of civilisation. These two categories of human beings would have become more
and more sharply separated. That the ascent into spiritual worlds should be compatible
with everyday status in life, that humanity should not divide into two categories ...all this
was the concern of Christian Rosenkreutz at the time when the approaching modern age
was to inaugurate the epoch of materialistic culture during which all souls would bring
with them the Mars forces in their state of decline. And because there could not he within
the souls of men the power to prevent the separation, it has to be ensured that from the
Mars forces themselves there would come to man the impulse to work with his whole
being for spiritual aims. For example, it was necessary that human beings should be
educated to think in terms of sound natural scientific principles to formulate ideas and
concepts in line with those principles, but at the same time the soul must have the
capacity to deepen and develop the ideas spiritually, in order that the way can be found
from a natural scientific view of the world to lofty heights of spiritual life.(Between
Death and Rebirth, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.94-99)

1913

14 Jan. 1913
Thus in the Mars sphere men can be emancipated from the tendency to uniformity
resulting from the effects of public opinion which are detrimental for their further
progress on Earth. Whereas in earlier times Mars was said to be the planet of warlike
traits, it is now the Buddhas task gradually to transform these warlike traits in such a
way that they become the foundation of the sense for freedom and independence needed
in the present age. Whereas nowadays men have the tendency to surrender their sense of
freedom and succumb to the fetters of public opinion, on Mars between death and rebirth
they will strive to throw off these fetters and not bring them again into life on earth when
they return to new incarnations. (Between Death and Rebirth, 1975, Rudolf Steiner
Press, pg.130)

21 Jan. 1913
The light of the moon influences the plant. The lunar forces determine the width of a
plant. The plant that grows tall and thin is little influenced by the moon. Even the whole
cosmos is involved in the growth of plants. The ego works into the physical and etheric
bodies as the sun influences plant growth. Similarly, the astral body is related to the
moon. Our ego creates a replacement for the influences of the sun, and our astral body for
those of the moon. This justifies what the initiate means when he says man has been
formed as an extract of the forces of the cosmos. As the sun is the central point of the
plant world and rays forth its light in all directions, in the same way light must permeate
the physical and etheric bodies. The sunlight is not only physical, it is also of a soul-
spiritual nature separated from the cosmos and become the I or ego. (Life Between
Death and Rebirth, 1968, Anthroposophic Press, pp.155-156)
 12 Mar. 1913
Let us say that a man has inscribed one of his imperfections into the moon sphere.
While passing through the Mars sphere he has inscribed there a quality of his character
through the fact that he acquired in that sphere a certain element of aggressiveness that
was not previously in him. Now on the return journey he passes through the Mars sphere
again and comes back to the earth. He lives on the earth and has received into his karma
what he has inscribed in the Mars sphere but at the same time it stands recorded above
him. Up there is Mars, in a certain relationship to the Moon. (The outer planets indicate
the relative positions of the Spheres.) Because Mars stands in a certain relationship to the
Moon, the inscription of the aggressive element and the mans imperfections are, as it
were, in the same constellation. The consequence is that when the one planet stands
behind the other they work in conjunction. This is the time when the individual in
question will tackle his imperfection with the aggressive quality acquired from Mars. So
the position of the planets really does indicate what the man himself has first inscribed
into these spheres.
When in astrology we ascertain the positions of the planets and also their relative
positions to those of the fixed stars, this gives some indication of what we ourselves have
inscribed. The outer planets are in this case a less important factor. What actually has an
effect upon us is what we ourselves have inscribed in the various spheres. Here is the real
reason why the planetary constellations have an effect upon mans nature. It is because he
actually passes through the several planetary spheres. When the Moon stands in a certain
relationship to Mars and to some fixed star, this constellation works as a whole. That is to
say, the Mars quality, Moon and fixed star work in conjunction upon the man and bring
about what this combined influence is able to achieve.
So it is really the moral inheritance deposited by us between death and rebirth that
appears again in a new life as a stellar constellation in our karma. That is the deeper basis
of the connection between the stellar constellation and mans karma. Thus if we study the
life of a man between death and a new birth we perceive how significantly he is
connected with the whole cosmos. (Life Between Death and Rebirth, 1968,
Anthroposophic Press, pg.255)
 4 Feb. 1913
The plant cannot have an afternoon sleep at will; it has to regulate itself entirely in
accordance with the course of the stars. We must direct our feeling from the plant to the
world of the stars, to the sun. [This same feeling must be directed from the physical and
etheric bodies of man, to the astral body and I. The clairvoyant sees the sun as if speaking
to the plants saying Yes, this physical and etheric body of the plants belong to me,
because they need what I can send them This exact attitude is that of the ego to the
physical and etheric bodies of man.] so does he (also) learn to speak of his astral
body, as the moon and also the planets would have to speak to the plant. (The Mysteries
of the East and of Christianity, 1989, Garber Comm. Inc., pp.40-41, precis by RSWB)

Only by being able to put self-knowledge into practice can the soul find entrance to
the regions beyond Saturn, therefor even beyond out solar system and leading into that
cosmic life from which souls must bring the qualities that ensure progress on the Earth.
The external progress of mankind originates in the new impulse brought from
beyond the Saturn region; in this way the various culture-epochs progress and new
impulses take effect. (Between Death and Rebirth, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.181-
183)
5 Feb. 1913
[The solar forces work to build up the brain and the upper part of the spinal
cord, except the lower twenty-eight pairs. Currents flowing from beings who are
linked with the life of the moon build up the lower twenty-eight spinal cord nerves.
Sun-forces: Amshaspands. Moon-forces: Izards] (The Mysteries of the East and of
Christianity, 1989, Garber Comm. Inc., pg.49, precis by RSWB)

7 Feb. 1913
[The secrets of the Egypto-Chaldaic astrology had to reappear in the 5th post-
Atlantean epoch, especially those of the sun, moon, and the shifting influences as
they pass through the signs of the Zodiac. There had to be a difference in the way
the Mysteries were presented, because it had to work right into the consciousness-
soul, the personality of man. The persons who expressed the transit of the cosmic
forces through the signs of the Zodiac were called King Arthurs Round Table.
King Arthur and Guinevere were sun and moon. The slaying of monsters and
dragons was the purifying of the astral body.] (The Mysteries of the East and of
Christianity, 1989, Garber Comm. Inc., pp. 67-69, precis by RSWB)

[In the latter part of Egypto-Chaldaic civilization clairvoyance still existed that
allowed perception not only of the physical stars but also the spiritual beings
united with these stars.] (The Mysteries of the East and of Christianity, 1989, Garber
Comm. Inc., pg.71, precis by RSWB)

21 Mar. 1913
It is interesting to compare three kinds of food in relation to their cosmic
significance - First, milk and milk products, secondly the plants and the foods that are
prepared from them, and finally flesh foods. From occult observation of the cosmos you
would find milk substance on earth, but on no other planet of our solar system. What is
produced in a similar manner within the organism of living beings on other planets in our
solar system would be something totally different from terrestrial milk. If we examine the
plant system of our earth, and compare it occultly with the plant systems of other planets,
with what corresponds to it on other planets, we must say that the forms of the plants on
our earth are different from those of other planets on our solar system, but the inner
being of the plants on earth is not merely terrestrial, but belongs to the solar system, that
is, that the plant-nature of our earth is related to that of the other planets of our solar
system. Thus there is a solar element in our plants that can also be found on other planets
of our solar system. As for the animal kingdom, it follows from what has been said about
milk that the animal kingdom on earth - and this can easily be demonstrated occultly - is
radically different from any corresponding kingdom on other planets. Everything that
milk supplies to the human organism prepares man for life on earth, unites him with
terrestrial conditions, but does not actually chain him to the earth. It makes him a citizen
of the earth, but does not prevent him at the same time from being a citizen of the whole
solar system.
Flesh food has a different effect. Through a meat diet he binds himself especially to
the planet earth. Whilst milk enables him to be a citizen of the earth, as a temporary stage
in his development, flesh food condemns him, unless he is raised to a higher stage by
something else, to make his sojourn on earth a permanent sojourn to which he adapts
himself completely.
Vegetarian diet is a diet that stimulates in the organism those forces which bring man
into a kind of cosmic union with the whole of the planetary system. (The Effects of
Spiritual Development, 1945, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pp.20-22)

Let us take, for example, protein which is present in the hen's egg. We must clearly
understand that this animal protein is not merely what the chemist finds in his analysis,
but that, in its structure, it is the result of cosmic forces. Fundamentally these cosmic
forces only work upon the protein after they have first acted upon the earth itself and
above all upon the moon which accompanies the earth. The cosmic influences upon
protein are therefor indirect; they first act upon the earth which, in its turn, reacts upon
the composition of the protein with the forces it receives from the cosmos. It is the moon
which plays the major part, but only because it first receives the forces from the cosmos
and then, with the forces that it radiates, reacts upon the animal protein. It could not
originate directly out of the cosmos; it is entirely a product of that which the earth must
receive from the cosmos
Again, what we know as the fatty substance of living beings which also forms part
of human food, especially of those who eat meat, has a different effect. What we call fat,
irrespective of whether a person eats it or whether the body itself manufactures it, is built
up in accordance with entirely different cosmic laws from those which form protein.
Whilst the cosmic forces of the Beings of the Spirits of Form are concerned with the
latter, those Beings called the Spirits of Movement are chiefly concerned with the
production of the fatty substance. No living being could assimilate protein on the one
hand, of fat on the other hand, without the cooperation from the cosmos, even though
indirectly, of the Spirits of Form and the Spirits of Movement. As the whole physical
organism becomes more mobile the soul learns to distinguish two different experiences;
one which so permeates us inwardly that we feel: to this I owe my physical organisation,
my physical form...we are then aware of the proteins within us. And when we feel: this
makes us indifferent to our inner isolation, this lifts us, as it were, above our physical
body , this makes us more phlegmatic in relation to our inner feeling ...then the origin of
this latter experience is the presence of the fat in the physical body.
The consumption of sugar creates, as it were, a kind of innocent egohood which may
form a counterpoise to the necessary selflessness in the moral and spiritual sphere.
Otherwise man would all too easily be tempted to become not only selfless, but also to
become a dreamer and visionary, to lose the capacity for sound judgement on mundane
affairs.
These things may even lead to an understanding of something that can also be
observed externally. In countries where, according to statistics, sugar consumption is low,
the inhabitants have a less defined personality than in countries where consumption is
high. If you visit countries where the people show more individuality, where each
individual is self-contained, and then move on to countries where the inhabitants betray
more the typical racial characteristics, show less individuality in their outward
appearance, you will find that in the former countries sugar consumption is high, in the
latter very low." (The Effects of Spiritual Development, 1945, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co.,
pp.24-27)

"What the solid substance of the earth absorbs in the form of solar forces, what the
earth absorbs in its sheaths of air and water, in its changing conditions of warmth, what it
absorbs in that part of the earth (now no longer physically perceptible) which participates
in the harmony of the spheres, the life forces it receives directly from the sun - all this is
related to the inner forces which act upon the human heart through the circulation of the
blood. In reality all these forces act upon the circulation of the blood and through the
blood upon the heart. It is the blood that drives the heart and not the heart that drives the
blood. And the whole of this organisation which is concentrated in the activity of the
heart is none other than the human microcosmic reflection of those macrocosmic
activities that the earth first receives from the sun.
The human brain has little to do directly with the solar activities of the earth.
Directly, I say; but indirectly, as an organ of perception, it is very much concerned with
them in that it perceives, for example, the external light and colours; but that is
perception. But directly, in its structure, in its inner mobility, in its whole inner life, the
brain has little, in fact virtually nothing to do with the activities of the sun upon the earth;
it is more concerned with all that rays down upon the earth from beyond the solar system.
It is concerned with the cosmic conditions of the whole starry heavens, but not with the
more limited conditions of our solar system. What we call the cerebral substance is more
closely related to the moon, but only insofar as the moon is not dependant upon the sun,
has preserved its independence of the sun.
You will gather from this that, in a certain respect, even the structure of the brain is a
sort of reflection of the position of the heavenly bodies at the time of a man's birth in that
geographical region where he is born. Through his brain man belongs to the whole stellar
universe; through his heart and everything connected with it he belongs to the sun;
through his digestive system and everything associated with it he is, in another sense a
terrestrial being.
By provoking disturbances through his choice of physical food, for example, he may
trespass against the purely terrestrial laws governing digestion and which also work as
solar laws in the activity of the heart and in the form of cosmic laws outside the solar
system in the activity of the brain... During sleep the digestive activity extends to the
brain, penetrates into the brain. On waking the intellectual activity penetrates to the brain
and the assimilative activity of the brain declines. When thinking remains dormant during
sleep, the digestive activity works into the brain and when a person wakes up and notices
an after-effect of this, this experience may well be a true barometer of the wholesome or
unwholesome nature of his food. Man feels, as it were, the introduction of an organic
activity into his brain as deadening, stabbing sensations which may sometimes appear, if
he has eaten something unsuitable, as little centres of insensibility in the brain. (The
Effects of Spiritual Development, 1945, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pp.30-34)

23 Mar. 1913
We gradually become aware that in the course of time we perceive differentiated life.
Just as in the physical body the individual organs are differentiated and become inwardly
more alive and independent of one another, so the different periods of the continuous
time-sequence become, to a certain extent, more independent of each other. And this is
connected with the fact that with the development of our own etheric body we participate
in the life of the external ether which surrounds us on all sides. We are surrounded not
only by air, but also by the ether and this ether lives a real life in time.
Midsummer is the time when we feel most clearly that, with our etheric body, we
are, so to speak, thrown back upon ourselves and that with the earth we live a particular
kind of life so that the earth then affects us inwardly very little. As a matter of fact, if we
wish to compare the change of seasons with something in ourselves, we must compare
spring, summer and autumn, in this sequence, with the sleeping time of the earth, and
autumn, winter and spring, in this order, with the waking time of the earth. And when we
speak of the Spirit of the Earth, we must imagine that in the hemisphere where summer
reigns the Spirit of the Earth during summertime is in the same condition, so to speak,
that we are when we sleep. Of course it is different in the case of the earth. Man is either
asleep or awake; in the case of the earth, one hemisphere is awake, whilst the other is
asleep and vice versa.
We have to imagine that during summer the Spirit of the Earth separates in a certain
way from its physical body, that is to say, from the earth itself, and that this Spirit of the
Earth lives in summer in the same relationship to its physical body as man to his body
during sleep.
But because the hemisphere of the earth that we inhabit has its sleeping time during
summer, man, together with his etheric body is, to a certain extent, left to his own
resources and the consequence is that thanks to esoteric development he is able - if he has
developed the capacity - to perceive his etheric body better and more clearly in summer
than in winter.
We perceive that the seasons have worked upon this cerebral part of our etheric body
so that our etheric brain is in some respects a complex organ. It has been built up, as it
were, by different spiritual Beings who manifest their capacities in successive epochs. We
now gain insight into a very important teaching that was cultivated especially in created
from out of the cosmos by spiritual Beings called Amshaspands. And these Amshaspands
exercised their sovereignty during summer, and indeed still hold sway today, replacing
one another successively, the first ruling in early spring, the second in spring and so on up
to the sixth and seventh. Seven, or rather six of these spiritual Beings work consecutively
in time; they are the creative Spirits who - precisely because they work consecutively so
that when one has completed his work the other takes over - create an entity as complex
as the etheric body, especially the etheric body in the human brain. Six or seven spiritual
Beings play into our brain.
Man has brought over with him into his earthly existence the aptitudes which were
rayed in by these Spirits during the ancient Moon period; but because he bears them
within his own etheric body, he can still feel today when these spiritual Beings no
longer have a direct effect on the inner etheric body of our brain he can still feel the
relationship with them and it is this which he feels in summer. (The Effects of Spiritual
Development, 1945, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pp.50-54)

A time will come when taking into account the difference between summer and
winter people will realise that it is absurd to arrange the curriculum in any other way
than as follows: several hours in the morning will be devoted to study, the afternoon will
be free and then again in the evening several hours will be devoted to study. The morning
will be devoted to mathematics, the evening to the reading of poetry. (The Effects of
Spiritual Development, 1945, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co., pg.62)

1 Apr. 1913
In the Mars region, the lowest region of spiritland, where the soul acquires an
understanding of Thou art that, or, as we should put it today, receives the Buddha-
impulse, it frees itself from everything that is earthly. After the soul has become inwardly
free of this and the Christ Impulse is needed here it also liberates itself spiritually by
recognising that all ties of blood are forged on Earth and therefor belong by nature to the
Earth. But the soul then passes on to new conditions.
The soul can pass through the Jupiter region only if it is able to liberate itself from
the particular confession to which it belonged on Earth; merely to understand the others is
not enough. For during the passage through the Jupiter region it will be decided whether
it has experienced everything that can be offered by a particular creed.
Only by being able to put self-knowledge into practice can the soul find entrance to
the regions beyond Saturn, therefor even beyond our solar system and leading into that
cosmic life from which souls must bring the qualities that assure progress on the Earth.
The external progress of mankind originates in the new impulse brought from
beyond the Saturn region; in this way the various culture-epochs progress and new
impulses take effect.. (Between Death and Rebirth, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.181-
183)

13 May 1913
Here on earth we are situated at a point on the earth's surface. Our organs are within
us, whereas the starry heavens are outside. The opposite is the case after death. Then man
grows to a cosmic dimension. When he has expanded up to the Moon sphere, the spiritual
that belongs to the Moon becomes an organ within him. It becomes after death what the
brain is for us on earth as physical human beings. Each planetary body becomes an organ
for us after death inasmuch as we have expanded to its orbit. The Sun becomes a heart for
us. As here we bear the physical heart within our body, so there we carry the spiritual part
of the Sun within us. There is only one difference. We are perfect physical human beings
when, after the embryonic evolution, all the organs have formed; they are simultaneously
present. After death we acquire these organs little by little, one after another. We are then
in this respect, considered externally, quite similar to a plant-like being that also forms its
organs successively. We may, for example, compare the organ we receive on Mars with
the lungs and the larynx. (Life Between Death and Rebirth, 1968, Anthroposophic Press,
pg.304)

23 Dec. 1913
All our knowledge has always lived deeply in the feelings of men. We see the plants
grow out of the soil in springtime, and we see how the sun calls the living plants and
other beings from the earth. We also see, however, something else besides the holy order
of these events that take place annually. We see it interfering with the regularity of the
sun's forces that are active everywhere at the right moment; it belongs to the atmosphere
of the earth itself. In the storms that ride over the fields, in the mists that spread out over
the earth, we see something that does not possess the holy order of the sun's course. In
spring and summer we feel that the sun journeys along triumphantly and is stronger than
the changeable influences of the weather on the earth. In spring and summer the holy
order of the sun's forces is victorious over what the earth produces out of its egoism as
the weather changes. But in winter, the earth and its influences of weather triumph over
what descends, full of blessings, from the universe.
He who observes his inner life of thinking, feeling and willing, and the disorderly
way in which these impulses of thought, feeling and will arise, can feel that the changing
capriciousness of his thinking, feeling and willing resembles the changes of the weather,
which become manifest in the elements of water, fire, air and earth, all active as
demoniacal forces. They live in what is around us as thunder and lightning and in the
atmospheric changes of the weather. Indeed, our thinking, feeling and willing are related
only with the changeable influences of weather experienced during winter. With the
approach of winter, man always felt the close connection between weather changes and
his inner life. "O winter, how deeply you are related to my own inner being," is the
feeling that lived in man. When the winter solstice drew near and spring and summer
approached, man felt how the sun's forces were always victorious over the egoism of the
earth. Then he was filled with strength and courage and could feel that just as he was able
to experience outwardly the sun's victory over the forces of the earth when it breaks into
the dark night of winter, so he should be able to experience something that was active
within him, deep down in his soul, as a spiritual sun that would reign triumphant during
the earthly winter solstice.
Thus, the Mystery of Golgotha was seen to be in man's inner being like the rising of
the earthly sun. We realize that the spring and summer of the earth's evolution occurred in
the ages before the Mystery of Golgotha. Then man still possessed through his atavistic
clairvoyance the inheritance of his link with the divine spiritual worlds. Now we are
living in the winter of earthly evolution and undoubtedly the mechanical forces of
industrial and commercial life will grow increasingly strong. The earth's winter can be
found externally in the world, but also within, because we no longer have the divine
spiritual world of the earth's spring and summer around us. Man used to see in the sun's
victory during the winter solstice a symbol for the victory of the spiritual sun in the
depths of the human soul. Modern man can experience this again today when he
contemplates the Mystery of Golgotha and prepares himself for the approaching
Christmas festival. In the past man looked at the Mystery of Golgotha and said, "No
matter how wildly and chaotically the winter storms may rage in us, there is one hope
that can never be abandoned. The Christ impulse, related to all human life on earth, will
assert itself, in contrast to the weather-like changes in the human soul." This can occur
because the Child of Humanity, born in the Nathan Jesus boy, entered mankind with all
the qualities possessed by the human soul before it descended into its earthly
incarnations. (Newborn Might and Strength Everlasting, elib.Lecture, pp.4-5)
30 Dec. 1913
[The forces of the cosmos, particularly those of the sun, would have built up
human senses locked in extreme sympathy and antipathy except that the Nathan
Jesus Being, inspired (permeated) by the Christ far back in the Lemurian age,
modified the activity of the sun so that mankind could look with wisdom at all the
nuances of sense-perception.
In the Atlantean age the vital organs of humans tended towards extreme greed
or loathing. These organs derived from the planets, so the Nathan Jesus Being,
permeated by the Christ, incarnated from planet to planet to implant moderation in
the vital organs.
The three soul powers, thinking, feeling and willing were destined for chaos so
in the further course of evolution, the Nathan Jesus Being assumed a cosmic form
in the same sphere as the moon, so that through the permeation with Christ,
harmony would be created in the interactions of Sun, Moon and Earth.] (Christ &
the Spiritual World &...the Holy Grail, 1963, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.56-61, precis by
RSWB)

31 Dec. 1913
[Zarathustra recognised the 6 Amshaspands, who with their 6 antipodes are
symbolised in cosmic space by the signs of the Zodiac. These rule over the 28-31
Izeds that rule over the days of the month. The Zarathustrians saw that time was
something living and supersensible, so, while spiritualising the term, we may call this
world picture Chronology
In the third post-Atlantean epoch the secrets of the world were no longer
discerned only through the relations between the Rulers of Time in the supersensible, for
these were becoming manifest in the realm of sense-existence. In the courses of the stars,
in the signature of their movements in cosmic space, men could now perceive how
harmony and melody in cosmic happenings are brought about. This picture of the world I
would like to call Astrology. All that was disclosed in the true Chronology and the
true Astrology was activated by the influences of the Christ permeated Nathan Jesus
Being before the Atlantean catastrophe.] (Christ & the Spiritual World &...the Holy
Grail, 1963, Rudolf Steiner Press, 74-76, precis by RSWB)

1914
21 Jan. 1914
[Detailed development of the twelve world-outlooks summarized below. The
adoption of any of these outlooks is more dependant upon individual karma than on
their exclusive truthfulness:
Materialism - Sole belief in the crudest impressions, valid for the material world
and its laws.
Spiritism - Sole belief that material reality is only an illusion and that all genuine
reality is found only in the Spirit.
Realism - Sole belief in what can be perceived and thought about as the external
world.
Idealism - Sole belief in ideas manifesting through reality and giving it purpose.
Mathematism - Sole belief in the mathematical ordering of reality.
Rationalism - Sole belief in the ideas discovered in external reality.
Psychism - Sole belief in the need for ideas to be embodied in beings to be real.
Pneumatism - Sole belief that beings with ideas need to embody an active spirit
able to do things.
Monadism - Sole belief in abstract spiritual monads with varying powers of
perception.
Dynamism - Sole belief in the power of external and internal forces in reality.
Phenomenalism - Sole belief in sensual phenomena as representing a world of
appearance to be thought over.
Sensationalism - Sole belief in sensual phenomena as the basic reality, with
thought a mere addition.]
(Human & Cosmic Thought, 1961, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.30-39, precis by RSWB)
22 Jan. 1914
We had better arrange the twelve world-outlooks in the form of a circle
(Materialism, Sensationalism, Phenomenalism, Realism, Dynamism, Monadism,
Spiritism, Pneumatism, Psychism, Idealism, Rationalism and Mathematism) , and quietly
observe them. They are possible, and one must know them. They really stand in such a
relation to one another that they form a mental copy of the Zodiac with which we are now
so well acquainted. As the sun apparently passes through the Zodiac, and as other
planets do the same, so it is possible for the human soul to pass through a mental circle
which embraces twelve world-pictures. Indeed, one can even bring the characteristics of
these pictures into connection with the individual signs of the Zodiac, and this is in no
wise arbitrary, for between the individual signs of the Zodiac and the Earth there really is
a connection similar to that between the twelve world-outlooks and the human soul. I
mean this in the following sense.
We could not say that there is an easily understandable relation between, e.g. the
sign Aries and the Earth. But when the Sun, Saturn, or Mercury are so placed that from
the Earth they are seen in the sign Aries, then the influence is different from what it is
when they are seen in the sign Leo. Thus the effect which comes to us out of the cosmos
from the different planets varies according as the individual planets stand in one or other
of the Zodiacal signs. In the case of the human soul, it is even easier to recognise the
effects of these twelve 'mental-zodiacal-signs'. There are souls who have the tendency to
receive a given influence on their inner life, on their scientific, philosophic or other
mental proclivities, so that their souls are open to be illuminated, as it were, by Idealism.
Other souls are open to be shone upon by Materialism, others by Sensationalism. A man
is not a Sensationalist, Materialist, Spiritist or Pneumatist because this or that world-
outlook is - and can be seen to be - correct, but because his soul is so conditioned that it is
predominantly influenced by the respective mental-zodiacal sign. Thus in the twelve
mental-zodiacal signs we have something that can lead us to a deep insight into the way
in which human world-outlooks arise, and can help us to see far into the reasons why, on
the one hand, men dispute about world-outlooks, and why, on the other hand, they ought
not to dispute but would do much better to understand why it happens that people have
different world-outlooks. How, in spite of this, it may be necessary for certain epochs to
strongly oppose the trend of this or the other world-outlook, we shall have to explain in
the next lecture. What I have said so far refers to the moulding of human thought by the
spiritual cosmos of the twelve zodiacal signs, which form as it were our spiritual horizon.
One can be a Gnostic in connection with all twelve world-outlook signs. Hence, if
we want to put Gnosis in its right place, we must draw a circle, and the whole circle
signifies that the Gnosis can move around through all the twelve world-outlook signs.
Just as a planet goes through all twelve signs of the Zodiac, so can the Gnosis pass
through the twelve world-outlook signs. Certainly, the Gnosis will render the greatest
service for the healing of souls when the Gnostic frame of mind is applied to Spiritism.
One might say that Gnosis is thoroughly at home in Spiritism. That is its true home. In
the other world-outlook signs it is outside its home.

The special mark of Logicism consists in its enabling the soul to connect thoughts,
concepts and ideas with one another. Logicism is again something that passes like a
planet through the twelve zodiacal signs.
The forces of nature, the hardness of a stone, have this character for him; the whole
of reality is a manifestation of will. This outlook can once more be regarded as a planet
which passes through all twelve zodiacal signs. I will call this world-outlook,
Voluntarism.
Through all twelve constellations one can be an empiricist, a man with a world-
conception based on experience. Empiricism is the fourth psychic mood which can go
through all twelve constellations.
But when the soul has become quiet and seeks inwardly for the divine Light, this
soul-mood can be called Mysticism.
 Again, one can be a mystic through all the twelve mental constellations.
Now the soul may be so attuned that it cannot become aware of what may arise from
within itself and appear as the real inner solution to the riddle of the universe. A person
who takes this standpoint is a Transcendentalist - perhaps that is the best word for it. He
accepts that the essence of a thing is transcendent, but that it does not enter into the soul -
hence, 'Transcendentalism', The Transcendentalist has the feeling: 'When I perceive
things, their nature approaches me; but I do not perceive it. It hides behind, but it
approaches me."
We should be Transcendentalists if we said: 'The world is spread out all around us,
and this world everywhere proclaims its essential being.' This we do not say. We say:
'This world is Maya, and one must seek the inner being of things by another way than
through external sense-perception and the ordinary means of cognition.' 'Occultism'! The
psychic mood of Occultism!
Again, we can be an Occultist through all the mental-zodiacal signs. One can even
be a thorough Occultist of Materialism. Yes, the rationally-minded scientists of the
present day are all occultists of materialism, for they talk of 'atoms'. But if they are not
irrational it will never occur to them to declare that with any kind of 'method' one can
come to the atom. The atom remains in the occult. It is only that they do not like to be
called 'Occultists', but they are so in the fullest sense of the word.

Apart from the seven world-outlooks I have drawn here there can be no others - only
transitions from one to another. Thus we must not only distinguish twelve various shades
of world-outlook which are at rest round the circle, so to speak, but we must recognise
that in each of the shades a quite special mood of the human soul is possible. From this
you can see how immensely varied are the outlooks open to human personalities. One can
specially cultivate each of these seven world-outlook moods, and each of them can exist
in one or other shade.
What I have just depicted is actually the spiritual correlative of what we find
externally in the world as the relations between the signs of the Zodiac and the planets,
the seven planets familiar in Spiritual Science. Thus we have an external picture (not
invented, but standing out there in the cosmos) for the relations of our seven world-
outlook-moods to our twelve shades of world-outlook. We shall have the right feeling for
this picture if we contemplate it in the following manner.
Let us begin with Idealism, and let us mark it with the mental-zodiacal sign of Aries;
in like manner let us mark Rationalism as Taurus, Mathematicism as Gemini, Materialism
as Cancer, Sensationalism as Leo, Phenomenalism as Virgo, Realism as Libra, Dynamism
as Scorpio, Monadism as Sagittarius, Spiritism as Capricorn, Pneumatism as Aquarius,
and Psychism as Pisces. The relations which exist spatially between the individual
zodiacal signs are actually present between these shades of world-outlook in the realm of
spirit. And the relations which are entered into by the planets, as they follow their orbits
through the Zodiac, correspond to the relations which the seven world-outlook-moods
enter into, so that we can feel Gnosticism as Saturn, Logicism as Jupiter, Voluntarism as
Mars, Empiricism as Sun, Mysticism as Venus, Transcendentalism as Mercury, and
Occultism as Moon.
The effect is specially good when a person has experienced, by way of exercises, the
various Psychic moods Occultism, Transcendentalism, Mysticism, Empiricism,
Voluntarism, Logicism, Gnosis - so that he can conjure them up in his mind and feel all
their effects at once, and can then place all these moods together in the constellation of
Phenomenalism, in Virgo. Then there actually comes before him a phenomena, and with a
quite special magnificence, that which can be unveiled for him in a remarkable way as
the content of his world-picture. When, in the same way, the individual world-outlook-
moods are brought one after another in relation to another constellation, then it is not so
good. Hence in many ancient Mystery-schools, just this mood, with all the soul-planets
standing in the spiritual constellation of Virgo, was induced in the pupils because it was
through this that they could most easily fathom the world.
But there is one more thing. These world-pictures they have many nuances if you
reckon all their combinations are modified yet again by possessing quite definite tones.
But we have only three tones to distinguish.
These three psychic tones are reflected in the cosmos, and their relation to one
another in the soul of man is exactly like that of Sun, Moon and Earth, so that Theism
corresponds to the Sun - the Sun being here considered as a fixed star - Intuitionism to
the Moon, and Naturalism to the Earth. If we transpose the entities here designated as
Sun, Moon and Earth into the Spiritual, then a man who goes beyond the phenomena of
the world and says: 'When I look around, then God, Who fills the world, reveals Himself
to me in everything. or a man who stands up when he comes into the rays of the sun -
they are Theists. A man who is content to study the details of natural phenomena, without
going beyond them, and equally a man who pays no attention to the sun but only to its
effects on the earth - he is a Naturalist. A man who seeks for the best, guided by his
intuitions - he is like the poet whose soul is stirred by the mild silvery glance of the moon
to sing its praises.
Lastly there is a special thing. It occurs only in a single case, when a person, taking
all the world-pictures to some extent, restricts himself only to what he can experience on
or around or in himself. That is Anthropomorphism. (Human & Cosmic Thought, 1961,
Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.41-54)

23 Jan. 1914
Let us suppose that a person so lives in the world that among his natural
predispositions we find the special forces through which he is influenced by the world-
outlook of Idealism. We will say that he makes his world-outlook into a dominating
factor in his inner life, so that the soul-mood which I designated yesterday as Mysticism,
and called the Venus mood, flows towards Idealism and is nourished by its powers.
Hence, if one speaks in the symbols of astrology, one would say that the spiritual
constellation of such a man, according to his natural predispositions, is that Venus stands
in Aries.
I remark expressly, so that no misunderstanding may arise, that these constellations
are of much greater importance in the life of a person than the constellations of the
external horoscope, and do not necessarily coincide with the 'nativity' - the external
horoscope. For the enhanced influence which is exerted on the soul by this standing of
Mysticism in the sign of Idealism waits for the propitious moment when it can lay hold of
the soul most fruitfully. Such influences need not assert themselves just at the time of
birth; they can do so before birth, or after it. In short, they await the point of time when
these predispositions can best be built into the human organism, according to its inner
configuration.
 Hence the ordinary astrological 'nativity' does not come into account here. But one
can say: A certain soul is by nature such that, spiritually speaking, Venus stands in Aries -
Mysticism in the sign of Idealism. Now the forces which arise in this way do not remain
constant throughout life. They change - that is, the person comes under other influences,
under other spiritual signs and also under other moods of soul. Let us suppose that a man
so changes that in the course of his life he comes into the soul-mood of Empiricism; that
Mysicism has moved on, as it were, into Empiricism, and Empiricism stands in the sign
of Rationalism. You see, as I drew it in the preceding lecture, going from inwards
outwards in the symbolic picture, that Empiricism stands in relation to Mysticism as does
the Sun to Venus. With regard to its mood the soul has progressed to Empiricism and has
at the same time placed itself in the sign of Rationalism. The result is that such a soul
changes its world-picture. What the soul formerly produced, perhaps as a specially strong
personality in the time when in its case Mysticism stood in the sign of Idealism, this will
pass over into another nuance of world-outlook. What the soul asserts and says will be
different when in this way its world-outlook -mood has passed over from Mysticism to
Empiricism, and the latter has placed itself in the sign of Rationalism. However, from
what I have now explained, you can gather that human souls can have an inclination to
change the sign and mood of their world-outlook. For these souls the tendency to change
is already given. Let us suppose that such a soul wants to carry this tendency further in
life. It wants to swing forward from Empiricism to the next soul-mood, i.e. to
Voluntarism; and if it wants to swing forward also in the zodiacal signs, then it will come
into Mathematism. It would then pass over to a world-outlook which in this symbolic
picture leads away at an angle of 60* from the first line, where Mysticism stood in the
sign of Idealism; and such a soul, in the course of the same incarnation, would bring to
expression a mathematical world-structure permeated by and based upon the will.
And now I ask you to notice how I work out this matter. It will be seen that two such
constellations as are here present in the soul disturb each other in the course of time; they
influence each other unfavourably when they are at an angle of 60* with regard to each
other. In physical astrology this is a favourable constellation; in spiritual astrology this
so-called sextile aspect is unfavourable. We can see this because this last position
Voluntarism in Mathematism - comes up against a severe hindrance in the soul. The soul
is not able to develop, because it cannot find anything to lay hold of, since the person in
question has no natural gift for Mathematism.

This is how the unfavourable character of the sextile aspect expresses itself. Hence
this configuration, Voluntarism in the sign of Mathematism, cannot establish itself. The
consequence is that the soul does not try to move forward in this way. But because it
cannot take the path to Voluntarism in Mathematism, it turns away from the configuration
it now has - Empiricism in Rationalism - and seeks an outlet by placing itself in
opposition to the direction it cannot take. Such a soul, accordingly, would not swing
forward to Voluntarism in the direction of Mathematism, but would place itself with
Voluntarism in opposition to its Empiricism. The result is that Voluntarism would stand in
opposition to Rationalism in the sign of Dynamism. And in the course of its life, such a
soul would have as its possible configuration one in which it would defend a world-
outlook based on a special pressing in of forces, of Dynamism permeated by will - a will
that wants to effect its purpose by force. In spiritual astrology things are again different
from what they are in spiritual astrology; in physical astrology 'opposition' has a quite
different significance. Here, 'opposition' is brought about by the soul being unable to
proceed further along an unfavourable path; it veers around to the opposing
configuration.
One can go through with the upper configurations if one is able, owing to external
circumstances, to place oneself in the world in a corresponding way. The configurations
below the line from Idealism to Realism can be sustained only if one dives down into the
spiritual world a thing Nietzsche could not do. By placing oneself externally in the
world' I mean placing by means of education, by means of external conditions; they come
into account for all that lies above the line running from Idealism to Realism.. Meditative
life, a life devoted to the study and understanding of Spiritual Science, comes into
account for all that lies below the line. (Human & Cosmic Thought, 1961, Rudolf
Steiner Press, pp.57-61)

9 Apr. 1914
If we gain still more inner power and enter into further out-of-body experience of the
inner life, something arises in us which in ordinary physical life is our will impulse.
When the life of the will thus reveals itself we feel as if we were not merely in a stellar
system, but in the sun of that stellar system. We feel at one with the sun of our individual
planetary system. We might say that when we have inner experience of the astral body we
know ourselves to be at one with our individual planetary system; when we experience
ourselves outside the body with the ego, we know ourselves to be at one with the sun of
our stellar system, with everything turning and tending towards this sun.
Looking back on ourselves when we are no longer inside but outside ourselves -
anything that is outside us when we are in the physical body will be inside us when we
are outside that body, and everything that is inside us when we are in the body will be
outside when we are out of the body - something else presents itself. We realize why our
body had to come into existence in the physical world and must in turn pass away. We
become aware that spiritual powers and entities guide the growth and development of the
human body and that others again destroy it. We also realize that our coming into being
in, and passing away from the physical world has crystallized in something quite specific,
for we know it to be fundamentally connected with the skeletal system. When the skeletal
system is built into the human physical body, the verdict is pronounced on the form in
which human beings experience birth and death in the physical world. The way in which
the skeletal system is crystallized and takes form in them determines the way in which
they come into existence and pass away again. We realize that we could not be what we
are in physical existence if the whole world had not joined forces to harden our physical
nature to the point where it confronts us in the skeletal system. In this system - strange as
it may seem we come to revere the universal powers that rule the cosmos, powers
which find their representation in all the spiritual entities concentrated in the life of the
sun. We come to recognize that the skeletal system as the ground plan of the human being
with its outline is traced in the world order, and we realize that our other physical organs
are, in a way, suspended from it.
Clairvoyant vision of the inner world which has become outside world thus ends in a
vision of the human skeleton seen from outside, which is the symbol of death. For in the
final instance clairvoyance leads to the realization that the spiritual worlds have, as it
were, created an external physical symbol for themselves; we also realize that these are
the worlds to which we truly belong in our inner being. We have entered these worlds by
going out of the body, and this has shown us our true nature. Another thing we realize at
this fourth stage is that when we act in the world, when we unfold our will, this is an
inner power which acts unconsciously on the physical plane, a power we only come to
know at this point. We now realize that when we take a single step forward, using the
mechanics of the skeletal system, cosmic forces are involved in the process, and we only
find ourselves truly in these forces when we experience our inner nature at this fourth
stage outside the body.

Think of someone going for a walk, moving his limbs with the aid of skeletal
mechanisms. The individual imagines he is doing this simply to suit himself. But it
needed the whole world to provide the powers which enable us to use the mechanisms of
the skeletal system for taking a walk, and the whole world had to be filled with the divine
and spiritual forces which we only get to know when we have reached this fourth stage.
The divine and spiritual cosmos lives in every step we take. We may think it is we
ourselves who put one foot before the other, but we would not be able to do so if we did
not live in the spiritual cosmos, the divine world.
As long as we are in our physical bodies we use our eyes to look all around us and
we see the mineral world, the plant world, the animal world; we see mountains, rivers,
oceans, lakes, clouds, sun, moon and stars. All these have an inner reality which we enter
into only when we live outside the body in the way I have described. Then we know the
spiritual essence that is hidden behind the radiant sun, the shining stars, behind
mountains, rivers, oceans, lakes and clouds, and we know that it lives in the mechanics
by which we move our bones. All this must be present.
We then also understand more clearly what we experienced at the third stage. Just as
the will is closely connected with the skeletal mechanism, so are our feelings closely
connected with the muscular system, which is a symbolical expression of the system of
feelings. It needs the planetary system to build the kind of muscles we have, muscles
which can be extended and contracted and in turn operate the mechanics of the skeletal
system. We gain knowledge of the planetary system as we become conscious of being in
the astral body. The whole planetary system lives in our muscles, just as the whole
cosmos lives in the skeletal mechanics. (The Inner Nature of Man, 1994, Rudolf Steiner
Press, pp.70-73)

4 Oct. 1914
"Whenever , on the physical plane, we want to get to know something, we have to
look at it from many different sides, from many standpoints; we have to go around it. In
the spiritual world this must become a reality. Not only must we go around it with our
whole being, we must so divide our being that we create a periphery around what we
perceive. Every time there is a real spiritual perception, a spiritual periphery of this kind
has been created. And only because those Divine Beings whom we have learnt to know as
the higher Hierarchies have done this on a vast scale, has the Zodiac appeared.
Inasmuch as the Gods did this and consolidated it into a gigantic plan, our world-
system arose. Whereas we, in our single acts of clairvoyance create something transitory
which naturally passes away again when the clairvoyance is over. (Occult Reading and
Occult Hearing, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.41)

6 Oct. 1914
If, for instance, through seership, I want to approach a human being who is living
between death and a new birth, then - I am not speaking of myself here but quite
generally, of one who has seership and is seeking for a dead soul - I have this feeling:
'The dead is there, together with me!' So far as the time element is concerned I can seek
him just as on the physical plane I can seek another human being who is contemporary...it
is only a matter of finding the way to him. When we seek one who is dead, this idea is
also quite correct. In a certain sense it is still correct when it is a question of finding a
Being of the Hierarchy of Angeloi. But it is no longer correct if we are seeking for a
Being of the Hierarchy of the Archangeloi, because such a Being has concentrated his
consciousness at a time that is not our present time.
Suppose this line represents the flow of time. If the seer lives at this point, 1914, and
is seeking a dead soul of a Being of the rank of the Angeloi, he finds that Being
somewhere in the spiritual world at the same point of time. But this does not succeed if
we are trying, for instance, to find a certain Being of the Hierarchy of the Archangeloi. In
this case we have to transcend time, to overcome the principle of synchronism. In order
to find a certain Archangelos we must go back, for example, to the fifteenth century. His
influence, it is true, rays over into our own epoch but here we have merely the influence,
we do not find the Archangelos in his own real identity. Other Archangeloi must be
sought for at different points. We have to go beyond time. It is a difficult conception but
we have to reach it. To find the Archangeloi we must not remain in the present; we must
go out of time and seek for the beginnings of epochs.
And as regards the Primal Beginnings, the Spirits of Personality, the Archai, we find
them only by going back to the middle of the Lemurian epoch, when the Earth was at the
beginning of its physical evolution. There we find the Archai in their essential nature.
"When, therefor, a man no longer lives only in himself, no longer even in the Space
and Time known to him as a physical being, but when he has 'taken Space to his body'
and 'Time to his soul' - mark this well for its full meaning only dawns upon us gradually...
he then experiences something that is not an abstract feeling in spirituality generality, but
a living weaving and working in a cosmic existence full of meaning. (Occult Reading
and Occult Hearing, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.61-64)

31 Oct. 1914
What were the characteristic features of Egypto-Chaldean civilization? They had a
feeling for the great, cosmic astrology. Stars and constellations were not seen the way we
see them today. Instead, spiritual entities were perceived and the constellations were seen
as their physical exterior. The spiritual was seen in everything. [If repeated as a
mission after the Mystery of Golgotha (e.g. through the Italian-Spanish nations)
then: The great cosmic tableau seen by the Egyptians and Chaldeans now presents itself
as though born anew out of the soul. This is nowhere more evident than in Dantes Divina
Comedia (The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations, 1987, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pp.17-18, precis by RSWB)

21 Nov. 1914
It is nevertheless the case that in all human perception a symmetry comes to
expression, a right-and-left symmetry. Had he not two ears, two eyes, and two noses, man
would not attain to the perception of his I or Ego. Every time we make a sense
perception, we perceive the world from two sides, from left and from right. Everything
comes, from left and right, up to this line of incision. We, my dear friends, are ourselves
actually in this plane. We are not beings extended in space, we are surface beings, that
come about through the crossing of the impulse from the left with the impulse from the
right.
Whence then has man this form and figure? He has it because he stands in the midst
of a battle. A being from the left is fighting in man with a being from the right. Our
existence as a double being arises from the fact that the Luciferic being is fighting in us
from the left and the Ahrimanic being from the right.
And the whole art of life consists in finding the true balance between them. As
narrow as - no, narrower than - the blade of a knife is the space that is left us in the
middle, where we have to play our part.
Now the working of Lucifer and Ahriman is not the same in all parts of the human
organism, and it is interesting to observe its gradation. Beginning from the head, we find
that there Lucifer and Ahriman have thrown up fairly equal fortifications; the left and
right halves of the head are very similar. ...and because the left and right halves of the
head are so similar in form, Lucifer and Ahriman spring back from one another, and in
between them man is able to develop a quiet surface activity. Thinking, pure thought as
such, is very little disturbed by Lucifer and Ahriman; because in the head they recoil from
one another.
When, however, we follow the form of man further down, we find a change. On one
side Lucifer works powerfully and builds up the stomach, on the other side Ahriman does
the same and builds up the liver. These two stomach and liver - are perpetually waging
war one against the other, and physiology would do well to study the conflict. And if the
heart of man tends to lean a little over towards the left, then that is an expression of the
fact that Lucifer from one side and Ahriman from the other are trying each to grasp
something for himself. And even in man, when we attain to clairvoyant knowledge it
becomes clear to us that there are two distinct halves. For no sooner have we suggested
away the physical body, than we find that the left half grows brighter and clearer than the
right half. The left half is all shining and gleaming with radiant light, and the right half is
wrapped in darkness and gloom.
Let us go on, then, to consider how man stands in space with a forward and
backward orientation, looking before and behind. From behind Ahriman thrusts forward
his activity and from in front Lucifer thrusts forward his activity in opposition. Ahriman
comes only as far as the plane which can be drawn through the spinal column, and
Lucifer as far as the plane which can be drawn through the breast bone, where the ribs
end and meet. There they stand and fight - not at close quarters, but as though shooting at
one another across the intervening space. And there stand we in the midst of the fight.
Thus, in respect of the direction before and behind, man is a being that has space.
In the left-right direction the fight between Lucifer and Ahriman is waged
principally in the sphere of thought. Cosmic thoughts and cosmic forms of thought
impinge on one another here on the human surface in the middle. In the direction before
and behind, Lucifer and Ahriman do battle more in the realm of feeling. And since here
the opposing forces do not approach one another so nearly, in the space that is left
between them we ourselves have room to be together with our own feelings. With our
thoughts we think the objects of the world outside. When we make our own thoughts,
then these thoughts are mere phantasmagoria; they do not any longer belong to the world.
In our feelings, on the other hand, we belong to ourselves...
There is still a third direction in man, the direction from above downwards. From
below upwards works Ahriman, and from above downwards Lucifer. There where the
skull rested on the cervical vertebrae, imagine a horizontal surface. This invisible
horizontal surface is the barrier, where man can take his stand and hold up the Luciferic
influence that comes down from above. Lucifer can come no further, he can only shoot
his arrows thence down into man. And his arrows are now arrows of will.
Here, too, we have left to us an intermediate field of action. For about in a line with
the diaphragm, you have the surface that acts as a barricade against the upward pressure
of Ahriman. Ahriman can reach only as far as the diaphragm with his missiles of will, he
can come no further with his will, with his essential being; and in between the two planes
lies our own field of action. (The Balance in the World & Man: Lucifer & Ahriman,
1948, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.21-26)
 28 Dec. 1914
Thus during our waking day we are involved in all the stress and noise of technology
that modern life has produced around us. During the night it is more our life of feeling
and thought that becomes submerged in the noise and stress, during the day it is more our
life of will and feeling.
What we call modern life has not always existed in the course of human evolution. It
came on the scene essentially at the beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean era. The
beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean era actually coincided with the beginning modern
times. What does todays intellectual culture say about the beginning of modern times?
We know that todays intellectual culture is proud of the achievements of modern life.
This pride is expressed something like this: Throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages
people were incapable of developing real observation of nature such as could have led to
genuine science; this did not happen until modern times. When people talk of modern
times in this way they are speaking of the period which began with the fifth post-
Atlantean era. That was when people broke away from the old way of observing nature
and observed it impartially, solely according to its abstract laws. It was through this
knowledge of the laws of nature that science came into the position of opening up the
possibility of mastering the forces of nature, and mastering them in an unprecedented
way, as we so often hear. This is precisely what modern technology is. The characteristic
nature of modern technology arose as a result of human beings acquiring knowledge of
natural laws and then proceeding to fashion matter in accordance with these laws and
make machines with which they can work back on nature and life by filling modern life
with them and creating there own technological setting, which is modern life in it`s
essence and function. It is the modern age that has established real science and the
resultant mastery over nature and it`s forces.
You often hear people speaking like this. However, if we speak like this we are
speaking Ahrimans language, for this is using the language of Ahriman. Let us see if we
can translate this language of Ahriman into the real and true language that we are trying
to acquire anew by means of spiritual science, a language where words not only gain the
meaning ascribed to them through observation of external nature, but also that ascribed to
them when we look at the cosmos in its entirety, that is, both as nature and as spiritual
life.
Let us begin by looking quite externally at what happens when we develop modern
technology. In the first place what is happening is merely work being carried out in two
stages. The first stage consists of breaking nature into pieces. We blast out quarries and
take the stone away, maltreat the forests and take the wood away and the list could go
on. In short, we get our raw materials by smashing and wearing down what nature holds
together. The second stage consists of taking what we have extracted from nature and
putting it together again as machine according to the laws we have come to know as the
laws of nature. These are the two stages, if we look at the matter on the surface.
But what is it like if we look below the surface? Looking at it from inside, the matter
is like this: When we take things from nature, mineral nature to begin with, we know
from previous lectures that this is linked with a certain sense of well-being the elemental
spirits have within it. This, however, is not our main concern just now. What is important
here is that we cast out of nature the elemental spirits belonging to the sphere of the
regular progressive hierarchies who, in fact, are the very spirits who maintain nature.
There are elemental spiritual beings in all natural existence. When we plunder nature we
squeeze the nature spirits out into the sphere of the spirit. This is what is constantly
happening during the first stage. We smash and plunder material nature, thus extricating
the nature spirits, driving them out of the sphere allotted them by the Yahweh gods into a
realm where they can fly about freely and are no longer bound to their allotted dwelling
places. Thus we can call the first stage the casting out of the nature spirits. The second
stage is the one in which we put together what we have plundered from nature according
to our acquired knowledge of natural laws, When we construct a machine according to
our knowledge of natural laws, we put certain spiritual beings back into the things we
construct.
The structure we make is by no means without its spiritual beings. In constructing it
we make a habitation for other spiritual beings, but these spiritual beings that we conjure
into our machines are beings belonging to the ahrimanic hierarchy. This means that by
living in this technological milieu of modern times we create an ahrimanic setting for
everything that goes on in us in a sleeping state, by night or day. So it is no wonder that a
person at the first stage of initiation, bringing back with him into his waking life all that
he has experienced outside in the way of noise and confusion, feels its destructive
character when he comes back into his physical and etheric bodies with his ego and astral
body. He is bringing back into his own organism the results of his having been in the
company of the ahrimanic elemental spirits. Thus we could say that we now have a third
stage, at the cultural level, a stage when in consequence of the technology all around us
we are stuffing ourselves full of ahrimanic spirits. This is what things look like from the
inside.
If we now turn our attention away from the occult side of modern life and look back
at those times when people slept with only a thin partition dividing them from nature, a
partition through which spirit could easily pass, and when their daytime work was within
the realm of nature that still harboured regular spirits of the Yahweh hierarchy, we have to
admit that in those times peoples souls, their egos and astral bodies, brought back into
their physical and ether bodies the kind of nature spirits that had an enlivening effect on
their inner life of soul. The further we go back in the history of human evolution the more
we find what is becoming increasingly rare today, namely, that people did not stuff
themselves with the ahrimanic spirits of technology, but with nature spirits that were
progressing on a straight path and which the good spirits of the hierarchies, if we may use
this expression, have linked to the events and being of nature.
Human beings will only attain the kind of connection they need in order to be truly
human if they seek it in their inner life, if they delve so far down into the depths of their
soul that they reach the forces that connect them with the spirit of the cosmos, out of
which they were born and in which they are embedded, but from which they can be
separated. A separation has already taken place in their sense perception and intellect, and
now again through being filled with ahrimanic spirits in the course of modern life, as we
have seen. Human beings are dragged away from their spiritual-cosmic connections, and
the forces which they should be developing to maintain their link with the spiritual-soul
being of the cosmos are being weakened. (Art as Seen in the Light of Mystery Wisdom,
1996, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.12-17)

31 Dec. 1914
We know that only a materialistic outlook can believe that human beings alone in the
world order are equipped with thinking, feeling and will, whereas a spiritual point of
view must acknowledge that just as there are beings below the human level, there are also
beings above the human stage of thinking, feeling and will. Human beings can live their
own way into these beings when, as microcosm, they immerse themselves in the
macrocosm. However, we then have to speak of the macrocosm not only as a macrocosm
of space but also as one in which the course of time is of significance. Just as human
beings, in order to kindle the light of the spirit within them when they want to descend
into the depths of their own soul, have to shut themselves off from all the impressions
their environment can make on their senses and have, as it were, to create darkness
around them by closing off their sense impressions, likewise does the spirit, whom we
can call the spirit of the earth, have to be shut off from the impressions of the rest of the
cosmos. The outer cosmos has to have least effect on the earth spirit if the earth spirit is
to be able to concentrate its forces and capabilities within. For then the secrets will be
discovered that human beings have to discover in conjunction with the earth spirit, as a
result of the earth having been separated as Earth from the cosmos.
The time when the outer macrocosm exercises the greatest effect on the earth is the
time of the summer solstice, midsummer. Many accounts of olden times connected with
festive presentations and rituals remind us that festivals like these take place at the height
of summer; that in the midst of summer, the soul, in letting go the ego and merging with
the life of the macrocosm, surrenders in a state of intoxication to the impressions of the
macrocosm.
Conversely, the legendary or other kind of presentation of what could be
experienced in olden times remind us that when impressions from the macrocosm have
least effect on the earth, the earth spirit, concentrated within itself, experiences within the
eternal All the secrets of the earths life of soul, and that if human beings enter into this
experience at the point of time when the macrocosm sends least light and warmth to the
earth, they learn the holiest of secrets. This is why the days around Christmas were
always kept so sacred, because while his organism was still capable of sharing in the
experience of the earth, man could meet the spirit of the earth during the point of time
when it was most concentrated. (Art as Seen in the Light of Mystery Wisdom, 1996,
Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.71-72)
 1915
3 Jan. 1915
The other beings, the demons created out of immoral actions, also have an astral
body, an etheric body and a physical body, at the watery stage, of course, but they do not
have the basis for developing an ego. They are born headless, as it were. Instead of taking
up the basis for progressing along a regular evolutionary path to the Jupiter existence,
they reject this basis. By doing so they condemn themselves to the fate of dropping out of
evolution. But this only increases the hordes of luciferic beings, for they fall under their
power. As they cannot progress in a regular way they have to become parasites. This is
what happens to all the beings who reject a normal evolution; they have to attach
themselves to others in order to move on. Beings who arise through immoral actions have
the particular inclination to be parasites in human evolution on earth under Lucifers
leadership to which they have succumbed and to seize hold of the evolution of human
beings before they make their physical entry into the world. They attack human beings
during the embryonic stage and share their existence between conception and birth. Some
of these beings, if they are strong enough, can continue to accompany the human being
after birth, as seen in the phenomena of some children who are possessed.
What is brought about by the criminal demons attached as parasites to unborn
children is the cause of a deterioration in the succession of the generations; it gnaws at
human beings, making them less able to develop than they would be if these demons did
not exist. There are various reasons for the decline of families, tribes, peoples and
nations, but one of them is the existence of these criminal demon parasites during the
period mentioned.
These things play an important part in Earth evolution as a whole, and they bring us
into contact with deep secrets of human existence. This is often the cause of people
acquiring certain prejudices and points of view even before they are born. So people are
tormented by doubts and uncertainties in life, and all kinds of other things, because of
these demonic parasites.
These beings cannot do very much with what human beings develop once their ego
makes itself felt, but they prey on them all the more before they are born or during their
earliest years. Thus we see that evil actions, too, have a significant effect in the cosmos
and work creatively, but their creativity tends in the direction of the Old Moon existence.
For what human beings pass through in the embryonic period, when these demonic
beings can prey on them, is basically the heritage of the Old Moon evolution, which
makes its appearance in all kinds of subconscious, instinctive behaviour. Something
stemming from the older and better days of physical science is the instinct it preserves
about the human embryonic period not being calculated according to ordinary months but
lunar months; science still speaks of ten lunar months, and knows certain other things,
too, concerning the connection of embryonic development with the phases of the moon.
So we see that our Earth evolution contains two tendencies. There are good deeds
that contain the impulse to work creatively on Earth in preparation for Jupiter, so that
mans successor on the human level can come into being. But evil deeds have also
brought into our evolution the tendency to drag Earth back again to the Old Moon
evolution and make it dependent on everything to do with subconscious impulses; in fact
there are far more of these subconscious impulses in materialistic humanity of modern
times than there were in bygone ages when people were less materialistic. (Art as Seen
in the Light of Mystery Wisdom, 1996, Rudolf Steiner Press, pp.140-142)

19 Jan. 1915
the time interval needed for the sun to progress from one constellation in the
zodiac to the next is approximately 2,160 years, and this is important. (The Destinies of
Individuals and of Nations, 1987, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.70)

11 Apr. 1915
We are able to find our friends in that world for a long time after death, until they
move on to another world, which can even by Initiates only be reached by a later
evolutionary condition of the soul. In this world into which we move on, many things
will present themselves to the observer. It is only possible to relate isolated experiences
about this world: and these must be collected from the various lectures which characterise
this supersensible world. Above all, what strikes the soul most when it is freed from the
body and passes on to a new world is that the stars seem to fade away. The soul now
experiences an elemental world. It now moves with the currents of air, it is one with the
warmth which suffuses the earth, it streams out with the rays of light. When the soul
streams out with the light, it is no longer able to perceive exterior objects by means of
that light. Therefor it seems to this soul that the sun and stars are extinguished and that
the Moon with its light has disappeared. The soul no longer leads an external existence, it
has become part of the elemental world. And at the same time it becomes part of that life
which is termed the root-force of historical events - the historical becoming. In this world
it becomes possible to see what history brings to the life of mankind. By means of a
further meditative evolution the soul can rise to a still higher experience. In this state not
only will its own existence be a spiritual and psychic sense-organ, but the whole Earth
becomes its sense-organ. Paradoxically, it may be said - only you must not misunderstand
me - that now the human soul must pass on to an experience in which it becomes fused
with that essence which contains the whole world within it. As before, during our earthly
life, our eyes were set in our body, and as then we were accustomed to see with our eyes
and hear with our ears, so now, by means of the whole Earth and its existence, we are
able to view the entire universe. We then become aware, that all the teaching of the
Natural Scientists about the Sun and stars is nothing but a materialistic dream. In the
world previous to this state, the stars were already extinguished, and the Sun and the
Moon had already disappeared. Now, however, we become aware that where we
supposed the Sun to be, there is really a community of spirits. That wherever we thought
we saw stars, there are, in reality, spiritual worlds.
And as we look back upon our earthly existence we become aware that the teaching
of the Natural Scientists is only a fantastic, materialistic dream. For what appeared to us
as the stars or the Sun, is really in the spiritual world the seat of a spiritual community, in
the same way as the Earth is the seat of a human community. But just as from a distant
star it would not be possible to see any physical bodies, only the souls of men, just as
little can one say that anything can interest us up there in the sphere of stars which is not
of a spiritual or soul nature. But what we do see may be described as the vapour of the
earth atmosphere, which collides with what it meets. The physical eye cannot perceive
what the star really is, it only sees the vapour which the earth itself sheds out into the
cosmic space. All that appears to us as the starry heavens is nothing but what is woven by
the Earth itself out of its own substance, though that, certainly, is etheric substance. It is a
curtain which the Earth draws before the reality beyond. When, however, the soul extends
its life into this world, it learns that these imaginary material stars of which the Natural
Scientists speak do not exist; that these stars are living beings, communities of living
beings, which move to and fro soaring backwards and forwards in cosmic space, handing
down gifts from the upper spheres to the lower, and again passing up gifts from below.
(The Festivals of the Seasons, 1928, Anthroposophic Press, pp.129-130)

20 Apr. 1915
This waking state has to be compared to winter in outside nature whilst summer has
to be compared to the sleeping state in man. [and explanation ] (The Destinies of
Individuals and of Nations, 1987, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg185)

22 June 1915
After Moon evolution it was not only the Moon which perished but everything that
is part of the visible universe entered into night. And everything there is in the universe
today really belongs to the earth, so that the end of the earth will not only mean the plant
and animal kingdoms perishing with it but everything out there in the cosmos perishing
as well. The stars in their present form will perish into the night. And then the future
Jupiter will emerge. (The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations, 1987, Rudolf Steiner
Press, pg.228)

6 July 1915
To answer this question we need to use clairvoyant insight to form an opinion as to
what it as that we actually see of the stars in the universe. There is no reason at all why
something applicable on earth the conclusion that light falls on objects and these
objects become visible through that light being reflected should also apply to heavenly
bodies. As to the fixed stars, well, the physicists say these give off their own light.
[There is nothing physical in the sun, only the focus of purely spiritual entities and
energies.] We do not merely see in order to become aware of the results of visual
perception, we also see in order that because of this process the earth becomes radiant to
outer space. [Every sense organ has a function not only for us but for the universe.]
The activity of seeing causes the earth to grow luminous and this makes us part of
cosmic space. The processes involved in thinking activity make us part of cosmic time;
all that happened before we were born and all that is going to happen after death plays its
part in this. (The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations, 1987, Rudolf Steiner Press,
pp.235-236, precis by RSWB)

29 Aug. 1915
What we cannot change in a situation is the part the past played in it. The concept of
necessity must coalesce with the concept of the past; that is tremendously important. The
past inheres in every object and in every creature, constituting the necessity in them;
necessity is present in them to an extent corresponding to their past. The necessity that
inheres in things does so because it is the recurring past, and what has taken place cannot
be dismissed. We can easily picture anything that has become necessity now, for it goes
back to a previous event. It happened in the past and now confronts us in a reflected
form.
You can no more change that reflection than you can remove in the mirror a wart on
your forehead that you see reflected there; you would have to remove it beforehand. It is
equally impossible to make any change in what appears as present necessity, since what
appears as necessity now really occurred some time ago. It is past, and now merely shows
up in its subsequent reflection. Everything of the nature of necessity in us is of the past
and is merely bringing about its reflection in us. Only if people bestir themselves to grasp
that the events that took place in the ancient Moon, Sun, and Saturn periods are now
reflected in us, and are merely reflections of those ancient events, will they come to
understand necessity. (Chance, Providence & Necessity, 1988, Anthroposophic Press,
pg.63)

30 Aug. 1915
We must be rigorous in adopting the standpoint that necessity inheres in the past;
life rules the present. (Chance, Providence & Necessity, 1988, Anthroposophic
Press,pg.72)
 4 Sept. 1915
Just as reflections have no real connection with what they reflect, physical
knowledge has nothing to do with what it knows about; it doesn't make anything happen
in the physical realm. If we come to see physical knowledge as a matter of a state of
consciousness and sense in full awareness how unessential, how superfluous, mirrors are
to the objects mirrored, we will understand the soul-mood that envelopes the world of the
gnomes. Gnomes are therefor unable to grasp how there can be anything but an
ineffectual relationship with this world.
To be aware of nothing more than a one-time impression is to lack any true
conception of a plant, and the same holds true in the case of undines. We picture a plant
rightly only if we know it in its various states: first in its root development, then growing
a stem, then putting forth leaves, then blossoming, the blossom's wilting, fruits appearing
and so on. And there live in the plant, in addition to what it is in and of itself, mobile
elemental beings inwardly related to the shaping, rippling, mobile element of water.
And now we have to realize that the imaginative world into whose life we make our
way on evolving beyond the physical plane is an inwardly mobile realm resembling the
cloud-world in its metamorphoses, resembling the rippling, flowing element.
Then we can say that the gnomes live in the world we have abandoned. But now we
are living in the realm of the undines, and both for them and for us it is a world of
movement.
In addition to being aware of living in a realm of elemental beings belonging to the
plant kingdom and to flowing liquids, we realize something else of a very special nature,
something quite strange, namely, that we are becoming part of a rhythm that is involved
both in the inner rhythm of the earth and in our breathing rhythm. We acquire the idea
that the rhythm of our breathing is inwardly related to the rhythm of the earth. In short,
we begin to be really aware that we are part of the whole earth-organism. We really begin
to sense our belonging to it. The earth-organism claims us.
We picture it correctly when we conceive the brain floating in the brain fluid and this
fluid extending down the spinal column.
Now picture this brain fluid rhythmically rising and falling. This fluid with the brain
floating in it is involved in rhythmical movement as the diaphragm contracts and expands
with the in- and out-movement of the breath, and it is thus involved in the breathing
process. Insofar as the brain is its instrument, the whole thought process thus is connected
with the breathing process. The brain is thus an extraordinarily sensitive sense organ for
the forces continually playing into the earthly realm. (Chance, Providence & Necessity,
1988, Anthroposophic Press, pp.95-99)
6 Sept. 1915
We must be quite clear that consciousness preceded existence, that what exists
externally had its origin in consciousness, just like what we have in our memories is the
first stage of objectification. In the case of beings that developed through the Saturn, Sun,
and Moon periods it is so far advanced that they have now achieved the solidity of our
mountain ranges. Since we are connected with the whole spiritual world, we perceive
what the gods thought so long ago.
It will become clear to you as you think this over how important it is that an
objective world emerges from subjective realms. I've often stressed the fact that our
memories have to remain intact if we are to maintain ego-consciousness, and the gods
had to create a world out of themselves for the same reason. The gods thrust out the entire
universe in order to preserve their consciousness, just as we carry memory-images for the
period of time since we began remembering. And we human beings thrust out our
physical bodies and ether bodies to attain a higher level of consciousness. (Chance,
Providence & Necessity, 1988, Anthroposophic Press, pg.131)
18 Oct. 1915
"Everything that is connected with propagation and with heredity everything that is
independent of man in the sense that he cannot penetrate it with his thinking, everything
that is the gift of the Moon in the celestial firmament - that, in man, is what has
proceeded from the principle of Love permeating the process of propagation and heredity.
Hence the violent battle which persists through history, the battle waged by Lucifer and
Ahriman against everything that comes from this domain. Lucifer and Ahriman want to
force on man the exclusive sovereignty of the head, and they launch their attacks by way
of the head against everything that is purely natural affinity. For whatever is hereditary
substance on the earth cannot be wrested away by them. What the Moon is in the
heavens, heredity is in men on the Earth below. (The Occult Movement in the
Nineteenth Century, 1973, Rudolf Steiner Press, pg.89)

31 Oct. 1915
Just as the physical body has taken on rigid forms from the Atlantean epoch
onwards, up to our fifth post-Atlantean epoch, so will also the etheric body take on more
rigid, solid forms from the fifth post-Atlantean epoch onwards, into the sixth epoch and
on into the second post-Atlantean age. As a result - and I have pointed this out in many
lectures - in the etheric body, whose forms penetrate into the physical body, will assert
itself very strongly. We are now living in the fifth epoch of the first post-Atlantean age;
then come into the sixth and seventh epochs. During the sixth and seventh epochs, the
rigidity of the etheric body will have a great influence upon the physical body and the
physical body will become a faithful copy of the etheric.
This will give rise to serious and important results. During the sixth epoch of the
post-Atlantean evolution of the earth, the human beings will therefore be born with
specially marked bodies, which will express their inner moral qualities. We shall then be
meeting someone and we shall know what his moral constitution is like, for his outward
appearance shall reveal it. In future, the MORAL physiognomy will be particularly
conspicuous, whereas all those marks which now characterize the human physiognomy
will be far less conspicuous. The human physiognomy is now strongly dependent upon
heredity: we resemble our parents, our ancestors and bear the characteristics of our race.
But these things will have no meaning whatever during the sixth epoch, our bodily form
will then obtain its expression from the series of our incarnations. The human beings will
differ very much from one another and their features will be strongly marked. When we
encounter somebody, we shall then know exactly: This is a good person and that is an evil
one. Just as to-day we know that this is an Italian and that a Frenchman etc., so we shall
know in future that this is a good person and that a bad one ... Of course, there will be
many intermediary stages of good and evil. The human countenance will thus more and
more express the moral qualities.
During the sixth epoch, even the outward physiognomy of our environment will
have a very changed aspect. Particularly those animals which now supply meat for human
consumption, shall then have died out. In future, a great hymn of praise will be sung to
vegetarianism, and people will tell one another, as if they were speaking of some ancient
memory, that their ancestors used to eat meat. Not all the animals shall then have died
out, but only certain species; particularly those animals shall have disappeared from the
earth that have taken on the most rigid forms. Thus, even the earth and its outward
physiognomy will undergo certain changes. (Outlooks for the Future, elib. Lecture,
pp.2-3)

19 Dec. 1915
We ask a man we meet how old he is, and he gives as his age the years which have
passed since his birth. As has been said, we here tough a certain mystery of Spiritual
Science that will become clearer and clearer in the course of the near future, but to which
I will now merely refer. What a man gives as his age at a definite time of his life, refers
only to his physical body. All that he tells us is that his physical body has been so many
years evolving since his birth. The Ego takes no part in this evolution of the Physical
body but remains stationary. It is a Mystery difficult to grasp, that the Ego, from the time
to which our memory carries us back, really remains stationary: it does not change with
the body, but stands still. We have it always before us, because it reflects back to us our
experiences. The Ego does not share our Earth journey. Only when we pass through the
gates of death we have to travel back again to our birth along the path we call Kamaloca
in order to meet our Ego again and take it on our further journey. Thus the Ego remains
behind. The body goes forward through the years. This is difficult to understand because
we cannot grasp the fact that something remains stationary in time, while time itself
progresses. But this is actually the case. The Ego remains stationary, because it does not
unite with what comes to man from the Earth-existence, but remains connected with
those forces which we call our own in the spiritual world. There the Ego remains; it
remains practically in the form in which it was bestowed on us by the Spirits of Form.
The Ego is retained in the spiritual world. It must remain there, otherwise we could never,
as man, fulfil our original task on Earth and attain the goal of our Earth-evolution. That
which man here on Earth has undergone through his Adam-nature, of which he left an
imprint in the grave when he died in Adam, that belongs to the physical body, etheric and
astral body and comes from these. The Ego waits; it waits with all that belongs to it the
whole time man remains on Earth, ever looking forward to the further evolution of man,
beholding how man recapitulates when he has passed through the gates of death and
retraces his path. This implies that as regards our Ego we remain in a certain respect
behind in the spiritual world. (The Festivals of the Seasons, 1928, Anthroposophic Press,
pp.162-163)

31 Dec. 1915
Now let us, to begin with, consider what people call our lifeless inorganic Earth, the
mineral kingdom of our Earth. This which is apparently lifeless substance, the mineral
which to the materialist is merely lifeless, is to us not only endowed with life, but with
soul and spirit, so that we speak also of a soul-and-spirit part of our so-called lifeless
inorganic, purely mineral Earth. True, when we speak of the consciousness of the Earth,
we do not in the first place see in the geological-mineral substance that which may be
compared to a mans muscles and blood, but we see only what may be compared to his
bony system, namely, the solid earth; so that when we speak of the consciousness of the
Earth, we have to think of it as connected with the whole Earth, not only with its bony
system, but with water, air, ether, etc., corresponding to the muscles, blood, and so on.

We can speak of a consciousness of the whole mineral Earth, but we can equally
speak of a consciousness of the whole plant world which evolves on the Earth. The laws
of this consciousness are certainly entirely different from the laws of human
consciousness. In speaking of plant consciousness, we must always speak of it as regards
certain districts only, because it changes with different regions of the Earth.

Night consciousness is beclouded consciousness, for us practically no consciousness

at all; while day consciousness is full consciousness of our other side. In the night our
lower nature wakes, while with our higher nature we sleep, and it is exactly the same with
the Earth, when on the one hemisphere there is winter, an the other there is summer. On
the one side the consciousness is awake, on the other side it sleeps and vice versa. As I
have just said, and as I have often explained, this only holds good in respect to the plant
world. We know that the plant world sleeps in the height of summer when there is growth
on every side; while it is outwardly unfolding its physical nature - it is asleep. But it
wakes to full consciousness during the time when physically, externally, it is going
through no development; then the plant world is awake. Thus we speak of all plant life on
Earth as a whole; and this plant life, as a whole, has a consciousness.
When speaking of this consciousness which as a second consciousness intermingles
with the mineral consciousness of the Earth, we can really say that during the height of
summer in our part of the Earth the plant consciousness is asleep, and in the depth of
winter it is awake. At this season, however, during the time at which we now are,
something further takes place.
Now I beg you to note that these two states of consciousness, that is, the general
consciousness belonging to the mineral earth, and the general plant consciousness - are
always distinct. They are throughout the whole year two separate beings. But these are
not only two distinct Beings, for at one season they unite, so that at the present time of
year, the one interpenetrates the other. At the time when one year is passing over into the
other, the mineral things and event of the Earth and the whole plant world have but one
consciousness, which means that these two consciousnesses interpenetrate each other.
What is the peculiar nature of the mineral consciousness, this consciousness of the
great Earth-Being?

The Earth thinks with its consciousness the whole firmament of heaven nearest to
the Earth. As we look with our eyes on trees and stones, so does the Earth consciously
look into space and contemplate all that takes place in the stars. The Earth is a being that
meditates on the occurrences of the stars.
Thus fundamentally the mineral consciousness contains the secret of the whole
Cosmos. While we men move about on the Earth in a superficial way, thinking merely of
the stones against which we knock, or of the many things which our senses reveal to us,
the Earth thinks with its consciousness - through which we are passing as we move
through space - of the whole Cosmos. She has indeed greater, more all-embracing
thoughts than we have. In truth, it is an extraordinarily exalting thought, when we realise:
I am not simply passing through the air; I am moving through the thoughts of the Earth.
 Now let us again consider the other consciousness, that of the plants. These are not
able to think so much as the Earth can. The thinking consciousness of the plants - not of
individual plants, but of the whole united plant-world - is a much more restricted
consciousness, it embraces a smaller circle of the Earth throughout the year; but this is
not the case at the present season. Plant consciousness is now one with the whole
consciousness of the Earth, and because the plant consciousness interpenetrates the earth-
consciousness, the plant-world at New Year time, knows the secrets of the stars and
applies them. Plants are thgus able to unfold again in spring in accordance with the
secrets of the cosmos, and can bring forth their blossoms and fruit. In this unfoldment the
whole mystery of the cosmos is contained, in the way plants bring forth their leaves,
blossoms and fruit.
But during the time the plants are producing their leaves, flowers and fruit, they are
not able to meditate upon it. It is only at this present season that they can think - now -
when the plant consciousness is united with the consciousness of the whole mineral
world. That is why it is said in Spiritual Science: About the season of the New Year, two
cycles interpenetrate each other.
This is the main secret of all existence - that two cycles penetrate each other; then
parting, continue separately their further development; again intermingle, and so on. Only
think how marvelous this secret of existence is! Plant-consciousness and mineral-
consciousness, two streams of evolution - progress apart through the whole year, then at
the time when one year passes over into another, they unite. Again they pass through the
year apart, uniting once more at the festival of the New Year. The cyclic advance of
history is similar to this.
We turn from this mystic event, through which we are now passing, and which fills
us with a deep feeling of holy awe in respect of the passing of one year into the other - we
turn to a still deeper mystery.
We know that we are now living in the cycle in which the consciousness soul is
unfolding, that this was preceded by that of the unfolding of the rational or intellectual-
soul, which was again preceded by the cycle in which the sentient soul was developed,
before which again we go back to the time of development of the sentient body. This
takes us back 6000 years before our Christian era, to a time when all human thought was
evolved within the cycle of the sentient body - of the so-called astral body.
We have now to advance through the cycle of the spiritual or consciousness-soul,
and through that of the Spirit-Self, and further still man has to develop.
The consciousness-soul is principally developed at the present time because man
chiefly makes use of his physical body alone as an instrument. On this account - as you
know already from many lectures - this present age is the high tide of materialism. A time
will come, however, when man will not only make use of his physical body, but will
again learn to use his etheric body, as in earlier times he used his astral body, in the cycle
of evolution when that body was the main element of consciousness.
We can therefore say: Our condition at one time on Earth was such , that our soul
experienced a contact of its consciousness with the consciousness of our astral body. Just
as at New Year, plant consciousness penetrates mineral consciousness, so, thousands of
years ago, did our soul intermingle with our astral body. At that time our soul was one, in
its consciousness, with the astral body. The time of that type of consciousness was six
thousand years before our era. When that consciousness came about man celebrated a
New Year on Earth; a mighty New Year!
Just as we regard the New Year as the mingling of the plant-consciousness with the
mineral consciousness of the Earth, so we must realise that 6,000 years before our era a
great, a mighty cosmic New Year of our Earth took place. Our Soul-consciousness then
united with - passed through- the astral consciousness of our body.
What was it that then took place?
At that time when our inner soul-consciousness passed through (or intermingled
with) the astral consciousness of our body - then our limited human consciousness, the
consciousness which we have to-day, had progressed as far as the present plant-
consciousness at New Year. Just as plants gaze abroad into the heavens because their
consciousness has been united to the mineral consciousness of the Earth, so did man then
see and perceive a wide field of wisdom six thousand years before our era, when his soul
was united with his astral body at the time of the cosmic New Year.
From this time originated the knowledge which we have now lost, since the wisdom
of the Gnostics has perished. The source of this knowledge must be sought in the earthly
and cosmic New Year about 6,000 B.C. This was the knowledge from which Zarathustra
gave forth his teaching; the knowledge, whose last great rays still illuminated the
Gnostics, but of which only a few fragments remain. It is the winter of the Earth, but the
Earths New Year to which we look back.
If we now add four thousand years more to the years we have passed through since
the founding of Christianity, we again come to a similar intermingling as that I have just
indicated; to the mingling of our soul-consciousness with our astral consciousness, but at
a higher stage. Man will once more experience a universal stellar consciousness. For this
we endeavour to prepare ourselves through our Spiritual Science, so that there may be
men ready to receive it.

Twelve months pass by between one union of the plant-consciousness with the
mineral consciousness of the Earth, and another. Twelve thousand years pass between one
cosmic New Year and another: between one intermingling of the human soul with the
Astral World-Soul, and another. (The Festivals of the Seasons, 1928, Anthroposophic
Press, pp.174-177)